Daily Read (Isaiah 64-66)

Scripture:
Isaiah 66:9 ‘Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?’ says the LORD. ‘Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?’ says your God.”

Observation:
In the last chapter of the book of Isaiah, God speaks out about the rebirth of the Jewish nation and how all the nations of the earth will come to Jerusalem to worship and honor the Lord. He speaks of rebuilding his chosen people as a nation, as they once were under the kingship of Saul, David, Solomon, etc. The nation will be born in one day (verse 8), which was May 14, 1948. That day the nation of Israel was reborn.

Application:
God spoke to the body of believers at Word of Life International Church and told them that they were like an expectant mother in the birthing process. She is a mother in her third trimester. In the fall of 2007 a prophecy was given to Pastor Jeff Jacob from the book of Isaiah to lengthen the cords of our tent (Is. 54:2-3) because we were growing to grow as a church. God confirmed that word to pastor just the other day in our daily wash on November 25, 2009. The Lord gave me the prophecy of giving birth in our congregation in relation to the vision that God gave to pastor about the “bee hive”  coming to fruition.

God told our pastor that he would start a church in northern Virginia near an international airport and would be launching missionaries and ministers out of our congregation to reach the peoples of the world. Our church has been sending individuals to Africa and Latin America and other regions of the world as emissaries of the Lord spreading the good news of the gospel. God showed Pastor Jeff in a vision that we would be a beehive with ministers coming to and going out of our local body taking the Word of God to the ends of the earth.

What makes this situation interesting is that our church was called to be a church of the nations, for the nations, and to the nations. We are like our names states – international. We have congregants from over 20 nations represented in our midst. There are Indians, Pakistanis, Cameroonians, Kenyans, Sierra Leonians, Ghanans, Dominicans, Salvadorans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Liberians, Guatemalans, Filipinos, Italians, Germans, Poles, and others. We are comprised of the nations with a heart for the nations and go to serve the nations.

The point of this daily wash today is a confirmation of the vision and prophecies given to Pastor Jeff and the prophecy given to me. God doesn’t close up the womb at the time of delivery when the time to bear the child has come. When God’s timing for something to occur has come, it will come to pass. Did we not learn just three days ago (11/26/2009) that Isaiah 55:11 “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” The Word of the LORD to us today is that the time has come. The long-awaited birth of Pastor’s vision has come. In the coming new year 2010, we, as a congregation, will give birth to the beehive that will launch the ministerial careers of numerous emissaries of God’s Word. These people will not just be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastor-teachers, they have received the same call of the prophet Jeremiah -

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations….You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the LORD. Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant. The word of the LORD came to me: “What do you see, [Word of Life International Church]?’ ‘I see the branch of an almond tree,’ I replied. The LORD said to me, “You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled.’ ” (Jeremiah 1:5-12)

In the year 2010 there are about 5-7 people scheduled to be credentialed with the Assemblies of God as ministers at the certification and license levels. This is a first for the body of  Word of Life in its 8 year history. We were to accelerate in 2008 the pace at which we trained up new leaders and ministers in the church, and we have been learning to do things on God’s time in 2009. We will see the work begin in 2010!!!!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!!! GLORY TO THE LIVING GOD!!!!!

Prayer:
Father, I know that You’re a God who is always on time. You’re never late or lacking. You’re true to Your Word. The words You have spoken to our local body have arrived and are coming to fruition. Thanks for being the faithful God. We celebrate and shout because of the Lord our God! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Daily Read (Isaiah 61-63)

Scripture:
Isaiah 61:10 “I celebrate and shout because of my LORD God.”

Observation:
In the opening of the 61st chapter is one of many prophecies from Isaiah concerning the Messiah. This particular prophecy is one that Jesus quoted about Himself. He stood up one Sabbath in a synagogue and read from the scroll of Isaiah what we know as verses 1 and 2 (Luke 4:17-20) and  He said, “”Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). Jesus had come to fulfill the Word of the Lord given through the prophet, Isaiah. 700 years or so after the words were spoken, they came to fruition. The Messiah had come to do the following: preach the good news to the poor, proclaim freedom to the prisoners, recover the sight of the blind, release the oppressed, and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

Application:
I don’t know about you, but reading again the words of Isaiah about what the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed One was coming to do for all of mankind is more than enough for me to “celebrate and shout because of my LORD God.” There was a time in my life when I was poor, not in material things, but more so devoid of joy and the wellness of life. There was a time in my life when I was a prisoner, and slave, to the sin life I lived. There was a time in my life when I was blinded to the truth of the good news of the gospel. There was a time in my life when I was oppressed by the devil and his minions because I gave them a hold on my life by the sin I committed. There is a time in my life when I can proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor in my life. That time is now.

I am no longer poor, imprisoned, blind, or oppressed. I am free from the bondage of sin and am able to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor because of the work of the cross and the price in blood that Jesus paid to set me free from the curse of sin. When I was a sinner running around living life any way that pleased me, I entombed myself in the dungeon of sin. I shackled myself to the curse of sin and the law. For we have to remember that the law was created for the sinner not the righteous, which we become only through the grace of God the Father. The law mirrors the sin in us, and it is that same sin, which give the law its power.

Paul taught us that where there is no law there is no sin. If there were no sin in the world, there would be no need for the law. The law is righteous and is the Word of God. However, in the frailty that is humanity we are unable and incapable of keeping the law in its entirety. It is physically impossible for humans to do so. Therefore, we need a saving grace given to us by God and received by us through faith. This grace is God’s unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor upon us. We only receive because God has given it to us. Had He not chosen to extend us His mercy and grace because of His undying love for us, we would all die a sinner’s death and be tormented in hell for eternity, which is eternal life in a deadly sense.

If you have been saved by the blood of the lamb, that is enough and should be enough to cause celebrate and want to climb the top of Mount Everest or broadcast via satellite across the globe with the loudest shout possible because of the goodness that the Anointed One has done for you and me. He has set us free from the curse of the law by becoming the curse for us. He has saved us from an eternal life of death and torment in a fiery grave where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched. He has given us the gift of eternal life and a reward to be given for the work we do for Him in this present age. He defeated Satan and redeemed from a fate reserved for the adversary and the demons. He pardoned you from this sentence. He made you a new creature devoid of the burden and enslavement of sin. He has renewed your mind and given you His mind. He has hidden us in His identity and dwells inside each of us through the Spirit of the living God.

What more will it take to cause you to shout it out loud to everyone you know, meet, greet, and encounter the good news of the gospel and what it can do for them? If it has done all this for you and me, then we have a huge obligation and duty to share this goodness with someone just like someone did for us. We should and need to be giving freely that which was given freely to us. We should overflowing with a well-spring of living water from inside now that we have tasted of the living water that quenches the thirst for righteousness. Somebody give Him praise and glory in the house of God, today!

Prayer:
Father, just the mere fact that I have been given a second chance at life by You is more than enough to cause me to shout out loud that You are my LORD God! May the joy of the Lord that is my strength well up such tremendous joy inside of me that I would be unable to keep quiet about the goodness of the Lord and be the salt and light of the world that drives people to You. Your Spirit is the only One who can cause people to cross my path at the exact planned moment, but I must be willing and ready to respond to Your prompting. Help me to become more and more attuned to Your Spirit and calling each day. I want to be Your biggest and loudest megaphone the world has ever heard. Not that I may be seen and heard but that I may announce to the world the greatness of my God and the vast goodness He has bestowed upon His people. Thank You! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Daily Read (Isaiah 58-60)

Scripture:
Isaiah 58:6-7 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

Observation:
Hear in the opening of the 58th chapter, we read of the real meaning of fasting. God points out that many Jews fasted because they felt the need to sit in sackcloth and ashes to mourn over their current state, whatever that state was. However, God declares that fasting is more than a day of atonement. It is indeed designed to take care of the less fortunate who have nothing and need everything.

Application:
I have always been akin to fasting at various times in my life for things that I needed or when led of the Spirit to fast in order to break down walls and barriers in the lives of others and myself. I have fasted at times to hear from the Lord especially in times of preparation for delivering a message to His people. I have known that fasting was for humans and not God. I know that fasting gives is that time of quietude we need alone with God and to discipline the body. By subjecting the body to an intentional lack of subsistence, we have to rely upon God to sustain our physical body’s need for energy, nutrition, and other vital factors.

However, have you ever taken into consideration this passage in Isaiah and what fasting really does? We break the yoke of oppression in the lives of people when we fast. Furthermore, we are to take the food and other bare necessities we have in abundance and share them with the less fortunate. Have you ever had a lunch with you or about to buy lunch and see a homeless person standing nearby outside in the blistering heat or freezing cold shaking with pangs from hunger and thirst? Did you ever stop to ask them if they would like to have something to eat or drink? Have you ever offered them a coat, jacket, shirt, shoes, or other clothing they need? When was the last time you even considered doing something for the less fortunate? Or are you too busy to even think about it? Have the cares of life put such a choke hold on you that you can’t see beyond self to think of others? God tells us not to neglect these less fortunate or members of our families either? That would seem to imply both physical family members and the brethren of the house and family of God. Are there those in your congregation who could use a helping hand?

Think about what Jesus said, “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ ” (Matt. 25:34-40).

Let’s a little farther down into the words of Isaiah and see what else fasting does for us. In verses 8-9 God says to us, “Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.  Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.” Our light will break forth like the dawn. We will radiate with the glory of God and be the true light of the world that Jesus said we are (Matt. 5:14). Also, God tells us that our healing will appear slowly…of course not. He said it will appear quickly. God’s righteousness, which is the only righteousness we have, will go before us with Him also being our rear guard. When you call upon the Lord in prayer, He will hear you. You will cry for help only to be heard by God and have Him reply, “Here I am.”

Do you need a healing from God? Is He protecting your front and got your back? Have you called upon God and have Him reply to you? Take some time and separate yourself from the world around you and spend it in prayer and fasting before God. As part of your fasting, go visit someone in need. You usually don’t have to look to far in these hard economic times to find some one who is in need. Share the love of Jesus with someone and see God operate in your life. He is our exceedingly great reward.

Prayer:
Father, many times I have fasted and many times I have shared food and clothing with the less fortunate. I have never put the two together until today reading Your Word. I pray Lord that You help me to be sensitive to Your Spirit continually in order that I may respond to Your promptings when it comes to sharing with those in need. It just might break down a barrier in their lives and open up something in me. I pray that I am always able to share things needed in life with those who have need. May my heart not be so hard that I can’t stop to share an act of love and service with those in need including sharing with them the good news of the gospel. Thanks Dad for all the things You have given me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Recently a wonderful article appeared in the Wall Street Journal by John Paul Newport with this blog’s title. Here is the link to the article: Over 40.

It is an article about those of us, like myself, who dream about retiring from our day jobs and trying to become professional golfers on the Champion’s tour. I encourage you to read this to see how challenging it is to accomplish this. In fact, it is not only challenging, but it is probably comparable to the odds of winning the lottery.

But all is not lost! I joined a tour in Charlotte called the Amateur Golf Tour. The web site is here: Amateur Golf Tour.

This tour has locations across the east and I think is expanding. There is also a tour sponsored by the Golf Channel. These tours fill a very basic need of us golf addicts: the need to compete and improve our games in doing so. Winning a tournament on these tours is a huge thrill, and is a good first step if you have even an inkling of leaving your day job. I play in a flight of 16-20 handicappers and have been trying to move down into the lower handicap flights for years but haven’t had any success yet.

But I am hopeful that next year is the year!

I hope you enjoy this article and still keep your dream alive of improving your game. You are going to find lots of insights in this blog in the weeks and months ahead because I have been working on this project for awhile and have lots of war stories to tell! Thanks for tuning in!

Matt

This blog is devoted to sharing insights into how to become a better golfer. There are, of course, many blogs devoted to golf, but I think you will find if you follow this blog you will get a unique perspective on the true challenges for middle-aged golfers to lower their handicap.

As I begin this blog, my handicap is 15.3. Here is my handicap history over the last year:

As you can see, it got as low as 14.9 and rose as high as 16.7. I play in 2 tours for amateurs in Charlotte – The Egolf Amateur Golf Tour and the Harris Teeter Senior tour. My scores are lower on the senior tour because the courses are shorter and I play tees that are 2 up from the tips (white tees). This makes my approach shots shorter and therefore I have a an easier time getting on the green in regulation.

I hope you enjoy this blog as I share my story and insights in how to lower your handicap and shoot More Pars!

Matt

It’s been ages it seems since I picked up my camera. That isn’t such a bad thing.

One of the things that I love about shooting for pleasure again is being able to forget about photography and not have to think about it. This might like an odd thing to read on a photography blog but it really makes sense.

One of the keys to being creative is to be able to step back from what you’ve done and see your work objectively. Being afforded the luxury of not having to shoot or look at my photos gives me extra distance and a different perspective of my photos.

We are all guilty of it. It being falling in love with or becoming too immersed in our creations. Have you ever looked at something years after your made it? It looks different. Seeing something “cold” is different than editing your photos in camera or processing them a couple of weeks after shooting them.

I am really looking forward to the next few weeks of weather and getting out to shoot. My batteries are recharged, the creative ones and the goal is to see differently than how I saw this past year.

Do yourself a favor every once in a while and put the camera away and don’t think photography. It’ll do wonders for you when you return.

Happy shooting,

Dan

Daily Read (Isaiah 55-57)

Scripture:
Isaiah 55:11 “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”

Observation:
Isaiah starts this chapter with God’s words that those who are thirsty should come to the waters and those without money to buy food should come to obtain food and drink without money. God is saying that the things of this world do not satisfy, but the food and drink He gives will satisfy the hunger of the soul. He offers the bread of life, Jesus, (John 6:48) and the water that causes a well to spring up inside of us that leads to eternal life (John 4:14). In our selected verse for today, God says that His word will accomplish what it was sent out to do. Jesus is the Word of God (Rev. 19:13), and He did all that God the Father sent Him to do here on earth (John 5:36). He overcame Satan and took away the power of death, hell, and the grave and gave us the gift of eternal life (Rom. 6:23).

Application:
God sent forth His Word, Jesus, to do the job that was necessary to redeem mankind from an eternal death in the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14). Our heavenly father, through Isaiah, tells us that His Word will never come back void to Him but will in fact accomplish the mission designed for it. God has given us a mission and done so through the words of His Son, Jesus.

At the end of the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts (Luke part II), Jesus gives us the great commission. In a nut shell, He told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until they had been empowered by the Holy Spirit. Once that occurred, they were to go to the ends of the earth preaching the good news of the gospel, baptizing people in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, teaching them all Jesus had commanded the apostles, and to make disciples of those that come to Jesus.

This mission is the mission of every believer. No one has been exempted from this commission. We are on an assignment from God. He has made us watchmen (Ezek. 33:7), whose job it is to warn people of the death and destruction that comes from living a life of sin (Rom. 6:23). God warns us in the book of Ezekiel that if we don’t warn the lost about their impending doom resulting in their eternal death, then their blood is upon us. Many people don’t like to hear that, but it is truth. Your reward in heaven is determined by your actions in this life. Do you want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant”? Or, would you rather hear, “Enter my rest, you who believed on my name”?

Our deeds will be tested by fire. They are going to be one of two types. Those that are like precious metals and gems that are made pure by fire or like wood, hay, and stubble that are burned up in the fire to ash (1 Cor. 3:11-14). One is lasting while the other is temporal. What type of reward do you desire? Is your heart set on platinum and emeralds or something made of wood and hay?

God sent forth His word that we are to be His witnesses in our neighborhoods, our counties, states, country and around the world should we be given the chance to travel abroad. We are witness to every person we contact on a daily basis. Our actions determine whether we are a good witness or a bad witness. Are we doing what is pleasing to God? Are we allowing ourselves to be a living sacrifice – holy, pleasing, and acceptable to God – our true worship? Do you worship God with your life, or is it more of a Sunday morning praise songfest for 30 minutes or so weekly? Are you doing what God has commanded you to do? Do you really love your heavenly Father? Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

All right team, let’s get motivated. Get out there!  Hit the streets, and bring in lost souls to the kingdom of God! You can do it! God gives you His Spirit to empower you to do the job. Oh yeah!

Prayer:
Father, You are the source of all that we do. Your Word says that we live by every Word that proceeds out of Your mouth. If Your Word proceeds from Your mouth and doesn’t return to You until its job is completed, then we live by the success of Your Word. Your Word gets the job done. It is live to us and health to our bones. It is through Your Word, Jesus, that we have everlasting life and can live life here in this age with joy unspeakable. Father, there are days that I don’ t get the job done. I need Your help and guidance to ensure that the task set before me everyday is done. Make those supernatural and divine appointments that allow me to come in contact with those whom I am to share Your love and be Your witness. Help me to keep in the forefront of my mind continually that people see and hear everything I do in public. I want my words and actions to do nothing but reflect a life that is submitted and consumed by the living God. May people only see You in me and through me. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Here is an example of a standard that needs to be unpacked. 

W.PS.01.01 Michigan

Develop personal style in oral, written, and visual messages in both narrative (e.g., natural language, specific action, emotion) and informational writing (e.g., sequence, specific vocabulary, visual representations).

Remember that part of unpacking a standard is determining what it is you want students to learn.  The standard provides insight as to what to include in the unpacking.  For the narrative writing, the standard states to develop personal style using natural language, specific action, and emotion.  For informational writing, the student is expected to develop personal style in sequencing, specific vocabulary, and visual representations.

 Here’s how I unpacked this piece after brainstorming with a wonderful group of first-grade teachers.  If you’re like me, it helps to see the big picture of the standard – which includes the content.

Once you’ve unpacked the standard, you have a content tool to use throughout the school year.  The list of actions gives you words at your fingertips you can use when talking with your first-grade students.  The list of emotions does the same.  In the sequence list, you’ll see starter ideas for the good things you’re already doing with your students; intentionally use sequencing words with students.  As for the column that lists visual representations, remember to pull out those sequence words and use them again and again and again.

Clearly, strategic planning is no panacea. Strategic planning is simply a set of concepts, procedures, and tools designed to help leaders, managers, and planners think and act strategically. Used in wise and skillful ways by a “coalition of the willing,” strategic planning can help organizations focus on producing effective decisions and actions that further the organization’s mission, meet in mandates, and satisfy key stakeholders. But strategic planning is not a substitute for strategic thinking and acting. Only caring and committed people can do that. And when used thoughtlessly, strategic planning can actually drive out precisely the kind of strategic thought and action it is supposed to promote.

Furthermore, strategic planning is not a substitute for leadership. There is simply no substitute for leadership when it comes to using strategic planning to enhance organizational performance. At least some key decision makers and process champions must be committed to the strategic planning process, or any attempts to use it are bound to fail.

In addition, strategic planning is not synonymous with creating an organizational strategy. Organizational strategies have numerous sources, both planned and unplanned. Strategic planning is likely to result in statement of organizational intentions, but what is realized in practice will be some combination of what is intended and what emerges along the way. Strategic planning can help organizations develop and implement effective strategies, but they should also remain open to unforeseen opportunities. Too much attention to strategic planning and excessive reverence for strategic plans can build organizations to other unplanned and unexpected—yet incredibly useful—sources of information, insight, and action.

The discipline necessary for strategic planning can be of two sorts. The first harkens back to Latin root of the word “discipline,” emphasizing instruction, training, education, and learning. The second embodies later interpretations of the word, emphasizing order, control, and punishment. Emphasis should be placed on education and learning, although there clearly are occasions when imposing order, taking control, and enforcing appropriate sanctions are appropriate. Certainly, key leaders, managers, and planners can best use strategic planning as an educational and learning tool, to help them figure out what is really important and what should be done about it. Sometimes this means following a particular sequence of steps and preparing formal strategic plans, but not necessarily. The ultimate goal of strategic planning should not be a rigid adherence to a particular process or an instance on the production of plans. Instead, strategic planning should promote wise strategic thought and action on behalf of an organization and its key stakeholders. What steps to follow, in what sequence, and whether or not to prepare formal plans are subsidiary concerns.

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Central Processing Unit, refers to computer hardware that understand and execute commands and data from the software. Another term, the processor (data processing), often used to refer to the CPU. The microprocessor is the CPU that is produced in integrated circuits, often in a package-a single integrated circuit. Since the mid-1970s, microprocessors, integrated circuits have a single common use and become an important aspect in the implementation of the CPU.

CPU component is divided into several types, namely as follows.

* Control unit that organizes the course of the program. This component is certainly present in all the computer controls CPU.CPU duty resulting in synchronization between the components work in carrying out operations functions. included in the control unit responsibility is to take instructions, instructions from main memory and determine the type of instruction. If there are instructions for arithmetic or logical comparisons, the control unit will send instructions to the ALU. Results from processing the data carried by the control unit to the main memory for storage, and in time will be presented to the output device. Thus the task of this control unit are:

• Organize and control the input devices and output. • Taking instructions from main memory. • Importing data from main memory (if necessary) to be processed. • Sending instructions to the ALU when there is a comparison arithmetic or logic, and oversees the work of the ALU. • Save the results to the main memory.

* Register is a small storage device that has a high access speed, which is used to store data and / or instructions that are processed. This memory is temporary, usually used to store data if or when the data for further processing. By analogy, these registers can be likened to a memory in the brain when we do data processing manually, so the brain can be likened to the CPU, which contains memories, control units that regulate the activities of the body and have a place to perform calculations and logical comparisons.
* ALU units assigned to perform arithmetic operations and logic operations defined by instructions. ALU often called machine language for this section ALU consists of two parts, namely arithmetika units and boolean logic units, each of which has its own job specifications. The main task of the ALU is to perform all arithmetic calculations (math) which occurs in accordance with the instructions of the program. ALU perform all the basic arithmetic operations so that the sum of the electronic circuitry that is used is called adder.

Another task of the ALU is to make a decision of a logic operation in accordance with the instructions of the program. Logic operation involves two Operands comparisons using specific logic operator, which is equal to (=), not equal to (¹), less than (), and greater or equal to (³).

* Interconnections are CPU and bus connection system that connects the CPU’s internal components, ie ALU, control unit and registers as well as the external buses connecting the CPU with other systems, such as main memory, device input / output.

Daily Read (Isaiah 52-54)

Scripture:
Isaiah 52:6 “Therefore my people will know my name…”

Observation:
Now in the book of Isaiah we begin to read of God’s love for Israel rather than His fierce anger and judgment. He speaks to her as a lover and as one who was scorned and rejected (Is. 54:6) but now redeemed with compassion and love (Is. 54:7). His plan for redeeming her, Israel, and the rest of the world is through His Servant, who would give His life as a sacrifice to bear the sins of the world (Is. 53:12).

Application:
Do you really know the name of God? Do you know Him as Yah, the Great I AM, or as El Shaddai or Elohim or Yahweh Yireh, your provider? When was the last time you called on the Ancient of Days, who knows the end from the beginning? Have you ever trusted in the Rock of Ages and rested on the tried and true cornerstone? Is the Stone that the builders rejected securely anchoring your life in Him? What name(s) do you know God by?

The list of names for God is really extensions or descriptions of His character rather than His name. When Moses stood on the mountain in front of the burning bush, he asked God, “who should I say has sent me?” God replied, “”Say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation” (Ex. 3:15).

When we look at the original Hebrew for “The LORD,” we see that it translates as YHWH (yod-hay-vav-hay) or where we get our transliterated word JEHOVAH. The name JEHOVAH means the self-existent one or eternal one – the LORD – as we seen written in modern texts. For a better comparison of the names of God please see Lambert Dolphin’s web page “The Names of God“.

Regardless of which name of God you call on, know Him. There is only one way to know Him (which goes along with the words of an old song, “To know me is to love me”) is to love Him. Jesus said to His disciples, ” If you knew me, you would know my Father also” (John 8:20). Jesus also said, “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them” (John 17:25-26). Therefore, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:20) and get to know Him. You have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16), so what is stopping you from getting to know Him personally? The only way to know Him is through study of His Word and prayer. He is the Word (John 1:1), and the Word of God is His name (Rev. 19:13). Praying is your way of talking to Him to find out what He wants of you. Get to know your Daddy. “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

Prayer:
Father, You have so many names that describe in essence who You are. They are useful to me as reminders of what Your Word says about You and what You do for me. Regardless of how many names there are, I need to know Your name, YHWH – the LORD, but more importantly, I need to know You. When my heart truly knows who You are, then Your name is but a reminder to whom I am speaking. The one name that stands out above the rest to me is “DADDY”! You are my Father. I know that my Father loves me and cares for me. So long as I put my trust in You, I have nothing to fear. I have no worries. I want to know not only Your name but also more of You. Teach me more about You each day. Allow the names of God to begin to resonate in my heart and reveal to me the beauty of who You are. I love You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Daily Read (Isaiah 49-51)

Scripture:
Isaiah 50:10 “Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.”

Observation:
Isaiah writes of the coming Messiah as the Servant of God, who is the obedient One. He describes how Jesus would offer His back for beatings and have His beard ripped off His face. He didn’t hide His face from their mocking and spitting that would come upon Him (Is. 50:6). Jesus eventually went to the cross like a sheep led to slaughter and did so without saying a word (Is. 53:7). Isaiah would later continue his description of the coming Messiah and how He would be scourged and killed for the sake of all humanity as the ultimate and final sacrifice for the payment of sin.

Application:
When we read this portion of the book of Isaiah and the subsequent chapters that deal with the things that Jesus would later come to endure, we should take a moment to pause and ponder the truth of what He suffered on the cross. Isaiah tells us He was beaten and had His beard plucked from His face. Isaiah would also write of how he was bruised and crushed beyond recognition as a human being. He was killed as a lamb was slaughtered for the OT sacrifices, but He did what they could not do – permanently remove the sins of man.

The blood of animals could only temporarily blot out the sin record of a person because the sacrifice had to be offered annually. If they could have taken away the sins of man, then there would have been a need to only offer one sacrifice not a continuous act of sacrifice (Heb. 10:1-3).  Jesus, our high “priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God” (Heb. 10:12). If Jesus was willing enough to step out of heaven and take off divinity to put on humanity and then live a life of humility and have to trust in God to follow through on His Word, then why do we find it so difficult to trust in God to do the same for us? Why do we take matters in our hands and decide to things our way rather than rely on God to deliver on His promises?

Is life so tough and uncertain that we seem to walk around like the blind stumbling through the darkness without light? Does not the Word of God in the book of John chapter 1 state that Jesus is the light of  the world? Therefore, if we allow God to be our light to illuminate the way for us to follow, then we have to “trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.” Isaiah said that those “who light fires 
and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment” (Is. 50:11).  In other words, those who self-sufficient and self-reliant and too proud to submit their lives to God will not have everlasting life but will “lie down in torment” or die and spend an eternity in hell in torment where the “worm never dies and the fire is never quenched” (Mark 9:48).

Therefore, put your trust in the Light of the world and rely on your God. He will be a lamp unto your feet and a light on your path (Ps. 119:105). He orders the steps of a righteous person (Ps. 85:13)  and leads them down paths of righteousness (Ps. 23:3) and all for His name’s sake.

Prayer:
Father, I have learned from You that there is no alternative to putting my trust in You and relying upon You to provide for me. I am a human who is mortal and flawed, but You are immortal and perfect. You know me better than I know myself. Continually You speak to me about putting faith in You and You alone. Help me to live a life that is submitted to You and reliant upon You. I don’t want to do anything without You and having You being the center of all I do. I bow to You and praise You my King. In humble service to You, and in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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While working on a client-server based app, I suddenly came face to face with the need to secure and authenticate certain commands between the client and server.  I was certain there was a library out there to meet my needs and I was right.  I rapidly came across the Crypto++ library, a powerful set of cryptographic tools written and tested by experts.  I was in heaven!  Think of the time this has saved me!

There was only one problem.  The Crypto++ library is indeed a very powerful set of cryptographic tools, but I found the learning curve to get my first apps running with it to be very high.  I examined all the sample code I could find, worked through the API documentation, and examined the validation and test code before I finally started catching on.  Then I had to “grep” my way through the files to identify which headers I needed to include for a given function.

DISCLAIMER: All of this brainache is undoubtedly due to my own lack of skill and formal training.

Nevertheless, I overcame my deficiencies and learned how to encrypt and decrypt at will.  But, I was unhappy with the amount of extra code I had to put everywhere I wanted to encrypt and decrypt something.  So, I ended up writing a simplification wrapper to make my work easier.  My wrapper uses only a small subset of functionality and algorithms in Crypto++, but it makes using that subset very easy.

As a very small example, here is how you encrypt a given plaintext string:

string cipherText = BasicCryptoPPWrap::EncryptStringAES(“Encrypt me”, key, initVector, errFlag, errMsg);

The wrapper also implements a custom Advanced Encryption Standard protocol that stores the initial vector with the encrypted data, so you don’t have to track it yourself.  I have used this wrapper very successfully in my own work, I think you’ll find it useful too!

Wrapper functions:

• Implements symmetrical AES encryption and decryption
• Hex encoding of binary data
• Hex decoding of hex-coded strings
• Generic string and file encryption
• Custom protocol string and file encryption
• Random bit and byte generators
• SHA-256 Hash generator

The wrapper is not a standalone solution.  It requires your code to link to libcryptopp and know where the cryptopp header files are found.  The Crypto++ website can help you set up your system.  Once you get the validation suite to run successfully, you will be able to use this wrapper.

Get the files here:

• BasicCryptoPPWrap.h – The header file that makes it all happen
• example.cpp – An example file that takes you through all the functions available in the wrapper

Good luck!  I release this wrapper into the public domain, but if you happen to use the code I wouldn’t mind hearing about it!  Credit might be nice too!

Mike

Daily Read (Isaiah 46-48)

Scripture:
Isaiah 46:4 “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”

Observation:
God speaks to Israel through the prophet, Isaiah, and tells them that He is the one who saves them, the one who loves them, the one who sustains them, and the only one who can. He speaks of the idols of Babylon and how they are useless and worthless because they are nothing more than wood, metal and stone carved by the hands of men. They are shaped by men from these materials and placed in their shrines to do nothing more than stand there deaf and dumb and unable to help anyone. He repeats an oft spoken message that there is no other god but God, the LORD.

Application:
God spoke to me today through this word about remembering that He is the one who saves and sustains. Even as we grow old, we have the duty, which should be our heart’s desire, to not forget that it is God that has made us and not we, ourselves (Ps. 100:3). He is the one, “who will sustain you” and “carry you.” He is the one, who “will rescue you.”

There is no person, thing, or idea/cause that can save you from an eternity in torment. There is no other who has the power to rescue you from the trials and troubles of life. There is no other who can forgive your sins and give you eternal life. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. There is no other way to God except through Him (John 14:6). “I can guarantee this truth: The person who doesn’t enter the sheep pen through the gate [Jesus] but climbs in somewhere else is a thief or a robber” (John 10:1 GWT). And, what does the enemy do, he, “[the thief,] comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10).

Do we want to trust in God who will sustain us, carry us, and rescue us even in our old age? Or, will we do things our way and be lost to suffer and complain and wish we had put or faith in God? Let us not be like the children of Israel when they wandered through the desert of Sin. They whined, complained, rebelled against God, made their own gods, and died in their sins. They trusted unto themselves and refused help from God. When they did receive God’s life sustaining manna and rock-splitting water, they complained all the more.
Put faith in God and live. You will see the mighty hand of the living God operate in your life and bring to you all the necessities of life. He promised it to us in Matt. 6:33. The condition for the delivery of the promise is that we have to seek FIRST His kingdom and His righteousness not second or third or somewhere down the line. He has to be FIRST and FOREMOST in our lives. Seek Him today and live!

Prayer:
Father, once again You speak to me about putting my faith and trust in you. I am quickly learning and sometimes relearning this lesson from You. Each day that I wake I must put full trust in You to provide for that day. The previous day is gone. There is no promise of tomorrow. Thus, each day requires my believing in You to provide what I need for that day. You are the great I AM! You are the God of the now. You know the beginning from the end, but You operate in us today. Thank you for teaching me that trusting You is the only way to live. Continue to teach me more on this concept and make it even more real inside. I love you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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A motherboard is the central printed circuit board (PCB) in many modern computers and holds many of the crucial components of the system, while providing connectors for other peripherals. The motherboard is sometimes alternatively known as the main board, system board, or, on Apple computers, the logic board. It is also sometimes casually shortened to mobo.

Prior to the advent of the microprocessor, a computer was usually built in a card-cage case or mainframe with components connected by a backplane consisting of a set of slots themselves connected with wires; in very old designs the wires were discrete connections between card connector pins, but printed circuit boards soon became the standard practice. The Central Processing Unit, memory and peripherals were housed on individual printed circuit boards which plugged into the backplane.

During the late 1980s and 1990s, it became economical to move an increasing number of peripheral functions onto the motherboard (see below). In the late 1980s, motherboards began to include single ICs (called Super I/O chips) capable of supporting a set of low-speed peripherals: keyboard, mouse, floppy disk drive, serial ports, and parallel ports. As of the late 1990s, many personal computer motherboards supported a full range of audio, video, storage, and networking functions without the need for any expansion cards at all; higher-end systems for 3D gaming and computer graphics typically retained only the graphics card as a separate component.

The early pioneers of motherboard manufacturing were Micronics, Mylex, AMI, DTK, Hauppauge, Orchid Technology, Elitegroup, DFI, and a number of Taiwan-based manufacturers.

Popular personal computers such as the Apple II and IBM PC had published schematic diagrams and other documentation which permitted rapid reverse-engineering and third-party replacement motherboards. Usually intended for building new computers compatible with the exemplars, many motherboards offered additional performance or other features and were used to upgrade the manufacturer’s original equipment.

The term mainboard is archaically applied to devices with a single board and no additional expansions or capability. In modern terms this would include embedded systems and controlling boards in televisions, washing machines, etc. A motherboard specifically refers to a printed circuit with the capability to add/extend its performance and capabilities with the addition of “daughterboards.”

3207714    ฝึกสอนปฏิบัติการคลินิกทันตกรรมประดิษฐ์    Prosthodontic Clinic Instruction Practice

การถ่ายทอดความรู้พื้นฐานด้านทัตนกรรมประดิษฐ์ให้แก่นิสิตปริญญาตรี การสอนและควบคุมการปฏิบัติงานในคลินิกทันตกรรมประดิษฐ์ของนิสิตปริญญาตรี

(Conducting the basic knowledge in prosthodontics to the undergraduates; instructing the class in prosthodontic clinic.)

(3207714 จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)

3207736    ฝึกสอนปฏิบัติการทันตกรรมประดิษฐ์    Prosthodontic Laboratory Instruction Practice

การถ่ายทอดความรู้พื้นฐานด้านทันตกรรมประดิษฐ์ ให้แก่นิสิตปริญญาตรี ทักษะการปฏิบัติงานในห้องปฏิบัติการของนิสิตปริญญาตรี

(Conducting the basic knowledge in prosthodontics to the undergraduates; instructing the class in prosthodontic laboratory.)

(3207736 จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)

posted by Wolfgang Butzkamm, Aachen University (RWTH), Germany

“All you need is communication? No, because all you get is fossilisation.” (see Butzkamm (2009: 83-91): “The Language Acquisition Mystique: Tried and Found Wanting.”)

In the best known methodology handbooks, foreign language teaching is viewed through the lens of a few closely related European languages. Their grammars are often transparent for each other. This explains to some extent the severe doubts cast upon grammar teaching in general, rather than only against its misuse.

But a focus on grammar is not only indispensable for remote languages. It can really help the learner by making “odd” constructions meaningful and transparent, for instance through idiomatic and literal translation (“mirroring”) combined. That is why grammar should not be dealt with in a cavalier fashion. However, at all times the teacher must discipline himself to be brief, to confine the focus on form – in whatever way it is done – to matters of immediate practical relevance, and above all, to be clear. That is no easy matter for any language. On the other hand, for many foreign languages taught in schools excellent grammars have been made available, which represent a great advance on the grammars of earlier centuries.

3208740    ฝึกสอนปฏิบัติการทันตกรรมหัตถการ    Laboratory Instruction Practice in Operative Dentistry

การฝึกถ่ายทอดความรู้พื้นฐาน การสอนและการควบคุมการฝึกปฏิบัติการด้านทันตกรรมหัตถการ

(Practice in basic knowledge in impartation, Laboratory instruction and supervision in Operative Dentistry.)

(3208740 จุฬาลงกรณ์มหาวิทยาลัย)

Every programmer eventually finds a need to display warnings, debug information, or just status updates as they build their code and watch it run.  Lots of times this takes the form of streaming text to std::cout. But, what if you only want certain information to print at certain times, or you’d like to suddenly change from logging to a terminal to logging to a file?

After several tries, I came up with my logger class.  Basically, using static class members and c-style macros, I came up with a logging method that turns on and off easily, allows easy redirection, and is easy to use everywhere in your code.

At it’s simplest, this logger is used as such:

#include <iostream>
#include "logger.h"

using namespace std;	

int main (int argc, char * const argv[]) {
	bool someLogType = true;
	LOG(someLogType) << "This will be logged to clog\n";
	return 0
}

But the logger class also offers globally accessible log types and the ability to redirect the output wherever you want. The following snippet shows this use.

#include <iostream>
#include <sstream>
#include "logger.h"

using namespace std;	

int main (int argc, char * const argv[]) {
	// Set these to turn various logs on or off dynamically
	NORMAL = true;
	DEBUG = false;
	VERBOSE = true;

	LOG(NORMAL) << "This will log\n";
	LOG(DEBUG) << "But this one won't\n";
	LLOG(VERBOSE) << "This one will log, but with the name of the logtype prepended to the message\n";

	// Now we redirect the log output to a custom location.  This could be a file or any ostream
	stringstream newLog;
	logger::setOutstream(newLog);

	LOG(NORMAL) << "This will log\n";
	LOG(DEBUG) << "But this one won't\n";
	LLOG(VERBOSE) << "This one will log, but with the name of the logtype prepended to the message\n";

	string results = newLog.str();
	cout << "In the new log: \n" << results << "\n";

	// Always reset the logger to clog before the program exits or you will get a BAD_ACCESS error
	// I'm still trying to work out that problem, but this is an easy fix for now
	logger::setOutstream(clog);
	return 0;

}

Get the code here:

• logger.h
• logger.cpp
• example.cpp

Good luck and good coding!

Title: The Only Basic Guitar Instruction Book You’ll Ever Need
Author: Jack Wilkins
ISBN: 9781593373795
Publish Date: 2006
Condition: Like New. I never got a chance to actually use it.
Price: $8.00 (includes shipping & handling)

A part of developing curriculum is that of determining core vocabulary a student needs in order to learn the concepts we want them to learn.  How important are words? 

Take a look at this list of words I once shared with a group of Earth Science teachers.  I asked teachers to take the list and circle the words they had confidence their students would know at the moment in timeI asked them to do the task.  The time of the year was late spring – and just weeks away from a state test that students would be taking.

I also asked teachers to count the number of words they circled and figure out the percent of words they thought their students knew.  (This is an easy one since I put one hundred words on the list.)  We then looked at the data.

In a room of forty three teachers, not one indicated that their own students would know over fifty percent (50%) of the words on the list.  Now why is this important?  Because these words came from a state test;  from the released test items for Earth Science for the prior year’s end-of-course test.  Now why is that important?  If students do not know the words, they will not perform well on the test – whether it’s a state test or one of your own.   And guess whose job it is to make sure students learn the words?  That’s right – the classroom teacher, who hopefully teachers the words and related concepts in a direct and explicit way.

So here’s what I like to do.  Whenever I develop vocabulary lists, I like to look at the content words from released test items.  This is not the only place to go, but it is one source of developing solid lists.  If you haven’t done this yet for the tests for which you are accountable, give it a try.  Just go through each test item and circle all of the content words that students need to know in order to answer the questions.  Then use those words to refine your own vocabulary lists.  You’ll end up with lists that you really like to use.