Saint Paul tells us to "pray without ceasing." But is constant prayer even possible? And how should we even start? We'll look at simple ways to build our prayer so that our whole life can become an uninterrupted prayer, a joyful offering of praise to God.

We all know forgiveness is a holy and important thing, yet it's easier said than done. When you're having trouble, here are four things to help soften your heart and open the door to forgiveness.

Lent is hard work, especially when so much of the modern world is designed to make things easy for us! Yet life isn't easy. Can we become the sort of people who learn how to do what's best, even when it's not easy?

“Thoughts are like airplanes flying in the air. If you ignore them, there is no problem. If you pay attention to them, you create an airport inside your head and permit them to land!” (Saint Paisios the Athonite) Does having bad thoughts make you a bad person? What should Christians do with the temptations we experience? The Church refers to these thoughts as logismoi: the thoughts that tempt us and can lead us into sin. And Christians have been dealing with these temptations from the beginning. In fact, Jesus Himself had these same thoughts. Yet He overcame them. And so can you. Steve shares three simple keys to handling temptations and staying focused on Jesus Christ. As always, we've prepared a FREE downloadable workbook to help you act on what you'll learn. mailchi.mp/goarch/bethebee156

We're called to be holy as God is holy. And we do this by participating in God’s efforts to redeem the world and bring it into the eternal life of the Holy Trinity. St Maximos the Confessor identifies 5 Divisions we need to overcome along the way. But what if the internet has created a 6th Division we need to overcome? What if the internet is alienating us from ourselves and reality?

We've spent the last two episodes exploring how the internet shifts our attention from Christ and makes it harder than ever to be holy. In this episode, we're going to say goodbye by pointing to three things that need to shape the future of our homes and communities. We need to encounter Christ, embody the Church, and engage the world in His name.

The Two Demonaics were healed by the Lord but the local people asked the Lord to depart from their region. You also maight be very tempted to ask the Lord to leave you as His presence will cause real disruption in your life too.

Galatians 4: 4 - 7, Matthew 2: 1 - 12

Advent begins in just seven days! What are some books that would be great to read during the fast or to give as gifts? PLUS, a sweet little give away!

Join me as I review a few Orthodox toy items to consider for the children in your life this holiday season. AND since the last giveaway was so fun, I just have to do another. Make sure you watch to the end!

If you’re looking for a robust tool that transcribes your calls in real-time, integrates with the most popular meeting platforms, and can even attend meetings in your place, Otter.ai is for you. In this post, we’ll share exactly how to use Otter, plus we’ll give you some alternative options for […]

The post The Best Way to Get Call Transcriptions (+5 Alternatives) appeared first on .

Australian golfer Jeffrey Guan has lost sight in his left eye after being hit by a ball at a pro-am tournament.

World number three Mark Allen says he will never change and will continue to be outspoken on snooker issues.

Tom and Andy are joined by former Scotland captain Rory Lawson

Nando Parrado and his story of surviving the 1972 plane crash that killed 29 people in the Andes leaves a lasting impression on the Ireland rugby squad.

As the UK records its 100,000th death from Covid within 28 days of a positive test, Catherine Burns speaks to some of the people behind the figures.

The tree was once common but deforestation and overgrazing has caused it to largely disappear .

Landward takes a trip to Galloway to see the efforts to farm flowers.

Among the policies announced by the chancellor, some will have a direct impact on younger people.

VW Finance showed "a lack of empathy", according to the Financial Conduct Authority.

It's taken two years to build and is 200m (656ft) long, but why does the River Trent need a fish pass?

Surrey County Council says suitable footwear should be worn as a field on the route can flood.

Final preparations are underway for this year’s ‘Santa Steamlights Experience’.

Reporter Duncan Cook has been finding out more.

Right Reverend Rachel Treweek said there were “lessons to learn” following the resignation of the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Youth games restarted at Faraday Road last year but the first senior men's game was on Saturday.

The trains are converted from old Underground trains and will be rolled out in the Thames Valley.

The Poole Pirates win speedway's SGB Championship after beating the Oxford Cheetahs.

The trial will give rural areas and passengers on the railway's route access to the internet.

Wall art and technology inside custody cells is not a "soft approach on crime", say police.

A couple of weeks ago I received an email from an A&R person at a global dance music label. It was a pretty standard email along the lines of “hey we like your song, would you be interested in licensing it to us?” which I’ve received before and usually they amount to nothing. This often...

This is a unique football experience with every match in the same place every Saturday.

Beverly Hills 90210 was one of my favorite shows growing up. I mean, I was definitely a bit too young to be watching it, but my mom didn’t really seem to mind. I wanted to be Brenda Walsh or Kelly Taylor, and Brendan Walsh and Dylan McKay were like my sexual fucking awakening. All these […]

The post Luke Perry has Passed Away at Age 52 appeared first on HecklerSpray.

Son of a nutcracker!

A (hopefully not) cracking attraction.

Max Verstappen is poised to clinch the 2024 drivers' championship if he finishes ahead of Lando Norris one more time. Here's how he can seal a fourth title at the next race.

Know before you vote

1. ‘Been a long time since I felt that way’: Sexually transmitted infection numbers provide new hope  POLITICO
2. There are millions of sexually transmitted infections in the US every year, but new data shows the epidemic may be slowing  CNN
3. America's STD explosion laid bare and the shocking number of people catching one every minute  Daily Mail
4. At Long Last, the Surge in S.T.I.s May Be Leveling Off  The New York Times

Aim/Purpose: This study was designed to examine the effectiveness of mentor’s work with immigrant children and adolescents at risk, using the Elements Way. Background: The New Media offers our “screen kids” a lot of information, many behavioral models, and a new type of social communication. The Elements Way is an educational method designed to enhance openness, development, breakthroughs, goal achievement, and transformation in the age of media and social networks. Methodology: The Elements Way was developed following research on communication in the diversified media, especially new media such as Facebook, WhatsApp, and television reality shows, and the study is an examination of the effectiveness of mentors’ work with immigrant children and adolescents at risk, using the Elements Way. All mentors had been trained in the Elements Way. The study population included 640 mentors working with immigrants’ children in Israel. The work was conducted in 2010-2013. The mixed-methods approach was selected to validate findings. Contribution: Empowering children and enhancing their ability to cope; Creating openness and sharing, making children more attentive to the significant adults in their lives; Supporting children who face the complex reality that characterizes our age. Findings: Significant differences were found in the mentors’ conduct with the children. Work programs were designed and implemented with care and consistency, and mentors succeeded in generating change within the children and achieving desired goals. Of the 640 participating mentors, 62 were not able to promote the child, and interviews with them revealed that their work with the children was not consistent with the Elements Way and began from a different vantage point. Recommendations for Practitioners: Success factors: Self-awareness and awareness of one’s surroundings. Empathy. Willingness to engage in significant interactions. Self-cleansing and self-reflection. Ability to engage in a personal and interpersonal dialogue. Ability to accept and contain the child. Cooperation with the child in creating a work program and assisting the child to achieve the goals that were set in the program. Recommendation for Researchers: Future studies should focus on analyzing the discussions of children and adolescents, to add depth to our insights regarding children and adolescents’ perception of the mentors’ work from their perspective. Impact on Society: Finding the “keys” to openness, development, goal achievement, and transformation in our work with “screen kids.” Future Research: Studies that are designed to examine the effectiveness of mentor’s work with immigrant children and adolescents at risk, using the Elements Way.

Aim/Purpose: Blended learning can transform students experience and learning in higher education. Although the literature extensively explores benefits of blended learning, limited research exists to provide a detailed design principle for implementing instructional activities in blended courses and its usage as tool to influence learning outcomes for second language first year accounting learners. Background: The objective of this study is to find out how the learning experience of students was impacted and by designing and implementing blended learning and connectivity between online and face-to-face learning. This paper reviews the challenges and benefits of blended learning and highlights teachers’ and students’ perceptions on the impact of the connectivity of online and face-to-face activities on students’ learning. Methodology: Data was collected from students enrolled in the course using an open-ended questionnaire. There were 220 respondents, representing a response rate of 65%. Data was extracted from the online learning data and grade center. Teachers’ experiences and observations were also noted. The survey results were analyzed using content analysis. Contribution: Research focusing on blended learning design and implementation is limited, and there is no one size fits all when it comes to blended learning. Consequently, this paper contributes to the discussion by highlighting how second language, first-year accounting students benefit from blended learning and the connectivity between online and face-to-face activities. Increased flexibility for learners appears to be one of the most cited rationale for the combination of traditional with online instructional methods, however, this study evaluates blended learning as a tool for transforming the learning experience of second language, first year accounting students. Findings: Findings show that students benefit from blended learning, and connectivity between online and in-class activities allows students to exploit the advantages of both online and face-to-face learning. Students can see the relevance of what they are doing online and how that contributes to their in-class activities and, hence, are motivated to complete the activities. Recommendations for Practitioners: Educators should use a well-designed blended learning pathway to empower students to be in charge of their learning. Placing materials online creates more and better opportunities for engaging students in class. Institutional support is important when implementing blended learning. Recommendations for Researchers: There is a need for more studies on blended learning design and implementation. Future researchers may carry out more studies on how blended learning design affects student engagement and learning for second language learners in other courses. Impact on Society: A blended learning pathway would greatly benefit second language learners to learn better and empower them to be more independent as a self-directed learner who is able to utilize their time wisely. Community of practice is an excellent platform to encourage teaching teams to work together and create innovative teaching and assessment materials. Future Research: Future studies may carry out the study using other methods for example quantitative surveys and interviews to get a deeper understanding of both students and teachers’ perceptions and experiences.

Aim/Purpose. This study seeks to determine the impact of a card game intervention in improving the English verbal communication of nursing students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Background. Many international students studying in Australia experience setbacks in their university studies due to English language difficulties. This paper outlines how an educational card game designed can be played by nursing students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds as an intervention for their English verbal communication development. Methodology. The study used a descriptive qualitative approach to analyse the learning experiences of forty-five (N=45) nursing students from CALD backgrounds undertaking their second semester at a metropolitan university in Victoria, Australia after being introduced to an educational card game developed by the first author. The card game was designed to explore the use of English pragmatic markers, which are words, phrases, or verbal cues that signal or emphasise the intentions of the speaker. Following the intervention, participants were queried in a survey about their experiences with English language speaking and how the game improved their verbal communication skills. Contribution. This paper provides knowledge about how a game can be designed to enhance the English verbal communication skills of nursing students from CALD backgrounds which could help them in their clinical placements and their adjustment into Australian society. Findings. Three intertwining themes that emerged from the data analysis were education content, skills development, and fun and creativity. These themes signify the importance of providing opportunities for learners to creatively practise the educational content in simulative contextualised situations within a safe, comfortable, and inclusive learning environment. Recommendations for Practitioners. Educators still need to consider the importance of inclusivity of students from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds as part of successful integration into the culture of their host countries. Recommendations for Researchers. The findings emphasise the need for educators and researchers to understand the challenges facing these students in relation to marginalisation and discrimination and how they can design an intervention that is engaging and inclusive. Impact on Society. The findings also put forward the awareness of pragmatics as part of both English language learning and integration into the society of a host country as students learn how to express intention appropriately in various interactions. Furthermore, the themes presented in this paper suggest that not only should an educational game or an intervention contain relevant educational content and practical activities for skills development, but they must also be enjoyable by encouraging creativity and social interaction. Future Research. The results of this study also open possible future studies that involves the adaptation of a digital version of the card game or possible implementation of the game in other health professional programs in universities and other educational institutes.

Aim/Purpose: The main purpose of this paper is to answer the research question whether the ways in which prosumers share their knowledge with enterprises and public organizations are in line with the ways in which enterprises and public organizations expect them to get engaged in knowledge sharing. Background: Contemporary consumers do not wish to be passive consumers anymore. They want to satisfy their consumption needs by products’ evaluation, co-designing, co-creation and co-reconfiguration. They can do that by sharing their knowledge with enterprises and public organizations. Such consumers are referred as ‘prosumers’. Methodology: The research process consisted of a survey among prosumers and online observations of enterprises and public organizations. A final research sample includes 388 prosumers and 90 organizations. Contribution: This work contributes to existing research on utilizing consumers’ knowledge in business and public organizations by identifying and examining ways of consumers’ knowledge sharing with such organizations. Findings: It was found that there are differences between the ways in which prosumers share knowledge with organizations in comparison with the ways in which enterprises and public organizations expect them to get engaged in knowledge sharing. Prosumers mainly share their knowledge by evaluating products, whereas organizations mainly expect prosumers to get engaged in knowledge sharing by creating and designing products. In addition, it was found that enterprises have bigger expectations as to prosumers’ engagement in knowledge sharing than public organizations. Recommendations for Practitioners: This study provides practitioners with guidelines for prosumers’ knowledge utilization, especially helping them understand which ways prosumers use to share knowledge. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers may consider the findings of the current study useful to conduct further research on customer knowledge sharing with organizations using our approach and developing own research contexts. Future Research: This study examines Polish prosumers and organizations operating in the Polish market. It is advisable to extend the research to other countries and compare the results.