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The Gita Series - A triune pilgrimage - 184 - Ch 1 3 - Slokas 23 to 26The self in the body is called spectator, approver, supporter, experiencer, the great lord and also the supreme self in the body.

Dr. David Swanson | John 3:1-5, 4:7-15, 25-26The woman at the Well was looking to all the ways of the world to meet her deepest longings, but her thirst is quenched in Jesus.

Continuing our journey through Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, last week we read:“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister, will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,' is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.” Matthew 5:21-22We asked the question that as followers of Jesus, how might we encourage an alternative narrative where our words heal and restore rather than hurt and divide? One answer is to ensure that we speak with grace towards each other, being careful what we say. Jesus offers some more answers in the next part of his sermon. He continued, saying:23 “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift. 25 “Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still together on the way, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.” Matthew 5:23-26The reality of life is that sometimes we do hurt and offend others. We may not always mean to, but when we are angry or stressed, we might say things we later regret. We might make a decision we didn't realise would cause trouble for others. We can try to avoid hurting others by being careful with our words, but if an offense has been caused, what can we do to put it right? Verses 23 – 24 of Matthew 5 reminds us that our relationships with each other are important to God. So much so, Jesus says that we should seek to put them right even before worshipping God or participating in church activities (“offering your gift at the alter” in verse 23). It seems the Lord wants us to make it a top priority to be reconciled with those we might have hurt or offended. Above anything else. We need to go to the person and try to mend the relationship. In verses 25 – 26, the situation described is even worse. Imagine wronging a person so badly that they decide to take you to court. Jesus obviously doesn't want things to get that far. Again, he encourages us to go to the person and talk to them. Try to find a peaceful solution. Hurts are easily caused by words, but restored relationships can be found through words too. Words have power and God has given us the authority and freedom to wield that power. Let's resist the urge to divide but lean towards the precious art of reconciliation.

The Avs are only able to score one goal in a bleh matinee game where a messy third period ultimately costs the Avs at least a point Intro - 0:00Rudo is mad - 1:26The actual game - 7:48Marty Party is kicking himself - 17:07These type of games are good - 26:20Hear from Bednar - 32:20There were some positives - 39:57Might see Vesey next game - 42:05Mechanically not much to fix - 43:36Looking a little scrambly - 44:28Resting guys? - 49:22Care about these last 8 games? - 58:50Do coaches stew on losses like these? - 1:00:10 An ALLCITY Network Production PARTY WITH US: https://thednvr.com/events ALL THINGS DNVR: https://linktr.ee/dnvrsports MERCH: https://store.allcitynetwork.com/collections/dnvr-locker SUBSCRIBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/DNVR_Sports Breck Brew Ice Deck Giveaway: http://breckbrew.com/icedeckMonarch Money: Use Monarch Money to get control of your overall finances with 50% off your first year at https://www.monarchmoney.com/dnvr bet365: Go to https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485318 or use code DNVR365 when you sign up. Must be 21+ and physically located in CO.  Please gamble responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help call or TEXT 1-800-GAMBLERUC Health: Learn more about Living Like There's A Tomorrow at https://www.uchealth.org/tomorrow/?utm_source=DNVR&utm_medium=Audio&utm_campaign=Brand_LLTIAT_Null_JFMFY25_AW_Null Get Coors Light delivered straight to your door with Instacart by going to https://coorslight.com/DNVR. Celebrate Responsibly. Coors Brewing Company, Golden, Colorado.  Rugged Road: Gear up for your next adventure with Rugged Road Coolers - Your ultimate outdoor companion! Head to http://ruggedroadoutdoors.pxf.io/ALLCITY and use code DNVR for 10% off! Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code DNVR for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Check out FOCO merch and collectibles here https://foco.vegb.net/DNVR and use promo code “DNVR10” for 10% off your order on all non Pre Order items. Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to https://shadyrays.com and use code: DNVR for 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated 5 stars by over 300,000 people. Get 10 FREE meals at https://hellofresh.com/freeavalanche. Applied across 7 boxes, new subscribers only, varies by plan. https://www.bet365.com/hub/en-us/app-hero-banner-1?utm_source=affiliate&utm_campaign=usapp&utm_medium=affiliate&affiliate=365_03485318 or use code DNVR365 when you sign up. Must be 21+ and physically located in CO.  Please gamble responsibly. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help call or TEXT 1-800-GAMBLER When you shop through links in the description, we may earn affiliate commissions. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.#coloradoavalanche #hockey #hockeypodcast

Leonard Stock, creator of the Grappler Police Bumper, shares his experiences as a successful entrepreneur—from the device's conception, to its distribution, to the tribulations of owning a business.------00:00:00:00 - 00:01:10:29Teaser00:01:10:29 - 00:01:52:03Intro00:01:52:03 - 00:18:52:10Leonard's background & his groundbreaking invention: the Grappler Police Bumper00:18:52:10 - 00:22:16:29The risk factor00:22:16:29 - 00:26:15:14The purchasing and installation process of the Grappler00:26:15:14 - 00:26:39:22Midroll00:26:39:22 - 00:30:26:21The entrepreneurial process00:30:26:21 - 00:41:27:26The importance of customer service00:41:27:26 - 01:01:12:15How does Leonard train Law Enforcement Officers to use to Grappler?01:01:12:15 - 01:15:42:10The joys and pains of owning a business01:15:42:10 - 01:16:50:03Outro

In this episode, Coach Jo and Coach Kim dive into the power of morning routines and how they impact productivity, well-being, and overall success. Each coach shares their personal struggles to create and maintain a morning routine and share strategies for how to make their mornings successful. This includes prepping the night before, not hitting the snooze button, skipping the doom scroll, and eating a healthy breakfast. They discuss how small habits—like drinking water first thing in the morning and planning the night before—can make a big difference in energy levels and focus throughout the day.The conversation highlights key strategies for building a sustainable morning routine, including reducing decision fatigue, prioritizing protein-rich breakfasts, and avoiding common sabotagers like social media and an unorganized start to the day. Coach Jo and Coach Kim also explore how nighttime habits influence mornings and offer practical tips to create a routine that is both effective and flexible when life gets in the way. Tune in for actionable steps to transform your mornings and set yourself up for success!Resources discussed in this episode:Mel Robbins - The 5 Second Rule--Contact Joely Churchill and Kim Berube | Iron Lab: Website: IronLabLacombe.comInstagram: Iron.Lab.LacombeFacebook: IronLabLacombeCoach Jo Instagram: @CoachJoChurchCoach Kim Instagram: @CoachKimBerubeCourse: Metabolic Blueprint--TranscriptCoach Jo 00:09Welcome to Perfectly Unfinished Conversations, the Iron Lab podcast with Coach Jo…Coach Kim 00:14…and Coach Kim… Coach Jo 00:15Where you ride shotgun with us as we have raw, real, unfiltered, and unfinished conversations about trying to eat, sleep, train, and live with some integrity in a messy, imperfect life. Coach Kim 00:27We're all about creating a strong support system, taking radical personal responsibility, having fun, and being authentic. And one of the most common themes you're going to find in this podcast is the idea that we create positive momentum in our life, by doing what we call b-minus work. Coach Jo 00:45We're making gains and getting ahead and loving life without self-sabotaging our goals by striving for perfection. We get it done by moving ahead… Coach Kim 00:55…before we're ready… Coach Jo 00:56…when we aren't feeling like it…  Coach Kim 00:58…and without hesitation. Coach Jo 1:00Be sure to subscribe now on Apple or Spotify, so you don't miss a single episode. It's good enough. Let's go. Welcome back, folks. We are going to dive right in today on the importance of morning routines. So Kim, tell me the truth here. How's your morning routine?Coach Kim  1:19  Well, funny you should ask, because my sleep is a mess right now. And that affects my morning routine for sure. 80% of the time, I love my morning routine, and right now it's pretty dialed in. Like it's Monday, and it's pretty dialed in, and I'm relieved and happy about that. But if you would've asked me Friday, I was a mess. And on the days where I'm early coaching mornings and when my alarm goes off at four, like I don't like those mornings very much. And I'm, if I'm not very organized the night before, to get out of the house by 5am I set myself up to fail all day. So, I prefer to wake up without an alarm and to sit and drink something hot. I like to journal and dump out my brain in the morning and then eat breakfast and pack my meals. But recently, I've been opening up my phone too early, which sucks me into the vortex of lost lifetime. And I find the darker winter hard, because I love getting outside when the sun's coming up. That's one of my favourite habits ever, and I'm kind of over the dark right now in the season, just with winter. So I was really excited when I drove to work this morning that the sun's coming up quarter to eight it's light. Coach Jo 2:26The sun was shining before I got my car.Coach Kim 2:28Amazing, because it's minus 31 this morning, and that was tough. But on the days that I struggle to make my morning routine happen, like on the days where I don't do all the things that I love, I I'm a disaster all day long. Like, I don't eat a great breakfast, I don't pack adequate meals for lunch or snacks. I leave my water bottle behind. I'll decide, oh, I can just grab something on the way, which is forcing me not only to spend money, and it also forces me to try to rely on someplace out there that fits foods that align with my health and my plan, my goals, right? So, that's just a bad idea. So, to top it off, I come to work feeling like I don't want to be there because I'm not ready, and my hair is probably half-assed and my makeup hasn't done.Coach Jo 3:09Oh, I liked your hair today. Coach Kim 3:10Oh, thanks.Coach Jo 3:11I did. It was nice and straight. Coach Kim 3:12Today was a good day, but if you would ask me Friday, what'd you say to me? You said, Elvira or something. I've even forgotten my laptop before, at home. Coach Jo 3:25Yeah. Coach Kim 3:26Like, talk about disorganized. So, yeah.Coach Jo  3:27  You know, this topic is so timely because I recently came back from a hockey tournament, which is four and a half hours away, and I feel like I was hit by a dump truck today. Even though, you know, I was sleeping early enough, even though I tried to have food ready, I tried, but I really didn't try. I didn't meal prep, like I should have. I'm just exhausted from the weekend with my two young boys, where I was riding solo and it was just a long ass drive home. So like, what I hear us saying is that this whole thing, things could have been avoided if we had taken a few minutes to plan ahead the previous night. Coach Kim  4:00  Yeah, makes me wonder how many people are rolling out of bed and totally just hitting the ground running every day, which I would absolutely hate. Like could is rolling out of bed and winging it an actual strategy? It could be a strategy, but probably not a great one. And so we're talking about the importance of a morning routine, because rolling out of bed and winging it might work if you've built really strong habits that keep you on track without much thought, but for most people, this habit or this approach leads to decision fatigue and inconsistency and frustration, so a little bit of structure, like a solid morning routine, a set workout schedule, or even just time set aside to plan meals, can make a huge difference in energy and focus and time, free time and long term success. So sure you can wing it, but you'll probably get better results if you at least. Have a loose plan.Coach J...

Send us a textWith everything going on in the world today, it's especially important for he LGBQ and Trans community to learn to shut out the noise so that we can focus on what is actually important. But how? Today on Dem Bois Podcast, Ja'Mel Ashely Ware gives advice on how to do just that. Ja'Mel discusses his transition, the impact of his mother's early death, and his experiences with grief and anger. He emphasizes the importance of mental health support for trans men of color. And, he recounts his decision to become a birthing parent, the challenges of public backlash, and the significance of creating a loving, supportive family environment. We talk:Backlash from first pregnancy - 16:26The importance of therapy - 24:19Being born with HIV - 31:59Recognizing how your actions impact your children - 45:10References:Living Untethered, book by Michael A. SingerEmory University Hospital MidtownRead more about Ja'Mel in his bio below:Ja'Mel Ashely Ware is a visionary leader known for his impact as an entertainer, entrepreneur, and educator. Beginning as an HIV advocate at age 7, Ja'Mel has passionately championed HIV awareness, reproductive health, and entrepreneurship within the LGBQ and Trans community. He holds a degree in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is pursuing an MBA at Emory University. As founder of The IR Agency, Ja'Mel merges business acumen with social responsibility, empowering organizations to embrace diversity and inclusivity. His work has earned numerous accolades, and he is the proud father of Sea Cannon and Heir Enéz.@sirjamelashely on all platformswww.jamelashelyware.comwww.theiragency.orgDonate today to support the care and visibility for trans men of color! The  Visibility = Possibility™️ Merch is here! Introducing a groundbreaking collaboration crafted by Emilio Perdomo (featured on Dem Bois Podcast episode 37). This isn't just merch--it's a movement! We're empowering trans men of color with creative freedom to design their interpretation of Visibility = Possibility™. Think of it like major brands collaborating with athletes, but this time, our community takes center stage. It will be great to have TMOC designing products that represents their community and that folks will feel proud to put on. Every purchase supports our vital programs!Craving more Connection? Dem Bois Community Voices Facebook Group is a safe, moderated sanctuary where trans men of color can connect authentically, discuss podcast episodes, share powerful experiences, and build support networks. Dem Bois YouTube Channel! @demboisinc - Exclusive content you wonAre you enjoying the Dem Bois Podcast? Donate today to help support the cost of production and the honorarium we pay our guests for their time. All donations are tax-deductible. Click here! Donate to support our 2023 Gender Affirming Surgery Grant Fund here!

Listen to Joe Pisapia, Chris Welsh, and Scott Bogman LIVE on Discord. Join us next week on Monday afternoon at 2:00 PM ET at fantasypros.com/chat. The guys discuss everything happening in the football world, both in fantasy and in reality, straight from Discord Stages! Join us, ask questions, and BE ON THE SHOW!Saquon Barkley fuels MVP chatter after a jaw-dropping game, while Jaylen Waddle finally delivers for fantasy managers. We've got wide receiver buy low targets and bold takes heading into Week 13. Don't miss our takes on the very tight Chiefs/Panthers game, Baker Mayfield's big year, and our favorite Thanksgiving football moments! #FantasyFootball #NFL Timestamps (may be off due to ads):Intro - 0:00:00Saquon Barkley - 0:02:05WAS/DAL - 0:06:31Jaylen Waddle - 0:08:15Chiefs escape Carolina - 0:09:57Grievances - 0:11:59Good WR buy-low candidates - 0:15:25Nick Westbrook-Ihkine - 0:16:01Jaylen Waddle/Malik Nabers/Courtland Sutton/Jerry Jeudy - 0:16:31Get 1 month of BettingPros Premium - 0:18:26The 3-1-1 - 0:19:07Jerod Mayo one-and-done as Pats head coach? - 0:22:01How do you pronounce Jaguars? - 0:23:14Rank Tillman, Jennings, Pollard, Coleman, D-Hop in Week 13? - 0:24:41More grievances - 0:25:36Baker, Kyler, and Nix for ROS? - 0:26:32TD Calls - 0:30:46My Playbook - 0:33:03What's Trending? Best Thanksgiving Football Memories - 0:33:24Aidan O'Connell/Daniel Jones/Tommy DeVito - 0:38:45 Helpful Links: Join Us On Discord! - This show was taken from our weekly Discord chat with Joe Pisapia, Chris Welsh and Scott Bogman each Monday afternoon at 2:00 PM ET on fantasypros.com/chat. Join the fun, get your questions answered, and BE ON THE SHOW!  My Playbook - Don't miss out on the revolutionary fantasy football software that over 1 million teams have already synced with: My Playbook. It's packed with custom advice, rankings, and analysis tailored just for your team. Discover your optimal lineup, find advantageous trades, and stay ahead with the latest player news. Join the league of winners today at fantasypros.com/myplaybook and let's secure that championship! Leave a Review – If you enjoy our show and find our insight to be valuable, we'd love to hear from you! Your reviews fuel our passion and help us tailor content specifically for YOU. Head to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts and leave an honest review. Let's make this show the ultimate destination for fantasy football enthusiasts like us. Thank you for watching and for showing your support – https://fantasypros.com/review/ BettingPros Podcast – For advice on the best picks and props across both the NFL and college football each and every week, check out the BettingPros Podcast at bettingpros.com/podcast, our BettingPros YouTube channel at youtube.com/bettingpros, or wherever you listen to podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jesus Calling Pt. 4 Hold Fast to What You Have By Louie Marsh, 11-24-2024   1) Jesus sees it ALL.   “18“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.” (Revelation 2:18, ESV)   2) Jesus COMMENDS them for growing their witness.   “19“ ‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. (Revelation 2:19, ESV)   3) Jesus will not TOLERATE sin or evil.    20But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.” “21I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.  (Revelation 2:20–21, ESV)   ἀφίημι aphiēmi; from 575 and ἵημι hiēmi (to send); to send away, leave alone, permit:—abandoned(1), allow(5), allowed(2), divorce(2), forgave(2), forgive(23), forgiven(23), forgives(1), gave … permission(1), leave(7), leaves(2), leaving(8), left(38), let(9), let … alone(6), let him have(1), neglected(1), neglecting(2), permit(6), permitted(1), permitting(1), send … away(1), tolerate(1), uttered(1), yielded(1) - Robert L. Thomas, New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek Dictionaries : Updated Edition (Anaheim: Foundation Publications, Inc., 1998).   This verse reveals Jesus' complaint against the church at Thyatira: it "tolerated" a false prophet named Jezebel. This dangerous woman was persuading members of the church to practice immorality and idolatry. Apparently, she promoted certain pagan sexual practices. Also, she condoned a common practice at trade union banquets, namely the eating of food dedicated to idols. ·       If a “prophecy” contradicts God's Word, it is FALSE!   “19God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19, ESV)   “19Do not quench the Spirit. 20Do not despise prophecies, 21but test everything; hold fast what is good.” (1 Thessalonians 5:19–21, ESV)   ·       Doing good doesn't BALANCE OUT my sin,   “10For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” (James 2:10, ESV)   “21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' 23And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'” (Matthew 7:21–23, ESV)   4) Jesus will JUDGE false prophets & their followers.    22Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, 23and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.” (Revelation 2:22–23, ESV)   5) In my struggle I must not LOSE what I have.   “24But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. 25Only hold fast what you have until I come.” (Revelation 2:24–25, ESV)   ·       I must focus on not sliding BACKWARD when I can't move forward.   6) The conquer receives INCONCEIVABLE gifts!   “26The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 27and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. 28And I will give him the morning star. 29He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'” (Revelation 2:26–29, ESV)   ·       The conquer will RULE with Jesus.   “12if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;” (2 Timothy 2:12, ESV)   ·       He gives us ALL His royal character.   “16“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”” (Revelation 22:16, ESV)                    

We must partner with God in our salvation. The Sower sowed good seed. The faith of the people was hindered by the Jewish leadership. The environment was not receptive to the redemption of Israel by Christ. Being without proof of God we must believe in God by faith. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him." If we refuse the seed of the word of God we will die unfruitful, separated and lost. Believing in God because of proof is not faith. The will of man is stronger than God's will. “...without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6***92: Jesus Condemns A Fig TreeMatthew 21:18-22; Mark 11:12-14, 20-26The next morning after his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Jesus and his disciples left Bethany, where they had spent the night, to return to the city. On the way Jesus was hungry. Seeing a fig tree from afar, he went to it expecting to find some fruit. But the tree contained nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for fruit. Jesus said to the tree: “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever.” When next they passed the tree, seeing that it was withered from the roots up, Peter said to Jesus: “Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.” Jesus replied to him: “Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, ‘Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea,' and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, ‘What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.' And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any, that your Father also which is in Heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in Heaven forgive your trespasses.”93: Jesus Cleanses The TempleMatthew 21:10-17; Mark 11:15-19; Luke 19:45-48When Jesus came to Jerusalem he went into the temple. He began to cast out those who bought and sold therein, overthrew the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves. He would not permit anyone to carry anything through the temple. He taught and said: “It is written, ‘My house shall be called the house of prayer,' but ye have made it a den of thieves.” The chief priests and scribes, when they saw the wonders Jesus performed, were greatly displeased and sought to destroy him but were afraid of the multitude who listened eagerly to his words. Then the afflicted came to Jesus in the temple and were healed. The people listened attentively to his doctrines and were astonished at his words and deeds.Children sang in the temple, saying: “Hosanna to the son of David.” The words of the children and the crowd angered the authorities, and the chief priests and scribes said to...

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost The Collect: O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and also may have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Old Testament: Amos 7:7-15 7This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass them by; 9the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” 10Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent to King Jeroboam of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the very center of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. 11For thus Amos has said, ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel must go into exile away from his land.'” 12And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, earn your bread there, and prophesy there; 13but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.” 14Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees,15and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' Psalm: Psalm 85:8-13 8 I will listen to what the Lord God is saying, *        for he is speaking peace to his faithful people        and to those who turn their hearts to him. 9 Truly, his salvation is very near to those who fear him, *        that his glory may dwell in our land. 10 Mercy and truth have met together; *        righteousness and peace have kissed each other. 11 Truth shall spring up from the earth, *        and righteousness shall look down from heaven. 12 The Lord will indeed grant prosperity, *        and our land will yield its increase. 13 Righteousness shall go before him, *        and peace shall be a pathway for his feet. Epistle: Ephesians 1:3-14 3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace 8that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight 9he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, 10as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, 12so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; 14this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory. Gospel: Mark 6:14-29 14King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some were saying, “John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” 15But others said, “It is Elijah.” And others said, “It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” 16But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” 17For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her. 18For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.” 19And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, 20for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him. 21But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. 22When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.” 23And he solemnly swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.” 24She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” She replied, “The head of John the baptizer.” 25Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” 26The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, 28brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. 29When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/ultraviolet-light-reveals-scientists-hidden-bible-passage-1500-years-later (for Luke) Unique passages: https://www.julianspriggs.co.uk/pages/UniquePassages  Bibleref.com commentary on Mark 6:5: https://www.bibleref.com/Mark/6/Mark-6-5.html  Thanks Biblehub.com's parallel chapters tool.   Words of Jesus ("All the Red Letter Scriptures") https://www.jesusbelieverjd.com/all-the-red-letter-scriptures-of-jesus-in-the-bible-kjv/    Parallel Passages in the Gospels https://www.bible-researcher.com/parallels.html#sect1     The Eye of the Needle (crossword/sudoku feedback): https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-25583,00.html#:~:text=The%20%22Eye%20of%20the%20Needle,in%20order%20to%20enter%20heaven   Camel needle w/Aquinas citation (of Anselm of Canterbury)-- Anselm of Canterbury as cited in Catena Aurea, Thomas Aquinas, CCEL Edition. https://classictheology.org/2021/10/12/through-the-eye-of-an-actual-needle-the-fake-gate-theory/    The Widow's Mite: https://numismatics.org/pocketchange/the-poor-widows-mite/    Miracles of Jesus reference list: https://sunnyhillschurch.com/3301/the-37-miracles-of-jesus-in-chronological-order/ LINK BIBLEREF.COM MENTIONED IN CHAPTER 8 SECTION (“Can't” do miracles in hometown- keyword absolute for lookup)   Welcome to the Popeular History Podcast: History through Pope Colored Glasses. My name is Gregg and this is episode 0.21f: Sayings of the Savior Part VI: Messages from Mark.   All of these aught episodes are made to let us build our Pope-colored glasses so we can use the same lenses when we look at history together. If you're lost, start at the beginning!   In previous worldbuilding episodes, we looked at quite a few of Jesus' words: the sermon on the mount and the sermon on the plain, plus all the Parables and miracles on our list, and his sayings closely tied to all those.   All that made for a good start, but if we're going to look at the sayings of the Savior, we should be comprehensive to avoid cherry-picking. So we spent the last of these worldbuilding episodes going chapter by chapter through the first gospel in order of appearance, the Gospel of Matthew, up until things caught up with where our rosary themed tour of the New Testament will carry on when we get to the next mystery. I am aware that what was once upon a time supposed to be a couple quick background episodes introducing my listeners to, well, all of Catholicism has ballooned wildly into wheels within wheels, but hey, I wouldn't have it any other way.   Anyways, next up in the traditional ordering is the Gospel of Mark, so that's our mission today. We'll go chapter by chapter, glossing over what we've already discussed and focusing on the Sayings of the Savior, since, you know, that's the deal here.   MARK 1 opens with a description of Jesus' cousin John the Baptist, and you'll never guess what John does to Jesus when He shows up. Actually you probably will because I was trying to set you up with a fake out where John refuses to baptize Jesus but it turns out that initial refusal is in Matthew but is absent from Mark's generally sparse account. Anyways, we get Jesus' first words in Mark only after he's baptized and had an express version of the temptation in the desert. Sometime after John was arrested, we're told Jesus preached a message that sounded a lot like what John had been saying,   MARK 1:15 “The time has come,” … “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”   GREGG Of course we just got a bit meta, since “Good news” is where the word Gospel comes from. A very “Begun, the Clone Wars have” moment. This urgent call to repentance has been a consistent refrain throughout Christian history, with the good news bring that repentance really can lead to reconciliation with God. Shoutout 0.1 if you need a refresher on why such a reconciliation is needed in the Catholic perspective.   Having begun to declare the Good News, Jesus the Christ soon picks out folks to help him, starting, like all good missions, with a pun. Talking to two fishermen, the brothers Simon and Andrew, Jesus says   MARK 1:   Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men   GREGG When I covered this section in Matthew- we're deep in parallels here- I stuck with my usual NIV translation. Not because I'm an NIV snob, but because the New International Version is the one that shows up first on biblegateway.com and it's good enough, especially when I'm doing a LOT of scripture quoting like I have been with this series.   But because the NIV went for inclusivity, they translated the line as “make you fish for people”, which simply isn't as smooth a pun. I did check with my toddler-level skills and it looks to me like the pun is present in the Greek, so it's worth calling out. Jesus' humor is often downplayed, which is a shame.   If you're wondering why I'm going on about this, well, honestly, Mark is short and we've already covered most of what's there in Matthew. So we might as well take our time. There's plenty there, to be clear, I don't want angry letters from scholars whose primary focus is Mark saying I'm dismissing it offhand.   Alright, enough dilly dallying, what's next? Jesus calls more fishermen–the sons of Zebedee, James and John–but His actual words and possible new pun are not recorded. The next time he speaks he's talking to a demon in one of the healing miracles we discussed in 0.20, followed by another miracle–the healing of Simon's mother in law–later in the same chapter. Then, after assorted other miracles, Jesus goes out to pray by Himself in what's described as a quote unquote “desolate place”. When His disciples track Him down and tell Him everyone is looking for Him, He says   MARK 1:38 Let us go somewhere else--to the nearby villages--so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.   GREGG Though Jesus' disciples did in fact say no to Him on a downright alarming number of occasions, they went along with His plan this time, and another montage of undescribed healings and exorcisms finishes off with the healing of a grateful leper who ignores Jesus' command to tell no one. Mark 1 concludes with Jesus getting mobbed with requests for miracles as a result.   Chapter 2 opens with the healing of the paralytic who had been let in via the roof–a great bit of drama, but something we already covered under our review of miracles. After that, He called His tax collector disciple, who we got to know as Matthew in the Gospel of, well, Matthew, but who's listed as Levi here and in Luke. Using different names in different contexts was absolutely a thing,  but both Matthew and Levi are Hebrew names so the usual Greek vs Hebrew divide doesn't seem to be the culprit here, and what's more neither Mark nor Luke explicitly identify Levi with the apostle Matthew, though the inference isn't a terrible reach over all.   In the end, our main hook in this particular series is the actual sayings of the Savior, and this calling is carried out with a simple “follow me”, so perhaps we shouldn't dive into it too much.   After taking out a section of parables we covered in 0.21c as part of a SYNOPTIC ROUNDUP, we arrive at Mark 2:23, notably without leaving the SYNOPTIC ROUNDUP room because you can also follow along in Matthew 12 and Luke 6. As a reminder if you're rusty on Jewish customs, the Sabbath rest begins Friday at sundown and continues through the day on Saturday. Picking grain as we're going to see here would be considered working on the day of rest and therefore a violation.   MARK (2:23-2:28, NIV)) 23 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.   24 The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?”   25 He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?   26 in the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."   27 Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.   28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”   GREGG this section is one of the earlier signals of what would become a core piece of Christianity: its distancing from the Law of Moses. There are still aspects of continuity, for example most Christians including Catholics actually do still maintain *a* day of rest, just Sunday rather than Saturday and they'll generally skip the night before business though some of that has carried over in the form of vigil practices, as we'll see when we get there.   Anyways, I've always thought those last couple lines were pretty baller, and it turns out they're one of the few bits unique to Mark, so let's go ahead and hear them again:   QUOTE The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. END QUOTE   This bold claim lies at the heart of what will in time lead to the followers of Christ being seen as a religion separate from Judaism, which is fair enough but also don't sleep on just how much that takes, given there's such a thing as secular Jews and Jewish atheists. There have been other messiah movements in Jewish history; though they fizzled out it's not much of a stretch to imagine a world where Christianity is still seen as part of a wide tent Judaism, indeed there is still a common heritage. But there are absolutely differences as well, principally, of course, centered around Jesus, the Son of Man, Lord of the Sabbath.   That other part   “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”   is the context for the start of the next chapter, serving as a good reminder that, while convenient for finding your place, chapter and verse divisions are not part of the original texts of the Bible, so it's important to not treat them as fences where you have to stop. You see, in Mark 3 we have the healing of the man with a withered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath:   MARK 3 2 Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. 3 Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, "Stand up in front of everyone.” 4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent.   GREGG I mean, it's a bit of a false dichotomy perhaps, are those really the only two options? But obviously I'm siding with Jesus here, mark me down as pro-healing when one can heal. And yeah, we actually already covered that exchange when we talked about the miracle in our miracles roundup, but the words are important there and Mark is short so forgive me for fitting it in here too.   Mark 3 continues with Jesus dealing with crowds now that word is getting around due to His miracles, and simultaneously He's ordering demons not to share the apparent secret that He is quote “the holy one of God”. We don't have his exact words in commanding the demons here so there's more room for interpretation than usual but the general take on these sort of passages is that it's tied to His time not having yet come to be revealed as the Messiah. Of course, unless I missed something, the specific instances where Jesus talks about His time having not yet come are in the Gospel of John, so reading that into Mark is something most modern scholars wouldn't go for- especially since the general consensus is Mark came first by a fair stretch- but that sort of quibble wasn't much of a barrier for most of the history of Christians reflecting on Scripture, so the traditional interpretation is what it is and I don't think it's too much of a reach.   After telling assorted demons to hush up, Jesus appoints the Twelve Apostles starting in verse 13, no direct quotes there so no need to tarry though interested folks are always welcome to check out the naming differences between the Gospels.   Starting in verse 20 we have the house divided parable, covered in our parables series a few episodes back, then in verse 28 we hit “the unpardonable sin” section, and believe it or not it's not being a weeb, it turns out it's, well, let's let Jesus explain:   MARK 3 28 Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, 29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin."   GREGG When we covered the parallel text of this in Matthew 12–seriously, over 90% of Mark is parallelled in Matthew–I focused on the idea of the sin against the Spirit as being despair. But Mark's telling has a bit of context that has lead to another popular interpretation, especially among–Catholics cover your ears– *whispers* Protestants.   MARK 3 30He said this because they were saying, "He has an impure spirit.”   GREGG Using that verse, which at a glance is simply explaining why Jesus said what He said, the passage is taken to mean that rejecting Jesus as the Son of God slash Savior slash Messiah is the sin against the Spirit being referred to here. And though I called out Protestants specifically a minute ago, it's not like that interpretation is unheard of within Catholicism, typically it's a both/and sort of thing, accepting the despair angle and the “ya'll need Jesus” angle. Nor are the two interpretations unrelated, as someone wholly given to despair will have a hard time accepting Jesus' offer of salvation.   Of course, when I speak of accepting Jesus' offer of salvation, now I really AM getting into the fundamental faith vs works discussion. That's faith and works in the context of salvation from sin. We'll be getting into it in more detail in future episodes, but as an overview all major forms of Christianity agree that faith in the saving power of Jesus Christ is fundamentally necessary for salvation. The disagreement comes in whether anything else plays any role- “anything else” being summed up under the umbrella term of “works”, or it might help to rephrase the question as whether our actions have any meaning when it comes to our salvation.   For Catholics, the answer is yes, while for most Protestants, the answer is no. Generally speaking when there are fights about it, Protestants will take the position that your works having meaning, as Catholics argue is the case, means that you can save yourself through your works. Some people do think that, of course, but not Catholics, at least not Catholics who know their onions, as the Catholic Church condemned that position as a heresy over thousand years before Protestantism became a thing. However, the Church is far from perfect, and in the time of Martin Luther, whose teachings are typically seen as the spark that ignited the Protestant Reformation, it's clear that some within the Church were comfortable blurring the lines for financial gain.   I've got more on faith vs works and Catholicism vs Protestantism planned for future episodes, and I don't want to bury that conversation where no one will look for it, so let's leave that there for now and get back to Mark, with chapter 3 verse 31 to 35   MARK   31 Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” 33 "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. 34 Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.”   GREGG Thanks to the Marian doctrine of Our Lady's perpetual virginity we discussed back in episode 0.14, the surprising fact that Jesus doesn't immediately attend to his family members isn't the most discussed aspect of this passage when it comes to Catholicism. No, that would be the fact that Jesus' brothers, the Greek term is Adelphoi, show up. Generally these are understood as Jesus' half brothers, via his earthly father Saint Joseph from a previous marriage.   As for the question of whether Jesus just kind of blew off his family here, half brothers or cousins or full brothers or whoever was there with Mary, while I can see how you might get that impression, it's not like His every action is recorded. It's entirely possible that He checked in with them after making a quick positive observation- one that I don't want to lose in the rest of this analysis so I'll repeat it:   MARK 3 “35 Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.”   GREGG   Anyways, as is the custom with Mark, we're on to the next scene in a hurry, launching into Mark 4 with the next verse as a classic transition:   MARK 4 1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake.   GREGG I'm not going to go into detail about what He taught by the lake here, because Chapter 4 is made up entirely of miracles and parables we've already covered in 0.20 and earlier in 0.21, respectively. We've got the Parable of the Sower, then the Lamp on a Stand, then the Growing Seed and the Mustard Seed, capped off by Mark's account of Jesus calming the storm at sea.   Similarly, Mark 5 is a string of by-now familiar miracles- and if any don't seem familiar you know by now Miracles are in one of the 0.20 episodes, right? The Gerasene Demoniac, the Bleeding Woman, Jairus' Daughter, they're all there, and in Mark 5 too.   Mark 6 give us a bit more food for thought on Jesus' local life and family dynamic. A sign of how things hit differently at home, it's worth a long quote:   MARK 6:1-6 6 Jesus left there and went to his hometown, accompanied by his disciples. 2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed.   “Where did this man get these things?” they asked. “What's this wisdom that has been given him? What are these remarkable miracles he is performing? 3 Isn't this the carpenter? Isn't this Mary's son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.   4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.” 5 He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6 He was amazed at their lack of faith.   GREGG Many of Jesus' sayings have become proverbial, and while it's not in the level of turning the other cheek, “a prophet is not without honor except in his own town” has some popularity. It does seem to speak to a common truth of celebrities.   I do like the touch that He was unable to do any miracles there except for the miracles which He did do, which evidently still failed to impress. Of course, the idea of Jesus being *unable* to do miracles is theologically interesting, since He's, you know, God. Of course, God does seem to have had some trouble dealing with iron chariots back in Judges 1:19, so maybe there is some precedent.   But we've got our Pope-colored glasses on, so not only is Jesus God but God is omnipotent, so it's fair to ask: what gives? It could be that old favorite, the translation issue, but I admit my personal Greek skills are basically at the naming barnyard animals level, so I decided to bring in an expert to verify. An expert by the name of bibleref.com, linked in the show notes. Their commentary on the passage notes that in the parallel passage in Matthew, it simply says Jesus “did not” perform many miracles in his hometown, which isn't as controversial though of course it's always fair to ask why God doesn't just fix everything for everyone since he's all good and all knowing and all powerful. But that popular question isn't where we're at today because apparently it's not a translation issue, Mark 6:5 does specifically say Jesus *could not* perform the miracles in the Greek according to the commentary. But it goes on to note that there can be multiple senses of inability, like how you can't touch the ball when playing soccer, or football for my non-US listeners, and yeah, I'm not counting goalies. Anyways, obviously you can physically touch the ball, but you cannot in the sense that it's against the established rules of the game. If that's the sense, it makes some sense that Jesus quote unquote “can't” perform miracles in His hometown because His miracles are supposed to draw people to Him and they aren't having that effect at home. At least not much, keep in mind he did do some miracles there according to Mark, so in any event the whole “can't” thing definitely isn't absolute.   Of course, I personally find it awful to think that God would play games with our salvation- hence my quasi-universalism. I get respecting our free will, but I also know He's omnipotent and isn't going to give up on us, no matter how much we try to give up on ourselves if there's another chance we can get He's going to give that to us. But we have to accept at some point, so don't think I'm downplaying the urgency there.   Anyways, let's get back to Mark 6, now in Verse 8 where He's sending the disciples out in pairs with the following instructions:   MARK 6:8-11   8 Take nothing for the journey except a staff--no bread, no bag, no money in your belts.   9 Wear sandals but not an extra shirt.   10 Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town.   11 And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”   GREGG As you should by now have come to expect, these instructions do have a parallel in Matthew that we covered in the last worldbuilding episode. But it's not as close a parallel as you might think. Often, as we've talked about before, parallels in the synoptic gospels are so close that you'd get dinged for plagiarism, with maybe a word being changed here or there. But here, it basically reads like two different people were told to write down a speech shortly after they finished hearing it. Which, I mean, matches tradition, for what it's worth. The most obvious difference is that Mark's telling skips Matthew's bit about only going to Jewish households, forbidding visits to Gentiles or Samaritans. Though as we've seen Mark's Jesus was already laying the groundwork for some serious reframing of Mosaic Law by taking on the title of Lord of the Sabbath, I think on the whole it's more likely that in Mark's account that's simply taken as a given and perhaps left off for brevity rather than this being a separate incident or its absence being a sign that the disciples were to ignore those cultural barriers at this stage.   The rest of Mark 6 is taken up by his narrative of the death of John the Baptist, where, unusually for the Gospels, Jesus is offstage, and then there's two banner miracles, the Feeding of the 5000 and Jesus walking on water.   Which brings us to Mark 7, which has Jesus… let's see… excoriating the Jewish authorities… then calling a woman a dog… and let's not forget giving someone a wet willy.   Don't believe me? Let's go.   MARK 7   1The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) 5So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?” 6He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.' 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” 9And he continued, "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10For Moses said, 'Honor your father and mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.' 11But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)-- 12then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. 13Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”   GREGG Note that while there's a close parallel between these passages and Matthew 15, Mark is apparently much more concerned with explaining Jewish custom to his audience, suggesting the intended audience is not Jews themselves.   The rest of the chapter we've covered before, from the Parable of the Heart of Man to the two miracles that give the tibits I teased earlier. Jesus calls the syrophoenician woman a dog in the runup to healing her servant, and he totally heals a deaf guy via wet willy at the end of the chapter. But I already covered both of those in 0.20c, so check them out there for more.   So that means we're on to Chapter 8, which opens with… another miracle! Turns out Jesus did a lot of those! Who knew?   That's the feeding of the four thousand, but you know the drill, we're skipping that and on ahead to verse 12, where Jesus is responding to a group of Pharisees asking for a sign.   MARK 8:12 He sighed deeply and said, "Why does this generation ask for a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to it."   GREGG Ok. Remembering that by a sign here they mean a miracle, we've got the guy known for working miracles getting annoyed at requests for miracles. Why? You'd think He'd be all about that. Is it another sort of hometown situation, where folk's lack of faith is an impediment?   Well, kind of sort of. But not quite.   In the parallel passage from Matthew 16, which I admit I kind of glossed over last time because I was excited to get to the Papally significant Matthew 16:18, Jesus calls those asking for a sign “a wicked and adulterous generation”, which can help explain why Jesus is refusing the request–after all even in Mark's shorter version their motives are implicitly questioned, with Jesus asking why they're asking for a sign.   The typical interpretation goes that Jesus is refusing the request for a sign because the Pharisees have the wrong *motives* in asking. Unlike those in His hometown, they seem to believe Jesus can work miracles, but they just want to see a show, they aren't interested in Jesus' message beyond that. And Jesus for His part, is interested in signs *for the sake of* His message, He isn't there to entertain.   These various passages that show Jesus specifically not working miracles could be taken to suggest some embarrassment by the authors about Jesus' miracles not being as renowned as they would like, forcing them to give explanations for why that's the case. I can definitely picture some neckbeard arguing if God wanted to make everyone believe he'd make miracles known to all and be undeniable. Which is a reasonable enough thought except unless God removes free will, there's never going to be such a thing as undeniable anyways.   In the next few verses, Jesus warns against the teachings of the Pharisees and Herod. Though technically the “teachings” part isn't spelled out in Mark, so it could be He's actually meaning to go in another direction with things than He does in Matthew's version, though I think their teaching or at least their general influence is His most likely target. Let's hear it and regroup after.   MARK 8 14-15 14The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat.   15"Be careful," Jesus warned them. "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.”   GREGG Certainly He isn't talking about literal bread, as is evidenced from His reaction. Also, it's interesting that Mark warns against Herod's yeast specifically, while Matthew leaves Herod off in favor of tossing in the Sadducees to accompany the Pharisees. If Mark is the rougher, earlier version as most scholars currently argue–and as I'm inclined to believe looking at the two side by side these last few months–then it seems like one can argue Matthew's account has been modified to perhaps be a little more authority-friendly in this case, keeping in mind the Herodians were the client-kings in charge of the area in Jesus' day. Check out 0.13 on the Hasmoneans for more on that.   After a miracle interlude–healing the blind man in a two-step process where the miracle is evidently incomplete at first–a fairly intriguing Mark-only one that is arguably sanitized out of other accounts, but one we already covered so I'm not getting back into it today– anyways after that we hit Mark's account of Peter's testament, you know, with the binding and loosing and the keys and all that. Except actually *without* all that in Mark's version.   Here's the whole exchange as Mark tells it:   MARK 8:27-30 27Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?” 28They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” 29"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Messiah.” 30Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.   GREGG Like I said, not a key in sight. Peter does give the critical answer, but none of what would become the principal text for the Papacy is presented here. And again, if you consider Mark as the older account, as most scholars do, it's fair to raise an eyebrow at that. Yet in the end, one way or another, we have a Pope, and I do think there's something to be said for the unifying force of the role. After all, if no one is Pope, then everyone is Pope. But I digress.   Of course, poor Peter can only wish he were simply downplayed in Mark 8. The reality is he does pop up again later in the chapter, in a familiar but unflattering way:   MARK 8:31- 31He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. 32He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”   GREGG So there you go. If you want to make a case for the Pope not always being right, there's an easy one. Not everyone gets called Satan by, well, God. Of course, there's a surprising amount of room where you can accept Papal Infallibility *and* the idea that the Pope isn't always right, but we'll get to that in time.   The chapter finishes with Jesus reflecting on what his stated fate means for his followers, and it's, uh, not the cheeriest image. It bleeds into chapter 9 so don't put your Bible down too quickly If you're following along.   MARK 8:34-9:1   34Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 38If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels. CHAPTER 9 1And he said to them, "Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.   GREGG Goodness, Jesus, it's hard for me to keep my running joke of treating the Crucifixion as a spoiler when you're literally telling your disciples to take up their crosses before it actually happens. Oh well.   Mark 9 continues with The Transfiguration, but like I mentioned in our Matthew discussion, that's it's own mystery of the rosary that we haven't gotten to yet, so pardon me and I'll skip that here too.   After that, we have a miracle- the boy with an unclean spirit that can only be driven out by prayer and fasting. So on to verse 30, where we have more talk of the upcoming Passion:   MARK 9:30-32 “30They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” 32But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.   GREGG Jesus was speaking pretty plainly here, so it's not immediately clear why the disciples didn't understand what Jesus meant, but it's probably related to the way Jesus keeps telling folks either to talk or not to talk about things. There's definitely a focus on pacing the spread of the Good News throughout the Gospels, especially in Mark, and it seems like a supernatural barrier to the Apostles' understanding here would fit in with that.   The fear of asking is more easily explained: if someone you know is really good at making predictions and you're pretty sure they just predicted something awful, you may well be hesitant to confirm that with them.   Being hesitant to talk about stuff with Jesus carries us into the next few verses, where Jesus apparently puts His omniscience to good use in a wonderfully passive-aggressive way:   MARK 9: 33-35 33They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the road?" 34But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest. 35Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”   GREGG The first will be last is one of Jesus' recurring themes, and the whole “I'm-pretty-sure-I-heard-you-but-since-you-won't-confirm-I'm-just-going-to-respond-indirectly approach reminds me of dealing with the drama of children, though I suppose a lot of things remind me of interacting with children these days given my current life situation, and that approach is not necessarily one that exclusively applies to children. Either way, Jesus does bring children into the conversation as His next move.   MARK 9:36-37 36He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37"Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.”   GREGG That passage is one of the more often-remembered portions of the Gospels, in part because it's in all three synoptics [air horn], but also in part because it's a handy pastoral lesson to push back on folks who might complain about the presence of children in worship services. As they say, if no one in your church is cryin', it's dyin'.   Next up we have some verses you might wish had been left off if you've ever gotten tired of hearing “in Jesus' name” a lot:   MARK 9:38-41 38"Teacher," said John, "we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us.” 39"Do not stop him," Jesus said. "For no one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40for whoever is not against us is for us. 41Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their reward.   GREGG Personally I'm thankful for that passage, because I'm a big supporter of ecumenism and cooperation, and “whoever is not against us is for us” is an immensely helpful sentiment in that context.   For the next section, where Jesus gets pretty intense, there are several verses that simply aren't present in my go-to NIV version, presumably for bible nerd manuscript reasons. Now, the point of the Sayings of the Savior series is to make sure we cover *everything* Jesus said in the canonical scriptures, and those verses are speaking lines for Jesus, so that won't do. Thankfully the King James version has us covered, so I'm going to switch to that for those verses.   So you can tell the difference easily, I'll be switching to a guest narrator as well. Lebron James hasn't responded to my calls, so the King James Version of the King James Version will have to wait, but my brother has come in clutch for podcast purposes. PJHERE MARK 9:42-48 42"If anyone causes one of these little ones--those who believe in me--to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea. 43If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. [NIV leaves off verse 44 “44Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”-KJV] 45And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. [NIV leaves off verse 46 “46Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”-KJV] 47And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, NIV leaves off verse 48 “48Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”-KJV]   GREGG So yeah, by “verses” I kind of meant “one verse used as a refrain”, but it's officially verses 44, 46, and 48, so I am technically correct, which I'm told is the best kind of correct.   Thanks to the reference to “leading little ones astray”, the great millstone imagery has had some use in response to the sexual abuse crisis, though the most commonly cited of these evocative instructions is plucking out the eye, thanks in no small part to the frequency of admonitions against pornography in the online era. Cutting off the hand is also referenced, while I think most folks if they're being honest won't even necessarily recall cutting off the foot is among the scenarios mentioned.   Anyways, Jesus finishes this section with a few salty verses that initially bear a strong resemblance to Matthew 5:13- the salt of the earth bit from the Sermon on the Mount. I'm thinking I might have actually pointed these verses out when I was going over that due to the similarity, but just in case, here they are:   MARK 9:49-50 49Everyone will be salted with fire 50"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”   GREGG “Have salt among yourselves” is an unusual turn of phrase, the typical interpretation of this Mark-only phrase is that Christians are supposed to bring out the best in one another, the way salt brings out the best in food.   We're now entering Mark 10, which- surprise surprise, has close parallels to Matthew 19 and 20. I'm not going to give the Matthew sections as a side by side, partly because we've already covered them independently, partly because this episode is already going to be one of my longest despite Mark being the shortest Gospel. But it's worth giving it a thorough treatment since scholars tend to think it's the oldest and also because if I'm going to go all-out it might as well be with the shortest of the bunch. You know, for efficiency.   Anyways…   MARK 10:1-12 1Jesus then left that place and went into the region of Judea and across the Jordan. Again crowds of people came to him, and as was his custom, he taught them. 2Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” 3"What did Moses command you?" he replied. 4They said, "Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” 5"It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law," Jesus replied. 6"But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.' 7For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” 10When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. 11He answered, "Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. 12And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”   GREGG This version of Jesus' teaching on marriage and divorce notably does not include the exception for adultery we saw in Matthew's account. Additionally where Matthew focused on Eunuchs for the kingdom–and other kinds of Eunuchs–Mark concluded with that extra condemnation of divorce, with remarriage as adultery.   In the next passage, the conversation changes direction:   MARK 10:13-16 13People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 15Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.   GREGG We'll meet the Church Father who was allegedly one of the children in this scene as we go about our big timeline, once we get through this worldbuilding and go into that. But for now, it's time for one of the most inconvenient passages in the Gospels, at least if you're rich.    MARK 10:17-31 17As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18"Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone. 19You know the commandments: 'You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.'” 20"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy.” 21Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. 23Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!” 24The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?” 27Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” 28Then Peter spoke up, "We have left everything to follow you!” 29"Truly I tell you," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel 30will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--along with persecutions--and in the age to come eternal life. 31But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”   GREGG There is a surprisingly thorough and ranging discussion of the whole “eye of the needle” bit in the digital edition of the British newspaper The Guardian, in the Nooks and Crannies section of their Notes and Queries page. Which I think makes it the most random thing I've cited here, but hey, it's got it all so let's get a sampling going:   First, the original query: The Guardian.com “I recently read that one of the gates into Jerusalem was named "The Eye of the Needle," and was quite tricky to negotiate, since it was quite small. Does this mean that when Jesus said "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven," He meant that, far from being impossible, it was merely tricky?” Dara O'Reilly, London, UK   GREGG The first reply is a fairly representative take on the gate theory:   GUARDIAN The interpretation that seems to make sense is this. The "Eye of the Needle" was indeed a narrow gateway into Jerusalem. Since camels were heavily loaded with goods and riders, they would need to be un-loaded in order to pass through. Therefore, the analogy is that a rich man would have to similarly unload his material possessions in order to enter heaven. Rick, Brighton Uk   GREGG But then the plot thickens, as William Elsom of the UK is having none of it:   GUARDIAN No. The failure is in the translation. The original word that should have been translated was "camella" which means rope. (presumably Greek, but I am open to this being corrected.) "It is easier for a rope to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven" makes more sense as a comparison. William Elsom, UK   GREGG There's something of a scholarly telephone game going on in the background, as basically every “mistranslation” take offers a variation on the root word and apparent correct meaning. Which is fairly normal for translations especially when there are different alphabets involved, but still, I chuckled.   GUARDIAN I am currently studying the Aramaic language and indeed the word "gamla" (transliterated) does mean both "camel" and "thick rope." Assuming the original manuscript with that teaching of Jesus was recorded in Aramaic and later translated to Greek, the translator may have been familiar with only the "camel" definition of the word. I have not been able to find any reliable information on a city gate called "The Eye of the Needle." -Xakk, FL USA   GREGG As much as I hate agreeing with someone who spells Zach Xakk–though presumably that's a choice his parents made– anyways as much as I hate to admit it, this overall take seems the most likely to this non-Aramaic specialist. The general meaning is still the same, it's not something you're going to get done.   It's also worth noting that at least as of the return from the Exile, if the Book of Nehemiah is to be believed, there was no “Eye of the Needle” gate in Jerusalem. And I can state that with confidence because as longtime listeners will recall, I had a whole special episode devoted to the topic from July 2020 entitled “Literally A Detailed Description of the Gates of Jerusalem and Who Fixed Them in the Time of Nehemiah”, which, despite being exactly what it says it is, has been a pretty popular episode. In any event, it *could* be that an Eye of the Needle gate was established at a later point, though really the whole gate thing feels like wishful thinking on the part of the rich or the would-be rich to me.   Of course, as you might expect, there are also literalists who agree it's wishful thinking and would rather cut to the chase. Plus people like my man David:   GUARDIAN The translation is irrelevant. We all know in our hearts we cannot love money above God.   David Porter, Orangevale, US   GREGG Let's conclude with my favorite take:   GUARDIAN “Blessed are the cheesemakers?” Mike Conn, San Francisco,    GREGG After the second Gate-Gate scandal we've come across in this show (shoutout Samson if you've forgotten), we arrive at Jesus' third prediction of His own death in Mark   MARK 10:32-34 32They were on their way up to Jerusalem, with Jesus leading the way, and the disciples were astonished, while those who followed were afraid. Again he took the Twelve aside and told them what was going to happen to him. 33"We are going up to Jerusalem," he said, "and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, 34who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.”   GREGG Mark gives no record of the Apostles' reaction to this third prediction, unless the next verse is the actual reaction, which is a hilarious thought because it would be shockingly tone deaf. But yeah, it's the very next verse without any transition except the word “then”, so you can certainly read it that way:   MARK 10:35-45 35Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him. "Teacher," they said, "we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” 36"What do you want me to do for you?" he asked. 37They replied, "Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.” 38"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” 39"We can," they answered. Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, 40but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.” 41When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. 42Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.   GREGG It turns out James and John, the Sons of Zebedee, have massive… cojones. But in the end their reward is understood to be martyrdom–perhaps not what they had in mind, they certainly seem to have had more of an earthly kingdom in mind.   In any event, here we have more of the “first will be last” motif popping up, and Scriptural background for why the Pope is considered, at least in theory, the “Servant of the Servants of God”.   Mark 10 finishes up with the healing of the blind Bartimaeus, so it's on to Mark 11, with Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem:   MARK 11:1-11 1As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.'” 4They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5some people standing there asked, "What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 7When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 8Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. 9Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, "Hosanna!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 10"Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!" "Hosanna in the highest heaven!” 11Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple courts. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.   GREGG We'll talk more about Palm Sunday in the future, for now just know that this scene is the basis for that. It's also a sign that Jesus is approaching the end of His earthly ministry, though we've still got another couple chapters for today after we finish this one.   We'll skip verses 12-14 as that's the cursing of the fig tree we covered under miracles--and that's right, it's a non-healing miracle. At least His target is a tree and not a human as happens in some of the apocrypha.   Which brings us to Mark's version of the scene with the moneychangers in the Temple:   MARK 11:15-18 15On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written: 'My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'” 18The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. 19When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.   GREGG Mark's somewhat abbreviated account leaves off Him making a whip, which is a loss, but hey, the core is there. As a reminder, and yes, I'll say this every time, just remember when someone asks “what would Jesus do” that flipping tables is absolutely a valid option.   Then, we're back to the fig tree, seeing the result of the curse on the way out, and this is extra special because this is actually an extended Mark only reflection. Including another King James specific verse that the NIV leaves off. Let's hear it!   MARK 11:20-26 20In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” 22"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23"Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." [NIV omits but KJV has] 26But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.]   GREGG Of course, when I said “Mark exclusive”, that may have been a bit of an oversell, because while the now-proverbial “faith to move mountains” doesn't appear in Matthew's fig tree discourse, it does line up closely to another section, Matthew 17:20, several chapters before Matthew's fig tree. As for the rest, the sentiment is overall familiar, but worth repeating so I'll say it again:   MARK 11:25-26 if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins." [NIV omits but KJV has] 26But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.]   GREGG Next up we've got an attempted trap that Jesus turns around, Bugs Bunny style.   MARK 11:27-33 27They arrived again in Jerusalem, and while Jesus was walking in the temple courts, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders came to him. 28"By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. "And who gave you authority to do this?” 29Jesus replied, "I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 30John's baptism--was it from heaven, or of human origin? Tell me!” 31They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?' 32But if we say, 'Of human origin' . . . " (They feared the people, for everyone held that John really was a prophet.) 33So they answered Jesus, "We don't know." Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."   GREGG Mark 12 opens with the Parable of the Tenant Farmers, which I personally prefer to call the Parable of the Bad Tenants since I think just calling them farmers ignores the amount of murdering they do in the parable. But anyways, we're not covering it here, ‘cause parable. So on to Verse 13:   MARK 12:13-17 13Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. 14They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? 15Should we pay or shouldn't we?" But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. "Why are you trying to trap me?" he asked. "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” 16They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose image is this? And whose inscription?" "Caesar's," they replied. 17Then Jesus said to them, "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's." And they were amazed at him.   GREGG This tax exchange, which we saw in Matthew and we'll see again in Luke (SYNOPTIC ROUNDUP AIRHORN?) is intended to be a sort of sting operation, with the expected result being Jesus objecting to the tax and therefore being guilty of rebellion against the Roman government. But I don't think Jesus even needed to tap into His omniscience here, they were acting pretty suspicious with the leading flattery and line of questioning. Plus, what does God ultimately need money for?   In the end, of course, everything we have ultimately comes from God, so while I mentioned it with Matthew it's worth mentioning again now- when we give Caesar what is Caesar's and God what is God's, God gets everything.   Next up we've got Jesus fielding yet another insincere question from religious authorities, this time from the Sadducees:   MARK 12:18-27 18Then the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. 19"Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 20Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died without leaving any children. 21The second one married the widow, but he also died, leaving no child. It was the same with the third. 22In fact, none of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died too. 23At the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?” 24Jesus replied, "Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God? 25When the dead rise, they will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. 26Now about the dead rising--have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? 27He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”   GREGG That last bit– “You are badly mistaken!” is a Marcan flourish that helps emphasize Mark's generally less Pharisee-slash-Sadducee–friendly stance, underlining the intensity of Jesus' disagreement with them.   The next section is the part about The Greatest Commandment which we used to open the Sayings of the Savior, so check out 0.21a for that. Then we have a theological question apparently designed to further undermine the Credibility of the Teachers of the Law. This time around, it's Jesus who picks the fight,   MARK 12:35-40 35While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he asked, "Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David? 36David himself, speaking by the Holy Spirit, declared: "'The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet."' 37David himself calls him 'Lord.' How then can he be his son?" The large crowd listened to him with delight. 38As he taught, Jesus said, "Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in flowing robes and be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets. 40They devour widows' houses and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will be punished most severely.”   GREGG “The large crowd listened to him with delight”, we're told, as Jesus excoriated the religious establishment of His day. Sounds like a political rally almost. No wonder He was condemned as a revolutionary.   The last scene in Mark 12 is one we haven't seen before- it's one of the few passages in Mark not paralleled in Matthew- and it's one of my favorites:   MARK12:41-44 41Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. 43Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything--all she had to live on.”   GREGG This scene is generally called the Widow's Mite, not because “mite” was the term for small copper coins in ancient Judea–though they would retroactively be called mites–and not because the mite was the term for small copper coins in 17th century England where the King James Bible was produced, though they would pick up that name, but rather because the King James translation used a Dutch term for some small denomination coins that had originally been picked up for Biblical use by William Tyndale.   For once, I'll spare you a deeper rabbit hole, and move on from the names of coins to the lesson of the coins.   I mentioned before this passage is one of my favorites. While I appreciate the challenge behind Jesus' admonition to be perfect that we saw in Matthew, here we see that if all you have isn't much, God still sees the effort and meaningful sacrifice. There's something comforting in that for extremely inadequate folks like myself.   On the other hand, there's the lesson that giving out of your abundance may be mathematically and physically helpful but it's not spiritually significant. It's the right thing to do, of course, but an even better thing than giving your excess is to give beyond just your excess.   “But I need the rest”, you might argue. And it's certainly true, you may well have just reasons for keeping some aside. It would be irresponsible of me to sell all my worldly possessions and go live in a cave, as even if my wife signed onto it we've got kids too young to voluntarily renounce the world, it's our responsibility to care for them.   So, where's the line? When do we go from taking care of our responsibilities at home to hoarding?   Well, if you have any money, you should be giving. It doesn't have to be all you have, especially if you've got responsibilities to those in your household, but it should absolutely be more than nothing, and everything is best.   Ultimately Christians are not to see money as theirs to use how they see fit, as something they've earned. That simply isn't a Christian mentality. Money is a means by which you can help others–those you have primary responsibility for first, like your children, and those in need should be prioritized urgently as well. The Church speaks of the “preferential option for the poor”.   I'm not saying you need to become a shell of a human, doing nothing for yourself and allowing your own mental and physical health to collapse- though certainly some saints lives point in that direction. But putting yourself first is something that needs to be balanced against your ability to be a blessing to those around you.   This isn't the last time I'll bring up this sort of thing by any means, and it looks like I avoided one tangent only to go into another, so let's get back to Mark, now in Chapter 13, which opens with a prophesy of the destruction of the Temple, then flows into a description of the End Times– keep in mind from the Christian perspective time has not only a beginning but an end–that parallels Matthew.   It's understandable to want to read this as being written after the actual historical destruction of the Temple in 70AD, but as I argued in my chat with Garry Stevens last June, it's not like it was hard to see such a calamity coming during Jesus' life, Rome was already in control of a rebellious Judea with the Temple as a potential center of nationalist resistance. And that's of course if you discount the possibility of actual prophecy, which, remember, we're making our Pope-colored glasses, so Jesus actually prophesying Is the most straightforward explanation. Either way, a post 70AD dating for Mark is really pushing the outward edge of scholarly dating for the work, keeping in mind scholars tend to argue it's the oldest of the Gospels.   Without further ado, here's a long quote, going from Mark 13:1 to 27.   MARK 13 1As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!” 2"Do you see a

Trae Watch: 10:26The follow-up: 46:08Gaming News: 1:15:05Cade: The Tortured Crossing: 1:30:19The Saturn Studs Podcast is a banter driven wild ride through the nerd culture entertainment landscape. Each week your hosts Kurt, Peter, and Jake engage in entertaining discussions about the latest trailers, box office winners and losers, the latest happenings in the world of video games, and whatever off-topic nonsense pops into their heads Support the show by donating: https://app.redcircle.com/shows/902676cb-9b03-4021-9042-cf79635436f9/donations. Visit Saturnstuds.com for links to all of your Saturn Studs side projects,social media, and more. Join the Saturn Studs discord server at https://discord.gg/kgdnhJd. Follow @StudsSaturn on twitter or visit facebook.com/saturnstuds to stay up to date on the latest news episode releases and audio highlights from each show.

Send us a Text Message.CLICK HERE for the episode guide to help you connect with Scripture through this song.Life can throw us curve balls that threaten to derail us. In fact, if we aren't rooted in Christ, we may even fall into despair. Katy Nichole and Naomi Raine sing about everything our God can do, even when we cannot. Their song "Our God Can" gives us a distinct area of Scripture to explore. Once we get there, you may discover even more than you imagined.When I settled into Paul's letter to the Philippians, I gained wisdom I can't wait to share with you.In this episode, I discuss the following:Taking a B.I.T.E. out of Scripture – this week's Bible Interaction Tool Exercises include: Read in contextHistorical contextConsult a mapRepetitionRemember, the people in the Bible were realFollow the cross-referencesListen to an audio version of the textEpisode GuideExploring the historical background of the Philippian churchReading about the founding of the Philippian church in Acts 16How Paul directly addresses some of the cultural influences of nationalism - Philippians 3:20Reading the text for what it actually says but backing up to see the bigger themesReading fast, reading slow, and then picking apart every word (like Fanny in Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park")Paul's circumstance did not match his desire - Philippians 1:3-8Paul's circumstance did not stop God from using him - Philippians 1:12-13Sometimes people are just plain mean - Philippians 1:14-18Paul lived in the tension of his complete devotion to Christ and his complete devotion to those Christ gave him to nurture - Philippians 1:19-26The actual context of a verse often taken OUT of context in Philippians 4Additional ResourcesLyrics - NewReleaseToday.comThe story behind the song "My God Can" by Katy Nichole - New Release Today Article by Kevin DavisMy favorite Bible Study Software - Logos Bible Software Affiliate LinkThis Week's ChallengeRead and re-read Paul's letter to the Philippians. This time, when you read it, consider Paul and his circumstances. Get your bearings as to the history of the church here by reading Acts 16. The more you read about Paul's ministry in the book of Acts and his other letters, the more you understand his passions and how his current circumstances might affect him.  Ask yourself, how can I apply Paul's spiritual maturity to my own circumstances? Unlock the secret to your contentment in all circumstances by fixing your eyes on Jesus, as displayed in Philippians 2. Change your music. Change your life. Join my free 30-Day Music Challenge. CLICK HERE.

Episode 157:This week we're continuing with:The Worldview and Philosophical Methodology of Marxism-LeninismWritten for the Vietnamese curriculum and translated by Luna NguyenYou can purchase a copy and support translation of the further curriculum here:https://www.banyanhouse.org/product/ebook-the-worldview-and-philosophical-methodology-of-marxism-leninism[Part 1 - 5]Introduction to the Basic Principles of Marxism[Part 6 - 10]Part I: The Worldview and Philosophical Methodology of Marxism-LeninismChapter 1: Dialectical Materialism[Part 11 - 20]Chapter 2: Materialist Dialectics[Part 21]Chapter 3: Cognitive Theory of Dialectical Materialism[Part 22 - This Week]Chapter 3: Cognitive Theory of Dialectical Materialism 1. Praxis, Consciousness, and the Role of Praxis in Consciousness c. The Relationship Between Praxis and Consciousness - 0:18Annotation 221: 0:55 - 1:45Annotation 222: 6:22 - 8:52Annotation 223: 9:03 - 10:07 2. Dialectical Path of Consciousness to Truth - 10:42 a. Opinions of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin about the Dialectical Path of Consciousness to Truth - 10:47Annotation 224: 10:53 - 11:18Annotation 225: 12:05 - 14:23Annotation 226: 14:49 - 15:41Annotation 227: 18:37 - 20:40Annotation 228: 23:28 - 27:06Annotation 229: 28:00 - 28:53Annotation 230: 29:38 - 31:12Annotation 231: 32:24 - 35:08[Part 23]Chapter 3: Cognitive Theory of Dialectical MaterialismFigures:Figure 1 - 15:26The cognitive process is a continuous cycle which describes the dialectical development of consciousness and practical activity.Figure 2 - 18:46Figure 3 - 23:45Figure 4 - 29:42The dialectical relationship between consciousness and practical activities means that conscious activities develop practical activities, and vice versa, in a continuous feedback loop. Figure 5 - 30:39The dialectical relationship between consciousness and practical activity is what drives the development of humanity. We imagine better ways of doing things, then test those ideas against reality through practical activity. Footnotes1) 5:10Theses On Feuerbach, Karl Marx, 1845.2) 5:35Materialism and Empirio-Criticism, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, 1908.

Effective bureaucracies are pivotal in mobilizing resources, implementing development projects, and ensuring equitable distribution of growth benefits across all societal segments. Conversely, weak administrative systems often result in inefficiency, corruption, and the derailment of vital development efforts aimed at improving health, education, and economic opportunities. The significance of administrative capacity extends beyond immediate program implementation. Strong administrative systems ensure that the achievements of development policies are maintained over time, adapting to new challenges like technological changes, demographic shifts, and environmental sustainability. This adaptability is essential for long-term development outcomes, making the strengthening of bureaucratic institutions a fundamental aspect of enhancing overall state capacity.Sameen A. Mohsin Ali is an Assistant Professor of International Development at the University of Birmingham. She works in the fields of comparative politics, development studies, and political economy, with a specialisation in the bureaucratic politics of Pakistan. @sameen_mohsinResourcesCitizen trust, administrative capacity and administrative burden in Pakistan's immunization program (open access)Networks of effectiveness? The impact of politicization on bureaucratic performance in Pakistan (author's accepted manuscript)Pakistan election: the military has long meddled in the country's politics – this year will be no different, The Conversation UKOral History, Collaboration and Research on Women Public Sector Workers in Pakistan, with Sana Haroon, MHRC blogBureaucratic Reform, Discourse, Pakistan Institute of Development EconomicsThe good, the bad and the ugly in Punjab's new local government laws. Herald, 5 July, 2019.Good sifarish, bad sifarish: A look at PML-N's selective anti-corruption drive. DAWN 19 April, 2018.Pakistan: COVID-19, federalism and the first wave response. (open access)Key highlightsIntroduction – 00:24State capacity and administrative capacity – 03:26The role of patronage politics – 09:03Civil servant strategies to tackle political interference – 16:49Socialization strategies, motivation, and demotivation – 25:09Networks of effectiveness – 32:14Trust between citizens and the state – 45:16  HostProfessor Dan Banik (@danbanik @GlobalDevPod)Apple Spotify YouTube Subscribe:https://in-pursuit-of-development.simplecast.comhttps://globaldevpod.substack.com/

With “cautious optimism” the prevailing sentiment for the start 2024, the Mergermarket private equity (PE) reporting team takes stock of our 1Q 2024 European private equity data, providing insights into how this year could shape up for deal activity, exits and fundraising.2024 started off more strongly than 2023 in terms of private equity activity, with deal count up by 21% and disclosed deal volume more than doubling versus Q1 2023. Activity has dropped since Q4 2023, however, with deal count down by 6% and disclosed deal volume by 72%.Although a number of successful exits were announced in the past quarter, PE firms made 13% fewer exits in Q1 2024 versus Q1 2023, marking the worst quarter for exits since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.This episode begins with an overview of Mergermarket PE buyout, exit and fundraising data, highlighting the top sectors and geographies.With the PE industry is preparing for an uptick in activity over the course of the coming year, the Mergermarket team explores the current macro picture, deals to watch out for this year, and changes to deal structuring that GPs are pursuing to get deals done, including minority stake sales and equity syndication.Data overview: PE deal activity, exits and fundraising – 0:42The macro picture and the road ahead – 4:26The outlook for PE exits – 7:54Processes to look out for – 10:10The rise of deal-by-deal fundraising – 11:44Changes to deal structuring – 14:26Going back to exits – 17:00You can listen to the podcast on your favourite podcasting platforms, including Spotify and Apple Podcasts.If you would like to hear more podcasts produced by ION Analytics, you can access the ION Analytics channel on Apple Podcasts.Theme music: ©2012 Kick Up The Fire

In this previous episode, Karen Kelly and Chris Orlob former Head of Sales Gong, current CEO of PClub.io discuss best practices in demos. Chris emphasizes the importance of mapping demos to the customer's pain points and solving their specific problems.  Chris introduces his "FAVORITE" framework for demoing a single capability successfully, which includes Frame the pain, Ask a Question, Visualize the outcome, Orient them to the screen, Reveal workflow, Implant the Value, Tell a story and Elicite a response . The Purpose of a Sales Demo 7:37The purpose of a sales demo is to catalyze a decision, not just to inform or educate. The demo should serve the customer in making the next decision in the sales cycle.Solving the Customer's Problem 8:26The subgoal of a demo is to solve the customer's problem, as this helps them make a decision. The mistake of not mapping features to tangible pain points 9:45Chris discusses the common mistake of showcasing features that don't solve a problem, and the importance of aligning what you show with the pain points shared by the customer.The importance of understanding the buyer's journey and making micro decisions 11:21Karen and Chris talk about the significance of understanding the buyer's journey and making smaller decisions along the way, rather than trying to close the deal in one call.Differentiating between problems and solutions 17:01Chris emphasizes the need to differentiate between problems and solutions, and how reps often mistake solutions like visibility and coaching for actual problems. The Importance of Asking Specific Questions 19:31Exploration of the missed opportunity in demos when vague terms like "better" are used instead of asking specific questions.The Order of Operations in Demo Presentations 20:09Insights on the importance of strategically selecting the order in which different stakeholders are engaged in a demo presentation.The importance of framing the conversation 28:14Chris discusses the importance of framing the conversation in a way that sparks curiosity and leads to a one-on-one meeting to further discuss the buyer's unique problem.The lack of sales education 29:31Chris explains that the lack of education and guidance from sales leaders is a major reason why reps don't ask the right questions or engage effectively in demos.Asking effective questions during demos 33:08Chris emphasizes the need for reps to ask strategic and thought-provoking questions during demos to drive engagement and create a contrast between the buyer's current state and the potential solution.The first phase of a demo 37:14Chris discusses the first phase of a demo, which includes a meet and greet and reviewing the perspectives of people not yet spoken to.The favorite structure framework 38:20Chris introduces the favorite structure framework for demoing a single capability, which includes steps like framing the pain, asking questions, visualizing the outcome, and revealing the workflow.The importance of a great sales experience 45:10Chris and Karen discuss how the sales experience foreshadows the customer experience, and how a poor sales experience can lead to a loss of confidence and potential customers not sticking around.The Mistake of Not Using Storytelling in Demos For more content like this, join hundreds of other subscribers to The K2 Sales Academy. Our subscription based on line sales training platform. $495/year unlocks the Fundamentals of Sales program with built in knowledge checks, resource folder with scripts, templates and checklists as well as regular webinars. 1:1 and group coaching packages available as well. To access our free one week Trial visit The K2 Sales Academy

In this episode of Navigating Major Programmes, Riccardo Cosentino sits down with Oomar Paurobally, a fellow Oxford alumnus and leader in hospitality megaprojects in South East Asia and Korea, to discuss his dissertation and his unique perspective on the Iron Triangle. The pair cover everything from stakeholder management and the universal complexity of major programmes to the interesting outcomes that can arise from a megaproject's royal flush. “What we found is that the more you look at an aggregate level, when you're looking at an aggregated industry level, you find that the root causes tend to be the same. So, the same root causes we learned during our programme as areas affecting major infrastructure projects were the same that were impacting our industry, which were stakeholder management processes, product management skills in itself across portfolios; the root causes were similar. But what was really interesting insight was, so what? Now what? So we know, that's a core issue. But what does it really mean to us?” – Oomar Paurobally  After a degree in law, Oomar went to Dubai with a major project constructing a multi-billion dollar resort and waterpark. He has opened hotels, resorts and restaurants across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Now, he has pivoted his career into real estate in the tech industry.  Key Takeaways:Is the hospitality industry immune to the iron law of major programmes?  The similarity of Iron Triangle root causes in civil infrastructure major programmes and luxury commercial megaprojects: Infrastructure stakeholder management and leadership management  Delays as strategy in private sector of hospitality major programmes; the sharp contrast from civil major programmes  Oomar's dissertation research methodology; the successes and failures of thematic analysis and quantitative survey researchThe importance of pivoting to manage research bias  The royal flush in hospitality megaprojects and the interesting outcomes they can bring  If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. The conversation doesn't stop here—connect and converse with our LinkedIn community: Follow Navigating Major Programmes on LinkedInFollow Riccardo Cosentino on LinkedInFollow Oomar Paurobally on LinkedInRead Riccardo's latest at wwww.riccardocosentino.com Transcript:Riccardo Cosentino  00:05You're listening to Navigating Major Programmes, a podcast that aims to elevate the conversations happening in the infrastructure industry and inspire you to have a more efficient approach within it. I'm your host, Riccardo Cosentino. I bring over 20 years of Major Programme Management experience. Most recently, I graduated from Oxford University Saïd Business School, which shook my belief when it comes to navigating major programmes. Now it's time to shake yours. Join me in each episode as I press the industry experts about the complexity of Major Programme Management, emerging digital trends and the critical leadership required to approach these multibillion-dollar projects. Let's see where the conversation takes us. Riccardo Cosentino  00:51Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Navigating Major Programmes. We're here today with Oomar Paurobally. How are you doing, Oomar? Oomar Paurobally  01:02I'm doing great Riccardo, it's great to be here. Riccardo Cosentino  01:04Thank you for joining me today. Really, really excited to have you on. I believe today you are calling from Singapore. Am I correct? Oomar Paurobally  01:13That's right. Beautiful island of Singapore. Riccardo Cosentino  01:15There you go. And I'm in Toronto so I think we are covering most of the time zone around the globe today. We're here today to talk about, I mean, you attended the Master in Major Program Management with me, we were in the same cohort. And today I invited you to the podcast to talk about your research, your dissertation. But maybe before we do that, that you might introduce yourself a little bit. Tell us a little bit about your background and what did you do before Oxford, what are you doing now, and things like that. Oomar Paurobally  01:46Thank you so much, Riccardo. Well, pleasure to be on the podcast and invest. Here I'm standing on shoulders of giants who came before me and we're on the fourth podcast. So if you ask myself, I actually did not start in life thinking I was going into major programmes. I read law and management in my very first degree. But I was tapped on the shoulder for a very interesting project, my first major programme in Dubai, which was to join the project management team building the Atlantis in Dubai. So that was approximately 15 years ago now. And that's how I joined this world in this realm. After that. I've been plodding along in the world of construction, building hotels and resorts across Asia, Middle East and Africa. The programme was a seminal point in my life and my career because I did pivot into a different industry, into the technology industry, right after looking still looking after spaces, but in a very different way. Riccardo Cosentino  02:42Very interesting, your background is very different from mine, I mean, you do construction, but you did a different type of construction. So I was very intrigued by your dissertation because it looks a case study that is very different from what I used to know. What I found from the dissertation for your research even though the case study is a different day, the issues are similar because upon the the level of complexity of the problems that you were looking at, is as high as any other major programmes that I looked at. So that was why I was interested in that, I was very keen to have you on because when we think of major programmes, in my circle, we always think of the major civil project is very complex and like well, tunneling, big dams and power plants. But you'll be looking at major programme from a different perspective. And so I was very, very keen to have a different perspective on the podcast. Oomar Paurobally  03:38Thank you so much, Riccardo. I guess first, let me start by saying obviously, the views I'll be sharing today are mine and mine alone and do not reflect any of the views and perspectives of my previous or current employers. So now that that's out of the way, let's talk about perspective. So it's very interesting, actually, I joined the programme itself, I was asking myself that question, major programme is programmes that are currently focused on major infrastructure projects (inaudible) start, whereas I was coming from a commercial lens at this project philosophy commercializing it from day one. And the added element to this was the complexity of the programmes I was managing was due to scale. So they had already scaled. So, if you looked at each individual project I was working on, they would not make up a programme. They would fall very clearly within the realms of what we define as project management, that when you start multiplying, and you start building in different countries with different stakeholders, at the same time, then the complexities became the same complexities you would face at a major programme level. So for me, that's where the similarities were, as we started engaging into the programme. Riccardo Cosentino  05:00And maybe we can have a bit of a debate as I've had this debate in the past with other people. So obviously, you're saying one building is probably not a major project but when you are combining a portfolio of building projects, then that's when it becomes a major programme. So a portfolio does reach a level of complexity that brings something to the level of major programme with some (inaudible). And I don't like I never like to measure major programmes by the size, you know, either financial size or like, even one bedroom size. I always look at, it's a major programme when the complexity is high. And so I think when you have a portfolio, by their nature becomes very complex because you're now dealing with multiple stakeholdesr, multiple jurisdictions. So yeah, I, you know, to me, and I would like to get your view, is like, is it appropriate to define major programme by the level of complexity or should we have a discussion about the financial size? Well, what would be your experience during your research? Oomar Paurobally  06:08Well, I think just financial size of your portfolio matters, because it will determine the level of interest that there is from different stakeholders on managing a portfolio of let's say, you have 50 assets, but which are worth 10 million versus 20 assets that are worth $100 million each, it's very different. So I think the financial element plays a part, plays a role because the bigger the financial elements that you're working with, the higher the level of pressure. In my context, and it is about assets that are owned, mostly by conglomerates or high-net-worth individuals. So the pressure to perform can can be quite different, versus assets that are owned, or heavily subsidized by banks, for example, where timing becomes very important and staying within limits of initial plan execution. It's more critical. Riccardo Cosentino  07:11Interesting. Okay, switching gears a little bit, shall we talk about your dissertation? Well, what was your word? What was your area of research? What did you research when you were at Oxford? Oomar Paurobally  07:21I was looking in the hospitality industry and whether the iron law of major programme was also relevant there, which is, you know, programmes are delayed and produce under benefits over and over again. Across the industry and across different brands, we found that to be true and that as an industry, it was not immune to the iron law of major programmes. Riccardo Cosentino  07:49And did you find that, you know, I think we all are aware, people who listen to the podcast are aware (inaudible) of what is analysis of the root causes of the iron triangle? Did you find that it's very similar root causes of your currents of the iron triangle or you've done with different root causes in your industry? Oomar Paurobally  08:16Oh, that's a really interesting question, Riccardo, because what we found is that the more you look at an aggregate level, when you're looking at an aggregated industry level, you find that the root causes tend to be the same. So the same root causes we learned during our programme as areas affecting major infrastructure projects were the same that were impacting our industry, which is your stakeholder management processes. You're talking about project management skills in itself across portfolios. The root causes were similar but what was really interesting insight was, so what? Now what? So we know that's a core issue. But what does it really mean to us? And the answer, and what added to the complexity or the beauty of portfolios is it really depends. It depends on the organization you're working with. What are the different stakeholders we're working with? And for some organizations, being delayed was a good strategy. Well, it was a strategic decision to do so because unlike infrastructure projects, where you're using, again, Epic Funds to build something and you have an imperative all the time of making sure that every dollar counts when you're going into the private sector, there might be an erosion framework, and yet, you might have invested a bit too early, but it makes more sense for conglomerate to wait, better headwinds, better travel industry patterns. COVID was a fantastic example of that. It might have been the middle of construction, while opening you better wait buddy. Let that thing pass before you can even (inaudible) means having to keep certain fixed expenses. Riccardo Cosentino  10:02That's very, yeah, for sure. That's not something that we see in my project, you know, we build, like, right, like rapid transit system that you can never open there soon enough also, because the idea is these projects, these mega projects in the public realm, and I know I'm not subjected to the economic ups and downs, right? I mean, and then they're typically long overdue. Yeah. So I can see, I can see how the government capital plays a part in the strategic decision of the major programmes that you look at. What are the interesting findings? And finally, the deal, I mean, you always see, maybe you want to talk a little bit about your methodology for the research is something that we always talk about, but you know, Oxford has a very rigorous research methods. And we as a Master's student, we are asked to form a very, very specific research guidelines. So do you want to maybe talk a little bit about your process? Oomar Paurobally  11:02Sure, I guess, rigorous is a bit of an understatement. It was like it was very interesting. I took an approach over here because I was looking at an industry in general, of doing a whole literature review first. And then I went into interviews. The reason I started with a literature review approach, which is, you know, scour the web and websites like Web of Science, Scopus, where we really have, you know, the majority of academic articles are listed. It is really scour websites to find out how much information, how much literature had been written on these aspects of major programming. But the performance of major programmes in the hospitality industry there wasn't a lot I mean, when individual it's a lot, it's a lot to go through, I went to thousand plus abstracts to be read and filtered down to get to the core articles that we wanted to analyze where the approach was a literature review approach to really understand what was the status of knowledge with regards to major programmes in that industry. What was interesting is that 5000 as a number can sound like a lot, it is not when you look at it in other industries, you're talking about hundreds of thousands. So the first insight was it was an interesting dissertation because not a lot was written on the subject. And when you look at the conclusion of 90 odd articles in the selected foreword station and to really analyze it was a handful of offers. So there, the interest, the academic interest in the industry was not very high, which for me was really interesting because it really open up more opportunities for study. Riccardo Cosentino  13:09So you went for a qualitative versus quantitative research so you qualitatively assessed the issue, rather than quantitatively which means you basically interview, how did you select your participants in the research and you know, how big was the pool? Oomar Paurobally  13:26The pool was leaders in the sector, across major hotel organizations in Southeast Asia. (Inaudible) basic geographic delineation around the dissertation, which is it studies the industry from an Asian perspective, which is also where most hurdles have been built in recent years. Riccardo Cosentino  13:54Okay, so you interview your participant, you gather the data? And then what do you, and then I'm assuming you analyze the data using a specific model that you probably had built? Sorry, I'm going for this because I, I just realized that I'm not over, you know, I invite a lot of guests and we talk about their dissertation and give it, I always assume that people know what the process of a dissertation and I realize that they don't So, I'm not, I'm putting you for this just to give a sense of why it's important to have guests like you on the podcast to talk about your research and to actually explain the rigor and what we do. So yeah, but I was asking you, you know, once you have all the data, you actually you know, I think we all do it, we actually create a model to analyze and assess the data, right? Oomar Paurobally  14:46Correct. And the methodology I used was a methodology from have Mahler and key platinum book, which explains the different methodologies available when doing interviews and more specifically when writing dissertations. And the approach I took was a thematic approach, meaning you would run the interview and you would give full, obviously, full freedom, full length for the interviewees to give their point of view. But after the fact, you will look at how many times a fear would come up during the conversation without being prompted. Right. So he got really hard because you really don't want to influence the interviewee to keep on one subject, but you would let it naturally flow during the conversation. And what would happen is after a little while up to two or three questions, and as we go into our root causes, of performance or underperformance, each stakeholder start developing a fear as to why they shake (inaudible) I will then note the number of times that fear is coming up. So I would do that for all the interviewees. And at the end of the interview, I would highly tally shall be able to look at how many times project management skills or lack of knowledge of project management skills was coming up, the number of times stakeholder management was coming up. And that was the approach and the tricky part of the approach is, there's an inherent bias when you're selecting interviewees, because the higher up the corporate ladder you're going, the more the leaders would be guarding up stakeholder management, because that's where a bigger portion of their time is spent. While you're going to get the teams and within the teams then project management skills is really coming up soon. You're going to manage those different biases and try to find finely balance the interviewees you're looking for in the first place to make sure that the data doesn't go in one direction versus the other purely because of the set of interviewees that are on the pool. Riccardo Cosentino  17:05Thank you for explaining that. Because I think it's yeah, I think it's interesting and worth mentioning, as you said, these are experienced individuals, experienced participant, people who are, been working in the industry for a long time. So their views are very, very valid. And looking at patterns and models view of practitioners who have similar experiences, is what the research is about. And I found that a very, very interesting process because you do get a cross section of the industry or you do get a cross section of what's happening. So you talked about biases. And so did you try to balance off some of the biases by the type of participants? So you mentioned you had experienced project manager? Did you also try to balance so we'd, like, less experienced project manager to see if the (inaudible) a different views? Oomar Paurobally  18:02That's correct. You know, sometimes we talk about the things that work. But let me share something that did not work. My first approach was not an interviewing approach. My first approach was a survey approach. And it feels to be reserved, because I hadn't read the room correctly. You know, for context, while I was writing the dissertation, we were coming out of COVID years, and COVID had had a tremendous impact on, you see, with hospitality industry. So you can imagine how it would feel when you receive a survey telling you about, you know, what project is going wrong, the type of answers you would get shared good quality bias or influence, but there was certainly COVID looming behind the surveys, and I was trying to go for quantity and pushed it out to as many folks as possible are creating a wide region, the data that came in was just unworkable, because, you know, you get to read the room correctly for the balance correctly. So I had to pivot on the approach to get a better quality of data and to be able to get stock hurdles. So when you talk about biases, it was easier during an interview, to have a different conversation of COVID. But also, let's get COVID aside, you have X years of experience in the industry. Let's talk about those and what they taught you. It also covered of course, but you know, let's talk about your overall experience. So one way to reduce the bias was when looking at length of experience within various industries. So if somebody had joined the industry right before COVID or during COVID, I would not be interviewing them because of experience without being bothered by that (inaudible). Riccardo Cosentino  19:47Thank you for clarifying and thank you for your vulnerability. You're telling us that went down the wrong path that led to, but that's part of the research, right? That's exactly part of the research. It's you know, you try things and you try something different and the ending worked. Okay, so you did the literature review, you select your participant, you tailored questionnaire, you interview the participant, you gather the data, you analyze the data. And then I'm assuming you roleplay the discussion and then a conclusion. And maybe you can walk us through if you can on what were the main themes of your of your recent work. What came out as the main themes from interviewing a participant then what conclusions did you draw from the data that you collected. Oomar Paurobally  20:35Sure. The first elements, I guess, in a nutshell, we're very similar again to the infrastructure programs before project management came up, stakeholder management, lack or lack of stakeholder management came out. Those were the first set of answers that were coming out from the interviews, we hadn't gone to the level and we talked about biases a bit earlier, we hadn't gone to a level of, of bias yet, which I purposely bought into a question in the interviews to say, well, is poor project management a symptom? Is lack of stakeholder management a symptom of the bigger issue of the bias? And for me, this is where it became interesting, because when we looked, not only was the symptom similar, the biases are similar, I believe that's at major programme, so it's, it was an insight, which was interesting for me because there was also what when it came to the bias, first if we talk about biased strategic misrepresentation, right, so they could happen on many different levels, they could happen on the stakeholder level, not necessarily from the leaders of the programme, strategically misrepresenting this amount of time is going to build and get commitment to build. But there was a very (inaudible). So what? We knew that. You simply look at the past to know that it's going to take time and we see something we can live with. So what was interesting is our conversation of how much can, how much of the performance can we leave with before we decide to call it quits? So that was an interesting conversation, which I didn't find when talking to fellow colleagues or looking at the infrastructure. There are some fact in there. And so yeah, we know plus minus six months, that you plus two years, nobody's doing that. Versus in the commercial world yeah, it's two years, no problem as long as the conglomerate is still healthy and still working very well and the economy is right and ripe for the picking when you open. So I think that was interesting and that was different from infrastructure programmes. So, yeah, there is this strategic misrepresentation. Riccardo Cosentino  23:08So I think we touched upon why it's different, at the beginning you mentioned that there are, because I think it's important to dwell on the thought that yeah, when you delivered public infrastructure, it was always long overdue when the confession starts, because you know, thing takes a long time to get this project approved. And so the need for the infrastructure is already there, even before it gets built. And so then, therefore, a delay, all it creates is even more, you're already late when you start because you probably should have built that transit system 20 years ago, and so the further delays are not going to be acceptable. But in my field, we call that revenue transactions, where the asset is actually going to generate monetary revenues on the back end. And it could be yeah, I mean, there could be other reasons why a project, it could be delayed, or it's acceptable for a project to be delayed, because there are revenue consideration and cost consideration on the back end, something that doesn't really exist when you're building a public transit. I mean, it should exist, because ultimately, these are assets that generate benefits for the community. So your financial benefit should always be taken into consideration, but because the reason that exchange of money from the user or not a commensurate exchanging money for the user, that aspect, is that forgotten. And so sometimes being able to trade off delays with revenues or considering other reasons, it could be advantageous, but really, and we don't see that in the public realm. Oomar Paurobally  24:51Correct. I think the second element to your question of the findings were first, the first finding was a reaction of, sure what? Right? Set it to a bar set. So we've got it, it's an economic reality, which we live with. And because we were running a P&L, we manage a P&L, and as long as we're doing well, it's okay, let's live with it and move forward. So we don't dwell on it. But the second limit, which was not immediately coming across, but you would see, as we, you know, I was reading for the interviews was a collection of organizational inertia. So, for the inertia of a or I call it a (inaudible) company, that's managing the portfolio can slow down to a portfolio of projects itself. So if you're looking at a project, by definition, it's, it has a, an end date, it gets delayed, but there's an end date. If your teams are very nimble or if they're working like little organizations themselves. What's different in the hospitality industry is you, you have big organizations behind them. And what we saw is that to that nimbleness, sometimes we get lost at an individual project level, because you need to wait for the bigger organization for decision making. So organizational inertia, of bigger organization impacting individual project was also something that came up, which wouldn't exist in infrastructure programs, because we have one organization and designed for that speed and pace. Riccardo Cosentino  26:37Interesting, interesting. And so in your research in your conclusion, the way you're able to look at, okay, you look at so what and where you will also be able to look at now what? So what is supposed the solution or that was beyond the scope of research? Oomar Paurobally  26:57Yeah, look, we started to look at opportunities, right? I think I'll start with organization inertia first. I wonder who said that there was a code, that snow melts at the periphery. I won't be quoting him wrong, but it was Andy Grove of Microsoft, talking about this. And his point was that organizations can get too big before snow melts at the center and the center knows about it, it already melted everywhere else. And it sure felt that way. When I was studying the industry for a nation that where COVID had a major impact was redefining the industry. But it was also creating opportunities within the industry. So for example, Foodie Kiwi business was never hired while during COVID. And organizations that were nimble were able to take advantage of it so the term Goose Kitchens became popular. They werew opening up all over the place. Delivery services became massive and even after COVID they're still around and having taken with food for delivery services is now a thing. So what this created was a reckoning in the world of hospitality around the business opportunity that existed in that food and beverage area versus what was traditionally a very rooms focused, focused business. So a recommendation was to keep an eye on the periphery and what offers businesses coming up to adapt. Otherwise, if you look up the hotel today, it seem very different when I (inaudible) in the 1960s as it wounds through reception, and there is a (inaudible) on the right hand side. So it did give a moment of reckoning for the industry, which was quite interesting. Riccardo Cosentino  29:11Thank you for that perspective. Yeah. Very, very interesting. Yeah, I think we all anecdotally understand that but to hear it from professional from the hotel industry is very interesting. Okay, I think we come in towards the end of the podcast. And I have one final question before I let you go. But before I get to the final question at any other particular discovery from your research or you think you have you presented all your findings or what was there something else in your research that you want to share with the audience? Oomar Paurobally  29:45So the (inaudible) was interesting from the research was the importance of the country in which you're operating. So we discussed a bit earlier about complexity will be coming from jurisdiction in which you're operate and when you look at this part of the world in specific, we tend to put acronyms to things we'll say this is Southeast Asia, there's tens of countries, and the laws are very, very different. So when you are operating across them, having those acronyms in mind and thinking, oh, it's just one project under that acronym, how hard can it be? I think you can never discount the jurisdiction element. And again, that's a point of difference in I think, big infrastructure projects. But we know the country in which it's happening, if it's something that's being built between the countries, we're also very specific about those two, whereas when it's the portfolio, and it's across different countries, and different stakeholders we have in those countries being able to navigate, those jurisdictions become very, very important skill. Riccardo Cosentino  30:55Thank you for sharing that. Yeah. Very interesting point. It's very peculiar to your industry. Also because you have an ongoing like with mega projects, either they get handed over to somebody else, but the operation politics is well entrenched into the business, right? So it's not just about the power, it's all of the facility. It's about running afterward. Okay, before I go, and hopefully you can you can answer these questions. I don't think this triggers any confidentiality. But I think you while we were in Oxford, you were telling us almost very specific commissioning process that the hotels, group of hotels, have to go through. Can you tell us what the royal flush is? Oomar Paurobally  31:44Well, one very, one very specific project that (inaudible) when you're you're commissioning a property, and you want to make sure all the mechanical and engineering systems and the pipings are working well. You test all the products and amenities in a room that includes turning on all your TVs, etc. And when it comes to the flush, it's about opening every faucet there is, from the bathtub to the shower to the water closet and picking and choosing the big button and flushing and doing it all at the same time to check your equipment. There have been some interesting outcomes of (inaudible). Riccardo Cosentino  32:32(Inaudible) as a civil engineer that as commissioned projects, you know, that part of the commissioning (inaudible), so thank you for sharing that. And now, on that line note, I want to thank you for joining me today. It was a fascinating conversation. Thank you for sharing with us your dissertation, your process, your findings, and I wish you all the best for your new endeavor. And thank you for joining me. Oomar Paurobally  32:55Thank you, Riccardo, always a pleasure. Riccardo Cosentino  32:59That's it for this episode of Navigating Major Programmes. I hope you found today's conversation as informative or provoking as I did. If you enjoyed this conversation, please consider subscribing and leaving a review. I would also like to personally invite you to continue the conversation by joining me on my personal LinkedIn at Riccardo Cosentino. Listening to the next episode, we will continue to explore the latest trends and challenges in major programme management. Our next in-depth conversation promises to continue to dive into topics such as leadership risk management and the impact of emerging technology in infrastructure. It's a conversation you're not going to want to miss. Thanks for listening to Navigating Major Programmes and I look forward to keeping the conversation going.  Transcribed by https://otter.ai Music: "A New Tomorrow" by Chordial Music. Licensed through PremiumBeat.DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the hosts and guests on this podcast do not necessarily represent or reflect the official policy, opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of Disenyo.co LLC and its employees.

Summary In this episode, Lou Rufrano joins Mike Nasti to discuss the fires that made him as a leader in the fire service. They talk about the roles and training of squads, the importance of empowering and trusting your team, and the need for honesty and consistency as a leader. They also discuss the significance of building rapport and trust with your team and handling mistakes and taking responsibility. Lou shares his experiences of his first fire as a firefighter and his first real fire as an officer. The conversation explores the thrill and pressure of being a firefighter, the reality checks and challenges faced on the job, and the importance of trust, communication, and honesty within a team. It also highlights the value of addressing problems and disappointment, as well as navigating unfamiliar situations as a leader. Overall, the conversation emphasizes the need for strong leadership, accountability, and continuous learning in the firefighting profession. This conversation explores the transition from being an aggressive firefighter to a more cautious officer. The guest shares his personal experience of realizing his physical limitations and adjusting his tactics accordingly. He discusses the importance of doing a 360 and the challenges of balancing aggression and caution as an officer. The conversation also touches on the impact of experience on decision-making and the importance of trust and teamwork in the fire service. The guest emphasizes the need for officers to be true to themselves and to prioritize the well-being of their crew. Chapters 00:00Introduction and Theme of the Episode 02:29Introduction to Squad Work 04:00Roles and Training of Squads 05:25Supporting Other Units as a Squad 06:25Empowering and Trusting Your Team 08:23Being Honest and Consistent as a Leader 11:43Building Rapport and Trust with Your Team 31:55Reflecting on Lessons Learned 32:57Lou's First Fire as a Firefighter 36:02Lou's First Real Fire Experience 39:00The Thrill of the Job 39:53Pressure as a New Firefighter 40:21Reality Check 42:48Fires That Bring You Back to Reality 43:30A Fire That Stuck Out 45:12The Strongest Test of Leadership 46:16The Importance of Trusting Your Team 48:59The Impact of Challenging Fires 53:47The Importance of Communication and Honesty 56:41Addressing Problems and Building Trust 01:01:56The Value of Calling People Out 01:07:45Handling Problems and Disappointment 01:12:02Navigating Unfamiliar Situations 01:14:25The Impact of Disappointment and Accountability 01:17:03Transitioning from being aggressive to being cautious 01:17:57The changing mindset of an officer 01:18:22The importance of doing a 360 01:19:20Balancing aggression and caution as an officer 01:20:20Gaining wisdom and seeing the big picture 01:21:08Understanding the role of the second due company 01:22:20Transitioning from being aggressive to gaining wisdom 01:23:20Recognizing physical limitations and adjusting tactics 01:24:22Knowing when it's time to retire 01:25:23Reflecting on the impact of experience on decision-making 01:26:18The importance of instinct and trust in the fire service 01:27:17Overcoming hesitation and anxiety as an officer 01:28:02The consequences of mask malfunctions 01:29:13The importance of checking equipment 01:30:31Trusting your crew and following their lead 01:32:02The fight or flight response in high-stress situations 01:33:23The importance of teamwork and communication 01:34:23The impact of intense firefighting experiences 01:37:26The instinct to protect and save others 01:38:16The importance of being true to yourself as an officer 01:40:33The cultural significance of being a firefighter in New York City 01:44:16The importance of being authentic and genuine as an officer 01:48:20The significance of being yourself and doing what's best for your crew 01:51:05Final thoughts and advice for officers --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/michael-nasti/support

“Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for what he does, the Son will do also. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed.” John 5:25–26The most central and most glorious mystery of our faith is that of the Most Holy Trinity. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God yet three distinct Persons. As divine “Persons,” each one is distinct; but as one God, each Person acts in perfect union with the others. In today's Gospel, Jesus clearly identifies the Father in Heaven as His Father and clearly states that He and His Father are one. For this reason, there were those who wanted to kill Jesus because He “called God his own father, making himself equal to God.”The sad reality is that the greatest and most glorious truth of God's inner life, the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, was one of the primary reasons that some chose to hate Jesus and sought His life. Clearly, it was their ignorance of this glorious truth that drove them to this hatred.We call the Holy Trinity a “mystery,” not because they cannot be known but because our knowledge of Who They are can never be fully understood. For eternity, we will enter deeper and deeper into our knowledge of the Trinity and be “amazed” on a continually deepening level.One additional aspect of the mystery of the Trinity is that each one of us is called to share in Their very life. We will forever remain distinct from God; but, as many of the early Church Fathers liked to say, we must become “divinized,” meaning, we must share in God's divine life through our union of body and soul with Christ Jesus. That union also unites us with the Father and the Spirit. This truth should also leave us “amazed,” as we read in the passage above.As we continue to read this week from the Gospel of John and continue to ponder the mysterious and profound teaching of Jesus on His relationship with the Father in Heaven, it is essential that we not simply gloss over the mysterious language Jesus uses. Rather, we must prayerfully enter the mystery and allow our penetration of this mystery to leave us truly amazed. Amazement and transforming edification is the only good response. We will never fully understand the Trinity, but we must allow the truth of our Triune God to take hold of us and enrichen us, at very least, in a way that knows how much we do not know—and that knowledge leaves us in awe.Reflect, today, upon the sacred mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Pray that God reveals Himself more fully to your mind and more completely consume your will. Pray that you will be able to share deeply in the life of the Trinity so that you will be filled with a holy amazement and awe. Most holy and triune God, the love You share within Your very being of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is beyond my comprehension. The mystery of Your triune life is a mystery of the greatest degree. Draw me in, dear Lord, to the life You share with Your Father and the Holy Spirit. Fill me with wonder and awe as You invite me to share in Your divine life. Most Holy Trinity, I trust in You.Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2024 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.Featured image above: Trinity By Andrei Rublev, via Wikimedia Commons

(Acts 4:23-31) 23On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them. 25You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?" 26The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.' 27Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. 29Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.” 31After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.   It Was A Real Life Prayer   It Was A United Prayer   It Was A Rooted In Truth Prayer   It Was A BIG Prayer   It Was A Glorifying Prayer   It was an Empowering Prayer

The political landscape of Latin America has undergone major transformation since the democratization wave of the 1980s and 1990s. During this time, most democracies in the region have managed to persist, albeit with a few notable exceptions. However, the quality of these democracies has often been questioned. Guillermo O'Donnell's characterization of Latin American democracies as "strange and flawed yet surviving" aptly captures this scenario. In Latin American Politics and Society: A Comparative and Historical Analysis, Gerardo Munck and Juan Pablo Luna argue that while Latin American countries have stabilized democratic systems, the journey towards a fully democratized society remains incomplete, as evidenced by the breakdown of democracy in some parts of the region. Various factors have contributed to the state of democracy in contemporary Latin America. The challenges facing democracy in the region range from the impact of neoliberal economic policies to the influence of external powers like the United States, the role of dominant elites, political culture, state weakness, and corruption. The growing phenomenon of populist leaders such as Nayib Bukele in El Salvador and Javier Milei in Argentina forms a crucial part of our discussion. While scrutinizing the policies of these leaders and their implications for democracy, we also examine the complexities of political inclusion in Latin American societies, including the role of women, indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, and ordinary citizens in Latin American democracies. As scholars often point to the persistent crisis of representation in Latin American politics, it is important to explore the relationship between citizens and politicians, and the role of the judiciary in this dynamic. And although there are major shortcomings in providing equal access to political office for all societal groups, there has also been progress in some areas such as the introduction of gender quotas. A particularly important ongoing debate relates to what is considered the most effective development models for the region.Gerardo Munck is a professor of political science and international relations at the University of Southern California. His research focuses on democracy and democratization, state capacity, Latin America, and methodology. He has also worked on the evolution of social science knowledge. @GerardoMunck Key highlightsIntroduction – 00:24Latin America has made progress on easy problems, but failed to resolve hard problems – 03:32What accounts for the state of democracy today – 10:26The dilemmas of democracy in unequal societies – 20:58Political inclusion and political innovations – 29:12Democracy and development – 37:35 HostProfessor Dan Banik (@danbanik @GlobalDevPod)Apple Google Spotify YouTubeSubscribe: https://globaldevpod.substack.com/

SummaryDee Wallace discusses her role in the film Roswell Delirium and the emotional connection she felt to the character. She emphasizes the importance of being present in the moment and fully immersing oneself in a role. The film raises questions about aliens, mental illness, and perception. Wallace also talks about her books, Born and Bapalapaloo, which explore the power of self-creation and manifestation. She shares her writing process and discusses her upcoming book, Horror Stories from a Life in Horror Films. Wallace encourages self-love and embracing one's creative power as the key to creating the life you want.Chapters00:00Introduction and admiration for Dee Wallace00:37Discussion of the film Roswell Delirium02:02Emotional connection to the film03:10Appreciation for intellectually stimulating films04:05Choosing roles based on script and character04:24Preparation process for roles05:28The power of channeling emotions in acting07:08The importance of being present in the moment08:26The themes and messages of Roswell Delirium10:37Linking current events with the film's setting in the 80s12:14Creating a trusting and focused set13:19The importance of collaboration and working together13:49Discussion of Dee Wallace's books: Born and Bapalapaloo19:05Dee Wallace's writing process20:16Upcoming book: Horror Stories from a Life in Horror Films22:09The power of imagination and channeling22:51Message of self-love and embracing creative power

February 21, 2024Today's Reading: Mark 4:1-20Daily Lectionary: Genesis 8:13-9:17, Genesis 9:18-11:26The sower sows the word. (Mark 4:14) In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Have you ever felt like it was your job to convert someone? Whether it be a family member, a friend, or even a random stranger? It is easy to fall into. We feel responsible for saving others, as ones who have been redeemed by faith in Christ, we cannot help but not be concerned for the eternal fate of others. So, we set out to convert. We strive to sway, convince, and even persuade people to believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We argue, debate, and provide evidence in the face of skepticism and unbelief. We then find ourselves bearing the burden of failure when the Word is rejected. Maybe you have found yourself with this burden and guilt. You might have a friend you have invited to church over and over, they finally agreed to come, and when they came they didn't have a miraculous conversion but instead they said, “thanks, but no thanks.” Or maybe it's a cousin, they don't know Jesus, and no matter how many times you share your faith with them, they sort of brush it off, or change the subject. No matter the case, no matter the rejection, the Parable of the Sower is of great comfort for all who sow the Word. Jesus makes something abundantly clear in this parable. It is never the fault of the Word.As Jesus explains, the Word is not the problem. Instead, the issue lies with the soil, or there are external forces at play. There is indeed nothing new under the sun. Satan continues to prowl, sin continues to ravage souls, and the Word of God continues to be rejected. But there is another truth here. It isn't your job to convert anyone. That lies with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit works through the proclamation of the Word of God, and in so doing brings people to faith, it isn't you, it isn't how well you can convince, debate, argue, and persuade, instead it is the Lord's doing, it is the Spirit's work. Thanks be to God!But it is up to the church to sow the seed. It is the church's job to proclaim the Word. Anytime the Word is proclaimed, seed is cast out onto the soil. As Pastors proclaim the words of forgiveness, seed is sown. In the public reading of the Scriptures, the Word is sown. In the faithful preaching of God's Word, seed is sown. In the Sacraments, seed is sown. When you share Jesus with a friend, seed is sown. When you bring someone to church, seed is sown. When you show the love of Christ to others, seed is sown. And the rest? That's up to the Holy Spirit. On what has now been sown Thy blessing, Lord, bestow; The pow'r is Thine alone To make it sprout and grow.Do thou in grace the harvest raise,  And Thou alone shalt have the praise! (LSB 921:1)- Pastor Caleb Weight is associate pastor of Peace In Christ Lutheran Church in Hermantown, MN.Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.The Lutheran Reader's Bible helps you develop a habit of devotion and Bible reading so you can slowly but intentionally understand and grow in God's Word. Through introductions to the sixty-six books of the Bible, guided reading plans, and more, this Bible builds your confidence to study Scripture on your own.

Mark 6:1-29   1He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. 4Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." 5And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." 12So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. 14King Herod heard of it, for Jesus' name had become known. Some were saying, "John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him." 15But others said, "It is Elijah." And others said, "It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old." 16But when Herod heard of it, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised." 17For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because Herod had married her. 18For John had been telling Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." 19And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, 20for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him. 21But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. 22When his daughter Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, "Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it." 23And he solemnly swore to her, "Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom." 24She went out and said to her mother, "What should I ask for?" She replied, "The head of John the baptizer." 25Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter." 26The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. 27Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John's head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, 28brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. 29When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.

Today, I'm talking to chef Rico Torres from Mixtli in San Antonio, TX. Born and raised in El Paso, the vast desert landscapes helped inspire his creativity. His proximity to the border of Mexico fed his love for south of the border culinary traditions, made evident through the food he dishes up at Mixtli. You'll hear how he embraces his Mexican cultural roots in the food he creates, and how he cleverly weaves the history of the people and the land into every menu. He shares his early passion for art and explains how that led to a love for culinary creativity. You'll hear about his progression through the world of cooking, his impressive skill set as a self-taught chef, and his thoughts on the future of food. What you'll learn from chef Rico Torres at Mixtli The birthplace of chef Rico Torres creative roots 2:24Smells that bring him back to his childhood 4:13Rico Torres artistic background 4:52How his love of art eventually translated into a love for food 5:44His transition into entrepreneurship 6:56Business lessons chef Rico Torres adopted from his dad 8:06Learning on the job and being resourceful 9:39Tips on buying and prepping BBQ Brisket 11:31Going from catering to pop ups 12:28When he met his business partner 13:19Trading pop ups for permanence 14:32Where the name Mixtli originated 14:47What he did differently when he started his business 16:26A very intimidating first table on opening night 17:25His second shot at impressing Rick Bayless 18:37Approaching food from an individual ingredient perspective 19:10How Rico Torres pairs ingredients together at Mixtli 19:47Undercover learning of tools of the trade 20:50The concept of the menu at Mixtli 21:40Why you can't have a latte at the end of dinner 23:40How he makes his Café de Olla 24:30And example of building a menu out of history 26:09The fake champagne parties of old Mexico 27:02Planning ahead for menu themes 28:14His biggest business struggles 30:37How they collaborate to make decisions 33:08His mission for the restaurant in terms of culinary history 34:38Thoughts on the future of food 37:04Focusing on food as fuel and feeling 38:05Why Mixtli has an open kitchen 39:33Five hotspots in San Antonio 40:58His guilty pleasure 41:43Books that have inspired chef Rico Torres 42:48His kitchen pet peeves 43:20His wildest ingredients 43:38What and who he would cook for if he could 45:48The new business he's looking forward to launching 46:26The connection between food and storytelling 4:38Switching from artist to architect in a kitchen 5:43The connection between food and memories 7:14Why do you have to take care of your team 7:55How management changes your creativity 8:24The importance of consistency 9:10Realizations about training staff 10:48The challenges of translating recipes and techniques from one culinary culture to another 11:22The French contribution to worldly cuisine and going beyond French culinary techniques 13:03A new wave of inspiration 13:57What's missing from the pages of food history 15:16Reaching into the “back pocket” of Mexican cuisine 16:21Shifting the threshold for what “chef” implies 17:31The power of the internet in culinary education 18:35“Fusion” versus evolution 20:14Combining culinary techniques from one culinary culture to another 22:32Surprising challenges faced by professional chefs 23:53Inspiration for their work, including the influence of international cuisine and food destinations 25:43 I'd like to share a potential educational resource, "Conversations Behind the Kitchen Door", my new book that features dialogues with accomplished culinary leaders from various backgrounds and cultures. It delves into the future of culinary creativity and the hospitality industry, drawing from insights of a restaurant-industry-focused podcast, ‘flavors unknown”. It includes perspectives from renowned chefs and local professionals, making it a valuable resource for those interested in building a career in the culinary ...

Acts 21:17-26The rain continues to fall in Montgomery TX and around the state of Texas, as well as the cold elsewhere, but Dan and Josh are both sit down in their offices, Bibles open, computers on and getting to study God's word again this week as we work through what the Lord will teach us in Acts 21. Today we get to talk about The Law and some of the struggle that the Jewish people were having with Paul in Biblical times of the 1st century church as Paul takes the message of Christ to the Gentiles. We  discuss  what Jesus did to fulfill the Law that, in Christ, we may be made righteous by faith in Him. Good stuff. Don't miss this one. 

Saddle up, retailers - the Retail Doctor is making a house call to diagnose your learning and training gaps! In this episode, Bob Phibbs sneaks in like Nancy Drew to investigate the mysteries plaguing your sales. Through his retail revelations, you'll learn the prescription for training and coaching your employees. Take two tidbits and call Bob in the morning if you still have poor customer service. Bob Phibbs, the self-proclaimed Retail Doctor, lets us in on industry secrets to concoct a cure for inadequate training. He distinguishes the diseases of learning and training, emphasizing the need for hands-on engagement versus mere information absorption. Coaching and rewards are highlighted as vaccines to reinforce training and boost performance. Bob advises constructing a positive learning culture, holding teams accountable, and tapping into personal motivation. The key to complete recovery is continuous improvement, debriefing, and crafting intentional habits. Consider Bob your retail pharmacist - follow his prescribed training regimen, and your sales will be the picture of health. This Retail MD knows the business ills; heed his wisdom so your store isn't the next casualty! Takeaways - Learning involves using ears and eyes to absorb information, while training requires hands-on practice and engagement of the brain. - Coaching and rewards are essential for reinforcing training and driving performance. -Creating a positive learning and training culture is crucial for success in retail. - Motivation and holding oneself accountable are key to personal and professional growth. -Continuous improvement, debriefing, and intentional habits are essential for achieving success in retail. Chapters 00:00Introduction 00:33Transition to the topic of learning, training, and coaching 01:10Difference between learning and training 02:07Importance of coaching and rewards 03:33The problem with ineffective training 04:16The importance of challenging the brain for information retention 05:26The impact of continuous learning and training on business success 06:32Engaging adult learners and holding them accountable 07:08Overcoming the fear of correcting others 08:42Creating a positive learning and training culture 09:25Using questioning techniques to correct and coach 10:55The importance of mindset and motivation 11:41The significance of selling value and building trust 12:48Effective role-playing techniques 14:08The power of greetings and rapport-building 15:18Understanding customer needs and avoiding assumptions 16:43Shifting mindset and unlearning negative beliefs 17:25Finding motivation and holding oneself accountable 19:14Identifying personal why and purpose 20:36Rewarding oneself for progress and achievements 22:04Developing intentional habits and identity 23:45Overcoming negativity and focusing on the positive 25:50Creating a culture of debrief and continuous improvement 28:56Taking ownership and holding oneself accountable 30:48Developing muscle memory through practice and repetition 32:19Becoming consciously aware and mastering skills 34:10The importance of reviewing and analyzing performance 36:20The game of retail and the power of choice 37:42Maintaining motivation and redefining one's why 38:11The importance of enjoying the journey and embracing challenges 38:31Closing thoughts --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/sleepsummitshow/message

20But in factChrist has been raised from the dead,the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.21For asby a man came death,by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.22Foras in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.23But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, thenat his comingthose who belong to Christ.24Then comes the end, when he deliversthe kingdom to God the Father after destroyingevery rule and every authority and power.25For he must reignuntil he has put all his enemies under his feet.26The last enemy to bedestroyed is death.27ForGod[a]has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when it says, all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him.28Whenall things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, thatGod may be all in all.

20But in factChrist has been raised from the dead,the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.21For asby a man came death,by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.22Foras in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.23But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, thenat his comingthose who belong to Christ.24Then comes the end, when he deliversthe kingdom to God the Father after destroyingevery rule and every authority and power.25For he must reignuntil he has put all his enemies under his feet.26The last enemy to bedestroyed is death.27ForGod[a]has put all things in subjection under his feet. But when it says, all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him.28Whenall things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, thatGod may be all in all.

Next Program starts January 8th! Sign up here: https://www.ginalivy.com/shopGina Livy's Facebook Lives from The Livy Method Fall 2023 Support Group hosted on Facebook. This is a recording of the Day 89, 9 AM live. You can find the full video hosted at:https://www.facebook.com/groups/livymethodfall2023Topics covered:Sharing details of the Fall Into The Holidays Group and how you can continue to get support between groups @2:29Make sure you sign up for the Winter group before it sells out! @5:48The benefits of getting bloodwork done @6:38Gina and Tony will not be doing a Live with the stats at the end of this group but will share all the details down the road so stay tuned for that. Please be sure to fill out the survey and get entered in the prize draw! @7:05Sharing WLBG's new food bank initiative and discussing food stability issues @9:11The work we're doing with Dr Ruth Kane and the University of Ottawa and how changes are implemented in the program from your feedback @11:58To weigh or not to weigh over the holidays, that is the question! @13:28Managing indulgences and the feels that come along with them over the holidays @14:40Embrace your own pace, the importance of doing what's best for you in your own timing @15:10Remind yourself of all the proactive things you can continue to do between groups @16:54Managing indulgences over the holidays, making a plan ahead of time and how best to make choices to truly enjoy @17:26While you're in the process of losing weight, you may notice your cholesterol levels can get wonky. Having your bloodwork done is an important way to monitor things @19:28Details of the new book for the Winter group @21:07How The Program can affect your bloodwork in such a positive manner. The Program is one for overall health and wellness @25:32The survey can be filled out until the start of the new program @26:41Celebrating non scale victories at the end of The Program as we enter the holidays. The difference between “cheat” days over “choose” days @27:27Do not apologize about asking our Program Specialists questions. Our team is here to support you so please ask them all! @29:27The impact of our members sharing their journey in the Facebook Support Group and the community you're creating @31:50Chatting about all the incredible guest experts that are part of The Program. Be sure to check out Dr Beverley's new social media shares @34:00Food bank now providing fresh fruits and vegetables and discussing when things are difficult @35:25Check out Gina's award announcement in the National Post!!! @36:10Talking about the shame of when times are really tough and how alone it can have you feeling @37:26The benefits of signing up for another round of The Program and how some people struggle with the idea of doing it all again @39:34Members sharing they are going to miss being in the Weight Loss groups but celebrating moving on to the Maintenance and Mindfulness group! @41:39How to implement Back on Track when you need it @43:10Continuing to show up for yourself even when life is stressful and it feels like things are falling apart @44:33Creating positive changes vs the scale moving @47:40Being mindful of the words we use and managing what people feel they can say to us @48:35Where to purchase the cozies that Gina wears and supporting other business initiatives in our community @54:50All the place you can find support while navigating The Program @58:04To learn more about the Livy Method, visit www.ginalivy.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Catechism Class: LD 49 Q124 Obeying the Will of GodText: Matthew 16:24-26The catechist is still teaching us how to pray, using the Lord's Prayer as a model for our prayers, and reminding us that when we pray these petitions there is far more underlying truth than we sometimes think. We should mine that truth! So we come to the third petition in the prayer: “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” Compare that with Proverbs 14:1 The psalmist has the correct attitude in Psalm 40:8 That's what we pray for in this petition of the Lord's Prayer, – Lord, teach us, not only to DO your will, but to take DELIGHT in doing it.READ THE NOTES Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello everyone, I'm Matthew Adams, and today we're venturing into the heart of a profound biblical truth. It's a journey that takes us back to the trembling feet of Mount Sinai, where the Israelites stood awestruck and terrified in the presence of God's voice.Scripture:"[The tribal leaders and elders of Israel said,] 'If the LORD our God speaks to us again, we will certainly die and be consumed by this awesome fire. Can any living thing hear the voice of the living God from the heart of the fire as we did and yet survive?'" - Deuteronomy 5:25-26The fear of God's voice is as old as the hills, a primal response to the overwhelming power and majesty of the Divine. But throughout history, those who dared to listen, who faced the fire instead of fleeing, found something beyond the terror – a life-giving, transformative encounter with the Almighty.We make The Power Of God's Whisper Podcast and this newsletter free for everyone to strengthen Christians everywhere. To support our work and help keep the lights on, consider a paid subscription if you are in a position to.Driving Points:* The Paradox of God's Voice:God's voice, as terrifying as it can be in its power and purity, is not a death sentence. It's a call to life. Moses, Joshua, Daniel, John – they all experienced the overwhelming presence of God, yet it was this very encounter that empowered and enlivened them. The voice that shakes the mountains can also whisper in the gentlest of breezes, inviting us into a deeper communion.* The Masks of Fear:Fear of hearing God's voice wears many disguises. It can look like indifference, doctrinal rigidity, or anxiety about what He might say. But the invitation remains open – to approach His throne of grace with boldness, to seek His voice amidst our fears. It's not about the absence of fear but the presence of faith.* The Reward of Persistence:In the Kingdom of God, spiritual hunger is always satisfied. Those who seek, find; those who ask, receive; those who knock, find the door swinging wide open. Hearing God's voice is not just for the spiritual elite – it's for anyone bold enough to listen, to press through the trembling and the awe, and to seek His face.Conclusion:The journey of hearing God's voice is a journey of courage. It's about stepping into the fire, not to be consumed, but to be refined, to be fed, to be truly alive. His voice is a beacon that guides us through the wilderness of our lives, a source of strength and sustenance for the path ahead.Call to Action:So, let's take up the challenge. Let's approach the throne of grace with boldness, undeterred by fear or doubt. Let's seek His voice with the assurance that He is more than willing to speak to those who are willing to listen.Prayer:Lord, grant us the courage to seek Your voice amidst our fears. Help us to see beyond the fire and the thunder, to the loving, guiding presence that calls us to a deeper communion with You. May our hearts be open, our spirits willing, and our ears attuned to Your life-giving words. Amen.This is Matthew Adams, signing off with a reminder that the voice of God is not something to flee from but to seek after. It's in the heart of the fire that we find the heart of God. Until next time, keep listening, keep seeking, and keep walking in the courage that comes from hearing His voice. Get full access to My Reasons To Believe at myr2b.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. David Swanson | Matthew 19:16-26The rich young ruler (RYR) gives us a snapshot of how we live with money: we get addicted to the feeling of "having." Wealth is not bad, but the RYR got hooked on it – and could not let it go. In Christ, there is FREEDOM. 

Join Gina and Program Manager Kim as they answer your questions and break down the tweak that we see in The Program this week. This is the live recording from November 1, 2023. You can find the full video hosted at:https://www.facebook.com/groups/livymethodfall2023Topics covered:Welcome @ introWe are implementing this week's tweak tomorrow @ 0:42Many people with big feels this week @ 1:38The purpose of the tweaks are to get the body to fast track its progress @ 3:05This week's tweak feels inconvenient for some people @ 3:50Split the meals and snacks that you can, don't worry about being perfect @ 4:12There is often hesitation when we're asked to do something different @ 5:42Going through the process of this tweak will really shine a light on how mindful you're being @ 6:34Working through different scenarios that can come up this week @ 8:13Are you being mindful about your portions? 8:56Continuing to ask yourself the 4 mindfulness questions and really work on assessing your hunger @ 9:38 How to level up this week's tweak by having your protein portion first @ 10:50 What to consider if you have your protein portion first and then aren't hungry for your veggies @ 12:46What to do if you're not hungry for your second portion @ 14:26The tweaks help stop us from becoming complacent @ 15:00How different foods break down in your body @ 15:18Separating protein is not about keto @ 16:44Lunch time is still the best time for carbs @ 17:00Don't get caught up in your own perceptions of the tweaks and why we're doing them @ 19:22Why we should have token bites even if we think we aren't hungry @ 21:20How to split meals like soups and chilis @ 23:00Managing this week's tweak with diabetes @ 24:18Why it's important to be eating carbs @ 26:47Circling back to understand the basic Food Plan and the rhyme and reason to it @ 28:20It's very normal to feel very hungry this week or to not feel hungry at all @ 29:30Don't get stuck in a rut, deciding to always do things the same way @ 31:18This is not a low carb program @ 32:13Tips for this week - setting timers is very helpful to remember your second portion @ 32:28Don't worry about what other people around you think while splitting your meals and snacks @ 34:48To learn more about the Livy Method, visit www.ginalivy.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Are you a “triple threat” — a performer who's adept at singing, dancing, and acting?If you want to work in musical theater, revue shows, or cruise ship entertainment, you'll often find producers expect their dancers to have some singing ability.Unfortunately, many performers who identify primarily as dancers may resist learning how to sing. Having held themselves to extremely high dance standards, many choose to believe they “can't sing” when they don't immediately sound like Beyonce Knowles.This week's guest helps prevent that perfectionism from getting in the way of performing dreams. A professional singer who identifies as a dancer, Helen Woodley has helped many dancers become comfortable with their singing voices — even when they need to sing in a foreign language. Her experiences have showed her the dangers of “maladaptive perfectionism” and how it can lead to anxiety, depression, and avoidant behaviors that keep talented people from expanding their skillsets.Join us as Helen explains the challenges perfectionism creates for students and teachers. Discover strategies that encourage students to recognize the voice as another muscle that can be trained. And learn where those self-limiting beliefs about singing and performing may originally come from.In this episode, you'll learn:How Helen's early background as a dancer unexpectedly gave way to a singing career 7:43 Why modern musical theater is now requiring more dancers to know how to sing 9:26The unique challenges voice coaches face when working with dancers without a strong singing background 12:38Why students decide they “can't sing” 15:19The difference between adaptive perfectionism and maladaptive perfectionism 17:48The tendency dancers have in developing maladaptive perfectionism 21:10How to encourage a dancer to develop their singing abilities 23:45How social media and reality shows have helped create limiting beliefs about singing and training 29:28How adult dancers need to look at singing and their ongoing singing education 34:15If singing should be part of a dancer's early education 38:00 The Vocal Advancement Podcast interviews many talented performers and educators, each with their own unique perspective on music and teaching. Follow us and subscribe to our YouTube channel so you never miss an episode! IVA offers plenty of great resources for singers and voice coaches, including a FREE singing teacher's summit in November 2023 and a vocal warm-up app for IOS and Android phones that's due in October 2023. Sign up for our mailing list and be notified when these resources come out! About the Institute for Vocal AdvancementInterested in becoming a better vocal coach? The Institute for Vocal Advancement (IVA) connects you with teachers who can provide you with more teaching tools for your classrooms. The IVA community and trainers teach from the empathic mindset that students of all ages benefit from, showing you how to improve your own teaching style.Check out our list of upcoming events and learn how our Teacher Training Programs can help your career. Use the code “iva20percent” to get 20% off your first year's course membership fee! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Per a recent Coindesk article https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/09/13/surprisingly-few-us-customers-want-their-bittrex-money-back/:Surprisingly Few U.S. Customers Want Their Bittrex Money BackThe U.S. Secret Service kept millions on the exchange, company lawyers told a bankruptcy court – but other creditors have been strangely reluctant to ask for their funds back....Unofficial Computer-Autogenerated Transcript, to Assist the Hearing Impaired etc.00:00:00Mr. Mosco, welcome. It's good to see you.00:00:11Good to see you too, Your Honor.00:00:14Mr. Shepard Carter, I like the tie. Is that black and orange?00:00:19This is black. No, it's not black and orange. It's dark, dark blue and orange, which are the colors of your alma mater.00:00:26The colors of my alma mater are black and orange. Oh, then it's black and orange.00:00:30Your instincts are excellent. You may proceed. Mr. Mosco, good morning again. Good to see you.00:00:35I should have known that since they were the Tigers. They are the Tigers.00:00:37We are the Tigers.00:00:39Good morning, Your Honor. We sent over to chambers a PowerPoint presentation. I can hand up an extra copy if you'd like.00:00:48I have it. Thank you.00:00:49And thanks for the Court's time today. It may seem like a bit of navel gazing going on here because there's not a controversy,00:00:58but we did want to update the Court from our last presentation, from where we are. All the work is being done behind the scenes that you haven't seen.00:01:07I appreciate that, and certainly no apology is necessary. I'm always happy to take a status report.00:01:14As you just mentioned, I really have limited visibility into most of the cases that I have, and often then it just turns into a very ugly surprise when everything blows up all at once.00:01:25So I'm hoping that's not going to happen here, but I certainly do appreciate the guidance that you're offering.00:01:31Correct, Your Honor. Just to level set and for the record, Patty Tomasko, Quinn Emanuel on behalf of the Dutters, and I'm joined by my colleague, Ken Ennis from the Young Conaway Firm.00:01:43We just wanted to go through where we were. The last presentation that we gave you, we had very low engagement from the customers that we had asked to withdraw their crypto.00:01:54As you know, the Court entered an order allowing the customers to begin withdrawing cryptocurrency and fiat currency as of June 15th is when we reopened the platform after the May 8th petition date.00:02:07So we wanted to go through that. I also want to introduce the Court to, we have a couple of the legal staff from Bittrex, Caleb Barker and David Maria.00:02:21David Maria is the General Counsel of Bittrex and Caleb Barker is the Assistant General Counsel of Bittrex.00:02:29Very good. Welcome, gentlemen.00:02:31Morning, Your Honor. If I get something wrong, which I frequently do, they will correct me and I've invited them to be live so that as we go through this, if I get something wrong, they can say, or if the Court has any questions about what we've done and all of the efforts that have gone into this and where we are with the status of the withdrawals.00:02:50I'm not going to bore the Court with the history, but as you know, we filed the bankruptcy petition on May 8th. The Court entered the customer withdrawal order on June 13th. We reopened the platform on June 15th.00:03:06This is consistent with the main goal of the case, which was to set up a process by which Bittrex USA operations could be wound down, along with the sister company Bittrex Malta, which is a Maltese organization that has been roughly out of operation since late 2018.00:03:30So to that end, if you turn to slide six, you can see our Chapter 11 timeline to where we are today.00:03:38Of course, we have a disclosure statement hearing coming up on the 27th.00:03:44Right.00:03:45And this is sort of to get everybody, you know, oriented correctly as we face that.00:03:51So far, I will say we have gotten only informal comments and nothing momentous with respect to the disclosure statement or the plan. We're getting language, incorporating it. All of that's going to plan.00:04:05Turning to slide eight, as I mentioned, we still have to comply as we're doing customer withdrawals with the various regulatory requirements for the payment.00:04:20KYC and KML stuff.00:04:22The main that I call them, Finson and OFAC.00:04:25Finson is concerned with financial crimes.00:04:29They want to have all the KYC information from the customer.00:04:32So are you really who you say you are?00:04:35And they also want to know that, you know, you're not engaging in some kind of money laundering.00:04:42So that's that's really what they're about.00:04:45OFAC is concerned with persons in foreign countries engaging in financial transactions in the U.S.00:04:54So those two regulatory requirements are built into the algorithms of the platform.00:05:00OK.00:05:03So we also wanted them to update, accept the updated terms of service, which also incorporate these regulatory requirements. And so that process has been underway.00:05:17So in conjunction with that, there was, of course, an increase in activity with the help desk.00:05:24The company engaged overtime help desk assistance.00:05:31And that has continued all the way through August 31st when the help desk was shut down, consistent with the August 31st, 2023, part eight.00:05:47So that help desk activity kind of demonstrates how much the company has been working with the customers.00:05:53There's been forty seven thousand plus customer help desk tickets and a lot.00:06:01And then the other the other interesting thing is there's two factor authentication.00:06:06Obviously, this is dealing with financial assets.00:06:08And so that process of, you know, I know in my law firm to get logged on in the morning, sometimes it takes me 15 minutes as I'm going through all of the steps.00:06:19The same thing happens on this platform. So you have two factor authentication.00:06:23You're going to get a text to your phone and an email.00:06:26And those two things combined give you, you know, the best security, high level confidence that you're dealing with the right person.00:06:37Thirty five thousand nine hundred seventy two customers have withdrawn their like kind assets for a total value of one hundred and forty three point seven six million dollars worth of crypto.00:06:48This is in addition to approximately twenty three million that was withdrawn during the April wind down period immediately before the petition was filed.00:07:00So on slide eleven. We've broken these numbers down.00:07:08By the number of customers remaining and the number of customers that have withdrawn.00:07:20So the value of crypto withdrawn is one hundred and forty three point six point seven six million broken down between Bittrex US of ninety five million and Bittrex Malta of forty eight million.00:07:39OK. So one of the things we wanted to explore was why were we getting such low levels of engagement.00:07:46And so in the beginning and so we broke it down between customers with balances over one hundred dollars and customers with balances under one hundred dollars and of the remaining customers.00:07:58Their balances are under one hundred dollars. That's the number of those is seventy seven percent of the remaining customers have balances under one hundred dollars.00:08:09So we have a combination that you've talked about earlier. We have what may be stale accounts with dated or old or ineffective contact information and then basically relatively modest amounts that nobody's necessarily wondering where my money go.00:08:25Correct your honor. OK. And I will tell you anecdotally I've been monitoring things like the Bittrex Twitter Bittrex Reddit.00:08:33You know the various sites where customers are engaging more frankly and the sentiment is you know I don't want to give you all that information to get to get thirty five dollars correct.00:08:49OK. They really are making a calculated decision. They know about it and we're going to go through the notice process in a bit. But we have also prioritized we took a list of the crypto customers that remained and we put them in in rank order of highest to lowest and we engage with them directly.00:09:11Send them an email not just a group email sent them an email and said hey you've got this much you need to get it off. And so that's where we've seen a lot of success. You know understandably.00:09:21OK. So 11 of the top 50 customers by balance have withdrawn substantially all their assets for a total of eight point seven million of withdrawn balances. Five hundred and seventeen of the seven hundred and one users with a balance over one hundred thousand have withdrawn substantially all of their assets.00:09:44And so that you know prioritizing the large dollar dollar customers has really paid off in terms of getting the crypto off. Most of the remaining accounts are inactive and have been inactive for a year or more.00:09:58Fifty one point two percent have been active in the last two years. Only forty one point one percent of the remaining funds are associated with user accounts that have shown no activity since December 31 of 2019.00:10:15The story with them is most of them signed up with inadequate information.00:10:20OK.00:10:24Also we've been actively engaging with the government on a couple of accounts. Some of the accounts were involved in criminal proceedings criminal forfeiture proceedings and we've cooperated with the U.S. Attorney's Office the Justice Department and the SEC to withdraw those amounts that were subject to those criminal forfeiture proceedings.00:10:45The Secret Service had one of our largest accounts of six point two million dollars.00:10:55We worked with that agency for them to successfully withdraw that amount.00:11:00OK. As I said.00:11:03Notice has been extremely robust. We knew it was going to be a large number of potential creditors. We we did not spare.00:11:16We spent every dollar that was responsibly spent to get notice out.00:11:22But this is in addition to the numerous emails that have gone out to customers throughout the history of the company in particular Bittrex Malta because it shut down operations in 2019.00:11:34It's since you know more than a million emails to its users in October of 2019 advising them that it was shutting down its platform.00:11:46So it was known as Bittrex International at that time and it the company decided it no longer wanted to operate Bittrex International.00:11:56So it started shutting down and moving those accounts over to Bittrex Global.00:12:01So additional notices went out as reflected on this slide and they were notified at the end of 2019.00:12:13The Bittrex International was no longer going to support those accounts.00:12:19So that was over the course of a year. A lot of effort went into getting customers off that platform.00:12:24Sure. Now Bittrex US made the decision to shut down its platform in late March of 2020.00:12:35But even before that Bittrex had reached out to customers with inactive balances starting in March of 2022.00:12:48It emailed inactive customers and asked them to update their account information and to otherwise interact with the platform.00:13:00Inactive accounts also got letters in August of 2022 and in 2023 Bittrex mailed postcards to additional inactive customers.00:13:14As I said in March of 2023 Bittrex announced via Twitter that it was shutting down its US operations.00:13:22It sent an email to 1,045,323 users. Reminder emails were sent to 521,000 accounts on various dates in April.00:13:36Between March 31 and April 30 the customer support team resolved 27,000 help desk tickets.00:13:45After the bankruptcy 1.6 million customers got notice of the commencement via email.00:13:59Regular mail went to 44,000 parties in interest including certain customers where we knew their email wasn't good.00:14:09In total via email or regular mail Omni served the notice of the commencement on 1.652 million customers.00:14:21We similarly adopted a robust approach to the bar date notice knowing how important it was in the case of this type.00:14:30Could you remind me what's the bar date? What was the bar date?00:14:32The bar date was August 31. This status report may seem random but it happens to happen after the bar date before the disclosure statement.00:14:43That gets pretty timely.00:14:47That bar date went to even more customers, 1.9 million customers and regular mail to 57,000 parties in interest.00:14:59In total 2 million customers received either email or mail notice of the bar date.00:15:10There was also publication notice in CoinDesk, Wall Street Journal, and the Financial Times of London and the Financial Times of Malta.00:15:21It's not just financial. All of those publication notices have been filed on the docket.00:15:33There have been also social media efforts on Twitter. Twitter messages in June, July, and at the end of July.00:15:43There was a Reddit message on July 26. There was a text message where SMS had been authorized for the customers on August 2.00:15:52Can I ask just out of curiosity, who is doing that messaging via Twitter? Is that coming directly from the company or is that being managed by Omni or Kroll or somebody else?00:16:01It's being done by the company through the company's normal social media accounts.00:16:10As I said, I've been monitoring them as well, looking at customer feedback and seeing if there was anything that looked like a customer had a legitimate break.00:16:21We've been dealing with those throughout.00:16:25In addition, we prioritized balances over $100,000 and sent an additional mail to postcard to 73,000 customers on August 3.00:16:44We detailed the emails that have gone out to the email addresses on the platform and how those were targeted towards different groups with certain balances or locations in an attempt to provide as much notice as possible to the customers.00:17:06In addition to the withdrawals, the debtors have received 3,292 claims, of which 3,240 are customer proofs of claim and 52 are non-customer proofs of claim.00:17:19We, just so the court knows, it is our intention because some of the claims were filed by customers with very large amounts in them. One such claim had $160 million claimed.00:17:36We do plan on starting the proof of claim objection process soon, in the next few weeks.00:17:46We are cordially happy to accommodate scheduling in connection with that.00:17:50Thank you, Your Honor.00:17:51While I usually like to get creditors' votes before I object to their claims in this case, the proof of claim process is going to require company resources to resolve them.00:18:04It is as much a cost saving measure as it is trying to get to the bottom of these claims for feasibility purposes as well. The $150 million claim plus the SEC plus FinCEN, OFAC, that might get on the edge of feasibility.00:18:22We are going to have some of those objections filed.00:18:25Okay. I understand.00:18:28We filed our plan and disclosure statement on August 25th. We have our disclosure statement hearing on September 26th.00:18:39For disclosure purposes, we've only unimpaired priority claims because they're statutorily unimpaired. Everybody else is going to get a chance to vote.00:18:50Whether or not they're impaired will lead for a confirmation objection, but everybody's going to get to vote.00:18:57That leaves our next few deadlines of disclosure statement hearing.00:19:033018 motions on 929. Voting is on October 16.00:19:11Confirmation hearing is October 23rd.00:19:17If the court has any other questions, we wanted to present that to the court showing where we are post-BAR date, pre-discourse statement.00:19:27This is particularly helpful to me. I appreciate getting the heads up.00:19:30Again, as I said, I really don't have much visibility.00:19:33Most of the activity you've described is not necessarily taking place on the docket or in open court.00:19:41At the outset of this case, you all reported that there were many, many holders or potential holders and lots of people with an interest in this exercise.00:19:50You laid out with, I think, specificity what your intentions were in terms of dealing with those folks.00:19:58I think you started and repeated a number of times that the circumstances of this particular crypto case are very different from most of the others that are pending or in the ABI headlines.00:20:08I get it. Let me ask you a question.00:20:11It is just, frankly, out of curiosity.00:20:13I confess that I have not gone back and looked again at the plan and the disclosure statement.00:20:17That hearing is coming up in a couple of weeks, and I will certainly be prepared for that.00:20:22The process that you've just described clearly leads to an assumption that there will be significant assets and the number of parties that have lost interest in this exercise.00:20:36They've only got $25, $50, $100 with you. They don't want to fill out a bunch of paperwork over it. They haven't thought about this since 2018. I get it.00:20:45This would seem to me, then, to be one of these cases that has a fair number of assets at the end of it that need to be disposed of, and I assume that the plan provides for the mechanism for doing that.00:21:03Is there an expectation that there will be funds left over that are not claimed by creditors, and do they then get used in the implementation of the plan, or are they given away, or is geded, or I don't know exactly what happens?00:21:18Sources and uses?00:21:19Yeah.00:21:20So we're going to have claims. We have settlements with FinCEN, OPAC, and the SEC. Those are significant numbers.00:21:27Right.00:21:28We have the costs of administration. We have the claims that are on file, so those will all come out of whatever is left.00:21:37But at this point, one of the reasons why we want to do some claim objections is to make sure we have enough to pay all the claims, and if those are successful, I believe there will be money left over.00:21:51Okay.00:21:52Well, the claims reconciliation process is an exercise that, as you described, is often one that depends upon the judgment and discretion of the debtor about the fights that are, whether it's worth picking these fights, but obviously some of these steps may need to be taken in the context of the confirmation process.00:22:12If you need scheduling with respect to claims administration, again, you can contact Ms. Velo in my chambers, and she'll be happy to give you hearing data if you need it.00:22:20Correct. We've been working with Mr. Enos in terms of coming up with any kind of procedures that we're going to conform with the local rules.00:22:31I will tell you our approach is we're going to take the low-hanging fruit first, which is duplicates.00:22:41Yeah, you separate wheat from chaff.00:22:43Yeah, but in the very large claims that were filed that have no correlation with what is shown on the debtor's books and records.00:22:51Okay.00:22:52Well, I do not have any questions and again I very much appreciate getting the report.00:23:00You know this case has unusual features, but all the crypto cases do but these are at least features that I can understand when they're explained to me.00:23:09Yes, Mr. Sheppard Carter, did you have anything to answer?00:23:14Sure.00:23:17For the record, Richard Park, the United States, trustee, we haven't completed our review of the plan disclosure statement and the procedures, of course, attended there to the deadlines 21st.00:23:27I'm hoping that by Friday, I can get out my comments to counsel.00:23:32I like to do it that way, get the comments out, see if we can work through what we can work through. If we have to file objections, we'll take that up into the course.00:23:42I think after that, we'll just go to plan confirmation and we'll see where we go from there and hopefully we get there in the middle of October.00:23:53Very good.00:23:54Other than that, if nothing else, you're all invited.00:23:56I note that we have a number of parties that are participating virtually. I would ask if anyone else wishes to be heard with respect to the debtor's status report to the court on developments in the Chapter 11 case.00:24:13Hearing no response, again, I very much appreciate getting the status report from the debtor. I had no further questions.00:24:19As noted, if the debtor requires scheduling or other support from the court as you move forward through the disclosure statement and into plan confirmation, all you need to do is call chambers and we'll be happy to accommodate with any scheduling needs that you have.00:24:34But with that, I believe we are adjourned. Thank you, counsel.00:24:37We stand in recess.

The Cross then the CrownA SERMON BASED ON Matthew 16:21-26The crosses of our lives can be shockingly heavy. There are times in which it feels as if they'll nearly crush us. In those moments, we are called to look at the one who carried our cross first. And because he won the crown, your crown is waiting for you!

In this episode, I'm talking to Will Guidara. He's the man responsible for turning New York's Eleven Madison Park into the number one restaurant in the world. Guidara put his passion onto paper with the publishing of his book Unreasonable Hospitality.You'll hear about his commitment to “radical hospitality” and hear real world examples of how he has applied it, as well as how he has inspired and empowered his team to do the same. He explains the principle of his 95- 5 Rule ,and why it's so important to show hospitality to your staff in the same way you extend it to your guests. What you'll learn from Will Guidara The biggest takeaways from Will Guidara's new book 2:48What motivated him to keep writing 3:44The person who has had the most significant impact on his life 5:56How to measure your leadership principles 8:40Advice about persisting when you fear failure 9:57The life experience that introduced Will Guidara to the art of hospitality 10:50Why greatness starts with leadership 13:20The core of his hospitality principles 15:37An example of going the extra mile 17:55The disconnect between authority and the people on the ground 20:27Why the principles of the book apply to every business 22:26The best place to spend your marketing energy 23:47Securing a long-term business legacy 24:58How to spend as a restaurant owner 27:30Extending hospitality perks to your team 29:47The power of gift-giving 31:21Recruiting the right people to be on your team 32:20How Will Guidara activated the concept of “radical reinvention” 33:58Getting people on board with change 35:14Why the table should be held as a sacred space 36:37What he noticed as a customer in his own restaurant 37:27The role of empathy in hospitality 39:37A new way to see workplace tension 40:28The benefits of having an “optimists memory” 41:39Writers who have inspired him 42:41Applying radical hospitality to your life 44:39An experience that impressed Will Guidara 45:56 I'd like to share a potential educational resource, "Conversations Behind the Kitchen Door", my new book that features dialogues with accomplished culinary leaders from various backgrounds and cultures. It delves into the future of culinary creativity and the hospitality industry, drawing from insights of a restaurant-industry-focused podcast, ‘flavors unknown”. It includes perspectives from renowned chefs and local professionals, making it a valuable resource for those interested in building a career in the culinary industry.Get the book here! Links to episodes with top chefs (click on any picture to listen to the episode) Chef Jacques Pepin Chef Maneet Chauhan Chef Joe Sasto by @josephcweaver Chef Tiffany Derry Click to tweet from Will Guidara In the same way that a chef writes a cookbook because they have recipes and techniques that they want to share, I felt I had a lot of ideas around service and leadership that I wanted to pass forward. Click To Tweet The best leadership principles are evergreen. Wherever you go those same rules will apply. Click To Tweet Any dollar spent on generosity to the people you work with, or the people you serve has much more impact than any dollar spent on traditional marketing. Click To Tweet Social media Will Guidara Instagram Twitter Links mentioned in this episode Unreasonable Hospitality websiteWill Guidara Ted TalkBuy the book

Lisa Lorenzo is the host of the Faith With Friends podcast. She is passionate about faith, relationships, and spiritual growth. Through her podcast, she aims to help listeners prioritize prayer and the reading of God's Word.Summary:In this episode of the Faith With Friends podcast, host Lisa Lorenzo explores Hebrews chapter three, which calls us to have a steadfast faith. She emphasizes the importance of fixing our thoughts on Jesus and immersing ourselves in the teaching and life of Jesus through reading the Bible. Lisa highlights that reading God's Word transforms us and equips us for every good work. She also discusses the significance of prayer as a means of communing with God and aligning our hearts with His will. Lisa encourages listeners to guard their hearts against sin and unbelief and to support and uplift one another in the journey of faith. She concludes by reminding us that growing in faith is a lifelong journey and that we are called to soften our hearts and bring our burdens to Jesus.Key Takeaways:Fix your thoughts on Jesus and prioritize reading the Bible to grow in faith and strengthen your relationship with God.Reading God's Word transforms us and equips us for every good work.Prayer is a means of communing with God and aligning our hearts with His will.Guard your heart against sin and unbelief and support and uplift one another in the journey of faith.Soften your heart and bring your burdens to Jesus to experience His transformational power.Quotes:"Nothing less than the whole Bible can make a whole Christian." - Tozer"True prayer is neither mere mental exercise nor vocal performance. It is far deeper than that. It is a spiritual transaction with the Creator of all heaven and earth." - Charles Spurgeon"We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end." - Hebrews 3:14Prioritize Prayer and God's Word for Steadfast FaithSummary:Lisa Lorenzo hosts the Faith With Friends podcast, where she discusses faith, relationships, and spiritual growth. In this episode, she explores Hebrews chapter three, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing prayer and reading God's Word. She highlights the significance of fixing our thoughts on Jesus and immersing ourselves in the teachings of the Bible. Lorenzo encourages listeners to guard their hearts against sin and unbelief, while also emphasizing the need for community and support in the journey of faith. The episode concludes with a reminder to hold firm to our faith and seek transformation through prayer and Scripture.Introduction to the Faith With Friends podcast0:00:19Hebrews chapter three calls for steadfast faith0:00:53Importance of fixing our thoughts on Jesus0:01:35The transformative power of reading God's Word0:02:45Warning against hardening our hearts to God's voice0:03:40The significance of reading the entire Bible0:04:38Importance of supporting and encouraging one another0:05:59The privilege of sharing in Christ's life0:07:02Prioritizing prayer and reading God's Word0:09:26The challenge to not harden our hearts and seek transformation"So grab your Bible, so grab your Bible, open your heart, and let's dive in.""Nothing less than the whole Bible can make a whole Christian.""True prayer is neither mere mental exercise nor vocal performance. It is far deeper than that. It is a spiritual transaction with the Creator of all heaven and earth.""We weren't meant to walk on this path alone. But by encouraging and supporting our fellow believers, we...

Mark 8:22-30 starts with a healing and ends with a declaration. It causes us to ask a simple question: What stage are you in with your pursuit of God?Jesus lays his hand on the blind man and does something unusual: he heals in stages. At first the man can't see clearly, then Jesus touches him again and his sight is completely restored. Mark 8:22-26The two-stage healing is a metaphor for what Jesus' disciples were experiencing on a spiritual level. Throughout the book of Mark the disciples were progressively gaining clarity on the true identity of Jesus. In Caesarea Philippi Peter makes a personal declaration of faith. This is the first time a character in the story echoes the truth of the book's opening verse. Mark 8:27-30, Mark 1:1God is continually working to reveal himself to us. The defining moment is when we make a personal declaration of faith in Jesus. Romans 10:9-10

Gina Livy's Facebook live from the Maintenance & Mindfulness group hosted on Facebook. This is the live recording from April 24, 2023. You can find the full video hosted at https://www.facebook.com/groups/ginalivymaintenanceandmindfulnessTopics covered:Welcome to new members - intro to maintenance @ IntroWeight fluctuations - need to put time into maintenance @ 2:41Maintenance takes time - physically and mentally @ 7:26The time you've put in to - solidifying your weight loss, testing the waters @ 11:50Weigh-In Wednesday Lives, all lives available on podcast @ 16:48Knowing what you need to do - in tune with what's working and not working for you @ 17:27Not controlling - it's about being in tune, open to how you feel, working thru issues @20:58Maintenance - this is where the work is @ 22:26Deciding to lose more weight after being in maintenance @ 24:36Working through the weight loss program on your own @ 27:36Not enjoying certain foods anymore @ 30:11Sometimes it's good to have the food to see how you feel @ 37:57Interested in being a guest on the Weigh-In Wednesday Live @ 40:44To learn more about The Livy Method, visit www.ginalivy.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is sponsored by EY and Brave. In the last few months, artificial intelligence (AI) has grown exponentially and rapidly, raising concerns over its safety and the adverse consequences it may have on society if it is not addressed.However, the application of artificial intelligence in the crypto space has many exciting advantages. With artificial intelligence, trading algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data and make informed decisions about buying and selling cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrency fraud can be detected and prevented using artificial intelligence. Blockchain networks can be optimized using artificial intelligence. Furthermore, AI can even enhance the privacy and security of cryptocurrency transactions. So what is all the fuss about if AI can bring all this good? There are potential drawbacks and negative aspects to consider. Some of the main negatives of AI include job displacement, bias and discrimination, privacy concerns, dependence and overreliance, ethical concerns, and lack of transparency and regulation. On this episode of “Money Reimagined,” to help unpack this important topic of AI ownership and distribution, Michael Casey and Sheila Warren speak to Jacob Steeves, founder of Bittensor, an open-source protocol that powers a decentralized, blockchain-based machine learning network.Casey jumps right into the discussion of the controversial op-ed of Eliezer Yudkowsky, author, founder, and leading thinker in the AI space, and its impact on the AI community. On this show Michael and Sheila discuss: Connective threads of drama. 2:38What happens when you know that you're right? 4:54The rise of Ai and the potential for regulation. 5:29How do we establish a decentralized world? 7:15What is the difference between absolute and extreme thinking? 9:27Ethical and intellectual perspectives. 10:50The core thesis of the paper. 14:26The core premise of Bittensor.io. 15:33The governance question around open AI. 19.03The problem with Web 3.0. 25:28Capitalism vs. Governance. 28:50The bias of people who get into cryptocurrency. 33:47The positive vision of AI. 35:35Protecting the status quo vs. imperialism. 38:19 See Also:General documentation: https://docs.bittensor.comBittensor whitepaper: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VnsobL6lIAAqcA1_Tbm8AYIQscfJV4KU/viewAcademic paper (NeuralIPS 2022 publication): https://ai-secure.github.io/DMLW2022/assets/papers/6.pdfSlideslive Video: https://nips.cc/virtual/2022/62821-EY blockchain solutions can transform the business lifecycle for digital ecosystems, by promoting trust, transparency, privacy and efficiency. EY: Helping you build a better working world. Find out more at blockchain.ey.comBrave is the privacy browser used by almost 60 million people worldwide. The built-in Brave Wallet is your secure passport to Web3. It supports over 100 chains, fiat purchases, swaps, NFTs, and even connects with other wallets and DApps. All right in your browser. No risky extensions, no spoofing. Learn more at brave.com/wallet.-Money Reimagined has been produced and edited by senior producer Michele Musso and our executive producer is Jared Schwartz. Our theme song is “AITA” by Neon Beach.Join the most important conversation in crypto and Web3 at Consensus 2023, happening April 26-28 in Austin, Texas. Come and immerse yourself in all that Web3, crypto, blockchain and the metaverse have to offer. Use code MONEYREIMAGINED to get 15% off your pass. Visit coindesk.com/consensus.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

From Tanzania to India, from Tibet to Antarctica, Dr. Jonathan Reisman, our guest in this episode, has practiced medicine in truly diverse regions of the world. Dr. Reisman's talents and passions are unparalleled in their variety; he is, among many things, an emergency physician, naturalist, food writer, travel writer, and wilderness survival expert. He is the author of The Unseen Body, an exploration of the human anatomy through all of its miraculous, mundane, bizarre, and surprising parts, presented through the eyes of a lifelong adventurer. Over the course of our conversation, Dr. Reisman shares his experiences traveling through the most remote areas of the world, what his voyages have taught him about health and illness, the impact of emerging digital technologies on the doctor-patient relationship, and much more.In this episode, you will hear about:How a love of the natural world led young Dr. Reisman to travel abroad and ultimately to the medical profession - 2:04Dr. Reisman's early adventures studying sociology in the Russian Far East - 5:30The parallels between exploring the natural world and the human body - 9:26The puzzle-solving aspects of medicine and the impact of emerging technologies and artificial intelligence - 12:18Dr. Reisman's reflects on his time practicing medicine in India, Tanzania, Nepal, and Antarctica, and the importance of the physical exam in these settings - 21:15The strengths and limitations of the physical exam, especially as they relate to the clinician-patient relationship - 31:53How artificial intelligence will complement human physicians in the future - 36:38What Dr. Reisman believes is critical to the future of medical education - 46:12Dr. Reisman's advice to young clinicians on how to keep their curiosity alive - 55:10Dr. Jonathan Reisman is the author of The Unseen Body: A Doctor's Journey Through the Hidden Wonders of the Human Anatomy.Visit our website www.TheDoctorsArt.com where you can find transcripts of all episodes.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our show, available for free on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you know of a doctor, patient, or anyone working in health care who would love to explore meaning in medicine with us on the show, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments or send an email to info@thedoctorsart.com.Copyright The Doctor's Art Podcast 2023

“Amen, amen, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for what he does, the Son will do also. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed.” John 5:25–26The most central and most glorious mystery of our faith is that of the Most Holy Trinity. God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one God yet three distinct Persons. As divine “Persons,” each one is distinct; but as one God, each Person acts in perfect union with the others. In today's Gospel, Jesus clearly identifies the Father in Heaven as His Father and clearly states that He and His Father are one. For this reason, there were those who wanted to kill Jesus because He “called God his own father, making himself equal to God.”The sad reality is that the greatest and most glorious truth of God's inner life, the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity, was one of the primary reasons that some chose to hate Jesus and sought His life. Clearly, it was their ignorance of this glorious truth that drove them to this hatred.We call the Holy Trinity a “mystery,” not because they cannot be known but because our knowledge of Who They are can never be fully understood. For eternity, we will enter deeper and deeper into our knowledge of the Trinity and be “amazed” on a continually deepening level.One additional aspect of the mystery of the Trinity is that each one of us is called to share in Their very life. We will forever remain distinct from God; but, as many of the early Church Fathers liked to say, we must become “divinized,” meaning, we must share in God's divine life through our union of body and soul with Christ Jesus. That union also unites us with the Father and the Spirit. This truth should also leave us “amazed,” as we read in the passage above.As we continue to read this week from the Gospel of John and continue to ponder the mysterious and profound teaching of Jesus on His relationship with the Father in Heaven, it is essential that we not simply gloss over the mysterious language Jesus uses. Rather, we must prayerfully enter the mystery and allow our penetration of this mystery to leave us truly amazed. Amazement and transforming edification is the only good response. We will never fully understand the Trinity, but we must allow the truth of our Triune God to take hold of us and enrichen us, at very least, in a way that knows how much we do not know—and that knowledge leaves us in awe. Reflect, today, upon the sacred mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. Pray that God reveals Himself more fully to your mind and more completely consume your will. Pray that you will be able to share deeply in the life of the Trinity so that you will be filled with a holy amazement and awe. Most holy and triune God, the love You share within Your very being of Father, Son and Holy Spirit is beyond my comprehension. The mystery of Your triune life is a mystery of the greatest degree. Draw me in, dear Lord, to the life You share with Your Father and the Holy Spirit. Fill me with wonder and awe as You invite me to share in Your divine life. Most Holy Trinity, I trust in You. Source of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2023 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Andrew Robinson is a master comic artist, painter, and multimedia artist who has been working in comics for nearly 30 years.  He joins Badr to talk about his upcoming appearance at Collective Con (get your tickets here!), and looks back on his experiences in the comic book industry, including the awards won, friends made, and covers that made him a superstar.  Watch the video version of this interview on YouTube!TOPICS & TIMESTAMPS: Humble beginnings: Growing up on a farm - 04:55Working with Rick Remender throughout the years - 07:14Creating covers for Marvel and DC Comics - 10:14Working with different media, and the life of a working comic artist  - 00:14:50Andrew Robinson's comic artist Mt. Rushmore - 22:36Finding inspiration from jazz album covers - 28:26The difficult process of drawing The Fifth Beatle: The Brian Epstein Story - 32:59Most memorable convention experience - 41:04Advice for aspiring comic creators - 43:48 SUPPORT THE SHOW: Click here to join our Patreon community and get access to bonus episodes and special rewards for as little as a $1. Take your comic experience to the limit by shopping online at Gotham City Limit!Use the discount code "YOO" to save 10%  when you buy merch from our storeProudly sponsored by Collective Con! Support the showGET IN TOUCH WITH US!

OUTLINE of today's show with TIMECODESDavos says: Gig work will be the predominant mode of work within five years.3:17Davos wants you ignorant: "Over time, technology will enable financial stability and discipline without the need for people to gain relevant knowledge."7:02If they control reality, it's not reality12:23CBDC to be in place, on or BEFORE THIS DATE…21:42Stop using the term “woke” and call it what it is.24:15FedNow is CBDC with plausible deniability. Two paths to CBDC are running now in USA31:05The contours of how people are going to be pushed out -.46:31As I predicted climate will be the justification for coming after crypto (in addition to tax evasion and evading sanction)55:36Eliminating local banks and central bank money.58:41INTERVIEW: TN State Senator Frank Niceley joins to talk about what's happening in Tennessee with a state bank. Can CBDC be blocked at state level? Can a state bank help us during an economic crisis? 1:02:43What is the status of efforts to set up a precious metals depository in Tennessee?1:14:26The advantages of having a state bank. Look at North Dakota's experience1:18:39"Catastrophic Contagion" Oct 2022 — they're STILL playing Germ Games and they're going to run the pandemic again1:48:10Despite Congress blocking military jab mandate, while it's waiting on Biden's signature the Pentagon is still kicking people out1:52:50What's going on in the world of social media.2:01:48Elon Musk, transhumanist who became the world's richest man by implementing what the globalists in every country wanted, is now the new idol of the Christian Right.2:04:40Gun shops and customers are claiming that credit card firms and banks are restricting their firearm purchases.2:26:38Climate protesters glued themselves to the podium at a concert and to a road — but the joke was on THEM2:31:24Retired Navy Seal who "transitioned" — and was celebrated by Michael Flynn for doing so — speaks out about the gaslighting of children after he's come to his senses.2:41:17New terminology for the murder of mature babies by the Associated Press and their "style book". 2:54:05If you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-show Or you can send a donation throughZelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at:  $davidknightshowBTC to:  bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Mail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Money is only what YOU hold: Go to DavidKnight.gold for great deals on physical gold/silver

OUTLINE of today's show with TIMECODESDavos says: Gig work will be the predominant mode of work within five years.3:17Davos wants you ignorant: "Over time, technology will enable financial stability and discipline without the need for people to gain relevant knowledge."7:02If they control reality, it's not reality12:23CBDC to be in place, on or BEFORE THIS DATE…21:42Stop using the term “woke” and call it what it is.24:15FedNow is CBDC with plausible deniability. Two paths to CBDC are running now in USA31:05The contours of how people are going to be pushed out -.46:31As I predicted climate will be the justification for coming after crypto (in addition to tax evasion and evading sanction)55:36Eliminating local banks and central bank money.58:41INTERVIEW: TN State Senator Frank Niceley joins to talk about what's happening in Tennessee with a state bank. Can CBDC be blocked at state level? Can a state bank help us during an economic crisis? 1:02:43What is the status of efforts to set up a precious metals depository in Tennessee?1:14:26The advantages of having a state bank. Look at North Dakota's experience1:18:39"Catastrophic Contagion" Oct 2022 — they're STILL playing Germ Games and they're going to run the pandemic again1:48:10Despite Congress blocking military jab mandate, while it's waiting on Biden's signature the Pentagon is still kicking people out1:52:50What's going on in the world of social media.2:01:48Elon Musk, transhumanist who became the world's richest man by implementing what the globalists in every country wanted, is now the new idol of the Christian Right.2:04:40Gun shops and customers are claiming that credit card firms and banks are restricting their firearm purchases.2:26:38Climate protesters glued themselves to the podium at a concert and to a road — but the joke was on THEM2:31:24Retired Navy Seal who "transitioned" — and was celebrated by Michael Flynn for doing so — speaks out about the gaslighting of children after he's come to his senses.2:41:17New terminology for the murder of mature babies by the Associated Press and their "style book". 2:54:05If you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-show Or you can send a donation throughZelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at:  $davidknightshowBTC to:  bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Mail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Money is only what YOU hold: Go to DavidKnight.gold for great deals on physical gold/silver

OUTLINE of today's show with TIMECODESTrump, the Calvin Coolidge of Free Speech, says censorship on Twitter is grounds to suspend Constitution — gets over 71,000 likes on his platform2:17Trump suspended Constitution 998 days ago by Exec Order for "Covid Emergency"7:07Ironic that "Oath Keepers" going to jail for putting all their faith in a man who broke his oath to ALL his wives, broke his oath to the Constitution, and then left them to twist in the wind10:47Trump's statement allows Biden, FBI, and rogues gallery of former intel officials to pose as "defenders of the Constitution"15:14A quarter of the world's countries used "pandemic rules" to engage in religious persecution21:03After Friday's interview with Goattree talking about radiation safety concerns with earbuds, a listener with Safe Technology in Santa Clara, CA posted a test showing radiation levels on AirPods27:29Switzerland has plans to ban charging EV's as power grid goes wobbly30:53ATF has changed terms of gun control. "Worksheet 4099" shows how they will do GUN CONTROL BY BUREAUCRATIC DICTATE35:47TSA — nothing to show after 20 years. Internal TSA documents said in 2011 there was NO threat to airports or airplanes47:32Latest DHS bulletin is nothing other than malicious political disinformation campaign aimed at their political enemies55:06DeSantis appears to capitulate to Disney. Bob Iger long ago embraced political correctness. "Splash Mountain" ride based on "Song of the South", just one example59:19Musk takes a dump on the previous Twitter censors with a pile of documents. What did Matt Taibbi reveal from the "Twitter Files"?1:10:00BigTech & BigGov have been acting in a conspiracy against free speech and free press for over 4 years.1:19:40The Deep State is a deputized state -.1:20:28A personal example of shadow banning on Twitter, this weekend, and hiding ANY and ALL comments made in response to my tweets1:27:55If they would censor, more conservatives wouldn't even think of using social media.1:43:58How Elon Musk became the richest man the world in history.1:54:34Elon Musk's “green solution” for electric trucks.2:00:02Matt Taibbi's statement at debate on BigMedia — exactly how they sold their soul (and the same applies to many in alt-right media)2:02:28CLIPS: Noam Chomsky clearly stated what freedom of speech is about. But if you look at his anti-vax statements, he does NOT support liberty2:25:52James Woods: Scratch a liberal and you will find a fascist every time (and I would say also a racist)2:32:06Zelensky adds religious persecution2:40:11We're not called to be passive and silent as Christians, but beware of being drawn into partisan alliances that invite political persecution2:45:26The new Supreme Court case about LGBT persecution of a woman who creates websites.2:54:33Find out more about the show and where you can watch it at TheDavidKnightShow.comIf you would like to support the show and our family please consider subscribing monthly here: SubscribeStar https://www.subscribestar.com/the-david-knight-show Or you can send a donation throughZelle: @DavidKnightShow@protonmail.comCash App at:  $davidknightshowBTC to:  bc1qkuec29hkuye4xse9unh7nptvu3y9qmv24vanh7Mail: David Knight POB 994 Kodak, TN 37764Money is only what YOU hold: Go to DavidKnight.gold for great deals on physical gold/silver