Secret revolutionary toilet cleaning techniques revealed!

Special kudos to student Melanie Privette who posted this on her myspace blog. It was so good I laughed out loud, which is weird because I'm working in my office alone. May it bring you laughter today as it did for me.

Ingredents needed:

1/8th cup of pet shampoo

1 Cat

Many bandaids ... just in case



1. Put both lids of the toilet up and add 1/8th cup of pet shampoo to the water in the bowl.
2. Pick up the cat and soothe him while you carry him towards the bathroom.
3. In one smooth movement, put the cat in the toilet and close both lids. You may need to stand on the lid.
4. The cat will self agitate! and make ample suds. Never mind the noises that come from the toilet, the cat is actually enjoying this.
5. Flush the toilet three or four times. This provides a "power-wash" and rinse".
6. Have someone open the front door of your home. Be sure that there are no people between the bathroom and the front door.
7. Stand behind the toilet as far as you can, and quickly lift both lids.
8. The cat will rocket out of the toilet, streak through the bathroom, and run outside where he will dry himself off.
9. Both the commode and the cat will be sparkling clean.

Hope you enjoyed!

Written by Val Leonard

Mythbusters: Lifelock...Busted!

I am positive you have heard the advertisement. In fact I heard one of them this morning on my way to work. The CEO of Lifelock, Todd Davis, broadcasts his Social Security Number in his radio commercial and says he is not afraid to share it. Why? He speaks for his company with extreme confidence and guarantees that you cannot steal his identity because of the great security system that the company provides.

At least that's what he claims. Yesterday while browsing some news sites I came across this article in the Charleston Gazette. There is a class action lawsuit being filed against Lifelock, claiming that it does not give the protection it promises. In fact, the suit claims that over 20 driver's licenses have been obtained across the country under the name of Todd Davis. According to the article, if you perform a background check on Mr. Davis with his SSN, you will find that it inaccurately depicts him as being 67 years old. Such is the extent that his personal information has been used.

The article goes on to mention several different points that are worth observing:
1. One of the lawyers involved in this class action suit claims that the safeguards Lifelock sets up for $110 a year can be set up for free by yourself.
2. The co-founder of Lifelock has been in trouble for fraud several times during his life, including the identity theft of his own father.
3. A former client of Lifelock claims that once you get past all the fine print, the only promise Lifelock makes is that they will fix their system when it gets bypassed; there is apparently no promise to restore your credit and identity.

What do we take from this? In yesterday's sermon our senior minister Frank Weller reminded us to test everything, holding on to what is good. For starters that probably means I should look into Lifelock myself instead of taking this article for its word, which also ruins the fun of this post.

Second, if you're signing up for something you should always take the time to read the fine print. My father, a licensed IRS attorney cannot agree with this enough. Know everything that you are getting into. Be wary of the fine print. Fine print can help or hurt you depending on what you do with it. (Side note: The fine print you see in your Bible will always help you better understand the context in which the passage you are reading was written.)

Lastly, and I don't mean to intentionally crack the hammer on this again, but Frank couldn't have said it any better yesterday: Test Everything. Whether you are looking for identity theft protection or seeking where God would send you next, seek Him first. Put God first in your life and seek him. "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things (the things that you need, not want) shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33)

The quest for answers...and for love

Recently when I've had spare time I've found myself playing an old game that was ported to my Game Boy Advance SP just last year.

Originally released in America in 1994, Final Fantasy VI was a huge epic game. It was part of a long running successful franchise by a company named Squaresoft. In America it originally debuted as Final Fantasy III, but it was in fact the sixth title of the series.

The story of the game was epic and at the time it was one of the largest games ever made. The story follows 12 characters (unprecedented at the time) and their attempt to fight against a corrupt Empire that is on the verge of repeating a deadly mistake that wiped out the planet 1000 years ago.

As I've played more of this game I've become appreciative of the first character you are introduced to: Terra. Terra has been controlled and enslaved by the Empire most of her life. At the very beginning of the game she is freed, but she remembers nothing about herself. All she knows is that the Empire is after her.

Terra struggles initially with her newfound freedom. As she runs from the Empire, she begins to question who she was and how she should act. She doesn't understand the playful flirtations of Edgar, the King of Figaro castle. She can use magic spells but doesn't understand why she can and others can't. Most importantly, she doesn't understand the concept of love. She desires it but doesn't know what it is.

About halfway through the game all the characters get separated for one year in a dramatic turn of events. When you happen upon Terra again she is changed. In her separate adventure the past year she came to the village of Mobliz. As she got there it was attacked by the antagonist of the game, Kefka. The parents of the village sacrifice themselves to save their children. They were all wiped out but the children survived. Terra decided to stay in the village and raise the children, protecting them from the dangers of the world.

When you find Terra she has been doing this for a year. She understands the concept of love after all the time she has spent defending, protecting and raising the orphans. After you help her drive off the biggest threat (a dangerous monster named Phunbaba) she joins you to help rid the world of Kefka and his evil. She's learned the meaning of love through sacrifice. The sacrifice of the orphan's parents and her sacrifice to protect them.

Sound familiar? While the game isn't really written from a Christian perspective it is still easy to draw a parallel. Terra understands what love is after she learns the meaning of sacrifice. As Christians we live today because of the love of our Father, who gave his son as a sacrifice. His sacrifice is the reason we strive to love others. Christ sacrificed so that we could understand true love. However, Christ's love for us is stronger than any of us (or Terra) can understand.

Still, it's cool to see a popular game wrestling with the concept of sacrifice and love, and it makes for a great opportunity to share the greater love that we have found.