Here I Am Send Me

God seems to be speaking a lot to me these days through songs. Makes sense. Heaven is filled with all kinds of music. Today's shout out goes to Delirious for their song "Here I Am Send Me." The words to this song speak of Isaiah, Eziekel, and Paul and oftentimes we think these were exceptional men, out of our league, when in fact they were ordinary men like us, touched by God to believe for the impossible and allow God to accomplish it through them. God is looking for availability. He'll take care of the impossible. Here I Am Send Me. Is that your heart's cry? Ingest and savor these lyrics:

Here I Am Send Me:
Show me a vision like Isaiah saw,
Where the angel touched his lips and he sinned no more.
Let me hear your voice saying “Who shall I send?”
I’ll say send me Lord, I’ll follow you to the end.

Show me a vision like Eziekel saw,
An army of light from a valley of bones.
Breathe life into these lungs of mine,
So I can scream and shout of your love divine.

Search light, burns bright, floods my eyes,
Invade me, serenade me, I’m giving back my life.

Here I am send me, Here I am send me,
There’s nothing in my hands,
But here I am send me.

I’m in Jacobs dream seeing heavens gate,
Let me climb all night on my ladder of faith.
Wrestle with the angel till my body is weak,
Dislocate my bones for it’s you that I seek.

Show me the light Paul apostle saw,
When he fell to the dust and he could see no more,
Open my eyes, open my eyes,
Open my eyes, open my eyes.

I’m frightened what you’ll find,
When you open up my heart, I’m walking in the light,
Cos it’s light that changes the atmosphere,
So touch these lips that criticize,
And put a song in my mouth that opens our eyes.

Today's prayer: "There's nothing in my hands Oh Lord, but here I am send me."

Scientists find way to strengthen memories during sleep

If only we could make more constructive use of all the time that we spend asleep. People have tried playing various tapes to themselves while they're dozing, from foreign vocab lists to stop-smoking mantras, but they're all the wrong side of useless. What we do know for sure is that sleep is important for memory consolidation, if only we could tap into this somehow. Now, finally, John Rudoy and colleagues have provided some elusive evidence for how learning during sleep can be enhanced.

Twelve participants looked on as fifty objects appeared one at a time in various locations on a computer screen. Importantly, as each object appeared it was accompanied by a characteristic noise - for example a cat appeared with a meow and a kettle with a whistle. Several rounds of learning took place until the participants had estimated the approximate location of each object at least once. A final pre-nap test was then performed so that the researchers knew how well participants knew each object location before they went to sleep.

That the participants had nodded off was confirmed with brain wave recordings via scalp electrodes. But here's the clever bit. As the participants dozed off into non-REM slow-wave sleep, the researchers played the sounds associated with 25 of the objects. The objects that were cued in this way were carefully chosen such that pre-nap memory performance had been equal for cued and un-cued objects.

The participants woke up after about an hour and the exciting finding is that although their overall memory accuracy was lower compared with before the nap, their performance for the objects cued whilst they slept was superior to un-cued objects, even though pre-nap performance for the two object groups had been equal.

The researchers also looked back at the brain wave signals recorded during sleep, comparing the brain's response to sounds associated with objects that were better remembered on waking relative to objects for which memory had deteriorated. They found the brain had responded more to sounds belonging to better remembered objects. "We propose that sound cues presented during sleep prompted preferential processing of corresponding object-location associations," the researchers said.

For sceptics who think the results may have nothing to do with sleep, the researchers repeated the noise cueing exercise with twelve participants who remained awake. In their case, sounds presented after learning made no difference to subsequent memory performance.
_________________________________

Rudoy, J., Voss, J., Westerberg, C., & Paller, K. (2009). Strengthening Individual Memories by Reactivating Them During Sleep. Science, 326 (5956), 1079-1079 DOI: 10.1126/science.1179013

One hour forward

Landed in Barcelona

Warmer than London. But still cold.

Tired.

Jetlag.

London GMT
Spain GMT +1
Malaysia GMT +8

Well, one less hour to deal with.

First Firkin Friday; Upcoming Holiday Beer Geek Show & Tell

2 Turtle Doves, our winter seasonal, has been conditioning in a firkin with vanilla beans and for your enjoyment (and mine!), we’ll be serving it this Friday.  I’m thinking the vanilla will be a beautiful addition to the chocolate, nutty flavors that already exist in this beer.  Come down Friday and try for yourself!

On Sunday, we’ll continue to make Hottenroth Mimosas for anyone interested in trying them.  We’ll also continue serving Melange #3 until it’s gone. 

We’re planning lots of fun and festive events this month in honor of the holidays so keep your eyes open for these emails as we’ll be announcing them soon.  I do want to give everyone a head’s up that we’ll be holding a Holiday Beer Geek Show & Tell next weekend (Saturday 12/12) so you can start thinking about what you’ve got!  This will be a holiday themed BGST so bring your favorite winter/holiday beers to share if you’ve got them. 

Bottles of White Oak are still available, as well as new winter themed gift baskets (with 2 Turtle Doves as the seasonal).  We are also still selling Reserve Society memberships, however we are getting low on them so if they’re on your Holiday Wish List don’t wait too long!

We’ll be releasing a few new beers this month so be on the lookout for details on those as well.  We look forward to seeing you this weekend! 

Cheers,

Stef & the other folks at The Bruery

First Firkin Friday; Upcoming Holiday Beer Geek Show & Tell

2 Turtle Doves, our winter seasonal, has been conditioning in a firkin with vanilla beans and for your enjoyment (and mine!), we’ll be serving it this Friday.  I’m thinking the vanilla will be a beautiful addition to the chocolate, nutty flavors that already exist in this beer.  Come down Friday and try for yourself!

On Sunday, we’ll continue to make Hottenroth Mimosas for anyone interested in trying them.  We’ll also continue serving Melange #3 until it’s gone. 

We’re planning lots of fun and festive events this month in honor of the holidays so keep your eyes open for these emails as we’ll be announcing them soon.  I do want to give everyone a head’s up that we’ll be holding a Holiday Beer Geek Show & Tell next weekend (Saturday 12/12) so you can start thinking about what you’ve got!  This will be a holiday themed BGST so bring your favorite winter/holiday beers to share if you’ve got them. 

Bottles of White Oak are still available, as well as new winter themed gift baskets (with 2 Turtle Doves as the seasonal).  We are also still selling Reserve Society memberships, however we are getting low on them so if they’re on your Holiday Wish List don’t wait too long!

We’ll be releasing a few new beers this month so be on the lookout for details on those as well.  We look forward to seeing you this weekend! 

Cheers,

Stef & the other folks at The Bruery

Going Through The Motions

Sometimes it feels as if I'm just going through the motions -- how about you? I woke this morning to Matthew West's song, "The Motions" and the lyrics struck a chord somewhere deep inside my soul. I don't want to just go through the motions. I need the consuming passion of Jesus inside of me. And more than that, I want to live on purpose, not defined by routine or ritual. I made this song my morning devotion. I stepped aside from my somewhat normal routine; in fact, I didn't even open my Bible today. Sometimes God speaks loudest through another person, a song, a chance encounter, His creation, circumstances, a dream..... I think it's okay to change things up a bit once in awhile. And before you stone me, I don't recommend skipping your Bible reading, but just for this morning it was what I needed. "I don't want to spend my whole life asking what if I had given everything? Instead of going through the motions."

Matthew West, "The Motions"

This might hurt
It’s not safe
But I know that I’ve gotta make a change
I don’t care
If I break
At least I’ll be feeling something
‘Cause just ok
Is not enough
Help me fight through the nothingness of life

I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything?
Instead of going through the motions

No regrets
Not this time
I’m gonna let my heart defeat my mind
Let Your love
Make me whole
I think I’m finally feeling something

Take me all the way
Take me all the way
Take me all the way

Today's prayer: "God, I don't want a life of ritual without meaning. I need a life of passion for you. I want to find out what might happen if I throw caution to the wind and embrace this destiny in you. Consume me with that passion."

Wedding, Bridal Shower, Baby Shower & Corporate Events Favours

Finest Expressions offers exquisitely hand-crafted and custom designed wedding favours to make your special day perfect.

We carry everything from traditional truffle boxes to

unique mini chocolate bouquets

Wrapped up! Package:
Too busy to assemble the favours yourself? Finest Expressions offers complete packaging & wrapping service for your wedding favours.

Favour box plus personalized tags start as low as $.99!


Don't find what you are looking for? Don't worry, give us a budget & we will custom design a gift just for you.