stickers put on apples.

the other night i noticed that i had a picture in my mind of an apple that had a sticker on it. you dont see them all that often anymore, but i do remember a time when each individual fruit had a sticker on it with the brand of apple, or where it come from. bananas did it a lot too.

anyway, this thought came to mind, to liken our world to an apple, with it's sticker removed.

if you were as dumb as i was when i was a kid, you also would've taken a bite out of an apple with the sticker still attached and feel the taste of plastic in your mouth, or choke on it, as i sometimes did! after the experience, you wouldn't reckon lightly with eating an apple with the sticker on again.

well, I think of the world like an apple without the sticker, and that the removal of the sticker represents the idea of people rejecting that the world had an owner, that the world came from somewhere and was planted by someone. instead, the world is just an apple and that's all there is to it, and its apparently our right to eat from it as much as we like. the idea of a sticker being on an apple is bitter to the taste of those who wish to eat, and eat only, from the world.

truth is, the sticker tells us what the apple is. imagine the sticker told us not just its company name, but also a notice to beware of the pips. if it is removed, someone somewhere may be eating an apple for the first time, and is just going to eat and eat until they reach the pips and they won't think "oh, i was warned about this", instead they will just go ahead and eat the pips. the pips of an apple contain cyanide, so it's not usually a good idea to eat them.. but if we didnt know about a sticker, then we will just get sick. sick of the apple. sick of eating.

its worth the discomfort (to our own pride) of the presence of the sticker so that we may not encounter blindly with a real harm.

and note, the sticker isnt an affront to eating the apple, but if we just let anything into our mouths then we have a problem. just so, if we let any old thing into our hearts, or if we allow ourselves to accept the unacceptable.

i dont use this as a proof to the existence of god. there is no proof, only persuasion. i just use this to make picture language sense of my beliefs regarding god, and our tendency as human beings to want to do whatever the hell we like, at, ultimately, our own expense and our own ruin.

when i was young, my sister Susanna used to collect all her apple stickers. whenever she ate an apple, she stuck the sticker on the side of a cupboard. it was in its own special way, a pretty sight :) I can't help but smile and chuckle to think of her devotion to such things.. and it reminds me of the purposeful, rightful reverence we can have of god's ownership of the world. his ways are sweeter than the world's. he doesn't say 'don't taste' - he directs our enjoyment, that we may have the best of life, life to the full.

judas had remorse

matthew 26:46-50

"rise, let us be going, my betrayer is at hand."

While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him.

Jesus replied, “Do what you came for, friend."Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.

matthew 27:3-5

When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.”

“What is that to us?” they replied. “That’s your responsibility.”

In the past couple of weeks the scriptures regarding Judas has gripped me like nothing else. Why? Because, essentially, Judas is a follower of Jesus, and Judas knew that he betrayed Jesus.

In this Judas is privileged, because knowing that you've grieved someone is far better than doing something that causes someone grief and never knowing that it did, only to find out in an outburst fashion. Usually, knowing about your errors gives a means to make amends. Also, Judas had remorse. Not only was he aware of the sin that he committed, but he wished that he had never done it. Whether he made a good follower or not is not the point, but he would have never had that pull of regret if he had never tasted the joy of being a follower. Conviction is a precious gift God gives him - because it gives the potential to make amends with God, which is just a joy in itself.

Whether it was culture to be like this or not, I am also touched by Jesus, in his last conversation with Judas, calling him 'friend'. To the very end, even in betrayal. If in the tangible version of Judas betraying Jesus by a moment of turning against him, Jesus can still call him friend, so the same with those who have let Jesus down with their actions, he can stand in front of them and still call them friend. His call is to forgive - his call was to the cross, to show that he wants to deal with our sin himself, as if it was his own personal burden to bear. By killing sin along with himself on the cross, Jesus can make friends of sinners, and offer them a chance to be seen as sinless before him. He offers people like Judas the chance to be loved as Jesus loves the father and the Holy Spirit, perfect love that is.

It's sad the story for Judas ends as it does with his death. Its too bad that he didnt turn to God but to those who were supposed to represent him, the people who counselled with him to betray Jesus - and they offered no help. They did not want to see their actions as 'sinning', because they saw Jesus as one which god would be pleased to act against. They did not acknowledge Jesus as even having the rights of a human, in that a human can be sinned against, let alone as a god who sees sin after sin done against him. Instead they offer Judas the words of death; "it is your responsibility".

Noone's life can simply be their own to bear. It's too hard that way. There's too much to try and forget, so much moral gymnastics that we give ourselves injuries just trying to escape. In Jesus we can face the unfaceable, because he is the only one who can take our burdens and not be destroyed. We can give the responsibility of our actions, our words, and our thoughts to him. Giving them to him and saying to him "take over my life" is a freedom unmatched by any pleasure or human right. I am more and more convinced that this Is life.

a cloud player

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12890677

so basically, media players that allow for online storage are beginning to exist. why is that cool? well, any computer would be able to use it. so its your music collection on any terminal of your choice. at a friends house and want to show them some cool music? easy. in the library and thought you'd be able to do the next 200 words of your essay if only you heard such-and-such a song, and oh it happens to be those obscure ones that doesnt appear on youtube? sure. it has the potential to turn any smartphone device into an mp3 player where space doesnt have to be the issue. sure smartphones are usually good mp3 players anyway, but you could have the choice of all your library, without it even being stored on your phone.

this is a really good idea. we already have it in the form of photos and word documents so the more remote media the better.

if it released in the uk, it would be breaking copyright laws, but copying a cd onto your mp3 player is too which is a bit archaic. its about time the laws caught up a couple of decades and allowed people to listen to music the way they want to.