Tag: Concern

OMG-She’s Alive!

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© jb katke

Her lights flashed to get our attention.

Dave: “Alexa, do you have a notification?”

Alexa: “One new notification from Alexa News from Fox News. ___________. Do you want to hear more?”

Dave: “No.”

Me: “I wonder why she does that? She says it is from both Alexa News and Fox News too.”

Alexa: “I’m sorry, I don’t have an answer to that.”

Yikes—she heard me and responded!

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, has been a regular topic in the news of late. It started out as convenience, but has quickly become a concern.

We have been using it—perhaps without realizing it. Have you texted someone recently and found the word you were starting to write pop up? That is AI. Or maybe while scrolling through the internet gathering info on a potential purchase—suddenly all these ads come at you without your prompting? AI is at work. I heard of a couple talking face to face, in front of their phones apparently, and ads starting streaming in to relate to their conversation.

Can it go too far? Technology knows so much these days that it can be frightening.

This has been a talking point in the writers meetings I have attended. It seems there are websites available that will help an author produce an online book using their own voice.

As tempting as that may sound, I suspect there may be drawbacks.

TV commercials speak of multiple mortgages being made on your home without your knowledge. Snail mail enters your mailbox of a security breach at your bank. While it may or may not be AI, it definitely is technology. It is only a matter of time and your voice may be ‘kidnaped’ and used against you in some way.

Yes, in my world, that is going too far—and we all should proceed with caution.

But consider this:

There is one who does more that hear what we say—he reads hearts. He knows our thoughts and desires. Not Santa Claus, but Jesus. The Good Book documents such happenings in Mark 2:6-8 and Luke 9:46, to name a couple instances.

Words should be used wisely—and beware of what enters our heart. He knows. Jesus understands what we want—and like a good father provides for our needs. There is a difference, and can explain why some of our desires go unfulfilled. It takes faith and trust to comprehend what the fifties television show indicates, Father Knows Best.

https://blogreedsy.com/guide/audiobooks/ai-narration

 

Pictures Change-Revisited

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sub zero temperatures

A meme was forming in my mind. It went something like this:

You’ll like living in Kansas they said. The winters are mild there. People, the wind chill may drop to -30 tonight!

All I had to do is remember how to meme on Facebook.

Arctic temperatures hit us with I can’t even think of anything that hard. Our furnace has been running 24/7 for nearly ten days. We are warm when others are not. We get it, and understand this deep freeze is impacting too many in the nation.

A friend living in Texas posted a humorous message that her state was closed. Southern states aren’t equipped for this kind of snow and cold. Life comes to a standstill.

In the course of the year some have lost jobs, most schools have been closed, COVID-19 has taken too many lives. Death, it seems is lurking behind every corner. Now this.

Our personal crisis involved the compressor to the refrigerator dying. The thought of losing food was a place I didn’t want to go.

Suddenly, I was grateful for this frigid weather.

Our frozen food was boxed up and set outside. Refrigerated food was delegated to the garage. The years we went camping came to mind, it was inconvenient but doable.

The reason I tell you this stems from concern.

Situations happen beyond our control are made bearable if one has a friendship with Jesus and his heavenly father. That is the take away message in many of my blogs

How you might receive that message is added concern for me. I dread to think you may be thinking, ‘I’m so happy things worked out…for you.’ However, your response is out of my control.

Where you are at today may be radically different than where I am. I have seen the news on TV. Wind turbines have frozen up, making power outages abound. No heat and yes, food loss. Accidents on the road, some causing death.

Life seems to continually get harder.

The clincher for me is where these events are happening, Christians are there. They too, are suffering, and they have that friendship with Jesus! What about them?

My only response is Jesus is there with them. Somehow, some way, he is making the circumstances doable for them to get through. Because the Good Book says so, I can relay that message to those who may not have read it.

This usually impacts me with the “Why them and not me?” question.

The best I can figure is it’s my call to pray for them, and give thanks for what is going to be done to help when I’m so far from the situation. Jesus is right there, on the spot, in the moment. You can’t get a more personal, present help than that.