71st Theater Information Operations Group (71st TIOG)

2022 is here. Happy New Year!!

media1.tenor.co

A letter to the force from the Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. Tracy Norris, referencing the end of combat operations in Afghanistan.

Texas Air National Guard Texas Army National Guard Recruiting Texas State Guard 71st Troop Command, Texas Army National Guard 36th Infantry Division

TODAY'S READING

“. . . happiness is not the surplus of pleasant over unpleasant moments. Rather, happiness consists in seeing one’s life in its entirety as meaningful and worthwhile. There is an important cognitive and ethical component to happiness. . . . As Nietzsche put it, if you have a why to live, you can bear almost any how. A meaningful life can be extremely satisfying even in the midst of hardship, whereas a meaningless life is a terrible ordeal no matter how comfortable it is.”

— Yuval Noah Harari

Proverbs 21:21
"Whoever pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity, and honor."

CH Dan OUT!!!

TODAY's READING
Th Gift of Today

I have a smartwatch that periodically tells me to breathe. It even reminds me when I’m working out. But I think there’s actually a very good message there.

That breath you’re drawing right now is a gift from God. There might be someone in a hospital today struggling, hoping for his or her next breath, so we should never take it for granted.

Every day of our lives is a gift from God. Every single heartbeat is a blessing. So don’t take your health for granted. And don’t take your family for granted.

The Bible reminds us in Psalm 90, “Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom” (verse 12 NLT).

When our son Christopher was killed in an automobile accident at age 33, it was crushing. It was devastating and life-altering. I wondered if I would even survive it. It felt like time stood still for all of us. I felt as though I could die, literally.

But in my time of weakness, I called out to the Lord, and He was there for me. He sustained me on that day, and He sustains us all to this day because the Bible says that He’s the “God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3 NKJV).

Sometimes things happen in life that are unfair and tragic, and we want answers. But if God told us, we wouldn’t be happy. If God said, “All right, I’m tired of your asking why, so I’m going to tell you. Are you ready? Here’s why. . . .”

We wouldn’t like it. It wouldn’t make sense to us this side of Heaven. So instead of asking why, turn to the Lord and cry out to Him. Bring your pain to God. Bring your sorrow to God.

We live on promises, not on explanations. So we shouldn’t spend too much time wondering why.

By Greg Laurie

CH Dan Out!!!

TODAY's READING

Sin Actually Starts With Desire

We often think that sin has something that has power over us, but that simply isn’t true. We give power to sin by compounding bad habits and letting temptations into our lives.

The alignment of our will with our thoughts, feelings, and social relationships can seem like a long way off and a long time coming. Thus many of us have developed coping skills to save us from ourselves in the meantime. Changing our situation and circumstances through coping skills is sometimes a good stopgap, a short-term strategy to stay out of sin. But mere coping does not go nearly deep enough. Coping does not get to the level of temptation that is rooted in desire.

We tend to locate temptation in the purring voice on the other end of a phone call. In reality the only voice with power to move us to sin is the voice of desire within: the voice calling us to indulge what we think, feel, or observe. It is a wicked voice.

To be tempted means there is within us a preexisting desire or bent to consent. When that is the case, we are like a cheetah lying in wait for a passing gazelle. When we are living with disordered desires, we are placed and poised in a ready position to pounce on temptation as soon as it presents itself; we may even feel helpless in the face of temptation and believe that we can do nothing different. “Like the cheetah,” we say, “there is nothing we can do about our deep human instincts to hunt for sources that fulfill our desires.”

But that does not have to be the final verdict. We need to know these hopeful and grounding truths: Our sinful thoughts do not have to, automatically, lead to sinful acts. We do not have to pile up sinful acts that then become sinful habits. We do not have to live with sinful habits that in turn misshape our character.

>>BRING IT TO LIFE:

Immersing yourself in God’s Word and permitting his Spirit to guide you will give you the power to identify temptation and overcome sin.

CH DAN OUT

“Dear God,



May today be Day One of a new unity in the US, with former divisions freshly healed by humility, wisdom, charity, grace, and forgiveness. Healer of our every ill, breathe in and among all of us who dwell on this land. Soothe our wounds. Calm our fears. Mend our divisions. Hope of all tomorrows, open our deaf ears and fill us with compassion. Tender our hearts. Inspire creative ideas to address the cries of our sisters, brothers, and Earth itself. Send forth your Spirit of Love and Unity. Transform pointed fingers of blame into hands open in reverence to receive one another. Fan into flame the gift of our founding and let us be known again as a people united for the goodness, justice and peace of all people forever. Amen.”

--- Sister Pat Bergen, Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph (CSJ) of Springfield, Massachusetts.

Ch Dan Out!!!

Out with the old, in with the new. Happy New Year!!

We are wishing everyone a safe and Merry Christmas!

WHO: TXARNG Single Soldiers

WHAT: Strong Bonds Retreats Single Soldiers. Strong Bonds will provide two nights lodging, up to 5 meals, a Black or Pink Shirt, and Strong Bonds materials. You must register at http://www.strongbonds.org/ , event ARNG-FY21-00571. You must have a CAC to access the website and dependents must be in DEERS. Childcare will NOT be provided.

COVID19 Mitigation Measures: Participation is limited. Social distancing/6 feet distance in place. Masks are mandatory. Venue specific social distancing protocols in place.

WHEN: 11-13 December 2020

- Registration Cut off is 04 December 2020.

WHERE: Woodlands, TX The Woodlands Resort

POC: TXARNG Strong Bonds Representative, Mrs. Linares, Alexandria [email protected] , 512-782-6698

Welcome to Strong Bonds :: Building Ready Families - Strong Bonds This is the homepage of Strong Bonds Website

TODAY’s READING
Sound familiar?

“All history has been a history of class struggles between dominated classes at various stages of development.” ----- Friedrich Engels

During the time Paul was writing to the Galatians, the people of God were wrestling with many of the same issues we deal with today. Social, racial and economic tensions wreaked havoc on people from disadvantaged parts of society. Entire groups of the population faced relentless discrimination based on race and continually struggled for equality. Financial disparity created social struggles, leading to politicians vying for popular approval with seeming vacuous promises. Society was a mess.

The life and teachings of Jesus flies in the face of virtually every cultural and historical conflict. The message of salvation and the gospel is not in favor of one people group or sector of society. 1 Timothy 2:4 reminds us that God, “desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

In our passage today, we encounter a truth that rocked the world in the time of the early church and has continued to shape the response of Christians to the gospel for the millennia since. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). Imagine how controversial that would have sounded in a civilization under foreign occupation. This was a society that openly endorsed slavery and viewed women as lesser humans and unworthy of citizenship. In many aspects, the phrase, “You all are one in Christ Jesus,” is as radical now as it was two thousand years ago. As you read through the passage for today, meditate on what it means that in Christ we are all one. How would it change our world, our neighborhood and our homes if we truly lived this truth?

CH Dan Out!!