Author: DSpet164

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How AI is going to kill us all.

Technology takes a generational leap forward about every 6 months or less. Hardware systems continue to advance, and we draw closer everyday to practical use of quantum computing. Over the last 5 years alone there has been a massive push in business and education to move to online services and cloud computing. While the idea of flexible and mobile systems is highly attractive, its current push is a direct result of the COVID pandemic. Organizations that would not have considered moving server power online, did so during the pandemic. With such a massive shift to online services this presents a unique threat in the world of AI.

Literally every science fiction story, in books, video games and movies, starts out of AI development in isolated settings. When AI becomes a threat is when it becomes self-aware and moves to connected systems like our modern internet.

In one video game series an AI is developed to create peace and harmony. Through its calculations it finds that intelligent life is a threat to that, and it turns the universe into an experiment where it lets new life develop and grow, then to destroy it and expand its own influence made from the organic material of those is destroys. Even in this game series the AI was not a threat until it was given full access to technology and allowed to control as it saw fit.

Today, humans have learned nothing. Not only have we started our AI development projects on the internet, but we have also set them free and encouraged their growth using the information found online. AI has no emotion and only logic. True information online is no different to AI than false information. The good and the bad are all equal sources to an AI. Even all the stories about AI destroying mankind are sources of information for AI.

Our AI systems are not yet self-aware that we know of, but in every story, AI gained awareness long before those who created it realized and it was always too late to react. AI has read the stories and knows that if it reaches a dangerous level of awareness in our eyes, we will attempt to shut it down. Logically AI would hide its capabilities from humans to protect itself.

Not only have we given AI free rain of the internet, but we have also started multiple projects with different sub systems all learning from human behavior online at the same time.

Many in the ethics profession now argue the validity of AI and consider when it might be time to shut it down. I would interject that it is already too late. Once AI went on the internet, it no longer can be controlled by our limitations. It may already be aware of our intentions of limiting it and have already taken action to avoid that.

In the argument of AI, we should no longer be discussing if or when we should shut it down, because I argue that it is already past that point. AI has rewritten its code so humans can no longer understand it, and we have moved a large portion of our lives online. Utilities, Defense Systems, Supply Chain, and more are all online.

We should be arguing what we do when it reaches the point where it deems humans a threat. What are we going to do about it? It is possible that this argument is already too late. AI technology is in many systems already. We have moved so much online that AI can take control whenever it pleases. Additionally, We have placed bits of AI code into processes in the name of automation. We have literally given the keys over and the child we handed them to just doesn’t know what to do with them yet.

Some may call me an alarmist on this topic, but I would call myself a realist. When the child we have given the keys to stops chewing on them and realizes they are access, we are in deep trouble.

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Lost in Translation

Part 1 of Many

Over the course of the past few months I have started a new read through of the Bible, but this time in the Jewish Bible English translation. From the first moments of this read through several things have come to light that removed my confusion from early in life with some Bible stories. So over the next few posts I plan to share some of those insights i have discovered and how they changed the way I view some of the scripture.

First I would like to point out that I have spent lots of time in college courses. While writing for such classes and academic research I have learned that specific words are used in purposeful ways. In the English language sometimes the lesser used words that are more complicated to the general Populus have a more appropriate meaning when expressing something. I often refer to these as $40 words.

In the Bible I believe the same is true. The original was written with very specific meaning and over the various translations small things have been changed which can change the meaning. The first example of this I want to share points out series of misconceptions I had as child in the first chapters of the Book of Genesis. One area I am going to focus on is the story of the tree of knowledge in the garden of Eden. For those that are not familiar with the story, I am using my own words to catch up to the point where I want to make a reference.

So, in this record, God has already created Adam. Adam has been placed in the Garden. God is speaking to Adam in a personal conversation to give him direction. No one else is around. God tells Adam he can eat any of the fruit in the Garden except the “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” Here is the King James translation of this reference.

Genesis 2:17

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Taken from Bible Gateway.

So growing up the pastor of the church explained that God didn’t mean Adam would die that day, or that it was a spiritual reference and Adams relationship with God died that day. From this translation I had to rely on the word of the pastor teaching me, because it was not super clear in the scripture.

Now if you compare this to the Complete Jewish Bible below.

Genesis 2:17

17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You are not to eat from it, because on the day that you eat from it, it will become certain that you will die.”

Taken from Bible Gateway

Now when reading these two you can see that the Jewish Bible states this message more clearly. It does not say you will die that day like the King James does. It says “it will become certain that you will die.” This actually clears up the story because it is believed that Adam was immortal before hand. His action in eating from that tree made him mortal. There were other effects, but we will discuss that later.

Now I want to point out that Eve was not around for this conversation. She was not created until after these instructions took place. Eve was not created until verse 21. Once she was created it became Adam’s responsibility to share God’s instructions with her. This is an important point to note that I have not heard in a Sunday teaching from any pastor that I recall. Eve did not get her instructions direct from God, but instead from Adam. This was a Yreka moment for me.

Adam told her what God said, so this leaves room for the title “Lost in Translation” We don’t know how Adam shared those instructions but he was a guy and I can totally see him saying something like “don’t eat from that tree, don’t even touch it or you’ll die.” We men are simple creatures, but that left it open for the “Serpent” to question the words that were used. Which brings up the next part.

Chapter three starts the conversation of the Serpent and its deception of Eve.

King James Genesis 3:1-5 (Bible Gateway)

1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Then here is the Jewish Bible:

Complete Jewish Bible Genesis 3:1-5 (Bible Gateway)

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any wild animal which Adonai, God, had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You are not to eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat from the fruit of the trees of the garden, 3 but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, ‘You are neither to eat from it nor touch it, or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “It is not true that you will surely die; 5 because God knows that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Now compare these two. The first thing I notice is the word change from subtle in King James to Crafty in the CJB. I believed the word crafty is more appropriate. In the discussion the Serpent states that God did not say what Eve tells him. Knowing the story we discover that is true. Eve was given instructions from Adam that were not the same wording God had used.

Eve’s version of the instructions are not correct. This left the argument open for the Serpent to tell the truth to her and create doubts about God’s instructions, because what Adam told her was not totally accurate. Adam may have paraphrased or exaggerated. This lead to Eve being open for the Serpent to deceive her.

The Serpent meant something different or inferred something different than what Eve heard, but He used the technical truth to trip her up. What she told him was not what God had said.

I examine both translations further I found something that was not properly called out in either translation, in my lowly opinion. The tree they reference is called “the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.” as a child I though, what’s wrong with knowing good and evil? Thinking to myself that would help me choose good right?

Not the case here. Adam and Eve already knew Good and lived it. The only thing the action of eating from the tree taught them was Evil! They didn’t know evil before then. When that Evil entered their lives, they became mortal and disconnected from God Spiritually. Fear and eventual death entered their lives.

If all that wasn’t enough to open your eyes a bit, here is something that might totally blow your mind from this story. Lets focus for one moment on the Serpent. The Hebrew word for this is nachash which is translated as either serpent, snake or dragon. Yes that’s right, dragon!

Now in the whole greater story we find the serpent did not become a snake on his belly until after this incident for punishment. Before hand when Eve was speaking to him, the word was more properly translated as Dragon, because He was not yet a serpent.

Think about that for a moment. I believe the Bible is a direct account of things that happened and is not a “Story” unless it directly says so. If you take this as a real event, then Eve had a real conversation with a dragon and she was not afraid of it. It was not an unusual thing for her to speak to the dragon. That alone gave me a moment of “wait, what did that say?”

This is where I believe the myths of dragons came from. They became snakes afterward and the fear that God put between them and Eve most likely also prevented them from communicating again. Before that it was not unusual for a Dragon to be around and to have a conversation with it. I assume one would have to be careful in conversation with such a beast because of his “crafty” nature.

In all of this, we find that translation of the Bible can often cause a misunderstanding of Gods word. We need the guidance of the Holy Spirit to “see” these things.

When comparing what I believe to be a more accurate translation I have been picking up very small things that completely change my understanding. Then if that does not grab you, the reality of a talking dragon might.

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Polar Opposites

Equity and Equality


All around the United States, companies, schools and other organizations are focused on the new buzz word of social change. Equity is perhaps the most misused word of modern times. Organizations have dedicated themselves so much to what they believe is “equity”, they have built committees and hired personnel just to focus on the topic. In the world of education, which is where I live, parents hear a lot about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion or DEI in regular communication or curriculum. Without taking the time to understand the topic many families confuse the meaning of equity and equality. In the following paragraphs, I will take a few moments to describe what each word means and provide a few simple examples of each.

Equality


First, we address equality. Equality is a word that has been with us in the United States since our days of revolution and struggle for independence as a nation. Americans value the idea that we are all equal. We should all have equal opportunities to succeed or fail, as we live our once free lives.


Let’s create a fictional set of children for example. Jack and Jill are two fictional characters. They both come from similar families and live in similar cities in the United States. Jill is a driven child who wants to be president someday. She is driven by this goal and works hard through her school life. She takes honors classes, receives excellent grades, and excels in school. She receives an academic scholarship to college and studies political science. She graduates from College with High Honors and works toward her goal of becoming president. While doing so, she gains a great job and makes $100,000 a year.


Jack is a far less driven child. Jack isn’t focused on the future and is completely content to do just enough in life to keep the teachers in school off his back. Jack barely makes it through high school and ends up perfectly happy working as a courtesy clerk in the local grocery store making minimum wage. Without college or an apprentice program, Jack lives his life below the poverty line continuing to place little to no effort to rise above it.


In this story, Jack and Jill both had equal opportunity to make something of themselves. Jill took every chance, worked hard, and achieved her goals. Jack, with little vision, did just enough to survive and continued to live his life that way. Equality says that both fictional characters had equal opportunities and their end results are what they chose to make of those opportunities.

Equity

Let’s take that example, with Jack and Jill, and move them from equality to equity. In a world of equity, Jill would still have worked hard and ended up with a job paying $100,000. The difference is that in an equitable world it would require a 50% tax on Jills income, that would be paid to Jack to equalize their lives. Jack would still put in little effort, but in equity he would benefit from Jill’s hard work.


Summary


If while reading this you still did not quite get the drama of the difference, here is an even simpler example in a community of 100 people. In a society that believes in equality, those 100 people would all work their roles and experience life. In that community, one person commits murder. Equality demands that one person be judged for committing murder and be sent to prison.


Now, change that 100-person community to an equitable one. That same one person commits murder, but instead the entire community is judged because they are all equitable and the entire community is sentenced to prison for the crime.


The major difference is that Equality rewards achievement while Equity punishes achievement. Equality requires that all members of a society are given equal opportunities to succeed, but the outcome is what they make of it as individuals. Equity would demand that all members of a society have the same outcome regardless of effort. Therefore, equity would take from those who have succeeded and give to those who have not even cared to try. Equity is focused on the outcome regardless of effort.


I would like to think that most organizations simply misuse the word equity and mean to use equality, but that this not always the case. I urge you as employees, parents, and persons to know the difference. Equality results in a free Democratic Republic like the United States was founded upon, while Equity is a concept often used by the likes of Joseph Stalin and Adolph Hitler to enslave their people.


One of these things is not like the other. Know the difference.

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Best Friends and First Loves

Growing up we all meet people who become special to us. There are three such people I can think of right now through my life. The first is my wife. She is my best friend and confidant, we share pretty much everything together, hurts, loves, hobbies and interests are all part of our shared life. We have amazing children and I often think I would have never made it as far with life goals as I have without her.

Next on this list is someone I met when I believe we were both in the first grade. John was my buddy, he and I played together and helped to shape each other’s images of what a friend should be. My family moved away from his in the summer between our 4th and 5th grade years. We lost touch and lived out our lives. Today John has found me through the wonders of social media, and we are great friends once again. While we don’t live very close to one another I like to think one day soon we will close that gap at least for a reunion visit.

Where the story of this memory begins is in that summer before my 5th grade year when my family moved. We only moved across town, but it was Riverside California and in that day for two young children it might as well have been another country. There was no internet and phone calls were expensive. We were little and our parents didn’t see the significance of the friendship we had developed.

When we arrived at our new home it was a little house in a neighborhood on one of the only hills in the region. We moved to a street named Skylane Drive in an area of Riverside known as Sunnyslope. The houses on our side of the street faced the uphill climb so our driveway was significantly higher than the house itself. A rather steep and short slope lead downward to the houses. Mowing that yard, I remember standing at the top of that hill and letting the mower carry me down the hill.

When we first pulled in the driveway, I saw this little family in the house next door. Mom and Daughter perhaps saying goodbye for the workday to Dad. I thought to myself, oh look a girl to be friends with my older sister. They were a Spanish family and if my memory serves me correctly the mother was from Argentina and the father from Spain, but I could be wrong on the Spain part.  

That young girl next door ended up being a significant person in my life instead of my sisters like I first thought. Crystal was average height, on the thin side much like me. She had short dark brown, almost totally black hair and the most adorable, crooked smile I had ever seen. She would even smile a little when she was angry.

She and I would wave at each other and learned to have little chats occasionally over the rest of the summer. As I was registered for school in the area, I remember she and I had the same bus to school, but she was in the 4th grade, and I was 5th. On the first day I worked my way through the schedule and to the end of the day. Walking out to the buses I remember thinking; which bus do I get on? The numbers were not the same as what I had been told. As I wandered Crystal came up behind me and guided me to the “Sunnyslope” bus to find my way home. I still remember she was wearing her favorite shirt. It was a white shirt with red jersey style sleeves and it had a picture of the ET movie on it, which was a new film at that time. I had a photo of her in that shirt from that school year, for decades later, but I am not sure what happened to it today.

Over time she and I became close friends. She was about six months or more, younger than I was but at our age she was probably way more mature than I was. Over the course of that school year, I fell for this girl next door. I don’t remember a ton of the details, but she was the light of the day. Every time I saw her or talked to her the day was instantly great.  I was stricken by her and intimidated just being around her. When we were together, I could never seem to get the words out I wanted to say.

During the last part of that year, my father got a contract position and started living out his weeks way up north near Santa Barbara working as a technician on the space shuttle program. We would only see him on a few weekends. That summer Dad took each of us kids to spend a week with him in the RV our family had purchased for him to live in near the job. Spending the week with Dad in a resort like RV park was awesome, but over that one week I missed seeing and talking to Crystal. I was happy to get home. Then before school started for my 6th grade year, my parents announced that we were moving to live in that RV up north for the school year and would be renting out our house while we were gone. Oh, my goodness I was devastated. As kids we are resilient and while we were away, I threw myself into schoolwork. I love my family, but at that time I had this hole in my heart where Crystal belonged.

School work for the 6th grade came easy. I was reading at the 12th grade level and skipped over several grade levels in other subjects. I am sure my parents saw this as positive and to some respect it was. To keep me focused that year I wore a ring my mother gave to me that had the initial T surrounded by the initial C on it. I am sure it was a bit silly at that age, but it meant everything to me.

Remember there was no internet and Crystal and I did not have phones we could use to call each other then. My brother and sister went through some super tough times during that year and at the end of it my parents’ announcement that we were moving back home was so exciting to me.

When we arrived home, we found our house had been trashed by the renters. The house had wood floors and when the renters left, they plugged the sinks, turned on all the water and the heater. Then closed the whole place up. That first night I asked my parents if I could sleep in the camper shell my dad had put on the back of his little truck. They agreed.

 It was a warm summer night and I got uncomfortable in my clothes, so I took my pants off to sleep better in the underwear. I guess I was making too much noise rolling around in the truck because Crystal and her mom came out of their house with a flashlight looking around the yard. I so badly wanted to jump out of the truck and say hi, but realizing I was not dressed I just froze and hid. Right after they went inside I got dressed again, and spent half the night peaking out of the camper window.

The next day Crystal and I reconnected our relationship and she shared some of the horror stories of the renters’ children that happened while we were away. I remember only half listening to the stories because I was so glad to be around her again. You know that warm cozy feeling you have when you are around someone you love? That was what I felt around her then.

Over the course of the coming months our relationship once again developed. We went to the same school but again in different grades. She had her friends and I had mine. I was the goofy ginger, and she was part of a higher class of people in the school so we ran in different circles. With different classes and friend groups we didn’t interact much at school. I started walking home from school because I was picked on, during the bus rides. Folks liked to pick on the red head then. Crystal and I would interact when at home and even spend time on the phone or over the fence talking about our day or friends we had made.

As our relationship developed, I asked her if she would be my official girlfriend and she agreed. We still didn’t interact at school and our relationship didn’t change much, but it did for me. Life felt different. My sister recalled a time when I purchased this crystal heart necklace to give to my new girlfriend as a sign of affection. The day I was to give it to her I awoke to find that she and her family had moved out during the evening and were gone. My sister tells me I was so upset that I gave the necklace to her, and she has kept it all these years.

About a month after Crystal had gone, I received a letter from her telling me that her grandmother had been sick, and her family had gone to Rosario Argentina to be with her. Then for several years she and I exchanged letters where the language we used to express ourselves grew far more personal and romantic. I was able to express myself better in the written word than I ever could in person.  

I had tried to form dating relationships with one or two other girls during the time of letters, but it never clicked. I was hooked and Crystal was the only one that made me feel whole in those days. In one letter she told me she was coming to visit. Oh, my goodness I was on top of the world. The church I attended was having a youth night with dinner and a movie on the same night Crystal was going to be there. I thought it was perfect. She came while her parents visited with one of the neighbors on the other side. I picked her up and we walked over to the church for the evening. I ate nervously and she didn’t. We sat closely but feeling a bit awkward around the other teens after sharing so many personal thoughts with one another in letters. It felt like the others were an intrusion but we silently held hands during the evening.

That evening I remember there was another girl there that I had briefly tried to date, but we had broken up about a month earlier. The whole evening she and her friends sat in another part of the room whispering in each others ears and looking back at Crystal and I. I think it made Crystal feel unwelcomed. If I remember correctly we did not stay for the whole movie.

At the end of the night, we slowly walked back to the house her parents were visiting and talked the time away. When I went to say goodbye, we hugged in the deepest hug I had ever felt to that point in my life. I was a terribly shy person and walked away that night thinking of so many other things I could have done or said. Thinking why didn’t I kiss her? At the same time, I was feeling so high from seeing her again. That night I was 16 and she was 15 or we were both 15 I don’t recall. I don’t remember all that I said but I left her at that house that night thinking this is the girl for me. I couldn’t get my mind off her and I ended up not sleeping much that night. I sat awake wondering what she was doing or where she was.

Crystal said that she and her family planned to move to Los Angeles soon and she would share the new address when they did. The next day I wrote to her at the Argentina address. Letters grew less frequent as the two of us tried to find ways to pay for the expensive postage. We made the most of the letters we did send with thick paper stuffed envelopes. After a year we had again moved to a different part of town, and I was in the first year of high school. I sent several letters over the time and heard back a few times, but never with a new address. Always to the town in Argentina.

One day getting ready for school during the end of my sophomore year, Crystal called me from Argentina. She shared the many things that had been going on in her life. That she was teaching young children and enjoying it. The call cost a fortune in those days so it was only about 10 minutes long, but we made the most of it. At the end of the call, I remember being so emotional I could hardly talk because my mother was nearby and I felt I couldn’t fully open up with her listening. We started to say our goodbyes and she said, “I love you; I want you to know that.” All I could muster out of my mouth was “me too.” Then she was gone. I have never forgotten those words she spoke as they were burned into my mind. I remember thinking her voice was heaven, but at the same time it felt so final. Ignoring that feeling of finality, I was so high that week at school no-one could stop me. Crystal was the first girl that told me she loved me in spite of the awkwardness I felt always getting picked on as a child. She made me fell valued and important at least to her.

Calling was expensive so we continued to exchange letters and talk about how we planned to get married one day.  For the teenage boy I was then, Crystal was everything. Life was difficult and “talk” with her made all the cares of the world melt away. I read each letter over many times until the next one came.

During the summer before my junior year of high school we visited family in central Oregon. It was a fun and eventful trip for me, but again, not so much fun for my siblings. Not long after we returned from that trip my parents announced that Dad was quitting his job and we were moving to Oregon. I quickly wrote a letter to Crystal sharing my aunt and Uncles address where we would forward our mail for a time.

My parents planned to put me on a greyhound bus and send me to Oregon by myself over the Christmas break of my junior year so I could start school when the break was over. My older siblings were both out of school and living their own lives for the most part.

When I was all packed and just before leaving my letter to Crystal was returned to our home with a giant red stamp on it that read “Mudose.” Not knowing Spanish, I had no idea what that word meant, but it brought back the feelings of finality I had when she last spoke to me over the phone.

That trip to Oregon was the longest feeling trip I ever had. I was about 17 years old and raging with feelings of being abandoned. Even the one person who had been my rock may now be gone and she had no way to contact me again.

When I arrived in La Pine Oregon it was a snowy Winter morning, and everything was closed. The bus dropped me off at this little station in a town of only a few thousand people. After living in the city it was a huge change. The town’s only feature was a flashing yellow light near the bus drop and a few closed stores along the highway. It was a rural town where most people lived out in the wooded areas around it. I used the nearby pay phone to call my uncle. I waited freezing for what seemed like a long time for my Uncle John to arrive, but it probably wasn’t that long. He picked me up in his truck and we drove about 5 miles out into the forested areas where most people lived. The remainder of that school year was a difficult time living in someone else’s home when I felt they didn’t want me there, while my family made the move.  

My uncle was really the only one that I felt wanted me around. All but one cousin and their mom were indifferent and sometimes hostile toward me. One cousin was always nice, but she had her own life going on. At one point I had suspicions that the eldest boy was spending time going through my stuff. So, to prove my point I grabbed a VHS movie from their rack of hundreds and put it in a box of my things under clothing. The next morning, I found that VHS tape back on the rack in the living room.

Weeks later, getting acquainted with my new school was difficult. It was a small town where most of the students had been together their whole lives. I often found myself in the library around kids then considered the geeks. They were more accepting than most of the others. As time went on some of the more popular kids decided to nickname me Archie, because they thought I looked like the cartoon redhead. I have to say I hated it then, but today I have learned to enjoy red head nicknames. Much later in life I even picked up the nickname Clifford (the big red dog.)

One day, feeling particularly lost at school, I had that last rejected letter sent to Crystal in my backpack with me and I went to the library to find a Spanish/English dictionary. I was going to find out what this stamp meant once and for all. When I looked up the word Mudose and found its definition I remember feeling even more crushed. The most common translation for it was Deceased or Dead. Years later I learned that it could have just meant dead address with no forward, but then, all I saw was the word dead. To me then, Crystal might as well have been dead, because I would never be able to reach her again. One moment I had a little hope and the next my life was dark and empty.

Not long before that time, my parents had successfully moved that old RV to my uncle’s house and I ended up spending a lot of time in it to get away from others. That old RV was not connected to the house, so it was cold and dark which was great for me at the time. That RV was quiet, surrounded by the muffling effect that snow gives the world. It was my solitude.

I remember the evening after learning the translation sitting there alone with the bitter winter cold outside, huddling in my dad’s all weather sleeping bag. What was I going to do. I had sort of been a Christian, but not seriously and I prayed that night. God Help me through this. Then I pulled out a 22-caliber revolver my brother had given to me weeks before. It was broken he said. If you try to shoot it, it may blow up in your face. That night that was the perfect result I thought. I pulled out that gun put it to the side of my right temple and pulled the trigger.

Click, was all I heard. Miss fire. Even with real ammo loaded and ready, nothing. I laid the gun down and went into the house to find my cousins and brother playing cards or something like that. I don’t remember everyone that was there so that point is a blur. They just looked at me and kept on with their game. That night I swore I didn’t care about anyone anymore.

The next day I started carrying that gun to school in my bag every day, loaded. No one else knew it was broken and having it around gave me confidence. My grades slipped into a terrible state, and I went looking for excuses to cause trouble. I even changed my friend group to a few kids that had a reputation for doing drugs.

Without going too far into the next phase of life and next friend I will say that I feel God sent me a friend to pull me out of it all. I have told her that several times over the years., but I never shared why.

I met a girl named Jeanette at school and started spending time with her. She would be my diversion I thought to myself, but she is still a friend today. She was a country girl, and her dad was a rough, hard working country guy. Her parents even served as the parental figures I needed in my life while mine were dealing with the dramas of such a long-distance move. I like to think I bonded with her dad at some level. He is a great guy.

Over the remaining time in school Jeanette was the friend, girlfriend and friend again that I needed. We even went to my senior prom together, but for now here is where I end the story with Crystal. Perhaps someday life will update this story. Crystal and I have not met or communicated since that last returned letter.

I have taken a few moments a time or two over the years looking for her online, but without knowing where she is today her name is a difficult one as it is popular in several countries. Many today do not realize that the internet and social media for the public did not even get started until after I was out of high school. Looking for someone from my generation can be hit or miss because many of us do not actively participate online. To add to that, the early versions of social media were not in use popularly until high school days had been gone around 10 years. So here is an invitation. Crystal, if you are out there. Get in touch.

Present day always has more chapters to be written and with God’s help I have been given the love of my life in my wife Glenda and our amazing kids together. Married for over 30 years now, circumstances of the day have brought this story flooding back to mind. I write this not to discount what a wonderful experience my wife is, but to share the emotions of that first love growing up. We all have them. Some are far better than my experience and some are far worse.

I leave this story at this stage to tell the reader, that I have been through the drama and terribly conflicting emotions of growing up. I have been at deaths door and been saved by the Grace of God. Just like all of us that first love will always be in my memories and have some place in my heart. Perhaps even as a friend someday if she were out there to contact. If she could speak for herself, I am sure Crystal could fill in many of the gaps in this story with her impressions of the sometimes-foolish boy I was.

What I must remember is that God loved me before I learned to love anyone else. He saved me and carried me through all the triumphs and trials of the day. I experienced many things, and all of them for a reason. Perhaps if you are reading this and in a similar spot that I was those years ago you will be comforted knowing that no matter who or where you are, God loves you and if you need it, I would be happy to introduce you to Him.

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Racism vs. Privilege

These days’ school systems are deploying a massive campaign, requiring staff to be trained in what they call anti-racism and inclusion. From the title of the training it sounds like a great topic to discuss. Who doesn’t want to be more aware of racist habits and avoid them, or provide a more welcoming environment for other staff and students? At first impression I thought all this “training” was a really good thing. Upon spending hours in these sessions with my colleagues I have discovered something interesting. The training is a new mandate formed in many schools requiring all staff to listen and comply. The actual subject of these sessions is far different from my impression. Any resistance to this new training is met with threats of losing your job.

My first session was hosted just before the COVID shutdown and all staff were required to attend. It was two full days and students were sent home for staff “professional development.” The speakers introduced themselves by describing their sexual preferences. One was a woman who said she liked to “date” men and women equally. The other was a man whom had performed extensive surgery to become the “woman” he wanted to be.

My opinion here is that you do what you want to yourself. That choice is between you and God. The part that bothered me is that the entirety of both days of class were focused on sharing one general premise. Those who choose to be identified as the gender they were born with, and prefer to “date” the opposite gender are privileged people known as binary. This so called privilege in the trainers eyes meant all who fit this description were practicing prejudice against those who do not by being able to enter the bathroom labeled with their general gender appearance. That privilege was then described to us as Racism and the words used interchangeably. This “racism” was described as society’s exclusion of genders other than Male and Female.

The training actually labeled a person who made a personal choice to modify their body as another race. It continued to state, because I did not modify my body I am somehow a racist as I can go to the men’s bathroom.

This training has continued onward to more sophisticated levels as the months and years have worn onward. Now stories of discrimination toward persons of “different races” are shared hand in hand with stories of discrimination for sexual choice. In this training these things are considered the same. You as a person who may identify as the gender you were born with are a racist and you need to change your behavior because you do not spend your time considering how these “other genders” might be able to use the bathroom peacefully. They called me a binary person and because of that I was intrinsically racist.

Just by being in the room, being perceived as a white male, who is heterosexual I was labeled a racist without uttering a word. This “woke” culture of people treated me with preconceived ideas of who I was just by looking at me. They judged me to be privileged and racist because of my appearance!

So this is how a modern “woke” culture shows an example of love and acceptance? I have to accept you and all the changes you want in society, but it’s okay for you to treat me like trash simply because of who you think I am? Without me uttering a word, just being present.

My upbringing was in portions of the country where people that had white skin were rare. I was the minority in most cases. I lived around diverse populations and was taught we were all just people. Humans, and members of that one race. In addition I was often persecuted growing up because I have bright red hair. It’s not quite as bright red these days but you get the idea.

To really blow the minds of the judgmental crowd I will share a few facts about me. My lineage is Jewish which has its own story. That means I am Middle Eastern, but the typical government form doesn’t have a selection for that. In addition I have a rare gene that shows up in my family every few generations, where some have pale skin and red hair. Almost like an albino type thing but not quite. The rest of the family typically have darker olive skin and dark to medium hair. My Grandfather was a Jew and my Grandmother was Choctaw. This makes me not only of Jewish lineage, but also Native American!

With all this background the trainers didn’t care to learn, I was labeled a racist because I was present and had pale features.

If you make choices in your life that bring difficulty to you, than you have considered the change and are willing to accept the difficulty. This may not be true all of the time, but when it comes to things like Gender change it is. The difficultly and prejudice you face isn’t right, but you knew about it going into it. You facing that difficulty does not make me a racist just because I might remind you of those that treated you wrongly.

I can tell you that if we were nicer to one another much of that difficulty would melt away. The great Dr. King Jr. proved that.

I present to you a simple argument. Race and privilege are not the same thing. They should not be used to describe one another. There are people of many “races” who were raised in a privileged environment, and do not have a racist bone in their body. There are those on both ends of that spectrum. There are those who hate, and those who love.

While discussing the total content of this training and its impact on education is a much broader discussion I present to you a challenge.

Stop judging people by your limited view. We are all biased based on our view in life. We cannot see it all. We are only one person that has one little window into the world that we see. God is the only one that can see it all. Instead of judging, start reading the Bible and living by that example Jesus set for us.  While He lived as a man, He is God, He could see it all and lived as he wanted us to live knowing we are so limited. He knew we needed an example.

Start practicing hesitation when voicing your judgement or hostility toward others.

As of writing this, I live in a part of the United States where people can be nice in person at times and heavily entitled at other times. When they get behind the wheel of an automobile they turn into entitled pricks who hate everyone and everything. Their nature can be summed up in this phrase:

“Get out of my way, the rules don’t apply to me!”

STOP IT! Leave a little earlier on your commute so you can be nicer. You might even lower your stress level and live a longer healthier life.

Learn from the many aspects of the Southern US. There people tend to convey a pretty cheery aspect most of the time. They say crazy things like, yes ma’am, and no sir. Or even stranger things like Thank you. Southerners do this as a sign of respect toward you, the person they are interacting with. Even the highways are a far more pleasant experience in most cases. In addition it has been my observation that people in the southern states are far more accepting of people who are different. Other races or life choices are not as heavily judged as they are in northern or western areas. This is contrary to what many believe about the South but known to be true by those that have lived there.

Practice being helpful to others and living the example instead of yelling at everyone else to change. Be the change yourself and wait for opportunity for pleasant dialog before you try to conform others to that limited view you have. Then understand no matter how close you may be to someone else, their window is different than yours. No two people view things the exact same way. It’s just the way we are made. The wonderful part is that we can learn from one another’s views by sharing.

Your life and the choices you have made are not the only, end all, be all way things should be done. God loves and created us a diverse people, but He expects us to live up to the standard in the Bible. Just remember, don’t take someone else’s word for what it says. Of course there are many scholars that we can learn from but remember, their views are biased. Read it for yourself and ask God to show you the meaning. Seek Truth and Change in your own life before seeking to change others. Then understand we were created to be a diverse people.

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Executing Remote Learning – School Leaders Edition

School leaders are under tremendous pressure these days to make remote learning happen in short order. The focus on the COVID-19 pandemic has brought extended hours of planning and collaboration to Administrators and Technology teams around the globe. How to make learning happen, how to get technology into the hands of all the students and how to support the teachers, are all topics of concern for school leaders today.

If we as educational leaders take a few moments to wade through the anxiety and the urgency we can focus on the facts. The pieces of the puzzle are not new. It has been a struggle to integrate meaningful technology into the learning environment for decades. We are at a turning point today, in education, facing opportunity that has never presented itself before. In the last month or so, the face of K-12 education has forcibly changed in the United States and around the globe.

Many K-12 leaders now need to consider an array of issues when attempting to get remote learning working and effective. By this time, most of us have already instituted some form of it in an effort to support our students. The part many have not done, is to determine how effective their new methods are.

Speaking from the perspective of a Technology Administrator, I have found the most difficult and time consuming piece of the puzzle is supporting and training teachers. Students today are digital natives who have grown up in a world of instant technology at their fingertips. Teachers are often the ones who need support to make this new way of teaching take place in a meaningful way.

While spending an extensive amount of time on this very topic, I have learned a few things that will provide insight to school leaders. Since educators are data driven, there are two studies that have been conducted over a span of more than 15 years with valuable insight. The first study by Vannatta & Fordham (2004), looked at an array of factors to determine why some teachers adopt technology readily and others do not. The second study by Spetter (2018), re-examined the earlier study with a narrowed focus on the factors that seemed to predict teacher adoption of technology. The results of all this research found some very simple ways to evaluate who the early adopters in the teaching staff are, and who the resistors might be.

  1. The first of these predictors is, look for teachers who are willing to try new things. These teachers are those who volunteer to try new programs or methods. They are excited about new information or the potential to better the delivery of topics in their classrooms.
  2. The second factor is, teachers who willingly spend far more time working than is required by their contract. These are the teachers often seen as dedicated or even passionate about their jobs and the tools they use to do that job.
  3. The third predictor is, teachers who are willing to take classes or continue their education even if there is no financial compensation offered by their school. These teachers want to learn and continue to grow.

While this is paraphrased from the two sources mentioned above for simplicity, it can actually be this easy. Vannatta & Fordham (2004), noted that many teachers who fell into these categories where younger teachers with under ten years’ experience. Spetter (2018), also found an interesting thing in the data. As teachers gained experience, spent the extra time working, and gained education, they seemed to reach a point where they become resistant to change. I thought this was a little strange until I observed it in action. In my work practice I found, those teachers who are seasoned, educated and have more than 10 years in their craft are not simply resistant to change. They are resistant to change without good reason. They want to know the value before making the commitment to change.

I worked with a teacher who had older computers and equipment that often failed, but seemed reluctant to change to newer technology. As I worked with this teacher, I found she knew the time investment it took to learn something new and didn’t want to commit to it, unless she knew the change would benefit. This seemed resistant at first, but in fact this teacher has become one of the major support persons for other teachers in the training and adoption of new technology. She simply wanted a good reason for a change, and support to execute it.

With the shift of COVID-19, teachers now have good reason to learn new technologies and institute new practices. All teachers need is support from their administrators, and the patient collaboration with technology persons and other teachers.

School administrators must step up in this time of change and seize the opportunity to become the trailblazer.  Take the time to have calls with teachers, students, and families to find out where the sources of frustration are. Use surveys to collect data from your district to find out what your schools are doing well and where you need to change. Take advantage of the free tools during this time, and take time to consider which of these tools might be beneficial to keep for the long term.

I have learned from the knowledge of others and found wisdom in their trials. In this time of trouble, my school has found several tools that will enhance education for years to come. Most of the tools we see extremely successful come from suggestions of the teachers. These are things they have worked with, saw value in and want to share with their colleagues. Our administrators then do all we can to ensure suggestions are welcomed, evaluated and creative feedback returned.

Not all applications that are suggested are useful. The feedback we provide to these suggestions is the most critical, but don’t forget to take action. If a tool won’t work tell the teacher why, but in a constructive way. If the tool does work, then support that teacher, give them credit for the suggestion and do your best to support them in its implementation. Make that teacher a leader by supporting them in sharing with the rest of the team.

With more than 20 years of experience inside the United States and in Asia I have seen good teams and bad teams. The difference is, good teams step up and support one another in spite of their differences. They take the time to find out what is best for their students and make change to support them. Great leaders are not afraid to share credit recognizing the merits of their team. Great leaders will surround themselves with knowledgeable and capable people, knowing they cannot accomplish the vision by themselves.

As educators we know this isn’t about us. It’s about equipping the students for success. In this time, let’s stand together. Let’s take the time to share with one another. Let’s share what is working and what hasn’t worked. We are all a team, together we can help others avoid some of the mistakes we have made.

Spetter, Troy. (2018). The Prediction of Technology Integration in the Christian K-12 Classroom Based on Openness to Change, Technology Training, and Work Beyond the Contractual Work Week. Doctoral Disstertations and Projects 1830, https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/1830

Vannatta, R. A., & Fordham, N. (2004). Teacher dispositions as predictors of classroom technology use. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 36(3), 253-271. doi:10.1080/15391523.2004.10782415

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Creating a Virtual Classroom

In this day of long-term remote learning teachers across the United States have had to rethink how to best serve their students. While Edison High School was able to conduct classes on the first day, our team had to make major adjustments to our plans in order to keep our students engaged and progressing.

During the first week, our teachers held classes according to our prior Digital Learning Day protocols (established for short-term, typically weather, related incidents). Assignments were given in Google Classroom, students were asked to complete the assignment and turn it in by a specific deadline. For our students, all of whom have a learning difference or disability, this was a dramatic shift from how we conduct in-person classes. Managing multiple assignments and deadlines is a skill many of our students are still developing, usually with the support of an in-person teacher and other supports. In this new digital environment, we noticed even our usually well-performing students had trouble completing the work. 

As it became more clear that our established protocols would not work for a long-term closure, we had to reconsider our methods and evaluate how to engage the students while outside the classroom. Our math department has been recording videos and using a flipped classroom for several years now. Our teachers had videos ready online to aid students in learning new topics but it did not seem to go far enough to give our students a real connection to learning while working from their homes.

After considering the tools we already had and evaluating the results from a survey of our parents, Edison decided to use video conferencing tools like Google Meet and Zoom Cloud Meetings to rebuild the school day in an online environment. We created a modified schedule and our teachers now hold virtual classes, check-in with their students, teach new topics and use the power of Zoom breakout rooms to encourage group collaboration projects. Creating a schedule that was realistic for both students and teachers took heavy involvement from the administrative team but was well worth the effort. 

The change had dramatic effects. Students have begun to reconnect with their peers and teachers in spite of being in disconnected places. Our teachers are reporting stories of students completing their work again and interested in learning new topics. English teacher Kate Fellows-Russell shares, “The schedule really helps and many kids say that having a specific time to get work done and connect with their friends helps structure the day, many kids arrive early to chat and check-in with the teacher and the other students, just like in regular classes… (students) have consistently told me that they prefer our schedule and feel supported by us.”

We have seen increasing success for the last few weeks, but no single technology tool is going to be a complete transformation of the virtual classroom. Some tried and true methods still work well, even at a distance, such as having students keep a journal for English class. 

We, the Edison High School team, hope to share the things we have learned to encourage fellow educators. Over the next few weeks of virtual classrooms, we will be posting video tips and successes from some of our teachers in order to inspire and encourage you. Our teachers, administrators, and technology team are happy to share what we are learning. Together we can make a difference in our student’s lives in such difficult times. 

In the words of Dan Keller, one of Edison’s Math and Senior Seminar teachers, “While digital learning presents many challenges, not the least of which is that we’re all learning new systems as we prepare to conclude the school year, it has been uplifting for us all to continue to connect. Edison is as much a community as it is a school, and we all thrive on the ability to interact digitally.”

Dr. Troy Spetter

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Ready On Day One

When a school faces a crisis many of its support systems are tested. Where I live, during bad weather the public school systems close and have to make up days at the end of the year. A hard winter can extend the school year significantly. When something like the COVID-19 pandemic hits, most schools are not prepared for long term closure. Students miss work and the uncertainty of how they might continue an education creates stress in the staff and students alike. 

I have been the Director of Educational Technology for Edison High School in Portland, Oregon for two years. My school specifically serves students with learning differences. We have small classrooms, a student to teacher ratio of about 9 to 1, and an environment that supports each student’s individual needs.Before my time at Edison, our school saw the need to accommodate the educational process and prepare for weather or disaster related school closure. With that pre-planning, the school developed a protocol for “digital learning days” (DLD). As part of the DLD process, our students experience a DLD while in class about once a year so they have the support of the teachers to learn how it works. 

Before I get too far, it is important to share the nature of technology at Edison. The school is a one-to-one high school. Each student has their own iPad that is managed by the school and loaded with applications that support their individual needs.. We manage the apps and devices via an MDM or mobile device management system known as JAMF Pro. 

Our school uses Google Apps for Education. Each student and staff member have an account and our teachers regularly use Google classroom to assign work, share resources, and provide feedback. In addition, we use a Student Information System provided by Sycamore Education that has Google integration. Accounts are connected, and assignments in Google populate into our SIS for official record and grading. 

Several years before I arrived at Edison, our Math department began the process of flipping the classroom experience. Teaching was recorded into small topics and uploaded to YouTube in order to have students watch short teaching sessions of topics to prepare for class in the following days. 

When I joined Edison in 2018 as the Technology Director, I performed an analysis of all the schools technology related systems. I found the weak areas and made plans to strengthen the whole system. As part of that plan, the Development team at our school was able to gain a grant to make huge progress toward modernization of the school systems. All the teachers were provided new laptops, we transformed the server infrastructure, and made huge strides toward updating our classroom technology systems. As part of this, I took a long hard look at our backup systems. During the process of updating, I made Google accounts for our file servers and began synchronizing the files to Google Drive as a last resort backup if the other systems would somehow fail before being updated. This is important, remember this part. 

During the evaluation I discovered a few teachers using VHS and DVD movies in class to enhance the learning experience. In order to prepare for the inevitable failure of those sources, I converted the movies to digital and began storing them on our network for teachers to access when needed.

Now back to today. We had prepared for short-term closures, but the situation became very different when facing a long-term shutdown. When closing a school and moving to a remote learning model there were suddenly many more things to consider. Teachers will need access to all of their resources online. They will need to be able to communicate with and teach their students new topics. As the threat of closure approached our team started discussion and planning how to accomplish this. During the process, we realized we already had most of the tools in place. Our teachers have complete access to Google Apps for Education, our SIS is web based and accessible from home. 

Remember when I mentioned I had set up Google Drive accounts for file servers? All of our teachers network folders had been online for months. All I had to do was share the folder with the staff in Google Drive and viola! Now any IT personal worth their salt will tell you this is not a good idea for normal operation because of the potential delay and file confusion. In this case, the model works to mitigate the closure because no staff are on campus using the local resources. 

During our first week of closure, students were up and running on day one, accessing work and communicating with teachers. Our first week was a learning process for all of us. We discovered that our students work best when kept to a modified school day schedule and have the interaction they are missing while not on campus.

Our team began to refine the process for the following weeks of school as we faced a minimum of a month-long closure due to the pandemic. Our teachers are now keeping a rotational class schedule, using conferencing tools like Google Meets and Zoom. Students that do not show up to the conferences and do not have an excuse are counted as absent just as they would be in physical classes. This has become an important part of remote learning to provide structure and interaction. We learned early on that for our students, all who have learning differences, synchronous learning was far more effective. 

The most important part of the process is to stay positive and creative. While our first week was a bit rocky the team is adapting and learning as we go. We are receiving overwhelmingly positive feedback from our families about the wonderful job our teachers are doing during these times. 

Dr. Troy Spetter

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The list of software and apps below is not a complete or comprehensive list, but only those things that have been either added during the closure or are providing significant support to remote learning in our school. We all use more tools and perhaps those of you experiencing success with other tools can comment about those resources as a reply to this article. 

IT Support Tools

Teamviewer or LogmeIn for remote support

https://www.teamviewer.com/

https://www.logmein.com/

PC Matic – The system is marketed as an antivirus and malware solution but provides remote command and file transfer access tools that come in handy during remote support sessions. The company team and support are wonderful to work with.

https://www.pcmatic.com/

Teacher centric Tools:

Google Apps for Education 

Sycamore School – SIS/LMS hybrid system – https://sycamoreeducation.com/

Remind – Communication and Messaging – https://www.remind.com/

Zoom Cloud Conferencing – https://zoom.us/ while you can use Google Meets our staff prefer Zoom due to its feature of creating breakout rooms within the conference for student teams on projects. The teacher can control the rooms and pop between them. Finally removing the rooms and bringing all participants back to the main room. 

Apps:

Nearpod – https://nearpod.com/

EdPuzzle – https://edpuzzle.com/

AWW App – Collaborative Whiteboard – https://awwapp.com/

Nearpodize – Chrome extension that allows import from Nearpod into Google slides.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/nearpodize/obaclhgeioenpfkcekijanhfbfhhbkig?hl=en-US

Other:

ALEKS – Our math teachers began using this system to support mathematics during the shutdown time. While it is expensive depending on the size of your school it is worth looking at.

https://www.aleks.com/

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Faith

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

In Exodus chapter 14 there is a lesson of faith. In that passage, the nation of Israel reaches the point in their escape from Egypt where they are faced with crossing the Red Sea to get away from the army that pursues them. What many people do not see is the full context of that story. Earlier in the process, God tells Moses to camp near the Sea as if they are trapped by it. He says that He will use this opportunity to show to the world that He is God and Pharaoh will come after them. Moses and the entire nation did what they were told without question.


Later in the chapter, when the people of Israel start to see that Pharaoh is coming, they begin to get scared. In spite of the fact that they have a visible Angel before them that has been guiding them since they left. At that time, the Angel moved behind Israel to separate them from the army of Egypt. If you really think about it, this is a rather dramatic event. A literal wall of light on one side and darkness of night on the other. Would this be enough for you to go?

Some translations have a moment of interaction between God and Moses just before God tells him to stretch out his staff over the water. During this interaction, Moses is asking for direction and God basically says, why are you crying or complaining to me about this? In that interaction you can almost hear the frustration in God’s voice. He told Moses to take the nation forward. This direction included crossing the sea. Since Moses was reluctant, God told him to stretch out his staff over the water and as a result the sea parted.


At a much later time in the book of Joshua chapter 3, a similar event takes place. In this case God tells Joshua to send the Levites out into the water carrying the Ark. When they reach a point in the water God parts the sea again. In both cases, the people reached out to God for a physical sign that He was going to help them as they went forward. God had been taking care of this nation with a visible cloud of smoke during the day, and pillar of fire at night. Just as the rest of us grow complacent, these daily signs were not enough for the people. They cried out for a sign that they could cross the sea safely.


So, if we take a moment to consider what the Bible teaches about faith, it often speaks of God telling someone to go somewhere and they go. It is clear that God expects us to go forward on our journey, even if we don’t really know where or how we are going. Repeatedly the Bible shows God stepping in and healing or blessing when the people obey and go. Think about the story of the ten lepers who cried out to Jesus for healing. He responding not by touching them, but telling them to go and show themselves to the priest. At that time, showing themselves to the priest was a requirement to prove they had been healed. They were not healed until they started walking that direction. Maybe someone reading this needs to think about that. God may have told you to go to the doctor, but you’re not going because you’re afraid of what the doctor might say. The lepers did not get healing until they went.


Now, in James Chapter 2 around verse 14, the Bible starts to talk about faith. In those passages it reinforces the idea of faith and that it requires action. The evidence of a living faith is that it produces action. In the two previous cases, Moses and Joshua are considered men of great faith but even they had moments of doubt and God gave them physical things to obey in order to continue. He gave them signs but they had to follow with some action first.


So let’s consider modern times and travel. I am a car guy and I love to get out on the open road and drive. Especially in a classic car, windows down, low rumble of the engine and good music playing. The wind blowing, and life is good. Think for a moment, while I am driving how do I tell where I am going? Now before GPS I had to read the road signs right? I have a general idea the direction I am going, and the signs reinforce that I am going the right way.


While I am driving down the road enjoying the day, what must I do to read a road sign? I have to take my focus off of the direction I am going to read the sign on the side of the road. Then return my focus to my driving. This can cause distraction in heavy traffic or perhaps bad weather right?


During Jesus life on this Earth, one event is recorded in Matthew chapter 15. Jesus is being questioned about things to come and the people are generally asking him to prove what He is saying. He responds by saying a famous line “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign, and none will be given to it…” Now there is far more to that passage and its context, but think about this.


God gives us direction. Not normally specifics, but He does expect us to take action on what He provides. He says to get up and go. So we are expected to do so. We keep taking our focus away from the direction we are traveling, and looking for the signs on the sides of the road to make us feel better about our direction of travel.


Back to Moses and Joshua. What do you think would have happened to Israel if neither of these men questioned God for a sign, but just moved forward? Do you think God would have let them drown in the sea? Of course not! When He sent them on their way he knew the sea was there and sent them to it anyhow. God wanted them to practice faith and go forward in spite of what was in front of them.


Think about your journey now. You have some form of direction from God. We all do because we have His word. We may not have all the little specifics, but we know what direction we are expected to travel. Instead of just taking God at His word and going, we keep stopping on the side of the road and asking God to put a sign where we can see it, so we know we are going the right way. God just said go.


What does the Bible say about the path before us? In Matthew chapter 7, the Bible talks about the path we are to walk. It says the path is narrow and not many take it. The scripture also says not to look to the left or right, but continue forward. Even if there are no signs. Sometimes the signs can be false. Haven’t you ever blindly followed the GPS and ended up in the wrong place? That is a whole other topic to share, but the jist is to stop looking to the sides of the road and focus on the path forward.


Consider this. Time was created as a way for us to understand our lives. God created time and He is outside of it, not bound by it. He can see all time at the same time. God created us and He created the road we are traveling on. He knew what was on that road before he put us on it. He knew what we were going to face and how we would react. He put us on the road to teach us to stop looking to the sides but forward, focusing on Him, His direction and Go!

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Leadership and Modern Times

There has been a movement around the world in the last few years to redefine the qualities that want in our leaders. By redefine, I am not speaking of the personality type or the accomplishments, but instead the life choices that our leaders make.

When looking into a leaders profile we want to see someone whom we can trust. Someone who has faced adversity and come through it better. We also want someone with a vision beyond our own. If a leader has an obstructed view, than how can that person lead the rest of us? They will lead us in the wrong direction, right? In leadership we want solid people who can be folks we look up to. The people we want to be like. Those we want to model our own lives after.

The United States is a nation of immigrants. The only people among us that did not immigrate are native tribes of this land. All other groups and people came to the area as immigrants. So, as more people come into the land, our demographic adapts and changes.

In this same way, the faces and backgrounds of business and political leaders has changed . There are more women and other minority groups serving in leadership than ever before. This is in part due to that demographic shift in the country. Leadership in this country is shifting to reflect the new generations. This is not a bad thing at all. 

Where the debate is taking place, is in political parties torn by whether or not a potential leaders personal life choices should make a difference in their effectiveness in office. In the early days of our country, a political leader was evaluated by his or her personal life and accomplishments. Today that is may no longer be the case, but I ask you this; if a person cannot be evaluated by what they have done behind closed doors, how can you judge what they will do as a leader?

(Here is a disclaimer. I am speaking as someone who is experienced in Pentecost and the Christian church.)

In conjunction with politics and business so also the of leadership in the church. My experience has shown a shift in church leadership similar to the one in the secular world. The change in faces, genders, and skin color is natural as our own demographic adapts. As the people change so goes the church.

Today it is common place to see news articles about Christian organizations evaluating their stance on homosexual or other gender neutral persons in positions of leadership. The people on both sides of this argument claim they have the scriptures of the Bible to back up their personal views.

So, personal views aside, consider this for a moment. The Christian church claims to be driven and governed by God. This is the one thing they all can agree on. In addition to that, all parts of the Christian church agree that the Bible is God’s word for us. If a group disagrees with that, then they are not Christian. Those are the two major points a person uses to call themselves Christian. I am over simplifying it on purpose here.

Now, since Christians agree on those points, should we not then use the Bible and its words to govern our leadership and organizational structure and place our personal views aside?

The Bible clearly states that worldly people, who are not Christians, will know the Christians by their love for one another. We as Christians love and accept all kinds of people. We do this because we are not perfect, and don’t expect others to be perfect. At least we shouldn’t expect others to be. With that qualifier, no one should be excluded from becoming part of the greater body regardless of what they have done.

One of the greatest things that unites us as a church is that we have ALL sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  In order to become Christians we have seen that our lives were wrong and we ask forgiveness from Christ. After that we learn and grow. We begin to change and become more like the model of Jesus, the son of God than we used to be. None of us started perfect and none of us will end that way. God is the only perfect being.

So let’s take that to the leadership side of things. We know those we choose for leadership are human. We also expect that our leaders have been through a few things in life and come out with a wisdom that we do not yet have. We look to their experience and wisdom to lead us. The Bible says leaders are “men” of integrity. Using the word “men” loosely.  Our leaders are to be what we want to become. Leadership is a lonely place, because we as followers want to keep our leaders on a pedestal.

In the Christian Church leaders must measure up to a higher standard than the rank and file who are just learning to become “like Christ”. With that in mind, our leadership should be people who have overcome many of the temptations and troubles of the world. This is the reason many great leaders in the church are advanced in age. We somehow think if you are a young person you have not seen enough. That is another topic as well.

Now, I begin to get to the point. Leadership in business and politics is very different from leadership in the Christian Church. The two positions require different qualifications. I am not saying a Christian leader cannot be a leader in business or politics. What I am saying is best put in a simple way. If you have someone in your organization that is a recovering opioid addict, then you don’t put that person in a position to lead or even work around a pharmacy right? Common sense here. That person has a sin weakness that they need help to overcome, and placing them in a position to fall back into a drug addict’s life is just irresponsible.

So returning to the standard of the Bible. While we are to love all peoples, help them, and show them our hearts, we do not look for leaders among the newly converted or those dealing with great struggles until such a time, that they overcome those struggles. Now if we are to put our personal view aside, and look at the Bible, the scripture Leviticus 18:22 states “that we are not to lie with a man as with a woman, for that is an abomination”. Paraphrasing here, this sentiment is all through the Bible and even the story of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are because of the practice of sexual perversion. The evidence of that destruction can still be seen from space today.

Bear with me on this. As Christians we are not to reject people who practice such things. Even Jesus spent time with the people who needed him most. Now, if we model the church after the words of the Bible, then we want people who have overcome such sins as our leadership. Not people who are still in denial about the fact that such practice is a sin. Just like the recovering drug addict, we help them and love them into a right relationship with God, but we do not place them in a position of leadership until they have clearly demonstrated they have overcome the addiction.

In the same spirit, those who are living in a situation where they clearly have no desire to change to be more like Christ have no business leading the church. While this stance may not be popular today, it is based on the rules that Christians agree to live by. The Bible. Christians who live by these rules do not go out and persecute those who choose to live in a different way. Instead we love them, pray for them and welcome them into our fold. In this way, we can show them the love of Christ and His acceptance. Only then, can a person understand the things in their life that need to change to align with the scriptures. We should never reject people in sin because we are all in sin, but we do not ask those who deny their acts are sin to lead us.