Spilt Coffee on your laptop?

I recently had a phone call from a friend, the opening lines of which went as follows: 

“I’ve done something very stupid…” “Oh, really? What have you done?” 

“Knocked a whole cup of coffee over my laptop…” “…and…?”

“Now it won’t load up… what do I do?!” “… hmmmmmm….”

He tried using the hair dryer to fix it, but to no avail. Even when fully dry the machine still wouldn’t boot up, due – no doubt – to the coffee shorting an electric component inside. In the end he had to dispose of the old laptop, go the shop and spend money on a new computer (and resolve never to drink coffee within a two mile radius of it!!). 

Before coffee andwas a popular drink and laptops were invented, something similar happened with a piece of fruit. God told Adam and Eve that they could enjoy all of the fruit in God’s perfect garden, except the fruit from one particular tree – the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Unfortunately, we know the outcome. Adam and Eve disobeyed God, ate the forbidden fruit and in so doing blew the fuses of their relationship with God. They were ejected from paradise, experienced the consequences of evil in the planet and in their offspring and eventually died. 

With His creation ruined, permeated by evil like a coffee-soden laptop, what was God to do? Well, he could have fixed it because He’s God and can do what He likes. Yet He chose not to.

Rather, this world as we know it is destined for the skip and God is going to replace it with a new one, better even than the original one. This one will be ‘coffee-proof’ and will last for ever and ever. The New Creation (as it is described in the Bible) will be simply wonderful. It will be life as we all want it to be, pure paradise. Heaven, in fact. 

The question is, are you going to be there? God wants you to be there. In fact, He tells you to be there. He has even provided a solution to the problem you share with Adam and Eve, your sin, your inclination to do wrong and disobey God. That solution is God’s Son – Jesus Christ, who came to earth to live a perfect life and to die to take the punishment that you deserve because of your sin. In so doing, He made forgiveness with God possible, which if sought enables you to have a relationship with God and the certain prospect of a place in Heaven – the perfect New Creation. 

Want to know more? Feel free to get in touch by email or leave a question/comment on this thread.

Deal or no deal?

Christianity – Deal or no deal? The TV game show, ‘deal or no deal’ is extremely popular. The pure randomness alone makes for compelling watching. There are some very interesting parallels between the show and life; in fact some people think that life is simply one big game of ‘deal or no deal’!

1. Get it in perspective. The game show is set up in such a way that everyone is a winner. A guy called Shaun was offered by the banker some £17 500, but turned it down and went on to win a mere penny. The point is though, he still won, although only a penny! Is it right to view everyone as a winner in life? No. While man insists everyone is a winner, the Bible quite clearly says that everyone is sinner, as we all fall short of God’s perfect standards.

2. What’s in the box… At the start of the game a contestant selects a box which is kept until the end. The contents of that box never changes, regardless of any actions that happen during the game. In the same way, God has ‘a box’ which cannot be changed by us. Because he is pure and we are not, we deserve eternal punishment and we can’t alter that – it is in the box. 

3. Listen to the banker. The way to avoid the box is to take an offer from the banker. Similarly, God is like a banker who gives an offer, which if taken avoids the punishment that is waiting ‘in the box’. His offer is salvation from eternal punishment and instead, eternal life through Jesus Christ, His Son. (John 3 v 16). This offer is available, because Jesus died on the cross, took our punishment, and rose again from the dead. 

God is now offering you the chance to have your sins forgiven and a new life with Jesus Christ, both now and for eternity! Deal, or No Deal?

For more information or help, please get in touch via email.

 

The Atheism Debate

I believe there is a God. Other people are adamant that there is not. We can’t both be right.

God doesn’t try and persuade people of His existence. It is assumed. Rational thought expects it. A friend of mine has produced a presentation on the topic, which I would thoroughly recommend. To view the video, or hear the audio, click on the link below:

http://david.dw-perspective.org.uk/is-belief-in-creation-rational/

Happy Christmas

As we enter the festive period once again, perhaps you are wondering what it is all really about? Perhaps you are not. Well either way, you should. Christ-mas is about Christ coming into the world, the Son of God. Now most people can accept the story about Jesus being born in a Bethlehem stable, but they leave it there. But who really was that child? Just a child? Or more than a child?

The below video is based on a song entitled ‘More than a Child’ (for the words and information click here). It is sung by Sylvia Fleming and set to some festive pictures. Listen carefully to the words and reflect on who Jesus really is – more than a child born in the hay, the Saviour of the world.

Have a very happy Christmas and a prosperous new year 2008.

The Most Dangerous Road in the World

 

 

If you go to Bolivia and to the capital city of La Paz you can travel on a road to Coroico in the Yungas region. The road climbs to a staggering 5 kilometres above sea level into the heart of the Andes mountain range then plummets into the Amazon jungle.  The area is subject to extreme weather conditions which make driving hazardous on the road that claims between 200 and 300 lives every year.  Barely 3 metres wide and coated with slime and mud the road is littered with hairpin bends along the unprotected cliff face.

One journalist recounts that as he was travelling along the road they spotted a large group of people standing behind a broken down bus. In the thick cloud the driver had crashed into the back of a truck, the impact had shunted the steering column into the driver, severing his legs. The crowd watched helplessly as the man bled to death as no ambulance could make it up the road to rescue him. Further down the road the journalist passed a spot where a set of fresh tyre tracks carried on as the road went round a bend, the tracks heading off the end of the cliff into the void beneath.

It has been called the most dangerous road in the world.

Jesus described life as being a journey on a road. He taught that there are two ways to live – on the right road, or on the wrong road. The right road leads to eternal life in heaven, the wrong road to eternal judgement. The right road typifies a life lived for God, a Christian life, a life which is lived in the knowledge that it’s sin has been dealt with – paid for, forgiven – and that however tough life is, it is being lived for a purpose – for God’s purpose – and at the end is a great destination.

The wrong road typifies the world. The road is so popular that it is more like a motorway than a narrow mountain track. It is life without God. However easy it may seem, it eventually shows its true colours when you reach its dreadful destination. But then, of course, it is too late to turn around.

You may think Jesus’ teaching somewhat harsh with the talk of judgement and hell. But what is the alternative? Let sin go unpunished? No. God is pure, holy and perfect. He cannot let wrong go unpunished. He must deal with it. He does so by keeping heaven free of any wrong. “But” – says the natural mind – “we are all sinners, we all do wrong – what chance is there for any of us?” The other road. Jesus taught clearly that there is a chance to leave the world’s road, to leave a life without God. In so doing He deals with your sin (forgives it) and sets you on the path to heaven.

And what of the punishment for your sin? For all those who leave the road of the world and trust in God by faith, their sin is paid for by Christ on the cross – where God punished His own perfect son – for your sin and mine.  Jesus is the gate – the narrow gate – that when entered through offers forgiveness for sin and a chance to live a life God’s way, and head towards a heavenly destination.

Matthew 7 v 13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

There are two roads. God’s road – the road that leads to life – and the world’s road - the road that doesn’t lead to eternal life. Which road would you rather be on?

It is not a case of the most dangerous road in the world, but rather the most dangerous road is the world. Get off it now whilst you still can, enter the road of life, enter through Christ.

 

 

A Rapid Roll through life – the ultimate survival game

My wife recently acquired a Nokia mobile phone which features a very simple, yet highly addictive, game entitled ‘Rapid Roll’. It features a little ball which sits on platforms that move up the screen. As the platforms move, you have to roll the ball onto the next platform which then moves up the screen and so on. If you’re not quick enough the spikes at the top of the screen get you! Sometimes the platform will be made out of spikes too, which are deadly if not avoided.

It is a game of survival, that is the only objective. The longer you survive, the higher score you get. You can never complete the game, eventually everyone gets the same two words: GAME OVER.

Life without God is one big game of Rapid Roll. If there is no God and no eternal life then the logical conclusion is that life becomes meaningless, deviod of purpose. The only objective is to survive for as long as possible before it is GAME OVER for you.

So is that what life really is like? Just one big survival game? Fortunately not. There is a God, He has created life for a purpose and that purpose is to know Him and to discover life as it is meant to be. What gets in the way is our sin, the wrong that we do which seperates us from a perfect and holy God. The good news is that God has punished Jesus – His Son – for our sin, so we can access life as God wants us to and we can know that instead of facing eternal punishement once we die, we can be assured of a place in heaven with God for ever. Want to know more? Email: mail@just-curious.co.uk or view the rest of this site.

Our wonderful world

We live in a beautiful world, with respect to plants and flowers. On the gallery page (link at top right of screen) there are some photos of stunning flowers. When we see such design it should lead us to think of the designer!

What are you thinking?

I was raised in a coastal town in the South of England. As a boy I took the sea for granted. I had the luxury of 6 different beaches within walking distance of my house and would often find myself gazing at the vast sea, watching as it relentlessly served up wave after wave. It was one evening in Cornwall as the sun set over the sea that I took this photo, depicting a man standing in the sea, watching the waves and feeling the regular splash of each one, as it broke over his feet.

In our manic world, where noise and business dominate, such moments are precious. I sometimes find myself craving for the luxury I had as a boy to take myself to a quiet beach and meditate. As a school teacher I see a worrying trend amongst the youth of today, in that they can’t cope with queit and peacefulness. They must have noise, they must have entertainment, they cannot bear to spend any length of time queitly collecting their thoughts together.

God has designed humans with the capacity to think, to meditate and ponder and this faculty is wasted if not directed rightly. “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46 v 10). In your mind’s eye, take yourself to a quiet beach at sunset. Be still, stop, clear your mind of the clutter that is modern life, and look at the sight in front of you. Wave after wave, waves as far as the eye can see, to the horizon and beyond. Where do the waves come from?

Gaze at the deep orange sun as it sets on the horizon precisely when it is supposed to, regular as clockwork. Who made it? Who even thought of such a concept as a great and powerful source of heat and light, that sustains life on earth so perfectly, and even controls the tides and waves that are still lapping at your feet?

It is on times like these that we must take the advice of God, “be still and know that I am God”.  This is not a case of weighing up the evidence and assessing the possibility that the natural wonders before you could be from God, if He even exists. No, we are to know that He is God. There is no doubt. The sun, sea and all of the natural world tells us that God exists:

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Romans 1 v 20.

So next time you start looking for an excuse not to think about God, be still, look at nature around you, and know that He is God and as such that leaves you with no excuse, not to seek Him for His forgivness.

The Greatest Fool

It is the 1st of April, a day that has come to be known as April Fool’s Day. A friend of mine got married on April Fool’s day one year, suitably going on honeymoon to the Scilly Isles!

We all do foolish things, but the word ‘fool’ in times gone by had powerful meaning. This little story illustrates that.

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There once was a king, who delighted in all his subjects, but none more so than the court jester. Whenever the king was feeling depressed, or in need of cheering of, he would call for the court jester, who would act the fool and soon have the king in fits of laughter.One day the king decided to find out if the jester really was the greatest fool in the whole world, so he gave the jester a golden wand, which the jester was to present to the first person he found who was more foolish the jester himself.

The jester travelled the world trying to find the greatest fool in the world. He went from town to town, village to village and still couldn’t find anyone who was a bigger fool than himself. Meanwhile, back at the palace the King had contracted a nasty disease and was taken gravely ill.When the jester heard of the King’s illness, he rushed straight back to the palace to see the King. Upon entering his room, the king told him the grim news. “I am going to die” he said “very soon”, “I do not have long to live”. Upset and shocked the jester asked the King: “are you ready to die?”"No, I am not” said the King, “I am not ready to die”. “In that case,” replied the jester, “I have something to give you”, and he reached into his bag, pulled out the gold wand and presented it to the King. “I have finally found a greater fool than myself” he said.

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The Bible talks solemnly about fools. “The fool has said in his heart, there is no God.” (Psalm 14 v 1).

Do you deny the existence of God? Then you are a fool.
Do you acknowledge that God exists, but don’t want anything to do with Him? Then you are as good as a fool.
Are you ready to meet God when you die? If not, you are most foolish.God is kind to fools though. He gives us a chance to come out of our folly. Christ Jesus, God’s Son, came to earth and lived as a man. After 33 years of a perfect life, He died on a Roman cross. Being perfect He had no crimes of His own to die for, but was dying for yours and mine. As He died, God punished His own Son for all the wrong things you have ever done. He took the punishment so that you don’t have to.

Your response can only be one of two. Either you accept Jesus’ sacrifice for you and ask Him to forgive your sin, your wrong, and become a follower of God, and live with Him in heaven when you die for eternity, or you reject Him and say in your heart “there is no God, and even if there is, I want nothing to do with Him.”

To reject God is foolish, and just as God has a place for those who trust Him (Heaven), He has a place where fools will learn the hard way the extent of their folly, and will wish (albeit too late) that they had not been so foolish. That place is called hell.

The good news of the Bible is that God wants you to be with Him in heaven for eternity, rather than hell. To this end, Jesus went through, as it were, hell on the cross suffering in your place, so you don’t have to. He now offers you a free gift of forgiveness and life and salvation from an eternity of torment and suffering.

Which fool would reject that?

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Picture and story taken from www.chick.com, click here to see original version.