Gas was 121.1¢/litre on Christmas.
I'm currently reading What Good Is God?: In Search of a Faith That Matters by Philip Yancey. It's very sobering and basically deals with what good is God when people are suffering? Not "Aw shucks, I dropped the remote control in between the couch and the wall," but real suffering like mass shootings, persecution in non-democratic countries, and human trafficked sex slave workers. That's only the first three parts, which is where I am now. It is a good and necessary read.
Hope is a necessity in life. What good is life if there is nothing to hope for?
This showed up in my inbox on Boxing Day from The Daily Bible Verse and I really like it:
Matthew 2:1-2 – We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.” – Matthew 2:1-2
The Magi add a fascinating twist to the Christmas story. They were ancient astrologers who were regarded as the wise men of their time. They were not Jewish and this is the only time that they are mentioned in the Scripture. Their appearance and departure is mysterious and full of imagination. Notice the two groups who knew of the Christ: poor shepherds and respected wise men. Jews and Gentiles. God wanted to make it clear that the gospel was meant for rich and poor alike. It was meant for the smart and the uneducated. In other words, the gospel has been sent to the entire world.
Today’s commentary by:
Dave Whitehead, Senior Pastor, GraceNYC.org
It's something worthwhile to think about.
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When I was in Grade 7 (1999-2000), the school gave us agenda books to use as day planners. Being a special school year (Y2K), the agenda had a little rip-out portion that you could fill with memories and seal up to serve as a "time capsule." I wrote on mine that I could not open and read the contents for at least 10 years, and I actually did rip it open last year, January 1, 2010 at about 1:15am. I thought I would be flooded with memories and have some laughs, but I was pretty disappointed with myself with what I had written down. I was so vague!
Now a year later since I opened the "time-capsule," I'm still a little disappointed with what I wrote, but some of the things I recorded are kinda funny when I think about it, so here are some things that are maybe worth a chuckle to you (my answers are verbatim):
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What kind of computers do you use at
SCHOOL: junky ones
HOME: pc with a cd-rom [NOTE: It was a 300 Mhz Celeron with less than 4GB HDD space and about 256MB of RAM running Win 98)
Out of any vehicle I would choose: One of those cars that are boats
My friends will remember me most for:
being a geek, helpfulness, annoyingness, smartness, funnyness (not really), wanting to skydive
The Movie I want to own: Pokemon, the first movie [NOTE: I was really into Pokemon]
The class I like most: Gr 5, because Miss Loewen and Mr. White were nice.
Junk Foods, what do I buy, what does it cost? Chips - 69 cents to $3.00 [NOTE: this Christmas 2010, I received 2 huge bags of chips (the kind that's almost 1kg) and a huge thing of cheetos...so good...]
Top 3 tunes: Supernatural by dc Talk, some church tunes, and I'm So Happy by Hokus Pick [NOTE: my music tastes back then were pretty much limited to the local Christian radio station or whatever I heard about through friends)
My coolest day this year (1999) was when: I got lots of money, and when I got out of school
Two TV shows I never miss: Pokemon and Recess [NOTE: I still love Recess and saw a few episodes this year; I laugh at Pokemon now..aaah childhood]
What random act of kindness have I done lately: trying to be good [NOTE: so basically, nothing]
What are 3 things people do that I see as hurtful: hitting, name calling [NOTE: lol. I had virtually no world view back then]
Two issues I care deeply about: huh? and wha? [NOTE: I got lazy here. I wish I could slap my younger self]
My pet peeve: idiotic annoying people [NOTE: I think today I would change this to selfish, ignorant people]
Three things I enjoy learning about: animals, computers, people
My best learning resources: encyclopedia, computer, people [NOTE: we had a World Book Encyclopedia set that I used to browse and read for fun....kinda like Wikipedia now, but with 1000% less pop-culture and 100% more paper cuts]
3 new skills I want to learn: skydiving, 2nd language, being funny
3 things I want to achieve in my life: skydiving, being a millionaire, helping the world [NOTE: I almost can't believe how many times I referenced skydiving in my time-capsule, and I'm still not done mentioning it]
Time travel; what I am doing in 5 years? probably either in college, university or whatever [NOTE: I was in my second year at SFU in 2005]
What would I like people to remember about me: all the good things
This is what I wish to contribute to society: helpfulness, money, a good idea
Personal Mission Statement:
I want to be the best I can be and have God help as I do things. I want to be a success and always be a help. I want to have a ripe, rich, old life and fulfil dreams. Hopefully I might be able to fly/skydive.
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I still want to skydive, but it's at the back of my mind now 8^p
God is too good to me. I need to put away childish things.
Let 2011 be a year of hope, renewal, and growth. Man up.