“Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon & a decisive direction.” ~ Pope Benedict XVI #quote#PopeBenedictXVI#EncounterJesus#FB
James Van Der Beek’s final message to the world is one of the most powerful things I have ever heard. Stop whatever you are doing and listen to this! 🥺
This teacher-turned-cognitive scientist shared a disturbing reality that left the room stunned.
“Our kids are LESS cognitively capable than we were at their age.”
Every previous generation outperformed its parents since we began recording in the late 1800s.
So, what happened?
Screens.
Dr. Jared Horvath explained:
“Gen Z is the first generation in modern history to underperform us on basically every cognitive measure we have, from basic attention to memory, to literacy, to numeracy, to executive functioning, to EVEN GENERAL IQ, even though they go to more school than we did.”
“So why? … The answer appears to be the tools we are using within schools to drive that learning (screens).”
“If you look at the data, once countries adopt digital technology widely in schools, performance goes down significantly, to the point where kids who use computers about five hours per day in school for learning purposes will score over two-thirds of a standard deviation LESS than kids who rarely or never touch tech at school. And that’s across 80 countries.”
But screens aren’t just decimating learning and making new generations less intelligent than the ones before them.
It was important that Lou Holtz and Marcus Freeman got this moment ☘️
Lou started spilling his keys to succes.
Marcus: I'm going to write this down ✍️
1. You have to be the most physical on the field.
2. We have to be the most fundamental.
3. Your players must care about one another.
4. Don't flinch.
To see the past and the future of this program in one video is ✨️
I recently had the honor of being at the funeral of Micah Kim, the five-year-old son of my friend @hey_PJK Paul J. Kim.
And I don’t use the word honor lightly. Because while the pain of losing a child is unimaginable…what I witnessed there was just as unimaginable: JOY.
At Micah’s wake, Paul stood next to his son’s casket—his little body dressed in cowboy boots—and he pointed and said:
“That’s my son’s body. He’s not there. My son is alive.”
Paul said they gave Micah the greatest gift a parent can give: baptism. His passport to heaven. And then I watched this family walk down the aisle behind the casket—hands on it, tears streaming down Paul’s face—and his other hand lifted high in praise as we sang Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.
Watch my reflection to hear how Paul's witness of joy in the face of tragedy and Micah's brief life are both tied to the truth of our baptism—that we are beloved children of God and he wants us to live forever with him.
In baptism, we are sealed in this identity and receive our ticket to heaven. We just need to lean into his love and let his grace transform our lives.
Our days here are numbered. But heaven is real, it lasts forever, and you don't need to prove yourself to earn God's love. Receive it!
The way the College Football season shaped up, the CFP Committee had an opportunity to do the most right thing with the smallest backlash.
Alabama and BYU getting blown out in their conference championship games opened the door to put both Notre Dame and Miami in.
Instead they dropped the ball and punished BYU for losing, didn’t punish Alabama for losing and then flipped Notre Dame and Miami despite neither of them playing a game.
None of it makes sense.
They did the thing that would give them the most backlash just to have 5 SEC teams in the playoff.
That makes everyone question the integrity of the process and rightfully so.
So, BYU was penalized for getting blown out in its conference championship game (dropped one spot). Which allowed Miami to move up and get compared directly to Notre Dame.
But Alabama was not penalized for getting blown out in its conference championship game.
Her husband tried confessing to a Protestant pastor.
The pastor froze.
Catholic priests didn't because John 20 gave them the power.
𝘰��𝘰𝘱𝘴_𝘯𝘰𝘸_𝘪𝘮_𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘮