Jesus, the Alpha & the Omega
A Revival of Religion
Reflection: Psalm 85:4–7; 1 Timothy 3:2–7; Acts 20:28
When the church finds its members falling into gross and scandalous sins, then it is time for the church to awake and cry to God for a revival of religion. When such things are taking place as give the enemies of religion an occasion for reproach, it is time for the church to ask of God, “What will become of your great name?”
Charles Finney (1792 – 1875)
Bible Verse for Today
The happiness of a man in this life does not consist in the absence but in the mastery of his passions. Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892).
The Mapuches are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of present-day Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who shared a common linguistic heritage as Mapudungun speakers. Their traditional economy is based on agriculture. Today, many Mapuche communities are engaged in conflict over land and indigenous rights in both Argentina and in Chile.
CDC Travellers’ Health Notices
The human brain can produce enough electricity to light a small electric bulb. The brain consumes glucose from the body to produce this amount of energy.
Relief Web
Ghost of the Cepheus Flare.
Credit & Copyright: Stephen Leshin. Spooky shapes of cosmic dust clouds seem to haunt this starry expanse, drifting through the night in the royal constellation Cepheus, some 1,200 light-years away. Over 2 light-years across, the ghostly nebula known as vdB 141 or Sh2-136 is near the centre of the field. The core of the dark cloud on the right is collapsing and is likely a binary star system in the early stages of formation.
December 8: Asteroid Harmonica is at opposition, 19h UT (2 PM EST).
December 9: The Moon passes 1.1° north of Saturn, 5h UT (12 AM EST).
December 10: The Moon passes 0.7° north of Pluto, 4h UT 11 PM EST).
December 12: The Moon is at apogee (405,177 km from Earth), 12h25m UT (7:25 AM EST).
Credit: Astronomy.
NASA Mars Exploration Programme
Conservation International
The Flag of Niger was inaugurated in 1959, a year prior to its formal independence from France, consisted of the colours of orange, white and green, in equal horizontal bands, with an orange roundel in the centre. The upper orange band represents the northern regions of the Sahara Desert, the white band represents purity, and the green band represents both hope and the fertile regions of southern Niger. The orange circle is said to represent the sun or independence.
The U.S. Department of State Travel Warnings
The UK Foreign Service Travel Advice
Sunflowers (Tournesols) is the name of two series of still life paintings by the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. The first series, executed in Paris in 1887, depicts the flowers lying on the ground, while the second set, executed a year later in Arles, shows a bouquet of sunflowers in a vase. In the artist's mind, both sets were linked by the name of his friend Paul Gauguin, who acquired two of the Paris versions. On March 30, 1987, Japanese insurance magnate, Yasuo Goto, paid the equivalent of US $39,921,750 for van Gogh's Still Life: Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers at auction at Christie's London. The painting currently resides at Seiji Togo Yasuda Memorial Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo.
Idiom of the Day
