The Thoughtful Theist | Theology, faith, and life.
Thus says the LORD: Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.
My word shall not return to me void, says the Lord through Isaiah. And so Jesus begins to tell the crowds what "the kingdom of God is like…" It turns out that the nature of this kingdom is best revealed through parables, and in one of them, a sower goes out to sow seeds. The sower can be God, and the seeds can be the seeds of his kingdom, the little seeds that God plants in our lives that we have to look for and really notice to find. They are always there; do we see them? Do we notice them?
But Jesus says this is what the kingdom of God is like. It is like these small seeds. He tells the people that some of the seed fell on the byway, and the birds came and ate it. Some of the seed fell upon the rocks and sprouted immediately in the shallow soil there; but because the soil there was shallow, the sprout had no depth of root, and so it withered when the heat of the sun came. Some of the seed fell among the thorns and brambles, and these choked it after it sprouted and had grown a little bit.
But — and here, here at last is the seed that will not return void to the Creator — some of the seed fell on good, deep, rich soil. And it formed deep, strong roots in that good, deep soil. And maybe it grew a little bit slower than the seed that had sprouted in the shallow soil. Maybe it was more deliberate and unhurried about it all, taking its time to grow toward the light. But as it took its time it grew steadily, and quietly, and became strong as it slowly but inexorably felt itself pulled toward that light. It knew it would get there in good time, because it knew where it belonged. It belonged in the light, but only after it had been able to form good, strong roots in that fertile soil.
One day it arrives in the light, and it's too firmly established for the birds to eat it, and it has deep enough roots to withstand all the heat, nourished by water and nutrients from the cool and stable earth that is the ground of its being. And it is too grounded in the soil and too drawn to the light to be choked off by any thorns. And this seed, Jesus tells the crowd, grows to maturity and bears its good fruit a hundred or sixty or thirty fold. My word shall not return to me void, says the Lord.
This Sunday we finally move away from John's Gospel, where we've been for the majority of the fifty-day Easter season and the special Sundays immediately following it, and settle back into Matthew for the majority of this Year A of the lectionary. Here, Jesus is speaking to his disciples' fears and worries in a time and place when life was lived close to the edge, and proclaiming your faith in Christ and his message could easily lead not only to rejection but arrest, torture, and death. This is still the case today in many places in the world, as the United Nations lists Christians as the most persecuted religious group across the globe today.
Sometimes, we can wonder where God is. Horrible things happen in the world. Sometimes horrible things happen to us or those we love. Sometimes the daily, unremarkable challenges of life simply leave us feeling worn down, or inadequate, or weak and unable. But if we are open to the small signs in our lives, the gentle whispers of life, the simple gestures of love in the world, the call of a bird and the rustling of the wind, the delicate beauty of a flower and the time it takes for the sun to rise over the horizon, we can feel God's presence within us and around us. We can know that, as the scripture says, God was there "in the still, small voice," the whisper of sound.
Last night I was reading about the remarkable story of Walter Ciszek, S. J. A Jesuit priest who had been sent to minister to Byzantine/Eastern rite Catholics in Poland in the late 1930s, he was arrested by the NKVD, the Soviet secret police, at some point after the Russians overran Poland in 1939. He spent eighteen years as a Soviet prisoner. Fifteen of those years he endured under a sentence of hard labor in the Siberian salt mines, living in the same gulag that Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn made famous with his book The Gulag Archipelago, until the U.S. government finally secured his return home.
To lose one's faith and connection with God in those circumstances would have been understandable — even, perhaps, expected. Instead, as he wrote about in his books With God in Russia and He Leadeth Me, his inner life of spiritual contemplation with God became his only constant and the one thing that sustained him. He sensed God abiding with him and his fellow prisoners in the labor camp, and he chose to offer up his life and his hard labor there to God. He also risked his life to minister as a priest to his fellow prisoners, leading secret Masses, hearing their confessions and offering them sacramental absolution. At any time, any one of them could have reported on him for their own gain and turned him in to meet his death. He returned home to America in 1962.
As I look out my window and I watch the birds gathering food, building nests, and living quiet simple lives of Creator-endowed grace from moment to moment, I can think of Jesus' words about the sparrows to his disciples. And I can know that just as he watches them in the fields and trees, and just as he watched Walter Ciszek in the gulag, and just as he watches all of us — I know he watches me, too.
This was the cultural and religious context that Jesus' listeners knew very well. The Gospel tells us that some of them, therefore, could simply not accept his words on any level, and dispersed. Jesus understood that. But with these words, he is really talking about two central things: his coming into this world from heaven for our sake, and the giving of his life in a definitive sacrifice that demonstrated his love for the very creatures whose dark and murderous impulses led to that sacrifice. It is this divine sacrificial love, culminating in Resurrection, that "makes atonement" for our lives and redeems them from sin and death.
It is in this way that Jesus' "blood" is the life that we need to consume. When he says, "unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you do not have life in you," and "whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life," he knows exactly the background context that is Leviticus 17:11-14. He knows it is written that the life of the flesh is in the blood, and he knows it is written that the blood, by means of its life, makes atonement. So he tells his followers that he gives his body and blood in the definitive sacrifice, fulfilling the first Covenant yet also inaugurating "the new Covenant in my blood" — as he says during the Last Supper, the institution of the first Eucharist.
The reading from Paul for today, 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, speaks of this Eucharistic meal that Christ instituted for us: "The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?" The Eucharist as the Lord's Supper was celebrated and practiced even by the earliest Christian community, beginning immediately following Jesus' death and Resurrection, as his disciples began to carry out the teaching he gave them about the life that comes from his body and blood.
Atonement and redemption through self-sacrificial love are his divine gifts to us. But we must, he says, "feed on him" — that is to say, we must rely on him, turn to him, get our nourishment from him. We must draw from him and remain in him, and he will remain in us, giving us the gift of eternal life, which is nothing less than to abide in the glory of God's love forever.
Redeemer, help us to draw on you, the "living bread from heaven," for our true sustenance. Help us to open our minds to what your self-sacrifice of redemptive, atoning love means individually for each one of us, and help us to accept that gift of your love. Inspire our hearts to drink in your life, which you want to give in abundance, so that your life may remain in us, and we may dwell with you eternally.
Primarily this verse touches us with its emphasis on God's radical love for the world and love for us, despite all the suffering the human species inflicts upon itself and on other species. That love means that God is not enthusiastic about condemning. God is enthusiastic about redeeming and forgiving, when the hard heart becomes consumed with remorse and looks to its Creator for forgiveness and love. But God's respect for our autonomy is such that this is not forced upon us. It is a gift freely offered, and can be freely turned down. Our hearts can soften in the face of God's love, causing us to follow in the divine way of compassionate kindness; or they can remain hard and intractable, continuing to cause pain to others.
If "perish" in this passage stands as the opposite of "have eternal life," then looking more closely at what Jesus means by "eternal life" will help us better understand its opposite. In another passage in John, Jesus asks the Father to give eternal life to all whom the Father has given him. He then says, "And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3). Jesus reassures his disciples that simply to know God in an intimate way — and as he told them elsewhere, just to know him is a direct way to know God — leads to eternal life. This is because it is impossible to know God in our depths person-to-Person and yet refuse to love him. And it is that love, which is the greatest transformative force in the world, that brings eternal life.
It is that gentle yet most powerful-in-its-gentleness force of love that softens our hearts and causes us to see others and all of Creation in the way that God sees. This, in itself, changes our actions and our disposition and leads into the eternal life of which Jesus speaks. We do not need to perform superhuman spiritual acrobatics, he tells us, to inherit eternal life. We do not need to wear ourselves out trying to "earn" it somehow, or prove that we are worthy of it. We will never achieve that. But neither should we relinquish all responsibility to seek and find God, pat ourselves on the back, and say, "well, I'm all good just the way I am, no need to seek God to improve me!" Both such approaches are nonsense.
When Jesus says, "Seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door will be opened to you," he is not telling us to ask for the latest hot consumer item, a more luxurious car, or a bigger house. When he encourages us to "seek," he means seek God, and seek him in earnest, and God will not hide himself but let you find him. When he says "knock," he means knock on God's door, and it will always be opened to you.
Those who are a part of other faiths can truly seek and know God in their own way, for the spark of the Creator dwells deep within each of his creations. The Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) made this, in fact, a part of doctrine when it wrote that those who are not familiar with Christ and his revelation of God "but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience — those too may achieve eternal salvation" (Lumen Gentium 16).
Holy Trinity, triune God, help us always first and foremost to seek you, to knock on your door, to invite you to come and stay with us. By doing so let us open our hearts to be softened and changed by the transformative knowledge of you and your love.
The day of Pentecost, which Christians commemorate as the day the Holy Spirit came to abide permanently within the community of the new church after Jesus' ascension, marks the fulfillment of his promise not to leave his disciples alone. Now the Holy Spirit, the Paraklētos, has arrived and is here to stay. The Spirit is the worker here on Earth — the "Spirit of truth," the advocate, summoner, encourager, comforter, helper, counselor, and teacher. The Spirit dwells within us and around us and works to help us discover our true identity in God who is Love, and lead us to grow into that identity.
The first two readings speak to us about the unifying character of the Holy Spirit. But the unity that the Spirit brings is not a whitewashing of our individual uniqueness; it does not subsume us into any amorphous sameness that takes no account of our unique experiences, personalities, and gifts. No, this is a unity in which each person's individuality is not only acknowledged, but honored, celebrated, and put to good use.
The first reading, Acts 2:1-11, paints a picture of a large crowd of devout Jewish folk from many nations who had gathered in Jerusalem for the annual religious festival of Shavu'ot ("Weeks"), which commemorates the revelation of God at Sinai, the covenant with Israel that happened there and the giving of the Ten Commandments. Greek-speaking Jews who hailed from outside Judea called it the Fiftieth (Pentēkostē) Day, so the word Pentecost made its way into the mostly Greek-speaking early Christian community. It was to be on this day that the Holy Spirit would be revealed in a spectacular way.
In this first demonstration of the Holy Spirit, this unique Pentecost event that grew the fledgling church by great numbers, the Spirit proves to be a unifier. But the Spirit speaks to each person in a way that he or she can hear, within the context of his or her own language, nation, culture, and disposition. The Spirit is an equal opportunity teacher, who speaks to us where we are. And this is true as much today, every day, as it was that first Pentecost day. God's Spirit does not change.
There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; there are different forms of service but the same Lord; there are different workings but the same God who produces all of them in everyone. To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit. As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.
In the Gospel reading for this Pentecost, Jesus speaks of peace and of sending forth. The scene from John's Gospel is the first post-Resurrection appearance of Jesus to the apostles who were hidden in the upper room in Jerusalem. Although the Gospel for today takes us back in time nearly fifty days before Pentecost, it also reveals the coming of the Holy Spirit.
God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son has reconciled the world to himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; through the ministry of the Church, may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Absolution is the assurance of God's forgiveness, granted to a contrite heart. As the minister of Christ's mercy, a priest cannot withhold absolution ("retain" the sin) unless the person truly has no contrition and humility in the face of their wrong, and professedly has no intention to attempt to do better, or has no grasp of what the entire process is for. It's hard to imagine a circumstance where a person would come to Reconciliation at all under such conditions!
But personal confession in the sacrament isn't the only way the church mediates Christ's forgiveness of sins. It happens in a general sense at the beginning of all Catholic masses and at the beginning of many Protestant worship services with the corporate declaration of sin, spoken by the whole congregation. The people acknowledge wrongdoing and ask for God's forgiveness. This too is the work of the Spirit.
Holy Spirit, this Pentecost day and always, help us to remember that the unity you seek to bring honors and relies on the individual gifts you have given to each one of us as participants in your works of love. Help us be open to what you offer to teach us. Help us be open to the ways you seek to soften our hearts, and help us always be humble enough to seek God's forgiveness — the greatest gift of all.
We all need to belong. We need to belong somewhere, and the sense of belonging that is ours when we do truly belong brings with it a corresponding sense of peace, of happiness, of security. The need to feel that we truly belong reflects the truth that we are relational beings. We are not created to be individuals in a vacuum; we did not evolve to exist on our own in atomistic self-sufficiency. Our need for belonging springs from an awareness in our depths that we are meant to be part of a larger whole.
So when Jesus tells his disciples that they (and his disciples today) "belong" to him, this is music to the world-buffeted soul; eternal warmth to the lonely, misunderstood, or rejected. Whether we feel we belong anywhere here in this world, we always, he tells us, belong to him. In this passage in John, Jesus is praying to the Father before his arrest. These lengthy monologues in John often serve to help reveal the nature of the relationship between Christ and the Father, two Persons of the triune God. In this prayer Jesus speaks about the "belonging" of the disciples to himself and to the Father: "I revealed your name to those whom you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word… I made known to them your name and I will make it known, that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in them" (17:6, 26).
So the disciples then and now belonged first to the Father, their Creator, who has now given them into the care of the Son, who is the Logos of the Creator become human. Jesus speaks about his disciples belonging to him in many other passages in John as well — being joined to him, being one with him, and therefore being joined to the Father too, because he says to the Father that "everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine" (17:10). It means that we share in the eternal life of God; and it means that if we ask him he will work with us so that we can be transformed in our depths to become more like him; and it means that our true home is in him.
As Thomas Merton reflects, "To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that love is the reason for my existence, for God is love. Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name" (New Seeds of Contemplation).
Jesus continues in his prayer before his arrest: "Consecrate them in truth. Your word (logos) is truth… And I consecrate myself for them, so that they also may be consecrated in truth" (17:17, 19). By his holiness, we are made holy, because we belong to him. By his consecration of himself, he consecrates us, and we are freed from our own darkness, because we belong to him. By his power over death, we are freed from its power over us, and we share in his eternal life, because we belong to him. He embraces us with his encompassing, radically generous acceptance. This is what it means to belong to him who is Love.
Creator and Redeemer God, help us always remember that you are our home; that our place of eternal belonging is in you; and that your love is imprinted on all your creations forever.
The word usually translated "Advocate," "Counselor," or "Helper" (Paraklētos) comes from the root verb parakaleo, which has a broad range of meaning: to urge, encourage, ask, console, comfort, and even summon or invite. Because of the multitude of ways that the Holy Spirit works with us — including all of the above — it seems very fitting that the word used to describe the Spirit would be so versatile.
The way that Jesus speaks about this makes it clear that the Holy Spirit, who like Christ is part of the Personhood of God, is not simply going to whir away in the background accomplishing things while not involving us in any way. Jesus tells his disciples, "The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name — he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you" (John 14:26). Jesus connects the Holy Spirit with the active result of loving him: keeping his commandments. Through knowing and participating with the Spirit, we will be much better able to keep the more difficult commandments of Jesus, the ones that ask us to subordinate our automatic tendency toward self-focus and to love others with a willingness to sacrifice that self-focus.
When we act on Jesus' teachings out of love for him, we are transformed. "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him" (John 14:23). How does this happen, and what is the role of the Holy Spirit? Saint Paul writes that, among other things, the Holy Spirit helps us to pray, and thereby to come closer to the same God of whom the Spirit is a part, to know him and to feel him within our depths.
When we sit in quiet prayer, listening to whatever God might have to say to our hearts with his mercy and love, or reflecting on a Scripture passage, or holding other people before our mind's eye in prayer for them, the Holy Spirit is stirring within us. In this stirring he is helping us to pray, and when we respond with our love and our prayer, he stirs and orients our being toward God all the more. Over time, if we cooperate in the unfolding of this process, a charitable spirit toward others overcomes more and more of our innate selfishness and we become configured to Christ. When this happens we can feel, like Paul, that "it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20).
Perhaps we might feel peace, or a desire to pray still more. But inevitably and irresistibly, we will also experience the urge to be a more positive presence in the lives of others — even in seemingly small but actually big ways like practicing more active kindness and compassion, both for strangers and for people we know well, both for people we like and people we don't. It is for the latter that we must rely even more on the stirring of the Holy Spirit within us. For Jesus said, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you… For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?… But love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing in return; then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:27-36).
We will know that we're working with and being transformed by the Holy Spirit when we notice "the fruits of the Spirit" in our being, manifesting themselves in our actions. Paul describes these fruits as "charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, modesty, and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23). To the degree that we can willingly grow in these through our cooperation with the Holy Spirit, we become more like Christ. And this is what he wants for us, not only for the good of others whose lives will inevitably benefit from our becoming more like Christ, but for our own good. There is nothing better for our souls than to become as closely united to the Source of our very being, the Source of all love, as we possibly can. Only in that Source do we discover our truest selves, the people that our Creator sees in us and wants us to be.
Holy Spirit, Paraklētos, one of the three Persons of the united God, help us to pray, to know humility, to work with you to become more like Christ who is the Way, and thereby to radiate outward the love that we feel in God.
To his disciples, however, this was not particularly reassuring. At least not until they could have some time to understand the meaning of who he really was. What did he mean, he was going to the Father's house? That could mean only one thing: he was going to depart this world. And if he were going to do that, how could he become the great political ruler that they had been expecting — that they assumed the Messiah would be? Wasn't he going to take hold of his kingdom and rule from Jerusalem, and finally kick out all these foreign empires and put them in their place? Wasn't that how he was going to fulfill God's covenant and bring salvation to Israel, and cause the Gentiles to know the God that Israel had known for so long? If not with a political kingdom like the one David had ruled, then how would he redeem the world?
It would not be until later that they would hear him say to Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world." It would not be until they saw him resurrected that they would understand he had come to save them not from political powers, but from something much more important and dangerous. He had come to save them, and us, from the darkness that exists in each one of us as part of our human nature. The salvation he offers is to save us from ourselves, and the redemption he offers is to redeem us from ourselves, and in so doing show us the reality of Resurrection and bring us into the eternal light of God.
As Thomas Merton writes, "salvation" in Christianity "reflects God's own infinite concern for man, God's love and care for man's inmost being, God's love for all that is His own in man. It is not only human nature that is 'saved' by the divine mercy, but above all the human person. The object of salvation is that which is unique, irreplaceable, incommunicable — that which is myself alone. This true inner self must be drawn up like a jewel from the bottom of the sea… To be 'saved' is to return to one's inviolate and eternal reality and to live in God" (New Seeds of Contemplation). This is one of the most exquisite explanations of the Christian concept of salvation that I have ever read.
Now it is Philip's turn to prove his confusion. "Master, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." We can imagine the gentleness in Jesus' voice as he looks at Philip and answers, "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." There lies the heart of the truth that Jesus wants them to know. He is the mind, the self of God, God's idea of Godself, now become embodied in a discrete human being, the Son of God. "In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made" (John 1:1-3). The Logos of God had chosen the humble Mary as a human mother and become a corporeal Person for our sakes.
So there is no need, Jesus tells his disciples, to be mystified about who the Father is or how to find him. Who Jesus is, he tells his disciples, is who his Father is. They are of the same nature, one in being, Christ begotten from the Father, "God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God," in the words of the Nicene Creed.
Redeemer, help us to seek and find you who are the Way, and by coming to know you, know the mind of our Creator. Lead us to your Father's house, to the place you have prepared for each of us.
Many of us are familiar with Gospel passages where Jesus speaks of himself as a shepherd. We know the parable he tells of a shepherd who, noticing that one of his hundred sheep has wandered off and gotten lost (as sheep do), leaves the 99 grazing securely in their pasture and looks for the one who has wandered away. Jesus also refers to himself as the Good Shepherd whose sheep know his voice and follow him: "I know my sheep, and mine know me." This imagery flows from the images of God as shepherd in the Old Testament. Psalm 23 offers perhaps the most famous example: "The Lord is my shepherd…" But in the Gospel for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Jesus is the Gate for the sheep.
If we think of Jesus not as a physical gate that opens and closes, but as the shepherd who is himself the "gate" because it is he through whom the sheep come and go safely each day, he who leads them in and out, then it becomes somewhat easier to conceptualize him as both the gate and the shepherd. But I think there is another meaning at work here as well. Shepherds who are like Jesus — those who enter through him as the gate — are those who are faithful to his call to care for his people in his name. Jesus distinguishes between these true shepherds — such as Peter, to whom he said, "Feed my sheep," and faithful priests and ministers today — and the thieves and robbers who pillage the sheepfold by breaking into it far away from the gate. These robbers try to steal the sheep and harm them, pretending or assuming that this sheepfold is theirs. But they are violating it; it is not theirs, because they did not enter through Christ.
We know who some of these thieves and robbers are in the text because John tells us that Jesus is directing this metaphor at the Pharisees. Among the Pharisees were many corrupt religious leaders of the time. It is remarkable that the only people toward whom Jesus ever expresses any anger in the Gospels are those who are self-satisfied, without mercy, and corrupt. Into this category fall many of the powerful and those with status, especially Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes, who are supposed to be religious leaders. Instead, many of them have been corrupted by their status and indulge themselves in self-righteousness, legalism to the exclusion of compassion, and lord their power instead of serving the people and showing them the love that comes from God. In every Gospel, Jesus indicts their self-satisfaction, accusing them of placing heavy burdens on others and then not lifting a finger to help them. He sees through their flattering exterior to their interior corruption, telling them that although they think they have no need of God's mercy and forgiveness, they are in fact a brood of vipers who have placed themselves far away from God and far away from God's mercy. By their own choice they have closed themselves off to God's transformative love.
But the fact that they are sinners is not the problem, according to Jesus. He continually poured out compassion for people who, knowing their sins separated them from God and knowing their need for God's mercy, came to him and always received the purifying mercy and forgiveness that they sought. The problem occurs when a person does not know of their sins because they will not allow themselves to acknowledge any sinfulness. They are too busy taking pride in themselves to recognize any sins that may be theirs. Not acknowledging their human need for God's mercy and so never experiencing its tenderness, they cannot and do not show that mercy to others. The Pharisees constantly criticize Jesus for spending time with "sinners," never recognizing that they should have been putting themselves in that group too, and joyfully doing so! If they had, they could have experienced the same restorative compassion that Jesus poured out to the "sinful" woman with the alabaster jar, and to the woman caught in adultery, and to the tax collectors, prostitutes, and all the others who represented sheep in need of their Shepherd.
If those who are to care for people in Jesus' name will be true shepherds and not thieves and robbers who harm them, they must enter through the Gate who is Christ. That means they must truly know Christ, and be truly known by him. It means being unlike the Pharisees and more like the throngs of people who came to Christ broken in some way and placed themselves in his care, and received more than they ever thought they could. And then they pass all that beauty on to others because they received it from him. The shepherds must have his gentleness. Only then will the people perceive in their voices the voice of the Good Shepherd who loves them.
Redeemer, may I always be willing to come to you, hiding nothing because I know I do not need to hide anything. May I always remember to let you into my heart, so that I may be continually transformed by your gentleness.
Luke 24:13-35 shows us two of Jesus' disciples walking along the road to Emmaus, a village about seven miles from Jerusalem, on the very day of the Resurrection. We know that it was a little later on in the day, because these disciples had already heard the unbelievable story from the women who had gone to Jesus' tomb only to find it empty and to witness an angel informing them of Jesus' Resurrection. While this was taking place, the apostles were huddled together back in Jerusalem, having heard the same report but still dwelling in fear and uncertainty, until they would see Jesus.
These two disciples on the road to Emmaus kept talking over the strange events of the past few days, when the risen Jesus himself drew near to them on the road and began walking with them. However, "their eyes were held back from recognizing him." The Greek root translated "recognize" here is epiginosko, which also means "to fully know, perceive, understand." He was there with them, but they did not perceive him for who he was. One practical theory to explain this is that perhaps Jesus was wearing some kind of a traveler's cowl that obscured his face, and this was enough to deter them; after all, the disciples had no reason to expect that he would be anywhere in the vicinity in the first place, and they did not even know what to make of the women's report that he had been raised at all. Another theory is that they could not recognize him because spiritually they were held back somehow, in a kind of spiritual blindness.
Whatever the case, they do not recognize him. He asks them what they were discussing as they look so downcast. "One of them, named Cleopas, said to him in reply, 'Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know of the things that have taken place in these days?'" It's not hard to imagine the incredulity in Cleopas' voice. Jesus claims that he doesn't know anything about it and asks them to tell him. So they tell him about how the chief priests and rulers in Jerusalem had handed this man called Jesus over to be crucified, and how their hopes were shattered, for they had all thought he would be "the one to redeem Israel." Yet it had all come to an ostensibly terrible end in crucifixion. "Some women from our group, however," they went on, "have astounded us." And they told him of the women's report and how some of the men had gone to the tomb to see what the women were talking about; the men had found it empty but they had not yet seen Jesus.
It is in the breaking of the bread that he gives to them that they recognize him. At the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, one of his final actions before his arrest, he had broken the bread, given it to them, and told them it was his Body. He was giving himself for them, in a new covenant. This is who he was and is. And he had told them to repeat it when they would come together to remember him. In this action he was giving them the Eucharist, a sign of his mystical Presence, to be given out over and over again to those on Earth until the end of the age. A way for them, and us his followers today and in the future, to experience his Presence as often as we come to it in this concrete and communal experience, until we are with him more closely in heaven. This has been done over and over again, for over two thousand years and counting, every day now, across the world. And most wonderfully, just as in his multiplication of the loaves and fishes to feed the hungry crowd of thousands who had come to see him, he will give and give yet it will never be diminished. He will give himself and his Presence eternally, to everyone who seeks it and as often as they seek it, without diminishment — just as one candle can distribute its flame to an infinite number of other candles, without ever losing any of its own original light and heat and substance. And so when he broke the bread and gave it to the two disciples in Emmaus, that was when they finally fully understood who he was, and their eyes were opened.
What if they had not invited him to come in and stay with them? After all, when the three travelers arrived at Emmaus, the one who was Jesus — never one to force himself on anyone — looked as though he simply intended to leave them with what he had told them about the scriptures and continue on his way. But they, perhaps sensing something special about him, or perhaps simply acting out of neighborly charity as he had taught them all along, invited him to come and stay with them. That turned out to be the only opportunity they had to finally recognize him. What if they had blown it? What if they had thanked him for his interesting conversation and graciously waved him goodbye on his way? They never would have known what they had missed. They had to invite him in first, for he forces himself on no one. We have to invite him in and give him the space to give himself to us.
Redeemer, may I always take the opportunity to invite you to come and stay with me. May I always be open to receiving what you want to give me.
"The Glory of Yahweh in Ezekiel and the Pre-Tabernacle Wilderness"


This E-Liquid is styled after popular taffy-style candy. This E-Liquid is 70 VG, 30 PG, and comes in a 100ml gorilla bottle. You will be pleased with the vapor production they give off. The Blue Razz, obviously a blue raspberry flavor, smells really good. It's got a little sweet and tart blue raspberry flavor. The blue raspberry is upfront, and then you catch that unmistakable candy taste at the end. Delicious! Try the other new flavors, Mystery and Strawberry Kiwi, too!


Since you brought up the guns again, I'll take this opportunity to direct a few of the Canadian guys to my inheritance. Let me know what you would choose as a bug out rifle, I'm thinking the Enfield, but I have yet to see any of them in person.
My personal choice of rifle would be the Lee Enfield, I do own a No.4 Mk.1 Long Branch one and it is about as rugged and reliable a rifle as you can get. .303 ammo is also very available here even at Canadian Tire and Walmart although it is the pricier hunting type ($20-$25 for 20 rnds) you can get FMJ a bit cheaper ($15-$20 for 20 rnds) at dedicated gun stores. Second pick would be the Remington 870 (maybe I might buy a shorter 22" barrel and extend the mag tube if wanting to make it more home defense/tacticool like).
Checked the weight of the bag this afternoon, came in at 16 pounds even. That's with 1liter of Gatorade, but no water. With all my water filled, I could expect an additional 8.8 pounds. I don't think I will ever intend on including firearms in this kit, but I might 50 rounds or so of .22 in there. The weight would be minimal, and it would be the most useful ammunition among my collection, or in a bug out.
Favorite Zombie Movies: A lot of them. Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead (remake), and of course, Shaun of the Dead.
What's that smell? Must be someone around here with teenager's bodyspray on! Part of a tactical advantage somehow?
MrEnigma wrote: What's that smell? Must be someone around here with teenager's bodyspray on! Part of a tactical advantage somehow?
Things have been updated since the Original Post. I through this kit together somewhat quickly, and the spray on deodorant was what I had available to me. It got replaced by a sample sized stick deodorant, much like the 750ml water bottle got replaced by a 1L Nalgene, or the cotton clothing got replaced by technical clothing.
hey don't clown on the Axe spray yo! cause im pretty sure it could be used as a fire starter... lol... wait yep, it's Flammable. just checked the little bottle that i EDC for emergency freshening up before meeting up some ladies..
Been a while since I've updated this thread, so while I repacked tonight, I took some new photos.
You can see here I took one of the water bottle carriers off and replaced it with an admin pouch. Not 100% sold on this setup, might put the second water bottle carrier on again, especially for the summer.
All packs down into a compression sack, DVD for scale. This takes up the majority of the pack.
I used to keep a 100mg bag of m&ms in this bag. I've eaten them at some point over the winter and forgot to replace them. I'll pick up a new bag this week.
If I add the second water bottle carrier again, it will hold a 1L Gatorade again.
I realized packing tonight that I don't have any spare batteries in this pack. This is the only BOB I have working on AAA batteries, I will add a half dozen spares this week.
Everything but the iPhone fits into the pencil case.
Toiletries: Nothing too exciting here, packs into pencil case.
Everything but the maps and sunglasses fit in the pencil case.
So that's what is in my practical Bug Out Bag. The bag I would grab on my way out the door in a realistic emergency that requires me to get out of my apartment, but not necessarily leave the city.
Welcome to the internet and welcome to the home of arm chair commandos.
You live in the largest city in Canada and everyone is telling you to get a rifle and a military bag. Burt Gummers they all are, even the military guys.
You are gearing up for the disasters that will happen in your city, bravo! You don't need a military bag and no cop is going to let you carry a rifle down the street in Toronto or even pull it out of your trunk.
Forget what people say here, keep gearing up for those disasters that have happened in the past as well as economic.
1st. Line--the clothes on your back and the contents of your pockets. This is survival line.
2nd Line--this is your web gear or tacvest. This is fighting line.
3rd Line--the gear in your backpack. This is living line.
Canadian military used words like Marching Order, Battle Order, etc. But for civies your 1st line is still what is in your pockets, call it survival gear or EDC as you like. 2nd line could be a 4 pocket (or more) civy vest where you put more survival gear. Learn self-defence and the use of found weapons if you want anything close to a "fighting line". 3rd line is your bug out bag, the bag that will make you comfortable at a hotel or friends place until the disaster is over.
Forget the gun laws, you already know them and obey them. Learn the laws (and case law history in your city) of using force in self-defence.
PS replace the deoderant yearly as it dries out even if never opened.
I'm sorry, you must have mistaken me for a zombie that cares.
Great kit, Bull. I really like the changes you've made. FWIW, after the G8/G20 fiasco, I think you're right on track going more "grey man" than tactical when it comes to your emergency preps.
I picked up a half dozen AAA batteries and a package of m&ms on my way home tonight. I don't have many AAA electronics, only keep a few spare batteries around for remotes or "just incase". As I stated above, I hate the maglite in my BOB. It works well as a plain flashlight, but as an advanced (lots of output options) light, it is not easy to use. The best feature it has as a light for a BOB is the "nightlight" feature; set the feature, put the light down. The light will automatically dim to (I think) .5 lumens, move the light from its resting spot and it instantly returns to full brightness.
The m&ms are just a morale food, since I am only relying on food rations for sustenance, adding a snack should make me feel less bland.


-There's drug dealing happening in front of us.
they're left there on their own.
The insecurity linked to Islamist terrorism.
There is a lot of confusion with Muslims.
high towers, a very confined area.
whereas in the suburbs there aren't many.
-It's a very beautiful place.
and not far away you have the forests, we go chestnut harvesting.
we even exported to Russia.
dozens of micro market gardeners integrated with permaculture.
-There are many urban farms in a lot of cities.
It's not just a vegetable garden, we can further develop the idea.
-The inhabitants have to be a part of it.
It would be good to gather people from different backgrounds.
We all have different obligations.
have to discuss and find common grounds.
-We could show politicians so they can realize how things really are.


A father of five committed suicide at the Ekiti State Secretariat over huge debt. The sight of his body hanging led to confusion within the premises.
The 49-year-old night guard, Abolarinwa Olaoye, was found hanging at the staircase behind the State Scholarship Board office.
He was said to have reported on Tuesday evening for an overnight duty but it remained unclear when the act was committed. Olaoye's body was suspended with a clothing material tied to the railing of the staircase.
The Boxer MB 100 brand motorcycle with registration number ADK 210 WS, brought by the deceased to the office was parked within the building where the suicide took place. The development triggered panic at the Secretariat as fellow civil servants trooped out from their offices to catch a glimpse of the incident.
"He came to me around 4.30pm on Tuesday and started lamenting that his house rent had due and that he could not pay due to irregular salary payment. He also complained about inability to meet other financial commitments to his wife's family.
The Executive Secretary of the Ekiti State Scholarship Board, Mr. Ayo Ajimati, confirmed that the deceased was a staff of the board before his demise.
Hmmmmm, sucide is never an option.
This is very pathetic. Suicide is not the way out. May the family of the deceased be comforted.
This is why the state, Federal and local government workers should be paid their salaries regularly so that they could cater for their family needs.
This is not the best way to end challenges in your life because as he willfully destroys God's image, where will he end up? No pne kills himself and end up with God. Life still has much to offer. Now he left the debt for his children and wife. This is never a wise decision at all.
This is very pathetic. Suicide is not the way out. May the family of the deceased be comforted.so painful,may their soul rest in peace.
I Cant Blame Him, But He Shouldnt Have Kill Himself.
This is one dumb decision….so does killing himself take care of the debt???
why would somebody kill himself over nothing in life .
This is very sad…see what the government has turned its citizen into..But no matter what…pls let's live and believe that the country will be better..
I puty this five kids he felt.
Commiting suicide is never the best option. He has forgotten that no condition is permanent.
This is what the Nigerian government has caused, when they won't pay salaries early n regular what do they expect the poor masses to survive with, even the salary is not enough..too bad, but suicide wouldn't have been the best sha.
Sad news, debt is not the end of life.
Our leaders will bear the consequences for all this hardship making people to commit one thing or the other.
Hmmmm,proverty is a dangerous deases. May his soul rest in peace.
Why did you commit suicide now, anyway rest in peace.
What a sad event, the level of frustration seen in this country is becoming unbearable for some many but still he shouldn't have committed suicide cause he just left his immediate family stranded and in distraught.
Oh my God poverty is a disease but he wouldn't have taken his life now what about his wife and children?
Becoming unbearable for some many but still he shouldn't have committed suicide cause he just left his immediate family stranded and in distraught.
Killing yourself and living the debts for your children to settle. What a legacy?
God help us in these life.
Now that he has committed suicide, helpers will come out for his burial.
What a stupid act, doe killing himself help the matter? He just added more debt for his family.
This is not good. Suicide is becoming too much in Nigeria.
This is very pathetic,everyday trouble in this life.God help us.
The highest sin is taking one live….suicide is never a way out regardless the situation. The state of Nigeria is economy is so alarming, our governments need to do more on job opportunities.
What a bad way to end life. He died a coward. However, why would his meagre salary payment be irregular. GOD is watching everyone.
This is so sad. He has created more problems for his children.
Average Nigerians are really suffering only God can rescue us..
Taking his has added even more pains to him which would definitely be eternal.
This is not the best way.
Frustration and depression might have led to that but suicide is never an option. What about your children you are leaving behind who will cater for them ? If this children suffer it won't be nice at all. I pray they have someone who will care for them.


I never claimed to be a Fashionista but if one designer makes me swoon every single time, it's Lebenese sartorial genius, Elie Saab. His wedding gowns (and pretty much everything else he puts his hands to) are quite literally breathtaking. When I saw his SS14 Haute Couture show (Linked here) I was agog. AGOG. Being realistic though, the only way I'll ever afford to wear one of these works of art is to paint it on myself. Elie Saab nails Howaya!
You know me and nail art by now, I try to find the simplest way to get the best effect, mostly because I want to be able to do my right hand too. I've come up with a tutorial so simple that it needs NO INSTRUCTIONS. Look at the pictures with your eyes, pick out your colours and go!
What did I tell you? Simples. I love this look for Spring/Summer, of course you can mix and match what colours you'd like to use but once set against a stark white nail bed you really can't go wrong.
These remind me of the Rihanna Marc Jacobs nails in how simple they are to create.
What do we reckon? Will you give them a shot?
Absolutely LOVING this. Brilliant idea Sue, I'll have to start opening my eyes to nail art inspiration in unusual places!
The dress arrived in time. I could have either kept the low cut by adjusting the straps or bring my neck line up. I chose to bring my neck line up by about two inches.


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There are 10 posts filed in medium (this is page 1 of 1).
I am a planner by nature. Give me a new project or venture and I get excited just by the prospect of thinking through the strategy and coming up with a robust plan to move it forward. Those early brainstorming sessions when 'anything is possible' are like a narcotic to me and if I am not careful, I can stay in that mode too long.
The problem with staying in the planning phase is that you are dealing with too much theory. Creating contingency plan after contingency plan is really just a smokescreen for giving in to The Resistance and until you take some sort of action to put you in front of your customers or the recipients of your ideas, you really have no feedback that is useful.
This weekend my wife and I experienced a perfect illustration of the power of doing. We have been talking about helping my sister expand her Ugandan fashion business in the US for close to two years but we have not really taken any steps to move things forward. About a month ago, my wife signed up for an event through our church that showcases different vendors in a 'bazaar' format and we decided to set up a table with my sister's fashions to drum up some business.
The event was this weekend and we only made one sale.
But, man did we learn a lot about how we can be more successful next time. Not only did we interact with real life prospects and hear the kinds of things that interested or did not interest them, having the deadline of the event forced us to put together the beginning infrastructure for us to truly move this venture forward.
Instead of taking weeks to come up with a full-fledged e-commerce site for the business, I spent a few hours updating her existing website and the shopping cart I was able to create was quiet useful – a true MVP that I can now use as starting point to get to the right solution over time. Because I had a deadline, I had to ship.
Another outcome of the deadline is that it forced us to work through the issues of pricing, shipping costs, profitability and time-to-market with my sister and again, although we still have a lot of issues to resolve, there is forward momentum.
Finally, the one sale could be seen as a failure, but it is actually an excellent motivator to do a whole transaction from start to finish and ensure the client has as enchanting an experience as possible. The feedback we get from serving this one customer will be worth multiples over any spreadsheet we could have put together of projected sales and expected customer responses to marketing.
When it comes to launching a platform (in this case, my sister's US presence for her business), I believe doing will always trump planning.
I wrote the following thoughts over two years ago and they still ring very true. Writing continues to have an impact on me in a myriad of ways.
What happens when you write? Write something and find out … you might be surprised by what happens.
This weekend, following my resolution to 'take action often', I decided to help my sister with a business she is building. Earlier in the week, she posted photos of some of her products on Facebook and immediately when I saw how beautiful they were, I knew that I needed to help her create a website around the business.
So I asked her for what type of website she was looking for – and the sample she sent me was something that definitely exceeded my design skills at the moment. My old approach would have been to begin backtracking on what I could actually do. This time however, I spent several hours researching and eventually found a WordPress template that I can easily customize with the CSS I know and meet several of her needs all at once.
In addition, while at a children's birthday party, I showed her Facebook photos to two of our friends and they are seriously interested in her products. So I can help her move her business forward too.
The confidence I have about what I can do with CSS actually comes from the tinkering I have done recently with this blog – something that happened again because I decided to get more serious about posting frequently and forced myself to start customizing the design of the blog to what I want.
Taking action is definitely giving me a satisfying momentum.
Now to apply this to my simplification project.
I had an opportunity this weekend to practice the simple rules of creating a 'sticky message' ('Made to Stick' by Chip & Dan Heath) and the principle of 'intrinsic motivation' ('Drive' by Dan Pink). The results were quite surprising.
I was asked to do a short three minute talk to a group of young people, ranging from ages 5 to 18, about any topic that I thought would be relevant to them. This is a practice done at my church every week early in the service. Because I volunteer on most Friday nights with a group that mentors young men, the expectation was that I had something of value to share to young people.
My original inclination was to give admonitions like the dangers of non-stop texting, or the perils of not listening to your parents, or maybe a little something about how your eyes will fall out if you watch too much TV! – the usual kind of thing young people are used to hearing about I guess. But then I rethought my approach and realized that the majority of speeches they hear use a 'carrot and stick' approach which tries to teach them something by highlighting negative consequences. My experience is that the best way to motivate a teenager to do something is to tell them it is not good for them!
So I took a different approach and tried to examine what type of message would focus on their internal motivations and play upon ideas that they already accepted as true. Since most youth are pretty self-absorbed, I picked the topic of 'unique purpose' – the idea that everybody has a unique purpose which they alone are designed to fulfill.
To make the message SIMPLE, I focused on the core idea of being 'good' at something. I asked them to all raise their hands if they were good at something.
To make it CONCRETE and EMOTIONAL, I asked them to close their eyes and imagine themselves doing that thing that they were good at. I let this sink in for a moment so that by seeing themselves doing the thing they were good at, they could physically feel that sense of mastery and satisfaction that comes from excelling at an ability.
Next, I asked them to turn to the person next to them and tell them what they were good at and listen to what that person was good at. This made the experience CREDIBLE because they had now not only visualized, but they had also verbalized what they were good at. They 'owned' the information since everybody is their own best 'witness'.
Then came the UNEXPECTED. I asked them all to raise their hands if they had told a person next to them that they were good at something and the person was good at the same thing. Out of about 60 youth, only about one or two raised their hands. The reason this was unexpected is that usually when a speaker asks them to raise their hands, the objective is to get as many people to raise their hands as possible. In this instance, I wanted as few hands as possible.
Therefore, their focus should not be so much on what other people are doing (external motivation) but rather what they (internal motivation) are specifically good at and how they can be the very best at that thing (mastery). This was a simple way of saying that everybody has a unique purpose which can only be fulfilled by them.
I left them with the thought that they should think of their lives as a puzzle that only they can solve … so their life should be a constant process of discovering the mysteries of that puzzle as they develop their gifts.
The reason I say the results were surprising is that after this very brief talk I had countless parents come up to me and tell me how inspiring the message had been to them. Without really meaning to, by making the message so accessible, I had made the message stick with a larger audience than I had originally intended!
are you making your messages effective by making them 'sticky'?
The authors talk about what they call 'The Curse of Knowledge', when a speaker knows infinitely more about his topic than his audience and therefore forgets that his audience doesn't have the same level of understanding. This causes a disconnect between his message and the audience because his assumptions are wrong. As a business analyst, I often catch myself doing this when dealing with the business and I have to force myself to step back and get back into their shoes and simplify what I am saying.
Simplifying without 'dumbing down' though – that's the trick. And we do so by knowing and exploiting the 'core' of our idea.
If I could get your attention for a few moments, we sure would love to point out these safety features. If you haven't been in an automobile since 1965, the proper way to fasten your seat belt is to slide the flat end into the buckle. To unfasten, lift up on the buckle and it will release.
And as the song goes, there might be fifty ways to leave your lover, but there are only six ways to leave this aircraft: two forward exit doors, two over-wing removeable window exits, and two aft exit doors. The location of each exit is clearly marked with signs overhead, as well as red and white disco lights along the floor of the aisle.
When was the last time you actually paid attention to what the flight attendant was saying at the beginning of the flight? I bet you would have paid attention in this instance! So the flight attendant was successful in capturing the passengers' attention because she moved away from the normal script (while still keeping all the key safety information) and injecting humor.
There isn't an obvious opportunity to be unexpected at the moment, but I will be looking out for it.
For my day job, I work in Banking IT. Banking is inherently an industry of ideas – we don't make any widgets. A stock is an idea, a derivative is an abstraction … and so on and so on.
Outside of the hardware component, IT is primarily a profession of ideas.
So at work I deal with ideas about ideas and abstractions. So to be trully successful, I really need to be more sticky!


Those who multitask a lot and feel that it boosts their performance—were actually worse at multitasking than those who like to do a single thing at a time.
Distraction can also be dangerous. David Strayer, a professor of psychology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and an expert on driver distraction, has found that a motorist talking on a cell phone is every bit as impaired as someone who's legally drunk. And there are health costs: Stress, including the self-imposed kind, means more cortisol into the bloodstream. Chronically elevated levels of cortisol can damage the heart, cause high blood pressure, suppress the immune system, and make you susceptible to type 2 diabetes.


text:
New Episode of Law and Order: SVU Focuses on Otaku Culture
February 14, 2015 - News - Tagged: Law and Order, Loli, OreImo, otaku, Waifu
The most recent episode of the NBC crime drama Law and Order: Special Victims Unit has touched off intense discussion in the anime community. The episode, titled "Loliconvict", featured detectives Benson (Mariska Hargitay)…
Netflix Developing 'Left Shark' Anime Series
February 12, 2015 - News - Tagged: House of Cards, Idolm@ster, Left Shark, Love Live!, Netflix, Orange is the New Black
LOS GATOS, CA – After a string of successful original productions such as House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, as well as the success of the exclusively…
Japan Falling Behind in Education Because Students are Idols, Superheroes, etc.
February 10, 2015 - News - Tagged: Anime, Japan, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica
TOYKO, Japan — Japan's Ministry of Education confirmed earlier this week that according to standardized test results, Japanese high school students have dropped out of the top 10 in terms…
Live Action Yuri Kuma Video Goes Horribly Wrong
February 8, 2015 - News - Tagged: Yuri Kuma Arashi
SAITAMA, Japan — Tragedy struck today when two actresses were mauled during filming of Lesbian Bears Arashi, an adult parody of Yuri Kuma Arashi. The parody was produced by adult film company…
New Legend of the Galactic Heroes to Have All Female Cast
February 6, 2015 - News - Tagged: Legend of the Galactic Heroes
The recently announced Legend of the Galactic Heroes anime is set to make some controversial changes. Most notably the decision to change it's predominately male cast to women. Toshiki Narumi, 2nd…
Parents Unearth Son's Terrible Fan Fiction
February 4, 2015 - News - Tagged: Local, Madoka, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, Urobuchi, Urobuchi Gen
NEENAH, WI– Embarrassing fan fiction is something we've all had to deal with at some point. But for Jon Banks his Madoka Magica fan fiction cost him a college fund….
Richard Sherman Blasts Ikuhara in Heated Pre-Game Interview
February 1, 2015 - News - Tagged: NFL, Richard Sherman, Sports, Super Bowl, Super Bowl XLIX, Yuri Kuma Arashi
PHOENIX, AZ — Outspoken Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman has managed to stir controversy over an unexpected topic in the hours before the Super Bowl. "I'm intelligent enough and capable enough to…
New App Provides Dumb Reasons To Avoid Certain Anime
January 31, 2015 - News - Tagged: App, WeebSnob
Poor writing, bad animation, ecchi, tropes – anime fans have a variety of reasons to want to avoid certain shows. However, a new mobile app called WeebSnob promises to deliver…
Hideaki Anno's Therapist to Fans: 'Stop Making Him Do Evangelion!'
January 29, 2015 - News - Tagged: Hideako Anno, Neon Genesis Evangelion
Amid speculation about the release date of Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0, the finale to the Rebuild of Evangelion film series, fans have begun looking to the future, wondering what might…
Winter Storm 'Juno' to be Renamed 'Haruhi'
January 27, 2015 - News - Tagged: Haruhi Suzumiya
SILVER SRPING, MD — After much deliberation, forecasters from the National Weather Service finally settled on a name for the winter storm currently afflicting the New England area. Although early…
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Even now, it's hard to have much sympathy for Rob Ford, but let's take a moment to consider how bad things continue to be for him. Even while he's in rehab, and despite the fact that he's already under criminal investigation, his rivals at city hall are still trying to expose more of his alleged improprieties.
The Globe reports that councillors are in the process of trying to convince the city's integrity commissioner to reopen an investigation into Ford's possible use of city staff and resources for personal benefit. (The integrity commissioner suspended the probe after Ford left town for treatment.) At the same time, mayoral candidate David Soknacki is raising money to fund a freedom-of-information request that he says may prove that the mayor used city resources for campaign purposes, which is against city rules. All of this is on top of the Globe's recent investigation into Ford's shady dealings on behalf of a client of his family company.
Misuse of city resources for personal purposes was at the heart of the conflict-of-interest lawsuit that almost resulted in Ford being removed from office in 2012. Even if the mayor emerges from rehab a new man, he'll almost certainly find some of the same old problems waiting for him on his return.
The need for an expanded investigation is made clear by this new information about the Fords repeatedly lassoing the City's highest-paid employees to meetings meant to favour a Deco client, without revealing that crucial part. In his 2012 court appearance, Rob Ford has declared under oath that he had never read the documents outlining the regulations around his post as Mayor. It's clear that he and his brother continue willfully disregarding conflict-of-interest rules. An investigation must be done and its findings, favourable or not, made public before Election Day.
I think at this point it's safe to say the Fords are a deeply troubled family with some serious mental health issues. We need them out of public office…. yesterday.
It is possible for an individual to file a formal complaint (with specific reference to say, Ford's behaviour violating the City's code of conduct) with the Integrity Commissioner. Go to the city website toronto.ca for contact info and process steps. If we keep giving our bozo mayor more attention by complaining ineffectively in the media, nothing will get him out. Yes, he has mental health issues but from my observations of him as a councillor for a decade he is a bozo first and foremost, whose money and connections (Vaughan included) got him past the voter's radar. Do something besides talk, please.
If we have only brother Doug and an anonymous doctors word that RF is in rehab or even when he went, I suspect that because the doctor wants to remain anonymous, we will really never know when he is released. Whose to say he's not out now because he wouldn't follow the rules or they just got sick of him or he got caught having a bottle or worse smuggled into him. Are we just supposed to take the word of liars?


Seller will give you a gift certificate in the amount of 14,9 RUB for a positive review of the product purchased.
* License for 3 PCs (suitable for Windows, Mac, Linux) for 1 year or license renewal for 3 PCs for 20 months.
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To register and activate a new NOD32 license, you need to go to http://www.esetnod32.ru/activation/new/, enter a new registration code, e-mail. As a result, your login and password will be sent to your email address, which will be required to fully use the Eset NOD32 antivirus software.
To register and activate the renewal of the NOD32 license, you must go to the website http://www.esetnod32.ru/activation/renew/, enter a new registration code, login (of the EAV-xxxx type) and the password of the previous license, valid e-mail. If there is no previous login and password, or it is from Smart Security, and not from antivirus, or the old license was purchased not from the Russian representative office of ESET, then it will be impossible to activate the renewal. The renewal can only be activated within two months before the license expiration date and two months after the end date of the previous license. As a result, a new login and password will be sent to your e-mail address, which will be required to fully use the Eset NOD32 antivirus software.
Seller will give you a gift certificate in the amount of 14,9 RUB for a positive review of the product purchased..


At Le Marché St. George we are happy to introduce Pennellificio Omega shaving goods. These well-crafted shaving brushes are manufactured in Italy and are the best example quality at an affordable price. The synthetic boar bristle ($6.95) rivals any brands introductory authentic badger brush line (bottom), meanwhile the gift pack of that comes with authentic boar hair shaving brush with and their eucalyptus shaving soap ($24.95) is the perfect gateway brush for future shaving aficionados. Using canned shaving cream is incredibly convient and wonderful in it's own right, but the experience of lathering your supple-bristled brush with freshly foamed soap just feels traditional, and that's what we're all about.


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Jesus left the Mount of Olives ascending into the air on the clouds and promising to return the same way. His parting message was for us to preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God first in Jerusalem, then in Judea and Samaria and to the utter most parts of the earth. We reach out to our Bethany community visiting homes and families every month as they are our Jerusalem. Last year one young mother gave birth to triplets. She and her boyfriend have no work, no income and lived in a mud hut. Through the kind generosity of visiting Canadian nurses who came with Melanie Stansfield we have assisted and supported the mum and grandmother in caring for these three little ones. Megan Prydun a former volunteer with us who served as Community Ministry Co-ordinator, was able to raise funds for the family and we have built them a new one room house with tin roof and concrete floor. This coming Summer they will not be flooded out in the rains as was this case this year.
We praise God for the working together of His body (the church) through the love and care by our children, our team, our volunteers and visitors. We still need to see these three little ones provided with food, clothes and soon preschool fees. May God continue to touch the hearts of His Beloved around the world so we all share the Good News of the Kingdom of God, who loves us and provides for all our needs.


Peiyi is using Smore newsletters to spread the word online.
How do I keep my child safe on social networks?
How can I protect my child using parental controls?
The Internet is a wonderful tool for students, and when used SAFELY, can provide a wealth of resources and hours of fun.
When children begin using the computer, and especially the Internet, parents should set down some guidelines for their children to follow and monitor their time on the computer. Below are suggested safety tips that parents and children should read together and discuss why each is important.
The internet safety song help kids easy to remember how to be safe online.


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Crime Strategy
One Albuquerque
Mayor You are here:
Inspector General for the City of Albuquerque Passes Away
Mayor Tim Keller
About Mayor Timothy M. Keller and First Lady Elizabeth J. Kistin Keller, PhD
The Administration of Mayor Tim Keller
Mayor's Youth Advisory Council
One Albuquerque Award
Mayor Keller's Telephone Town Halls
Mayor Keller: Social Media
Follow the Mayor on Facebook
Follow the Mayor on Twitter
Follow the Mayor on Instagram
View the Mayor on YouTube
View the Mayor on Flickr
Inspector General for the City of Albuquerque Passes Away Mayor and City Council send condolences, honor legacy of public service http://www.cabq.gov/mayor/news/inspector-general-for-the-city-of-albuquerque-passes-away http://www.cabq.gov/mayor/news/inspector-general-for-the-city-of-albuquerque-passes-away/@@download/image/one-abq-cabq.jpg
Mayor and City Council send condolences, honor legacy of public service
Today, the Albuquerque City Council and Mayor Tim Keller confirmed that Ken Bramlett, Inspector General for the City of Albuquerque, passed away the evening of December 29 after contracting COVID-19. Bramlett was 67 years old and had underlying health conditions.
Mayor Keller said, "The harsh reality of this pandemic struck close to home yet again today. It is with a heavy heart that we announce the passing of Ken Bramlett, a man who was truly dedicated to transparency and integrity. A former Marine, Ken applied the Corps' core values of Honor, Courage and Commitment to his work with the City. He will be dearly missed, and our hearts are with the Bramlett family."
City Council appointed Bramlett in January of 2019, filling the position that had been vacant at the time. The Office of the Inspector General is an independent city government office that reports directly to the Accountability in Government Oversight Committee.
"Mr. Bramlett was an outstanding steward of government transparency and public service," said Council President Pat Davis. "Since his appointment to Inspector General, he had worked diligently with the Council to bring accountability to our City's operations. Ken and I found kinship as graduates of the FBI academy and shared family connections we excitedly discovered. He was a true friend and professional and I will miss those conversations and his friendship. Our heartfelt condolences go out to this family and friends."
Prior to his appointment, Bramlett served as the Inspector General of the Los Angeles Unified School District from 2013-2018, the Inspector General for the Georgia Department of Public Health from 2011-2018, and the Director of Investigative Services for the State of Georgia in 1998. Prior to his employment with the State of Georgia, Bramlett served in various command positions for the Cobb County Police Department for 23 years after serving in the Marine Corps as a Military Police Desk Sergeant and Supervisor.
Bramlett earned his B.S. from Shorter College and his MPA from Columbus State University and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, 162nd Session and Georgia Law Enforcement Command College. Ken was selected for the 10th delegation of the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange to the State of Israel and was also a Certified Fraud Examiner, Certified Inspector General, Certified Inspector General Inspector/Evaluator and a Certified Board Adviser.
The Bramlett family said, "Ken was born and raised in Marietta, Georgia, and was a Bull Dog fan through and through. Ken is survived by his wife of 26 years, Jennifer, their five children and a sweet dog, Lulu."


1 Why dodge ram air conditioning problems?
2 Areas of application dodge ram air conditioning problems?
3 What is the result of dodge ram air conditioning problems?
dodge ram air conditioning problems – without this, modern life is no longer possible. Lets look at the question and take some life hacking on your note.
Why dodge ram air conditioning problems?
Areas of application dodge ram air conditioning problems?
dodge ram air conditioning problems is applied in one of these places.
What is the result of dodge ram air conditioning problems?


These are cheap and easy, and oh-so-cool – imagine your next holiday dinner party with the walk way lit up by these wonderful ice lanterns!
P.S. May not work in warmer climates….
Next > Need co-worker gift ideas?


A figure emerges from the trees and approaches a tarp-covered car. The Woman drives to the semi-industrial suburban wasteland beyond the forest and begins her routine. She checks her phone messages. After a pause, a female voice whispers, "I'm looking out the window and the trucks won't stop coming" - this is the code. The Woman checks into a non-descript cash motel near the address the voice gave her. She washes her gear and trains from a battered fighting manual. The next day the Woman transforms her face with drug- store make-up and goes to work. Through word of mouth the Woman methodically rids her "clients" of their domestic abusers. She wants to help. But her client's cash and food payments fuel her most urgent mission. She is tracking down her missing husband, the man who murdered their son and left her for dead. A survivalist, he's somewhere holed up somewhere in the mountain forests of the Adirondacks and she's going to get him.


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With Mid-Autumn Festival right around the corner, it's time we break out those colourful lanterns and indulge in some traditional delicacies! Sink your teeth into seven mouth-watering baked mooncakes from Old Seng Choong. Enjoy unique fusions like the Custard Egg Yolk Blend and the Red Bean Orange Peel with Yolk Blend &Pine Nuts mooncakes or stick to traditional versions like the Wu Ren and White Lotus Paste with Melon Seeds mooncakes. Packaged in stunning boxes, they make the perfect gifts.
We have 5 boxes of Old Seng Choong Four Heavenly Yolks (mixed baked mooncake) each worth $66 to give away. Fill up your particulars below to win!
This has ended on 14 Aug 2016.
Closing date for this contest is 14 Aug 2016. This contest is open to all SquareRooms online members residing in Singapore only.
Key Editions' decision on the winners shall be final and no contest for amendment will be entertained.


The newest Vs. Puzzle Game from Baltoro Games is coming to Nintendo Switch!
• Over 400 levels you can play in, in single player mode or versus multiplayer mode!
• Atmospheric soundtrack emphasizing on the atmosphere of the game!
• 50+ amazing graphical themes!
• Both adults and children can pick up the game quickly, thanks to the Intuitive tutorial!
• Play any way you like - JoyCon, Pro Controller, using the touch screen or in handheld mode.
• 8 supported languages... English, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Portuguese, Brazilian, Turkish... and even more coming soon.
(C) 2018 Baltoro Games. All Rights Reserved.


The Task Rocket 3.x to 4.0 converter tool is only required when updating to any 3.x version going to version 4.
If you are already using version 4 or higher, you do not need to use this tool.
Disclaimer: You only have yourself to blame if you don't make a backup of your database and files before using this tool.
Backup your files and database first (important – just in case you want to go back to the way things were).
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Update to Task Rocket version 4 in the usual manner.
Download, install and activate the Task Rocket v3 to v4 Converter plugin.
Click the 'Perform Conversion' button.
Wait for the confirmation that everything worked (depending how many tasks are in the database, this could take a while).
Note: You can learn about why using this tool to update from v3.x to v4 is required here.


C. Steinweg offers agency services in all ports around the world, either through our own offices or through agents. This also applies to ports where we do not have our own facilities. In most cases we can also offer stevedoring and warehousing services via third parties.
If you would like to make use of our services, please contact us at a nearby office or at our head-office in Rotterdam.


The Independent National Electoral Commission on Wednesday declared the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, winner of the governorship election in the state.
The Returning Officer for the election, Teddy Adias, who made the declaration at the head office of INEC in Port Harcourt, said, Wike, who was the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, polled 886,264 votes, while his African Alliance Congress counterpart, Biokpomabo Awara, garnered 173,859 votes.
Awara was supported by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, as the All Progressives Congress did not field any candidate during the election.
Declaring Wike winner, Adias said the governor satisfied the requirements of the law.
Adias said that 249,324 votes did not count in areas where election did not hold or was cancelled due to disruptions.
He said, "I, this day, confirm again, that I am the collation officer for the election and that Nyesom Wike of the PDP, having satisfied the requirements of the law, has scored the highest number of votes and is hereby declared winner and returned elected.
Speaking shortly after he was declared winner, Wike dedicated his victory to God and to those who lost their lives during the 2019 elections in Rivers State.
The governor won in 19 local government areas out of the 21 that were declared while Awara won in two LGAs; Akuku-Toru (his LGA) and Oyigbo LGA.
Votes were not collated for Abua/Odual and Gokana Local Government Areas due to reported security issues.
The incumbent governor also scored high votes in Andoni Local Government Area where the National Chairman of the PDP, Uche Secondus, hails from.
Surprisingly, Wike also won in Ikwerre LGA, the council area of Amaechi.
Earlier, the collation officer for Abua/Odual Local Government Area, Friday Nwafor, said that the election in the area could not hold as a result of security reasons.
He added that stakeholders met and agreed that the election would not hold in the area for security reasons.
Wike explained that he was overwhelmed by the show of love by the people of the state, even as he expressed regret that some died during the polls.
He said, "By your peaceful conduct in the face of provocation, you have demonstrated truly that democracy is in your DNA and this we will continue to exhibit until all non-democrats pretending to be one are flushed out of our polity.
Secondus said that if the PDP standard bearers had contested against the APC, it would have been an easy walkover but he alleged that they (the PDP) battled with INEC and the military.
He said that nowhere was this assertion that the PDP contested against INEC and the military and not the APC, more germane than in Rivers State where he said the APC had no candidate yet it took extra 10 days to get the result out from the state.
This, he said, was because of alleged overzealous security operatives whom, he said, were fighting for a non-existent party in the state.
Secondus remarked that the introduction of inconclusive and suspension of elections in the country's electoral process was ostensibly to aid the APC to victory through supplementary balloting.
He noted that the alleged brigandage that was deployed in the supplementary election in Kano by the APC administration in the state evidently assisted by security agencies became the height of impunity exhibited by the President Muhammadu Buhari regime in the concluded elections.
"All of you elected on the platform of this great party should hold your heads high because you went into a contest with the APC and ended up in a fight with the nation's army and some of their commanders, yet you recorded huge success," Secondus added.
He particularly listed the PDP governors for special praise pointing out that their overwhelming performance in the last four years in their various states made it possible for the party to win more states.
"From 11 states when we started this journey in December 2017 to 13 states before the election and now 15 states with a very high hope for victory coming our way in five other states of Osun, Kaduna, Zamfara, Kano and Nasarawa, we have all done well," he added.
Secondus stated that the enemies of the state were still fighting against the will of the people, even till Wednesday (yesterday).
Also, a former governor of the state, Celestine Omehia, expressed gratitude to God and the people of the state for standing their ground in spite of the alleged determination of the military to thwart the will of the people.
Also, a former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, has said Nigeria needs men like Wike.
He said, "My hearty congratulations to you, Governor Nyesom Wike, on your hard earned re-election. It gives me much pleasure to see a political force for good, such as yourself, overcome the anti-democratic forces of dictatorship and oppression.
"The PDP is blessed to have a political gladiator, such as yourself, on our side. The citizens of Rivers State are fortunate to have a genuine progressive return to extend the frontiers of progress and development for them.
Meanwhile, the vice-presidential candidate of the PDP in the February 23 presidential election, Mr Peter Obi, on Wednesday said all lovers of democracy must salute the resilience of the people of Rivers State who stood in defence of their votes.
In a statement, he congratulated Wike and the people of Rivers State on their electoral victory.
Obi said the people would not have stood with Wike if he had not made appreciable impact on their lives through delivery of good governance.
Obi advised Wike to remain focused in the delivery of democracy dividends to his people. He further urged him not to be distracted.
Obi stated that the people of Rivers State did not need to go through the stress given the outstanding performance of Wike in the last four years.


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Jamaal Williams closing in on Detroit Lions history after 3-touchdown game
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Jamaal Williams is closing in on Detroit Lions history, but the running back wants no part of it — yet.
Williams ran for three touchdowns in Sunday's 31-18 win over the New York Giants, giving him an NFL-leading 12 touchdowns this season.
His 12 TDs are the most by a Lions running back ever in the first 10 games of a season and four short of Barry Sanders' team record (16) set in 1991.
JEFF SEIDEL:Lions finally showing some real progress by extending winning streak vs. Giants
"Don't tell me none of this," Williams said in the locker room Sunday. "I don't want to hear it. I don't want none of it. I don't want to hear none of this."
Williams scored touchdowns on three straight Lions possessions in the second and third quarters Sunday to help erase a three-point deficit late in the first half and give the Lions a 24-6 lead.
He scored on a 4-yard run three plays after Aidan Hutchinson picked off a Daniel Jones pass in the second quarter, added a 1-yard run just before halftime and scored on another 1-yard run on the opening possession of the second half.
LIONS GRADES VS. GIANTS:Nearly straight-As for Dan Campbell and Co.
"His production speaks for itself and everything that you see and know about him is exactly who he is," Lions coach Dan Campbell said. "He's all heart. He's emotion, he's heart and he just is a steady, productive, hard-running, hard-working, smart football player. He's just, there again, if you just listed your most consistent players, most dependable, consistent players he would definitely be at the top of that list."
Williams, who signed with the Lions as a free agent last spring to complement D'Andre Swift in the backfield, has taken over as the team's lead back this season as Swift has battled injuries.
He had 17 carries for 64 yards Sunday and has career-highs in carries (159), rushing yards (668) and touchdowns with seven games to go in the season.
Williams said it would be special to finish as the NFL leader in touchdowns — he's one ahead of the Cleveland Browns' Nick Chubb — but he'll worry more about that once the year is done.
SHAWN WINDSOR:Let's ask the unthinkable: Can Lions make the playoffs after latest road stunner?
"The job's not done," he said. "I wouldn't be happy until like the end of the season and then they was like, 'Hey, you're leading in touchdowns.' But it's great. I appreciate it and I'm grateful for it but most of all that goes back to my linemen, it goes back to my receivers and everybody doing their job to help me be successful while running the ball and getting touchdowns."
Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.
This 'revelation' led Detroit Lions' Shaun Dion Hamilton to leave playing for coaching
2023 FULL First Round Mock Draft: Bucky Brooks 1.0