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Saturday, July 20, 2002 ( 5:43 AM ) MaltaGirl I have been reading the Gospel of Mark, with the express purpose of looking at Jesus' personality and character. I was in Chapter 6 yesterday, and I was struck by the kind of day that the disciples had. Seems to me that the disciples weren't particularly 'spiritual' men until _after_ Jesus died - until then, it is usually he who takes all the initiative for evangelisation, compassion, etc. and this is what we see on this day... (I began to write this and it just naturally became a first-person story!) Jesus had sent all twelve of us off in pairs, on a missions trip (ack). We weren't allowed to take any money or even spare clothes with us, only a staff. So besides soloing for the first time, we were also completely dependant on God's provision. Starting out on this trip, I was hating every minute of it and worried about the outcome. As time went by, and I saw that he really had given us the power to cast out demons and to even heal the sick, I realised that there was no reason for me to worry - I knew I was walking right smack in the middle of God's will, and he provided for our every need. I slowly realised why Jesus didn't let us bring anything with us... see, he gave us a lot of power, and it is very easy to get carried away. Hundreds of people all clamouring to get close to me, to touch me, to feel the power I have - it all makes for a great ego trip! But coming home at the end of the day to a strange house and having to rely on the hospitality of strangers for every meal certainly goes a long way towards keeping me humble! He's a smart one, is that Jesus. Well, when we got back of course we were really excited to see Jesus and the guys again, we had loads of awesome stories to tell, and we wanted to get caught up with everyone else. And of course all our friends and aquaintances also wanted to say hello to us and it turned into a mad-house with people constantly traipsing in and out, not to mention the usual kids and animals underfoot - absolute bedlam! We were so busy talking to people that we didn't even get a change to eat anything, so Jesus eventually decided that enough was enough, we quickly packed a lunch and headed off for a quieter spot. Some people at the quay-side recognised us as we got in the boat (what can I say, pretty much everyone knows us by sight at this point!) and I guess that the news spread quickly through the neighbourhoods because by the time we got to the other side of the lake, instead of a peaceful scene we found a big crowd waiting for us, and it just kept getting bigger!!! I felt frustrated because we had finally begun to hang out together during the crossing, although we had to sail the boat at the same time, and I had been really looking forward to a quiet meal together on the grass. And what did Jesus do? Well of course he felt sorry for the people. He told us that they looked like sheep without a shepherd. Now me, I'm a fisherman and sheep are not my line, but even I have to admit that a bunch of sheep without a boss is a pretty pathetic sight. Yup, I can see what he meant about those people - they had run all the way around the shore just to meet us, erm, I mean, to meet Jesus. Now you would think that he would send them home, but did he? Huh, you know what these preacher types are like... he started to teach the crowd like usual, and it was a pretty good sermon but he went on for a while. When it started to get late, by this time we were REALLY hungry, having skipped lunch, but I figured that wouldn't cut a lot of ice with Jesus, so instead I pointed out that the poor sheep were going to be hungry pretty soon, and since they couldn't eat grass, he had better wrap up the sermon and send them on their way, so they could go find food and shelter. That's when Jesus dropped one of his famous bomb-shells... He told us "You feed them"!!! Can you believe that? Us, cater to all those people? We have enough problems making sandwiches for ourselves! In any case, it would cost a fortune to buy enough food, and we told him so! So then Jesus tells us to check how much food we had. Huh, I had been dreaming about that bread and fish for hours, I could have told him exactly how many we had! He also told us to organise the people into groups, which we did (sheep, huh) and then he said grace and broke the bread. Now at this point I was thinking to myself that he was being kinda selfish, having us eat our meal in front of all those hungry people, but of course here was Jesus Bombshell Part II... he made us give the pieces to the people!!! Man was I livid!!! I had been faithful, gone on that challenging missions trip, been a great preacher, healer and demons-cast-outer, then I get back and ta-daaa... get to keep on serving people my own lunch while I go hungry. Huh, some gig this apostling thing turned out to be! But as you already know, Jesus takes a dim view of complaints, and in any case, anyone who complains generally ends up feeling like a right idiot later, so I didn't say anything and passed out the food. Well, the sheep sure could eat, and they sure could make a mess too. The final indignity - we had to clean up the mess. Yep, there went any delusions of grandeur that I might have picked up from my power trip - hard to feel on top of the world when you're picking up after peasants with the table manners of pigs. (first sheep, now pigs - what's next, cows?) Well we just picked up all the scraps left behind and I was feeling pretty low, when I realised something that made me forget about the awful day I'd been having... There were twelve (12)... baskets... FULL... of... leftovers. Now I ask you, how in the world did that happen? We started with 5 loaves and 2 fish, and ended up with 12 entire baskets full of leftovers? That's Jesus for ya, always got a surprise up his sleeve. Well after that little fiasco of a peaceful-trip-across-the-lake-in-order-to-get-some-rest, we now had to get back because it was getting dark. Jesus told us to go on ahead and he'd catch up later, we figured he was going to pull an all-nighter and walk round the shore in the morning, or else hitch a lift with a fisherman at dawn. So anyways, we set out while Jesus finally sent the people home, and then he went off to pray like usual. Now coming over the lake had been pretty easy for us, but now we had to sail into the wind, so it was time to break out the oars. The wind just got stronger and stronger and those of us who could read the waves were awful worried but we just pulled at the oars harder and harder. We were at it for hours but weren't making much headway. Suddenly someone yelled as though he had seen a ghost, and I thought I did too because out on the water, between the waves, we saw a figure walking on the water! We had no idea what it was, and I don't might telling you that we were yelling and screaming. Then it stopped walking by us and started walking towards us! Sheesh, I thought we might be in for something terrible, but then the ghost called out to us and we realised that it was Jesus!!! Of all the stunts to pull, he was walking across the lake in the teeth of a storm! Well he just strolled over to the boat, cool as a cucumber, clambered over the gunwhales, and as soon as his feet his the deck, the wind died down. We just stood there staring at him with our mouths open - partly we were amazed at the whole walking on water deal, partly we were glad the storm had stopped, partly we were wondering how the storm stopped, and partly we were pretty embarrassed over the yelling we all did. Anyways, after that we soon reached the other shore where Jesus continued his ministering but for us it was time for some well-deserved sleep. I'll say this about being an apostle... it's never boring!!! # Friday, July 19, 2002 ( 1:28 PM ) MaltaGirl This morning, P and I were at the lathe, machining. Now the way this works is that we clamp the ends of a cylinder of metal about the size of a large tube of toothpaste into the machine - then when we start up the machine, the cylinder is spun around very fast, and another (harder) piece of metal is used to shave away bits of the cylinder. It's basically like a potter's wheel only we're using metal. There is also a tube which dribbles a cooling liquid onto the cylinder while it is being shaved because the metal gets so hot that it smokes! This coolant is a beige colour so it looks a lot like runny snot (ick) and is actually oil and detergent mixed together using some esoteric method. Once the coolant pours over the spinning cylinder, it drips down the insides of the lathe into a container at the bottom, where it is pumped up again to repeat the cycle. On the way down through the lathe, it mixes in with the grease and the whole thing looks pretty gross. The metal that is shaved away from the cylinder curls up just like wood shavings, into tight springs, and these springs have a tendancy to build up under the cylinder into a mass of twisted metal strips until you brush them clear. Well, what happened this morning was that an exceptionally long and tight spring managed to get tangled in all the shavings which had built up near the cylinder... so one end is attached to the cylinder which is still rotating at high speed, and the other end is dragging along a mass of metal shavings the size of a soft-ball. P swore and shut off the lathe, but as he did, the original retaining spring parted company with the cylinder. The result was that a fair amount of metal shavings was shot into the air, and about half the workshop was covered with metal scraps and drops of (icky) coolant. Engineer's confetti. I am just really glad that I happened to be standing to one side and not in the path of the mass. Heh, that floor could use a clean anyways... # ( 12:37 PM ) MaltaGirl Heh this must be my week for weirdo spam... ...Prior to her death, she [my mother] handed me over a certificate meant for a secret deposit, which my father made in a security company in Accra, Ghana. The deposit that is worth $20,000,000.00 (Twenty million U.S Dollars) was money paid to his corporation by its overseas customers for a secret diamond sale in the heat of the conflict. He made the deposit in his name with the hope of converting it to his personal use at the end of the war but was killed when the conflict intensified as a result of his Opposition to the rebel forces... ...However, I’m soliciting for your assistance to open an account with your name as my family purchaser and my partner in the deal to offset this fund, when the transaction is finally concluded l promise giving you 15% of the total sum for your personal assistance... *sigh* # ( 8:59 AM ) MaltaGirl Well folks, it's Friday again, muahahahahaha... So here it is, the Friday Five: 1. Where were you born? I was born in Malta. :-D 2. If you still live there, where would you rather move to? If you don't live there, do you want to move back? Why or why not? I still live in Malta, and am likely to for a few more years until I graduate (or flunk out of college). I have learnt to love this rock, backwards in some areas as it may be, and I actually like living here... I would however like to move (which would mean, another country) because I feel much more at home in the UK even though I have only spent a total of 5 weeks there my entire life. I would like to move to America because hey, I love Wal-Mart. But I would always love and really miss Malta. *sigh* that's what you get for being multi-cultural. 3. Where in the world do you feel the safest? In the arms of someone who loves me :-) 4. Do you feel you are well-traveled? Um, yes... and no... I haven't been to loads of places, but I am more-travelled than someone my age here. There's a lot more travelling I would like to do... a road trip across the USA (or a large part of it) and back-packing in Australia, and a grand tour of Britain. Hmmm, can you tell I like English-speaking countries? I have ties with all of them! 5. Where is the most interesting place you've been? Hmmm... the most interesting for me was a small town deep in Kentucky - I enjoyed experiencing elements of life in the South which I had only read or heard about. "Biscuits" for breakfast, shooting a rifle at a tin can, playing Cowboys 'n' Indians with a red-headed all-American little boy, seeing a crop of tobacco being harvested, Sunday School in the local church, seeing a graveyard where people get buried in soil (wow). # Tuesday, July 16, 2002 ( 9:44 AM ) MaltaGirl Trying to add links and stuff... am considering changing the template because green isn't really on my list of favourite colours of all time... # Sunday, July 14, 2002 ( 11:35 AM ) MaltaGirl I have received some rather bizarre pieces of spam in my time (the "I need to use your bank account to transfer millions of $$$" for instance) but I think that this one takes the biscuit: Hello, If you are a Time Traveler from Dimension D1263GT10, year 2008 or Dimension D2044GT5, year 2432 and or in possession of the Dimensional Warp Generator wrist watch, the Carbon Copy Replica model #52 4350 series or similar technology I need your help! My entire life and health has been messed with by evil beings! I simply need the safest method of transferring my consciousness or returning to my younger self with my current mind/memory. I need an advanced time traveler to work with who can help me, I'd would prefer someone with access to teleportation as well as a variety different types of time travel. This is not a joke! I am serious! Please send a separate email to me at: Robbyyy1@aol.com if you can help! Thanks uYlZOslalxmJCqqJivm5FXm5eg== Lol especially funny since I watched The Time Machine yesterday! National Cinema Day has become an institution here in Malta, all films are just Lm1.15 (including VAT) which is about US$2.60. Usually I watch 5 films on Cinema Day, starting at about 10am and finishing off in the early morning of the next day, but this year due to financial constraints I kept it to just 2 films: Spider Man and The Time Machine. They were both great movies, but I cannot for the life of me fathom why parents take their 4-year-old children to watch movies like The Time Machine, which are (a) waaaaaaaay over the child's head, and (b) contain unsuitable material (like the pit full of human remains). *sigh* To all movie-going parents out there, I recommend you do your kids a favour and check out ScreenIt.com before taking them to a movie. Go ahead, snigger all you want, but it's saved me from going to films which I wouldn't have enjoyed due to unsuitable content... a lot of garbage makes it onto the screens these day. Anyways, that's my rant over with ;-) # |
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