It was monsoon season in Northern Arizona, and every day the sky would be filled with darkened clouds and bright flashes of light coming from within them, creepy, but beautiful. On one of these particular stormy nights, I was working the graveyard shift, my least favorite of all the shifts, and what I did for a living wasn't exactly too glamorous either. I was what you'd call a fuel island attendant or porter for a local truck stop. I basically cleaned up after every tourist, trucker, and any kind of motorist you could think of. And alongside that, my job was to keep the place maintained and looking shiny, glamorous indeed. On this particular night, I was cleaning shoe marks off of a toilet seat in the men's bathroom when I got called to the front. Josh to the fuel desk, please.  When I got to the front, I was greeted by Caitlin, our graveyard cashier, and probably the hottest girl I've ever met, and more or less the reason I wanted to be on grave. I know you're going to hate me, but there's a fuel spill on pump three. She said, all right, I said with an irritated sigh. It was pouring outside. But of all the time someone could forget how to properly fuel a friggin semi and they choose a night like this, I thought to myself, I eventually cleaned up the spill, went back inside and continued where I left off in the men's. When I finished, I was called up to the front again. When I got there, no one was there. Caitlin was gone. Caitlin, I said, no response. I went outside to go through the employee side door. I knocked and waited for someone to hopefully be there to open it. The door quickly opened and Caitlin pulled me in.  What's going on? Quiet. She whispered. She looked uneasy, scared even. What's wrong? I asked, you see that van? I looked over my shoulder to see a white utility van parked outside the fuel lanes. What? It's just one of those cable company vans. I don't see anything wrong. I said, then why don't I see any advertising on it or license plates? Just hearing her say that made me feel a little uneasy. No license plates on a white van in the middle of the night screamed trouble, especially in a somewhat secluded area like this. How long has it been parked there? I asked nervously. It's been about two minutes. It just pulled up turned off its lights and it's been sitting there ever since. Could you see a driver? At this time of night, heck no, you'd be better off signaling a helicopter from underwater. They could have just parked there to sleep. I replied, that's possible, but it's still creepy. She said she was fidgeting like a nervous wreck while leaning towards me as if looking for protection, talking about the details of the van and realizing how suspicious the whole situation was made it feel more and more unsafe to set foot outside the building. But unfortunately, I had no choice in the matter to even get to my work area. I had to go outside. Well, what are we going to do? She asked, try calling the manager. Maybe she'll know what to do. She might have us lock up the store if we tell her there's a possibility of a robbery. I replied, at this moment, I wasn't sure what to do. Calling the manager just seemed like the best option at the time. Caitlin went into the break room and called the manager. I followed her in but kept an eye on the van outside. I leaned against the door frame to the break room, still watching the van. The lamppost greenish white glow just barely overshadowed it. I stared into the front blackened windshield. I could almost feel someone peering back. I couldn't see them. But maybe they could see me. I couldn't bear to gaze into that abyss any longer.  I looked away. I overheard Caitlin asking our manager what we should do due to the fact that we probably woke her. She wasn't quick to answer in questions. Heck, she was probably half asleep during this conversation. Should we just lock up the store to be safe? Caitlin asked. I could hear the slight muffled mumbling of her voice over the phone. Caitlin eventually got off the phone with our manager, but it wasn't to bear good news. Not with a look she had on her face. My heart sank to my stomach, though look was enough to tell me that we were going to be here for the night. Some might say we were overreacting, but something inside us just knew the people in that vehicle did not have our best interest in mind. Whoever was driving it certainly knew how lighting worked. He or she made it impossible for us to see them, but we were as clear as day. We wanted to keep looking, but we knew we had a job to do. At this point, going outside and into the store felt like a death wish. I dreaded even thinking about it. Well, I got to get back to work. I couldn't believe I just said that. What? Now? Yeah, I'm not getting paid to stand around and stare at vehicles. This isn't a car dealership. I replied, All right, be careful. I turned the doorknob, fighting everything in me, to just say, screw it, I'm staying inside.  Part of me wanted to believe that these people could just be random crackheads who didn't give two shits about the appearance of their vehicle. But that was pretty farfetched at this point. I opened the door, stepped outside into the humid air and turned to see the van, still sitting there menacingly, watching me. I felt exposed and I knew that feeling wasn't going to change when I stepped into the store. I went back to doing my daily cleaning and maintaining. We didn't get much unusual activity for a good three hours. We got our usual customers, truckers, pothands who couldn't put together a sentence, foreign motorist, etc. But we never did totally ignore that vehicle. Hell, we couldn't. Josh to the front, please. That shakiness in her voice did not sit well with me. Something was wrong. I hesitantly peeked through the crack in the door. I couldn't see anything. So I went into the main store. Caitlin was standing at the counter. Yes, I asked. She pointed outside. All of the van doors were open and there were no sight of the driver or passengers. Did you see anyone get out? I asked. She shook her head. I didn't see anyone, not a single person. Did you see the doors open yourself? She shook her head. So you're saying that the people in the van could have made it to the building. She just shrugged nervously. She was trying to keep calm, but ultimately failing. Frankly, so was I. Looking back on it, I realized there weren't any semis or vehicles the entire time the van had its doors open. Only ours were parked out there alongside it. Like everyone just disappeared. We never once saw someone get out of the vehicle the entire 10 minutes we stared at it. It just sat there, still soaking in the rain underneath the quiet flicker of the lamp light. The temptation to go over to the vehicle and get this bullshit over with was strong, but I wasn't going to take any risks. After a few more minutes of inactivity and absolutely no vehicles pulling into the place, we heard something fall in the back room just down the hallway from us. We both turned in the direction the noise came from. The sudden smack of an obvious broomstick made my stomach turn. It had been on a hook. Someone was in here with us. Caitlin, there's someone in here. What makes you so sure? That was the sound of a broomstick falling off a hook and were the only staff members on the shift. I replied. I could see her start to tremble under the weight of the situation. Her eyes began to get teary. And then the power cut off and we were engulfed in darkness. Everything went silent. Go into the break room, lock the door and don't come out until you hear me knock three times.   She replied. I know. But I have to get the power back on. We're sitting ducks like this, I'll be fine. Just go into the break room and lock the door. I'll be right back. I began walking down the hallway, fighting every urge to turn back. The door to the back room was cracked open. I peeked through the crack. I couldn't see much of anything. The dim glow from an emergency light barely highlighted objects in the room. I opened the door slowly and quietly, making sure not to warn any possible intruders. Entering gave me goosebumps and the hair on the back of my neck began to stand. The constant sensation of being stared at was overwhelming. The electrical panel was directly under the emergency light and aligned with a shelf so I'd be completely visible and exposed. There's got to be another way, I thought. But there wasn't. I was going to have to move quickly and just hope that something didn't jump at me from the darkness. I began to move towards the panel. I was shaking. I was trying to control my breathing. I remember seeing my breath in the light.  I mumbled under my breath. The power wasn't off long enough for it to get that cold. I got to the panel, tried to get the cover open. It wouldn't budge. I saw a bundle of keys hanging on the wall next to me. I quickly turned and looked behind me to see nothing but pitch blackness. The longer I stared into that blackened void, though, the more I got the feeling I was being watched. I shivered and I grabbed the keys. I started to slide the key into the slot and heard something shuffling behind me. I turned and looked. Still nothing. My breaths became more frequent and my eyes widened. I twisted the key until I heard a click. I heard the sound of shuffling again. I ripped the cover open, flipped the switch, and nothing. No power. I began frantically flipping more switches, but nothing worked. We were stuck in darkness and there was nothing we could do about it. I heard something start to move behind me again. This time it was closer. I stared into that black void and heard the sound of a loud exhale.   I'm gonna call the police. I stupidly said. And that's when I heard the darkness repeat what I just said, but it was my voice.   I'm gonna call the police. My heart was pounding out of my chest. I ran out of there as fast as I could. I could hear the sound of objects falling over and being thrown behind me. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins. I've never ran that fast before. I remember looking at the front counter and the exit door and in the heat of the moment, I just vaulted over the counter. I smacked my knee mid vault and I crashed into the floor behind it. I waited for a few seconds, listening for movement. And that's when I heard the sound of a door opening. I gathered myself and sat up. I peeked over the counter and looked down the hallway to see the back room's door still swinging. I could hear the hinges squeaking. I didn't see anything. So I crawled over to the break room door trying to keep myself hidden as best I could. My knee was killing me. I remember that being the first time I actually noticed it. I quietly knocked on the door three times. She didn't answer me right away, so I knocked again and the door swung open and Caitlyn rushed me in. You okay? She asked. My mind was in shambles. I didn't even answer. Josh, are you okay? Yeah, yeah, I'm all right. I replied. What happened? Where's the power? The power switches don't work. Whatever's in here with us literally cut the power. I replied. What are we going to do? I don't know. Call the police. That's when we heard the faint sound of footsteps outside, but they were slow and steady like whoever was out there was just wandering around. Caitlyn's eyes widened. We didn't know what we were going to do. We just wanted this madness to end. And that's when I thought of the only thing we could really do. Make a run for it. Running outside and being exposed to whatever was in the lobby definitely wasn't something I wanted to do. But staying here and dying didn't seem too exciting either.  What's wrong? You're going to think I'm the biggest moron on the planet, but I struggled to say what I was thinking. I knew it was possible. Suicide. We're going to have to make a run for it. You're joking, right? Why can't we just stay in here with the door locked until morning? Because we have a better chance of dying in here than just running to our cars and getting the hell out of here. I replied. She began looking around the room, I could tell she was contemplating. Was it a good idea? We didn't really know. We just needed to get out of here, and that's all I cared about. Okay, let's go. She said, I nodded and began reaching for the door handle. I slowly turned it, anticipating every second, praying that whatever was out there wouldn't hear or see us opening it. The door creaked. I quickly stopped, just hoping that nothing heard that. I waited for a few seconds before I started pulling the door open. We crawled to the next door, trying to keep ourselves hidden. I slowly stood up to see the main lobby vacant. Shadows were its only residence. It was deathly silent, like time seemingly stood still. It was strangely intoxicating. We took the chance we had. We rushed out of the door towards our cars, sprinting as fast as our legs would let us. I unlocked my car, got in, and slammed the door. I fumbled around just trying to slide that damn key into the ignition. I was pissed at myself for taking that long on a simple task, but the heat of the moment had made it difficult. I was just about to turn the key. When I heard a strange noise come from Caitlyn's car, my heart started pumping. I thought it was going to burst from my chest. Caitlyn wasn't in her car. I frantically looked around me. I couldn't see her anywhere. She was gone. Her vehicle's door was just left hanging open. I rolled my window down. Caitlyn! I shouted. No answer. Just the sound of the rain beating on the roof of my car. Shit! I said in frustration. I couldn't just leave her there. And that's when I noticed all the lights turn on in the building. And that the van was gone. I haven't seen her since that night. The police are still searching for her. Nights are sleepless now. I keep dreaming about a white van soaking in the rain, sitting underneath a glow of a lamp flickering in the dark. And what always wakes me up is when a voice whispers.


Imagine the government is a fraternity called Upsilon Sigma Alpha, or USA, and let's say USA has a credit card that they use for all their expenses, rent, solo cups, lawyer's fees, and USA is about to hit their credit card limit, the debt ceiling, but the whole fraternity's leadership team has to agree to get the limit raised, and while the president of the fraternity Joe is totally down to raise it, Social Chair Kevin is not. Even though he agreed to raise it last semester when his big brother was president, anyway. Now President Joe and Social Chair Kevin are barely talking while the payment deadline approaches and the fraternity USA risks defaulting, so what can be done? Well Joe and Kevin could agree to raise the credit card limit, but they're both not budging. Now President Joe does claim that the fraternity charter, the Constitution, authorizes him to raise the credit limit himself, but if he did, Kevin would probably sue, and since USA actually borrows money from other fraternities, basically all of Greek life, the global economy, is teetering on the edge while two bros play chicken.


African Lion 20 is a 17-year exercise. It's been in existence here in Morocco. This is the first year that U.S. Army Africa has taken over the exercise. So it is a long-running, long-standing exercise that's strategically very valuable to the relationship between Morocco and the United States. With the participation of more than 7,000 soldiers from different nations, this multi-domain and multifunctional exercise aims at improving a mutual understanding of participating forces' tactics, techniques and procedures in order to enhance interoperability and collaborative planning. This edition will include the setup of a combined joint task force, a command post-exercise, a set of academics and workshops, a field training exercise, airborne activities, air training exercise, maritime exercise, Siberia activity, CVO exercise in vicinity of Tifnit, HCA activities in Tafrout area, and finally, a medical-related exercise. Strategic readiness is what it's all about. Projecting the force across oceans and across continents to arrive in North Africa, specifically into Morocco, synchronized throughout all the domains to do this at the same time is going to be the key to success here. And this exercise allows us to do that. Our host nation will receive us. We'll interoperate and work together to achieve our battlefield effects, and then we'll redeploy and go home and be ready to start the process anywhere at any time throughout the world.


Russia uses electronic warfare to throw Ukrainian Himmars off course. Russia currently outperforms Ukraine in electronic warfare, having invested in electronic warfare long before the invasion, but Ukraine is trying to catch up. The Financial Times reported this. It is noted that Russians have begun to use electronic warfare more frequently to throw off the course of precision-guided Western munitions. Both sides have invested heavily in systems that can neutralize each other's drone armies, but Moscow maintains the upper hand as it had already focused on these capabilities before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago. Ukrainian forces are, however, trying to catch up, Financial Times said. Colonel Ivan Pavlenko, head of the Electronic Warfare and Cyber Warfare Department of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that the Russians have recently been producing so many drones that it is becoming a huge threat. What's happening here? The massive use of drones. So electronic warfare becomes increasingly important. Pavlenko called on the Allies to provide Ukraine with more means that can suppress or replace the global navigation satellite system of Russian-made guided missiles and drones. Russia is also increasingly using electronic warfare to throw off course Ukraine's precision-guided munitions supplied by the West, such as Himmars, missiles and Excalibur artillery shells. Moscow also uses electronic warfare to simulate missile and drone launches to confuse and locate Ukrainian air defence systems.


Well, hello, Midlife Love Mastery members. I'm your host, Jonathan Asley, and I'm so excited to be doing this short video for you today. It's a morning cup of Jonathan and today we have, I don't want to work anymore. I just want to be put up on a pedestal and taken care of. A friend gave me that my favorite cup and our topic, a conversation about what is dating. So I've been thinking about this a lot. I'm going to talk about this. Quite a bit going forward, both in my YouTube channel and in our conversations, because I think there's a lot of misconception about what is dating. And particularly today, because we, you know, if we look back hundreds of years ago, it was, you know, actually, there was no such thing as dating. There was basically, if two people wanted, you know, felt excitement for one another and they wanted to have sex, they got married right away. I mean, think of the movie, The Pride and Prejudice. You know, I mean, he meets her once, he then professes her love and then despite some of the shenanigans that went on between them, they literally got married in a nanosecond. There was no dating each other. So, and that's a story, but it might have been true. I don't know what it was like a couple hundred years ago, but I know what it's like today and today we're in a whole different environment because of our devices. I don't have my phone with me. Online dating has changed the dating landscape in a way that we never experienced before because we have all these perceived options, perceived prospects that didn't used to exist before the internet.  So, let's lean into this conversation today from the online dating perspective, because roughly, I think in the future within the next few years, 80% of all first or second dates, first dates, excuse me, are going to happen through an online connection. So, let's establish first that the online dating is a prospecting tool. It's simply a prospecting tool, just like a salesperson has a role, a dex of, or a list of names to call to say, Hi, my name is Jonathan Asley. I work for such and such insurance broker and I'd like to quote on your insurance. Oh, that's what online dating, the initial stage is prospecting. You're just prospecting. Swiping, that's the prospecting. Then when you have a prospect, you get on the phone with them.  Then you plan a meeting, a meeting. It's not a date. The problem is, there's such expectation around how it's supposed to be, instead of what it is. I'll repeat that. There's so much expectation on what it's supposed to be than what it is. A lot of entitled people expect it to be an extravagant dinner or something fancy. When it's really just meeting the person, it's the sniff test. Just to see if you like each other. That's why coffee dates are okay. But that's just a meeting. And then if you decide to see each other again, that's a date. But it's not a promise for the future. It's just a date. Okay. It's just a, just to see if we get along better than we did the time before. And then if you see each other again in a relatively short period of time, that's a second date, even though it's the third time you've met this person. And at that point, you make a decision. Do you want to date this person? In other words, do you want to be dating this person? In other words, do you want to make a commitment to get to know this person at a deeper level to explore a relationship? That's what dating is. So, folks, when I say the words dating one person at a time, you've met them, you've met them, you've gone on a date, you've gone to another date, and then you reach a point of an agreement that you want to actually get to know each other at a deeper level. Now, you can do that on the first meeting. That might be premature. But certainly, if you've met each other three times, then then you say you want to date each other or be dating. That's an agreement. That's, by the way, everything is my perspective. I'm not saying that's what's out there. That's what, this is what I believe should be done. So, with that said, and I said about dating one person at a time, it's because, first off, it's hard to date multiple people at the same time. And really, what is dating? Dating is a vetting process to decide if you want to be in a relationship with someone. If you want to explore something deeper, that's what I think this is all about. And it's really a process of getting to know someone at a deeper level.  Because there's no level of intentionality, and that's what I'm trying to do as a coach is bring some awareness at this, at a deeper level, because most everybody is doing at a surface level, and that's wondering why it's such a mess out there. Alright, I think you get to just where I'm going. This is going to be a short video. I'd like to hear your thoughts and list. Let's have a real discussion about what does dating mean to you? What does it look like for you? And go a little bit deeper by posting a comment below. Alright, we're going to wrap up this video as I always do first off. If you find value in the group, please tell your friends about Midlife Love Mastery. Send them to my website, jonathanasley.com. Have them click the group coaching button so they can join our fantastic group. And I'm going to sign up this video as I always do.  I'm going to reach into the camera and give you a hug of look. That's okay. I'm going to ask you to turn to someone. Pat, a teddy bear pillow and give Iter them a hug of love, because hugs are a great source of love. And let's face it, we can all use more love in our lives. Thanks a bunch. Bye bye now. Bye bye.


Hi everyone, Joe for jaspyscasebreaks.com coming at you with 2020-2021 Panini Prism, English Premier League Soccer, cereal box edition. So these cereal boxes have different pulsars, exclusives to it, basically a retail blaster box type edition. It's a 10 box break and it's a random club break number 7. So there's all the teams right there and all card ship. Now this is a good time to get into this because there's a lot of players in the EPL that you'll see this summer for the Euros. In fact, it starts next Friday. So today's the fourth. I think it starts on these, on the 11th It might be our first round of group stage matches. So that should be a lot of fun. Big thanks to this group right here for making this happen. There's all the clubs right there. Let's roll it and randomize it. Two and a five, seven times for names and clubs. One, two, three, four, five, six, and seventh and final time. Two and a five, seven times. After seven, we got Dan down to Peter, Peter Ng, two Peters in the spray. Two and a five, seven times for the clubs. One, two, three, four, five, six, and seventh and final time. After seven, we got the Sheffield-Westbrom combo down to Southampton. Dan with the Sheffield-Westbrom combo, Peter with Brighton and Hove Albion, Jeremy with Crystal Palace Leads, and you also have Leicester City. Dan with Burnley, Brian with Man City, Vic with Fulham, Andrew, you got my club, Liverpool, Bill with Wolves, with the Wolverhampton Wanderers, the Wolves, Brett with Everton Dayton, with Westham United and Aston Villa, Aaron with Newcastle United, Daniel with Chelsea, Jeremy with Man United, Aaron with Tottenham, Peter Rosas with Arsenal, and Peter Eng with Southampton. Let's order these alphabetically, and we're going to pause the video to allow for a little bit of a little bit of a trade window. And when we come back, we'll see if there's any trades, and then the break, stick around, BRB. All right, welcome back everybody. No deals were done, but that list right here remains the same. Thanks everyone for getting into it. Now again, the cereal boxes or retail boxes are obviously different from all the other editions of Prism Premier League. Features the blue, red, or pink pulsar, Prisms, which are exclusive to this set. Pink, I think is the shortest printed one. Blue and red are pretty common. All right, next. He came back the other day. I banned him again. All right, so all cards shipped. It's worth looking up some of these rookie cards as well. There's Allyson, who scored that gold, that header late in the game. There's Mason Greenwood, he's pretty solid for Man United, Jeremy. Now once again, it's when you receive these, it's worth looking up a lot of these guys because, especially guys like Phil Foden for Man City. I think he should be on the England squad. Yeah, Phil Foden is on the England squad, so this is one to look out for, Brian. This youngster goes off, right? In the Euros, that'll be good for you, good for the hobby. There's Josh Brownhill for Burnley. There's David McGoldrick for Sheffield United, the Blades. And David Luiz for Arsenal. And there's Jamie Vardy right here too, who is not on the England squad. I think Jamie Vardy made one of those conscious decisions to not, to retire from international duty a little bit earlier so he can extend his pro career.  I don't know why people were sleeping on this, but the people who got into it and get nice cards will certainly be rewarded. Is Harry McGuire on the, Harry Kane is on the England team. Yeah, Harry McGuire will see this summer as well. So we'll see him in action. Man United, Jeremy Razer. There's Rae Charleston for Everton, Deli Alley. Should be, I guess not. Trent Alexander Arnold got a little bit of injury. He's not on, he's out of the England squad now. Aaron W with the Spurs gets the Deli Alley. There's Alex Obobi and Matthew Ryan for West Brom. Yes, plenty, William. Check out the, unless that filler is sold out. No, there's four left in that filler. Jaspeyscasebreaks.com, go and get it. Let's fill up that break. All right, there's Timo Werner for Chelsea, rough first year for him. But he might bounce back. There's Harry McGuire again. It's from Man United, Jeremy Razer. There's John Egan for Sheffield, Silver. There's David Louise, Blue Pulsar. Shay Adams, Southampton. No, it's a serial number break, William. Just look on the website. Jaspeyscasebreaks.com. All the details are there. Charlie Taylor Burnley, Red Pulsar. All right, next box. I think Georgina Wijnaldum may end up as a free transfer somewhere. I would love for my club to keep him, but I don't know if that's going to happen. There's Fosu Mensa for Man United. There's Christian Polisik. This could be the future of American soccer right here. First American to appear in a Champions League final, I think, and win one, too. That's pretty awesome. There's Raheem Sterling. He's got to be on the Euro squad, right? Yeah, he is. There's Eric Garcia, rookie Silver. There's Emmerich Laporte, Ashley Westwood, both Blue Pulsars. We've got John Fleck for the Blades, Sheffield. Stop Logan. And we've got Emergent Musa. Janepo. All right, next. Yeah, he is the future of American soccer, heir apparent to Landonovan. I hope so. Some injuries, I feel like, kind of catch up with him a little bit. But if he can stay healthy, he could be pretty dynamic. Jordan Henderson, England captain. There's Ross Barkley, Silver. Is he on the England squad? I don't think so. The midfielders are Jude Bellingham, Jordan Henderson, Mason Mount, Calvin Phillips and Declan Rice. We've got Matt Phillips for West Brom. And here's, this is nice, there's Calvin Phillips midfielder on the Euro squad. And that goes to Leeds. That'll be for the Crystal Pals Leeds combo for Jeremy. So keep an eye on him, maybe that youngster does something in the tournament this summer. Starting next Friday and then maybe, who knows, his cards could go to the moon. All right, next box. Is Andy Robertson on the team? No, I don't think Andy Robertson made the team. I don't know who's replacing Trent on the England squad. There's La Cazette, Rui Patricio, Ben Johnson rookie and a nice Virgil van Dijk. The big center back for Liverpool. I think his injury kind of put Liverpool in a weird tailspin, but they ended up getting a championship league spot, which was surprising. There's Timo Werner for Chelsea. That'll be for Daniel Katz, John McGinn, Aston Villa. It'll be for Dayton and Harrison Reed for Fulham. It's going to be for Vic. Yeah, it was pretty cool seeing him run out there on the second half in that championship league final. Could have had a goal too. That would have been nice. I feel like there are a few other youngsters. There's Timo Werner again. I hope he has a bounce back season next year. I feel like there's a few other youngsters that are kind of around Christian Pulick's age and may kind of develop and evolve and emerge around the next... ...next World Cup cycle. They kind of grow and evolve at the same time. That would be awesome. Maybe see the United States make a good run. Especially when the World Cup's here. That could be a great time for Paul Walker-Peters for them to make a run. Oliver Norwood for Sheffield, Blue Pulsar. These aren't numbered by the way. But they're exclusive to these sets. Jack Stevens, Southampton. And Daniel James for Manchester United Red Pulsar. And there's Cesar Escobar-Puliqueta. All right, 3-Bot. Ooh, nice. So we'll go through orders. We'll add that to the schedule. The schedule's in the chat, folks. If you want to keep track of what's happening, what's going on, so on and so forth. Max gives you an instant online offer for your car. That's Harry Kane. Good chance for Harry Kane, maybe, to win Golden Boot in the Euros. He wants out of Tottenham, too. So it'll be interesting to see if you'll end up somewhere. That's Yeri Mina. There's Steve Bergwin for Tottenham. Casper Schmeichel. Remember, his dad was a keeper, too. Lester City. And Vitigna for the Wolves. It's a cool-looking parallel. The silvers all always look cool there. All right, two more boxes to go, ladies and gentlemen. There's Olivier Giroux to lead things off. Nico Williams. Brian at Zaka. Andre Gomez. We've got Stuart Dallas, rookie silver for Leeds. It's going to go to Jeremy. There's Mark Noble for Westham United. Going to go to Dayton. Almost got a Champions League spot, Westham. There's Bernard for Everton. Pink Pulsar for Brett. And Lucas Fabianski for Westham United. That'll be for Dayton. All right, and the final box. Good luck. This is Fabian Char, Minamino. Werner. Obamoyang is pretty nice. And we've got Donnie van de Beek. Jordan Ayu. And Ainsley Maitland Niles. And the emergent Matthew Longstaff. At the end. And there you have it, boys and girls. That was 2020-2021 Panini Prism. English Premier League Soccer. Ten box, cereal box edition. Random club break number seven. And it's this perfect time for you to kind of, when you receive all card ships and when you receive these, just double check all the names here. And see if anybody are on their respective European national teams. Watch the Euros, follow along and see if any of your cards end up going to the moon. I'm Joe. I'll see you next time for the next one.


Well story of the day on Friday is Tony Quinn has managed to get that Lamborghini back in racing shape and back on the track. Nice to see you back mate. Where did you get the bits? We stole bits from another car to be fair. It was a demo car, which is short for demolish. So was it mostly body bits or did you do some mechanical damage as well? It's like anything when you start taking bits off, there was more damage than we thought. But, you know, I drive shafts, frame, I don't know, bits and pieces, there was a fair bit radiators. Don't you love the kind of event though that you can do that and still hop back in and have a bit of fun? Yeah, I do, but I'd love to hop back in and win, but I don't think I'll be doing that.


Welcome to integrating CESA into your instructional routines. My name is Ali and I'm a professional development and training specialist here at CESA. Prior to being at CESA, I taught both fourth and fifth grade, was a reading interventionist, as well as an instructional coach, and I am so excited to be here today to help you learn how to integrate CESA into your instructional routines. So let's go ahead and get started. Let's start by thinking about the routines you use each day with your students. What are some of your daily instructional routines and how do they benefit your students? Teachers are experts at their craft, and technology is a tool teachers can use to extend their content knowledge and instructional techniques to bring deeper learning to students. So today you will learn how to use CESA as a powerful tool you can integrate into any instructional routine to make learning visible. Here's our agenda. You're going to learn how to integrate CESA into whole group, independent practice centers and stations, as well as some social emotional learning. And you're also going to learn how to use CESA's check for understanding resources throughout your day. Let's take a look first at how CESA can be integrated into these different instructional routines. Here's an implementation model you may have seen before. The SAMR model is a framework that categorizes four different degrees of classroom technology integration. It stands for substitution. This could be students answering questions on a Google Doc instead of paper. Then modification, students produce a podcast to summarize the topic they've been learning about perhaps. Then comes augmentation. An example of this is providing a website link or video to supplement a lesson. And then redefinition, connecting with students across the world to answer questions or solve a problem is one example, or to tasks that otherwise cannot be done without technology. Now that we've reminded ourselves of the SAMR model, let's take a look at how incorporating CESA's multimodal tools into your instructional routines can push teachers and students into the higher levels of technology integration. So with the photo and video tools, you and your students are able to creatively capture day-to-day learning. The microphone or voice tools helps you and your students add additional layers of reflection. With the pens and labels, students can annotate and add explanation to their learning. And then multi-page allows you to show even more learning in the activities. Now normally all of these tools allow for students to learn the same content you'd normally teach, but in a much deeper way. Teachers also get a much more thorough understanding of student learning than they might with pencil and paper. So today we're going to focus on these four teacher-tested ways to integrate CESA into your classroom routines. Our first classroom routine is whole group practices. You can enhance your already established whole group routines by incorporating CESA and the multimodal tools available within CESA. So here are a few ideas for using CESA in whole group practices. Show an instructional video whole class. You can stop and think during a whole class lesson. Practice sight words whole class. And don't forget to capture classroom experiences in CESA as well. Whole group idea number one, instructional videos. So you can use CESA to show instructional videos to your entire class to kick off learning. Providing instructional content in the form of a video, diagram, or even an image is a great way to engage students in learning new content. Prior to meeting as a class, the teacher can record or add a video as the first page of their CESA activity or use an instructional video from CESA lessons. If you have an instructional video that supports your core curriculum, just add it to the first page of your activity and present it to the class to ensure all students know what to do. Since the video is the first page of the activity, students are able to refer back to it if needed while independently completing the activity. If you're using a video in CESA lessons, like this phenomenal phonics lesson, video, project the video and tap present to class and watch together. Then engage in a whole class discussion. Next, assign the rest of the lesson and send students off to complete the rest of the lesson independently. Make sure to assign the instructional video to students as well if you want them to be able to reference it while working on the rest of the lesson. Okay, whole group idea number two, stop and think during a read aloud. Use CESA to support comprehension during a whole class read aloud. First, create and assign a CESA activity like this character traits activity that allows you to capture students showing that they know the reading strategy you are teaching. Then project this activity to the whole class and tap add response and choose sample student. During your read aloud, pause and use the activity to model and teach students how to identify character traits. Now students are going to be ready to identify character traits on their own in CESA while independently reading. Whole group idea number three, practicing sight words whole class. The multimodal tools in CESA are great for making learning accessible to all students. Primary teachers often integrate sight words into their morning message to support learning in context. So instead of writing your morning message on the board, create a CESA activity and use the label tool to type your message. Just like we did before, assign the activity and have students gather on the rug with their devices. Project the activity with the morning message and prompt students to find the activity in their activities tab and tap add response while you tap out response as the sample student. As you call individual students to come up and circle sight words using the drawing tool, engage the remainder of the class by having them use the microphone to draw and record while circling and reading the words with you. Once students tap the green check, this activity will be saved to their journal and they can play the screen recording again for repeated sight word exposure. Okay, and whole group idea number four, capture classroom experiences. Don't forget to also document classroom experiences on CESA as the teacher used the green add button to take pictures and videos of what's going on in your classroom or on field trips to share with students and families. When families see this in their students' CESA portfolio, family conversations are sparked. So this class hatched baby chicks and documented what they noticed in CESA a few times a week. The teacher took a new photo in CESA and projected it on their smart board. And then as a class, students shared what they noticed while the teacher used the multimodal tools on CESA to label their observations. The teacher then tagged students. So an ongoing science journal was in their CESA journal. There are so many possibilities for using CESA during whole group practices. These were just a few. Okay, routine number two is independent practice. So CESA can also be used to provide opportunities for students to practice grade level skills on their own. Start by teaching a mini lesson, then assign a CESA activity and make sure to circulate to support your students one-on-one or in small groups as they work. In this example, students were working on creating patterns. Students use the camera to capture the pattern they created and use the microphone to tell more about what they created. Teachers can go back and view each student's learning once students submit work, giving them the feeling that they are in 25 places at once. While students are exploring and learning on their own, they can also use the label tool to support their understanding. In this example, the student created their own insect with clay. Then they took a picture of their creation and used the label tool to label the parts of the insect. Students could then also add a layer of reflection using the microphone. This allows students to manipulate and create while also documenting and explaining their learning. Another way to use CESA for independent practice is to find a CESA lesson that supports the skill you are working on. To do this and access the lessons library, tap on the library button at the top next to messages of your teacher journal or tap the green add button and then tap assign activity. This is the CESA lessons library. All teachers have access to a free sampling of lessons in each collection this year. CESA lessons are high quality standards aligned learning experiences that are ready to assign in CESA. In the fun phonemes collection, students have multiple opportunities to practice phonemic awareness by following Soundhound to practice the consonant phonemes in the English language. This collection includes instructional content to support students independently on the skills they will need to complete the lesson. Students watch Teacher Barnes and Soundhound make sounds with their mouths and can refer back to these videos whenever they need. Then students get repeated opportunities to practice the skill independently. They listen to, make, identify, see examples, and match the sound that they are learning about. Everything they need to independently practice the skills is included in this lesson. These are just a few ways to use CESA for independent practice and now we're going to move on to centers, stations, and rotations. When you use CESA for center stations or rotations, you get a glimpse into every student's learning process even when you aren't able to meet with them directly. Students are also held accountable so they're more motivated to put forth their best effort. Start by giving a mini lesson to teach a concept or skill and as you plan centers for students to rotate through, designate one or more as a CESA center. Make sure your devices have access to the CESA app or app.csa.me. Students can use the green add button to capture their learning or complete a pre-assigned CESA activity. Activities that work great for centers prompt students to capture hands-on learning like math manipulatives work that otherwise gets lost when students finish that station. In this example, students are practicing place value. Students match the expanded form to the whole number and then capture their practice using the camera tool. Activities at centers can also prompt students to share their writing. Students use the video or take a photo and use the microphone tool to record themselves reading their writing out loud, giving families a window into the students' learning. Now to support understanding during centers, stations, rotations, teachers can also add instructional videos to activities. In math, teachers can add a video showing students how to play a math game with a partner. Students watch the video and play the game at the station and can re-watch the video as many times as needed and won't have to interrupt you with questions when they're attempting to play it on their own at the center. Now, students can also cycle through centers, stations, rotations to record scientific observations. In this canerun class, CESA is being used as a digital science journal. Students planted seeds in different types of soils and recorded predictions in CESA about which ones they thought would grow. Students used the video and annotation tools to capture their predictions when they were at the center. So let's take a look at this video. I think soil will grow with flowers. I don't think soil is going to grow. I think water is going to grow. I think dust and soil is going to grow. I think soil and sand. I don't think soil and sand is going to grow. I think rocks, sand, and soil will grow. Okay, and you can also assign CESA activities for students to complete during centers or stations like this picture match activity. So here students use the microphone to read and record the sentence, and then the drawing tool to circle the picture that matches the sentence. Now you'll see on the right that this is a multi-page activity, so students have the opportunity to practice this skill multiple times during the center. As a reminder, CESA first school's teachers can have up to 20 pages in a CESA activity, so there is a lot of opportunity for learning. CESA lessons can also be used during center stations and rotations time. This is the numbers in space collection, and it supports flexible thinking, incompetence, and math. Students build number sense by practicing, hearing, identifying, and writing numbers in multi-dimensional ways. Now in center stations or rotations, students can complete one or more activities within the lesson each day. After completing the day's activity, students save the activity as a draft so they can return to the work the following day. To do that, they just tap on that draft button in the top right. So many ideas for how to use CESA on center stations and rotations, and now we're going to move on to our last routine. Routine four, social-emotional learning. CESA makes it easy to integrate social-emotional learning into different aspects of your day. Leverage transitions, like the beginning or end of the day, before or after lunch, or between subjects to reinforce important social-emotional learning skills. Simply assign a CESA activity for students to complete during your designated cell time, or at any point during the day. An easy way to start is with a daily or weekly check-in like this. Students practice identifying and naming their emotions and explaining why they feel that way. Teachers use these check-ins to follow up with students who may need extra support as well. Providing students with a cell question of the day prompts conversations. Here the teacher posted the question of the day in the journal, tagged all of their students in the class, and then students commented on the post with their thoughts about what makes a good friend. Students can share their own thinking as well as add on to their classmates' thinking. You can also find or create activities that reinforce specific cell skills like goal setting, growth mindset, and more. This teacher found a Mind Yeti video and uploaded it to their CESA activity to help their students practice slow breathing. And you can also use CESA lessons to sell stories for social-emotional learning. All lessons are broken into parts, making it easy for you to assign certain parts each day. First, project to the class and tap present to class on the interactive read aloud. Next, if you want the students to go through the story independently or during centers or stations time, you can assign the practice section to students. Finally, you can assign the show the final show that you know to your students to ensure they are understanding the social-emotional skills you have been practicing. Here is the interactive read aloud and as you read through the pages, whole class and have discussions, model how to use the multimodal tools in CESA to respond. When students then complete this independently, they know how to use the multimodal tools to share the reflections and reflect on how the characters in the story are feeling. In the show what you know activity, students use the microphone or video tool to show what they know about feeling and noticing others' feelings. Adding CESA into all of these routines allows students to better extend, share, and reflect on their learning over time. So we have created ready to assign activities for your centers, stations, rotations, independent practice, and CEL. You will now have time to explore these activities. So you're going to pause the video and head to the handout section to find this handout where you're going to find these activities. So go ahead and pause the video now to explore. Welcome back. So we know how tricky it can be to find the perfect activity for your students to show their learning. So this next section is going to cover resources that CESA has created to save you time and energy. CESA has created ready to go check for understanding activities in both English and Spanish to assist you to gain valuable insight into what your students are learning. In this collection, you will find show what you know, explain your thinking, reflection routine, exit ticket, and choice board activities for both pre-K to second grade and third through fifth grade. You can either tap assign right from the collection or tap into an activity to see more details. From this view, you can tap save activity to add this activity to your My Library. This is the explain your thinking activity for pre-K to second grade. If you're a third through fifth grade teacher, make sure to tap on the explain your thinking activity that matches your grade band to get started. Once it's in your My Library, you can also assign this activity to students. So to assign, tap the assign button in the upper right hand corner. Then assign this activity to one or more classes at once. Just tap to check the box next to the class or classes you wish to assign the check for understanding activity to. Assign any of the check for understanding activities as is, no need to edit them, hopefully saving you time. Although these activities are ready to go, you can always copy and edit them to fit your students' needs. Now that this activity is assigned, during class time, teach your lesson as you normally would, no need to change the scope and sequence, just that time for students to complete a check for understanding activity at any point during the lesson. So this is the explain your thinking activity for pre-K to do that you could assign. Notice that this activity can be used universally across subject areas, students can respond to this activity in reading, in math, in science, even social studies. Learning is easily captured using one or more of the multimodal learning tools in CESA. This first grade class was learning about summarizing a story, so students used the camera tool to take a picture of the cover of their book and then used the microphone tool to summarize the story, giving the teacher insight into the students' ability to summarize. And then the students tapped the green check to submit it to their journal. After your students complete their check for understanding, you can review students' responses and leave text or audio comments with feedback about their progress. CESA is ready to go check for understanding activities, make in the moment formative assessment easy, no matter what the subject area. Okay, you're going to have time to explore a little bit more, so in a minute I'll have you pause the video to explore these activities. Again, you will find this handout in the handout section, so pause the video now to explore the checks for understanding activities. And welcome back. You did it. You learned a lot today. We learned how to integrate CESA into classroom routines and how to use CESA's check for understanding activities. Really encourage you to join us for more trainings. Head to our learning hub at learn.CESA.me to explore different pathways and courses to help you integrate and use CESA more in your classroom. Thank you for joining me today. We'll see you again soon here at CESA.


Christians and Demon Possession Part 2 You only say Christians can't have demons because you haven't experienced true spiritual warfare. Just wait until you have the experience I have. Maybe you only say that because you yourself need deliverance.  That was before I understood the difference between a stronghold, 2 Corinthians 10-4, and demonic possession. A stronghold is a deceptive thought pattern that eventually becomes a behavior pattern. We call that bondage. The devil doesn't need to possess you, to influence you, to get you to do what he wants. He just needs you to believe what he says. So often when a believer gets delivered from deceptive bondage, they mistake this for having been set free from possession. What they're experiencing is actually deliverance, not exorcism. Interpret experience through scripture, not scripture through experience. Does it really matter though what terminology we use so long as people are being set free? Follow for Part 3.


Hey, football fans, hope y'all had a Jerry Christmas. Ah! It's that of Mary. It was crazy Jerry. Crazy Jerry's new year. It's just Mary. She's a real pistol. Jarring me as we celebrate. You did win the NFCE. What? No call. And she's going to be in my hoot, nanny. Tell him who else is coming. Roger Stalback, General John Kelly, Scrooge McDuck, several valets, and the Eye of Sauron. Oh, I love that guy. He's my emergency contact. How about? Mark Davis can't come, but he did offer to trade you Derek Carr for a mid-sized car. Ooh, doesn't have to have hoodcaps? No. Well, make the deal! OK. You, Martavious Bryant, for nothing. Hey! What if he paid you and cut this from the commercial? Promise not to clean up.


Clean what's going on this engraving here with another video and in this video We got another episode of NFL questions from subscribers and this is some really good questions right here I love when y'all bring those good great questions that make your mind wonder But this question was from my guy Salera underscore 16 He hit me up on Instagram and asked two questions. What's up Logan? Good morning One he asked can the Steelers clinch the number one seed in the AFC And his other question was who has the better defense between the Ravens and the Steelers so shout out to Salera Those are some great questions Not easy questions But and those are questions that won't get completely settled until the end of the season and then some with some people It still might not even be settled But anyway great questions, so let's get right into them first and foremost Let me introduce myself because I don't want to be rude me all you at school watching Okay, appreciate that don't get in trouble though because I'm not worth getting in trouble for Need is this channel? But anyway me. I'm engraving this. This is my YouTube channel engraving kids and I'm a Ravens fan And even though I'm a Ravens fan on this YouTube channel We talk about Ravens all the time, but we just talk about football period So if you're Ravens fan, it's the perfect place for you or if you just love football, it's the perfect place for you, too So make sure you subscribe to the YouTube channel turn your notifications all the way on turn notifications on So you never miss not one single video and you always know when we go live and Then make sure like my boy Ryan mallet says every single video make sure you leave a like on a video click the thumbs up button Just to show support for the channel show love I you know I love y'all I appreciate y'all coming through man because a lot of y'all come through on all the videos and whatnot y'all always give Y'all comments your opinions But the the thing I appreciate the most about y'all and everybody on this channel is that you all keep it respectful You if whether you agree or disagree with me You keep it respectful and whether you agree or disagree with each other you keep it respectful And that's the most important thing to me That's the most important thing to me on this channel that you keep it respectful because this is Team keep it clean and make sure you follow on Twitter Instagram and Snapchat all three are engraving vids now anyway To this question again shout out to Salera underscore 16 Like I said he hit me up on Instagram and X. Can the Steelers get the number one seed in the AFC? Easy answer to that question is yes. They certainly could I believe they would have to win out and the Patriots would also have to start losing The Patriots would have to start losing Because I believe right now the Patriots would be the number one guys. I believe So if but it would take a lot for the Patriots just to lose a lot of games They would have to just fall off because Patriots are usually a pretty sound team Especially at the end of the season because that's when they really get things rolling So that would it would be tough for Steelers to get the number one seed number two seed I think it's definitely doable to the AFC The second place that it could run through could be Pittsburgh But we'll see we'll see how it goes. That's what it's looking like right now Because they are just Steelers have been looking great. I mean I understand last game they did They were a little suspect against Green Bay, but hey every team has those games. It's gonna happen It's gonna happen. It's the NFL And like I said, this has been one of the craziest seasons that I've ever witnessed With some of the craziest games that I've ever witnessed and just some of the craziest outcomes that I've ever witnessed So with that being said with this being such a crazy season Steelers can definitely get They can definitely get the number one seed because Patriots could definitely just start losing it happens. It happens So, yeah, and Steelers are clicking more offense.  We understand that we get it but for Most of the season their defense has been on point and their offense the offense was obviously rolling on a Rolling on what was that Sunday night? Yes, Sunday night when they played the pack as their offense was rolling enough To win that game for him. So yes, the answer to the question is yes They can't clinch the number one seed Because anything is possible Patriots would just have to fall off and Steelers would just have to keep going strong Next question Who's the better defense the Ravens or the Steelers? Now this is a very tough one because both defenses You can't go wrong with either one. They are both very good. They are both. They both force turnovers But in this one and not even being biased and I'm gonna tell you why I'm gonna go with Ravens The reason that I'm gonna go with Ravens is because the way the Ravens team plays They have to rely on the defense more than the Steelers do Steelers defense is great this season And they've been they've been doing their thing man So shout out to Steelers defense But I'm gonna have to go with Ravens only because that team the Ravens team has to rely on the defense so much more than the Steelers do They have to they have to and that's not a good thing That's not a good thing at all, but that's just the way the team is set up and it looks like they are accepting that Based on how the offense has been performing because they know the offense sucks So now they just want Joe Flacco to be a game manager. They don't want him to be a scoring quarterback They don't want him to just they don't want him to take off but I Would I would have to go with Ravens defense like I said reason being because the that defense they are so crucial in Ravens games and Since the offense is so bad the defense has to win every game for them They have to they have to and that's sad and it's frustrating and it's annoying But the Ravens defense has to win every game for them because the offense sure has not been doing it So that's the only reason that's yeah, that's the biggest reason why I would put Ravens defense over Steelers is just because they have to do more than Steelers defense does They have to because they don't have a quarterback thrown for three four touchdowns a game They don't have a wide receiver going off for 150 yards and two touchdowns a game They don't have a running back going off for over 100 yards Russian and receiving and getting touchdowns in both categories They we don't have that and since we don't have that the defense has to make each and every play for this team in order for them to Stay in in each and every game the defense has to do it because the offense just doesn't and the offense won't sad story in Baltimore, but that's how it is so there goes the answer to that question right there and Oof and the Ravens and the Steelers play each other in a couple weeks So we'll see man we getting closer I mean we got this week and then I think it's the week after this right? I believe it is but either way It is going to be a very interesting game. It's gonna be a very interesting game. That's what that's one thing I can say it is going to be a super interesting game And I just missed this light so I guess that I will be looking at the comments now So some of the red light, but yeah, that's gonna be a very interesting game Hey fire Jason Garrett. I wouldn't mind playing quarterback for Oh play running back in inside linebacker for the Cowboys. Okay. Hey, tell them make that call man Tell them fly me out to Dallas. I'll quit my job and I'll be a cowboy. No problem Do you think Joe would be better if he could call his own place? He can call his own place. That's the thing you you're not a rookie quarterback He's not a rookie quarterback. He's not a rookie. This is not his first year. It's not even his second year This is this dude's 10th year 10th five times two.  Call the audible change it up Change it up. Take advantage of the defense even though flakko's field vision as a quarterback is not that good Um But still you want to be aggressive be aggressive Don't wait on nobody to be aggressive be aggressive yourself, man.  Um, so you you got to take over my man You got to do it playoff time is right now for ravens, man Playoff time is literally right now It's right now because they have to win out and uh, well, they don't necessarily have to win every single game But if they do they'll be in if they win every single game, they'll be in they don't even have to worry about anybody else So even as bad as they did for this The these first 11 games as bad as it's been these dudes are six and five They're six and five So as bad as these first 11 games have been they are still gifted the opportunity to make the playoffs if they went out That's all they got to do is win out and if they can win out going forward they're in So they don't they don't deserve to be in based on how they played But they could get it and then they could show the world What they can do once they get in there so Hey, we'll see man We'll see if this offense because they say the same thing every single week. We'll see if the offense improves, but hey We'll see that's all we can do is wait and see and that's it. That's it So anyway, um, I appreciate y'all salara underscore 16 on instagram Thank you for this question. This was a really good question two really good questions So again the answer to his first question or the question was can the Steelers punch the number one seed in afc? They sure can um, and who's better between the ravens and Steelers defense And I said I'll go with ravens only because they just have to do so much more for this team They have to they literally have to carry the team They've been carrying this team for years now, but they literally have to carry the team Steelers defense doesn't have to carry the team as you saw in the last game. Um, so I appreciate that. Thank you. Um Y'all look great, man. Y'all look great. Thank you so much. I hope you all enjoyed this video I really enjoyed these two questions. Thank you again salara underscore 16 And if you all want to be a part of nfl questions from subscribers You already know what to do man. Hit me up on twitter instagram or snapchat Send me a dm with your question And we'll answer it on a video personalized just for you. Anyway, happy thursday. I will see you all Probably won't be until I get off work, but we'll see appreciate y'all and I'm out. Bye


This is a message from a tither. I've been paying my tithes faithfully. I've been sowing seeds into ministries. Yet I'm still poor. I'm still broke. What do you say about that? Good. Something that's been happening for a long time is people being made to feel guilty about giving their money to churches. Should we support our churches? We absolutely should. Should we support ministries? We absolutely should. But the issue of giving tithes being compelled to do so and then doing so in order to get a return to get a gain of promise monetarily back from God is that biblical? Well, absolutely not. The message that you heard is a sentiment that's heard all over where people have been giving, but they've been giving to get something back. Is that biblical? Well, no, it's not. Which is why I said good. The reason why it's a good thing is because when you learn your lesson like this person is learning, then hopefully it will cause them it should cause them to go to the scriptures and find out what the scriptures say about tithing and about giving and also about you getting any sort of financial blessing. So let's do just that. The first time that we see tithing in the Bible is we see Abraham or Abram going up to Melchizedek and bringing him a tithe. And so in just his 1418, we start there and Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. Now he was a priest of God most high. He blessed him and said, blessed be Abram of God most high, possessor of heaven and earth. And blessed be God most high who has delivered your enemies into your hand. He gave and he gave him a 10th of all. So Abram gives to this priest a 10th of all. And we go to Hebrews and realize that it is a 10th of all of the spoils. He says to whom also Abraham a portion, a 10th of all of the spoils. And so here we see Abraham giving a 10th of his spoils. Now the 10th under the law, the tithe under the law was meant to give to the Levites who could not work. And so the other tribes would do so in one for support of them, but also having, make sure that there was something in the storehouse of God to make sure that the nation could function as well. And the 10th was typically produce, animals or vegetation and so forth. Now could a 10th be more than that? Could the 10th be money? Sure it could be. Again we see Abraham doing the exact same thing. Remember currency then is not like currency now, but now is there a compulsion under the Bible, especially under this after the cross for us as believers to give a 10th? Well the answer to that is no. Jesus did bring up the 10th, but he was doing so in rebuking how the Pharisees, the Jews were misabusing it, how they were doing it in an ungodly fashion, but he never commands us going forward, nor do we see any of the apostles telling us or teaching us that we have to give a 10th. Now the reason why I gave, and you may see it's a harsh response to say good to the person who's been tithing faithfully and who's been sowing a seed faithfully to different ministries in expectation of getting something back monetarily. The reason why I say good is because one, that person that's you then you need to learn that that is not the reason why we give. We do not give to get something back. Now remember this, in 1st Timothy 6, he's speaking about these evil men, these wicked false teachers and false prophets who come in, and notice what he says about them in verse 5. He tells them about their constant friction between men and depraved mind and deprived of the truth. Look what he says, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. But the truth is, look what he says after that in verse 6, but godliness actually is a means of gain, great gain when accompanied by contentment. In other words, the godliness is the actual gain and it should be accompanied by contentment. Why is that important? The contentment that you get from being close to God should be the gain that you're looking for. Does God, would God be okay with you having something financial? Sure, God does not oppose that. But is that the thing that he cares first and foremost about? No, obviously not. As a matter of fact, he goes into a caution later on in the verse. He says in verse 9, but those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. Look what he says, for the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many grief. In other words, those folks that long for this money, they end up leaving, they end up moving away from this foundational truth, the belief, not from believing, but from this belief and they find themselves in all sorts of problems, all sorts of ruin. As a matter of fact, you may find out, many may find out that you might not actually be a believer in Christ. There are those that came to Christ for what God could give them versus the spiritual benefit. They came looking with their hands open, their hands out to receive a financial blessing, some sort of physical tangible blessing, not thinking or believing that this spiritual blessing is it. Paul gives us a great lesson while he's in prison. He says this in Philippians 4-11. He says, Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am in. Look what he says. He says, I know how to get along with humble means. In other words, to not have much. And I also know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstances, I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering. And look what he says. And through all of this, I can do all things through him who strengthens me. I can do it. I can make it through Christ. But he says, I've learned to be content. What did he just say earlier? He says that this means of gains. It is a great gain if accompanied with contentment. In other words, just having you is enough. Now back to this issue of should we give it all to any sort of ministries? How much should we give? Well, look what the Bible says. The Bible says this. To each one must do just as he has proportioned his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, in other words, if someone is making you or forcing you to give a certain amount, that is not what the Bible calls for. He says, For God loves a cheerful giver, and God is able to make all grace abound to you so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance of every good deed. In other words, God is not after you to give or someone to force you to give something, but give cheerfully. If giving $5 more than you thought gives you a frown, then don't give the $5. God doesn't need your money. But God is after someone to give in a cheerful fashion, loving what they're doing. Remember, the Bible says to sow whoever sows to the flesh will what? Of the flesh reap corruption. So whatever you plant, that's going to come back. And so you are trying to sow things that are going to bring sort of physical contentment. It's not going to happen. But if you sow to the Spirit, then of the Spirit, you will reap from the Spirit. As a matter of fact, you will reap everlasting lee of the Spirit. So to anyone out there who is giving because they're in need, that's not why you give. You pray if you're in need. Offer up that. Offer up your voice.  God is not a resource. He is your source. And so you go to him. And the fact that you draw close to him, you're going to find out that this contentment that can only be found in him will come not as a result of you getting money, not as a result of you getting all your bills paid or you getting new cars or new jewelry or anything like that. That's not what God is after.  If you happen to have some sort of financial gain, well then praise God. But that's not the goal. That's not what we're looking for. Again, if that's what you're looking for, you may get it, but you may not like what accompanies it.  Well then amen. That's fine if you desire that I want to give a tenth or I want to give five percent or eight percent or 20 percent because I want to as long as you're not being compelled to do so, as long as you don't think that I have to religiously give that in order to please God. No. God is more concerned with you delighting yourself in him. You do that. You seek him first and then let him decide what to give you. Let the desires of your heart change and he will give you those desires because they will line up with him. And that way, you'll learn how to be content. Amen.