Jesus, the Alpha & the Omega
Christian Persecution.
1 Peter 4: 12 – 13
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matt 5:10). If the reason a believer experiences opposition is due to anything other than his identity with and devotion to Christ, then what happens to him is not Christian persecution. When we intentionally live according to the way of Christ, we can count on meeting opposition from those who hate Christ.
Tom Ascot
Bible Verse for Today
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart. Helen Keller (1880 - 1968).
The Ainu, in the historical Japanese texts the Ezo, are an indigenous people of Japan (Hokkaido, and formerly northeastern Honshu) and Russia (Sakhalin, the Kuril Islands, and formerly the Kamchatka Peninsula). On June 6, 2008, the Japanese Diet passed a bipartisan, non-binding resolution calling upon the government to recognize the Ainu people as indigenous to Japan, and urging an end to discrimination against the group. Recent research suggests that the historical Ainu culture originated in a merger of the Okhotsk culture with the Satsumon, one of the ancient archaeological cultures that are considered to have derived from the Jōmon-period cultures of the Japanese archipelago. The Ainu economy was based on farming, as well as on hunting, fishing and gathering.
CDC Travellers’ Health Notices 
There are two sides to the human brain. Each side of the brain interacts with the opposite side of the body. The left side of the brain interacts with the right side of the body, and vice versa. The reason behind this way of interaction is still not understood.
Relief Web 
The Cosmic Web of the Tarantula Nebula.
Credit & Copyright: Marcelo Salemme. It is the largest and most complex star-forming region in the entire galactic neighbourhood located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy orbiting our Milky Way galaxy. The region's spidery appearance is responsible for its name, the Tarantula Nebula, about 1,000 light-years across and 1,500 light-years from Earth. The spindly arms of the Tarantula nebula surround NGC 2070, a star cluster that contains some of the brightest, most massive stars known, visible in blue on the right. Since massive stars live fast and die young, it is not so surprising that the cosmic Tarantula also lies near the site of the closest recent supernova.
NASA Mars Exploration Programme
Conservation International 
The flag of the Netherlands is a horizontal tricolour of red, white, and blue. The tricolour flag is almost identical to that of Luxembourg, except that it is shorter and its red and blue stripes are a darker shade. It originates as a variant of the older orange-white-blue Prinsenvlag (Prince's Flag), introduced in the 17th century as the Statenvlag (States Flag), the naval flag of the States-General of the Dutch Republic. Its official status as the national flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands was formalized in 1937.
The U.S. Department of State Travel Warnings
The UK Foreign Service Travel Advice 
The Last Judgment is a fresco by the Italian Renaissance painter Michelangelo, covering the whole altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City. It is a depiction of the Second Coming of Christ and the final and eternal judgment by God of all humanity. There are over 300 figures, with nearly all the males and angels originally shown as nudes; many were later partly covered up by painted draperies. The work took over four years, between 1536 and 1541. Michelangelo began working on it twenty-five years after he finished the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and was nearly 67 at its completion. It was commissioned by Pope Clement VII but was completed under Pope Paul III.
Idiom of the Day
