She is 92 y.o.

 All it took was a sniff and a nibble of these pungent Myanmar food products. Our Caucasian friend, Helen, knew that only other Asians would enjoy and appreciate these gifts from overseas students she supports.  My family and me are thus the happy, thankful and willing victims of her use of profiling, whoohoooo!

as gracious and hospitable as ever

pro·fil·ing

ˈprōˌfīliNG/noun

1. the recording and analysis of a person's psychological and behavioral characteristics, so as to assess or predict their capabilities in a certain sphere or to assist in identifying a particular subgroup of people.

Note to Self, Year 2017

Worth sharing from one of my favorite preachers: 

Where I have my devotions, my wife Leslie "Sugarbabe", has a plaque on the wall that I look at all the time. It reads as follows:

BELIEVE
LEARN FROM YESTERDAY
LIVE FOR TODAY
HOPE FOR TOMORROW
When you are DOWN to NOTHING God is UP to SOMETHING

RUTH 1 #BELIEVEGOD  Maranatha


James Ford, Jr

Swarovski iPhone Cover Problem

I bought a very pretty cell phone cover recently:  a genuine Swarovski product that was made in Austria.  Its blue and pink crystals shimmered, just as expected, within the well-made honey comb design. It was also deeply discounted from its $49 retail price; and simply gorgeous as the picture below attests. 

Unfortunately, it became "deadly" after I'd put it on my iPhone.  My phone could no longer connect or stay connected for more than a few minutes at a time to my home's WiFi. A day of head scratching,  re-tracing,  going to problem-solving websites, and completely re-starting my phone (I had enough sense to have copies of all my pictures first) went by before it occurred to me to simply remove the phone cover. Tadaaaa ... problem solved.  My iPhone could connect to WiFi once again!  What a relief. Thank You, Lord!

My conclusion: the cover was simply too multi-layered with the crystals and plastic/metal combination.  The design became a hindrance to my phone's WiFi reception ability. What a waste of my money.  No wonder the Seller had two (!) of these for sale. Beautiful items, but problematic. What recourse do I have now?? Did the seller know of this issue? I emailed her and am awaiting her response.  It did not cost much, and my iPhone is an older model and all.  I saw no other listings for authentic, made-by-Swarovski iPhone 5 covers as of yesterday.  

BTW,  Swarovski had the gall to print this notice (bad grammar and all) on their product brochure enclosed with the phone cover:

Can enhance cell phone signals, is a specially tailored  for the iPHONE cell users and the protection cover, so you use it freely.

Wheaton College: A couple of guys you should know in early 2017

pc: AP

W.C. Alumni in Trending News, January 2017.  Prayers, please.

(A) Andrew Brunson, '88 (and wife Norine, '89).

Mr Brunson, an American citizen from North Carolina, held in a Turkish prison since October 2016.  He has been a Christian pastor in Turkey for the past 23 years. Turkey's government, led by an Islamic party whose head is President Recep Tayyip Erdogan , has been increasingly paranoid since a failed coup attempt.  They have been cracking down on Christians.  

Andrew's unjust imprisonment is just the tip of the iceberg of the turmoil in Turkey.  He is accused of being part of a terrorist organization -- without any evidence! Please, please pray for this godly man currently held in an Izmir prison cell.  Read more on this very dangerous situation here

pc: ACLJ

(b) Senator Dan Coats, '65

Former Indiana Senator; and Ambassador to Germany (2001-2005), Dan Coats, has been recently nominated by  President-elect Donald Trump to be the Director of National Intelligence.

pc: wikipedia