·    Begin each year with a month of preparation, reacquainting church members with the Bible's overall plan for growing believers to fullness in Christ.

·    Focus on one Work of Mercy each month.

·    Use each of the seven Works of Piety as a lens to explore each Work of Mercy. We start each month searching the Scripture to determine how Christ performs this Work of Mercy on us. We progress through learning how the church has understood this Work of Mercy across the ages. Then we work through prayer, worship, and self-denial related to the Work of Mercy before ending the month serving and giving to others.

I first heard about Dropbox at the beginning of this year. Now, it seems that I see it everywhere. Partners all over the world are using Dropbox to collaborate and share files. The question that I've asked about it is "how are those files protected?" The answer is always "the files are encrypted."

Seems that "encrypted" may not quite be the security that we think we have on Dropbox. A recent lawsuit charges that Dropbox's claims of encryption are not quite what they are made out to be. Dropbox had to acknowledge that their encryption keys are available to Dropbox employees. That means Dropbox has the ability to open and read your "encrypted" Dropbox files and they also can turn those files over in an unencrypted format to a government agent (not just the US government, but any government that Dropbox wants to give them to) or any person that files the right lawsuit paperwork to make discovery demands on Dropbox for your files.

To be clear, Dropbox files are encrypted in Dropbox, but the keys are available to Dropbox to open those files for any reason Dropbox chooses to open them or provide those files to someone else.

So if we like the convenience of Dropbox, is there a solution to improve the security? Yes, but of course, it makes things less convenient. It is possible to create encrypted files through TrueCrypt for which you hold the encryption key (directions to this can be found at this link).

Or, you can make sure not to put anything that is too sensitive in Dropbox, but remember, if something sounds too good to be true, like great security with no inconvenience, then it probably is.

PS: For those that use the Dropbox mobile app on your iPhone or Android, be aware that Dropbox does not encrypt all of the traffic between a mobile device and the Dropbox servers. Some data may be sent unencrypted. Yikes!

Pray that God will solve the problem of food insufficiency so that North Korean students can concentrate on their study.

Seeing teenagers who just come out of North Korea, I keep thinking how food, clothes, and housing matter to education. Most teenagers who escaped, quit school and reached out to China to find food. So, their education level is less than what we would expect. One boy did not learn addition and multiplication until he was 12, and he can't even read Korean. I remember a boy who cried, "I'd desperately like to learn. Would you please teach me?" Now, let's pray that they will know that only God will solve their food, clothes, and housing problems. Let's also pray that teachers can teach students and students can learn without worrying about their food. Above all, let's pray that they will eat not only food but also God's food, the Bible.

This prayer request is from Day 5 (on Education) of our 30 Day NK Prayer Guide, written with the NK church. To purchase a copy, email super-intern Brett.

The map above was created by WikiTravel.org user, Cacahuate, and is available here.  Click on map to view in higher resolution.