SAT class
Topic: Professional Notes
First day --

Great group to start the day with -- most of them warmed up. The course content, by its very nature, is somewhat tedious -- I'll need to look for ways to keep the approach fresh. I'll do as much pairs and group activities as possible in class, and try to give review as homework so that they don't get too bored. Student response at the end of class seemed positive -- "it wasn't too painful."

CSF
Topic: Professional Notes
Time line:

2/3: apps due

2/10: members notified

2/15: meeting

Topic: Prayers
When I try to avoid the authority of others so that I can get my own way, show me, O God, how I can practice the skills of submission by which my will becomes responsive to the truth of another, and so become responsive to you. Amen.

Topic: Prayers
I am very good at telling people what I don't like about them, Father. Train me today in discovering what you like about them and then telling them! Amen.

What steps do I need to take tomorrow in order to have a second half that is even more fulfilling than my first half?
Topic: Professional Notes
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Purpose
Topic: Professional Notes
Purpose--
"Therefore dear brothers (and sisters) be steadfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your work
is not in vain in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Take a challenge for one week. Start each day by asking God to
show you your work day world from His perspective. Ask to see
with His eyes and feel with His heart. Be observant; pay close
attention.

Then ask Him to use you there in His work; just a simple,
heartfelt request on your part to be active in what He is doing at
your job site or in your neighborhood. Ask His Holy Spirit to be
your helper.

Then experience a dimension that will be beyond what you ever
imagined. You are there by God's design and He has things to do
through you. Your greatest fulfillment will come as you step into
this challenge. This is work that has eternal value. This is His
purpose for you.

Topic: Quotes
So, each day I have to keep in mind what it is I want to say on December 31.
- Louis Schmeir

New Year
Topic: Prayers
'Dear Lord, as I seek Your direction for my life at the beginning of this New Year, do I hear You asking, 'What did you do with last year's directions?' ... Oh Lord, help me to humbly take stock of my life and find areas that need to be more consecrated to You. Help me to sincerely want to go deeper into Your Word, to pray for others, and to serve in my own 'personal mission field.' ... Fill me with Your Holy Spirit that I may have the strength and power to change, so that I may reflect You each day of my life.
In the name of Jesus I pray.'

Topic: Professional Notes
The meaningful teachers are the master artists. It is they who are worth writing about... They read the Confusian message to always have a reverence for each person; they acknowledge it, recognize it, focus in on it, cultivate it, live it, get going with it; they give themselves to something larger than themselves; they give their lives over to others; they teach with their hearts wide open to others in compassion; they aspire to inspire the realization of possibility; they grab others inside; they give themselves to the future; they touch eternity; they engage in no less than heroic deeds; they help others leave a condition of dependence to discover a richer condition of independence; they alter lives and make a difference.
-Louis Schmeir

New Year...
Topic: Personal Notes
I Am the New Year

I am the new year. I am an unspoiled page in your book of time.

I am your next chance at the art of living. I am your opportunity to practice what you have learned about life during the last twelve months.

All that you sought and didn’t find is hidden in me, waiting for you to search it but with more determination.

All the good that you tried for and didn’t achieve is mine to grant when you have fewer conflicting desires.

All that you dreamed but didn’t dare to do, all that you hoped but did not will, all the faith that you claimed but did not have—these slumber lightly, waiting to be awakened by the touch of a strong purpose.

I am your opportunity to renew your allegiance to Him who said, 'Behold, I make all things new.'

deedee

Topic: Quotes
'Not all who wander are lost.'
-- J. R. R. Tolkien

How can I reenergize when things are getting routine?
Topic: Personal Notes
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New Year
Topic: Bible Study
'As we look forward to the months of this year, we know not where the close will find us; whether here or in the eternal Home. We know not what burdens, perplexities, or difficulties it may bring; but we know Him, whose we are, and whom we serve. He knows all; this suffices for us. I have been looking at a few passages which bring out the care of our LORD for His people:-

(1) 2 Timothy 2:19, 'The foundation of GOD standeth sure, having this seal, The LORD knoweth them that are His.' – The LORD knows every one of His own. We may not know them. Some may be His, and we may be unaware of it. The LORD knows them that are His. This is a safe foundation. We, too, know in our own souls whether the LORD is indwelling us, whether His peace fills us, sustains and blesses us.

(2) Nahum 1:7, 'The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him.' – He has a special knowledge of those who put their trust in Him. Though our trust at times is very poor, yet, if there be any trust at all in Him, we can say, 'Help thou mine unbelief.' He knows we want to trust Him better.

(3) Psalm 103:14, 'He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.' – Our SHEPHERD knows our weakness. He never lays more upon us than we are able to bear.

(4) Psalm 1:6, 'The LORD knoweth the way of the righteous.' – There may be difficulties in our path; we do not foresee them, but He knows them; and when He puts forth His sheep He does not leave them to meet difficulties as best they can, but He goes before them.

(5) Job said (23:10) 'He knoweth the way that I take.' – Job did not understand the way the LORD was leading him. He was bewildered by the LORD'S dealings with him. But he had this comfort, 'He knoweth the way that I take.' So when we cannot understand GOD'S dealings with us we may rest on the same truth.

(6) Psalm 44:21, 'He knoweth the secrets of the heart,' – We are often brought into circumstances of trial and misunderstanding. People imagine that this or that discipline is the fruit of this or that sin. The LORD knoweth the secrets of the heart. If we are unjustly accused or suspected, if it is asserted that we have forgotten the Name of our GOD, GOD knows the secret of our hearts. Sometimes we have trials which we cannot put into prayer; the LORD knows the secrets of our hearts. There are things that affect us, and yet we cannot understand how it is that we are so affected by them. 'He knoweth the secrets of the heart.'

(7) 2 Peter 2:9, 'The LORD knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.' – Sometimes we are involved in trial because of our connection with others. GOD knew how to punish the old world and save Noah – how to punish Sodom and save Lot.

(8) Then we have many needs. We are like children, we need to be helped continually, and our SAVIOR reminds us (Matthew 6:8, 32) that our 'heavenly FATHER knoweth what things' we 'have need of'; and that if we are only concerned to seek 'first the Kingdom of GOD, and His righteousness,' 'all these things shall be added unto' us. So that we have no need to be anxious about tomorrow. It is quite sufficient that we have a SHEPHERD, OVERSEER, FRIEND who undertakes to provide for it all. Nay, as He told us in Psalm 84:11. He Himself is a 'sun' to give us light in all times of darkness, and a 'shield' to protect us in danger. The 'grace' that we need for His service now, and the 'glory' that shall soon crown it, are all in Him, and all for us; for, 'No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.' If we are honestly and uprightly seeking to serve Him, no good thing will He withhold. What a rich promise this is!'

Hudson Taylor

Topic: Prayers
Lord, be my Wonderful Counselor stilling me when I may act impulsively; Lord, be my Mighty God reminding me that You calm the storms; Lord, be my Everlasting Father guiding and protecting me; and Lord, do be my Prince of Peace bringing restoration and healing to broken people and broken relationships. Dear Lord, I praise and thank You for hearing my prayer. Amen.

Topic: Quotes
God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called.
-unknown-

Topic: Quotes
'Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that
something else is more important than fear.' (Ambrose Redmoon)

Topic: Quotes
'Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the thing you have to do, when it ought to be done, whether you like it or not.'
-- Walter Bagehot

Topic: Professional Notes
"When we enter a house for the first time, we of course find it unfamiliar. By walking around for a while, however; looking into various rooms and peering into cupboards, we quickly get to know it. But what if we cannot enter the house, and our only knowledge of it comes from the instructions and plans that were used to build it? Moreover, what if those instructions and plans are written in a highly technical language that we find intimidating and incomprehensible? What if, try as we may, we cannot form any mental picture of the house? Then we are not going to get much of a sense of what it is like to live there. We are not going to be able to enter the house even in our imagination."
- Keith Devlin, The Math Gene

Topic: Professional Notes
Efficacy is the power to achieve a desired goal. Students with personal efficacy know that they as individuals control what is learned based on a belief in their abilities to apply effort and achieve a goal.

Topic: Quotes
'Success is relative: It is what we can make of the mess we have made of things.'
-- T.S. Eliot