Josh Hamilton - An amazing story of faith and overcoming drug addiction

Not a Great Night to be an Atheist

Josh Hamilton had a dream that he would be in Yankee Stadium in a Home Run Derby contest. The 27 year-old slugger from the Texas Rangers had his dream come true July 14, and he put on the greatest display of power and consistency in the history of the event. It wasn’t long ago that Hamilton wasn’t a professional baseball player at all. He was a cocaine and heroin addict. He had dropped out of baseball for three years.Once a prospect for the Tampa Bay Rays, Hamilton’s addiction cost him his job.

The thrill of being at the ball park was not as great as the craving for the next high. Drafted in 1999, he started using after an auto accident in 2001. Hamilton’s drug addiction led to a suspension by Major League Baseball for violation of the league's joint drug treatment and prevention program on February 18, 2004.

Read more, including the Happy Ending at Drug Addiction Support

Magnetic stimulation blocks migraine pain

A hand-held device that painlessly sends a magnetic pulse into the head may offer some migraine sufferers relief, a small study suggests.

The device delivers a therapy known as transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS. It sparks a magnetic pulse that, when held against a person's head, creates an electric current among the nerves cells of the brain.

This, in turn, disrupts migraines in the "aura" phase, before they trigger pain.

Though migraines strike without warning in most cases, some people experience an aura stage, which is marked by visual disturbances, like flashes of light or zigzag lines, or other sensations such as tingling or numbness.

For the new study, researchers recruited 201 patients suffering from migraine with aura, then randomly assigned them to use the TMS device or a "sham" device the investigators used for comparison. Patients were instructed to apply the device over the site of the migraine, at its onset.

More from Reuters

Shroud of Turin to Go on Display in 2010

Pope Benedict says the Shroud of Turin will go on rare public display in 2010.

The shroud, which is revered by many Christians as the burial cloth of Jesus, was last was shown to the public in 2000.

More than 1 million visitors viewed it in Turin cathedral during a special display for the new millennium Holy Year.

Believers say the image on the cloth was left by Christ's body after he was taken off the cross.

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Mother's anger turns to delight after her baby survives an abortion

Finley Crampton really shouldn't be here. Although his parents would have loved another child, they knew their baby could inherit a life-threatening kidney condition – and they couldn't take the risk.

After all, their first son had died of the condition and the second was born with serious kidney damage.

So when Finley's mother, Jodie Percival, became pregnant while on the Pill, she and her fiance Billy Crampton, 35, made the agonising decision to abort this child.

'Deciding to terminate at eight weeks was just utterly horrible but I couldn't cope with the anguish of losing another baby,' said Miss Percival, 25.

However, Finley had other ideas. And some time after the operation, Miss Percival felt a fluttering in her stomach.

Eventually her doctor sent her for a scan – and she discovered she was 19 weeks pregnant.

The child had survived the abortion and thrived in the womb. 'I couldn't believe it,' said Miss Percival. 'This was the baby I thought I'd terminated.

More from The Mail Online

KID CAN DO IT ALL ON ONE LEG - Baseball, football, soccer -- nothing slows him down

Adam Bender slips a chest protector over his Astros jersey, buckles a shinguard to his right leg, positions a mask atop his head, grabs his catcher's mitt and hops out of the dugout.

Adam has his game face on. Or at least what passes as a game face for an 8-year-old. His eyes are serious. His freckled nose is crinkled with determination.

Adam is amazing to watch. He takes his position behind the plate, resting on his right knee.

When a runner rounds third looking to score, Adam jumps up and holds his ground.

He suffered a mild concussion on one collision and missed a practice or two. But he recovered and was ready for action in the next game. At one point this season he led the rookie league in put-outs at home.

At bat, his athletic skill and balance allow him to take a full swing, and he usually makes contact. He hops to first base as quickly as he can. If he's safe, he uses crutches to run the bases. When he gets thrown out, he hops dejectedly back to the dugout.

He's a competitor, and not just in baseball.

Adam, who lost his left leg to cancer when he was 1, has played soccer for a couple of years. He uses crutches, and is a whirlwind on the field in Centenary United Methodist's "I Am Third" league.

More with Video at Kentucky.com

Holy water? Christian man's car 'gets 100 miles per ounce'

With gasoline prices in the $4 per gallon range, a Christian inventor in Florida claims he's developed a way to seriously stretch the fuel mileage on his car. "I get 100 miles to the ounce on water," Anthony Brown told WJXX-TV in Jacksonville. "I can run any water – distilled water, drinking water, tap water."

"Right now it's using a little bit of gas. If anything, it's getting a fuel vapor. I've got the fuel injection system shut down," he added. Sporting a T-shirt that proclaims, "Today, He Forgives," Brown brought his vehicle and the local ABC affiliate to a mechanic to examine his system, which he says is still in development.

Brown, who the station says runs the Wings of Love Ministry, indicated any profit from the invention would help missionaries around the world. "I've just been asking for a way the Lord to show me to raise money rapidly, and I started working on this idea," he said.

I've got my doubts about this one but I hope it is for real.

More at WorldNetDaily

Poor people of Ohio Rejoice! Payday loans are not nearly as SHARKY anymore.

Gov. Ted Strickland, of the great state of Ohio, has signed a bill that punches the rapidly growing payday lending industry in the face. As we've mentioned before, the bill will cap interest rates at 28% and limits consumers to 4 payday loans per year. A typical payday loan charges around $15 per $100 borrowed on a 2 week loan, which works out to an interest rate of 391%.

"We will not tolerate individuals being exposed to exorbitant rates, which does contribute to the cycle of indebtedness," Strickland said. In the past decade, payday lending in Ohio has grown from a few hundred stores to over 1,600. The bill will likely cause most of these stores to close and 6,000 people to lose their jobs. Ohio says these jobs aren't worth keeping:

"We want to replace jobs that are taking advantage of people with jobs that help people," said Ohio Senate President Bill Harris, an Ashland Republican.

I wish all of goverment worked like this. Way to go Ohio!

More at the Consumerist

Missing Kentucky Dog Found More Than A Thousand Of Miles Away

It's hard to believe, but a dog, lost near Lexington, Kentucky nearly a month ago, has been found in Texas, more than a thousand miles away from its home.

Tom and Debbie Griswald's 9-month-old German Shepherd, Trudy, disappeared on April 25th.

Tom told our sister station, WKYT, "I had pretty well decided that Trudy was dead, that the coyotes had gotten her because I couldn't imagine anyone picking up a dog in that good of condition with a collar and not trying to find the owner."

What they didn't know is that a woman had picked up the dog in a restaurant parking lot in Nicholasville and driven it to her home in Texas.

She even renamed the dog Lexie.

But then, on May 1st, the Griswalds got a break in the form of an e-mail from the Texas woman's sister-in-law in Vermont.

Debbie Griswald recalls, "The Vermont woman saw Trudy on Dog Detective.com and said her sister-in-law picked up a dog, a female German Shepherd , in the Lexington area in April. She wondered if that could be our Trudy."

Luckily, the Griswalds had implanted a micro chip identifier in Trudy, and authorities in Montgomery County, Texas were able to determined that the dog there did indeed belong to the Kentucky couple.

Tom and Debbie now give the lady who took the dog the benefit of the doubt, sort of.

Tom Griswald says, "Misguided Samaritan I think is what I've finally come to call her. I had some other names before."

Police in Texas say the woman will probably not face any charges.
Trudy was flown from Houston to Lexington Thursday night where her grateful owners were waiting to be reunited with her.

From WTIN.com

Miracle: Woman Wakes Up after 'Death Set In'

The Thomas family experienced a medical miracle and wants everyone to know.

Val Thomas from West Virginia died and her family said their farewell. But 10 minutes after her heart stopped a third time, she miraculously woke up and called for her son.

"I feel very blessed," Thomas told NewsNet5. "I know God has something in store for me, another purpose. I don't know what it is but I'm sure he'll tell me."

Thomas' heart had stopped at home on Saturday at 1:30 a.m. Doctors at a West Virginia hospital say she suffered two heart attacks and had no brain waves for more than 17 hours, according to the local news channel.

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Lost Parrot Returns Home After Telling Veterinarian His Address

When Yosuke the parrot flew out of his cage and got lost, he did exactly what he had been taught — recite his name and address to a stranger willing to help.

Police rescued the African grey parrot two weeks ago from a neighbor's roof in the city of Nagareyama, near Tokyo. After spending a night at the station, he was transferred to a nearby veterinary hospital while police searched for clues, local policeman Shinjiro Uemura said.

He kept mum with the cops, but began chatting after a few days with the vet.

"I'm Mr. Yosuke Nakamura," the bird told the veterinarian, according to Uemura. The parrot also provided his full home address, down to the street number, and even entertained the hospital staff by singing songs.

More from Fox News

In rubble, Chinese couple clung to each other, and to life

At the moment of greatest despair, Wang Zhijun tried to kill himself by twisting his neck against the debris.

Breathing had become harder as day turned to night. The chunks of brick and concrete that had buried him and his wife were pressing tighter by the hour, crushing them. Their bodies had gone numb.

Then there was the rain, sharp and cold, lashing at them through the cracks.

“I don’t think I can make it,” he told his wife, Li Wanzhi, his face just inches from hers, their arms wrapped around each other.

She sensed he was giving up. “If God wants to kill us, he would have killed us right away,” she said. “But since we’re still alive, we must be fated to live.”

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Happy Mother's Day: Woman pregnant with 18th child

It's a happy Mother's Day for an Arkansas woman - she's pregnant with her 18th child. Michelle Duggar, 41, is due on New Year's Day, and the latest addition will join seven sisters and 10 brothers. There are two sets of twins.

"We've had three in January, three in December. Those two months are a busy time for us," she said, laughing.

The Duggars' oldest child, Josh, is 20, and the youngest, Jennifer, is nine months old.

The fast-growing family lives in Tontitown in northwest Arkansas in a 7,000-square-foot home. All the children - whose names start with the letter J - are home-schooled.

Duggar has been been pregnant for more than 11 years of her life, and the family is in the process of filming another series for Discovery Health.

More from AP

Blind Bowler Scores Perfect Game

A blind Iowa man scored a perfect 300 game at the Century Lanes bowling alley on Saturday, The Storm Lake Times reported. The Times said Dale Davis, 78, of Alta, called the game "quite a thrill." He rolled 12 back-to-back strikes, the first-ever perfect game at the Century Lanes, The Times reported.

Excitement throughout the building grew as the crowd watched Davis roll ball after ball down the lanes.

"When I got to the tenth frame, I said ‘Lord, let me throw three more good balls,’ Davis told The Times.

Davis had given up his passion for the sport after losing his sight to macular degeneration years ago. His sister brought him back to the lanes, where he now plays six games a week, reported The Times.

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We've reached a Milestone because of YOU!

I just want to thank everyone who has visited this blog and my sister blog "Days of Caution" in the past few months. Since starting in Feb. we have together gotten in excess of 10,000 hits. I know that tiny compared to a lot of sites on the web, but at least to me, it's a good start. And it's all because of you, so pat yourself on the back. Keep coming back, tell your friends and I'll try to let you know when we hit our next goal of 25,000.

I hate to tell you this but posts may become less frequent in upcoming months. I've got to get bunch of CEU hours quickly for my certification as a counselor, so that will take up much of my free time. I'll try to keep you informed though.

Thanks,
John

TODDLER SAVED FROM STORM DRAIN

Before Saturday night, Bruce Hebert wondered why God kept him on Earth.
By 7:30 p.m., he had his answer.
Police are describing Hebert and Pedro Davila as heroes after they rescued a 21-month-old baby girl from a watery storm drain in the area of Fourth and Morgan streets.
Hebert said he was cooking on a grill outside his Fourth Street home when a minivan pulled up nearby.
“Then a lady was flipping out and running around,” he related.
“I wonder why Jesus keeps me on Earth,” he said. “I got my answer tonight. It was to save that little girl.”
More from The Herald News

Teen gives birth in shower, walks to hospital

A 17-year-old girl gave birth secretly at home, then walked four blocks to a hospital with the baby still attached by its umbilical cord.

"I was just a little nervous" when the labor began, Xochitl Parra said Friday from St. Mary Medical Center as she cradled her 8-pound, 3-ounce son, Alejandro.

The boy was normal and "eating like a champ," said Dr. Jose Perez, director of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

More from MSNBC

Du Toit, who lost leg in scooter accident, will swim in Beijing Games

South African amputee Natalie Du Toit qualified for the Beijing Olympics on Saturday after she finished fourth in the 10 kilometer ace in the Open Water World Championships.

The 24-year-old, who lost her left leg when she was hit by a car while riding her scooter in 2001, clocked a time of 2 hours, 2 minutes 7.8 seconds, just 5.1 seconds behind winner Larisa Ilchenko of Russia.

The 10 kilometer open water race is making its debut as an Olympic event in Beijing.

Du Toit almost qualified for the Sydney Olympics in three events at the age of 16 but she suffered the accident a year later.

More from ESPN

Pastor, wife ready to build church at former porn site

From porn magazines to Bibles, the former site of an adult book store will soon be home to the parishioners of Mision El Redentor Pentecostal Church.

Pastor Urias Mendoza and his wife Heather purchased the former Apple Adult Book Store XXX on Mills Avenue in April 2006 with the goal of demolishing the building and putting a church on the property.

Two years later - and after many prayers - Heather Mendoza said blueprints are complete, and she and her husband are just waiting for the green light to begin.

"We're in our final stages, and there are just a few T's to be crossed and I's to be dotted, and we can finally begin tearing down the walls," Mendoza said.

More from the Daily Bulletin

Hero - Newspaper Carrier saves woman pinned down by dead husband for 4 days

Newspaper carrier Bruce Pitts knew the elderly couple only by the prayers the wife made for him while he was working at night and in bad weather, but he felt something was wrong when the papers piled up outside their home.

"It was never like them to leave a newspaper in their tube," Pitts said Tuesday. "That wonderful, small voice inside me said, 'This isn't right."'

After his route early Sunday, Pitts went home, napped briefly and, with his wife, returned to Blanche and Fred Roberts' home, just outside Marion, Illinois.

They repeatedly rang the doorbells but got no answer. Pitts then eased open an unlocked side door and saw the couple about two feet inside, 84-year-old Blanche Roberts helpless looking right back at Pitts.

More from CNN

World's largest prayer meeting gathers momentum

This Pentecost Sunday, 11 May, millions of Christians, from 210 nations around the world will be gathering to worship and pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth as part of the fourth Global Day of Prayer.

There will be over 38 events across the UK in cathedrals, civic centres, stadiums, high places, parks, churches and houses of prayer.

The Global Day of Prayer started in South Africa in 2005 and is based on Acts 1 and 2 - ten days of constant prayer (1st -10 May); 1 day for the whole church to gather (11 May) and 90 days of blessing (12 May – 10 August). The aim is to see local churches united in prayer to see communities transformed by the Holy Spirit.

More from Christian Today

Global Day Of Prayer Website

Also Remember The National Day of Prayer - May 1st.