Month: February 2021

Cultural clashes in defining beauty

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My wife was recently in Boston to give a short talk at TED. The video is available on their website right now. I would appreciate it if you took just a few minutes of your time to follow the link/video still below, watch the video and give her your feedback. About this speakerDalali is not only my wife, but the mother of my two children and the most amazing person I know. She is a State Street new hire, who graduated from California State University, Chico with a double major in project management and accounting. Her research focuses on how leadership styles played an important role in political upheaval. Delali is also a certified SAP associate and led a project to convert SAP ERP Financial case studies from IDES to GBI dataset, to support SAP curriculum progress at her university. About this talkIn this talk she shares her personal story of how growing up in West Africa, she was bullied and marginalized for being skinny. Her family worried about her, put her on diets, and …

The Stand

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“Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.” This is not only the key to understanding the armor, but it is also exactly what we are called to stand in. The armor has everything to do with you standing in it than it has to do with you putting it on! Today in this introductory message on the armor of God I want to remind you that greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. I want to remind you that you have been born of God. He has He hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son By virtue of your faith in Him – you have been made victorious.It is from this vintage point – in this victory that Paul calls you to take a stand. I hear people say that we need to put the armor on every day.But my question is – if we are to be ready in season …

His Perfect Patience

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“But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.”‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭1:16‬ ‭ESV‬‬ Perfect PatienceNobody I know in this life has perfect patience. But I know beyond the shadow of doubt that God displays perfect patience. We can see it on full display in Paul’s life. In this short passage Paul describes himself as “foremost.” What did he mean?Let’s look back at a few verses: 1 Timothy‬ ‭1:12-15‬ ‭ESV‬‬ “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of …

The Black Dot!

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Day 5 “One day our headmaster walked into the classroom and put up a broad white sheet of paper with a small black dot in the corner. ‘Boys,’ he asked, ‘what do you see?’ All of us shouted in unison, ‘A black dot!’ Then he said, ‘So not a single one of you saw the broad white sheet of paper? Don’t go through life with that attitude.” -Kofi Annan A Black Dot!Sometimes as Christians all we do is focus on what we disagree on and not sufficiently on all the other things we agree on. Let us not go through life with that attitude. Talk more about the thinks you agree on. Sometimes in relationships, all a husband or wife thinks about is that character flaw or that thing that your partner does that so irritates you. Don’t go through life with that attitude. Think about and celebrate the good things about your spouse. You will not be here today had it not been for someone holding the door open for you , paving the …

Celebrate small Things

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Day 4 The great Michelangelo once sculpted a figure out of marble as his friend stood by and watched. Well, this friend of his left for a business trip and after a while he returned and didn’t really see any significant progress in the work that Michelangelo was doing. Upon hearing the criticism of his friend, Michelangelo told him that he had indeed done some work on the marble figure by softening certain parts, straightening the lips, defining the muscles and polishing here and there on the marble figure. To his surprise, his friend said that his efforts were trifle. But Michelangelo replied,Trifles they may be, but trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle. Are you in the habit of celebrating the small things in your life? Do you stop and acknowledge how blessed you are? Marriages and relationships fail because spouses pay little or no attention to the little things. Believers live in fear and ingratitude because they fail to stop for a moment and count their blessings. New converts grow discouraged and …