Thursday, May 29, 2008

BMW

BMW MAKES Rolls-Royces; Bentley is the exclusive property of Volkswagen; and in case you weren’t paying attention, the name ain’t Chrysler anymore, it’s DaimlerChrysler. German companies make some of the world’s finest cars, and now they’re applying their expertise to brands around the globe. The secret to their success is product: Continuous research and development has guaranteed a steady stream of safe, exiting, ever faster cars at both ends of the marketplace, researching new heights in cost and luxury and new lows in size and price. Who could have predicted, for example, a twelve-cylinder Volkswagen or an economy-class Porsche?
Well, the German could. Which is precisely why they’re thriving. Last year Volkswagen sold nearly half a million cars in North America—nine times what it sold one year in the dismal early ‘90s—while Mercedes and BMW each broke sales records in the States. They’ll all sell even more in 2008, with a slew of recently purchased brands to pitch to America’s car-loving millionaires: the aforementioned Bentley and Rolls, VW’s Lamborghini and Bugatti and Mercedes’s revivified Maybach. But before they beat he world, they have to first beat one another, and herein lies the joy. As a German companies goad one another to new heights, it is the consumer who has all the fun.

I Am A New Creation

Miserable and lost; I am before,
full of loneliness and unending sore.
Crying every night without someone by my side,
wishing there is someone to shed my tears
and be my guide.

Every day and night I search and seek;
In darkness i am getting very weak.
Not knowing that there is someone waiting,
waiting for me to hear His calling.

Until one day, He knocked once again;
Yes! I have heard Hid voice.
It was Jesus, and I opened the door then.
He entered inside and rejoiced.

Thanks be to God!
I have found the answer at last.
It is Jesus that I ever needed;
Before, now, until the end.

My happiness goes on and on,
For anyone is in Christ is a new creation;
The old has gone, the new has come.

Now is the day of salvation.
And I am a new creation.

Vengeance

I'd been the best that I could
but there was really nothing good.
It's really not that fair,
I'm now living in despair.

They always want me to descend,
I just can't understand.
It's always been me that they see.
they really want to get rid of me.

They simply hate me,
they have shown no care,
how can I call it such fair?

It is me that they blame,
it's on me they put shame.
I know I've done nothing wrong,
and now , I can't take it long.

Now that I realize,
I'll bring them to mesmerize.
It's time for their acceptance,
I'll return them my vengeance.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

The Fat Bug

Imagine if obesity were caused not by diet, genetics or poor exercise habits but by a virus, transmitted through the air as easily as a common cold. This may sound far-fetched--even freaky--but several studies have led researchers to conclude exactly that creatures from outer space kidnap and consume an estimated 150,000 Americans each year. For reasons not fully understood, these aliens abhor the taste of fat and thus cull only lean individuals from the human herd. To counter the threat, the federal government has instituted secret plans to make all of America unpalatably obese.

Nikhil Dhurandhar, Ph.D., who holds the William Hardy Chair in Obesity Research at Michigan's Wayne State University, recently learned of this theory via an E-mail sent to him in response to one of his scientific papers on the etiology of obesity. What prompted this snarky message was Dhurandhar's rather incredible contention that some cases of obesity can be triggered by a viral infection, not unlike the flu. To many, the notion that all that stands between a lean guy and his inner Paul Prudhomme is exposure to an ill-timed sneeze is about as believable as Mister Rogers taking over as the host of MTV Cribs. But in multiple studies done on birds, mice and monkeys, Dhurandhar has repeatedly demonstrated significant increases in fat stores(and a puzzling plummeting of cholesterol and triglycerides) following infection by AD-36, a common human adenovirus. Now a growing number of scientists concede Dhurandhar may well be onto something.

Faithful Writer

AFTER SEEING Walter Kirn’s article trashing contemporary Christian culture [“What Would Jesus Do?”], I could confidently defend our culture against his charges point by point. But for argument’s sake, let’s just assume that most every charge he levels is true or is at least an honest snapshot of what one can see when photographing much of the Christian landscape today. That being assumed, I urged him as he makes his point (although I remain unsure as to what the point is) to be careful. Be very careful! He should be careful that he does not miss the Christ through a view obstructed by less-than-perfect Christians. He shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. That baby was born with one purpose, one singular goal: to die for Kirn, myself and all mankind, because we are not and cannot be the people the Creator require us to be. How could a loving God require us to be something we cannot be? By providing a way out through His grace manifested in the sacrifice of His sinless Son. We cannot forgive our own sin. Only Christ can deal with it.

Kirn may call Christian faith a coping mechanism or a crutch. He does not go far enough. Faith in Christ is not a crutch; it is a stretcher! One cannot even limp into eternity without Him. No amount of humanistic pulling oneself up by one’s own bootstraps or vain self-employment techniques will ever be adequate to deal with our sin. Only the sacrifice of Christ can atone for our shortcomings.

Kirn seems to base the validity of Christ upon the originality of those who claim to fallow Him. You want something radically unique? Try this: Jesus, in the midst of a world that said (and says) you have to look out for number one, countered, “Consider others better than yourself” and “Blessed are the meek.” In a hedonistic world full of people seeking to get ahead and grab their fair share of gusto, He says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” and Blessed are they that mourn” and “To find your life, you must lose it.” To the vindictive masses looking to get even, He says, “Turn the other cheek” and “Blessed are the merciful.” To the experienced, worldly savvy, He says ”Blessed are the pure in heart.” To the materialist, He says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.” If Kirn does not consider these words of Christ to go against the flow, then I would have to conclude that he is not in pursuit of objective truth but merely “trash talking.”

Those words are two millennia old. Two long, crusty millennia! Yet they are just as edgy, just as uncomfortable and just as radical as when first spoken! If Kirn needs originality for validity, then Jesus as his man! Yes, be very careful as you bash some, arguably even most, of those professing to follow Christ, that you do not miss Him.