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A 9/10/2001 story.

A friend of a friend who called himself a "radically reformed Methodist" was boarding a flight and was getting settled in his bulkhead seat by the galley. He glanced to his right and saw a flight attendant struggling with ice cubes that had thawed and then re-froze into a nearly solid block. He reached into his carry-on for his pen knife (you could carry them then...) and handed it to the attendant. He also handed her a booklet. She said, “This is third one of these (tracts) I’ve gotten this week!

He then asked her, "Have you ever taken the Two-Question Test." She answered no, and then he went on:

"'Question #1: If you were to die tonight, would you know for sure you were going to heaven?

Question #2: Would you like to know from the Bible how you can know for sure?

The Gospel has got bad news and good news. The bad news is about us, but the good news is about God. Here's the bad news.

"All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) That's like you and me going out onto the runway, taking a baseball and trying to hit the sun with it. None of our human effort can reach the level of God's holiness.

Bad news gets worse. "The wages of sin is death." (Romans 6:23) That's like working for 40 hours and what do we earn? A paycheck. Living a life below God's holiness earns us death, and that's eternal separation from God.

The news gets good, though.

"While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) That's like me walking into your hospital room and taking all of the sickness off of you and putting it onto me. Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins, so that's good news.

And the news gets even better:

"You can be saved by grace through faith, that is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8-9) By believing in what Jesus Christ has done on the cross, dying to take the penalty for our sins, we can receive eternal life with God. Often faith is a loaded word, so let's use the word "trust." When buckling up for takeoff in your jumpseat, you don't need an endorsement from the plane builder, or the worker who installed it, you just buckle in.

Well if you can trust the plane builder and the worker who installed your seat with your life, what can stop you from trusting Jesus Christ with your life? Is there anything stopping you from trusting Christ with your life right now?"'

She said there was nothing was stopping her and she prayed a prayer for salvation, asking Jesus Christ into her life. After they prayed, he gave her a pocket New Testament, bookmarked the gospel of John, and they took off from NYC to Logan.

That was 9/10/2001.

The next day, she, with her crew, and her passengers were among the souls lost in the terror attack.

People, get ready. Your last day on earth is determined by God. What a difference a day makes.

Make sure you get to live with him in the afterlife.

#everybodyoughttofollowjesus

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A post shared by Dallas Willard Ministries (@dallas_willard_ministries)

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(A Leader) is a person who has an unusual degree of power to project onto other people his or her shadow, or his or her light. A leader is a person who has an unusual degree of power to create the conditions under which other people must live…conditions that can be as illuminating as heaven or shadowy as hell. A leader must take special responsibility for what’s going on inside his or her self, inside his or her consciousness, lest the act of leadership create more harm than good. -Parker Palmer

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TWENTY REASONS FOR BEING - Maria Popova’s elegy to “On Being.”

notice the rage

notice the silence —

silence and the presence

        of everything:

small truths

        and other surprises

what we nurture

how we live with loss

        saved by the beauty of the world

seeking language

        large enough

a life worthy of our breath

when no question

        seems big enough:

what if we get this        right?

this tiny slice of eternity —

mathematics, mystery,

        and the universe —

this fantastic argument

                        of being alive.

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It is divine to discover the convergence of spiritual gifts, sanctified human talents, experiences, opportunities, place and time. This is the divine overflow.

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Sir you have reached the alcohol limit

(Source)

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Strategic thoughts for online religion reporting 2024

“I thought you were bringing the snacks?” Editorial meeting in Central Park, March 2024. Photo: A Journey through NYC religions The news media landscape resembles Berlin after the Russians had gone through it during World War Two. The burnt hulks are failed Main Stream Media; the burnt cars and empty boots are failed attempts of online news media to take their place. It now seems pointless to…

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Black Scientists and Engineers Past and Present Enable NASA Space Telescope

The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is NASA’s next flagship astrophysics mission, set to launch by May 2027. We’re currently integrating parts of the spacecraft in the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center clean room.

Once Roman launches, it will allow astronomers to observe the universe like never before. In celebration of Black History Month, let’s get to know some Black scientists and engineers, past and present, whose contributions will allow Roman to make history.

Dr. Beth Brown

The late Dr. Beth Brown worked at NASA Goddard as an astrophysicist. in 1998, Dr. Brown became the first Black American woman to earn a Ph.D. in astronomy at the University of Michigan. While at Goddard, Dr. Brown used data from two NASA X-ray missions – ROSAT (the ROentgen SATellite) and the Chandra X-ray Observatory – to study elliptical galaxies that she believed contained supermassive black holes.  

With Roman’s wide field of view and fast survey speeds, astronomers will be able to expand the search for black holes that wander the galaxy without anything nearby to clue us into their presence.

Dr. Harvey Washington Banks 

In 1961, Dr. Harvey Washington Banks was the first Black American to graduate with a doctorate in astronomy. His research was on spectroscopy, the study of how light and matter interact, and his research helped advance our knowledge of the field. Roman will use spectroscopy to explore how dark energy is speeding up the universe's expansion.

NOTE - Sensitive technical details have been digitally obscured in this photograph. 

Sheri Thorn 

Aerospace engineer Sheri Thorn is ensuring Roman’s primary mirror will be protected from the Sun so we can capture the best images of deep space. Thorn works on the Deployable Aperture Cover, a large, soft shade known as a space blanket. It will be mounted to the top of the telescope in the stowed position and then deployed after launch. Thorn helped in the design phase and is now working on building the flight hardware before it goes to environmental testing and is integrated to the spacecraft.

Sanetra Bailey 

Roman will be orbiting a million miles away at the second Lagrange point, or L2. Staying updated on the telescope's status and health will be an integral part of keeping the mission running. Electronics engineer Sanetra Bailey is the person who is making sure that will happen. Bailey works on circuits that will act like the brains of the spacecraft, telling it how and where to move and relaying information about its status back down to Earth.  

 Learn more about Sanetra Bailey and her journey to NASA. 

Dr. Gregory Mosby 

Roman’s field of view will be at least 100 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope's, even though the primary mirrors are the same size. What gives Roman the larger field of view are its 18 detectors. Dr. Gregory Mosby is one of the detector scientists on the Roman mission who helped select the flight detectors that will be our “eyes” to the universe.

Dr. Beth Brown, Dr. Harvey Washington Banks, Sheri Thorn, Sanetra Bailey, and Dr. Greg Mosby are just some of the many Black scientists and engineers in astrophysics who have and continue to pave the way for others in the field. The Roman Space Telescope team promises to continue to highlight those who came before us and those who are here now to truly appreciate the amazing science to come. 

To stay up to date on the mission, check out our website and follow Roman on X and Facebook.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

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Time marches back…..

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Theology without practice is the theology of demons.”

Maximus the Confessor

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American evangelicalism = personal piety + political amoral pragmatism