Giving to those in need this Christmas?

One of my favourite missions organizations, Gospel for Asia, has an excellent Christmas catalogued, for giving to those in need in Asia. You can give an animal, which as Alton Brown says is like giving someone a small business. People can sell eggs from chickens, milk from goats, etc. Also you can give blankets, fishing nets, even a well.

One thing that I love about Gospel for Asia is that they promise to send 100% of your donation to the missions field. So if you worry about middle men pocketing money this is a good organization for you to give to. Everything that you give to GFA goes directly to people working in one of the areas that is most untouched by the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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2018 reading list

Near the end of 2017 I did something I hope becomes an end of year tradition. I planned out all the books I’m going to read in the next year. I read some great books last year and I hope that having a plan will make this year even better. Why would I plan out a year of reading? Last year I was able to read a lot more than I have before. However, there were still long periods throughout the year in which I wasn't reading anything, and some of what I read was just whatever was in front of me, not what I really wanted to read. Like most things in life, I suspect, having a plan will help align what I do read with my goals. There are several subjects I’m interested in, and didn’t read about. There are authors I want to read more of, but haven’t made time to. And modern fiction? What is that? (I think I read one new book last year) I made a realization a few months back. My pile of books I want to read is much tall...

Book Review: Tribes

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I recently (actually weeks or months ago now) finished reading "Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now" by Jaron Lanier. This short book covers what is quite possibly one of the biggest issues of the current era, the toxic influence of "social media" on individuals and culture at large. The book raises issues about more than purely "social media" sites like Facebook and Twitter, attacking the business model that many web services are operated on. I can't bring myself to fully agree with every point raised by Lanier. Ten chapters present ten different arguments for why you should opt out of most of interactions happening on the internet today. However, I believe they can be summarized in two key points. Social media is bad for your health. Your emotional, social, psychological and spiritual well being are degraded by the use of social media. These sites tend to reduce our ability to have empathy, increase irritabili...

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