Christ is Everything

One of my devotions from earlier this week. I liked it so much I wanted to post it.

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." --Philippians 1:21

'For me, to live is Christ.' Those words don't work any other way. Try it: a) For me, to live is money...to die is to leave it all behind. b) For me, to live is fame...to die is to be quickly forgotten. c) For me, to live is power and influence...to die is to be replaced by others. d) For me, to live is possessions...to die is to depart empty-handed. Somehow the words fall flat, don't they?
When money's your obsession you can never get enough, and you live in constant fear of losing it. When fame's your goal you become competitive and manipulative lest others upstage you. That makes you insecure. When power and influence drive you, you become self-serving and strong-willed. That makes you arrogant. When possessions become your godm you become materialistic. That makes you greedy.
Whether you have or don't have, are known or unknown, live or die; only Christ can satisfy! And death? That only sweetens the pie. J.B. Philips writes, 'Living to me simply means Christ, and if I should die, I merely gain more of Him.'
So what's the bottom line? It's this: the secret of living is the same as the secret of joy; both revolve around Christ. Don't try to pursue happiness, just cultivate a Christ-centred, Christ-controlled life, and you'll have more happiness than you know what to do with!

A Time to Kill

After once spending over 6 hours at Heathrow Airport in London I was quite glad to find this little article entitled "Eight Ways to Kill Time in an Airport" One would think that being in Europe's busiest airport would be far from boring but alas an airport is still an airport!

http://travel.sympatico.msn.ca/robinesrock/articles/airports.htm?&pagenumber=1

Nothing ground-breaking here but still it's good to remember for next time.

1) Talk - Simply turn to the nearest person and ask: “Do you feel like talking to a complete stranger because my eyes are glazing over and I’m starting to lose consciousness from boredom.”

2) Shop - The trick here is to not actually buy anything. Kill time, save money. Wander from shop to shop.

3) Look - People watching is always fun, all it takes is a little imagination. Simply look around, choose a person, and create their personal history.

4) Write - In our digital age we forget the romantic, somewhat exotic thrill of receiving a postcard from foreign (or even domestic) shores. Pick up a postcard and write.

5) Hunt - We spend our hours hunting to kill time. Things to hunt for: free wireless signals, bargains, romantic partners, a free plug to charge your laptop or cell phone (note to airports: install some plugs so we don’t have to unplug the vending machines). Hunt for a stretch of floor to sleep on, a clean toilet, a charity bucket to deposit useless foreign coins, a shop that sells toothpaste since yours was confiscated at security!

6) Read - If you don’t have a good book head over to the bookstore for your own private library. It takes a pretty arrogant airport to demand you buy something first and it's easy to kill an hour or two reading.

7) Eat - According to some traditions each bite of your meal should be chewed a dozen times to truly access all the nutritional value and taste. Stretch that burger and fries and savour every speck of spice.

8) Stretch - There’s more to stretching than just pointing to opposite walls when you get out of bed. Frequent travellers should develop a stretching routine. Find a piece of space and bend your body, twist your spine, crack those knuckles.

Jesus Christ: Action Figure

I have actually seen this with my own eyes at someone's house in Germany. Imagine my surprise when I found out they bought it in Canada while on vacation.

Jesus Action Figure
Everyone has a different take on Jesus. Muslims saw him as a prophet. Buddhists say he was enlightened. Hindus consider him an avatar (the incarnation of a deity in human form), while Christians hail him as the Son of God. But, wherever your theological compass points, you will agree that this is the coolest action figure ever made. Each hard vinyl Jesus Action Figure stands 5" (12.7 cm) tall with posable arms to reach toward the heavens and wheels in his base for smooth gliding action!

OR

Deluxe Jesus Action Figure
There is no action figure more deserving of a deluxe edition than the Son of God. This 5-1/4" (13.3 cm) tall, hard vinyl figure comes with eight amazing plastic accessories: five loaves of bread, two fish and a jug for turning water into wine (not guaranteed to work for real). Also features “glow-in-the-dark miracle hands!



Now, I'm all for trying new things and reaching people through alternate means but I think this might come across as more of a joke (dare I say blasphemous) than anything else. But hey, I believe God can use anything to bring people to Him even when it was unintended.

This is a serious post...

ST. LEONARD, Canada (AP) -- Twelve million honey bees have been released onto Canada's largest highway in northwest New Brunswick after a transport truck overturned.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday that a truck carrying 330 crates of bees was traveling on a ramp on the highway when the load shifted and the truck overturned shortly after 1000 GMT.

Police said a downpour of rain has helped to contain the bees in and around the truck.

Bee experts from Agriculture Canada were called in to help deal with the accident.

The driver of the truck was not hurt.

This is here for no other reason than I found it funny that there are now 12 million bees swarming the highway. Someone told me that the best preachers can always make a sermon out of anything. I can't think of one at the moment :-D Any ideas?