Podcasts about as stephen

As Stephen delivers his final words. He pleads with his accusers to consider God's Glory. Please listen as Pastor Jared continues to unpack this important truth! In this sermon, Jared discusses how we receive God's glory through the written scriptures. When we read scripture we have the opportunity to hear the voice of God!

As Stephen delivers his final words. He pleads with his accusers to consider God's Glory. Please listen as Pastor Jared continues to unpack this important truth! In this sermon, Jared discusses how Moses would have been the most qualified to speak about the glory of God. 

As Stephen delivers his final words. He pleads with his accusers to consider God's Glory. Please listen as pastor Jared begins to unpack this important truth! This week we look at the example of Abraham and his faith.

About JamesJames is the Redmonk co-founder, sunshine in a bag, industry analyst loves developers, "motivating in a surreal kind of way". Came up with "progressive delivery". He/HimLinks: RedMonk: https://redmonk.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MonkChips Monktoberfest: https://monktoberfest.com/ Monki Gras: https://monkigras.com/ TranscriptAnnouncer: Hello, and welcome to Screaming in the Cloud with your host, Cloud Economist Corey Quinn. This weekly show features conversations with people doing interesting work in the world of Cloud, thoughtful commentary on the state of the technical world, and ridiculous titles for which Corey refuses to apologize. This is Screaming in the Cloud.Corey: Your company might be stuck in the middle of a DevOps revolution without even realizing it. Lucky you! Does your company culture discourage risk? Are you willing to admit it? Does your team have clear responsibilities? Depends on who you ask. Are you struggling to get buy in on DevOps practices? Well, download the 2021 State of DevOps report brought to you annually by Puppet since 2011 to explore the trends and blockers keeping evolution firms stuck in the middle of their DevOps evolution. Because they fail to evolve or die like dinosaurs. The significance of organizational buy in, and oh it is significant indeed, and why team identities and interaction models matter. Not to mention weither the use of automation and the cloud translate to DevOps success. All that and more awaits you. Visit: www.puppet.com to download your copy of the report now!Corey: And now for something completely different!Corey: Welcome to Screaming in the Cloud. I'm Corey Quinn. I'm joined this week by James Governor, analyst and co-founder of a boutique analysis shop called RedMonk. James, thank you for coming on the show.James: Oh, it's my pleasure. Corey.Corey: I've more or less had to continue pestering you with invites onto this for years because it's a high bar, but you are absolutely one of my favorite people in tech for a variety of reasons that I'm sure we're going to get into. But first, let's let you tell the story. What is it you'd say it is that you do here?James: We—industry analysts; we're a research firm, as you said. I think we do things slightly differently. RedMonk has a very strong opinion about how the industry works. And so whilst there are plenty of research firms that look at the industry, and technology adoption, and process adoption through the lens of the purchaser, RedMonk focuses on it through the lens of the practitioner: the developer, the SRE, the people that are really doing the engineering. And so, historically IT was a top-down function: it required a lot of permission; it was something that was slow, you would make a request, you might get some resources six to nine months later, and they were probably the resources that you didn't actually want, but something that was purchased from somebody that was particularly good at selling things.Corey: Yes. And the thing that you were purchasing was aimed at people who are particularly good at buying things, but not using the things.James: Exactly right. And so I think that RedMonk we look at the world—the new world, which is based on the fact there's open-source software, there's cloud-based software, there are platforms like GitHub. So, there's all of this knowledge out there, and increasingly—it's not a permission-free world. But technology adoption is more strongly influenced than ever by developers. That's what RedMonk understands; that's what makes us tick; that's what excites us. What are the decisions that developers are making? When and why? And how can we tap into that knowledge to help everyone become more effective?Corey: RedMonk is one of those companies that is so rare, it may as well not count when you do a survey of a landscape. We've touched on that before on the show. In 2019, we had your colleague, Rachel Stevens on the show; in 2020, we had your business partner Stephen O'Grady on, and in 2021 we have you. Apparently, you're doling out staff at the rate of one a year. That's okay; I will outlast your expansion plans.James: Yeah, I think you probably will. One thing that RedMonk is not good at doing is growing, which may go to some of the uniqueness that you're talking about. We do what we do very well, but we definitely still haven't worked out what we're going to be when we grow up.Corey: I will admit that every time I see a RedMonk blog post that comes across my desk, I don't even need to click on it anymore; I don't need to read the thing because I already get that sinking feeling, because I know without even glancing at it, I'm going to read this and it's going to be depressing because I'm going to wish I had written it instead because the points are always so pitch-perfect. And it feels like the thing that I struggle to articulate on the best of days, you folks—across the board—just wind up putting out almost effortlessly. Or at least that's how it seems from the outside.James: I think Stephen does that.Corey: It's funny; it's what he said about you.James: I like to sell his ideas, sell his work. He's the brains and the talent of the operation in terms of co-founders. Kelly and Rachel are both incredibly smart people, and yeah, they definitely do a fantastic job of writing with clarity, and getting ideas across by stuff just tends to be sort of jumbled up. I do my best, but certainly, those fully formed, ‘I wish I had written that' pieces, they come from my colleagues. So, thank you very much for that praise of them.Corey: One of the central tenets that RedMonk has always believed and espoused is that developers are kingmakers, to use the term—and I steal that term, of course, from your co-founder's book, The New Kingmakers, which, from my read, was talking about developers. That makes a lot of sense for a lot of tools that see bottom-up adoption, but in a world of cloud, where you're seeing massive deals get signed, I don't know too many developers out there who can sign a 50 million dollar cloud services contract more than once because they get fired the first time they outstrip their authority. Do you think that that model is changing?James: So, ‘new kingmakers' is quite a gendered term, and I have been asked to reconsider its use because, I mean, I don't know whether it should be ‘new monarchmakers?' That aside, developers are a fundamentally influential constituency. It's important, I think, to say that they themselves are not necessarily the monarchs; they are not the ones sitting in Buckingham Palace [laugh] or whatever, but they are influences. And it's important to understand the difference between influence and purchase. You're absolutely right, Corey, the cloud is becoming more, like traditional IT. Something I noticed with your good friends at GCP, this was shortly after the article came out that they were going to cut bait if they didn't get to number two after whatever period of time it was, they then went intentionally inside a bunch of 10-year deals with massive enterprises, I guess, to make it clear that they are in it for the long haul. But yeah, were developers making that decision? No. On the other hand, we don't talk to any organizations that are good at creating digital products and services—and increasingly, that's something that pretty much everybody needs to do—that do not pay a lot more attention to the needs and desires of their developers. They are reshoring, they are not outsourcing everything, they want developers that are close to the business, that understand the business, and they're investing heavily in those people. And rather than seeing them as, sort of, oh, we're going to get the cheapest possible people we can that have some Java skills and hope that these applications aren't crap. It may not be Netflix, “Hey, we're going to pay above market rate,” but it's certainly what do they want? What tools do they want to use? How can we help them become more effective? And so yeah, you might sign a really big deal, but you still want to be thinking, “Hang on a minute, what are the skills that people have? What is going to make them happy? What do they know? Because if they aren't productive, if they aren't happy, we may lose them, and they are very, very important talent.” So, they may not be the people with 50 million dollars in budget, but their opinion is indeed important. And I think that RedMonk is not saying there is no such thing as top-down purchasing anymore. What we are saying is that you need to be serving the needs of this very important constituency, and they will make you more productive. The happier they are, the more flow they can have, the more creative they can be with the tools at hand, the better the business outcomes are going to be. So, it's really about having a mindset and an organizational structure that enables you to become more effective by better serving the needs of developers, frankly. It used to just be the only tech companies had to care about that, but now everybody does. I mean, if we look at, whoever it is: Lego, or Capital One, or Branch, the new insurance company—I love Branch, by the way. I mean—Corey: Yeah. They're fantastic people, I love working with them. I wish I got to spend more time talking with them. So far, all I can do is drag them on to the podcast and argue on Twitter, but one of these days, one of these days, they're going to have an AWS bill bigger than 50 cents a month, and then, oh, then I've got them.James: There you go. But I think that the thing of him intentionally saying we're not going to set up—I mean, are they in Columbus, I think?Corey: They are. The greater Ohio region, yes.James: Yes. And Joe is all about, we need tools that juniors can be effective with, and we need to satisfy the needs of those juniors so they can be productive in driving our business forward. Juniors is already—and perhaps as a bad term, but new entrants into the industry, and how can we support them where they are, but also help them gain new skills to become more effective? And I just think it's about a different posture, and I think they're a great example because not everybody is south of Market, able to pay 350 grand a year plus stock options. That's just not realistic for most businesses. So, it is important to think about developers and their needs, the skills they learned, if they're from a non-traditional background, what are those skills? How can we support them and become more effective?Corey: That's really what it comes down to. We're all trying to do more with less, but rather than trying to work twice as hard, how to become more effective with the time we have and still go home in time for dinner every day?James: Definitely. I have to say, I mean, 2020 sucked in lots of ways, but not missing a single meal with my family definitely was not one of them.Corey: Yeah. There are certain things I'm willing to trade and certain things I'm not. And honestly, family time is one of them. So, I met you—I don't even recall what year—because what is even time anymore in this pandemic era?—where we sat down and grabbed a drink, I want to say it was at Google Cloud Next—the conference that Google does every year about their cloud—not that Google loses interest in things, but even their conference is called ‘Next'—but I didn't know what to expect when I sat down and spoke with you, and I got the sense you had no idea what to make of me back then because I was basically what I am now, only less fully formed. I was obnoxious on Twitter, I had barely coherent thoughts that I could periodically hurl into the abyss and see if they resonated, but stands out is one of the seminal grabbing a drink with someone moments in the course of my career.James: Well, I mean, fledgling Corey was pretty close to where he is now. But yeah, you bring something unique to the table. And I didn't totally know what to expect; I knew there would be snark. But yeah, it was certainly a pleasure to meet you, and I think that whenever I meet someone, I'm always interested in if there is any way I can help them. And it was nice because you're clearly a talented fellow and everything else, but it was like, are there some areas where I might be able to help? I mean, I think that's a good position as a human meeting another human. And yeah, it was a pleasure. I think it was in the Intercontinental, I guess, in [unintelligible 00:11:00].Corey: Yes, that's exactly where it was. Good memory. In fact, I can tell you the date: it was April 11 of 2019. And I know that because right after we finished having a drink, you tweeted out a GIF of Snow White carving a pie, saying, “QuinnyPig is an industry analyst.” And the first time I saw that, it was, “I thought he liked me. Why on earth would he insult me that way?”But it turned into something where when you have loud angry opinions, if you call yourself an analyst, suddenly people know what to do with you. I'm not kidding, I had that tweet laser engraved on a piece of wood through Laser Tweets. It is sitting on my shelf right now, which is how I know the date because it's the closest thing I have to a credential in almost anything that I do. So, congratulations, you're the accrediting university. Good job.James: [laugh]. I credentialed you. How about that?Corey: It's true, though. It didn't occur to me that analysts were a real thing. I didn't know what it was, and that's part of what we talked about at lunch, where it seemed that every time I tried to articulate what I do, people got confused. Analyst is not that far removed from an awful lot of what I do. And as I started going to analyst events, and catching up with other analysts—you know, the real kind of analyst, I would say, “I feel like a fake analyst. I have no idea what I'm actually doing.” And they said, “You are an analyst. Welcome to the club. We meet at the bar.” It turns out, no one really knows what is going on, fully, in this zany industry, and I feel like that the thing that we all bond over on some level is the sense of, we each only see a piece of it, and we try and piece it together with our understanding of the world and ideally try and make some sense out of it. At least, that's my off-the-cuff definition of an industry analyst. As someone who's an actual industry analyst, and not just a pretend one on Twitter, what's your take on the subject?James: Well, it's a remarkable privilege, and it's interesting because it is an uncredentialed job. Anybody can be, theoretically at least, an industry analyst. If people say you are and think you are, then then you are; you walk and quack like a duck. It's basically about research and trying to understand a problem space and trying to articulate and help people to basically become more effective by understanding that problem space themselves, more. So, it might be about products, as I say, it might be about processes, but for me, I've just always enjoyed research. And I've always enjoyed advice. You need a particular mindset to give people advice. That's one of the key things that, as an industry analyst, you're sort of expected to do. But yeah, it's the getting out there and learning from people that is the best part of the job. And I guess that's why I've been doing it for such an ungodly long time; because I love learning, and I love talking to people, and I love trying to help people understand stuff. So, it suits me very well. It's basically a job, which is about research, analysis, communication.Corey: The research part is the part that I want to push back on because you say that, and I cringe. On paper, I have an eighth-grade education. And academia was never really something that I was drawn to, excelled at, or frankly, was even halfway competent at for a variety of reasons. So, when you say ‘research,' I think of something awful and horrible. But then I look at the things I do when I talk to companies that are building something, and then I talked to the customers who are using the thing the company's building, and, okay, those two things don't always align as far as conversations go, so let's take this thing that they built, and I'll build something myself with it in an afternoon and see what the real story is. And it never occurred to me until we started having conversations to view that through the lens of well, that is actual research. I just consider it messing around with computers until something explodes.James: Well, I think. I mean, that is research, isn't it?Corey: I think so. I'm trying to understand what your vision of research is. Because from where I sit, it's either something negative and boring or almost subverting the premises you're starting with to a point where you can twist it back on itself in some sort of ridiculous pretzel and come out with something that if it's not functional, at least it's hopefully funny.James: The funny part I certainly wish that I could get anywhere close to the level of humor that you bring to the table on some of the analysis. But look, I mean, yes, it's easy to see things as a sort of dry. Look, I mean, a great job I had randomly in my 20s, I sort of lied, fluked, lucked my way into researching Eastern European art and architecture. And a big part of the job was going to all of these amazing museums and libraries in and around London, trying to find catalogs from art exhibitions. And you're learning about [Anastasi Kremnica 00:15:36], one of the greatest exponents of the illuminated manuscript and just, sort of, finding out about this interesting work, you're finding out that some of the articles in this dictionary that you're researching for had been completely made up, and that there wasn't a bibliography, these were people that were writing for free and they just made shit up, so… but I just found that fascinating, and if you point me at a body of knowledge, I will enjoy learning stuff. So, I totally know what you mean; one can look at it from a, is this an academic pursuit? But I think, yeah, I've just always enjoyed learning stuff. And in terms of what is research, a lot of what RedMonk does is on the qualitative side; we're trying to understand what people think of things, why they make the choices that they do, you have thousands of conversations, synthesize that into a worldview, you may try and play with those tools, you can't always do that. I mean, to your point, play with things and break things, but how deep can you go? I'm talking to developers that are writing in Rust; they're writing in Go, they're writing in Node, they're writing in, you know, all of these programming languages under the sun. I don't know every programming language, so you have to synthesize. I know a little bit and enough to probably cut off my own thumb, but it's about trying to understand people's experience. And then, of course, you have a chance to bring some quantitative things to the table. That was one of the things that RedMonk for a long time, we'd always—we were always very wary of, sort of, quantitative models in research because you see this stuff, it's all hockey sticks, it's all up into the right—Corey: Yeah. You have that ridiculous graph thing, which I'm sorry, I'm sure has an official name. And every analyst firm has its own magic name, whether it's a ‘Magic Quadrant,' or the ‘Forrester Wave,' or, I don't know, ‘The Crushing Pit Of Despair.' I don't know what company is which. But you have the programming language up-and-to-the-right line graph that I'm not sure the exact methodology, but you wind up placing slash ranking all of the programming languages that are whatever body of work you're consuming—I believe it might be Stack Overflow—James: Yeah.Corey: —and people look for that whenever it comes out. And for some reason, no one ever yells at you the way that they would if you were—oh, I don't know, a woman—or someone who didn't look like us, with our over-represented faces.James: Well, yeah. There is some of that. I mean, look, there are two defining forces to the culture. One is outrage, and if you can tap into people's outrage, then you're golden—Corey: Oh, rage-driven development is very much a thing. I guess I shouldn't be quite as flippant. It's kind of magic that you can wind up publishing these things as an organization, and people mostly accept it. People pay attention to it; it gets a lot of publicity, but no one argues with you about nonsense, for the most, part that I've seen.James: I mean, so there's a couple of things. One is outrage; universal human thing, and too much of that in the culture, but it seems to work in terms of driving attention. And the other is confirmation bias. So, I think the beauty of the programming language rankings—which is basically a scatterplot based on looking at conversations in StackOverflow and some behaviors in GitHub, and trying to understand whether they correlate—we're very open about the methodology. It's not something where—there are some other companies where you don't actually know how they've reached the conclusions they do. And we've been doing it for a long time; it is somewhat dry. I mean, when you read the post the way Stephen writes it, he really does come across quite academic; 20 paragraphs of explication of the methodology followed by a few paragraphs explaining what we found with the research. Every time we publish it, someone will say, “CSS is not a programming language,” or, “Why is COBOL not on there?” And it's largely a function of methodology. So, there's always raged to be had.Corey: Oh, absolutely. Channeling rage is basically one of my primary core competencies.James: There you go. So, I think that it's both. One of the beauties of the thing is that on any given day when we publish it, people either want to pat themselves on the back and say, “Hey, look, I've made a really good choice. My programming language is becoming more popular,” or they are furious and like, “Well, come on, we're not seeing any slow down. I don't know why those RedMonk folks are saying that.” So, in amongst those two things, the programming language rankings was where we began to realize that we could have a footprint that was a bit more quantitative, and trying to understand the breadcrumbs that developers were dropping because the simple fact is, is—look, when we look at the platforms where developers do their work today, they are in effect instrumented. And you can understand things, not with a survey where a lot of good developers—a lot of people in general—are not going to fill in surveys, but you can begin to understand people's behaviors without talking to them, and so for RedMonk, that's really thrilling. So, if we've got a model where we can understand things by talking to people, and understand things by not talking to people, then we're cooking with gas.Corey: I really love installing, upgrading, and fixing security agents in my cloud estate! Why do I say that? Because I sell things, because I sell things for a company that deploys an agent, there's no other reason. Because let's face it. Agents can be a real headache. Well, now Orca Security gives you a single tool that detects basically every risk in your cloud environment -- and that's as easy to install and maintain as a smartphone app. It is agentless, or my intro would've gotten me into trouble here, but  it can still see deep into your AWS workloads, while guaranteeing 100% coverage. With Orca Security, there are no overlooked assets, no DevOps headaches, and believe me you will hear from those people if you cause them headaches. and no performance hits on live environments. Connect your first cloud account in minutes and see for yourself at orca.security. Thats “Orca” as in whale, “dot” security as in that things you company claims to care about but doesn't until right after it really should have.Corey: One of the I think most defining characteristics about you is that, first, you tend to undersell the weight your words carry. And I can't figure out, honestly, whether that is because you're unaware of them, or you're naturally a modest person, but I will say you're absolutely one of my favorite Twitter follows; @monkchips. If you're not following James, you absolutely should be. Mostly because of what you do whenever someone gives you a modicum of attention, or of credibility, or of power, and that is you immediately—it is reflexive and clearly so, you reach out to find someone you can use that credibility to lift up. It's really an inspirational thing to see. It's one of the things that if I could change anything about myself, it would be to make that less friction-full process, and I think it only comes from practice. You're the kind of person I think—I guess I'm trying to say that I aspire to be in ways that are beyond where I already am.James: [laugh]. Well, that's very charming. Look, we are creatures of extreme privilege. I mean, I say you and I specifically, but people in this industry generally. And maybe not enough people recognize that privilege, but I do, and it's just become more and more clear to me the longer I've been in this industry, that privilege does need to be more evenly distributed. So, if I can help someone, I naturally will. I think it is a muscle that I've exercised, don't get me wrong—Corey: Oh, it is a muscle and it is a skill that can absolutely be improved. I was nowhere near where I am now, back when I started. I gave talks early on in my speaking career, about how to handle a job interview. What I accidentally built was, “How to handle a job interview if you're a white guy in tech,” which it turns out is not the inclusive message I wanted to be delivering, so I retired the talk until I could rebuild it with someone who didn't look like me and give it jointly.James: And that's admirable. And that's—Corey: I wouldn't say it's admirable. I'd say it's the bare minimum, to be perfectly honest.James: You're too kind. I do what I can, it's a very small amount. I do have a lot of privilege, and I'm aware that not everybody has that privilege. And I'm just a work in progress. I'm doing my best, but I guess what I would say is the people listening is that you do have an opportunity, as Corey said about me just now, maybe I don't realize the weight of my words, what I would say is that perhaps you have privileges you can share, that you're not fully aware that you have. In sharing those privileges, in finding folks that you can help it does make you feel good. And if you would like to feel better, trying to help people in some small way is one of the ways that you can feel better. And I mentioned outrage, and I was sort of joking in terms of the programming language rankings, but clearly, we live in a culture where there is too much outrage. And so to take a step back and help someone, that is a very pure thing and makes you feel good. So, if you want to feel a bit less outraged, feel that you've made an impact, you can never finish a day feeling bad about the contribution you've made if you've helped someone else. So, we do have a rare privilege, and I get a lot out of it. And so I would just say it works for me, and in an era when there's a lot of anger around, helping people is usually the time when you're not angry. And there's a lot to be said for that.Corey: I'll take it beyond that. It's easy to cast this in a purely feel-good, oh, you'll give something up in order to lift people up. It never works that way. It always comes back in some weird esoteric way. For example, I go to an awful lot of conferences during, you know, normal years, and I see an awful lot of events and they're all—hmm—how to put this?—they're all directionally the same. The RedMonk events are hands down the exception to all of that. I've been to Monktoberfest once, and I keep hoping to go to—I'm sorry, was it Monki Gras is the one in the UK?James: Monki Gras, yeah.Corey: Yeah. It's just a different experience across the board where I didn't even speak and I have a standing policy just due to time commitments not to really attend conferences I'm not speaking at. I made an exception, both due to the fact that it's RedMonk, so I wanted to see what this event was all about, and also it was in Portland, Maine; my mom lived 15 minutes away, it's an excuse to go back, but not spend too much time. So, great. It was more or less a lark, and it is hands down the number one event I will make it a point to attend. And I put that above re:Invent, which is the center of my cloud-y universe every year, just because of the stories that get told, the people that get invited, just the sheer number of good people in one place is incredible. And I don't want to sound callous, or crass pointing this out, but more business for my company came out of that conference from casual conversations than any other three conferences you can name. It was phenomenal. And it wasn't because I was there setting up an expo booth—there isn't an expo hall—and it isn't because I went around harassing people into signing contracts, which some people seem to think is how it works. It's because there were good people, and I got to have great conversations. And I kept in touch with a lot of folks, and those relationships over time turned into business because that's the way it works.James: Yeah. I mean, we don't go big, we go small. We focus on creating an intimate environment that's safe and inclusive and makes people feel good. We strongly curate the events we run. As Stephen explicitly says in terms of the talks that he accepts, these are talks that you won't hear elsewhere. And we try and provide a platform for some different kind of thinking, some different voices, and we just had some magical, magical speakers, I think, at both events over the years. So, we keep it down to sort of the size of a village; we don't want to be too much over the Dunbar number. And that's where rich interactions between humans emerge. The idea, I think, at our conference is, is that over a couple of days, you will actually get to know some people, and know them well. And we have been lucky enough to attract many kind, and good, and nice people, and that's what makes the event so great. It's not because of Steve, or me, or the others on the team putting it together. It's about the people that come. And they're wonderful, and that's why it's a good event. The key there is we focus on amazing food and drink experiences, really nice people, and keep it small, and try and be as inclusive as you can. One of the things that we've done within the event is we've had a diversity and inclusion sponsorship. And so folks like GitHub, and MongoDB, and Red Hat have been kind enough—I mean, Red Hat—interestingly enough the event as a whole, Red Hat has sponsored Monktoberfest every year it's been on. But the DNI sponsorship is interesting because what we do with that is we look at that as an opportunity. So, there's a few things. When you're running an event, you can solve the speaker problem because there is an amazing pipeline of just fantastic speakers from all different kinds of backgrounds. And I think we do quite well on that, but the DNI sponsorship is really about having a program with resources to make sure that your delegates begin to look a little bit more diverse as well. And that may involve travel stipends, as well as free tickets, accommodation, and so on, which is not an easy one to pull off.Corey: But it's necessary. I mean, I will say one of the great things about this past year of remote—there have been a lot of trials and tribulations, don't get me wrong—but the fact that suddenly all these conferences are available to anyone with an internet connection is a huge accessibility story. When we go back to in-person events, I don't want to lose that.James: Yeah, I agree. I mean, I think that's been one of the really interesting stories of the—and it is in so many dimensions. I bang on about this a lot, but so much talent in tech from Nigeria. Nigeria is just an amazing, amazing geography, huge population, tons of people doing really interesting work, educating themselves, and pushing and driving forward in tech, and then we make it hard for them to get visas to travel to the US or Europe. And I find that to be… disappointing. So, opening it up to other geographies—which is one of the things that free online events does—is fantastic. You know, perhaps somebody has some accessibility needs, and they just—it's harder for them to travel. Or perhaps you're a single parent and you're unable to travel. Being able to dip into all of these events, I think is potentially a transformative model vis-à-vis inclusion. So, yeah, I hope, A) that you're right, and, B) that we as an industry are intentional because without being intentional, we're not going to realize those benefits, without understanding there were benefits, and we can indeed lower some of the barriers to entry participation, and perhaps most importantly, provide the feedback loop. Because it's not enough to let people in; you need to welcome them. I talked about the DNI program: we have—we're never quite sure what to call them. We call them mentors or things like that, but people to welcome people into the community, make introductions, this industry, sometimes it's, “Oh, great. We've got new people, but then we don't support them when they arrive.” And that's one of the things as an industry we are, frankly, bad at, and we need to get better at it.Corey: I could not agree with you more strongly. Every time I wind up looking at building an event or whatnot or seeing other people's events, it's easy to criticize, but I try to extend grace as much as possible. But whenever I see an event that is very clearly built by people with privilege, for people with privilege, it rubs me the wrong way. And I'm getting worse and worse with time at keeping my mouth shut about that thing. I know, believe it or not, I am capable of keeping my mouth shut from time to time or so I'm told. But it's irritating, it rankles because it's people not taking advantage of their privileged position to help others and that, at some point, bugs me.James: Me too. That's the bottom line, we can and must do better. And so things that, sort of, make you proud of every year, I change my theme for Monki Gras, and, you know, it's been about scaling your craft, it's been about homebrews—so that was sort of about your side gig. It wasn't about the hustle so much as just things people were interested in. Sometimes a side project turns into something amazing in its own right. I've done Scandinavian craft—the influence of the Nordics on our industry. We talk about privilege: every conference that you go to is basically a conference about what San Francisco thinks. So, it was nice to do something where I looked at the influence of Scandinavian craft and culture. Anyway, to get to my point, I did the conference one year about accessibility. I called it ‘accessible craft.' And we had some folks from a group called Code Your Future, which is a nonprofit which is basically training refugees to code. And when you've got a wheelchair-bound refugee at your conference, then you may be doing something right. I mean, the whole wheelchair thing is really interesting because it's so easy to just not realize. And I had been doing these conferences in edgy venues. And I remember walking with my sister, Saffron, to check out one of the potential venues. It was pretty cool, but when we were walking there, there were all these broken cobblestones, and there were quite a lot of heavy vehicles on the road next to it. And it was just very clear that for somebody that had either issues with walking or frankly, with their sight, it just wasn't going to fly anymore. And I think doing the accessibility conference was a watershed for me because we had to think through so many things that we had not given enough attention vis-à-vis accessibility and inclusion.Corey: I think it's also important to remember that if you're organizing a conference and someone in a wheelchair shows up, you don't want to ask that person to do extra work to help accommodate that person. You want to reach out to experts on this; take the burden on yourself. Don't put additional labor on people who are already in a relatively challenging situation. I feel like it's one of those basic things that people miss.James: Well, that's exactly right. I mean, we offered basically, we were like, look, we will pay for your transport. Get a cab that is accessible. But when he was going to come along, we said, “Oh, don't worry, we've made sure that everything is accessible.” We actually had to go further out of London. We went to the Olympic Park to run it that year because we're so modern, and the investments they made for the Olympics, the accessibility was good from the tube, to the bus, and everything else. And the first day, he came along and he was like, “Oh, I got the cab because I didn't really believe that the accessibility would work.” And I think on the second day, he just used the shuttle bus because he saw that the experience was good. So, I think that's the thing; don't make people do the work. It's our job to do the work to make a better environment for as many people as possible.Corey: James, before we call it a show, I have to ask. Your Twitter name is @monkchips and it is one of the most frustrating things in the world trying to keep up with you because your Twitter username doesn't change, but the name that goes above it changes on what appears to be a daily basis. I always felt weird asking you this in person, when I was in slapping distance, but now we're on a podcast where you can't possibly refuse to answer. What the hell is up with that?James: Well, I think if something can be changeable, if something can be mutable, then why not? It's a weird thing with Twitter is that it enables that, and it's just something fun. I know it can be sort of annoying to people. I used to mess around with my profile picture a lot; that was the thing that I really focused on. But recently, at least, I just—there are things that I find funny, or dumb, or interesting, and I'll just make that my username. It's not hugely intentional, but it is, I guess, a bit of a calling card. I like puns; it's partly, you know, why you do something. Because you can, so I've been more consistent with my profile picture. If you keep changing both of them all the time, that's probably suboptimal. Sounds good.Corey: Sounds good. It just makes it hard to track who exactly—“Who is this lunatic, and how did they get into my—oh, it's James, again.” Ugh, branding is hard. At least you're not changing your picture at the same time. That would just be unmanageable.James: Yeah, no, that's what I'm saying. I think you've got to do—you can't do both at the same time and maintain—Corey: At that point, you're basically fleeing creditors.James: Well, that may have happened. Maybe that's an issue for me.Corey: James, I want to thank you for taking as much time as you have to tolerate my slings, and arrows, and other various vocal devices. If people want to learn more about who you are, what you believe, what you're up to, and how to find you. Where are you hiding?James: Yeah, I mean, I think you've said already, that was very kind: I am at @monkchips. I'm not on topic. I think as this conversation has shown, I [laugh] don't think we've spoken as much about technology as perhaps we should, given the show is normally about the cloud.Corey: The show is normally about the business of cloud, and people stories are always better than technology stories because technology is always people.James: And so, yep, I'm all over the map; I can be annoying; I wear my heart on my sleeve. But I try and be kind as much as I can, and yeah, I tweet a lot. That's the best place to find me. And definitely look at redmonk.com. But I have smart colleagues doing great work, and if you're interested in developers and technology infrastructure, we're a great place to come and learn about those things. And we're very accessible. We love to talk to people, and if you want to get better at dealing with software developers, yeah, you should talk to us. We're nice people and we're ready to chat.Corey: Excellent. We will, of course, throw links to that in the [show notes 00:37:03]. James, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. I really do appreciate it.James: My pleasure. But you've made me feel like a nice person, which is a bit weird.Corey: I know, right? That's okay. You can go for a walk. Shake it off.James: [laugh].Corey: It'll be okay. James Governor, analyst and co-founder at RedMonk. I'm Cloud Economist Corey Quinn and this is Screaming in the Cloud. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice, whereas if you hated this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice along with an insulting comment in which you attempt to gatekeep being an industry analyst.Announcer: This has been this week's episode of Screaming in the Cloud. You can also find more Corey at screaminginthecloud.com, or wherever fine snark is sold.This has been a HumblePod production. Stay humble.

The religious leaders hate Stephen and want him dead. In this message, Stephen defends himself against the false accusations that have been brought against him. Stephen does this by telling the story of the Jewish nation. He starts by sharing how the nation began through Abraham. He then shares how God saved the nation by raising up Joseph and bringing Jacob's family to Egypt. As Stephen tells the story, He uses the Bible that the religious leaders know to lead them to the Jesus that they do not know. If you are in the neighborhood we would love to have you gather with us on Sundays at 76 Lewis Mill Rd. in Gatesville at 10 a.m. If there is anything we can do for you please reach out and let us know. Connect with us at: hopegatesville.com hopegatesville@gmail.com Online Giving YouTube Facebook

Andy Parks is joined by Stephen Dinan with the latest on his series on border smugglers, 'Dollars over danger: Inside the mind of a smuggler." As Stephen reports, most smugglers say they just need the cash, and some offer sad stories about their circumstances. After years of tracking smuggling cases, Stephen takes a look at what motivates people to get involved and what they say when they are caught. In case after case reviewed by The Washington Times, those arrested in the U.S. on smuggling charges are repeat offenders and are often given a break the first or second time.

Covering immigration like no other, Washington Times reporter Stephen Dinan is here to tell us about just a few of the big stories he broke this week. Up first, how social media is reshaping border crime. As Stephen reports, apps such as TikTok, Snapchat, Telegram, Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp have upended the smuggling world. Connecting migrants with drivers, which used to be tricky in remote areas, is now as easy as messaging a GPS pin to the driver over one of the apps. Stephen also has a story about two soldiers arrested for alien smuggling in Texas after agents say they were caught with two illegal immigrants in the trunk of their car at a Border Patrol checkpoint, where they had hoped their military uniforms would get them through without inspection.

Covering immigration like no other reporter in the country, Stephen Dinan joins Andy Parks with the very latest on Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas saying there is no “invasion” along the Southwest border. He said the new Biden team has succeeded in imposing order on the massive flow of people attempting to jump the boundary. As Stephen reports, Republicans chided him for the claim, pointing to near-record levels of people attempting to cross and the record numbers of some categories of illegal immigrants that are being allowed to stay. Plus, a veteran Border Patrol agent has been charged with helping smuggle illegal immigrants, Homeland Security's inspector general has opened an investigation into a massive no-bid contract ICE doled out to a firm that's holding illegal immigrants in hotels & more.

God's Perfect Plan Bible Study with Jairus – Acts 9 Peter and Paul In Acts 9, we see an abrupt transition from the transformation of Saul/Paul (vs. 1-30) to the story of Peter's ministry (vs. 31-32). Why this abrupt transition? Why does the storyline seem incoherent and inconsistent? To answer this question, let's look back briefly at chapters 7 and 8. Chapter 7 tells the story of Saul guarding the cloaks of those who stoned Stephen to death, and Chapter 8 talks about Philip evangelizing. Chapter 9 tells the story of Saul's conversion. These chapters introduce Saul (Paul), preparing readers to recognize him as the leading apostle and one of the main characters in the book of Acts. Before Paul's appearance, Peter is the leading force of the first-generation apostles, along with the twelve disciples he represents. At the beginning of the book of Acts, Jesus tells the disciples to wait at Jerusalem to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter preached a powerful message through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, bringing salvation to 3000 people. The twelve disciples worked together to preach God's word and bring others to Christ. Later, some widows complained about being ignored in the daily distribution of food. Stephen is introduced as one of the deacons who helped serve meals daily. Writing under the influence of the Holy Spirit, Luke chose to include the story of Stephen so that he could introduce Saul. After Saul is introduced briefly, we continue to follow Peter's story. Peter remains the main figure for a few more chapters. The transition between Peter's storyline and Paul's storyline has not yet completely occurred. Slowly, the focus will be shifted from Peter to Paul. In Acts 13:2, when the prophets and teachers were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit set apart Barnabas and Saul for the work that the Lord called them to. Paul was officially named an apostle, and from then on, he became the main character in the book of Acts. Paul wrote 14 New Testament letters, over half of the New Testament (27 books in total). Paul was clearly the main figure in the New Testament.   The Authority of God's Word Sometimes, we may be tempted to view the structure of Acts as disorganized. We may doubt the authority of God's word because of its seemingly incoherent structure. At the time of the Renaissance, the authority of the Bible was undermined. The church believed the earth was the center of the universe, and they executed Bruno, who advocated for the heliocentric theory of the earth.  They persecuted Copernicus, Galileo, and others, mocking their belief that the Earth is only a few thousand years old and revolves around the Sun. Because of this scientific mistake, many people lost their faith in the authority of the church and the Bible. Instead, science became the mainstream concept. Theology and belief in the Bible were marginalized to an extent. Recently, I took a Systemic Theology class from the United Theological Seminary (UTS). In the class, I learned how the church lost some of its credibility under the pressure of modern science. These factors helped to produce a liberal theology that does not believe in God's miracles and even denies that the Bible is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The church persisted in some traditional teachings that were not in line with the facts. For example, they continued to believe the earth was not round. Because of this, modern scientists who disbelieved the Bible had a chance to criticize them. However, our disregard towards the authority of the Bible can be changed as the Holy Spirit helps us understand it. As the Holy Spirit enlightens us, we will see the authoritative inspiration of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit helps us see that the transition between Paul and Peter are perfectly organized, like beautifully orchestrated movie cuts. If we view the Book of Acts as a movie script, we can see that the Holy Spirit is the best screenplay writer. We may think the organization of certain Bible verses or chapters are fragmented. As the Holy Spirit guides us, we can see that the various storylines in Acts are stitched together in perfect coherence by the best author of all.   The Beautiful Structure of God's Word I often use examples from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to explain the Bible. According to Chinese Medicine, our bodies have many meridians. Wikimedia defines meridians as “paths through which the life-energy known as ‘qi' flows."[1] There are about 20 channels and along them about 400 acupuncture points. The acupuncturists use these acupuncture points and their channels to determine what medicine to use for certain diseases. They say a good combination of these efforts will bring better healing results. Of course not everyone agrees with this theory. I am just using this as an example. When the Holy Spirit inspired authors to write the Bible, he put down lines or hidden structures that flow through the Bible. These lines are just like meridians, or channels, that the Holy Spirit used to express His train of thought. If you are good writer or editor, you understand the importance of following certain threads throughout an entire narrative. A poor writer does not have a coherent thought that flows through his entire writing. The Holy Spirit is God. If we learn to see the coherent thought patterns behind the words on the page, we will marvel at how beautifully God inspired the Scriptures. If we do not understand it well or do not see the hidden line or channels, we will have a hard time understanding the Bible, in part or as a whole. Liberal theologians often deny the authority of the Bible because traditional theology was slow to accept the truths of science or to come in line with fact. Other traditional theology tended to be legalistic, so nonbelievers reject the Bible's truth. To counteract this trend of unbelief, we need to help others grasp the true meaning, coherence, and beauty of the word of God. We can understand this through the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe that God's children will feel it inside their spirit if something is really an illumination from God. As we study the Bible, we are not trying to just understand the written words. We also want to receive the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Often the questions that disturb us most are the very questions that the Holy Spirit wants to answer. At our church's Bible study, a believer shares their insights into the passage, and then we have a Q&A session. We allow people to ask questions about the passage. As we talk and discus the answers, we receive insights and inspiration from the Holy Spirit. As each person shares what God is teaching them, we all learn and grow. Today's discussion is an example of one of these inspirations. A lady asked about the sudden jump from Paul to Peter in this chapter, and the Holy Spirit helped me understand it. As we were discussing this question, I realized that Saul is introduced for the first time at the end of Acts Chapter 7. At the martyrdom of Stephen, Saul agreed to put Stephen to death (7:60). When Stephen was martyred, he was filled with Holy Spirit. He saw God's glory and Jesus standing at His right side. He prayed that God would not charge his murderers with sin, because they did not know what they were doing. This testimony is the root cause of Paul's salvation. The blood of martyrs is the seed that produces the flower and fruit of the gospel. On the one hand, Paul was saved because he was chosen by God and Jesus and because Jesus appeared to him in a vision. On the other hand, he was also saved because of Stephen's testimony. When I was still meeting with the Local Church Movement (LCM), I read a testimony about a man that was saved when the Boxers massacred missionaries. The Boxers used a prison wagon to carry a female missionary to the execution ground. The man in the story was so frightened that he hid behind a door and watched through the crack. He noticed this female missionary was not fearful; instead, her face was full of God's glory. The man was astonished at what he saw. He decided to believe in Christ as Savior. This story shows the power of a martyr's testimony. Stephen's testimony in Chapter 7 began to guide Paul towards salvation. As Stephen exits the stage, Paul begins his appearance. In a way, Paul inherited the spirit of Stephen. And eventually Paul was also martyred for Christ. Luke does not immediately re-introduce Paul in Chapter 8. Instead, he continues by telling the story of Philip spreading Gospel. Philip is not one of the twelve disciples but is one of people chosen to serve food to the widows (Acts 6:5). Here we call him an evangelist. Stephen is also chosen by the disciples to serve food, so the Holy Spirit continues to tell Philip's story after Stephen dies. Philip is a first-generation worker for the Lord, serving under the twelve disciples headed by Peter. Philip's story still falls under the category of ministry headed by Peter. Acts 9:1-31 speaks of Saul meeting Jesus on the road to Damascus. After he was blinded by a bright light, Paul received his sight when Ananias laid hands on him and prayed for him. The chapter mentions that no one would accept Saul as a genuine believer, except Barnabas (9:27). This is a foreshadowing of the fact that God wants to raise up Paul as a servant of the gospel, and that he would work together with Barnabas. This premonition comes true in Chapter 13. Chapters 9-11 continue discussing Peter's service to the Lord, and it's not until Chapter 11 that we hear that Barnabas went to Tarsus to find Saul in order to bring him to Antioch to start serving (11:15-26). Acts 11:30 mentions that Barnabas and Saul brought the donations to Jerusalem from Antioch. Chapter 12 speaks of Peter's miraculous escape from prison. Chapter 12 verse 25 mentions that Barnabas and Paul went back from Jerusalem after they had completed their service, bringing Mark back with them. In Chapter 13, Paul was then introduced formally in the text when the Holy Spirit set apart Barnabas and Saul to become apostles. There are two stories worth mentioning. The first story tells us how Paul went to Jerusalem right after being saved. He attempted to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple (9:26). Only Barnabas accepted him (9:27). These two verses are very interesting. We can see that all circumstances are under God's control. Why did the disciples not want to associate with Paul? God had a hidden purpose for this rejection. God wanted to train Paul first in the wildness. Even though Paul had been saved, God still needed to train him to know Him better and to learn to understand God's revelation. Therefore, God brought Paul into the wilderness of Arabia (Galatians 1:17). Theologians have different opinions on how long Paul stayed there. Some theologians say 14 years, some say seven years, some have other opinions. Even though we don't know the exact length of time Paul stayed in the wilderness, we know he stayed there a long time. Paul may have had a lot of time to pray and fellowship with God. Perhaps this is when he was caught up to the third heaven to receive a supernatural revelation (2 Corinthians 12:2). Maybe in the desert, God continued to work on Paul's personality to prepare him for his future ministry. It was not yet God's time for Paul to step out publicly. But God was preparing him secretly. The previous mention of Barnabas' acceptance of Paul foreshadows the later fact that Barnabas went to search for Paul at Antioch (Chapter 11). The second notable story is the story of Peter's hypocrisy from Galatians Chapter 2. When Peter came to Antioch, he would eat with the Gentiles, but after certain men came from James, he drew back and separated himself from the Gentiles, as he was afraid of those who promoted circumcision. Even Barnabas was led astray. Hence, Paul opposed Peter publicly and rebuked his hypocrisy (Galatians 2:11-13). Peter's weakness may have disqualified him from the responsibility of leadership. Plus, God was ready to bring the gospel to the Gentiles rather than strictly to the Jews. Therefore, Paul's appearance as the apostle of the Gentiles became unavoidable. Barnabas's hypocrisy showed his weakness as well, so he was also disqualified from taking on the new role of leadership. Another important story deals with the relationship between Paul and Barnabas. At first, Barnabas accepted Paul, but later, the two men had a falling out. The Bible leaves no doubt in our minds that that Barnabas was a good man (Acts 11:24). He was very helpful to Paul in his gospel work. When the teachers and prophets had fasted and prayed, the Holy Spirit set apart Barnabas and Saul to become apostles. (When Barnabas was first mentioned, Paul was still called Saul.) If Barnabas was the only one who accepted Saul when he was first saved, why did they later have a falling out? My answer is this: It is not easy to accept new people, but it is even harder to accept the fact that new people have surpassed oneself. I was taught that Barnabas and Paul had an argument about whether or not to take Mark along on the next missionary journey. Perhaps Barnabas had more problems as well, as the Bible never mentions his itinerary after this. I am not sure if this view is correct or not. But in any case, God used Barnabas to introduce Paul to the church, as Paul was God's special chosen vessel. On the other hand, we cannot look at Barnabas and Paul in terms of victory or defeat. God's grace is great, and although the Bible does not continue to follow Barnabas's missionary journeys, it doesn't necessarily mean that Paul was better than him. It only means that God's grace on Paul was greater. Paul was God's chosen vessel, and since he and Barnabas had differing opinions on ministry strategy, Barnabas had to step aside. Barnabas's mission was to bring Paul to the foreground. Now that Paul was on center stage, Barnabas's mission was accomplished. In the same way, John the Baptist's mission was to bring in Jesus, and his mission was completed when the Lord Jesus began his ministry.   Who is Judas? Verse 11 says, “And the Lord said to him, ‘Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying.'” Who is this man, Judas? The Bible does not say. But we know it is not Judas the betrayer. Personally, I think that he is a little-known figure that the Bible has never introduced before. But at an unanticipated time and place, God showed Paul what He had planned for him.   Waiting on God's timing God chose Saul in eternity, but He did not reveal himself to Saul on the first day. God was really holding out on him; he only revealed himself after Saul studied Judaism for many years. In our Christian life, we are all chosen by God, or given a certain calling or promise. God may wait a long time before he reveals your calling to you. Paul was chosen by God from the time he was in his mother's womb, but only years later, when he was on the road to Damascus, did God reveal himself to him. God revealed himself to Paul while he was at the house of Judas. God sent Ananias there to lay hands on and pray for Paul. God knows everything. He knew Paul was going to Damascus to persecute the Christians, and he knew he went to the house of Judas to pray. The great light at Damascus turned Paul from the wrong path. Ananias' prayer in the house of Judas brought Paul onto the right path. After Ananias laid hands on Paul's eyes, immediately something like scales fell from his eyes and he regained sight. From here on out, Paul started to spread the Gospel enthusiastically in Damascus. But God's time had not yet come. Paul soon encountered persecution, and he was forced to leave Damascus and Jerusalem. He went to Caesarea and Tarsus. Later, in Acts 11:25, Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul and bring him to Antioch. Theologians say Saul left Damascus for the first time and then went to the wilderness of Arabia for some time. No matter how long Paul was in the wilderness, the experience in the wilderness was used by God Himself to train Paul and prepare him for future ministry.  Even people like Paul had to go through long periods of training. We should be encouraged that the pruning process is a normal part of God's work in his children's lives. What amazing plans God has for his people! While God was using Peter and the others in the limelight, He was also preparing Paul and others backstage. At the wave of the director's hand, Paul and his companions would come onstage. Paul definitely did not come out from nowhere; God had already been preparing him for that exact time and place. Just like the meridians in TCM I mentioned earlier, the Bible has many lines or channels, themes you can follow through entire chapters and books. The Bible has many threads of meaning and storyline that weave through the entire text. All these lines are like meridians through which the spiritual life (or “qi”) flows like a current underneath the ground. They are the breath of God (2 Timothy 3:16)! If we can find these spiritual meridians and acupuncture points while studying the Bible, it will greatly help us to understand God's word. The authors who wrote the Bible were definitely inspired by the Holy Spirit. Once you find the “channels” under the surface, you will see how the same continuous thread flows through all the books of the Bible. All the biblical authors follow a coherent storyline. When we lose sight of these channels or threads of meaning, it doesn't mean the Bible is wrong. It just means we don't yet fully understand it. In Acts 8- 9, the Bible is going through a major transition, or turning point. Paul is being introduced on the one hand, and on the other hand, Peter has not yet fully left the stage. The storyline is transitioning from the ministry of Peter to the ministry of Paul. The focus of the book of Acts is being shifted from ministry to the Jews to ministry to the Gentiles. The Lord Jesus told Paul that he would go far away to the Gentiles, because his testimony would not be accepted in Jerusalem (Acts 22:21). Just like many of us, Paul was very slow in obeying God's call. He was eager testify for the Lord Jesus in Jerusalem and other areas in Judea, but he met persecution. This forced him to make a slow and roundabout journey to Rome. At the end of the Book of Acts, he finally reached Rome. The book of Acts is the biography of the apostles, and the representatives of the apostles are Peter and Paul. Peter represents the twelve disciples; they focus on bringing the gospel to the Jews, and they are the direct fruit of Jesus' earthly ministry. Paul was the apostle who received his call to apostleship after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul's ministry focus was the Gentiles. His work and ministry are the fruit of Jesus' heavenly ministry. Jesus is still alive today, and He is working behind the scenes. The end of Chapter 7 mentions Saul briefly, and the first part of chapter 9 talks about Paul again. But the second half of Chapter 9 continues to talk about Peter's ministry, because Peter is still in the frontline of the ministry. Acts Chapter 9 is an important turning point, a watershed moment for the Book of Acts. Paul's ministry started to come over the horizon in this chapter, and came into full force in when he was anointed as apostle in chapter 13.   [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meridian_(Chinese_medicine)

The USA today has some 700,000 job openings not being filled due to lack of skilled candidates. Some 5 million jobs over the next decade are projected to be open (due to retirements) but not filled (due to skills gap). Stephen Tucker talks about his workforce training program, designed to reduce the skills gap, especially within advanced manufacturing, like welding, robotics, electrician, etc. Ray Attiiyah, author of “The Fearless Frontline” introduced me to Stephen, and I'm glad he did because I learned a ton. As Stephen says, businesses must take ownership “of their talent pipeline the way they do their supply chain.” 4:20 – “It's an economic development challenge because businesses can't continue to grow unless they have qualified human capital. The skills gap is very serious.” 5:42 – “Young people are not aware, or not interested, or don't have the technical capabilities to fill these open employment opportunities despite these sectors having average salaries of $50,000 to $70,000/year” 8:08 – on how the state and private sectors work together to solve the problem “industry and sector partnerships… work on three objectives: 1) align education and industry… 2) raise awareness among young people… 3) develop and create career pathways.” 10:38 – It's about “having industry take more ownership of their talent pipeline the way they do their supply chain.” He talks about overcoming logistical challenges like transportation, emergency funds, completion rates (double those of community colleges!), and how we lost focus on the opportunities of skilled trades. 22:54 – on success stories… “he graduated high school in 2015, went to college…flunked out… worked for $12/hour… enrolled in our training program, graduated in 2019… we placed him as maintenance technician making $52,000/year… when he got the call that he was hired, he and his mother broke down in tears because they knew this opportunity would change his life.” You can reach Stephen at stucker@northlandwtc.org 

In April, President Biden announced that the US will pull all of its troops out of Afghanistan by September 11, 2021. On this episode Dan talks with Watson Senior Fellow Stephen Kinzer about what this withdrawal might mean for Afghanistan -- and for the US. As Stephen makes clear, this news brings up questions about US foreign policy that are much bigger than any one conflict or country, and that will have ramifications for the entire world. [Transcript forthcoming] You can learn more about the Watson Institute's other podcasts here: [https://watson.brown.edu/news/podcasts]

Spontaneous poet, culture activist, and shamanic bard Stephen Jenkinson joins Terry to explore the totally disarming ordeal of bearing witness to death up close — both our individual mortality and our collective mortality. They also drop into felt contact with Terry’s present, uncertain situation — recently on his 70th birthday, Terry was suddenly informed that there was probably metastatic cancer in his lungs and he spent five nights in the hospital undergoing a series of tests. Now, almost a month later, there is still no clarifying diagnosis, prognosis, or treatment plan, so he’s learning to be in radical not-knowing, returning to the miracle of this moment, and this breath.  Stephen meets Terry in his characteristic uncompromising way, with tenderness, unflinching clarity, and humor. They wonder together about the overwhelming nature of beauty, and the vividness that dying well can bring to the living. Ultimately, they both confess that after decades and careers of practice, neither of them claim to be fully prepared for their own dying process. Its nature is to break us open. Even so, they both deepen in grief and gratitude, and learn to open unconditionally. As Stephen says, we can “get better at missing it” before life is gone. Stephen Jenkinson is an activist, teacher, author, farmer and performing poet. He is the founder of the Orphan Wisdom School in Tramore, Canada and the author of four books, including Die Wise and Come of Age: The Case of Elderhood in a Time of Trouble. He’s also the subject of a documentary film Griefwalker. In 2015, Stephen created Nights of Grief & Mystery with Canadian singer-songwriter Gregory Hoskins. With a 5-piece band, they have mounted international tours and released three albums, most recently DARK ROADS and ROUGH GODS. They hope to begin performing again in June — make contact on his website to see if you might be able to attend. Most recently, a four-part livestream speaking series, A Generation’s Worth, was presented in Winter 2020.  For more information on Stephen Jenkinson and Terry Patten, check out the following resources: Stephen’s two new records, DARK ROADS and ROUGH GODS Nights of Grief and Mystery World Tour Stephen’s teaching school, Orphan Wisdom Stephen’s recording partner Gregory Hoskins Stephen’s Upcoming Events Stephen’s books, Die Wise, Come of Age, How It All Could Be, and Money and the Soul’s Desires State of Emergence podcast website Terry Patten’s nonprofit, A New Republic of the Heart Terry Patten’s personal website Join Us as a “Friend of State of Emergence” We hope you appreciate this week’s episode with Stephen Jenkinson. If you would like to support our podcast, we invite you to become a “Friend of State of Emergence” by making a small monthly donation. As a supporter, you will also receive invitations to our monthly Q&A events, when we explore recent episodes in greater depth. If you’d like to help the podcast continue and become sustainable, simply register as a Friend of State of Emergence on our website. A vibrant community is gathering and we’d love for you to be part of it.

To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/545/29 In these final verses of Ecclesiastes, Solomon reflects on his journey to find truth, describes where that truth comes from, and then shares some final wisdom for his son from his life experience. As Stephen opens Solomon’s journal for the final time in this series, he shares why these life truths are just as important today as they were when King Solomon sat on the throne of Israel.

Stephen Jenkinson is an activist, author and farmer who now prefers the term practitioner rather than teacher. In this, our third conversation, he explains why the distinction is important and why he quit being a teacher.We also talk about a question he posed to me a number of years ago when I attended his Orphan Wisdom school that has stuck with me ever since, and continues to provoke new insights into the mysterious ways that our unknown ancestors might be guiding us on our quest for meaning and purpose.In the second half of the episode we touch on the topic of matrimony and patrimony, which is the subject of his next book. As usual, Stephen has left me with a lot to chew on, and after listening to this conversation a few times I think I’m just being to comprehend what he was getting at, particularly concerning the topic of Patrimony, a word I’m not sure I’d even heard before speaking with him.As Stephen repeatedly warns us, he offers no comfort, no easy answers, no how-tos. Instead he invites us along as he wonders aloud about what it means to be fully human, how to live and die with dignity and wisdom, and how to become an ancestor worthy of being claimed."I want to beg you, as much as I can, dear sir, to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."— Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poethttp://orphanwisdom.com•••Support the Podcast: Single Donation: http://ko-fi.com/brianjamesPatreon: http://patreon.com/medicinepath Coaching & Books: http://brianjames.ca Yoga Courses: https://vimeo.com/brianjamesyoga/vod_pagesUse code MEDICINEPATH or link below for 15% off the Shamanic Yoga series: https://vimeo.com/r/334h/MFJHQkFEVk

This month on Beltway Banthas, host Stephen Kent speaks with writer Brittany Hunter about Star Wars' complicated narrative on redemption. What does it mean to "come back to the light" or to be redeemed in Star Wars' greatest character arcs? As Stephen works his way toward finishing his book, How The Force Can Fix America this conversation is meant to work through one of the most sticky issues in American life...our nation's own redemption story.  Brittany and Stephen talk about cancel culture, racism, hubris and even get into The Clone Wars animated series. 

Ian Rowe joins the Surfers to discuss more detailed findings from the on-going analyses he and Richard Parker are conducting on abnormal liver tests among patients in Leeds, UK.In this episode, Ian discusses three specific findings that seem paradoxical but make complete sense. As Stephen points out several time over the course of the episode, this work demonstrates how complicated and challenging it it to find the fastest, most streamlined way to get each patient to the right diagnosis. Coupled with Mazen Noureddin's discussion in Episode 16, these two discussions demonstrate the value of non-invasive tests compared to biopsy while also demonstrating the tremendous room for growth in non-invasive testing, both in making better use of the tests we have and also developed better tests than those that exist today.

Have you ever been ostracized? Have you had someone lie about you, run you down behind your back, and try to get people to turn against you? That's what happened to Stephen in Acts 7. He was a man full of faith and the grace of God and all he did was preach about Jesus and work miracles. He did absolutely nothing wrong and yet by the end of this chapter, he would be stoned to death! Why? Because some Jews from a synagogue wanted to debate him and have a Bible study and when they couldn't hang with Stephen they got jealous and went to the Sanhedrin and told them a bunch of lies. Stephen was called in for questioning and as he was talking to the Sanhedrin they didn't like what he was saying so they put their hands over their ears, started yelling to drown out his words, they dragged him outside of the city, and stoned him to death. As Stephen was dying he looks up and see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father! And just like His Savior, Stephen asks Jesus to forgive these men. Someone may have ostracized us for whatever reason, however, if we want to be like Jesus, we must forgive.

On Saturday June 6, 2020, Stephen Rowe told his son Iain, “I Love You” as he left to go to his moms for the weekend. That night, his phone rang and the voice on the other end delivered the news no parent wants to hear, “your son is missing”. Lake Michigan can be an incredibly violent body of water, and that night was no exception. As Stephen arrived at Holland State Park he was met by members of the Search and Rescue team, Police, and family and friends. But all he could see was the violence and evil of the white caps on Lake Michigan that night as he prayed that God help find his son.Unfortunately, rescue crews would find Iain’s body the following day and a criminal investigation ensued against Iain’s mother. Stephen now faced one of the toughest decisions of his life, spiral down a dark path of anger, guilt and sadness, or seek out the treasures that the Lord blesses us with every day. For Stephen, the choice was simple, faith in God and the path he is on so that he can join Iain again one day. Iain was one of the treasures God blessed him with and his story, while tragic, is a love story. #LakeMichigan #DeadlyGreatLakes #GreatLakes #Faith #8Seconds #ExperientialKnowledge To learn more about Iain Rowe and the Live Like Iain Foundation, please visit: www.livelikeiain.org

As Stephen was being stoned to death, a young man named Saul stood watch over the garments of those who killed him. A great persecution against the early church began that day and Saul was at the heart of it. We learn about the work of the Spirit through Philip in two parts, first in Samaria, and later in the conversion of an Ethiopian eunuch. After Philip baptizes this man, it seems that Holy Spirit teleports Philip to Azotus where he continues to preach the gospel. The accounts of Philip are broken up by an account of Peter and his interactions with a sorcerer named Simon.:::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by Aaron Colyer and the Christian Standard Biblefacebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

*This recording was originally part of a Zoom conversation between Stephen and Christina. If you'd prefer to watch the session, you can find that on the York Global Alumni Association YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/1U0zd0VSQRc (available with auto-captions)* As a tireless campaigner, supporter and advocate for everyone experiencing mental health problems, the team behind the York Unlimited campaign thought Stephen Fry would be the perfect person to invite to speak with Professor Christina van der Feltz-Cornelis about the University’s efforts to improve mental health and wellbeing in many forms, reaching out from the University to the city's communities and beyond. The York Unlimited campaign is aiming to transform mental health on a local, national and international scale, through supporting on the ground initiatives and the latest groundbreaking research and we will be sharing some exciting news next week regarding our brilliant new plans for The Great York Walk 2021 event. As Stephen says, "it's always important to remember it's always OK to ask for help". Find out more about the University of York's Mentally Fit York fund: york.ac.uk/york-unlimited/mfy Music composed byTom Knevitt

As Stephen writes in his latest political column, a concensus is growing among the commentariat that Keir Starmer is not up to the job. But does this underestimate the gains he's made outside of the Westminster bubble?On this episode of the New Statesman Podcast, Stephen Bush, Anoosh Chakelian and Ailbhe Rea discuss why this matters for the future of Starmer's leadership.Then, in You Ask Us, they take your questions on whether Labour needs to embrace flags, veterans and dressing up smartly.We'd love to hear from you.Send us your You Ask Us questions at youaskus.co.uk.You can follow Stephen Bush on twitter @stephenkb. Anoosh Chakelian is @Anoosh_C and Ailbhe Rea is @PronouncedAlva.More audio from the New Statesman: listen to our weekly global affairs show World ReviewSubscribing to the New Statesman helps us keep producing this podcast. You can now subscribe for 12 weeks for just £12. Visit newstatesman.com/subscribe12If you are a New Statesman digital subscriber you can get ad-free access to this podcast by visiting newstatesman.com/nssubscribers. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Blessing of Our Faith, as Followers of Jesus, Is the Presence of Jesus In Our Lives, Irrespective of Our Life’s Circumstances MESSAGE SUMMARY:       Introduction to the Bible’s Letter to the Hebrews and “Hope”: Today, the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance a context for our need to learn about “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. We can both learn a great deal and gain “Hope”, in our current situation, from the situation faced by Christians in Rome who were “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. Our context for learning is described in the Bible’s book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrew’s writer wanted to give “Hope” to the persecuted Christians in Rome by pointing out the superiority of Jesus the Christ over all the problems that they were facing from their persecution by the Emperor Nero. The writer did not want Christians to deviate and leave their Faith in Jesus because the times were bleak and the difficult circumstances, they were facing appeared hopeless. In Hebrew’s, the writer wanted Roman Christians to understand that if they turned away from Jesus there was no one else with whom they could face their difficult circumstances. The message to us, in these times, is that without Jesus in our lives and in the life of our country there is no one or no institution, to whom we can turn, for help in “facing our difficult circumstances”. To this end, in Hebrews 1:10-11, we find the culmination of Jesus Divinity along with His humanity that positions His superiority for us: “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”. Today’s Message – Jesus Who Is Seated at the Right Hand of the Father: The writer of Hebrews encourages the persecuted Christians, living in Rome, to look to Jesus in so many ways. Today, in Hebrews 10:11-14, the Writer focuses, again on Jesus “superiority” and the Christian faith by pointing out that, after Jesus Ascension, Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of God, the Father: “And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.". The Writer refers to the “right hand” because it is a position of power and authority for Jesus in the Universe. As Stephen, the first Deacon, is being stoned to death, he cries out in Acts 7:55-56: “But he {Stephen}, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”. In Jeremiah 31:31, God speaks of His “new covenant” that is coming: “But this is the {new} covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.". This “new covenant” is intellectual, effectual, and perpetual. Therefore, through this “new covenant”, we can, from Hebrews 10:22-24: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,". Because of whom Jesus is, the Writer of Hebrews is continuing to encourage the Christians of Rome, in their difficult circumstances, to “hold fast to their faith” just as we are, in our difficult circumstances” encouraged to hold fast to our faith”. For Followers of Jesus, loosing their faith invites spiritual disaster in their lives. The Writer of Hebrews encourages us, because who Jesus is, to look to Jesus in our life’s difficult circumstances and to not give up in the face of fears and uncertainties. The blessing of our faith, as Followers of Jesus, is the presence of Jesus in our lives, irrespective of our life’s circumstances. Jesus wants our focus to be on Him and not our circumstances. Remember Jesus is faithful, and He will never leave you. Today, Followers of Jesus live in a time of turmoil and uncertainty with issues like Covid-19, cultural dissonance, and civil discourse providing an overarching context that can lead us to fear, doubt in our faith, and feelings of “hopelessness”. These issues of today, which drive our uncertainties and fears, have impacted Followers of Jesus and America profoundly. However, as Followers of Jesus, we know that none of these circumstances are taking God by surprise. Yet so many of us are discouraged, downcast, depressed, and fearful. Too many of us have lost “Hope”. Proverbs 13:12 tells us: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,".  Without “Hope”, we are like ships sailing without a harbor. God wants us to have “Hope” in our everchanging world! “Hope” is the anticipation of a good future; “Hope” is having faith and believing that God is working out His purposes in the World and in my life. As we live, today, “in these last days” of difficult circumstances, we should look only to Jesus rather than to any person, institution, force, government entity, or nation. Jesus is our only source of protection and the way out of our difficult circumstances which are manifested by the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance. Once again, Jesus is the only “way, and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).   TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM RIGHTEOUS IN GOD’S EYES. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21). SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Hebrews 1:10-18; Hebrews 10:11-25; Acts 2:1-4; Acts 7:1-4; Psalms 110:1; Jeremiah 31:31-35; John 15:3. WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Jesus the Christ Is Our Hope In Life and Death and He Is “Hope” for the Wave of Loneliness and Uncertainty Sweeping Our World Today”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch  A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

The Blessing of Our Faith, as Followers of Jesus, Is the Presence of Jesus In Our Lives, Irrespective of Our Life’s Circumstances MESSAGE SUMMARY:       Introduction to the Bible’s Letter to the Hebrews and “Hope”: Today, the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance a context for our need to learn about “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. We can both learn a great deal and gain “Hope”, in our current situation, from the situation faced by Christians in Rome who were “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. Our context for learning is described in the Bible’s book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrew’s writer wanted to give “Hope” to the persecuted Christians in Rome by pointing out the superiority of Jesus the Christ over all the problems that they were facing from their persecution by the Emperor Nero. The writer did not want Christians to deviate and leave their Faith in Jesus because the times were bleak and the difficult circumstances, they were facing appeared hopeless. In Hebrew’s, the writer wanted Roman Christians to understand that if they turned away from Jesus there was no one else with whom they could face their difficult circumstances. The message to us, in these times, is that without Jesus in our lives and in the life of our country there is no one or no institution, to whom we can turn, for help in “facing our difficult circumstances”. To this end, in Hebrews 1:10-11, we find the culmination of Jesus Divinity along with His humanity that positions His superiority for us: “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”. Today’s Message – Jesus Who Is Seated at the Right Hand of the Father: The writer of Hebrews encourages the persecuted Christians, living in Rome, to look to Jesus in so many ways. Today, in Hebrews 10:11-14, the Writer focuses, again on Jesus “superiority” and the Christian faith by pointing out that, after Jesus Ascension, Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of God, the Father: “And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.". The Writer refers to the “right hand” because it is a position of power and authority for Jesus in the Universe. As Stephen, the first Deacon, is being stoned to death, he cries out in Acts 7:55-56: “But he {Stephen}, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”. In Jeremiah 31:31, God speaks of His “new covenant” that is coming: “But this is the {new} covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.". This “new covenant” is intellectual, effectual, and perpetual. Therefore, through this “new covenant”, we can, from Hebrews 10:22-24: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,". Because of whom Jesus is, the Writer of Hebrews is continuing to encourage the Christians of Rome, in their difficult circumstances, to “hold fast to their faith” just as we are, in our difficult circumstances” encouraged to hold fast to our faith”. For Followers of Jesus, loosing their faith invites spiritual disaster in their lives. The Writer of Hebrews encourages us, because who Jesus is, to look to Jesus in our life’s difficult circumstances and to not give up in the face of fears and uncertainties. The blessing of our faith, as Followers of Jesus, is the presence of Jesus in our lives, irrespective of our life’s circumstances. Jesus wants our focus to be on Him and not our circumstances. Remember Jesus is faithful, and He will never leave you. Today, Followers of Jesus live in a time of turmoil and uncertainty with issues like Covid-19, cultural dissonance, and civil discourse providing an overarching context that can lead us to fear, doubt in our faith, and feelings of “hopelessness”. These issues of today, which drive our uncertainties and fears, have impacted Followers of Jesus and America profoundly. However, as Followers of Jesus, we know that none of these circumstances are taking God by surprise. Yet so many of us are discouraged, downcast, depressed, and fearful. Too many of us have lost “Hope”. Proverbs 13:12 tells us: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,".  Without “Hope”, we are like ships sailing without a harbor. God wants us to have “Hope” in our everchanging world! “Hope” is the anticipation of a good future; “Hope” is having faith and believing that God is working out His purposes in the World and in my life. As we live, today, “in these last days” of difficult circumstances, we should look only to Jesus rather than to any person, institution, force, government entity, or nation. Jesus is our only source of protection and the way out of our difficult circumstances which are manifested by the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance. Once again, Jesus is the only “way, and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).   TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM RIGHTEOUS IN GOD’S EYES. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21). SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Hebrews 1:10-18; Hebrews 10:11-25; Acts 2:1-4; Acts 7:1-4; Psalms 110:1; Jeremiah 31:31-35; John 15:3. WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Jesus the Christ Is Our Hope In Life and Death and He Is “Hope” for the Wave of Loneliness and Uncertainty Sweeping Our World Today”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch  A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

The Blessing of Our Faith, as Followers of Jesus, Is the Presence of Jesus In Our Lives, Irrespective of Our Life's Circumstances MESSAGE SUMMARY:       Introduction to the Bible's Letter to the Hebrews and “Hope”: Today, the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance a context for our need to learn about “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. We can both learn a great deal and gain “Hope”, in our current situation, from the situation faced by Christians in Rome who were “Living in Difficult Circumstances”. Our context for learning is described in the Bible's book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrew's writer wanted to give “Hope” to the persecuted Christians in Rome by pointing out the superiority of Jesus the Christ over all the problems that they were facing from their persecution by the Emperor Nero. The writer did not want Christians to deviate and leave their Faith in Jesus because the times were bleak and the difficult circumstances, they were facing appeared hopeless. In Hebrew's, the writer wanted Roman Christians to understand that if they turned away from Jesus there was no one else with whom they could face their difficult circumstances. The message to us, in these times, is that without Jesus in our lives and in the life of our country there is no one or no institution, to whom we can turn, for help in “facing our difficult circumstances”. To this end, in Hebrews 1:10-11, we find the culmination of Jesus Divinity along with His humanity that positions His superiority for us: “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”. Today's Message – Jesus Who Is Seated at the Right Hand of the Father: The writer of Hebrews encourages the persecuted Christians, living in Rome, to look to Jesus in so many ways. Today, in Hebrews 10:11-14, the Writer focuses, again on Jesus “superiority” and the Christian faith by pointing out that, after Jesus Ascension, Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of God, the Father: “And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.". The Writer refers to the “right hand” because it is a position of power and authority for Jesus in the Universe. As Stephen, the first Deacon, is being stoned to death, he cries out in Acts 7:55-56: “But he {Stephen}, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”. In Jeremiah 31:31, God speaks of His “new covenant” that is coming: “But this is the {new} covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.". This “new covenant” is intellectual, effectual, and perpetual. Therefore, through this “new covenant”, we can, from Hebrews 10:22-24: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,". Because of whom Jesus is, the Writer of Hebrews is continuing to encourage the Christians of Rome, in their difficult circumstances, to “hold fast to their faith” just as we are, in our difficult circumstances” encouraged to hold fast to our faith”. For Followers of Jesus, loosing their faith invites spiritual disaster in their lives. The Writer of Hebrews encourages us, because who Jesus is, to look to Jesus in our life's difficult circumstances and to not give up in the face of fears and uncertainties. The blessing of our faith, as Followers of Jesus, is the presence of Jesus in our lives, irrespective of our life's circumstances. Jesus wants our focus to be on Him and not our circumstances. Remember Jesus is faithful, and He will never leave you. Today, Followers of Jesus live in a time of turmoil and uncertainty with issues like Covid-19, cultural dissonance, and civil discourse providing an overarching context that can lead us to fear, doubt in our faith, and feelings of “hopelessness”. These issues of today, which drive our uncertainties and fears, have impacted Followers of Jesus and America profoundly. However, as Followers of Jesus, we know that none of these circumstances are taking God by surprise. Yet so many of us are discouraged, downcast, depressed, and fearful. Too many of us have lost “Hope”. Proverbs 13:12 tells us: “Hope deferred makes the heart sick,".  Without “Hope”, we are like ships sailing without a harbor. God wants us to have “Hope” in our everchanging world! “Hope” is the anticipation of a good future; “Hope” is having faith and believing that God is working out His purposes in the World and in my life. As we live, today, “in these last days” of difficult circumstances, we should look only to Jesus rather than to any person, institution, force, government entity, or nation. Jesus is our only source of protection and the way out of our difficult circumstances which are manifested by the Pandemic, civil disobedience, and cultural dissonance. Once again, Jesus is the only “way, and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).   TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because of what God has done for me in His Son, Jesus, I AM RIGHTEOUS IN GOD'S EYES. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21). SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Hebrews 1:10-18; Hebrews 10:11-25; Acts 2:1-4; Acts 7:1-4; Psalms 110:1; Jeremiah 31:31-35; John 15:3. WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH'S SERMON VIDEO – “Jesus the Christ Is Our Hope In Life and Death and He Is “Hope” for the Wave of Loneliness and Uncertainty Sweeping Our World Today”:  www.AWFTL.org/watch  A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

Stephen Dinan joins Andy with the latest on what we can expect on Day One from the Biden Administration. As Stephen reports, border wall construction will be halted, the travel ban will be erased, and the 1776 Commission celebrating America’s founding will be disbanded all within hours after President Biden is sworn in. Also, looking ahead at Biden’s approach to immigration, the Postal Service “victory lap,” and how the Trump stress test leaves all institutions of American democracy battered or even broken. 

Husband and wife Stephen Alesch and Robin Standefer are two of the most prolific and acclaimed designers of our time. Their firm, Roman and Williams, has designed iconic spaces like the Boom Boom Room, The Ace Hotel and more. Recently, their curatorial brilliance has expanded into the retail and restaurant emporium RW Guild. But on their journey to the top of the industry, Robin and Stephen have forgone traditional schooling and career paths to instead follow the road less traveled. Today, they are gardeners, draftsmen, ceramicists, architects, set designers, artists, and storytellers whose boundless creativity continues to pour into new mediums. Tune in to hear about walking out of exams, having the courage to ask the “dumb questions,” and the importance of trusting in yourself wholeheartedly. This episode of More Than One Thing is for those with curious souls, open minds, and a hearty appetite to learn by doing. As Stephen and Robin say, “believing in what you love will take you there.”

Congressional Democrats announced legislation to strip Robert E. Lee’s name from Arlington House, the centerpiece of the hallowed military cemetery that occupies his former plantation. Stephen Dinan explains the backstory and why some members of congress are ready to get rid of it. As Stephen reports, the original plantation was known as Arlington, and it gave its name to the surrounding county. Plus, we hear more about Dominion voting machines, an update from Georgia, and what's next for Trump's border wall.

In our latest podcast Stephen Halmarick, Chief Economist and Belinda Allen, Senior Economist discuss the November edition of the Household Spending Intentions report. The data showed a solid improvement in Home Buying and Retail spending intentions – as the Australian economy continues its recovery. Entertainment and Motor Vehicle spending intentions were both modestly higher in November.  Travel spending intentions were flat on the month, while Health & fitness and Education spending intentions both declined. As Stephen points out though there are reasons to be optimistic looking in to 2021 with consumer sentiment at a decade high, income growth remaining strong and savings levels elevated.   ------ DISCLAIMER ------ Before listening to this report, you are advised to read the full Global Markets Research disclaimers which can be found at www.commbankresearch.com.au. Information in this podcast is of a general nature only. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs and does not constitute personal financial advice. This report provides general market-related information, and is not intended to be an investment research report. The information contained in this report is approved and distributed by Global Markets Research, a business division of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia ABN 48 123 123 124 AFSL 234945 (“the Bank”). The information is solely for informational purposes and is not to be construed as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments. It does not constitute a personal recommendation or take into account the particular investment objectives, financial situations, or needs of individual clients. Where ‘CBA data' is cited, this refers to the Bank proprietary data that is sourced from the Bank's internal systems and may include, but not be limited to, credit card transaction data, merchant facility transaction data and applications for credit. As the statistics take into account only the Bank's data it may not reflect all trends in the market. All customer data used, or represented, in this report is anonymised and aggregated before analysis and is used, and disclosed, in accordance with the Group's Privacy Policy Statement. The Bank believes that the information in this presentation is correct and any opinions, conclusions or recommendations are reasonably held based on the information available at the time of its compilation but no representation or warranty, either expressed or implied, is made or provided as to accuracy, reliability or completeness of any statement made.

Acts 7 records the first martyrdom in Acts. As Stephen is put to death for the cause of Christ he leaves behind some powerful lessons. Sermon by Pastor Jim Stultz on December 13, 2020

In our latest podcast Stephen Halmarick, Chief Economist and Belinda Allen, Senior Economist discuss the latest Household Spending Intentions report. The data shows mixed results across the main spending categories – as the effects of the Victorian shutdown lingered. Home buying, Retail and Travel spending intentions tracked sideways in October, while Entertainment spending intentions improved.  Health & fitness, Education and Motor vehicle spending intentions softened in October. As Stephen points out though there are reasons to be optimistic with fiscal and monetary easing expanded and as CBA credit & debit card spend data for November also showing a lift as restrictions are eased in Victoria.     ------ DISCLAIMER ------ Before listening to this report, you are advised to read the full Global Markets Research disclaimers which can be found at www.commbankresearch.com.au. Information in this podcast is of a general nature only. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs and does not constitute personal financial advice. This report provides general market-related information, and is not intended to be an investment research report. The information contained in this report is approved and distributed by Global Markets Research, a business division of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia ABN 48 123 123 124 AFSL 234945 (“the Bank”). The information is solely for informational purposes and is not to be construed as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments. It does not constitute a personal recommendation or take into account the particular investment objectives, financial situations, or needs of individual clients. The data used in the ‘Commonwealth Bank Household Spending Intentions' series is a combination of the CBA Data and publically available Google Trends™ data. Where ‘CBA data' is cited, this refers to the Bank proprietary data that is sourced from the Bank's internal systems and may include, but not be limited to, credit card transaction data, merchant facility transaction data and applications for credit. As the statistics take into account only the Bank's data it may not reflect all trends in the market. All customer data used, or represented, in this report is anonymised and aggregated before analysis and is used, and disclosed, in accordance with the Group's Privacy Policy Statement. The Bank believes that the information in this presentation is correct and any opinions, conclusions or recommendations are reasonably held based on the information available at the time of its compilation but no representation or warranty, either expressed or implied, is made or provided as to accuracy, reliability or completeness of any statement made.

In episode 20 of the Legal Tech StartUp Focus Podcast (www.legaltechstartupfocus.com/podcast), your podcast host, Charlie Uniman, interviews Stephen Lai, Founder and Managing Director of Conventus Law and VP - Legal Sector Solutions at Zegal. Stephen, based in Hong Kong, is a keen observer of the market for legal tech solutions throughout Asia. As Stephen explains, Conventus Law provides a digital media platform that focuses on the purchasers and vendors of legal tech in Asia. Conventus Law also encourages a conversation that speaks to expanding the set of skills that lawyers bring to their clients to include a deeper appreciation of the business issues those clients face, many of which can be better addressed with the use of legal tech. Stephen elaborates on his view that legal tech vendors would do well to emphasize that their law firm customers needn't "fear" legal tech as a massive disruptor of their business, but instead should understand adoption of legal tech as a necessary incremental change in how law firms approach serving their clients' needs. Charlie and Stephen turn to how Conventus Law is partnering with Zegal, a contract management company operating chiefly in Asia. In its partnership with Zegal, Conventus Law will be rolling out Conventus Docs, which will provide private law firms with the tools to offer in-house lawyers with access to digitized standard documentation. As Stephen sees it, Conventus Docs will do the "heavy lifting" in enabling law firms to digitize documents and make them available those firms' enterprise clients on the Conventus Docs platform. And once made available on that platform, these documents can be expected not only to generate revenue for law firms, but also to provide firms with a new way to market their expertise and, thereby, win the opportunity to do more high-value work for new and existing clients. Charlie asks Stephen to offer a birds'-eye view of the Asian legal tech market, including in his description of that view just how legal tech vendors can best promote actual use of their software by their customers. Stephen notes that avoiding the dreaded "shelf-ware" fate of underused software is best achieved by insuring ease of use, by offering timely and well-designed training (that, in addition to instruction, demonstrates how the software offers "critical services and information" at "critical times") and by leaving users with a "WOW" experience that can rival the experience those users have when using the best designed "consumer" apps on their mobile phones and home desktop computers.  

In this episode I talk to the insanely wise Stephen Mitchell who is an author, poet, translator and a lot more! He has dedicated much of his life to practicing Zen Buddhism and it really shows in his work. We talk about his latest book Joseph and the Way of Forgiveness: A Story About Letting Go which you can find here - https://amzn.to/31lakZM We also talk quite a bit about his wife's work (he is married to Bryon Katie) which you can find here - thework.com If you want to find out more about Stephen and also see the 45 (yes I said 45!) books he has been involved in writing or editing you can do so at his website here - https://stephenmitchellbooks.com/ As Stephen said you most certainly should follow his wife Bryon Katie on Facebook and Instagram too: https://www.instagram.com/byron.katie/ https://www.facebook.com/theworkofbyronkatie Support my work and join our private online community: ╰►Via my site: https://www.phildrysdale.com/partner ╰►Via Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/phildrysdale ╰►Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/phildrysdale ╰►Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phildrysdale ╰►Find others deconstructing locally: https://www.thedeconstructionnetwork.com ╰►More about me: https://www.phildrysdale.com

During the race riots in Charlottesville and Boston, white supremacists repeatedly described themselves as “Christian” and “Conservative.” As Stephen contends in this podcast, nothing could be further from white supremacist philosophy than true Christianity and true Conservatism. Since Stephen considers himself both a Christian and a Conservative, he pushes back against racists kidnapping these two [read more]

Stephen Dinan joins Andy with a full list of immigration stories making waves this week. When feds and local agencies disagree on immigration procedures, who is really being abandoned? As Stephen reports, the finger-pointing underscores how much is at stake in the debate over deportations and sanctuary jurisdictions. Plus, more on two murder suspects who had previously been set free in defiance of deportation requests from ICE.

Stephen Gordon's bio "I fell in love with all the sounds I heard as a child, so I pursued them" says Drummer/Pianist/Composer STEPHEN GORDON of Charlotte, N.C. - "Rather it was Gospel music at church, Funk and Motown with my Dad, Rock and Metal with my friends, Swing or European Classical literature with my peers and colleagues - I did it all." From the age of 4 years old, it became apparent that young Stephen would emerge into the world bringing forth sound, art, visual perspectives and living melodies to all that he pursued. Through the piano, taking lessons from the age of 5 with many teachers of different perspectives at the guidance of his parents and family, Stephen began playing the trumpet at age 12, which ventured into all brass, woodwinds, and eventually the drums and percussion. "They wanted to expand the Mass Choir at church, so my Dad and I became the rhythm section - That will always be my favorite rhythm section: Me and my Dad." From traditional and contemporary Gospel music, Stephen began sitting in and eventually gigging around Charlotte as a drummer and a keyboardist. "It was the Swing that I heard that I wanted to pursue. When I saw Terence Blanchard Sextet live at 15 years old, I said - Yeah, that's what I want to do; Swing." This path would lead Stephen to graduate high school from Northwest School of The Arts in Charlotte, N.C. and pursue touring and traveling internationally/nationally. "I got so many opportunities to travel with the choir, that when it came to gigging and touring with bands and my friends, I didn't see a difference; I was still going after that sound." These opportunities would lead to Stephen traveling and living in many different places and playing with some of the musicians and educators pushing the forefront of this music - pianist Ellis Marsalis, Jr., drummer Mike Clark, organist Joey DeFrancesco, trombonist Wayne Henderson, trombonist Fred Wesley, pianist Cyrus Chestnut, alto saxophonist Donald Harrison, Jr., percussionist Bill Summers, drummer/vibraphonist Jason Marsalis, alto saxophonist Wessell Anderson, vocalist Kurt Elling, pianist Aaron Goldberg, trumpeter Bobby Shew, trombonist Steve Turre, trumpeter Raymond Williams, Sr., bassist Roland Guerin, Poet Abidune Olyewole (The Last Poets), trombonist Tyrone Jefferson - to name a few. Stephen has performed in venues such as Tchaichovsky Hall in Moscow, Russia, The National Concert Hall in Taipei City, Taiwan, Opéra Bastille in Paris, France, The Kursk Philharmonia in Kursk, Russia, Lincoln Center in New York, New York, Ronnie Scott's in London, England, C Venues in Edinburgh, Scotland, The Village Vanguard, The Blue Note and The Jazz Standard in New York, New York, Blues Alley in DC, Babylon in Istanbul, Turkey, The North Sea Jazz Festival in Amsterdam, and many other great venues across the world. Beside playing and touring, recording and teaching have been prospects for Stephen to share in his talents and learn and grow as a musician and as a person. As Stephen resides in Charlotte, N.C., you may catch him all over the world on any given day, swinging and grooving. For all info, check out www.stephengordonmusic.com, as well as YouTube, Facebook and Instagram! STEPHEN GORDON uses exclusively -MURAT DIRIL cymbals, EVANS drumheads, VIC FIRTH sticks/brushes, TACKLE SUPPLY CO. bags and ROC-N-SOC drum thrones.

Stephen Burns, CFRE is the Director of Institutional Advancement at Lansdale Catholic High School which is part of the oldest Catholic school system in the country. As Stephen edges closer to the end of his first decade in fundraising, he is asking whether the way we train fundraisers and the role we afford technology in this process aligns with the task we give them. Our conversation begged the question of whether our approach to developing talent is all wrong and what we might do to change that. Stephen has noted that some technologies create a lot of busy work and provide easy cover for those who are hesitant to interact directly with their donors. Complicating this fact, much of the training and credentialing process for young fundraisers focuses on what can be taught in a classroom and overlooks the importance of what can only be learned in the field. At a time when meaningful conversations with donors are critically important, I was especially encouraged by Stephen’s insights. As mentioned during the outset, Responsive's recovery plan is now available for download here (https://lnkd.in/dyhvmPv). We are very grateful to all those who contributed to this free resource. As always, we are very grateful to OneCause for being our sponsor. #unpredictable #responsivefundraising

Stephen stops by to tell Andy about lawlessness on the roads during the stay-at-home orders. As Stephen reports, the number of vehicles going at least 20 mph over the local limit increased 40% in April compared with last year. What is behind it? Plus, the latest from Capitol Hill and charges of mail-in voting fraud.

As Stephen did with Joseph, he likewise did with Moses - he preached Christ (without mentioning His name) by his selective summation of Moses' life (his initial rejection and eventual acceptance as Israel's deliverer).  He wanted them to see that Jesus was very much the Fulfillment of Moses' words about the Messiah being "a Prophet . . . like unto me" (Deut. 18:15). In this lesson, Stephen got into the second phase of Moses' life (his second 40-year life segment), when he made his first "visit" to his people as their deliverer and was rejected and then vanished from sight (presumed dead) as he lived with the Gentiles (Midianites). Stephen's underlying message to the Jews of his day was that unless they wanted to continue to follow the pattern of their forefathers, who betrayed and rejected the ones (Joseph and Moses) who God providentially "raised from the dead" to be their deliverers, they should repent for having done exactly the same with Jesus!

In the first 16 verses of his amazingly brilliant sermon, Stephen covered Israel's history from Abraham in Mesopotamia to Joseph in Egypt (a fascinating way to attack the Jews' proud obsession with the land, as well as their arrogance toward Jews who lived outside the land).  In his second sermon "division," he dealt with the historical period of Moses and the Law.  In verses 17 to 43, he actually covered the circumstances prior to the birth of Moses all the way to the time of the Babylonian Captivity. As Stephen did with Joseph (Lesson 19), Israel's first deliverer, he did likewise with Israel's next historical deliverer, Moses - he used them both as types of Christ (which they are).  He knew the Jews would not interrupt him as he spoke of Moses, for they thought of no one more highly than him (they elevated him far too much). The whole idea of picture-types of the Messiah having been prophetically revealed in the lives of their most honored historical figures was a completely new concept to the Jews.  Stephen showed them, via his summary-narration of the life of Moses, that the similarities between Moses and Jesus are nothing short of having been divinely orchestrated. Take out your Christ-colored glasses as we take a train-ride (not a jet-tour as with Joseph) through the life of Moses!

There are billions of people living in small places, yet they are often ignored by ministry-minded people. Small places are thick with culture and rife with opportunity for gospel ministry: poverty, depression, suicide, racism, injustice, and souls stranded in sin unacquainted with the love of God in Christ Jesus. As Stephen points out, both rural and urban places are easily romanticized. What the world needs is Christians who value the small even in the big―disciples who move slowly and are attentive enough to bring a grand gospel into the nooks and crannies of life.

Stephen was a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. His relationship with Jesus was personal. As Stephen’s life was ending, Jesus showed how personal Stephen also was to Him. This sermon is by Pastor Chris Hales and is recorded on 8th March 2020 during the second service

[Senior High] Zane Black preaches on Acts 7:17-43 after the eye-opening testimony of Jake Welch. If we want to stand in the world but not become of the world we need to know our bibles. As Stephen rebukes those who are persecuting him he could not only preach to them, but also remind himself of the truths of the scripture. Zane walks us through how that looked in the life of Moses (Part 1 of 2).

This is a segment of episode #221 of Last Born In The Wilderness “Age Of Fire: Humanity's Long Relationship With The Shapeshifter Element w/ Stephen Pyne.” Listen to the full episode: http://bit.ly/LBWpyne Read ‘The Fire Age’: http://bit.ly/2Oc93hF In this segment with Stephen Pyne, environmental historian and author of ‘Fire: A Brief History.’ I ask him to elaborate on humanity's long, deep, and complex relationship with fire. He explains how this relationship has informed everything from how our bodies have evolved to the impact this has had on our global environment up to the present moment. As Stephen has framed it, we have entered into an age of fire, which he has dubbed the Pyrocene (instead of Anthropocene); just as the Earth has passed through numerous ice ages, the industrialization of our relationship with fire (such as our use of fossil fuels and the internal combustion engine) has warmed the planet to such a degree as to completely disfigure and disrupt the planetary climate system, leading to a phase shift so large as to be barely grasped or comprehended at all. Fire and its crucial role in this shift must be not only examined in a scientific sense, but contextualized within a broader historical scope, which Stephen has provided for many years. As Stephen has expressed in his excellent article ‘The Fire Age’: “The species that won biggest was ourselves. Fire changed us, even to our genome. We got small guts and big heads because we could cook food. We went to the top of the food chain because we could cook landscapes. And we have become a geologic force because our fire technology has so evolved that we have begun to cook the planet. Our pact with fire made us what we are. We hold fire as a species monopoly. We will not share it willingly with any other species. Other creatures knock over trees, dig holes in the ground, hunt – we do fire. It’s our ecological signature. Our capture of fire is our first experiment with domestication, and it might may well be our first Faustian bargain.” (http://bit.ly/2Oc93hF) Steve Pyne is an emeritus professor at Arizona State University. He has published 35 books, most of them dealing with fire, but others on Antarctica, the Grand Canyon, the Voyager mission, and with his oldest daughter, an inquiry into the Pleistocene. His fire histories include surveys of America, Australia, Canada, Europe (including Russia), and the Earth. WEBSITE: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness DONATE: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast DROP ME A LINE: Call (208) 918-2837 or http://bit.ly/LBWfiledrop EVERYTHING ELSE: https://linktr.ee/patterns.of.behavior [Music: “Talking Is Hard“ by Eli Stonemets]

[Intro: 11:12 | Outro: 1:04:42] In this episode, I speak with Stephen Pyne, environmental historian and author of ‘Fire: A Brief History.’ In this discussion with Stephen, I ask him to elaborate on humanity's long, deep, and complex relationship with fire. He explains how this relationship has informed everything from how our bodies have evolved to the impact this has had on our global environment up to the present moment. As Stephen has framed it, we have entered into an age of fire, which he has dubbed the Pyrocene (instead of Anthropocene); just as the Earth has passed through numerous ice ages, the industrialization of our relationship with fire (such as our use of fossil fuels and the internal combustion engine) has warmed the planet to such a degree as to completely disfigure and disrupt the planetary climate system, leading to a phase shift so large as to be barely grasped or comprehended at all. Fire and its crucial role in this shift must be not only examined in a scientific sense, but contextualized within a broader historical scope, which Stephen has provided for many years. As Stephen has expressed in his excellent article ‘The Fire Age’: “The species that won biggest was ourselves. Fire changed us, even to our genome. We got small guts and big heads because we could cook food. We went to the top of the food chain because we could cook landscapes. And we have become a geologic force because our fire technology has so evolved that we have begun to cook the planet. Our pact with fire made us what we are. We hold fire as a species monopoly. We will not share it willingly with any other species. Other creatures knock over trees, dig holes in the ground, hunt – we do fire. It’s our ecological signature. Our capture of fire is our first experiment with domestication, and it might may well be our first Faustian bargain.” (http://bit.ly/2Oc93hF) Steve Pyne is an emeritus professor at Arizona State University. He has published 35 books, most of them dealing with fire, but others on Antarctica, the Grand Canyon, the Voyager mission, and with his oldest daughter, an inquiry into the Pleistocene. His fire histories include surveys of America, Australia, Canada, Europe (including Russia), and the Earth. Episode Notes: - Learn more about Stephen and his work: http://www.stephenpyne.com - Learn more about and purchase ‘Fire: A Brief History’: http://bit.ly/2qBLNRe - Read the referenced articles ‘Winter Isn’t Coming. Prepare for the Pyrocene’ and ‘The Fire Age’: http://bit.ly/37txhLP / http://bit.ly/2Oc93hF - The song featured is “Julie and Candy” by Boards of Canada from the album Geogaddi. WEBSITE: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/lastborninthewilderness DONATE: https://www.paypal.me/lastbornpodcast DROP ME A LINE: Call (208) 918-2837 or http://bit.ly/LBWfiledrop EVERYTHING ELSE: https://linktr.ee/patterns.of.behavior

Penda's Fen was a 1974 episode of Play for Today. As Stephen is approaching his 18th birthday, he experiences some strange visions. He also faces troubling questions involving religion, politics, sexuallity and music. Please send us your comments, questions, requests and complaints. You can reach us at britishinvaders@gmail.com, and you can find us on the British Invaders Facebook Group. British Invaders is an audio podcast that discusses television shows. We do not distribute the shows themselves.

Hey Podcast - Super excited to share this conversation with you! I sat down with Stephen Goldner Founder of Pure Green, a vertically integrated cannabis company here in Michigan. Stephen began his career in pharmaceuticals when he invented methadone. As he watched his friends come back from the Vietnam War addicted to heroin, he was determined to find a cure for heroin addiction. In the early 1970's, Mr. Goldner co-invented both the liquid form of methadone and urine screening. As Stephen watched his friends struggle with PTSD and other diseases, he also saw them effectively manage their own symptoms with cannabis. Pure Green was the first company to receive a medical cannabis processor license in Michigan. This has allowed Stephen to lead Pure Green through the process of developing pharmaceutical-grade water-soluble cannabis tablets enabling safe, effective and predictable dosing for patients. Mr. Goldner has more than 35 years experience as a regulatory professional in the healthcare arena as both a forensic toxicologist and an attorney. . Additionally, as founder of the Regulatory Affairs Associates LLC, Mr. Goldner has helped helped get more than 240 drugs and devices approved. Pure Green - https://pure.green/ IG @puregreencanna

As Stephen is on trial at the hands of synagogue of the Freedman he points back to the way God's servants have been repeatedly rejected.

In this episode, I invite my good and very interesting friend Stephen Carter to share some of his deep wisdom about the effect that stories have on us. So often we feel like we are writing and living out our own story—whether it be religious, familial, communal, or many others—when, according to Stephen, it is actually stories living us. It’s an interesting and fruitful angle to try to think from and within, and especially so for Latter-day Saints and others from different traditions who are finding the story that they had been caught up in and experiencing the world through no longer matches our deepest desires, or even has become harmful. As Stephen and I frame our discussion, we note how difficult it is to want to explore new stories or ways of thinking, believing, or acting. Our brains are wired to prefer the familiar more than the foreign, and routine over novelty. Yet, it is only by pushing past our initial aversion to real changes that we can grow. We point out how our religious (and even academic, scientific, historical, et al) traditions prefer stories that “confirm” previously held notions over those that place us in a tension that forces us to really think, struggle, and change even though a group’s highest ideals say our primary task in life is to progress along a Godward path. I learned a lot from and am mulling over many things that come up in this podcast, especially related to my own spiritual path and how I might be keeping myself from new vistas and experiences because of how I stubbornly hold onto particular ideas conveyed in my story. Should you listen, I believe you will also be drawn into an inner dialogue of this sort. Luckily, by now we know that these wrestles, though challenging, are ultimately very important, and even delicious.

As Stephen gets ready for his inevitable nuptials (“inevitable” is the word I want, right?), the gang does an edit-free read of “Maximum Carnage”! Who will win in the war between good and evil? And what’s the difference at the end of the day? Also, we debrief over the Captain Marvel movie. Boy, do we have thoughts!

As Stephen continues his speech, he moves from their rejection of Abraham to their (ancestors’) rejection of Joseph. Why does Stephen do this? To highlight how their rejection of Jesus is grounded in a consistent history of rebellion and poor discernment. Stephen makes that particularly clear by establishing a parallel between Joseph and Jesus.The first and most obvious parallel is established by highlighting the manner in which Jospeh, as a prophet, was rejected by his very own family. Stephen’s point is that this rejection foreshadows and points to the rejection of Jesus as a prophet by his very own people. However, just as God was with Jospeh and was vindicated, so too is Jesus vindicated in his death and resurrection.The second parallel relates to the character of Jospeh. Throughout all of Jospeh’s life, even in the face of very difficult circumstances, he continually demonstrates the two characteristics of wisdom and grace. Jesus of course fulfils those to perfection, but Jospeh demonstrated them nonetheless.What is Stephen’s point? That just as their ancestors had rejected a wise, gracious, and godly prophet, they have now, even more seriously rejected the greatest prophet, full of grace, who was not just godly, but was God’s own Son. Whilst Stephen is meant to be the one on trial, his case against his accusers continues to build! ALQuestionsIn what ways is the rejection of Jospeh like the rejection of Jesus?Why do you think people were blind to understanding who Jesus really was? Are we ever in danger of failing to recognising Jesus for who he truly is?PrayerHeavenly Father, we are sorry for the times that we reject your Word and have rejected your Son. Please help us to heed your Words, receive your Son, welcome your Spirit, and live obediently. Amen.


Vince speaks about his mother’s disappearance in 1968 – and how his own grandmother told him what had happened to her. We learn more about his childhood, growing up with Silas Duane Boston as his only parent. As Stephen and Dan reflect on what Vince has told them they head to CrimeCon in Nashville to investigate potential links to the Golden State Killer case. The conference is buzzing with the news of the arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo, who’s linked by DNA to the crimes. At Crimecon we hear from investigators and victims connected to the GSK case – and there are some interesting reactions to the files we show them. But it’s when we share Vince’s interview with an expert criminologist that doubts start to creep in about his account. Can it really all have happened the way he tells it? Find out more about the case here: www.bbc.co.uk/paradise

How did Rihanna get that opulent headdress on her head at the 2018 Met Gala? Why did Meghan Markle’s mother, Doria Ragland, flaunt a green beret at the 2018 Royal wedding? Why is Kim Jones’ Dior Men’s Saddle Cap the must-have men’s hat for spring/summer 2019? Discover answers to these questions and so much more on the first episode of A Different Tweed. The inaugural episode of this new fashion podcast features one of the industry’s leading artisans - and surely its finest raconteur - Stephen Jones OBE. Stephen is high fashion’s leading milliner and, from his stunning boutique and design atelier in London’s Covent Garden, he explains working with Rihanna, Ms. Ragland and Mr. Jones as well as his role in reviving the making of hats for the Paris couture and for the great names in ready-to-wear - Marc Jacobs, Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo and Grace Wales Bonner. Also hear him talk about the hats he has made for the Hollywood screen, rock stars and royalty, including Diana, Princess of Wales. Stephen reveals how Christian Dior became a big part of his brand identity and how, after John Galliano invited him to be Dior’s house milliner, he has played a part in the revitalization of the venerable LVMH label. You can also hear Stephen explain his rise to fashion greatness as a Blitz Kid on London’s 1979 New Romantic club scene and how Jean Paul Gaultier challenged him to dream up headdress for one of his early Eighties runway spectacles. As Stephen tells it, he survived and his work for Gaultier led to him designing hats for the most memorable fashion shows staged over the last 25 years. So tune in to A Different Tweed. And stay tuned for the next episode featuring Salvatore Ferragamo’s women’s creative director, Paul Andrew.

In Episode 17 we talk about online dispute resolution with Stephen Kane, the founder of Fairclaims, a platform that helps people resolve legal claims online. ODR has been around since the 1990s, but really took off when companies like Ebay and Amazon started to use it to resolve customer complaints and disputes. As Stephen explains, many types of disputes are amenable to ODR and courts across the globe are starting to use it. In our Legal Tech Founder Segment, we talk to Tucker Cottingham, the CEO and co-founder of Lawyaw, a document automation and assembly tool for lawyers. Technically Legal is hosted by Chad Main, an attorney and the founder of Percipient, a tech-enabled alternative legal services provider.

In this segment with Stephen Siff, Associate Professor of Journalism at Miami University and the author of ‘Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience,’ we get into the U.S. news media's role in the promotion, and in particular the "hype," of psychedelic drug use in the 1950s and '60s — initially by prominent public figures and the "Intelligentsia," and eventually the wider population more generally. We also get into the Nixon Administration's role in instigating the War on Drugs, and the role the US media played in propagandizing the government's agenda regarding the prohibition of psychedelic compounds and cannabis. The media has played a major role in the “branding” of psychedelics and cannabis, both in a positive and negative light (depending on the time, and the context of their legal status). As Stephen examines in his book and in this interview, the initial coverage of LSD and other psychedelic compounds was initially very positive, with media outlets “hyping” the use and potential applications of these substances, effectively branding the psychedelic experience as a countercultural phenomenon. Along with this, Stephen discusses the other role the U.S news media has played in our popular perceptions of these substances. Leading up to the eventual criminalization of these substances under the Controlled Substance Act in 1970, the news media shifted its coverage of these substances, playing into the Nixon and successive administrations’ propaganda campaign to demonize and stigmatize psychedelic and drug use more broadly. Stephen Siff, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Journalism and the author of ‘Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience,’ an account of mainstream media’s introduction of new drugs and new styles of recreational drug use in the 1950s and 1960s. His research as a journalism historian examines news coverage and government propaganda about illegal drug use and drug users during the latter half of the twentieth century. He has also published research in Journalism History and Newspaper Research Journal. Learn more about and purchase ‘Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience’ here: http://bit.ly/AcidHype This is a segment of episode #160 of Last Born In The Wilderness “Don't Believe The Hype: The Media, Branding Psychedelics, & The War On Drugs w/ Stephen Siff.” Listen to the full episode: http://bit.ly/LBWsiff DROP ME A LINE: (208) 918-2837 WEBSITE: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com PATREON: http://bit.ly/LBWPATREON DONATE: Paypal: http://bit.ly/LBWPAYPAL Ko-Fi: http://bit.ly/LBWKOFI FOLLOW & LISTEN: SoundCloud: http://bit.ly/LBWSOUNDCLOUD iTunes: http://bit.ly/LBWITUNES Google Play: http://bit.ly/LBWGOOGLE Stitcher: http://bit.ly/LBWSTITCHER RadioPublic: http://bit.ly/LBWRADIOPUB YouTube: http://bit.ly/LBWYOUTUBE SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook: http://bit.ly/LBWFACEBOOK Twitter: http://bit.ly/LBWTWITTER Instagram: http://bit.ly/LBWINSTA

In this episode, I speak with Stephen Siff, Associate Professor of Journalism at Miami University and the author of ‘Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience.’ In this discussion, we get into the U.S. news media's role in the promotion, and in particular the "hype," of psychedelic drug use in the 1950s and '60s — initially by prominent public figures and the "Intelligentsia," and eventually the wider population more generally. We also get into the Nixon Administration's role in instigating the War on Drugs, and the role the US media played in propagandizing the government's agenda regarding the prohibition of psychedelic compounds and cannabis. As a proponent of cannabis and the psychedelic experience, I have become increasingly aware that our popular perception of psychedelic and cannabis use has largely been formed by very prominent cultural forces, in particular the U.S. news media, pro-capitalist interests, and the State. The media has played a major role in the “branding” of psychedelics and cannabis, both in a positive and negative light (depending on the time, and the context of their legal status). As Stephen examines in his book and in this interview, the initial coverage of LSD and other psychedelic compounds was initially very positive, with media outlets “hyping” the use and potential applications of these substances, effectively branding the psychedelic experience as a countercultural phenomenon. Along with this, Stephen discusses the other role the U.S news media has played in our popular perceptions of these substances. Leading up to the eventual criminalization of these substances under the Controlled Substance Act in 1970, the news media shifted its coverage of these substances, playing into the Nixon and successive administrations’ propaganda campaign to demonize and stigmatize psychedelic and drug use more broadly. Considering we are in the midst of a “psychedelic renaissance,” with a renewed interest in psychedelic research and cannabis legalization across the U.S. and the Western world, it is important to frame this subject within the broader historical context of the news media’s role in shaping the perceptions of these substances, in particular with something as valuable and important as the psychedelic experience. Stephen Siff, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Journalism and the author of ‘Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience,’ an account of mainstream media’s introduction of new drugs and new styles of recreational drug use in the 1950s and 1960s. His research as a journalism historian examines news coverage and government propaganda about illegal drug use and drug users during the latter half of the twentieth century. He has also published research in Journalism History and Newspaper Research Journal.✦ ✦Source: http://bit.ly/SiffBio Episode Notes: - Learn more about and purchase Stephen’s book ‘Acid Hype: American News Media and the Psychedelic Experience’ here: http://bit.ly/AcidHype - Read Stephen’s article ‘The Illegalization of Marijuana: A Brief History’: http://bit.ly/2QHDi1X - The song featured in this episode is “Voodoo Doll” by Son of Dave from the album Shake A Bone. - DROP ME A LINE: (208) 918-2837 - WEBSITE: https://www.lastborninthewilderness.com - PATREON: http://bit.ly/LBWPATREON - DONATE: Paypal: http://bit.ly/LBWPAYPAL Ko-Fi: http://bit.ly/LBWKOFI - FOLLOW & LISTEN: SoundCloud: http://bit.ly/LBWSOUNDCLOUD iTunes: http://bit.ly/LBWITUNES Google Play: http://bit.ly/LBWGOOGLE Stitcher: http://bit.ly/LBWSTITCHER RadioPublic: http://bit.ly/LBWRADIOPUB YouTube: http://bit.ly/LBWYOUTUBE - SOCIAL MEDIA: Facebook: http://bit.ly/LBWFACEBOOK Twitter: http://bit.ly/LBWTWITTER Instagram: http://bit.ly/LBWINSTA

Stephen Coss, author of The Fever of 1721, is a non-fiction weaver-of-tales that joins Grant and Vince to talk about a hot, and ever-evolving, topic in the 21st century: truth. As Stephen reflects on his first book and researches for his next, he offers interesting insights in how and when to color the facts, tell it how it is, and use the truth to create a compelling story. This episode is sponsored by Simplecast.

Adam and Jeannie interview Master of Innovation Stephen Shapiro for a better approach to innovating customer experience and more. A better approach at innovating customer experience Customer needs and expectations change, so it stands to reason that we must continue innovating customer experience. However, too many companies have the wrong idea about what innovation is and how to get game-changing ideas! “People have a confused notion of what innovation is…” -Stephen Shapiro The best innovations solve a problem, and we get there by asking the right questions. But it’s not just what you ask but how. Stephen shows us some simple but critical ways to reframe the questions we ask – not only to drive more innovative thinking, but to get more positive results. Even the most successful companies can miss the mark when the next big innovation is needed. Stephen explains what they typically do wrong, and more importantly, how to not follow in their footsteps. “Their past success led to their future failure.” -Stephen Shapiro We love to talk innovation here, so we’re very proud to have the Master of Innovation on our show today! Tying together many of the themes we’ve touched on in previous episodes and more, Stephen connects the dots between innovation, culture, the rehiring process, and how we communicate. Adam and Jeannie took notes themselves, so you won’t want to miss this amazing interview. Listen in! Interview Highlights How can leaders frame questions differently to get more innovative responses, and what is the “one-word switch?” [2:30] AS Stephen explains, asking for ideas is weak! So how can leaders inspire their teams to solve problems more efficiently? [10:30] Many companies aim to “innovate everywhere” while those with hyper-focused innovation efforts get greater value! Stephen explains. [13:25] Stephen breaks down the three main types of company activity and how to prime them for innovation. [15:00] How does Stephen convince leaders to give up a little control and innovate to differentiate? [16:35] What are some keys to staffing for innovation, and what are the best traits to look for? [17:45] What exactly is innovation? Many companies get this wrong on a fundamental level! [20:40] Stephen outlines the three main mistakes companies make when approaching the idea of innovation. [22:00] Stephen tells us what it’s like to offer his expertise in a business-focused reality TV show. [23:30] About our guest For over 20 years, Stephen Shapiro has presented his provocative strategies on innovation to audiences in 50 countries. During his 15-year tenure with the consulting firm Accenture, he led a 20,000-person innovation practice. He is the author of five books, including “Best Practices Are Stupid," which was named the best innovation book of 2011. His Personality Poker® system has been used around the world to create high-performing innovation teams. In 2015 he was inducted into the Speaker Hall of Fame. Connect with Stephen LinkedIn Twitter Website Play Personality Poker! Girl Starter (reality TV show) Related Content 360Connext® post, 3 Ways to Let Customers Guide Your Greatest Innovation Customers That Stick® post, Innovation Is No Longer Optional Episode 133: Tesla and the Infrastructure of Innovation Episode 101: How the Innovation Process Fails Us We’re on C-Suite Radio! Check it out for more great podcasts Sponsor message: Start creating a successful CX strategy Are you ready to build a customer experience strategy on a solid foundation for the long term? We’re shattering the top 5 CX strategy myths in our latest evergreen webinar. You will learn: How to avoid the 5 so-called “Customer Experience Strategies” that aren’t strategies at all What drives a winning customer experience strategy and examples of companies that “get it” How to create a foundation for a customer experience strategy that works for the long term Join Jeannie at a time that works for you for some serious mythbusting and a head start on creating a customer experience strategy that works!  Sign Me Up!     Take care of yourself and take care of your customers.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From living in the back of a friends car, to running a $40 Mill/yr business, this is the story of Stephen Scoggins,. A man that has done it all. Coming from a broken family, Stephen Scoggins tells us about how he was heading down a path that followed in the footsteps of an abusive father. That was until when he met someone that saw potential in him and took him under his wing. Stephen is a big believer that the success he has had, came as a result of having a great mentor in his life. Stephen explains in this podcast, that when he was growing up, almost everyone else had succumbed to the motion that he was never going to amount to much. Stephen's mentor however, saw a young man with lots of drive and ambition, who needed direction and someone to believe in him. As Stephen quotes. “growing up, you don't know what you don't know”. I love that saying and I use it all the time myself. It's not that [some] people don't want to learn, it's that they are not exposed to it at the right time, but the right people, in the right environment. It's one of the main reasons that I record these podcasts. The content that comes as the result brings an entirely new level of awareness to things that may otherwise have gone unnoticed. There's a lot of power in believing in someone. Perhaps there's someone in your life that you could be breathing belief into. Maybe you should take that as a challenge. Who could you be sewing belief into right now? Who could you take under your wing? Who in your life could you be sewing belief into right now? Maybe it's a staff member, maybe it's a friend, maybe it's a family member. Who could you take under your wing? In this conversation, Stephen tells us of his amazing story.  The good and bad times and the reality of growing and running a $40 million business with 380 staff across multiple states in the USA. The systems, the processes, the hiring and firing, internal politics, financials and so on. You can reach find out more about Custom Homes Exterior at teamche.com. Likewise, you can find out more about The Journey Principles at journeyprinciples.com He's also written a book named The Journey Principles, which you can get hold of at: Apple iBooks Amazon JourneyPrinciples.com If you have any questions for Stephen, or if you'd like me to get him back on the show to ask any questions, post them comments below. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The news in our day might lead us to conclude we are living in the worst of all possible times and, for some of us, in the worst of all possible countries—the United States. It isn’t true. As Stephen explains, the current rise of white supremacist thinking is the death rattle of a lie believed [read more]

During the recent race riots in Charlottesville and Boston, white supremacists repeatedly described themselves as “Christian” and “Conservative.” As Stephen contends in this podcast, nothing could be further from white supremacist philosophy than true Christianity and true Conservatism. Since Stephen considers himself both a Christian and a Conservative, he pushes back against racists kidnapping these [read more]

Stephen Jenkinson is back on ReWild Yourself Podcast to stretch our minds and hearts as he shares with us a bit of his elder wisdom on restoring real human culture. Stephen is a teacher, author, storyteller, spiritual activist, farmer and founder of the Orphan Wisdom School, a teaching house and learning house for the skills of deep living and making human culture. In our last interview (Episode #34) — a humbling conversation for me — Stephen shared insight into dying wise in our death phobic society. In today’s conversation, we focus on living wisely and meaningfully in our modern culture of self-hatred, entitlement, unwillingness to live deeply and lost connection to what makes us human. He leaves us with an empowering message on living a purposeful life, not just for ourselves, but for our collective culture and future generations. As Stephen so perfectly puts it, "Now is the time for work, not the time for getting paid.” EPISODE BREAKDOWN: Show Introduction: New SurThrival product coming soon! Hunt + gather updates: Cattail pollen-bearing flowers, Milkweed flowers, Wild strawberries, Shadbush & Self-heal CNN reports on the hunter-gatherer diet Q&A: Milkweed harvesting tips Introducing Stephen Jenkinson The absence of village-mindededness The story of Orphan Wisdom Growth and the issue with "how-to" questions  The measure of a sane society Your generational spiritual project What is real sorrow? Real human culture Stephen’s prognosis for the future of the human species

Discussions of energetic imbalances may reference certain frequencies an imbalance may be similar to. A frequency is NOT the actual disease; Newly revealed imbalances added to the AIM database; Over 300 newly revealed frequencies in 2016 - we all had some, but certainly not all of them. This finds us all closer to the bottom of our unique, individual imbalance barrel; As Stephen always told us, whatever discomfort we might feel healing an imbalance is minimal compared to what might be felt if not self-healed and then fully manifested; Clarification of previous discussion regarding eye issues/surgeries + structural issues, including something called "secondary cataracts" which are not uncommon; Reminder of the importance of a multi-faceted self-care tool kit, including eye doctors; Please assure any renewals or new applications are at the EMC2 office by 12/21 to assure processing before the Christmas break, Office will re-open on January 3, 2017; Remember the value of our resources, including your Facilitator and their web site, including the AIM Q&A section, where lots of questions are addressed, including what happens to life force if someone transitions while on AIM; Next Everything is Energy Show on January 5, 2017. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Stay warm and thank you for being part of our AIM family.

Chris Hannibal is a master magician that inspires and leaves his audiences in complete awe! He started his stage career at the age of 6. You will be on the edge of your seat while he tells the story of how his mom was taken from the earth much too early. Please join us in welcoming Chris Hannibal. Stephen and Hannibal met at a USO event that they were doing together. Stephen had the opportunity to sit down with Hannibal to hear his story and from the beginning was mesmerized. Hannibal is now a master magician and a motivational speaker, but he didn’t start off that way.  He found his God given gift and purpose while doing street performances just to keep food on his family’s table. He believes that each step of your journey is simply getting you closer to your dreams and goals. Sometimes those dreams and goals aren’t realized until later in the journey. He would never have dreamed of his accomplishments when he first started. If he had seen his accomplishments before he started, he might have been too intimidated to even start. We can all take a lesson from that: you may not be exactly where you want to be right now, but keep going. This step, perceived as big or small, is simply getting you to where you are meant to be. As Stephen said, each step up a mountain is making your legs stronger. So when you start to climb your next mountain, you have more strength than you did before. Your next climb will be easier and faster. Hannibal shares with the listener the importance of finding your passion and talent. His mom always supported and encouraged him to pursue and continue with his talents. She was taken away from this earth too soon. Life is too short to waste your passions and talents.  When she was unexpectantly taken, Hannibal was encouraged to never give up. His talents were gifts given to him and they were natural skills that he sharpened over time. Don’t take your talents and passions for granted. Sharpen them now, live them out, and work to make them better. Everyone can and should take the time to find their passions and talents. Some steps and questions to ask yourself that can help you live the life you are meant to lead are as follows: Sit down in a quiet environment with a pen and paper. Start writing out the things you enjoy doing and the things you have talent in. Is it playing a musical instrument? Writing an incredible story? Crafting something with your hands? Take some time each week, maybe twice a week, to practice these talents. How can you sharpen, polish and make them better? Are these some things that you can see yourself doing each day? Can you turn your passions and talents into a career like Chris Hannibal? Tune in with us today to hear the heartbreaking story of how Hannibal’s mom left us much too early and how he went from a street performer to a master magician. Don’t forget that this is only Part 1 of our incredible podcast with Chris Hannibal. Join us again next week to continue hearing from this amazing speaker! Please comment below and share us with your family and friends. See you next week for Chris Hannibal Part 2!

IMPURITIES DULL OUR WITNESS What is in your heart? David asked the Lord to examine his heart. Psalm 26:2 says, “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my mind and my heart.” Zechariah 13:9 says, “...refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested...” The word refine refers to that melting process to remove impurities from precious metals. Our faith is refined through fiery trials. Job 23:10 says, “He knows the way that I take, and when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” The Amplified says, “...I shall come forth as refined gold (pure and luminous).” Is your witness dull, tarnished, blocked, or does it express the character of Christ? Psalm 34:5 says that they looked to Him and were radiant. When He looks into the gold of your life, does He see His own reflection? We live in glass houses. Others are watching our lives unfold through our trials to see if what we say is lived. Is your messenger the same as your message? Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego had their faith in God tested by fire. Their faith held, and the Lord revealed Himself to them in the midst of the fire. They were brought out of the fiery furnace and examined. Daniel 3:27 says, “...they saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power; the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.” Isaiah 43:2 says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you.” The Wycliff manuscripts were the kindling for John Hus’ burning at the stake in 1415. Nero lit his gardens with human torches. In 1956 five men were killed by the Aucas, yet it opened the door for the salvation of that tribe. In 2014 twenty-one Egyptian Christians were beheaded. What will happen today? We don’t know what the future holds for us, but we do know Who holds our future. It is all about faith. The early church was persecuted. In Acts 1:8 the words of Jesus are written. It says, “...and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the world.” As Stephen was being stoned to death he said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). Paul fulfilled the Lord’s word to Ananias, “For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake” (Acts 9:16). Here is a line from the old hymn ‘How Firm A Foundation’, “The flames shall not hurt thee; I only design thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.” God has a high purpose in our trials. Romans 5:3 Amplified says, “Moreover (let us also be full of joy now!) let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.” Our thanksgiving releases His joy gift within. John 15:11 Amplified says, “I have told you these things that My joy and delight may be in you, and that your joy and gladness may be of full measure and complete and overflowing.” His joy gift remains. Yet, our complaining, bitterness, unforgiveness, refusing to release unresolved issues, etc., suppress that witness of joy. Isaiah 12:2-3 says, “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for Yah, the Lord, is my strength and my song; He also has become my salvation. Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” John 7:38 Amplified says, “He who believes in Me (who cleaves to and trusts in and relies on Me) as the Scripture has said, From his innermost being shall flow (continuously) springs and rivers of living water.” What flows continuously from your inner being? Matthew 12:34 says that out of the abundance of our heart our mouth speaks. Our thoughts control our brain, and our brain controls our body. Therefore our thoughts in our trials are the key to releasing that joy gift reflected to glorify Him. Trials refine our faith. The lies that the enemy has hidden through fiery darts are designed to undermine and overthrow our faith. The enemy-implanted questionings, doubt, fears, and unbelief must be silenced. The hidden unresolved issues that are buried in our unconscious will be exposed. As we embrace our trials, His deep work is accomplished. The hidden dross will rise and be skimmed off through His divinely orchestrated and impeccably timed trials. Our Rock-strength witness comes through the implanted Word of God. When we hide His Word in our hearts, it is the discerning key in our faith that will quench the fiery darts of the evil one. IMPURITY: IMPATIENCE We are partakers of God’s divine nature. Impatience is the antithesis of God’s nature of Patience and Longsuffering. Antithesis means an idea that is the direct opposite of another idea. Salvation redirects our disposition. Salvation by grace through faith empowers us to be Christ-like. He is the Transformer. That is why He invites us to put on His yoke so we can learn from Him. Matthew 11:29 says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” It is an opportunity to submit to Him and be led by the Spirit. Putting on His yoke is not a one time thing. It is constant submission. Impatience is a lie of the enemy. It is a fiery dart to pull us off course. When we are being led by the Spirit, there is no consideration for our flesh. That is what Romans 13:14 means. It says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts.” We “put on the Lord” by entering into His nature. The moment we feel impatient, we do a divine exchange. We exchange pride for humility. We capture our thoughts of impatience by meditating on His nature of Patience and Longsuffering. In that moment of the exchange we stop the progression our flesh would have taken. We course correct. Impatience is an impurity that undermines our faith. James 1:4 Amplified says, “But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be (people) perfectly and fully developed (with no defects), lacking in nothing.” If we give ground over to impatience, we will stop the work He is doing to purify our faith. We will lack what He wants to provide. As we continue to submit to the Lord we learn His ways. A team of oxen is made up of a strong leader to train a younger ox. The Lord is our Leader. He will teach us how to partner with Him, thereby glorifying Him through our lives. In our moment of impatience, we have a choice. Do we want to give in to our flesh (pride), or do we want to grow to be more like Him in humility? Impatience is the dead-bolt of pride that blocks grace. Humility throws the door wide open to allow Grace to come in. We have no power to endure our trials without grace.

Joined by TV historian Stephen Bowie, we discuss the evolution of the role of the director in scripted television. As Stephen tells us, TV directors have been innovators since the 50’s, but they’ve only recently begun to gain notoriety for their efforts. Plus: the moral issues raised by the narrative structure of Netflix’s “Making a Murderer.” SPOILERS: Making a Murderer 16:24 - 43:04

As Stephen continues to write poetry we learn of Cassiopeia, augurs and their flights of birds, along with Freud, Jung, and Telemachus.

As Stephen waits in the headmaster's study, we learn something about its inhabitant.

As Stephen's class lets out, a riddle is asked and answered, satisfying nobody.

As Stephen stands alone on the tower, we muse upon the painterly language of the seascape.

The Jews rejected Joseph and he saved them from death later on. They rejected Moses, and Moses led them out of captivity. As Stephen reminds them of this history, and how they went on to reject Jesus, they put Stephen to death, scattering the church and leading to further spreading of the word.