If you have ever worked in engineering you will understand this cartoon.

University of Babylon.

Tomorrow is back to school for many of our college students. The secular college environment can seem hostile to those who hold a Christian worldview. In the first chapter of Daniel we learn that Daniel and his three friends were given a full ride scholarship to the University of Babylon. The purpose of the education was to make them effective civil administrators. But it was also to reshape their identity, from followers of the true God into members of the Babylonian political-religious system. Most of the young Hebrew students just blended into that system. But these four brave young men determined to keep their identity as followers of the true God. As as result they were able to challenge the very system that was designed to change them. As you head back to school, I am praying that you will be modern day Daniels who will keep your identity and challenge your world.

Continue to pray for Cambodian flood victims.

Families that have lost everything.

Village turned into river.

Continue praying for our sister churches in Cambodia. Many families have had their homes lost and are living in shelters made of plastic sheets. Pray that the flood will subside before the rice crop is lost. Pray that the Cambodian believers will be able to share the love of Christ with unbelievers during this time.

Can we live by moral relativism?

Relativism is a very popular worldview. In this short clip Dr. William Lane Craig shows how none of us can live by it in real life.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qd5O0czxhz0

Praying for our sister church in Bangbaset

This is a picture of our sister church in Cambodia. This is in poor rural village called Bangbaset. As you can see this village has been hit with serious flooding. The man standing in front of the church is Pastor Malay. He is a Cambodian evangelist who started this church. Pastor Malay came to Christ through the Cambodia Church here in Oregon. Sophany and I work with Pastor Malay weekly helping him prepare Bible lessons.  Also, another of our sister church in a town called Ton Le Bet is also being flooded. Pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ in Bangbaset and Ton Le Bet during this difficult time.

12 tips for taking online college tests

Its about time for our college students to head back to school. I would like to share some tips that I have discovered that will help you when taking online tests and quizzes. Since online tests are open book, open notes, and open Internet, learned to use those resources to find answers quick. Many of these ideas I have learned from my teachers. So here are some tips:

1. Actually study for the test. When you do study think like the teacher. Ask yourself, “If I were the teacher what would I put on the test.” You will be surprised how often you can figure out what will be on the test that way. It will help you focus your studying.

2. Pay attention to any hints the teacher give you about the test material and write them down. Some teachers will practically hand the students the test answers on a silver platter if the students are paying attention. If the teacher repeats material, it probably will be on the test. Some teachers will ask the students knowledge questions on class material. Write them down. They likely will be on the test.

3. Answer the easy questions on the test first before working on the hard ones. You need to study enough that most of the questions are easy. This will leave time to research the answers on the hard ones.

4. Review your questions before submitting the test. I often have caught dumb mistakes or realized I had misread the question. This helps especially to catch trickily worded questions.

5. Does your textbook have a glossary? Put a bookmark in it and use it. Seriously. Many teachers like key term definition questions. Many of them are right out of the glossary word for word. Look at the keyword list at the end of the chapter when studying. Many textbooks place keywords in bold in the text. Learn the definition of key terms and you will ace many tests.

6. Use the index of the textbook.

7. Does the textbook have multiple choice review questions at the end of the chapter? Textbook makers give teachers pools of test questions to use. These usually are the same questions as the chapter review questions. So don't be surprise if the chapter review questions end up on your test.

8. If you have an electronic version of the textbook have it open. You can use the search function to quickly find key words. Some paper textbooks have a CD with a PDF version of the book on it. If yours does have it open at test time.

9. Have online study material open in a separate browser tab. Use the search function to find keywords.

10. Google is your friend.

11. Wikipedia is another friend. Granted the quality of Wikipedia varies, but it is good enough for test taking purposes.

12. If your class has both weekly quizzes and major tests, review the weekly quiz questions before taking the major tests. Teachers will often recycle quiz questions in their mid-term and final tests.  

God is plotting to get you.

2 Samuel 14:14 "Like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be recovered, so we must die. But that is not what God desires; rather, he devises ways so that a banished person does not remain banished from him."

There are times that we humans feel we have gone so far from God that it seems there is no way to come back. No matter how far we go, God still desires us to come back. His omniscient mind is constant coming up all sorts of creative ways to bring us home.  When we think we have gone too far and there is no hope, we really are insulting God's intelligence and the creative power of his grace.

Have we really changed all that much?

I am starting a class on computer network security. We humans have invent radical new technologies. But while our technology has advanced, we haven't changed. We just have better technology to do evil with. We are learning of the dangers of "social engineering". That just a fancy name for what we used to call lying. And network attacks are just another form of stealing. If we kept the ten commandments, we wouldn't need firewalls and virus scanners on our computers. My teacher is a bit of an expert in the dangers of cyberwarfare and terrorism. She teaches a class on it. Some day we could use all this technology to literally kill each other. What she is telling is very scary. We humans are smart but are we wise? Maybe we need Someone far wiser than us to fix us.