faith

Mark 1:1-4

On 08/16/2019, in faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, religion, society, youth, by Daniel Christian

Mark 1:1-4 New International Version (NIV)

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah,^[a] the Son of God,^[b]²as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way”^[c]—
³“a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”^[d]

⁴And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Israeli tech co. uses virtual & augmented reality tech to help Christians engage with the Bible

On 08/08/2019, in 21st century, A/V -- audio/visual, active learning, attention, Augmented Reality (AR), digital learning, digital storytelling, e-books, e-publishing related items (EPUB and more), education, education technology, emerging technologies, engagement / engaging students, ethics, faith, hearts -- matters of the heart, history, homeschooling/homeschoolers, human-computer interaction (HCI), learning, learning preferences, multimedia, platforms, publishing, religion, story, storytelling, student-related, technologies for your home, tools, user experience (UX), vendors, Virtual Reality (VR) / worlds / learning, XR - extended reality, youth, by Daniel Christian

Israeli tech co. uses virtual & augmented reality tech to help Christians engage with the Bible — with thanks to Heidi McDow for the resource
Compedia Partners with U.S. Clients to Utilize Company’s Biblical Knowledge and Technological Expertise

TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 7, 2019 – Compedia, an Israel-based business-to-business tech company, is using virtual reality technology to service Christian clients with products that help users engage with the Bible in a meaningful way.
…
Compedia partnered with The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., which attracted more than 1 million visitors during its first year of operation, to help bring the museum’s exhibits to life. With the help of Compedia’s innovation, visitors to the museum can immerse themselves in 34 different biblical sites through augmented reality tours, allowing them to soar across the Sea of Galilee, climb the stairs of the Temple Mount, explore the Holy Sepulchre and so much more. In addition to creating on-site attractions for The Museum of the Bible, Compedia also created a Bible curriculum for high-school students that includes interactive maps, 3-D guides, quizzes, trivia and more.
…
“Many people are dubious of augmented and virtual reality, but we see how they can be used for God’s glory,” said Illutowich. “When clients recognize how attentive users are to the Bible message when it’s presented through augmented and virtual reality, they see the power of it, too.”

In addition to their passion for furthering Bible education, Compedia is committed to developing products that help educators engage students of all types. The company is currently in partnership with a number of educational institutions and schools around the U.S. to utilize its interactive technology both in the classroom and in the online learning space. Other client collaborations include Siemens, Sony and Intel, to name a few.

About Compedia
Compedia uses cutting-edge technology to help students succeed by making education more fun, engaging, and meaningful. With over 30 years of experience in developing advanced learning solutions for millions of people in 50 countries and 35 languages, Compedia offers expertise in visual computing, augmented reality, virtual reality and advanced systems, as well as instructional design and UX.

Psalm 150

On 07/10/2019, in faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, religion, society, by Daniel Christian

Image from https://es.pngtree.com/freepng/color-cartoon-musical-note-stave_2521336.html

Image source

Psalm 150 — from biblegateway.com

¹Praise the Lord.

Praise God in his sanctuary;
    praise him in his mighty heavens.
²Praise him for his acts of power;
    praise him for his surpassing greatness.
³Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
    praise him with the harp and lyre,
⁴praise him with timbrel and dancing,
    praise him with the strings and pipe,
⁵praise him with the clash of cymbals,
    praise him with resounding cymbals.

⁶Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

1 Chronicles 29:11

On 06/05/2019, in faith, geography / geology, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, religion, by Daniel Christian

1 Chronicles 29:11 New International Version (NIV)

¹¹Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay

Revelation 21:2-4

On 06/01/2019, in Daniel S. Christian, faith, future, hearts -- matters of the heart, religion, vision/possibilities, by Daniel Christian

Revelation 21:2-4 New International Version (NIV) — from biblegateway.com

²I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

From DSC:
My dad used to sign a song that had the highlighted scripture in it. It represents a wonderful, desirable, powerful vision…especially after listening to NPR for a while (which I do several times a week).

Pastors, what do you think of these ideas? [Christian]

On 05/12/2019, in assessment, assistive technologies, Daniel S. Christian, digital learning, experimentation, faith, ideas, learning theories, memory, pedagogy, society, teaching & learning, tools, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Pastors, what do you think of these ideas?

Summarize your key points and put them up on slides at the end of your sermons (and/or at discussion groups after service)
Summarize your key points and post them to the churches’ websites — including links to resources that you referenced in your sermons (books, devotions, other)
Have an app that folks in your congregation could complete during the sermon (like “fill in the blanks” / missing words or phrases). Or, if you’d prefer that your congregation not have their smartphones out, perhaps you could provide “quizzes” mid-week to assist in information recall (i.e., spaced repetition). That is, people would need to try to fill in the missing phrases and/or words mid-week. Answers would be immediately available if someone asked for them.

Along these lines…should there be more classes in seminary on learning theories and on pedagogy? Hmmm….an interesting thought.

Photograph of Multicolored “Cloud” Galaxy by Amateur Photographers Combines 1,060 Hours of Exposure [Lasane]

On 05/12/2019, in Europe, faith, by Daniel Christian

Photograph of Multicolored “Cloud” Galaxy by Amateur Photographers Combines 1,060 Hours of Exposure — from thisiscolossal.com by Andrew Lasane

Excerpt:

A group of French amateur astrophotographers called Ciel Austral (“Southern Sky”) have shared a 240-megapixel image of the Large Magellan Cloud (LMC). Constructed using 4,000 images, the seamless collage required over 1,060 hours of exposures. Together, the images form a massive digital poster with colorful explosions and pockets of cosmic dust that resemble watercolors dripped and blown across an inky black surface.

The individual photos that make up the 14,400-pixel-wide image were captured between July 2017 and February 2019 using a 160mm refracting telescope at an observatory in Chile that is owned by the photographers. The colors in the image are not what you would see if you traveled 163,000 light years to get LMC. Ciel Austral used special filters that (based on which elements are present) highlight parts of the visual spectrum. The resulting swirling hues are best appreciated in close-ups like the ones below. To see the full size image in all of its glory, head over to the Ciel Austral website.

From DSC:
Again I say, “Glory to God in the highest!”

Exquisite underwater photos to make you love the ocean [Mallonee]

On 04/30/2019, in art, creativity, digital photography, faith, geography / geology, hearts -- matters of the heart, photography, by Daniel Christian

Exquisite underwater photos to make you love the ocean — from wired.com by Laura Mallonee

Job 12:7-10

⁷“But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
    or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;
⁸or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
    or let the fish in the sea inform you.
⁹Which of all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
¹⁰In his hand is the life of every creature
    and the breath of all mankind.”

Glory to GOD in the highest!

Thank you LORD for your grace, love, forgiveness…and for music which moves our souls.

On 04/16/2019, in Daniel S. Christian, drama/theater, faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, society, youth, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
Thank you LORD for your grace, your love, your forgiveness…and for all kinds of music which moves our souls. Especially as we reflect on the gift that was offered for us this week…thank you LORD! While we were yet sinners…you died for us. You paid the price. Then you rose again!

The gifts of grace, music and eternal life! Thank you LORD.

New life…right outside a funeral home. [Christian]

On 04/12/2019, in change, Daniel S. Christian, faith, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, by Daniel Christian

From DSC:
For those of you in warmer climates, this is no big deal. But for us here in Michigan, these last few winters have seemed like forever…they’ve been very long indeed. So when flowers appear, it’s a big deal to us!

I saw my first view of flowers in 2019…and guess what?! I saw them right outside a funeral home…hmmm….new life…right next to “death.”

Flowers right outside a funeral home -- new life, right next to death

From DSC:
This reminded me of the beginning of Ecclesiastes 3:

¹There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²a time to be born and a time to die…

Along these lines of thinking about time…the trick for me has been to not let time put so much heat in my kitchen as to make my life (and others as well) highly stressful — a trick that I’m still trying to learn. I sometimes think that I give too much weight to Psalm 90:12 (“So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”) Unfortunately, I put too much focus on the first part of that verse. But it’s easy for me to do that these days. As our family watches our parents entering into the last of their twilight years, I’m once again reminded that our lives are but a vapor. I’m trying to use them wisely.

As Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Easter are rapidly approaching us…perhaps it’s a good time to think about life and death…hmmm.

Isaiah 53:3-6

On 03/30/2019, in faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, society, by Daniel Christian

Isaiah 53:3-6 (NIV) — from biblegateway.com

³He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

⁴Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
    stricken by him, and afflicted.
⁵But he was pierced for our transgressions,
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
    and by his wounds we are healed.
⁶We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
    each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

Psalm 8

On 03/28/2019, in faith, geography / geology, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, relationships, society, by Daniel Christian

Psalm 8 New International Version (NIV) — from biblegateway.com
For the director of music. According to gittith.A psalm of David.

¹Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
    in the heavens.
²Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.
³When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
⁴what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?^[c]

⁵You have made them^[d] a little lower than the angels^[e]
    and crowned them^[f] with glory and honor.
⁶You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their^[g] feet:
⁷all flocks and herds,
    and the animals of the wild,
⁸the birds in the sky,
    and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.

⁹Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Genesis 1:1

On 03/16/2019, in faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, history, relationships, religion, society, by Daniel Christian

Genesis 1:1 — from biblegateway.com
1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Full moon over Bangkok, Thailand | Photography by ©?Dotz Soh pic.twitter.com/ZtYTSSyKyY

— Earth Pics (@AwesomeEarthPix) March 16, 2019

From DSC:
And He did/does/will do AWESOME work!

Isaiah 55:8-11

On 03/13/2019, in ethics, faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, morals/values, relationships, society, by Daniel Christian

Isaiah 55:8-11 New International Version (NIV) — from biblegateway.com

⁸“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
⁹“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
¹¹so 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.

Isaiah 58:6-11

On 03/03/2019, in ethics, faith, global / globalization, hearts -- matters of the heart, law schools, leadership, legislatures / government / legal, morals/values, relationships, religion, society, sociology, by Daniel Christian

Isaiah 58:6-11 New International Version (NIV) — from biblegateway.com

⁶“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?
⁷Is it not to share your food with the hungry
    and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
    and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
⁸Then 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.
⁹Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

“If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
    with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
¹⁰and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.
¹¹The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.

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