There are 4000 special olympians competing in the London games.
When they entered the stadium for the opening ceremonies they represented a bruised, battered and wounded army.
Some were amputees, some were limping with lifelong disabilities, others had the latest electronic prosthetics. There were Downs Syndrome athletes and some, amazingly, were legally blind.Common to all was disability;common to all was indomitable courage and determination to overcome.
And isn't that what it's all about folks. A willingness to enter into the lists of life and a mind-set to "get on with it and get over it."
Concerning this 'race of life' Jesus said:
"If your eye offend thee, pluck it out. If your hand offend thee, cut it off. If your foot offend you, amputate it. Better to enter heaven maimed than go to hell in full health."
This being the case it will be a motley assortment that pass through Heaven's gates for the opening ceremonies.
Feeling sorry for yourself? Think about the legless ones running in London tonight then read the following poem by a blind poetess.
Hast Thou No Scar?
Hast thou no scar? No hidden scar on foot,or side or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the Land.
I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star.
Hast thou no scar?
Hast thou no wound?
Yet, I was wounded by the archers, spent.
Leaned me against the tree to die,and rent
By ravening beasts that compassed me I swooned.
Hast thou no wound?
No wound? No scar?
Yet as the Master so shall the servant be.
And pierced are the feet that follow Me.
But thine are whole. Can he have followed far
Who has no wound nor scar?
Ian.
Some things remain truly incomprehensible in the madhouse that our world has become.
This week four English Christians have appealed to the human rights court in Brussels for an adjudication of their wrongful dismissal cases.
Nadia Eweida, a British airways employee, was fired for refusing to take off a necklace bearing a cross. Shirley Chaplin, a Devon nurse, was demoted to a desk job for a similar violation. Gary McFarlane, a counsellor from Bristol, was fired for refusing to counsel homosexual couples and Lillian Ladele,a registrar from London, was banished for refusing to conduct homosexual weddings.
Having lost their appeals at independent tribunals in England they now go to Europe hoping for justice.
Can we expect street protests or letter writing campaigns from outraged Christians in Britain?
Absolutely not!
Will there be a war-chest set up by the church to argue their case?
There will be nary a penny given to their aid, you can bet on it.
Having triumphed over lions in the Colosseum and survived the bloody persecution of mad emperors, the church in the 21st century will succumb to the bites of politically correct fleas.
Jubilate.
Ian
A couple of weeks ago I went hunting: mouse hunting.
In two nights I bagged the whole family.
Prior to this great triumph I had tried new-fangled traps, one a glue-tent and the other a super-special.
Neither worked and I came back to a tried and true 'cheese and spring' affair that my dad used 60 years ago.
Adding together the base, the coil, the staples, the trip-wire and the bait prong there were nine parts in all.
If ONE of these parts was missing the trap could not work.
This trap was designed and produced;IT DID NOT EVOLVE.
If a staple was missing it would not hold to the base.If there was no bait prong the mice would have a free lunch. It's called:
The irreducible minimum.
The trap had to be made in ONE process and it had to be designed.
How much more a human cell with 1,000 parts, all of which must work in unison if it is to reproduce.
If a mere mouse trap cannot evolve, how come scientists tell us that a human cell evolved?
It's a fable ... a fancy glue tent that doesn't work.
Jubilate.
Ian
If the Martians ever come out of their hidden worm holes and see mars rover "Curiosity" it's a fair bet they will ask how it got there.
News yesterday that some school districts in the USA are forbidding any reference to "Intelligent Design" in their explanation of Origins.
This is tantamount to the governing body on Planet Mars putting a gag-order on the discovery of "Curiosity" banning all questions as to how it arrived.
Parents beware.
If you allow secular powers to convince your children that they are no more than organized pond scum then expect their moral development to align itself accordingly.
You will have problems.
There again, you can join up with the creationist Cro-Magnons and tell them that they have been made in the image of God.
That being the case they have a glorious purpose on Earth to fulfill and you can help them to discover it.
Jubilate.
Ian
