Here's a bit of pressing news I felt I should pass on to you:

"LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Wendy's International Inc. on Friday doubled to $100,000 the reward it is offering for information on the origin of a human finger found last month in a bowl of chili at one of its restaurants."
(Full article at Yahoo! News, April 15, 2005)

Who knew the fast-food industry was such a dangerous place?


Today was my last class of Christianity & Culture. It was funny, because during our last discussion the teacher touched briefly on how the world thrives on self-gratification, the glorification of the individual, and the fight for personal fulfillment and personal rights. The Christian life, however, is based on the exact opposite ideals: giving up personal desires, living in self-sacrifice, altering my world-view from one that is me-centered to others-centered. Jesus served as the perfect example of that throughout His life, and most obvious when he died on the cross -- he literally went the polar-opposite of personal pleasure/gratification. It isn't that it's some masochistic way of life. It is simply and absolutely all about other people. It's about giving up my personal comfort for the sake of those I come into contact with.

It wasn't that I was hearing something new. Instead, it felt like God was wrapping all my thoughts and struggles this past while up into a final challenge, and using someone else to get it into my fat head. I had to laugh. And what was cool was that He gave me a ton of opportunities to put it to work today. I've got a lot of growing up to do, I know, but it's the sort of growth that only comes when I choose to attempt it. I think that time is way past due.

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn't think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn't claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death--and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.
(Philippians 2:5-8, The Message)