July 2011
89 posts
June 2011
30 posts
some thoughts on scripture that blessed me while...
I thought about this Bible passage below as I was presenting Buddha’s life to my students during holiday of Buddha’s birthday. I encountered the Buddhist assertion that the cause of suffering is stupidity and selfish greed and I found this to be very similar to teachings in the Bible. But there is an important difference in that this Bible scripture below asserts that people need the Holy Spirit...
some thoughts on scripture that blessed me while...
Philippians 2:1-13 (CEV)
1Christ encourages you, and his love comforts you. God’s Spirit unites you, and you are concerned for others. 2Now make me completely happy! Live in harmony by showing love for each other. Be united in what you think, as if you were only one person. 3Don’t be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves. 4Care about...
“The principle goal of education is to create men who are capable of doing new...”
– Jean Piaget quotes (Swiss Psychologist and pioneer in the study of child intelligence, 1896-1980) from thinkexist.com
This helps me reflect on my teaching goals and methods: Am I inspiring my students to be creative, inventive, and discovers inside and outside the world of intercultural...
help from a sermon
Some help from a sermon from a friend in San Diego, and the accompanying scripture.
What I learned, relearned, and will be learning that helped: I am saved, am being saved, and will be saved through faith in the gospel, so now I can and should act like it. (as opposed to acting like a “good christian” so I am, was, or will be saved).
sermon link to barabbas road church: ...
post on a friends blog that helped me a while back →
The link is to a blog by a longtime friend who has helped me greatly in my profession, as I follow Jesus, and also as a good role model for a father and husband. All his posts on his blog have helped me and I hope you take time to follow them. Here’s a recent post of his, that he shared before a year or two ago but I forget where, and it was a big help to me.
“Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (via bookmania)
Because it comes from one of my heroes, this helped me by providing a sort of confirmation of my decision to focus my esl/intercultural communication class materials on discussions about values, wisdom, and integrity.
“4. Thus, what enables the wise sovereign and the good
general to strike and...”
– THE ART OF WAR by Sun Tzu XIII.
Despite the war imagery, this was helpful in my emphasis to my intercultural communication students on the need to gather information about others in order to effectively persuade, cooperate, and reduce misunderstandings.
“We teach them that the world can be an unpredictable, dangerous, and sometimes...”
– Robert Wankoff, The New Yorker Book of Teacher Cartoons (@peterout)
This helped voice what goes through my head as I try to warn my son to be careful about trusting people too easily.
Some thoughts on scripture that blessed me while...
This passage below reminds me that I was saved by faith in the Gospel message, which is outlined in the passage also. I have peace with God and I am accepted by Him through the death of Christ. I was rescued by God when I was helpless, undeserving, and His enemy. He has empowered me with His Holy Spirit which lives in me to stop being His enemy by causing me to love God. My own wisdom and...
http://www.thepoachedegg.net/the-poached-egg/2011/0... →
“Not even one’s own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for...”
– Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being (@trescerezas)
I stumbled on this excerpt and it helped me in a way that is probably out of context of the original source which I’m unfamiliar with. It helped me as I discussed with my Korean students about their feelings of hatred towards...
Some thoughts on scripture that blessed me while...
1 Corinthians 1:17-31 (CEV)
While teaching about Buddha’s birthday and recently the Pentecost, this passage below helped me understand why some people are unmoved when they hear the gospel message of salvation given to us through the death and resurrection of Christ. The lack of belief in the gospel and its resulting emotional response of gratitude and love that moves people toward...
“Perhaps the most important skill for a writer is a sense of the comic, the...”
– Jason Byassee (via wesleyhill)
Some thoughts on scripture that blessed me while...
Philippians 3:17-4:1 (Paul, an apostle and teacher about Christ is writing a letter to Christians).
The Message (MSG)
17-19Stick with me, friends. Keep track of those you see running this same course, headed for this same goal. There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them. I’ve warned you of them many times; sadly,...
Some thoughts on scripture that blessed me while...
Proverbs 17:22
The Message (MSG)
22 A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired.
I agree that when I’m feeling down, I feel constantly tired. However, now I’m very happy and content, yet exhausted. I need to get more cheerful, more sleep or some supernaturally powered strength from the Holy Spirit:
Isaiah 40:28-31
The Message (MSG)
...
an encouraging quote from CS Lewis
C.S. Lewis
“We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man (p.28).” Mere Christianity...
encouragement from a quote
This quote below encouraged me recently to maintain the learning objective in my classes of helping students becoming increasingly self aware through the study of values. This quote and title was posted on my friends blog at: http://contextualliving.blogspot.com/2011/06/culture-quote-of-day-dont-assume-dont.html
Culture Quote of the Day - don’t assume, don’t project
“The first...
some thoughts on scripture that blessed me while...
Ezekiel 33:1-19
This long passage below helped me in my discussions with my students about the death of Osama Bin Laden and the appropriate reactions to this event for Christians. This passage helped me imagine how God feels when He must bring people to justice. Is He happy to destroy them? Is He feeling bad? The passage asserts that God doesn’t want to destroy people for being wicked and...
4 tags
some thoughts on scripture that blessed me while...
Romans 12:19-21 (Paul, a follower of Jesus and an apostle is speaking to the Roman church in a letter).
19Dear friends, don’t try to get even. Let God take revenge. In the Scriptures the Lord says,
”I am the one to take revenge
and pay them back.”
20The Scriptures also say,
”If your enemies are hungry,
give them something to eat.
And if they...
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Excerpt from Patterns of Culture by Ruth Benedict p. 2-3
“To the anthropologist, our customs and those of a New Guinea tribe are two possible social schemes for dealing with a common problem, and in so far as she remains an anthropologist he is bound to avoid any weighting of one in favour of the other. He is interested in human behavior, not as it is shaped by one tradition, our own, but...
some thoughts on scripture that blessed me while...
Some thoughts on scripture that blessed me during a time I was discussing with my students the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death, and discussed what a Christian response would be. Also, thoughts on scripture that blessed me while I presented Buddha’s Birthday otherwise known as Vesak day to my students. #3
Deuteronomy 32:35
This passage makes me think “Do I want to be an enemy of God...
Some thoughts on scripture that blessed me while...
While I was teaching about Vesak Day, or Buddha’s birthday, and discussing Osama Bin Laden’s death.
Matthew 5:43-46
Jesus is talking:
43You have heard people say, “Love your neighbors and hate your enemies.” 44But I tell you to love your enemies and pray for anyone who mistreats you. 45Then you will be acting like your Father in heaven. He makes the sun rise on both...
“It goes against the American storytelling grain to have someone in a situation...”
