Lessons for Living | Ain't Complicated

Remember That Bookmark!

I’ve stuck stuff in books before and eventually forgot.

But this?

Amazing!

A 21-year-old Clearwater man was arrested at Tampa International Airport this weekend after security personnel found a box cutter in a hollowed-out book, authorities said.

About 7:30 a.m. Sunday, airport security ran Benjamin Baines Jr.’s backpack through an X-ray machine and saw the image of a box cutter, according to a report from the Transportation Security Administration.

When searching the backpack, a security officer found a book titled “Fear Itself.” The book was hollowed out, and the box cutter was inside.

After Baines was read his rights, he said his cousin had cut away the pages to make the hollow section in the book. Later, reports state, he said he had hollowed it out himself to hide money and marijuana from his roommates.

Baines told officers he was moving to Las Vegas and forgot the cutter was in the book.

Would his Constitutional right to trial by a jury of his peers mean those on the plane he was to board will constitute the jury pool?

Meanwhile, how long till the copycats crank up?

Found: Transitional Life Form

Scroll down for updates. Original post date/time: February 18, 2008 @ 09:04

No, I’m not talking about Big Foot or PlatyPus.

Nor am I talking about a winged lizard nor a walking turnip.

Not even a man with the head of a bird and the ears of an elephant.

Nope, it’s something I saw on the Web on Saturday evening and again this morning.

If you want to see in real-time my incredible discovery for yourself, go here.

Dare I hope a Key Bank person sees this?

Now tell me, how’s that a transitional life form?

And another question, what general life lessons do you see in the screen capture above?

And this one yet: How might this post fit under Christianity 101?

OK, now it’s 7:54 am on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 — and nobody’s tried answering my questions.

To answer the first question, here’s what I just got done commenting to Key Bank:

www.key.com/managecredit seems to me to be a transitional life form.

That is, it’s between Brick-and-Mortar philosophy and Web-Business philosophy.

We can do account management online . . . if we do it during certain business hours on business days.

So Saturday I noticed that my payment was due on 2/18. But I couldn’t pay online since it wasn’t Monday-Friday.

So Monday I tried to make a payment, but couldn’t since it was a holiday and your Bricks-and-Mortars were closed.

This morning I was finally able to make a payment. (Thanks for the convenience of using the Web!) Alas, it’s late.

Transitional life forms are frustrating. And in my online banking experience, Key is so far unique. In a not-so-positive way.

Do you have plans to transition fully into the Web-Business philosophy?

Thanks.

Unforgivable?

This type of crime is particularly despicable and contemptible.

Soldier Accused of Raping Girl

Japan’s prime minister on Tuesday denounced the suspected rape of a 14-year-old girl by a U.S. Marine on the southern island of Okinawa, an episode with echoes of a 1995 case that jolted the U.S.-Japan alliance.

[…]

“It is unforgivable,” Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda told a parliamentary panel in his first public comments on the latest incident on Okinawa, host to a huge U.S. military presence.

“It has happened over and over again in the past and I take it as a grave case.”

Defence Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed anger over repeated incidents despite frequent promises by U.S. officials to prevent them.

That story reminds me of this event:

Soldiers Rape Girls

The International Military Tribunal for the Far East stated that 20,000 (and perhaps up to 80,000) women were raped, their ages ranging from infants to the elderly (as old as 80). […] According to some testimonies, other women were forced into military prostitution as comfort women.

Has Japan formally asked forgiveness for those World War II events (and many other cases of rape during that war)? It seems it has.

But any possible hypocrisy and double standard aside, and the affairs of nations aside, and the posturing of politicians aside, these stories remind me of what Jesus had to say on the subject of forgiveness.

In Luke 11:4 we have this: “And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us.”

And in Matthew 6:12,14,15 there’s this: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

Then in Matthew 18 Jesus tells a story on the subject. Here are the concluding verses:

32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:

33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

So, now, which sin will I refuse to forgive?

For which offense or wrong will I continue to hold a grudge?

Who is currently on my No Forgiveness for These list?

Protect Children Online

I don’t usually listen to Christian radio. But I did for a bit this afternoon. And I’m reminded that we live in perilous times that seem to resemble more and more what it must have been like in the days of Noah.

Anyway, as a result of listening to part of the Homeword (that is spelled correctly) program, here’s a book I want to read:

Internet Protect Your Kids:: Keep Your Children Safe from the Dark Side of Technology

And maybe these as well:

How to Protect Your Children on the Internet: A Road Map for Parents and Teachers

Safety Monitor: How to Protect Your Kids Online

How To Protect Your Child from Sexual Predators

We’ll see.

It Pays to Discover!

A while ago I somehow managed to forget a payment to Discover Card…until it was past due.

So they took away my special interest rate.

Then last week I noticed a finance charge adjustment in my favor.

Puzzled, I asked Customer Service about it.

Here’s the reply:

Amazing! Simply and astoundingly amazing!

I hadn’t even broached the subject to them. Out of the blue, they unilaterally took that action.

Thank you, God!

Thank you, Discover Card! You have added new meaning to me to your slogan, “It pays to Discover the card that pays you back.”

PS to Citi: Please take note of Discover Card’s customer service.

Generating Goodwill Generously

Or something like that.

Or this:

Cody Young parked his bike in the wrong place at the Goodwill store, where the rule is anything on the floor goes.

He didn’t have a lock and friends said they’d parked inside the store before. But this time, the black BMX bike was sold.

Goodwill officials say the youngster is going to get his bike back though, because the buyer saw a story in Salem Statesman Journal about the mix-up and called to make things right.

The buyer got the bike for $6.99 but Goodwill is giving them a $100 gift certificate for coming forth.

It’s not the first such sale mix up in Goodwill’s busy stores, officials said. Once, a janitor left a bucket and mop on the sales floor, and a store sold them the next day.

😯

Or maybe I mean this: 🙄

For sure this: 😀

Overcoming Worry

I posted this earlier this morning at Anabaptists and just now got done referencing it at Panting Hart. (Yes, I rarely crosspost like that.)

Overcoming Worry

Do you believe what God says? I mean, can you — do you — accept at face value what He has to say…and believe it, and live it? Or are you like most humans — selective, doubtful, logical?

I believe one of the “good” reasons we struggle with covetousness is our need for security for the future. We don’t want some calamity to catch us totally unawares and unprepared. Neither do we wish to have holes in our roofs, clothes and stomachs. The problem is, we tend to anchor our security in stuff instead of in the Stuff Giver. And when our stuff is in short supply, we worry.

God orders us to give sacrificially, that is, of our sustenance. In return, He says He will never leave us nor forsake us. He assures us He is aware of our need for the basic things of life. He promises to provide all we need if we will give our lives to His kingdom and righteousness. He tells us not to worry about tomorrow.

To read the rest, click the Panting Hart link above.

(Written originally in August 1994)

[If then God so clothe the grass... (Luke 12:28)]

from Luke 12:28