Dark Cages

Acknowledgement of our need of God and reliance upon Him will not always rid us of life's pressures, will not always remove from us the difficult situations, the dark cage within which we sometimes find ourselves trapped. We shall not always escape the pressures of life and the dark situations which they bring. But we can, with God, withstand them and find resources for enduring them even when they, for the time being, do not let up.

If we, who are caged within some darkness and are frantic with fear that our situation is hopeless, would only believe, we would know that our heavenly Father is close by to still our fears and to strengthen us for the ordeal through which we are passing. We would know that He is constantly saying to us: "Don't be afraid; just believe."

But how workable is this formula for confident and victorious living in our daily existence? As we journey along the way of the Cross, we cannot avoid the central fact of faith and trust and its confirmation in Christian experience. The central fact is Christ Jesus our Lord. His event in history showed man his highest possibilities. It pointed us to life's deepest and inexhaustible resources for living through and independent of any set of circumstances. It provided us with a firm basis for the Christian belief that our sufferings, temptations, and perplexities, even the hard and oftentimes sudden demands of life, are fully understood and shared by our Lord Jesus Christ.

Through Christ, we have access to an open door of grace and comfort and victory over life's greatest, sometimes unyielding pressures. Freedom from the dark cage of hard times may not happen as a result of our serious thinking or maneuvering, our hardest effort or our best skill, but the key of divine grace and help remains within our reach. All we need to do is pick it up, unlock the cage door, and walk out in the freedom of God's amazing grace.

Rev. Saundra L. Washington, D.D., is an ordained clergywoman, social worker, and Founder of AMEN Ministries. http://www.clergyservices4u.org. She is also the author of two coffee table books: Room Beneath the Snow: Poems that Preach and Negative Disturbances: Homilies that Teach. Her new book, Out of Deep Waters: My Grief Management Workbook, will be available soon.

high-end home cleaning Arlington Heights ..

In The News:

Revolutionary retinal implant restores central vision in 80% of patients with advanced macular degeneration, offering hope where treatments once only slowed blindness.

Learn how to use passkeys on Windows and Mac computers without cameras or fingerprint readers. Discover secure authentication methods that replace passwords.

Tesla's FSD v14.1.2 update reintroduces Mad Max mode, enabling higher speeds and more frequent lane changes than the standard Hurry profile setting.

A phishing email scam targeting American Express customers shows how cybercriminals use fake urgent messages to steal personal and financial information.

Facebook's new Meta AI feature analyzes your camera roll photos to create polished collages automatically, but requires cloud processing and raises privacy concerns.

A New Jersey teenager filed a major lawsuit against AI/Robotics Venture Strategy 3 Ltd. over ClothOff, an AI tool that created fake nude images from her social media photos.

Microsoft reports Storm-2657 cybercriminals sent phishing emails to 6,000 addresses at 25 universities to steal payroll credentials and redirect funds.

Astronomers have discovered asteroid 2025 SC79, a skyscraper-sized space rock orbiting the sun in just 128 days. the second-fastest known.

The Fox News AI Newsletter delivers the latest developments form the world of artificial intelligence, including the technology's challenges and opportunities.

A cyberattack on SimonMed Imaging exposed personal information of 1.2 million patients, including medical records, financial details and identity papers.

Spotify's managed accounts for kids under 13 now available in at least seven countries, allowing parents to filter and block explicit content and songs.

Friendly text conversations about BBQs and social events can lead to WEEX gold trading scams that target older adults with fake investment opportunities.

California company Skyeports creates self-healing glass spheres from Moon regolith that generate solar power and support plant growth for sustainable lunar living.

Cleafy researchers discover fake VPN streaming app Mobdro Pro that installs Klopatra banking Trojan, giving attackers full control over Android devices.

Police departments across the U.S. and Canada are adopting virtual reality training to better prepare officers for high-pressure, real-world situations.

House Bill 469 would prevent AI systems from owning property, serving as executives, or gaining legal personhood in Ohio under Representative Thaddeus Claggett's proposal.

Public voter records expose retirees' personal details to election scammers who create targeted cons using names, addresses, and voting history data.

Instead of fearing what comes next with artificial intelligence, think outside the box. Here are high-earning AI jobs that don't require a computer science degree.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says polite words like "please" and "thank you" cost millions annually, while direct prompts may improve ChatGPT accuracy by several points.

Chattee Chat and GiMe Chat exposed intimate conversations and photos, revealing users spent up to $18,000 on AI companions before the breach.

New Instagram parental controls allow families to manage teen screen time and content limits through the Family Center with stricter safety settings.

Third-party security breach at Discord exposes sensitive user information including government IDs, highlighting cybersecurity risks from external service providers.

Survey of 1,000 students shows teens using AI for personal relationships while two-thirds of parents remain unaware of their children's AI usage.

Cybersecurity experts warn about a ShadowLeak vulnerability that weaponized ChatGPT's Deep Research agent to steal personal data from Gmail accounts through hidden commands.

Tesla's Full Self-Driving system faces federal investigation following 58 reports of crashes, with six vehicles running red lights before colliding with other cars.

Dark Cages

Spirituality