Thursday, June 30, 2011

Poem for Today : 'I Believe in Him'

I Believe in Him
 I believe in Jesus,
For He first believed in me:
Yes, I believe in him,
Enough for Him to set me free.

He said to all mankind, “Believe,
That when I died upon the cross,
The whole world stood to gain
Their freedom from My loss.”

So I believe in Jesus,
That He died to set me free:
Yes, I believe in Him,
Because He first believed in me.
© Colin Gordon-Farleigh 

God Bless You!

When you consider that Christ died so that you could have the gift of eternal life you have everything to be thankful for, no matter that sometimes things don't seem to go right for you in this life. His love for you really is a truly amazing love!
Give thanks every day for the blessings that God pours into your life. You can thank Him for your family, your friends,your home, your work, your leisure ... in fact for every part of your daily life. Don't forget to thank Him for the greatest gift of all, His only Son, Jesus Christ, who came so that you might be free from the shackles and constraints of sin.
However you are hurting, whether the cause is physical pain or emotional pain, Christ can heal you.
The pure fragrance of His love will mend your broken heart and give you the hope of eternal salvation.

Yips Kitchen, Sunway Pyramid - The Preview.

Recently, I went to try out this place in Sunway Pyramid - it is NOT a new place; in fact, it has been there since like 10 years ago. The place is called Yips Kitchen - I shall do a little preview here first - and write more later. =)

YIP'S KITCHEN
LG2.52-2.53 Sunway Pyramid,
No. 3, Jln PJS11/15
Bandar Sunway,
46150 Petaling Jaya, Selangor
tel : 03-7492 6028

Is Short-term Memory Loss.

is short-term memory loss.
is short-term memory loss.

What About Thorium?

The raw material, thorium, is much more abundant than uranium and emits only low-level alpha particles. It has one isotope and therefore, does not require an enrichment cycle to be used as fuel. It is many times more energy efficient than uranium.

A thorium reactor produces no plutonium that can be made into atomic weapons and less longer-lived radionuclides than a uranium-based reactor. Because there is no chain reaction, there is no chance of a meltdown. Nuclear waste from past operations that contain fissile uranium and plutonium can be used as start-up fuel. _ResourceInvestor
For humans to enjoy a clean and abundant energy future, they will need to move to energy from nuclear reactions -- which means nuclear fission, for now. Thorium is the main alternative to uranium as a large-scale nuclear fuel. Here are some basic facts about thorium:
Thorium is a naturally-occurring, slightly radioactive metal discovered in 1828 by a Swedish chemist, Jons Jakob Berzelius, who named it after Thor, the Norse god of thunder. The silvery white metal is found in small amounts in most rocks and soils, where it is about three times more abundant than uranium. Typical garden variety soil commonly contains an average of around 6 parts per million (ppm) of thorium.


Applications
Thorium oxide, also called thoria, has one of the highest melting points of all oxides at 3300°C. When this oxide is heated in air, thorium metal turnings ignite and burn brilliantly with a white light. Because of these properties, thorium has found applications in welding electrodes, heat-resistant ceramics, light bulb elements, lantern mantles and arc-light lamps. Glass containing thorium oxide has a high refractive index and dispersion and is used in high quality lenses for cameras and scientific instruments.
Sources and geographical distribution
The most common source of thorium is the rare earth phosphate mineral, monazite, which may contain up to about 12 percent thorium phosphate; however, the average is closer to a 6-7 percent range. Monazite is found in igneous and other rocks but the richest concentrations are in placer deposits, concentrated by wave and current action with other heavy minerals. World monazite resources are estimated to be about 12 million tonnes, two-thirds of which are in heavy mineral sands deposits on the south and east coasts of India. Australia is estimated by the USGS to host approximately 24 percent of the world’s thorium reserves. A large vein deposit of thorium and rare earth metals have been discovered in the Lemhi Pass region of Idaho and Montana.
Going nuclear
Although not fissile itself, thorium has started to reemerge as a tempting prospect to employ as fuel in nuclear power reactors. Thorium 232 will absorb slow neutrons to produce uranium 233, which is fissile (and long-lived). The irradiated fuel can then be unloaded from the reactor, the uranium 233 separated from the thorium, and fed back into another reactor as part of a closed fuel cycle. Alternatively, uranium 233 can be bred from thorium in a blanket, the uranium 233 separated, and then fed into the core.
The use of thorium-based fuel cycles has been studied for about 40 years, but on a much smaller scale than uranium or uranium/plutonium cycles. Basic research and development has been conducted in Germany, India, Japan, Russia, the UK and the USA. China and India have been among primary catalysts in research efforts to use it. Test reactor irradiation of thorium fuel to high burn-ups has also been conducted and several test reactors have either been partially or completely loaded with thorium-based fuel.
Thorium can be used in Generation IV and other advanced nuclear fuel cycle systems.
China has been working on developing the technology for sodium cooled fast reactors which are a type of liquid fluoride thorium reactors (LFTRs). The advanced breeder concept features a molten salt as the coolant, usually a fluoride salt mixture. This is hot, but not under pressure, and does not boil below about 1400°C. Much research has focused on lithium and beryllium additions to the salt mixture. In mid-2009, AECL signed agreements with three Chinese entities to develop and demonstrate the use of thorium fuel in the Candu reactors at Qinshan in China. _UraniumInvesting
The best ongoing source for information on thorium energy is Kirk Sorensen's blog "Energy from Thorium".

Kirk is featured in the introductory video below. You can click on the YouTube icon on the video below to watch the vid at YouTube, and to find links to several related videos -- some of them well over an hour in length.

Another blog dedicated to the molten salt reactor is the Nuclear Green blog.

Here's more on thorium, from a piece in Popsci from last summer:
An abundant metal with vast energy potential could quickly wean the world off oil, if only Western political leaders would muster the will to do it, a UK newspaper says today. The Telegraph makes the case for thorium reactors as the key to a fossil-fuel-free world within five years, and puts the ball firmly in President Barack Obama's court.


Thorium, named for the Norse god of thunder, is much more abundant than uranium and has 200 times that metal's energy potential. Thorium is also a more efficient fuel source -- unlike natural uranium, which must be highly refined before it can be used in nuclear reactors, all thorium is potentially usable as fuel. _Popsci

Another basic overview on thorium

An overview of thorium by Wired magazine

Adapted from an earlier article on Al Fin Energy

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission under the Obama regime has been very unhelpful, in terms of new reactor development and licensing. It is likely that China will develop the first successful molten salt reactor (MSR) using thorium fuel. Mass production of small modular reactors based upon thorium MSRs would give China a significant head start on what is likely to become a huge energy industry.

Does she represent DAP?

Yesterday a popular blogger/twitterer from Penang tweeted this on Twitter. Apparently, she works with the.... errr.... I dunno lah, you all read lah ok.


I think all Christians shud march for all the persecution they had done to us and our Lord.

Errr.... For the rest of the words, I think they are pretty straight forward. Some of you may not understand 'persecution' though. According to Wikipedia, persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are religious persecution, ethnic persecution, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. The inflicting of suffering, harassment, isolation, imprisonment, fear, pain or exclusion.

I read in two different blogposts that mentioned about the tweet, and the Twitterer. Here are some quotes from these blogs. =)

RockyBru wrote this - We live in peace in one country with many places of worship, many beliefs, many gods. If we want our children to continue to enjoy such a wonderful place, please don't think like @5xmom. (name censored).

APANAMA wrote this - With this latest SEDITIOUS tweet coming from the high-office in KOMTAR where the DAP secretary general is Chief Minister, I'm beginning to have serious concerns about the recent Negara Christian Conspiracy reported by the blogs and picked-up by Utusan Malaysia.

So... what is your view on this? I am not going to say much - but do go to Apanama and RockyBru's blog posts and read more about it, who she is, who she works for, who she represents and so on...

Last Day of Men’s Spring 2012 Fashion Week: Will.i.a.m Models For Rynshu and Acne’s Impeccable


Men’s fashion week ended with two remarkable performances, which reminded us that a) male models are always a pleasure to watch b) this is basically a modern woman’s show c) couture week is minutes away and we’ve still got to recover from the fashion overdose of these past days.
RYNSHU:
The Japanese designer always puts on a black and white, fearless yet elegant show. This time, he followed the same recipe and offered warrior like clothes: scarves, blazers with sleeves seemingly ripped, silver army boots. But Rynshu had a surprise for us–front man of Black Eyed Peas Will.i.a.m modeled the show, as a sign of sympathy for Japan’s current condition. And there is more–the designer and the singer will be launching a collection together, entitled “WILL I AM x RYNSHU” for the SS2012 season. Unfortunately not made for lovely lady lumps.

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

UFOs seen in sky over London!

A baffling footage of bright lights dashing through the skyin London, UK, during the day has been posted on YouTube. The clip shows tiny circular specks of white light flying at high altitude over the city in broad daylight.

Against the clear blue sky, five of the UFOs are seen speeding in the same direction before disappearing behind a cloud. A much larger glowing disc then emerges from behind the same cloud. It hovers slowly in a tight circle as other small specks follow the path of the others - before vanishing back behind the cloud. The mysterious "mother ship" then returns to view briefly before finally disappearing.

Meanwhile, a small crowd gathered near the Radio 1 studio in Great Portland Street, West London, to watch the spectacle and film it on their mobiles. The footage was uploaded on Friday.

In the description, the video's author wrote: "Right - took over a week to get it....but finally managed to get these critters on camera on a clear day, and even get a close-up." "It seems to be attracting quite a crowd now when they appear. Can anyone explain what on earth these lights are please?" Beneath an earlier video, in which similar specs of light can be seen less clearly on a cloudy evening, the same user wrote: "Been seeing these odd lights over Central London (BBC Radio 1 building) randomly for the past week." "Managed to get them on camera yesterday (Thurday) evening."

The 2010 Can-Am Spyder RS Roadster.

Last night, I had a chat with A on bikes. He bragged about his Ducatis and Kawasakis... and then I told him - actually I also like bikes - but one type only. We totally forgot the name of the bike.... hence, I made it a point to google and look up the name of it... its called... the Can-Am Spyder RS. =)

Now known as the Spyder RS, the original three-wheeled creation had been called the GS. But because it was the only “reverse trike” on the road, it simply became known as the “Spyder.” Now you’ll have different models to refer to, and the letters “RT” won’t just refer to the BMW anymore.


Each of the three new RT models are built on the same 100-horsepower (at 7500 rpm) 998cc Rotax engine with electronic throttle control, pumping out 80 ft-lbs of torque at 5200 rpm. In our preview story post, we wondered about the Rotax 990 and 991; we’ve learned it’s the same 998cc engine with tour-minded mapping and compression changes from 10.8:1 to 12.2:1. Since Bombardier owns Rotax, it simply named the engine differently for performance distinctions.


Imagine riding this out to Zouk KL... *wooots* =)

H-Artistry ‘The Global Art of Mixing’ - July 2011. =)

Having already conquered three cities this year, the country’s number one clubbing phenomenon, H-Artistry ‘The Global Art of Mixing’ will be storming through a further two cities on July 6 and 9. After capturing the imagination of more than 2,500 clubbers back in April, H-Artistry returns once again to Penang (Sixty9ine Mansion, Batu Ferringhi – July 6) and Kuala Lumpur (Mist Club, Bangsar – July 9).

This time around, with an expected crowd of over 2,000, the upcoming H-Artistry party promises to enthral party-goers to two explosive partying experiences where sights, sounds, and tastes collide.

Yes, these are the awesome lineup for the event! =)

Okay - I guess some of you all will be going to Penang - and most of you all, will be at Mist Bangsar. Remember - thats on the 9th of July 2011 ya... the night after the #Bersih 2.0 gathering. Do come in your best colours (not just yellow)!! =)

Headlining the line up at the upcoming H-Artistry party is German electro/house duo, the Beautiful Beat Girls. The group comprises of Meliah, the globetrotting vocalist of the duo who have performed at some of the best clubs in the world alongside some renowned DJs, and DJ/producer Dinakeen whose technical proficiency and ability in heating up any dancefloor has helped place the Beautiful Beat Girls as a dynamic performing duo. Making their debut on the H-Artistry stage, this German electro/house outfit is ready to infect the dance floors of Sixty9ine Mansion and Mist Club come July.

By the way, Reshmonu will be there too!!!!!!!!

Not to mention Trimix... =P

Go and register now at www.h-artistry.com.my/facebook to find out more!!!!!

COME & LETS PARTY YO!!!!!!!!! =)

1) The Maximum Capacity Of Your Short-term Memory Is Seven. Humans Have Basically Three Forms Of Memory: Sensory, Long-term And Short-term.

1) The maximum capacity of your short-term memory is seven. Humans have basically three forms of memory: Sensory, Long-term and Short-term.
1) The maximum capacity of your short-term memory is seven. Humans have basically three forms of memory: Sensory, Long-term and Short-term.

Teacher's Strike: Just a thought . . .

Here's a thought . . .
How much is the planned strike action for tomorrow really about the pension rights of Public Sector workers such as teachers, and how much is really about the Unions wanting to flex their muscles and challenge the government?
.
The problem is that for anyone whose memory stretches back far enough, this has all the same ingredients of similar actions in the past that were primarily about Unions trying to prove that they were in charge, and using the aspirations of the workers as cannon fodder.
.
How easy it is for overpaid Union bosses with their expenses accounts on top of their high salaries, and their gilt-edged pension pots, to call their members out rather than  negotiating around the table. 
.
As I said, just a thought . . .

Life Update and a Short Break

Wanted to do a quick recap of what has been going on for me personally the last month, since the blog has been on hold. As you already know my life has been going through some pretty big transitions. I had my last shows at the Dirty South Improv Theater, I moved all of my belongings to Greenville, and I left my old high school. The good news is I'm in talks with some close improv friends about starting a company in Greenville and I've gotten a new high school teaching job. I will continue teaching US History and AP US History at Southside High School. Also for the next three weeks I'll be going on a European tour for my wedding anniversary and to visit family. If you have any tips we'll be in Madrid, Granada, Tangier, and Amsterdam (with some possible day visits to Paris and Brussels). See you in late July!

Can Aneutronic Fusion Space Thrusters Open the Solar System?

IEEE Spectrum Getty Images

If humans are ever to travel beyond the inner solar system, they will need to devise space propulsion methods beyond conventional chemical rockets. Nuclear reactions are orders of magnitude more powerful than chemical reactions, and seem the natural approach for space propulsion to the asteroid belt and the outer solar system. But working out the best form of nuclear space propulsion is apt to take time and a lot of work. NASA physicist and engineer John Chapman thinks that fusion -- aneutronic fusion -- is the way to go.

Instead of using deuterium and tritium as the fuel stocks, the new motor extracts energy from boron fuel. Using boron, an "aneutronic" fuel, yields several advantages over conventional nuclear fusion. Aneutronic fusion, in which neutrons represent less than 1 percent of the energy-carrying particles that are the result of a reaction, is easier to manage.


"Neutrons are problematic, because for one thing they’re difficult to harness," says John J. Chapman, the concept’s inventor and a physicist and electronics engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center, in Virginia. To make use of neutrons, "you need an absorbing wall that converts the kinetic energy of the particles to thermal energy," he says. "In effect, all you’ve got is a fancy heat engine, with all its resultant losses and limitations."


In Chapman’s aneutronic fusion reactor scheme, a commercially available benchtop laser starts the reaction. A beam with energy on the order of 2 x 1018 watts per square centimeter, pulse frequencies up to 75 megahertz, and wavelengths between 1 and 10 micrometers is aimed at a two-layer, 20-centimeter-diameter target.


The first layer is a 5- to 10-µm-thick sheet of conductive metal foil. It responds to the teravolt-per-meter electric field created by the laser pulse by "acting as a de facto proton accelerator," says Chapman. The electric field releases a shower of highly energetic electrons from the foil, leaving behind a tremendous net positive charge. The result is a massive self-repulsive force between the protons that causes the metal material to explode. The explosion accelerates protons in the direction of the target’s second layer, a film of boron-11.


...There, a complicated nuclear dance begins. The protons (which carry energy on the order of roughly 163 kiloelectron volts) strike boron nuclei to form excited carbon nuclei. The carbons immediately decay, each into a helium-4 nucleus (an alpha particle) and a beryllium nucleus. Almost instantaneously, the beryllium nuclei decay, with each one breaking into two more alpha particles. So for each proton-boron pair that reacts, you get three alpha particles, each with a kinetic energy of 2.9 megaelectron volts.


...Electromagnetic forces push the target and the alpha particles in the opposite directions, and the particles exit the spacecraft through a nozzle, providing the vehicle’s thrust. Each pulse of the laser should generate roughly 100 000 particles, making the method tremendously efficient, says Chapman. And according to his calculations, improvements in short-pulse laser systems could make this form of thruster more than 40 times as efficient as even the best of today’s ionic propulsion systems that push spacecraft around. Even at 50 percent efficiency, burning off 40 milligrams of the boron fuel would deliver a gigajoule of energy. The amount of power depends on the laser pulse rate. The motor could generate 1 megawatt per second if the pulses are frequent enough to start reactions that consume that amount of boron in 1000 seconds. (According to Chapman, using this aneutronic fusion technique with helium-3 isotopes would yield roughly 60 percent more energy per unit mass. But boron is a more attractive fuel source because it is abundant on Earth and helium-3 is scarce.)


Another big advantage of fusion space propulsion, Chapman claims, is that some of the energy can be converted into electricity to power a spacecraft’s onboard control systems. "A traveling wave tube—basically an inverse klystron—captures most of the particles’ flux kinetic energy and efficiently converts it into electrical energy," says Chapman. The process, he says, is 60 to 70 percent efficient. _IEEESpectrum
The more powerful and efficient your propulsion, the more payload you can carry, the less fuel, and the greater your choices for timely flight path and orbital selection.

Siobhan Owen sings 'Siuil a Run/Walk With Me' (acapella)

When she was just 15 years old Siobhan Owen sang the haunting Irish traditional song, Siuil a Run (Walk with me). She was performing at the Triquetra Awards Dinner during the Australian Celtic Festival, Glen Innes, New South Wales.
This video gives you a good idea as to why I think that she's such a great young singer!

Can Biofuels Save SubSaharan Africa?

800 million people live in Sub-Saharan Africa and a third of them don’t have enough food. By 2050, an estimated 1.95 billion people will be trying to live off the land in that region. Even if everyone in Sub-Saharan Africa were only to be fed as inadequately as they are today, the region would need to more than triple its food production over the next 40 years. For everyone on the continent to have enough to eat, food production would have to more than quadruple. _NYT

SubSaharan Africa is desperately in need of industries which will provide both work for the people, and crucial international trade for hard currency. Africa's oil and minerals industries tend to be run by outsiders, with most of the profits going overseas, and settling in the Swiss accounts of top government officials and cronies.

According to many scientists, Africa is custom-made for the coming biofuels revolution.
Dr. Lynd and Dr. Woods suggest that a growing bioenergy economy can be the key to driving this agricultural boom. Land is relatively plentiful in Africa, they write, and land for crops and land for fuel will not necessarily be in direct competition.

On marginal lands that cannot support agriculture in any case, they see great potential for biofuel crops, which require less water and nutrients. Africa’s vast land resources could also make the continent a competitive exporter of biofuels, which could bring in money for the basic infrastructure needed to transport and process food, they argued. It could also provide an economic incentive for rehabilitating degraded lands, the thinking goes.

...In an interview, Dr. Woods pointed out that it’s “always easier to think of problems than it is to think of solutions.

“It’s thanks to the demonization of bioenergy,” he said, “that companies are afraid to potentially tarnish their public image by exploring the potential that bioenergy offers Africa.” _NYT
Most people who demonise biofuels have not bothered to keep up with research and development in the rapidly changing field. They tend to look at ten-year-old data on corn ethanol production, and base their calculations and projections upon obsolete technological systems. Such approaches typify the mediocrity rampant in modern academia, thanks to a politically correct dumbing down of academic standards, and a destructive tendency to abort healthy debates prematurely -- declaring winners on the basis of ideological criteria.

The fertile land and abundant workforce of Africa are already in place. There is a need for modern agricultural, business, and land management expertise. But the greatest need now, if African biofuels are to prosper, is to find a way around the massive infrastructure-of-corruption which rules in virtually every SS African state.

One danger is that corrupt leaders -- for a price -- will allow foreign companies to set up huge plantations which will strip the land, with no provision for future fertility and long-term production. Another danger is that farmers with government or NGO grants -- but without guidance or skills -- will try to grow crops which are not appropriate for their soil and climate.

The biofuels potential for SS Africa is large, and promising well into the future. If managed properly, the land of SS Africa can feed even larger numbers than at present, and provide them with a decent income at the same time.

Can we do justice to a hero?

I’m a guy in my mid-50s, the time of life when going to funerals starts to become a sad, routine part of life.
I’ve been going to funerals, but not of people my age. I’m going to another funeral tomorrow of a young person, an achiever, who died young.
His name’s Brian Backus, or more specifically, Pfc. Brian Backus, U.S. Army.
I got an e-mail from his dad with the subject line “Sad news.” No, it went beyond, far beyond sad. “Sad” doesn’t do it justice.
The boilerplate casualty announcement from the Department of Defense doesn’t tell the story, just as they don’t ever tell the story:
DOD Identifies Army Casualty
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Brian J. Backus, 21, of Saginaw Township, Mich., died June 18, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, N.Y.
For more information, media may contact the Fort Drum public affairs office at 315-772-8286.
U.S. Department of Defense
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Public Affairs)
When I met Brian, he was probably 7 years old, a Tiger Cub in Pack 3582, Harbor Beach. I had just become the Scoutmaster of Troop 582 in Harbor Beach, and Brian’s dad was the pack’s Cubmaster and the chairman of the troop committee. Even though my family spent only a couple of years in Harbor Beach, we became close to the Backus family.
Every summer, until the middle part of the decade, we were part of the staff of summer Cub Scout camps at Camp Rotary and Paul Bunyan Scout Reservation. These camps were just magic. Oh, we went by the book, sort of, but the staff made these camps go far beyond the ordinary. They were staffed by adult leaders who were really good at what they did and had fun doing it, and youth staff (our kids) who were bright and creative and destined for achievement.
Brian became president of his class at Harbor Beach High School. He went to the University of Michigan for a while, but ended up joining the Army. He became a medic.
I can’t describe the admiration I have for combat medics and hospital corpsmen, whose job it is to save lives even as the battle rages around them. Courage, sacrifice – those words don’t do justice to what they do, either.
Katherine had maintained the closest contact with Brian. They Skyped occasionally, and she had talked to him just a few days before he died. She cried when I broke the news to her.
What made it even harder was that Brian was the second member of that magic Cub Scout camp youth staff to die. Matt Boles of Mt. Pleasant, who died in a swimming accident in 2009, also was part of that group of kids and adults who gathered around lakeside campfires on summer nights and shared the joy of being outdoors, being Scouts, being destined for great things.
The gym at Harbor Beach High School, the largest gathering place in that little town on Lake Huron, will be packed tomorrow. The town’s streets were lined with mourners when Pfc. Backus’ body was returned, and most of those people will be there, as well.
The Army honor guard will salute the fallen hero. “Taps” will be played and there will be many, many tears. Many, many words will be said, but none of them will do justice to all the tomorrows that changed forever when Brian died.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Inspirational Pictures for you ...






Joanne Lowe's Meditations

ANYWHERE
"Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?  Then said I, Here am I; send me."
Isaiah 6:8 (King James Version)
      Jessie Brown Pounds wrote a beautiful hymn "Anywhere with Jesus".  We sing this hymn but do we really mean what we are singing?  "Anywhere with Jesus, over land and sea, Telling souls in darkness of salvation free; Ready as He summons me to go or stay, Anywhere with Jesus when He points the way."
      We'll go over land and sea as a foreign missionary but are we willing to be a home missionary and go next door and across the street to tell them about Jesus?  We might have said to Jesus "Here am I; send me" but we won't go next door to tell them about Jesus and that He loves them so much He died for them.
      It is true that we need foreign missionaries but we also need home missionaries.  Think what would happen if everyone in our neighborhood fell in love with Jesus and started serving Him.  Not only would many souls be won to Jesus but marriages would be put back together and families reunited.
      Are you willing to shut off the television set and get out of your comfort zone to go next door to your neighbor and across the street and tell them that Jesus loves them?  So many times when we witness we preach to them instead of first telling them that Jesus loves them so much that He died for them.
      Do we really mean it when we say to Jesus "Here am I; send me" or are we just saying the words?  May God have mercy on us if we don't mean it.  Jesus died for us.  What are we doing for Him?  How can we do less than serve Him with all of our heart?  He loves us so much.  How much do we love Him?
Joanne Lowe

Great Christian Quotes by Billy Graham

"Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion - it is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ."

"Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as much as adversity has."

"God has given us two hands, one to receive with and the other to give with."

"God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, "I love you." "

"If we had more hell in the pulpit, we would have less hell in the pew."

"Suppose you could gain everything in the whole world, and lost your soul. Was it worth it?"

"Tears shed for self are tears of weakness, but tears shed for others are a sign of strength."

"There is nothing wrong with men possessing riches. The wrong comes when riches possess men."

"When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost."

"You're born. You suffer. You die. Fortunately, there's a loophole."

Isaiah 30: 'Woe to the Obstinate Nation'

      In this passage the Jews are compared to obstinate and rebellious children, and they are rebuked for constantly looking elsewhere for the answer to their problems, other than to God.  Today, people are just as obstinate when they face problems, preferring instead to attempt to find their own solutions rather than taking the problem to God and following what He says. The hope is always to find a quick and easy solution, and it usually ends up making the problem worse or creating a new one. By reading God's Word and actively seeking to carry out His will, we can maintain our bond with God, and deal with whatever may come our way in accordance with His will. We learn that we can never expect too little from man nor too much from God.
      Rahab was a mythical female sea-monster associated with Leviathan. It was a name associated with Egypt, where hippopotamuses sat idly on the River Nile. Perhaps it is this that is suggested as a likeness of Rahab.
      It was the prophets who kept the rebellious nature of the Jews in check. Because the people preferred the darkness to the light they told the prophets to keep quiet about visions that God gave in order to keep them from sin. It is no different in the world today, where people prefer the lies that cushion them from facing the truth, because the truth makes them feel uncomfortable. Yet to be comfortable in a lie is to live in a fool's paradise, and everything will come crashing down eventually.
      God warned Judah that turning to Egypt and other nations could not save them, because only He could do that. They were advised that they must repent and await God's will 'in quietness and trust' in order to find their salvation. Only those who make God alone their source of confidence and truth will find true comfort. God waits patiently to pour His grace on everyone who come to Him by faith in Jesus Christ. 
      It is when we trust God to help us through our difficulties that we grow in faith. He wants to teach us His ways, and wants us to live according to His will. When the people of Jerusalem left God's path He corrected them, and He will do the same for us as long as we are willing to follow all that He asks of us. As we do so we discover the abundance of His grace.
      The judgement of God will be accompanied by dense clouds of smoke, and by words that consume just as fire consumes. Often people in churches today do not want to hear of the wrath of God, only to be made to feel comfortable by words about how much God loves them, yet His wrath and anger are very real aspects of God's nature, and are designed to keep the rebellious in check. His anger is not against those people who obey His laws and who love Him, but against those who reject Him and who wilfully continue in sin.
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1 “Woe to the obstinate children,” 
   declares the Lord, 
“to those who carry out plans that are not mine, 
   forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, 
   heaping sin upon sin; 
2 who go down to Egypt 
   without consulting me; 
   who look for help to Pharaoh’s protection, 
   to Egypt’s shade for refuge. 
3 But Pharaoh’s protection will be to your shame, 
   Egypt’s shade will bring you disgrace. 
4 Though they have officials in Zoan 
   and their envoys have arrived in Hanes, 
5 everyone will be put to shame 
   because of a people useless to them, 
   who bring neither help nor advantage, 
   but only shame and disgrace.”

6 A prophecy concerning the animals of the Negev:
   Through a land of hardship and distress,
   of lions and lionesses,
   of adders and darting snakes,
   the envoys carry their riches on donkeys’ backs,
   their treasures on the humps of camels,
   to that unprofitable nation,
7 to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless.
   Therefore I call her
   Rahab the Do-Nothing.
8 Go now, write it on a tablet for them,
   inscribe it on a scroll,
   that for the days to come
   it may be an everlasting witness.
9 For these are rebellious people, deceitful children,
   children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction.
10 They say to the seers,
   “See no more visions!”
   and to the prophets,
   “Give us no more visions of what is right!
   Tell us pleasant things,
   prophesy illusions.
11 Leave this way,
   get off this path,
   and stop confronting us
   with the Holy One of Israel!”
12 Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
   “Because you have rejected this message,
   relied on oppression
   and depended on deceit,
13 this sin will become for you
   like a high wall, cracked and bulging,
   that collapses suddenly, in an instant.
14 It will break in pieces like pottery,
   shattered so mercilessly
   that among its pieces not a fragment will be found
   for taking coals from a hearth
   or scooping water out of a cistern.”
15 This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:
   “In repentance and rest is your salvation,
   in quietness and trust is your strength,
   but you would have none of it.
16 You said, ‘No, we will flee on horses.’
   Therefore you will flee!
   You said, ‘We will ride off on swift horses.’
   Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
17 A thousand will flee
   at the threat of one;
   at the threat of five
   you will all flee away,
   till you are left
   like a flagstaff on a mountaintop,
   like a banner on a hill.”
18 Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
   therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
   For the Lord is a God of justice.
   Blessed are all who wait for him!
19 People of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more.
   How gracious he will be when you cry for help!
   As soon as he hears, he will  answer you.
20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity
   and the water of  affliction,
   your teachers will be hidden no more;
   with your own eyes you will see them.
21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left,
   your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying,
   “This is the way; walk in it.”
22 Then you will desecrate your idols overlaid with silver
   and your images covered with gold;
   you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth
   and say to them, “Away with you!”
23 He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground,
   and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful.
   In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows.
24 The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash,
   spread out with fork and shovel.
25 In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall,
   streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill.
26 The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times
   brighter, like the light of seven full days,
   when the Lord binds up the bruises
   of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.
27 See, the Name of the Lord comes from afar,
   with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke;
   his lips are full of wrath,
   and his tongue is a consuming fire.
28 His breath is like a rushing torrent,
   rising up to the neck.
   He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction;
   he places in the jaws of the peoples
   a bit that leads them astray.
29 And you will sing
   as on the night you celebrate a holy festival;
   your hearts will rejoice
   as when people playing pipes go up
   to the mountain of the Lord,
   to the Rock of Israel.
30 The Lord will cause people to hear his majestic voice
   and will make them see his arm coming down
   with raging anger and consuming fire,
   with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
31 The voice of the Lord will shatter Assyria;
   with his rod he will strike them down.
32 Every stroke the Lord lays on them
   with his punishing club
   will be to the music of timbrels and harps,
   as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.
33 Topheth has long been prepared;
   it has been made ready for the king.
   Its fire pit has been made deep and wide,
   with an abundance of fire and wood;
   the breath of the Lord,
   like a stream of burning sulfur,
   sets it ablaze.

Left Brain's Memory Is Short

Left brain's memory is short
Left brain's memory is short

Never Give Up

  















One day a young lady was driving along with her father.
They came upon a storm, and the young lady asked her father, What should I do?"

He said "keep driving". Cars began to pull over to the side, the storm was getting worse.

"What should I do." The young lady asked?

"Keep driving," her father replied.

On up a few feet, she noticed that eighteen wheelers were also pulling over.

She told her dad, "I must pull over, I can barely see ahead. It is terrible, and everyone is pulling over!"

Her father told her, "Don't give up, just keep driving!"

Now the storm was terrible, but she never stopped driving, and soon she could see a little more clearly. 

After a couple of miles she was again on dry land, and the sun came out.

Her father said, "Now you can pull over and get out."

She said "But why now?"

He said "When you get out, look back at all the people that gave up and are still in the storm, because you never gave up your storm is now over.

This is a testimony for anyone who is going through "hard times".

Just because everyone else, even the strongest, gives up. 
You don't have to...if you keep going, soon your storm will be over and the sun will shine upon your face again.

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