Cheating in Academics | 2 Tim. 2:5

I just had a conversation with a friend to talk him out of cheating. He had been working on a really hard lab for a class for 5 hours and couldn't get it to work. I felt bad for him and really wished him well luck and tried to give him some advice to get it working. He lowered his voice and told me that his friend had supplied him with a code that had worked for his friend. I paused for a moment and gently encouraged him not to copy it and to try to get the lab working by himself or accept the grade he was to recieve.

Now, do not take this lightly. This class is very challenging. I had accepted the fact that I wasn't going to pass this same course a month ago and dropped it after the first exam (I was on the bottom of the curve). So I completely understood his frustration and resolution. However, there is a price to pay when you cheat your way through life.

Over a year ago, I was taking a Linear Algebra class and was out of town for a conference the week before a project was due. I emailed a friend asking her for help and she just sent me her Matlab code. I ran out of time and copied it, while changing some of the variable names. Needless to say, we all got an email from the professor asking us to meet him in his office. I was so nervous! Not for myself, but for the fact that my friends could possibly get involved with whatever consequences I was about to receive. Fortunately, the professor didn't report me for cheating and gave me a D for the project. All in all, I told my friend my story and advised him not to take the quick way to achieve his plans.

2 Timothy 2:5 says:

The Grand Weaver [excerpt]

We find the greatest joy of all to be the truth that every thread matters and contributes to the adornment of the bride and the one who became flesh for us and dwelt among us. Today, let every person willingly accept himself for who he is and acknowledges the uniqueness of God's framing process marks the beginning of a journey to seeing the handiwork of God in each life. Not everyone is a Bach or an Einstein but there is splendor in the ordinary.

The mother who made the lifebelt is worthy of recognition equal to Bach. Her labor of love is as unique as discovering E=mC2. We must have a healthy respect for our individuality but also keep a wide distance from it.

Molding a Man

When God wants to drill a man,
And thrill a man, And skill a man,
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part;
When He yearns with all His heart.
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways!

How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him
Into trial shapes of clay which
Only God understands;
While his tortured heart is crying
And he lifts beseeching hands!

How He bends but never breaks
When his good He undertakes;
How He uses whom He chooses,
And with every purpose fuses him;
By every act induces him
To try His splendor out—
God knows what He’s about!

Source unknown

Beam up, Scotty

Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. ''Matthew 6:10''

Do you think He was really serious about that? Do you think that could really happen? Or, was he just kind of blowing smoke? Are those just pretty words? See, it`s interesting to me. Jesus never taught His followers to pray, "God, get me out of here so I can go up there." He never taught us to pray the Star Trek prayer. Remember any time somebody got in trouble in Star Trek, what was their prayer? "Beam me up, Scotty." Jesus didn`t say, "pray this prayer: Father who art in Heaven, beam me up."

-- A lot of people, many Christians unfortunately, believe that my job is to get the after life destination taken care of and then kind of tread water until we all get ejected and God comes and torches this whole place.? That is not what Jesus taught. He never said, "pray like this: Get me out of here so I can go up there." He said, "pray, `oh God, oh God, make up there come down here into my life and into my home group, into my church, my office, my school, my family, my neighborhood, my city, my country, this whole, sorry, dark world!? God, make up there come down here."

The Competent Minister: 2 Cor. 1-3

Sermon outline:The Competent Minister

• A reputation of godliness
• Has been used in a transforming ministry
• Has confidence in his gift and calling

This is the prayer written at the end of the sermon:

Father, again we are so reprimanded in our own hearts, we who serve, we who minister, that we fall short of the highest standard for the noblest work in the world. And we are then awed by Your grace that You would consider us faithful enough to put us into the ministry who are indeed the foremost of all sinners. We're not worthy to even be called Your servants. We're not worthy to even be called Your ministers. And yet to demonstrate Your grace and to show Your mercy, You have picked the worst of us to become Your agents, Your tools. You have made us those containers, those earthen vessels that hold the treasure, those perfumed bottles from which the aroma of life unto life and death unto death exudes. You've made us preachers, teachers to display Your grace toward sinners. And we give You glory and thanks. We know what a high calling it is, what a holy calling it is. We know that it calls for virtue that only You can give and transforming power that only You can give and confidence and courage and boldness that only You can give, and humility that only You can give, and truth, New Covenant truth that You have revealed. At best we are nothing but slaves and servants who when we've done all have only done what we ought to have done.