God has granted you all those who sail with you.

About a year ago, I ran across a verse that gave me a measure of comfort. That verse is Acts 27:24.  It is right in the middle of a story involving Paul the Apostle, a ship, a storm, and an angel. (The angel is the one speaking to Paul in the verse:

... and he said, "Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you."
Acts 27:24 (ESV)

The last half of that verse resonated with me.

Even though I am never really alone, I was feeling alone at that time...  I was feeling like I was by myself in the work of the ministry.  I knew it wasn't true, but that feeling was working on me and I found joy in these words... especially thinking of our church as a ship and the ones who "sail with me."

I even set it as my background on my several of my devices for the next year...

"God has granted you all those who sail with you."  Acts 27:24b

Let your Requests be made Known to God

Philippians 4:4–7

[4] Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. [5] Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; [6] do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. [7] And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (ESV)

At a typical prayer meeting, what do we do? ... We share requests. We have request boxes. We make lists. We submit them to one another, share them through prayer chains, and ultimately lay them at the feet of God. This is precisely what we ought to do, according to this verse, but there is more here.  Why did Paul use so many different words to describe our prayer request list?

Listening To This Morning: John Michael Talbot: Signatures

Here is what I have in my background this morning...

John Michael Talbot's Album called Signatures.

"God's Own Fool"

"God's Own Fool"
One of my all-time favorite Michael Card Songs:


Seems I've imagined Him all of my life
As the wisest of all of mankind
But if God's Holy wisdom is foolish to men
He must have seemed out of His mind

The Seed and The Soil of Education (New Learning Project Part 1)

(This is my entry for the first part of my project for my New Learning course that I am taking.)

Introduction

Corn Fields in Illinois

I have lived the majority of my life in the Midwest: mid-state Illinois to be specific. Where I live, farming is everywhere. My grandparents and great-grandparents on both sides of my family were farmers. My dad grew up on a farm and owned farmland, well into my own adulthood. But, even if it wasn’t in the family, I still would have been surrounded by farming. You can’t go more than a mile outside of my city’s limits without encountering miles and miles of fields. Most of our highways, and even interstates, are located between acres of farmland.

New Learning Course Update #4

As I've mentioned before, I'm taking a course this summer called New Learning through the University of Illinois. As a part of the course requirements, I must add 7 different updates related to the topics in the course.  This is update #4 on the topic of Authentic Pedagogy: More Recent Times.  The update ended with the prompt: Describe and analyze the features of an example of authentic pedagogy today. 

Here is my update:

Morning Bible Reading - Psalm 44

Morning Bible Reading today is Psalm 44

Morning Bible Reading - Psalm 43

Morning Bible Reading today is Psalm 43

Morning Bible Reading - I Peter 5:1-11

The Morning Bible Reading today is from I Peter 5:1-11. This is near the end of Peter's first letter to the church. This particular portion is addressed to the elders of a church.

Morning Bible Reading - Psalm 42

Morning Bible Reading today is from Psalm 42.

Morning Bible Reading - Psalm 41

Your morning Bible reading is from Psalm 41 today.

Morning Bible Reading - Psalm 27

Your morning Bible reading.

 Psalm 27 today.


 

New Learning Course Update #3

Update 3: “Did That Take?” Education

As a teacher, among my peers, I am usually one of the first to adopt new technologies and find ways to integrate them into my teaching. In 2008, when Google Drive was still just called Google Docs, and it was still in it’s beta phase, I started using a version of Google Apps in my tech class. It was still very rudimentary, but it worked for what I was trying to accomplish in my class. I was running my tech class like it was a small business. So, I gave each of my students their own e-mail account under the domain that I had purchased, in order to use the Google Apps suite. At that same school, I worked with the administration in 2009, to introduce Google Apps to the rest of the high school, and enabled e-mail and other online functions for the remainder of the students.

Morning Bible Reading - Romans 5:1-11

Your Morning Bible Reading today is Romans 5:1-11

New Learning Course Update #1

I am currently taking a Master's course through the University of Illinois. This is an online course, and the requirements of the course involve me contributing to the "discussion" through typing my own updates and adding them to the course's page. There are seven updates that I need to compose, and I have decided to cross post those updates on this blog.

Here is the first update, in response to the instructor's update, titled Being an Educator in Interesting Times.

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