Some of the
 District team

District Property Secretary

District Disability Officer & Deaf Link Person

District Ministries Panel Secretary

District Communications
Officer

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December
Advice
I Love You

November
38. Bald is beautiful
37. Fire
36 Sleep
35 Music

October 2006
34. Stupidity
33. Painting
32. mmm Pasties
31. Built to last
30. Phlegm

September 2006
29. Meetings
28. Crime thoughts
27. Colours
26. Unwanted guests

August 2006
25. Comparison
24. Waterproof Mascara
23. Tasty MSG
22. Helplessness

July 2006
21. Attraction
20. Hair
19. Hero
18. Laughter
17. Factoids

June 2006
16. Voiceless
15. Bruises (ouch)
14. Sunburn
13. Mistakes

May 2006
12. Arms
11. Willow Tree
10. Eurovision
9. Chicken
8. Addictions

April 2006
7. Age
6. Celebrities
5. Language

March 2006
4. Commonwealth Games
3. Decisions
2. Drizzle
1. Trelawney

Built to last 

Things aren’t what they used to be. I know, I know I sound like an old person, but it’s true. Chocolate bars are half the size for twice the price than when I was a kid. Children spent all day playing chuckie egg and paperboy on a spectrum (after  spending 3 hours just trying to load the damn thing!) whereas now they need high tech virtual reality experiences and multimedia technology just to survive the afternoon. The summers were hotter, it snowed every winter, and I had to walk 10 miles to school and back every day. Oh wait, no, that’s not me, I was getting carried away!

 But in truth I have noticed that things aren’t made like they used to be, and not just the chocolate bars. Last month my microwave broke. It just stopped heating, which is quite a vital function of the microwave. Not only was I cross that I had to spend money to replace it, but it wasn’t really that old. My parents bought me that microwave when I moved into my house, so that makes it just about 3 years old. 3 years! Is that best I can expect for the life span of a microwave?? My parents still have their first microwave (although looking at the size of it, a macrowave would be a more appropriate name!) which we worked out was about 25 years ago! My machine can’t make it to it’s third birthday and yet my parents machine is still going strong 25 years down the line (and no doubt emitting hazardous amounts of radiation, but let’s gloss over that!).

 So this month I’m happily using my new microwave (praying I don’t have to replace this one in 2009) when my TV breaks. The picture has decided that it would prefer to stretch the middle 2 inches of the display across the whole screen. I have a widescreen telly so the means I get to see massively distorted (yet comical) central things but nothing going on towards the edge of the picture. As I get mad and hunt for my receipt I realise that my TV is only about 4½ years old. I paid what I consider a lot of money for my telly and now just 4½ years on it is virtually useless (although worth a good laugh seeing serious man Hugh Edwards reading the news with a funny wide-frog-like face!).

 Am I just really unlucky in buying faulty goods or are things just not built to last anymore. I was once told that mobile phones are made to only last 12 months so that you buy a new one each year. We have masses of technological know how yet we make things to break down. That depresses me somewhat. I am someone who likes to keep hold of things (not literally or else my hands would be full all the time – it would make for difficulty in driving or eating or pretty much anything!) anyway, and so I feel alien in a disposable culture where everything gets chucked away. Is there anything that is built to last, with the exception of my parents microwave?

 Actually there is. A bloke called Jesus said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” All our microwaves and TVs will come and go (some faster than others!), all our mobile phones will be changed and upgraded, all our technology will become defunct, but one thing will reamin. JESUS. He is forever with us, he always was, is now and always will be. He doesn’t have to be upgraded or replaced, and as far as I’m aware He doesn’t emit radiation! Once you’ve known Him, used Him, depended upon Him, loved Him, you’ll never need anything else, and there’s only one guarantee…. He’ll change your life forever. Now that’s more than any microwave or TV can do.

 So I’ll leave you now as I turn on my stereo (8 years old and still going strong – for the moment!) to listen to Barry White. I think he could have been singing about Jesus when he sang “you’re the first, the last, my everything.” Lets invest in something that really lasts.

 Here are the great Barry’s lyrics – they could be a worship song!

The first, the last, my everything
And the answer to all my dreams
You're my sun, my moon, my guiding star
My kind of wonderful, that's what you are
I know there's only, only one like you
There's no way they could have made two
You're all I'm living for
Your love I'll keep for evermore
You're the first, your the last, my everything

And with you I've found so many things
A love so new only you could bring
Can't you see it's you
You make me feel this way
You're like a fresh morning dew on a brand new day
I see so many ways that I
Can love you till the day I die
You're my reality, yet I'm lost in a-a-a a dream
You're the first, the last, my everything