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| I thought this was such an absolutely hilarious posting from my friend [name blocked out bc he's still employed there] that I asked to repost it. The funny thing is that I'm sure he's a model employee in all respects other than this obviously degenerate and intolerable behavior:
The best was one of the comments he got which asked something like, "What? too MANY pieces of flair?"
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| I add this only because I think ages ago I blogged about a book by Anne Rice about Jesus that I found surprisingly respectful and compelling. I wasn't sure where she was coming from, and was bracing myself for the magic and gore, but ended up liking the book.
It makes more sense now:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/books/10/31/books.anne.rice.ap/index.html?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail
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| "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it." -- Matt 13:44-46
Today I was reminded, while singing "You are my strength when I am weak, you are the treasure that I seek, you are my all in all...Seeking you as a precious jewel, Lord to give up I'd be a fool, you are my all in all..." that Jesus Christ is a precious jewel. I went to an interfaith meeting yesterday, and while I enjoyed learning about other faiths and points of view, I was reminded again what a precious, hidden jewel Jesus Christ is. People risk their lives, give up family, culture, homeland, to find this jewel. And then I get to wake up every morning and speak personally to God with little fanfare and no negative repercussions for daring to approach the most Holy Almighty God on such a familiar level -- because those negative repercussions were already absorbed by the One who died for us.
I find Jesus's parables about the kingdom of heaven intriguing -- because, although at first glance they seem like the same idea, they are actually decidedly different. In the first story, you think, the man is smart. He buys a field at a price far less than the field is worth, because there's a hidden treasure in it that would pay for the field itself and more. He makes a HUGE profit because he found the secret of the field, and he was wise enough to jump on it and grab it, to pay less than he gains.
This parable is true -- when we find Jesus we win big. We gain so much more than we can ever pay. The blessings of a relationship with Christ and with the Father through His Son -- there is no better thing in life. The profit is enormous -- no fool would turn such an offer down. Jim Elliott wrote, "They are no fools who give up what they cannot keep to get what they cannot lose."
However, in the second story, the merchant who sells everything to buy a pearl -- he's not buying that pearl for profit. At least it doesn't read that way to me. It doesn't say that the pearl is being sold at a low price, like a hidden jewel in a garage sale that's being sold for a dime when it's worth millions. No -- the merchant -- not a fool, since he buys and sells for profit for a living, and he seems to know the value of pearls, since he specializes in that trade -- he sells EVERYTHING he has and he buys the pearl -- at cost. Perhaps you can infer that the pearl will appreciate in value and he can later sell at a profit, but it doesn't seem so to me. It seems rather that he pays the price of the pearl, and then he is left, perhaps in rags with no home and no food to eat, with a pearl upon whose beauty he can gaze. And because he is too enamoured to sell, there he is, with nothing but the pearl, bought for the sake of its own beauty.
This parable is also true -- when we find Jesus we give up everything else, like a marriage vow -- "forsaking all others." There is really no other way to follow Him. This seems foolish in the eyes of the world. If we follow God because He makes our way comfortable, provides us with food, shelter, wealth, relationships, then we are not really following God, we are following these gifts. He does do these things, but not as ends in themselves. Sooner or later, one by one, I find that I have to make a choice. Home -- or Jesus. Comfort -- or Jesus. Money -- or Jesus. Family -- or Jesus. May God strengthen me to always choose Jesus, no matter how foolish it looks. Jesus is THE end in Himself. To know Him is the greatest treasure on earth. To be left with nothing and Jesus, to put all your eggs in His basket and lose everything else, is worth it. I love the foolishness of the gospel -- as stupidly extravagant as pouring your life's nest egg as perfume on a carpenter-turned-streetpreacher's dirty feet when He's about to die anyway, or as idiotically wasteful as a king pouring out on the ground the drinking water that his warriors just broke through enemy lines to fetch for him.
In the Western world with its freedoms, we seem to pay little for our faith and thus we disparage its value and take it for granted. But in places of persecution and strife, the people I meet there show me in a new way the true value of Jesus -- that He is worth throwing everything away for -- your family, your riches, your homeland, and even your life. These people challenge my faith. They make me value what may seem like an idle trinket bought cheaply sitting unused on my dresser, but in actuality is the most radiant and precious jewel there is, worthy of the most honored place in my life.
"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." 1 Cor 1:17
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| We admitted we were powerless over sin—that our lives had become unmanageable.
Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His Will for us and the power to carry that out.
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other sinners, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
May we all have the strength and courage to live this way. | | |
| ...this is going too far.
It doesn't help that the brand name is Coolpis.
For the source, see this article Top Ten Weird and Bizarre Japanese Soft Drinks.
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