After some strange turbulent weather, it has made me reflect on life’s unexpected and strange moments. Sometimes, if you know you are going into a challenging season, you can get prepared for it. You can make sure you are mentally ready. But what about the strange and the difficult situations that we don’t see coming? The unexpected crisis that catches you off-guard? Sometimes, it can seem so overwhelming.
In Scripture we are told not to be surprised by fiery trials. That’s because the forces of darkness would not be fighting against you if they didn’t know that God has something amazing in your future! Sometimes, those unexpected difficulties are just a sign that you’re on the right track. The enemy always fights the hardest when you are closest to your breakthrough. Stay on course, keep the faith and leave the fighting to God.
Today, if you’re in the difficult times, keep your joy and declare God’s Word over your trial. God has promised that you will overcome every obstacle. You will defeat every enemy, and you will embrace the blessings and victories God has in store for you!
“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.” (1 Peter 4:12–13, NIV)
Let’s Pray
Yahweh, thank You for walking with me in my strange and difficult trials. Father, I cast all of my cares on You. God, I give You all of my difficulties, all of my questions, and all of my concerns. Thank You for working all things out for my good, in Christ’s Name! Amen.
When you start serving God with your whole heart, don’t be surprised when you find yourself a target for the enemy. If you know you are going into a challenging season, you can get prepared for it. You can make sure you are mentally ready. But what about the difficulties that we don’t see coming? The unexpected crisis that catches you off-guard? Sometimes, it can seem so overwhelming that it almost knocks the wind right out of you, and leaves you at times questioning God.
According to God’s Word we shouldn’t be surprised by those unexpected fiery trials. That’s because the forces of darkness would not be fighting against you if they didn’t know that God has something amazing in store for your life! Sometimes, those unexpected difficulties are just a sign that you’re on the right track. It’s always darkest just before the dawn. The enemy always fights the hardest when you are closest to your breakthrough. The key is to stay the course and keep fighting the good fight of faith.
Today, in these difficult times, keep your joy and keep declaring God’s Word over your future. God has promised that you will overcome every obstacle – even the unexpected ones. You will defeat every enemy, and you will embrace the blessing and victory He has in for you! Hallelujah!
“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed.” (1 Peter 4:12–13, NIV)
Let’s Pray
Yahweh, thank You for walking with me in every season of my life. Father, today I cast all of my cares on You. I cast all of my difficulties, all of my questions, and all of my concerns on You. God, teach me how to handle the unexpected fiery trials. Thank You for working all things out for my good, in Christ’s Name! Amen.
It’s been said, “tornados and hurricanes get more news coverage; but in reality, termites do more damage.” Most often, it’s not the big things that happen in life that keep us from being happy; it’s the small things. Most of the time, we’re not dealing with some major crisis like losing a job, a life-threatening illness, or a relationship breaking up. The big things are rare.
That’s what today’s scripture is saying. It’s the little inconveniences – like not being able to find your car keys, or being in a hurry and getting behind a slow driver. It’s the little interruptions and frustrations that get our emotions worked up and cause us to lose our joy and peace.
Today, take note, it’s the way we handle the little things that will determine what kind of life we live. When we allow negative thoughts of frustration to come in, we are allowing the little foxes to spoil the vines as the scripture says. Make the decision today to “catch” those foxes by choosing to think on the positive things. Let His Word bring light and life to your emotions, so you can move forward in peace and joy each and every day!
“Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines…” (Song of Solomon 2:15, NKJV)
Let’s Pray
Yahweh, today I submit my mind, will and emotions to You. Father, I will focus on Your Word, and not allow the little foxes (the little things) to steal my joy and peace. God, keep me close to You and guide me through life’s frustration, and show me the way I should go, in Christ’s Name! Amen.
We’re living through a time of international crisis. Our systems are falling apart, we’re being separated from friends and loved ones, frightened and unsure as to how life may be about to unfold. “Reality” seems to stagger from one disturbing scenario to another. Information and advice keep changing – nothing holds fast, but the idea that everything is going dreadfully wrong. But if there is a silver lining in this crisis, it could be that the virus is forcing us to use the internet as it was always meant to be used – to connect with one another, share information and come up with collective solutions to vital problems.
Launched in March 2020, Societal’s (https://societal.co/) sole purpose is to connect people and allow people to share their thoughts with a big audience.
Societal website administrator Dean Jones a former Central St Martins College of Art & Design postgraduate said, ‘One of the most disastrous months in the history of global medicine and global economics has ended with country after country retreating into their national silos. They are fighting their own individual battles against coronavirus and in their own way, but we must work together. Like it or not the Coronavirus Crisis is showing us how to live online and hopefully Societal can help people with that.’
The new Social Network follows a UK government announcement that everyone should only go outside for food, health reasons or work (where this absolutely cannot be done from home).
Jones hopes his digital platform will help create connections, not conflict in this time of uncertainty.
Jones said further ‘As we isolate ourselves at home to protect our health and our neighbours, we still need each other. Societal means that even in this time when we are physically apart, we can still connect with our friends.”
The Core Principles of Societal are-
Respect.
Justice/Fairness.
Honesty.
Service/Giving Back/Contribution.
Responsibility.
Family.
Community.
Societal is trying to shift the paradigm. In a web full of pseudo thought-leaders, Societal promises to be place that people from all walks of life can rely on and cater to those looking for fresh, new, authentic voices and believe wholeheartedly in community. Societal offers free accounts and doesn’t serve ads.
Abandoned projects including building, engineering and infrastructure development projects litter the whole of the world.
Most of them were started to symbolise a country’s prosperity and vision but after years of abandonment, stalled development and economic crisis, some of the world’s most amazing projects have been abandoned and now have come to epitomise national struggle.
From Bangkok’s ‘Ghost Tower’ which was abandoned after the 1997 financial crisis to the Tower of David, here is a selection of some of the world’s most famous abandoned and incomplete projects in no particular order.
1. Bangkok’s ‘Ghost Tower’
On stormy days debris from this unfinished and abandoned skyscraper rains down on the streets of Bangkok
A towering waste. It’s called Bangkok’s ‘ghost tower’. This 49-storey prominent unfinished skyscraper in the Thai capital city of Bangkok was destined to be a state-of-the-art office and residential complex, but has instead become a destination for urban explorers. Planned as a high-rise condominium complex, construction of the building was halted during the 1997 Asian financial crisis when it was 80% complete.
Now the 174-meter graffiti-covered building mainly houses squatters.
The “Tower of David” can be seen from practically anywhere in Caracas. The tower has 46 floors
Torre de David (The Tower of David) named after David Brillembourg, the tower’s main investor who died in 1993 has been depicted as a haven for drug lords and assassins in the TV series Homeland, lauded as an experiment in social empowerment at the Venice Architecture Biennale and featured in countless articles and documentaries around the world. In May 2014, the tower was also featured in the BBC World News documentary, Our World.
For eight years, the Tower of David a half-built skyscraper in downtown Caracas the capital of Venezuela. was home to thousands of squatters who transformed the abandoned block into a ghetto complete with grocery shops, tattoo parlours, internet cafes and a hair salon.
Construction of the tower began in 1990 but was halted in 1994 due to the Venezuelan banking crisis. As of 2016, the building remains incomplete.
This vertical ghetto can be seen from almost every corner of this densely populated capital.
In 2014 Ernesto Villegas, the minister for the revolutionary transformation of greater Caracas, said all the tower’s residents would be relocated to “dignified homes”. “This is not an eviction, but rather a relocation,” he told reporters. Villegas said several children had fallen to their deaths from the tower, which in some places is lacking walls or windows.
The newspaper Tal Cual reported that Chinese banks were interested in buying the tower and renovating it for its original use.
3. Mothballed Oil Rig
Oil rigs definitely fall into the mega category when it comes to size.You might think of them more as structures than machines. The rig above is a accomodation platform rather than an oil drilling rig, re-built in Belfast in the late 1990s. Mothballed as opposed to completely abandoned, the rig stands alongside the derelict area of the old Harland and Wolff shipyard.
This Patch of Wasteground Is Probably One of the Most Famous in Maritime History, Being the Construction Site of the Rms Olympic and Her Sister Ship Titanic.
Today modern redevelopment is breathing new life.
4. The Maunsell Forts of the Thames Estuary
Abandoned Maunsell Sea Forts
Abandoned Maunsell Sea Forts
Abandoned Maunsell Sea Forts
Abandoned Maunsell Sea Forts
Abandoned Maunsell Sea Forts
Abandoned Maunsell Sea Forts
“Surreal Riveted Sea Forts Once Protected the Kent Shores from German Attack”
Rising from the water like rusty invaders out of H.G. Wells, the Maunsell Army Forts in the Thames Estuary built by the British Royal Navy are decaying reminders of the darkest days of World War II. These sea forts still stand today and are abandoned in the North Sea not far from the coast of eastern England. Standing as monuments for maritime explorers, the forts are now in varying states of decay, but are a historical portrayal of how the country protected itself against air raids. Attempting to enter them is probably ill-advised, if not illegal.
5. Project Babylon
A section of the Iraqi supergun from Imperial War Museum Duxford
Project Babylon: The Story of Saddam’s Supergun
Project Babylon was a project with unknown objectives commissioned by the then Iraqi president Saddam Hussein to build a series of “superguns”. The Iraqi government engaged world-renowned artillery expert Gerald V. Bul whose lifetime obsession was a the construction of a “Supergun,”. The design was based on research from the 1960s Project HARP,
In early April 1990, United Kingdom customs officers confiscated several pieces of the second Big Babylon barrel, which were supposedly disguised as “petrochemical pressure vessels”. Components, such as slide bearings for Big Babylon, were seized at their manufacturers’ sites in Spain and Switzerland. After the Gulf War in 1991, Iraq confirmed the existence of Project Babylon, and permitted U.N. inspectors to destroy the hardware. A section seized by UK customs officers is on display at The Royal Artillery Museum, Woolwich, London.
6. Sagrada FamÃlia
The BasÃlica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada FamÃlia is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, designed by Spanish architect Antoni Gaudà (1852–1926). Although incomplete, the church is a World Heritage Site and has been visited by the Pope. Inspired by GaudÃ’s vision, and funded almost exclusively by the millions of tourists who flock to it every year, today, the Sagrada FamÃlia is more than halfway done, with a estimated completion date of 2026. The lead architect is confident that it will be finished “ within the next century.
7. Westminster Cathedral
It’s one of the most famous and beautiful churches in the world and is by all accounts an architectural masterpiece, however, it’s never actually been completed. Westminster Cathedral must also be one of the busiest churches in the United Kingdom.
How Lovely Is Your Dwelling Place, Lord God of Hosts…” Psalm 83
Work is still ongoing, supposedly. Work began in 1895, but apparently it’s been too expensive to finish decorating the mother church of literally all of England and Wales. However, the unfinished internal brickwork is amazing.
Transport for London
Westminster Cathedral
Westminster Cathedral is the architectural master-work of John Francis Bentley (1839-1902). Bentley was a Victorian church architect of great accomplishments. It was to buildings such as Hagia Sophia, San Vitale in Ravenna and St Mark’s, Venice, that Bentley turned to for inspiration to prepare himself mentally and spiritually for the work of designing the Cathedral in 1894.
The whole building, in the neo-Byzantine style, covers an floor area of about 5,017 square metres (54,000 sq ft); the dominating factor of the scheme, apart from the campanile, being a spacious and uninterrupted nave, 18 metres (59 ft), covered with domical vaulting.
Long Way from Home: The Housing Crisis Lingers On “Distinguished home in need of work” as listed with Vanguard Properties “Housing Special.” However, is this property a rich man’s dream or worst nightmare?
With rotting wooden shingles, peeling paint and boarded-up windows, this 1906 single-story home need’s a lot of work. But the price is what had people talking. The asking price was $350,000, for 2 bedrooms, one bath, and a mere 765 square feet, about the size of a hotel suite.
The Golden Gate City’s out-of-control Housing Market
Located at 16 De Long Street in the more affordable Outer Mission district, the house price reflects the out-of-control real estate market in San Francisco. Since 2012, the city has seen a 103% increase in housing prices. The average apartment in the city rents for $3,500 a month, and the median housing price reached an all-time high of $1.2 million and it’s expected to climb another 5.2% in the year ahead, according to Zillow. Manhattan rents in August, by comparison, topped $3,460, according to StreetEasy, a New York real-estate research firm that’s part of the Zillow Group Z, -2.95% .
The San Francisco Real-estate Market Is Probably the Hottest Market in the U.S Right Now
Not surprisingly, given the state of the actual building, the home’s value isn’t in the structure but in the land that it sits on.
Thinking of Moving to San Francisco to Make It Big in the Tech Industry
With the influx of tech workers driving up the housing market, along with a strain on the supply of houses to meet demand, it is understandable to brokers in San Francisco why prices seem so unrealistic.
$1.2 Million Is What It Costs to Buy a Shack in San Francisco, Literally
The home is an earthquake shack. These tiny homes were built after the 1906 earthquake to house people who lost their residences. Many still remain around the city and have been restored, updated and refurbished.
According to a report from Curbed San Francisco, the house had rats, black widows, mold, and hundreds of bottles of urine inside it when it went up for sale and was subsequently sold for $1.52 million.
The tiny home backs on to the eight-lane 280 freeway and a Bay Area Rapid Transit, or rail line that begins running at 5 a.m. and doesn’t stop until nearly 2.a.m.
On the flip side biking it to the local station only takes eight minutes and getting on to the freeway isn’t difficult either, if you want to get out of town or into the city by car. Three golf clubs are also nearby. And, for those late-night snacks, a convenience store stands just a few steps away at the corner of De Long and San Jose Avenue.
So maybe it wasn’t such a bad deal, after all? or is it a sign of how crazy the San Francisco real estate market has become?
Michael Lewis, writing for The New Republic, describes the negative effect of wealth on the moral behavior of wealthy people. He cites studies in which wealthy people, again and again, demonstrate a sense of entitlement and disregard for justice.
“As the recession lifted, poor and middle class Americans dug deeper into their wallets to give to charity, even though they were earning less. At the same time, according to a newChronicle analysis of tax data, wealthy Americans earned more, but the portion of the income they gave to charity declined.”
So rich people, statistically speaking, demonstrate disregard for their fellow citizens and the laws of the land. None of this should come as a surprise for Christians. Jesus warned of the dangers of wealth (Matthew 13:22) and of course Paul warns in 1Timothy, “the love of money is the root of all evil.” And yet solving the problem of extreme wealth in America is not so easy as spouting Bible verses. And for wealthy Christians, the solution to the problems of extreme wealth comes from entrusting that wealth to the Lord to the benefit of all.
Prefab housing suffers from bad stigma due to the fact that some people saw the prefabs as ugly and characterless, and were afraid they would become slums – hardly the promised housing fit for heroes following the second World War. However, building homes from pre-made parts can save time and money. The term prefab or prefabrication often evokes thoughts of poor construction, substandard living conditions and a long-standing “temporary” solution.
Prefab dwellings are making a comeback driven by a lack of affordable housing, a rapidly growing economy and changing demographic trends.
Methods Methods of Construction (Mmc) Offer Significant Potential to Minimise Construction Costs
The term ‘Modern Methods of Construction‘ refers to a collection of relatively new building construction techniques that aim to offer more advantages over traditional construction methods. Off-site construction (OSC) is a modern method of construction, based on off-site manufacturing of building elements.
With exponentially lower construction costs, quicker construction, reduced labor costs and having the ability to achieve zero defects, MMC is gaining a lot of attention as the potential answer to the UK’s housing crisis.
In a valiant attempt to strip away prefabricated housings’ bad rep are MMC with contemporary sleek designs, and constructed to withstand the test of time. MMC housing has the capability to deliver both quality and quantity housing to the tune of ‘ £50,000 per unit.
MMC units hold the promise of being extremely energy efficient and environmentally sustainable. Many versions of MMC take into account how to utilise natural resources and reduce each unit’s carbon footprint. In addition, MMC also addresses environmental concerns by creating much less waste than a standard brick-and-mortar project. While it is plausible that a traditional build could hire a waste removal company who would have the ability to recycle up to 90 percent of the construction waste; with MMC projects, this will automatically happen.
M-house (pronounced “mouse”)
There have already been a number of successful examples of MMC housing constructed in various parts of the United Kingdom. The M-house (pronounced “mouse”) is designed and constructed to last an upwards of 100 years. While Architect Alford Hall have created quality MMC apartment buildings proudly showcasing a patio and private entrance for each flat.
Architect Alford Hall
Compass House by AHMM
While many of the MMC homes are still in their early years the upkeep and maintenance will be reduced by 50% since the OSC process lowers the risk of non-conformities.
MMC homes are being fabricated and designed to accommodate many different lifestyles, such as, two-story homes, tall six-story apartment buildings, single-family homes and log cabins are all available options for families looking at MMC.
While there is a plethora of design options available all MMC OSC projects have a common theme. The internal workings of the homes are fabricated off-site, while only the “outer skin” comes to fruition on-site. To even further streamline the process, it has been suggested that having a “catalog of pre-selected materials increases supplier relationships and makes the design process more streamlined.”
With the small sample available with progressive MMC systems, it is currently reasonable to conclude that using modern methods of construction to build homes can cost more than traditional home building procedures; due to the need for specialised MMC design consultants. However, outside of costs, MMC remains a faster home building method than traditional brick and block house building and is slowly becoming a relevant front-runner to answer the UK’s housing shortage.
