I am reading Wide Awake right now. Just finished the first chapter. Erwin talked about satellite radio. I googled the person he talked about.

True or False Ethiopian Born Noah Samara Invented Satellite Radio?

The answer is true. The same country that has brought the world the likes of the world’s richest person of African descent Mr. Mohammed Al Amoudi has also brought the world Noah Samara.

Mr. Samara is indeed the founder and CEO of WorldSpace, which pioneered the satellite radio technology, thereby being the first to introduce the technology to the market.

Noah Samara was born in Ethiopia and comes from a very diverse background. He was born to an Ethiopian mother and a Sudanese father. At the age of 17, Noah left Ethiopia and the familiar East African coast for America, in search of a better education. He found the education that he was looking for, while in America and his educational sojourn ended with him receiving his law degree from Georgetown University.

The area that he chose to specialise in was satellite communications law. Prior to the launch of World Space, Noah embarked on career that was heavily weighted towards satellite technology. In 1990 he resigned from his job and began working towards the launch of WorldSpace. And $USD 2.5B later World Space was up and running with it’s first satellite-AfriStar. The company has been lauded for it’s ability to reach remote area’s of the world with vital information, via satellite transmission.

Major partners of World Space are NPR Radio, BBC, CNN, and Bloomberg. In addition to starting WorldSpace, Mr. Samara also did other things with his his experience in the satellite industry-one of which was to help bring XM Satellite radio to fruition.

One of the most interesting thing facts about Mr. Samara’s launching of World Space, were the altruistic motives that inspired him to start the company. He cites the need to provide adequate access to radio for populations in rural Asia and Africa that were unable to receive radio signals prior to the arrival of WorldSpace.

In closing, I would like to say that I think Noah represents a very interesting aspect of Ethiopia. That Ethiopia has reached a tipping point (when it comes to business) and that with the right ingredients the future may hold even greater business success in store for this very mature nation. (http://www.beninmwangi.com/2007/05/22/true-or-false-ethiopian-born-noah-samara-invented-satellite-radio/)

People changing the world...

Howden Matt Howden

"I may not know you personally, but this I know about you without question - there is a hero within you waiting to be awakened."

The alarm sounds. Your feet hit the floor and carry you into another day. But what does that day hold for you? Will you be punching your card at work, catching up on TV at home, and crashing into bed before you rinse and repeat the next day? Or will you dare to dig deep and discover the incredible potential lying dormant within you?
In Wide Awake, Erwin Raphael McManus challenges us to put an end to all the sleepwalking and settling, for each of us was created by God for a reason. He has called you to live as Jesus did - a heroic life, void of monotony, teeming with danger, adventure, and the unknown. Living wide awake is about realizing that the world desperately needs you to live up to your greatness.
There is a future that needs to be created, and it is waiting for us all to wake up and get out of bed. The alarm has sounded, and it is time to shake off the slumber.

It's time to live, to create, to imagine, to dream... Wide Awake.

This is from the back of a book I am starting to read by Erwin McManus.

More posts will be coming from it I am sure of that.

Howden Matt Howden

Church Gives Fresh Meaning to 'Offering' Plate

Most churches have church members put offerings into the collection plate - but one church has decided to do it backwards, CNN reports. Pastor Toby Slough at Cross Timbers Community Church in Texas told his congregation to take what they needed from the plate earlier this year, hoping to ease financial stress. When the church collected the plates again though, they found that the church had had its highest offering ever. Since that Sunday, Slough and his church have given away a half-million dollars to members, non-members, missions and local groups. "In these economic times, we can't be so into church business that we forget what our business is, and that is to help people," Slough told CNN television affiliate KDAF in Dallas-Forth Worth, Texas.

What I learned today

I thought today I would check out some podcast I download the other day.
I downloaded a few from Youth Specialties. Here is a clip from one of them.




Any thing to add?

Howden Matt Howden

"life"

A few Thursdays ago I came across this tv show on the Global web site. It is called Life.
"Life centers around Detective Charlie Crews, who at the start of the first season (set in 2007) is released from Pelican Bay State Prison after serving twelve years of a life sentence. In 1995 he was wrongfully convicted of the triple murder of his business partner and the partner's family. Thanks to the efforts of his lawyer Constance Griffiths, DNA evidence exonerates him of the murders. Having lost his job, his wife, his friends, nearly all contact with the outside world and even his grip on reality for a time while in jail, he emerges enlightened by the philosophy of Zen, a fixation with fresh fruit and an obsession with solving the murder that nearly cost him his life and exposing the conspiracy that framed him for it. After successfully suing the city of Los Angeles and the LAPD, he is reinstated to the police department and receives an undisclosed but substantial monetary settlement. (Several hints throughout the series indicate that the amount was 50 million dollars)" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_(TV_series)#Plot_synopsis)

The idea behind this show really is he got life in prison and now he is getting life back. The whole Zen part of the show is something different. Because of Zen things have no meaning to him i.e. cars they are just an object to him. Everything is connected to something. I have enjoyed checking this show out.

Howden Matt Howden

What I learned in reading today...

I am reading a commentary on the book of Proverbs (I know what you are thinking why? I am going to let you think of the answer).

The writer is writing about love for neighbor (perfect for the month of February). Here are the words he penned "For Americans this means taking seriously the claim that we have the means but lack the political will to virtually bring an end to world hunger. A number of presidential studies in the 1970s concluded with Jimmy Carter's commission on hunger that "if decisions and actions well within the capability of nations and people working together were implemented, it would be possible to eliminate the worst aspects of hunger and malnutrition by the year 2000." (Cited in D. Beckmann and A. Simon, Grace at the table: ending hunger in God's world 1999) Sadly, we know that the challenge was not heeded and that the numbers of the hungry in the United States and around the world has increased disproportionately with the growth of world population. Christians who choose the neighbor love of Proverbs will both give and seek to bring an end to unjust economic practices on a local and national level."

What do you think?













Howden Matt Howden

Super Bowl ads

This past weekend there was an event that went on. With an average U.S. audience of 98.7million viewers, this was the most-watched Super Bowl in history.

There are some people that only watch the Super Bowl to see the commercials. (Thinking Critically (and Christianly) about Super Bowl Commercials)

The cost of a 30-second spot for Super Bowl I in 1967 was $42,500 on CBS and $37,500 on NBC. (That’s right; it was the only time the game was broadcast on two networks). In 1987, the cost
Last year’s game, CBS asked $2.6 million. had gone up to $600,000.

This year NBC asked for 3 million for the air time alone, the company still has to pay for the production and actors. All advertising slots were sold out one day before the game, resulting in sales of $206 million.

Some companies had more than one slot. Pepsi, Budweiser and some companies had none and some of those
companies were the 3 big US automakers (GM, Ford and Chrysler).

Some companies offered things with their ads check this out

Only time will tell whether commercials -- such as Denny's well-received promise to serve up free Grand Slam breakfasts -- spur consumers to spend during what's shaping up to be a rough recession. (Denny's said it spent about $5 million on Super Bowl advertising and the cost of free breakfasts 12 million.)

Some restaurant’s even had to give rain checks out.

Car companies even promised something check this out

So with the way credit rating is going in North America you could get a car and if you lose your income you can return the car and that will not affect your credit rating. The first time I saw back in January I was like really .

Some companies did not want to pay the 3 million for 30 seconds so they did this

There are 3 ads you should check out and ask your self a few questions.

The Simple Seven

What product is this ad selling?

What, besides the product, does this ad sell? (ideas, lifestyle, worldview, behaviors, etc.)

What’s the bait, hook, and promise?

Complete this sentence: “This ad tells me, use __________ (the name of the product) and __________ (the result the ad promises).

Does the ad tell the truth? What? How?

Does the ad tell a lie(s)? What? How?

How does this ad and its messages agree or disagree with God’s truth and what does that mean for me? (www.cpyu.org)

In closing I just have a few verses I would like to add to get your thinking. As we live in this culture sometimes we can see these ads and they have not influence over us.

But I have a question where is God in the everyday life?

Do we remove the God part of life when we choose what movies, t.v. shows we watch?

When we choose how we talk about people?

Romans 12 “Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” (MSG)

God wants us to think about the culture around us.

Are you thinking about what you are watching saying?

And where is God in all that?

Proverbs 4:23

Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life. (NLT)

Are you guarding your heart?

We need to be people that guard our hearts. Jesus said “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”

So for the next couple of minutes we are going to think about what you saw, what you heard. And where is God in all that.

May you make chooses in life that shows you are thinking about the culture around us
and may you guard your heart.

Howden Matt Howden