Perhaps the most well-known words from the Bible are the “Lord’s Prayer.” Versions of the prayer occur in both the “The Sermon On The Mount” in Matthew 6:9-13 and “the Sermon on the Plain” in Luke 11:1-4. Although it is not immediately obvious to most people who pray this prayer, this prayer is deeply concerned with economic issues.

Even though every Christian church uses the Lord’s Prayer, following Matthew’s version rather than Luke’s, there are variations in the exact wording.

Some churches use the archaic English, “thy” and “thine.” Protestant churches usually end the prayer with the words, “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory.” Roman Catholics do not recite this ending.

The most critical vocabulary difference is whether a church refers to “debts,” “trespasses,” or “sins.”

When Jesus taught his followers to pray for daily bread and forgiveness of debts, it was more than a prayer for spiritual sustenance and forgiveness of sins. He was first of all referring to real bread and real debts.

The fundamental meaning of the Greek word for “debts” is financial. The prayer makes the need for real bread and payment of debt explicit. This intention is consistent with Jesus’ concern for the poor and dispossessed of his society.

The most important belief expressed in the prayer is that the time will come when God will establish God’s rule on earth, in the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God does not refer to Heaven. It refers to God’s rule on earth, when God will end oppression, poverty, and suffering on earth. This is clear in the language, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

A prayer with the words: “Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” loses the economic foundation of the prayer when “bread” and “debt” become spiritual metaphors, with no connection to real food and economic debt.

Jesus spoke to people who did not think of bread and debt as metaphors. The people Jesus addressed were underfed and overtaxed. Much of the misery of the peasants and beggars in Palestine resulted from debt. Many of the peasant farmers were deeply in debt because they had to pay heavy taxes to the ruling class who owned the land. The king and the elite claimed proprietary rights to the land and whatever the peasants grew on the land. In addition, many of the beggars were former peasants who had been forced off the land because they could not pay their debts.

Throughout the gospels, Jesus spoke about the real human needs of people in a society divided between the haves and the have-nots. He saw the vast gap between the rich and the poor, and criticized the rich for their exploitation and oppression of the poor. He also condemned a religious system which excluded whole categories of people from God’s blessing, by labeling them as “unclean.”

He saw firsthand the extent of hunger, poverty, sickness, and suffering endured by most of the population. He saw how the rich landowners grew rich at the expense of the poor. He saw people who were homeless because they had been driven off their land by high rents and taxes. He saw people living in poverty because the largest percentage of what they grew or made or caught was confiscated by taxes. He knew what it was to live under Roman occupation, where Roman soldiers could force people to do almost anything. He saw how the Temple system collaborated with the Roman occupiers to bleed the people of their money and their power.

It is also true that Matthew’s version of the Lord’s Prayer preserves an Aramaic idiom. Aramaic writings show that the language of “debt” and “debtors” was used regularly for “sin” and “sinners.” Jesus spoke Aramaic and clearly intended that the word “debts” in the prayer refer to both money debts and sins.

In Luke, the prayer loses the double meaning of the word, “debts.” Instead, Luke uses the word “sin” rather than “debt.” This word choice loses the financial reality behind the metaphor and obscures the underlying concern with real bread and real debts.

To pray as Jesus intended, Christians need to retrieve the original meanings of words that have been treated as spiritual metaphors. The cost of daily bread is especially significant in an era of global food shortages and rising prices for basic staples such as wheat, rice, and corn. And forgiveness of debts has particular meaning for those facing foreclosure and bankruptcy because of debts they cannot repay.

Jesus intended his words to refer to suffering and injustice in his own society. This prayer for bread and debts referred to real bread and forgiveness of real financial debts.

What is the significance in keywords? If you know anything at all about how to get your pages ranked high in the search engines, you know that keywords play a huge part in it. Unfortunately, far too many people don’t know how to use keywords to their advantage. In fact, some people misuse them and end up hurting themselves more than they realized.

The first thing to think about in the process of finding the best keywords to use is that you want to find the top 100 keywords in your niche. This is a very important task to master because if you don’t have the keywords with the best competition and good search numbers, you will be wasting your time.

You may or may not know this, but there are services on the internet available to help you in searching for the top 100 keywords in your niche. These tools can do most or all of the work for you and save you a lot of time and headache.

It is really your choice based on how much money you have as to which type of service to use. If you have a very large budget, you may want to find the service that does pretty much all of the work for you. There is usually a monthly fee for these services, but it can be well worth your money. On the other hand, there are cheaper services that offer the same thing, only more steps involved. It is really personal preference.

It is important to have keywords with a low competition. The higher the competition, the more difficult and slow it can be to get your site ranked with that phrase or word. If you think about it, the amount of times someone uses that particular search phrase is highly important also. It gives that keyword more popularity and you more traffic.

So, how can you use the keywords once you have found them? Well, it is important to use them, that is for sure, but you don’t want to overuse them. That is for sure. I have learned by experience, that keyword saturation will not get anyone anywhere. For example, when using article marketing, stick to using 2-3 keywords maximum in the article and one in the title. Using more than that will make you very unpopular with the search engines.

The process of finding the right keywords for my niche is the most fun part of marketing for me. I think once you find the right tools to use, you will agree as well.

Sarah and her husband are from Illinois and were approved for an FHA mortgage loan on a single family home. Their broker told them they needed two months reserves in the bank before closing or the mortgage would not close. They were concerned by this late requirement and came to me for help.

Unlike conventional loans, an FHA mortgage does not have a requirement for reserves on a single family home. If however, a buyer is purchasing a 3-4 family unit the reserves required would be three months.

The answer here was a no-brain-er and is actually available on the HUD website. There is however, a really big issue here. Can you see it? Bear with me, here is another example.

A young couple was approved for an FHA loan in March of 08 and the company they were working with said they had to pay their 2007 taxes before the lender would close the loan. Hello, 2007 taxes aren’t due until April 2008. The wife asked if there was a law stating this. Well, NO! I don’t think so! There is not even an underwriting guideline that calls for it.

This is only two examples. What is going on here?

I have a web site where I answer Mortgage questions from home buyers, sellers, real estate agents, loan officers, and yes, even underwriters. These underwriters and loan officers are from some well know companies. This isn’t about my web site, … I’m not even going to give you the URL. I only bring it up because that is why I see a big picture that others can not. I get questions every day from all over our country, India, and other countries in the middle east.

I see several issues with this information so far but I’m only going to cover two.

First, Why don’t Loan Officers and Underwriters know basic FHA underwriting guidelines? Simple, they have no experience or training on FHA! FHA loans are and always have been a terrific option for people that didn’t quite fit into conventional guidelines. Best of all the interest rate is considerably lower compared to a sub-prime loan and as I write this today FHA rates are equal to par on a Fannie Mae. It doesn’t get any better than that, right?

Well, FHA loans are fairly complicated to put together and they used to have stringent appraisal and inspection requirements. So, if a borrower didn’t fit into Fannie or Freddie it was easier and quicker to slap them into a sub-prime. It was a slam dunk and so what if the rates were higher on a sub-prime, few consumers understood their options anyway. (that mentality is why I built my site in 2002)

Another reason companies didn’t do FHA loans was because they had to be HUD approved which meant they had to have a minimum net worth and pass a costly Audit every year. So again, why bother when sub-prime was so easy and available.

Now, of course the sub-prime days are almost a thing of the past or at least not as “sub” as they use to be. The savior? … FHA Loans of course, except that very few, including underwriters have any experience with them or understand the differences between FHA and Fannie. Thus, in the two examples above, underwriters and LOs are just making stuff up or worse case, running scared because of all the flack in the industry right now.

In defense of the underwriter (as in example two), they do have the authority to require what ever they deem necessary to improve a portfolio. However, many of the questions I have received in the past from underwriters seem to reveal that it is really a case of inexperience and over caution.

The mortgage industry professionals are struggling to catch up/learn FHA guidelines. If you are a consumer you must be very careful to find someone that has been HUD approved for at least two years. And Do Check, seriously. Some companies are doing FHA loans and they are not HUD approved. They are under the disillusionment that HUD will allow a non-HUD approved broker, to broker, to another HUD approved broker! Sounds a little flaky, no?

How did we ever get in this mortgage mess? We can give some of the blame to the politicians and presidential candidates that are hyping it up for their own agenda. It is not as bad as they say but they are speaking so loudly that the rest of the world is now listening. Did you read what is going on in the UK’s market today? Good grief.

I’m not sure we should be bailing out our large lending companies and here is why. Back in this article I mentioned getting questions from India and other countries in the middle east. I have to ask myself, why would a mortgage underwriter in India, who I can hardly understand due to “no speaking good English”, be calling me on the telephone at 3:00am about a loan in Texas?

Go Figure!

It doesn’t have to be difficult to keep your car clean and tidy. Keep these tips in mind, and you’ll be proud to drive your squeaky-clean car around town.

Wash at home. Car washing is the only way for your car to get nice and shiny, so why not try washing it yourself, at home? With automated car washing, you can have the car cleaned while getting your nails done, but that will cost you. Park the car in a shaded area and then wash it down using a hose. Start with the roof, work your way down the sides, and then to the tires. Afterwards, scrub the car with a sponge dipped in water and mild liquid soap. Rinse and repeat if necessary.

Take advantage of car washes. You can drive to an automated car wash service to get your car cleaned up if you can’t be bothered to do it at home. It’s going to cost you, that’s for sure, so make sure to compare pros and cons before you go. The good thing about automated or drive-through car wash services is they make the experience of owning a car hassle-free. You no longer have to worry about bird droppings or liquid stains or anything of the sort - simply drive over to the nearest car wash, pay for the cleaning, and drive through.

Tidy inside out. The purpose of car cleaning is to prevent the car from wearing out, but there’s more to it than that. It is also about feeling good when you’re inside the car, not itchy and grimy because somebody didn’t clean the interior. First rule of thumb is to check the seats. Bits of food and other small particles tend to get stuck between the cushions, so check those areas often. Then, sweep the floor of small stones and dirt that found their way into the car. Just remember to clean out the seats first before doing the floor and not the other way around - otherwise, you’ll need to do the floor again.

Use car seat covers. One of the toughest things about owning a car is taking out the seats to have them washed. It’s a tedious job and it gets worse every time. In addition, it’s impossible not to dirty the seats, especially with children. You really need to start thinking about investing in seat covers. With seat covers, you simply remove the covers if you have to get them washed and cleaned up. The seats remain intact. These covers protect the seats from stains and dust and all sorts of fabric damage. It doesn’t get any better than this. seat covers will change the way you see your car.

Keep a trash can nearby. A trash can inside the car will save you a lot of time and effort by significantly reducing the need for you to clean up every now and then. Some people have the habit of just dropping their garbage - a candy wrapper, a plastic bag, crumpled paper - anywhere if they can’t find a trash can nearby. Don’t let that “anywhere” be your car. Keep a small trash can behind either the driver’s seat or the passenger’s seat and save your car from smelling like the pits.

With each of these five tips, it should be no problem to keep your car clean. Remember, cleaning it a bit at a time, and often, will be a lot easier on you than leaving it for weeks (or months!) only to have to spend an entire weekend dealing with a large mess.

Air freight shipping, in most cases, is fairly complicated when it comes to pricing. But there are of course some areas when all you need is to look at the price list and voila- your parcel is already in mid air.

Letters and parcels are often priced based on the weight, size and the service level the shipper chooses. These are often fixed and seldom would one find great discrepancies in pricing. But as for air freight shipping prices, it is no good to be surprised at how high one item can cost.

The National Motor Freight Traffic Association has provided a system of pricing shipments known as the National Motor Freight Classification. This works on the principle of creating classes for items and for each class are some general prices.

Items are basically grouped into various types to make listing easier. This grouping is based on qualifications like loadability, mixed-environment appropriateness, density and a number of other factors. In general, freight classes apply to all items- from express letters to huge machineries including helicopters and planes. Freight classes range from 50 to 500.

Freight shipments are rated by means of “per one hundred pounds” parameter. However, other air freight forwarders make use of per hundred weight system and cwt.

Each freight class is able to provide discounts on the base rate. Plus, there is always a discount given on the transportation rates.

Nevertheless, such discounts can be set off by charges that are often treated as accesorial yet crucial to the base rate that would later come up for the shipment. The most commonly found accesorial charges and surcharges are discussed below.

To save on these charges, it is best to know your grounds first and study in full the terms and conditions of air freight shipping as provided by the freight company.

Lift gate- When there is no forklift or loading dock available, a lift gate service is billed to help drivers load and unload the shipments for residential pickups and deliveries or commercial pick up and deliveries. To avoid complications during the process, it is best that you notify the air freight service provider in case you see the need of a lift gate since trailers are rarely equipped with this item.

Additional fees in reconfiguring routes- Most air freight shipping are designed to follow a route of some sorts. If you require the company to take another route apart from what is earlier set, they would most likely charge you with additional fees for this extra work.

Extra charges on inside pick up and delivery- When you need to have your shipment picked up or delivered inside an establishment or a building, this will impede the carrier to finish his route on schedule. Thus, to set off the expenses they are likely to use, carriers will require you of some additional charges.

Residential pick up and delivery- To off set the costs incurred for transferring shipments to smaller trailers, most air freight shipping companies require extra charges on residential pick ups and deliveries. This is the case since most local laws restrain larger sizes of trucks from entering residential areas.

There are literally hundreds of possibilities for extra payments that would stock up on your final bill. For Less-than-Truckload and Truckload shipments, it is advisable that shippers seek for intermediaries who would not only guide them through the process but would also realize for them some forms of savings.

Vending machines are found all around us so it is easy to take for granted how they got there. Since these machines are what a business owner will use to generate income, taking care of them is essential. They are often heavier than they may initially seem so you do need to be prepared. Never attempt to move any vending machine on your own as you can get seriously injured.

Unless you are continually buying new vending machines to expand your business, the issue of moving them into a place won’t be something you deal with everyday. Perhaps that is why too many vending machine owners fail to see the importance of doing it safely. They may end up hurting themselves in the process or damaging their vending machine. Neither scenario is one you want to see going on for your vending machine business.

Never attempt to move a vending machine by yourself as this is just asking for problems to occur. You can hire someone to help you or you can ask a good friend to lend you a hand. Still, you may find that even with two people on the job the vending machine is just too heavy to safely move. Be smart about it instead of macho and you will benefit more from the process. Grab a dolly that you can slide underneath the vending machine and be on your way.

If you are attempting to life the vending machine into a truck you will notice that is quite a distance from the ground. You may need to have several strong people to help with this process. Again, you need to make sure you strap the vending machine down securely in place. You don’t want it to move around or to fall out during transit.

Some trucks are equipped with a hydraulic lift which can be very useful for transporting vending machines. You simply slide it onto the lift, start the movement, and lift it up to the location on the truck where you want it. Then you can slide it back or lay it down depending on how you wish to transport it. You can do the reverse to easily get the vending machine out of the vehicle.

Some vending machine owners simply aren’t interested in moving their own vending machines though. They would rather pay a moving company to take care of it for them. You can often negotiate a very good price if you know who you can rely on. Make sure you call ahead though to make sure they can fit your vending machine transport into their schedule. You need to make sure you get a good price on the procedure as well before you commit to it.

Never take any chances when it comes to the process of moving your vending machines. You may think you are saving time by doing it yourself but you can end up injured. You may think you are saving time by not strapping the vending machine down but you can ruin it. There is too much money invested in such equipment to take big risks like that.

Moving vending machines to their locations is just another part of the job that you have to take into consideration. There are right ways and wrong ways to accomplish it though. Do all you can to keep everyone safe. Your next focus should be on keeping your vending machine in excellent condition so that it will last you a very long time.

Benjamin Franklin coined the phrase, “A penny saved, is a penny earned.” What was thought wise advice in his time, has become even more provident in todays world where debt seems an epidemic among American consumers. Todays financial experts agree that it can be the small day to day savings that add up to big results as we work to eliminate consumer debt. Here are a few of there tips for cutting out excess spending:

Keep track of all your monthly expenditures, even fifty cents for a snack. Cutting out even the smallest daily purchases, can add up to big annual savings. Financial experts call this the “Latte Factor.”

When you force yourself to think about every purchase, it makes it easier to be strict and frugal in your spending. This also allows you to find wasted money in your budget that could be put toward debt reduction.

Shopping sales can be a great way to save money on the purchases that you would normally make anyway. While everyone likes to find a great deal, just be careful that you are not overspending, or worse, buying things you dont need, simply because they are on sale.

With the hike in gas prices, driving across town to save a few cents on one item is no longer a smart savings solution. Become a one-stop shopper by watching the weekly ads, and trying to get everything you need in one trip.

Many stores offer double or triple coupon savings, and some stores will even price match, allowing you to get the other stores sale price with just one trip to the market.

Plan menus, make a list, and make only one shopping trip each week. This will help eliminate impulse buys and overspending.

Look for month to month savings by lowering your monthly bills. Scale back on your phone plan and cable bill, turn down your thermostat, and cancel any memberships that go unused. Watch for ways to lower each payment–youll be surprised at the extra savings you can find!

Wainscoting is a very popular choice when considering wall coatings, it has been popular for over one hundred years. Wainscoting is basically a type of paneling which is used to fix to the lower half of the walls inside your home. In addition to new shower curtains, and a few throw rugs, it’s an extremely inexpensive way to makeover your home.

Wainscotting can be made from a number of different materials, including ceramic tiles, marble, wood, or even modern materials such as plastic. Wainscoting is any paneling which starts at the baseboard and goes up to the chair rail. The most popular material for this is wood, especially tongue and groove boards.

Wainscoting can be virtually any height, but they are basically an extension of the baseboard. Baseboards commonly run up to eight inches high, most of these have a decorative top edge. Traditional wainscoting was popular in the 40’s.

Wainscoting traditionally went higher than it is popular today, these normally go as high as fifty four inches. This is not only used to decorate the area, but it is also used to protect the wall from damage. Taller wainscoting became popular in the middle of the nineteenth century. Traditional types use tongue and groove boards which are fixed to the wall with nails in order to hide the joints in the walls.

You can also install higher levels of wainscot in your home, these became very fashionable in the dining room during the 1900’s. The most popular material used for these during this time was material such as burlap or grass cloth. Most of these were rich vibrant colors.

Wainscot has quite a long spanning history, however it is still in fashion. There are some interesting changes that are making wainscoting more popular for use in modern homes.

Wainscoting are very cheap, it’s possible to cover a complete medium sized room for under $150. The look of wainscoting is very popular at the moment, it is very elegant and doesn’t cost a lot of money. Many newly built homes are starting to use wainscoting as part of their original decoration which could be why it is becoming so popular. It’s elegant and it references the past which makes your house look sophisticated. People still think of wainscoting as an older building material because it was typically used in older homes, this adds to the look and feel of your whole room.

Wainscoting is also very functional at protecting your walls, especially if you have young children or pets. Walls typically take quite a lot of battering. In the dining room for example children will hit the wall whenever they leave the table. In hallways and in their room they leave their handprints all over the walls. By wainscoting your wall you can protect your walls, and make it easy to clean if it does get dirty.

Wainscoting has been popular for over a hundred years, and it continues to remain in the spotlight of home design.

Small bathroom ideas for a bathroom remodeling project make take some time to assemble, but it can make your small bathroom more pleasant and more functional as well.

Consider first what you want and need when first beginning to plan for bathroom remodeling. Small bathroom design requires strategic planning.

Are you going to do a complete remodel of the entire space, or do you just want to do a partial bathroom remodel? A partial remodel can sometime bring great results.

Changes you want to make in your bathroom will depend on how it is used, and who uses it. Your small bathroom design will vary depending on if it is a main bathroom, or a master bath. Each has it’s own needs.

The individual needs and age of users is an important factor. In the case of children, height and usage has to be factored in.

A master bath is a more private area, and you may want more luxury, and different amenities such as a whirlpool tub, a steam shower, or a two person soaking tub. Give what you want, and what will fit your space and budget some serious thought. Sometimes you may have to forego one amenity in order to have another. Decide what is the most important to you.

Consider your color choices in bathroom wall covering, flooring materials and surfacing. Using lighter colors will help to lighten up and expand the visual space. Tone on tone is a better choice for a small bathroom, and if you select neutral colors your bath will not get outdated anytime soon. An extra advantage to neutral colors is that it gives you more leeway with future changes in decor.

Choose light tones for your wall color, and a coordinating light color for your flooring. Larger more muted patterns are better for your flooring than small busy patterns. The less the better.

If you must use a shower curtain, keep it an all over color rather than a bold or themed pattern. Better yet, invest in a glass shower door which slides to save space.

Keep window treatments simple. A small bathroom is not the place for fluffy curtains. Blinds or bamboo shades will streamline the look of your window. Another option is to get a mylar covering from you home improvement store to cover the glass. This will allow privacy, as well as add a decor element. They are available in a variety of designs. Add a very simple valance in a coordinating color.

Dark colored cabinetry can seem to protrude from the wall and squeeze you in. If you are keeping existing cabinetry, sand it thoroughly and give it a new stain either in a light wood tone, or in a color. This is good even if your cabinets aren’t dark. A new color will add to the new feel and look of your bathroom. If installing new cabinets, keep them light and neutral.

Replace towel rods with rings. Rings are more elegant, and fit closer to the wall. Think how much wall space a standard towel bar consumes.

Consider, if you are replacing fixtures, getting smaller more compact versions. Many fixtures are planned and manufactured with small bathroom design in mind.

Use the corners of your bathroom to advantage. Use graph paper or design software and see how corner toilets, corner tubs or corner vanities would work into your small bathroom design.

Once your bathroom remodel is complete and you are happy with it’s new function and appearance, keep it neat. Smaller rooms are more challenging to keep up. Use bins or baskets for grooming needs. Once you are done the items can be replaced in the basket and whisked behind cabinet doors and out of sight.

From letters to air planes, it is now possible to ship just about anything through air freight services.

All these stuffs can be carried through commercial airplanes to various mammoth-like flying machines.

International air freight can be divided into simpler categories though. While just as we have said, everything can be shipped via air there should always be some form of separation between items so that various risks can be avoided.

The three basic categories of air freight are:

Air freights that are carried through passenger air lines Air freights that are carried through special cargo planes, and Air freights that are huge enough to be carried by super cargo planes

Along with the passengers, international air lines can also carry with them stuffs that would be stationed to various air freight service locations. These then will be delivered via rail or road to their proper recipients.

The United States Postal Service has leased some 15 000 to 25 000 passenger planes daily to haul freight. This takes up 5 to 10 percent of all air freight revenue.

This type of international air freight are packed along with other shipments on special containers that are designed to fit the storage area beneath the passenger compartment. However, some air freight can be put on pallets while other relatively smaller items can be made to fit on remaining open spaces.

The Boeing 747-400 is usually used as the freight carrier in the passenger air line category. However, it can also be made to hold 10 000 cubic feet of cargo when on the Combi mode. This is when some of the passenger compartments are partly turned into cargo areas.

But when configured, this plane can be transformed into a huge cargo plane which can then haul as much as 5 semi trucks.

Since Boeing 747-400s are not specifically made as air freighters, there is not as much room as with a cargo plane to fit a forklift truck for loading pallets, special electric rollers are equipped on the load floor. These rollers are used to move the cargoes into the inner chambers of cargo areas.

However, for hauling huge items, a super transporter is needed. It is used for transporting helicopters and planes and is purely designed to perform such tasks.

Such planes are built in a way that when an object fits comfortably through the door then it can fit into the body of the plane. The plane is large enough to carry terribly hugr stuffs. It carries up to 47 ton stuffs but still not large enough to carry military tanks.

For such big-time requirements, Antonov AN-225 can do the job.

For this monster-air transporter, three military trucks is just about as easy as for a Boeing 747-400 to carry international air freights at its own limits.

This was originally a Russian space shuttle. With a wingspan as huge as a football field, this air freight super transporter can send to any destination some 80 cars or 3-4 military trucks. Well, if this isn’t huge enough for your air freight service requirements then you might as well arrange multiple sending of stuffs.

Now you’ve seen your options of air freights. From sending your niece her birthday present to shipping military tanks, you are sure to find your way of sending cargoes from coast to coast.