B'Bye

I deleted the reference to a blog to save Voice of America English broadcasts. I got tired of smashing my hand with a hammer. It appears that unless Congress cares - the American people surely don't seem to - that the Broadcasting Board of Governor's plan to turn off VOA English radio broadcasts will continue to creep forward.

That's at a time when All China Radio, Al Jazeera and a bunch of other foreign broadcasters are starting - and paying for - new radio and television programming in ENGLISH .

But Ken Tomlinson and the Board - all of whose terms have expired but they keep serving until they are replaced - have decided that the world doesn't need to hear English from America any more. I guess they figure people will turn to Al Jazeera if they want objective, balanced news coverage.

So RIP VOA English. After defeating the Nazis, the Japanese, and the Communists, you have been killed by a predator much more violent and rapacious - the uncaring American.

Well, I guess that's okay

It turns out that I didn't exactly kill the systematic theology final. I thought I knew almost all the answers, but I got my grade back - it was an 87!

Which is a B, (but, in my family B stood for "better than a C but not an A." I still struggle to get past those horrible words "I'm just disappointed, son." Thanks Mom and Dad!)

But upon reflection, their opinion is not the final arbiter of success; God's opinion is what counts, and He's not disappointed. He knew my grade before I did, and my acceptance by Him is not based on how well I do in school! Thanks Father!

But my overall grade for the course was a B+ (91.15% or 577 out of a possible 600 points). Which isn't bad. Funny, the two systematic theology courses I took at Regent both got the same grade, B+. And both were taught by "take no prisoners" professors. So, I guess that points out an area for further learning, huh?

That being said, I still will graduate in May. Thank God. It feels strange, though. After four years, I don't have to drag big heavy books around and study for finals or do papers. I still want to learn; that part hasn't changed. The motivation is different, though.

I can exhale; but the learning never stops.

It's that time of year ....

when people go absolutely butt-wild spending money for Christmas. I don't know if it's because of the time of year or because financial writers tend to focus on these type of things when they don't have Fed reports to talk about, but MSN Money reports that if you have $2,200 dollars in net worth you're in the top half of the world's wealthiest people.

The report quotes a global study of the wealth gap, with half the world's population, more than three billion people, living on less than two dollars a day. My Starbucks coffee costs that much!

And even relatively developed nations have low standards of wealth. In India, people have per capita assets of just $1,100! In Indonesia, capital amounts to $1,400 per person.

The type of assets owned varies from country to country, with Asian and developing nations favoring savings accounts and Western nations prefering stocks and other financial products.

The worlds total wealth is valuated at $125 trillion dollars. North America has only six percent of the world's population, but accounts for 34% of household wealth. The average wealth in the United States is $144,000 per person. In Japan it's $181,000. People in North America, Europe, and wealthier Asian-Pacific countries account for 90% percent of total wealth.

And the super rich? Guys like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helu have more money than the 48 poorest countries combined.

Something to think about this Christmas.

Killed it

So I killed the test. I was scared it was going to be REALLY tough, because after all it is systematic theology. But it wasn't as bad as I thought. I almost didn't take it because it wasn't loaded into the computer program. And when I called to find out why, there was no answer because everyone was at the CHRISTMAS PARTY!

But God bless them, I finally did get through to a human being. And the test was posted. And I killed it. So now I will be eligible for graduation. Soli deo gloria. Two words: NOW WHAT?