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Toy Wonders New Arrivals

July 24, 2009

Greetings!

A few shipments arrived this week. If you log into your account at www.toywonders.com, before clicking on any of the links below, approved wholesale accounts will see wholesale pricing.

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DIECAST Collectible Model Cars And More

Item# Description Stock Status
2101D Mail Truck (4.5") 2101D Restock
2102HD Hot Dog Vending Truck (4.5", White) 2102HD Restock
2105D Oil Tanker (5.5", Asstd.) 2105D Restock
2112D Delivery Truck (5.25", Asstd.) 2112D Restock
2113D Delivery Truck (5", Asstd.) 2113D Restock
9661D Farm Tractor (4", Asstd.) 9661D Restock
9665D Farm Tractor (4.25", Asstd.) 9665D Restock
9801/2D City Bus (6", Asstd.) 9801/2D Restock
9811D Classic City Bus (5.75", Asstd.) 9811D Restock
9838D City Pick-Up Trucks (4.5", Asstd.) 9838D Restock
9869D Space Shuttle (5") 9869D Restock
9907/8D Sport ATV (4.25", Asstd.) 9907/8D Restock
9911D Garbage Truck (6", Asstd.) 9911D Restock
9921/4D Fire Engine (4.75", Asstd.) 9921/4D Restock
9931D Power Steam Locomotive (5", Asstd.) 9931D Restock
9985/4D Police Series (5", Asstd.) 9985/4D Restock
8882/3D Super Tank Team (6.5", Asstd.) 8882/3D Restock
9870D Jumbo Jetliner (6", Asstd.) 9870D Restock
3506D Kinsmart - Smart ATV (3.5", Asstd.) 3506D Restock
5005D Kinsmart - Chevy Suburban School Bus (1950, 1:36 scale diecast model, 4.5", Yellow) 5005D Restock
5006D Kinsmart - Chevy Suburban (1950, 1:36 scale diecast model, Asstd.) 5006D Restock
5092D Kinsmart - Ford GT (1:36 scale diecast model, Asstd.) 5092D Restock
5310D Kinsmart - Shelby GT500 Hard Top (2007, 1:38, Asstd.) 5310D Restock
T002319 Mac Tools - Diecast Car Garage Accessories Tool Kit (1:24) T002319 Restock
34870 Nascar Car - Hauler Car Showcase (1:64, Blue) 34870 New

Tin Signs

Item# Description Stock Status
CA523 Art print sign: Easy Rider CA523 Restock
CG516 Tin Sign: No Trespassing CG516 Restock
TD1305 Tin Sign: Lionel - Boy's Dream TD1305 Restock
TD1320 Tin Sign: Dodge Dependable Service TD1320 Restock
TD704 Tin Sign: 1951 Chevy Pickup Truck sign TD704 Restock
TD712 Tin Sign: 80 Years Ford Pickup Trucks sign TD712 Restock
TG491 Tin Sign: Ford Mustang Collage TG491 Restock
TG718 Tin Sign: 1969 Chevy Camaro Z/28 TG718 Restock
CA9004 Art print sign: Firefighter Prayer CA9004 Restock
T637 Tin Sign: Ford Mustang Parking sign T637 Restock
TD1129 Tin Sign: Mac's Diner TD1129 Restock
TD1314 Tin Sign: Mopar Logo 1937 - 1947 TD1314 Restock
TD1540 Tin Sign: 1969 Dodge Charger R/T sign TD1540 Restock
TG401 Tin sign: Route 66 Get Your Kicks sign TG401 Restock
TG454 Tin Sign: Rt 66 Sign TG454 Restock
C625 Tin Sign: Reserved For Firefighters C625 Restock
O07 Tin Sign: All American Outfitters Fire Fighter Sign O07 Restock
TD1156 Tin Sign: John Deere Plow Co. - Better Farm Implements sign TD1156 New
PD1378 Tin Sign: Lucy On The Road Route 66 Sign PD1378 New
PD1222 Tin Sign: Fantastic Four Marvel Sign PD1222 New
PD1264 Tin Sign: X-Men Collage Marvel Sign PD1264 New
PD1220 Tin Sign: Captain America Marvel Sign PD1220 New
PD1221 Tin Sign: Wolverine Marvel Sign PD1221 New
PD1439 Tin Sign: Silver Surfer Marvel Sign PD1439 New
PD1484 Tin Sign: Superman Logo Sign PD1484 New

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Thank you

Lu Su
Toy Wonders, In
c.
www.toywonders.com
201-229-1700

Lu Su

God and the Art of Toy and Diecast Marketing
Humor, Prophecy, and Free-will
By Lu Su

Did Jesus ever laugh?
How does God know the future?
If God knows the future, do I have have free-will?

The first question is a gimmie. Did Jesus ever laugh? My short answer is yes -absolutely! Just because it is not documented, doesn't mean it never occurred. I've read much on our founding fathers George Washington and John Adams and I have yet to find any mention in any book that says they clipped his toe nails; But I have confidence that they engage in this mundane human activity (or perhaps it was a very exciting activity for them because they only had very sharp hunting knives?). Jesus being fully human and fully God at the same time would have the fully array of emotions we humans have. Every human on this earth seems to have the ability to laugh. It's not something that has to be taught to us. To me, it seems that humor and laughter are innate qualities to human nature. So if someone never laughed, then I might question if that person is human. Now if you are a Trecky fan, you've noticed that Mr. Spock and Commander Data never smile or laugh -because they are not human. From my perspective and the Star Trek writer's perspective, laughter is intrinsic to humanity.

Since laughter isn't evil, there is no reason why Jesus couldn't have laughed. From my observation, laughter often erupts when you are in a loving environment. If there is one person that walked this earth whom best demonstrated and embodied what love is -Jesus is it. Moreover, anyone who is willing to lay down their life for you, must have a considerable measure of love in them. Now as for the surprise element that causes laughter, I feel that surprise is a very important ingredient to cause spontaneous laughter. I also believe that because Jesus was God, nothing ever surprised him. But it is still possible that his friends pinned him down and tickled him. I know if we were together for two years traveling, eating, sleeping, and praying together and you never laughed, I would be very curious to see what happens if you got tickled. Although the lyrics for Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant song are no longer a surprise, but I still chuckle when I hear him sing "Kid, we found your name on an envelope at the bottom of a half a ton of garbage, and just wanted to know if you had any information about it." And I said, "Yes, sir, Officer Obie, I cannot tell a lie, I put that envelope under that garbage." or "I want to kill, Kill, KILL!!!"

Notice that humor, prophecy, and this thorny question of free-will versus destiny question all share something in common. What they all share in common is this thing called TIME. For us humans, time is needed for something funny to occur. Laughter itself takes time; because it involves taking air into your lungs and expelling it. The fulfillment of prophecy requires time to make it happen. Concepts like free-will and pre-determined events also require time. So without time, the three questions are all moot. Time is necessary if we are to have laughter, have a future, and to exercise free-will.

For us humans, time is so pervasive in our lives. It's like what water is to fish. It's just so part of your lives that it's something most people just take for granted -until someone is gone. I'm very grateful that God has created an environment for us humans to exist in. Now all environments have boundaries. Our boundaries are called space and time. We reside within three spatial boundaries; we have given these three spatial boundaries fancy names like length, width, and height. But besides these three spatial boundaries, we have another non-spatial boundary called time. We as humans are bound to these four boundaries and so far haven't found a way to escape them. If we hope to have a good day, we want space and time to be there when we wake up. For example, in order for our heart to properly work, our heart requires a certain spatial dimension (i.e., length, width height). Take a single spatial boundary away and the lung collapses. If time were to stop or disappear, no pumping action would occur.

In Stephen Hawking's famous book "A Brief History In Time", he does something very interesting with time. In an effort to understand the origin of the universe, Hawking attempts to look at the Big Bang and the expansion of the universe in a different way -a new model. I must admit, much of the book is beyond what my brain can understand, but I think what he does is to take time and convert it into another spatial boundary. So instead of looking at the universe in the tradition 3D plus time method, he calls his new model four dimensional space-time. Ah, typical of these scientists coming up with new new models and make these things called theories. But picturing object and events in four dimensions (4D) is really tough.

Most likely, you are in a room right now. Look at where two walls meet the ceiling. If the ceiling is flat, at the very corner you will see three lines merging out of a single point. Unless you are currently reading this in the Pentagon, all three lines should radiate from a single origin and all three lines will be 90 degree's perpendicular to each other. Now in a 4D world, when you looked into the corner, there would be 4 lines coming out of a single origin and all four lines would be 90 perpendicular to each other. I admit that I do not understand how 4D space-time glasses help Hawking better understand the universe (my mind is still working on that corner with 4 lines), but I know Hawking was on to something. He wants to look at the universe in a non-traditional way. This then gave me the idea that in understanding the question on how God can always accurately know the future, you need a different view point -a different model.

How does God know the future? The short answer is that God knows the future because the past, present and future all exist at the same time for him. The question is actually a malformed question when you ask someone a question that involves time -who is outside time. Remember God made time -so he isn't bound by it. You could say time has got nothing on God. If time stopped, we humans would cease to exist; but if time stopped, God would continue to be. I think it helps to picture it this way. Instead of us living in a 3D world plus time, imagine that we are living in a 2D world plus time. So on a piece of paper, draw two stick men. One is you, and the other strong and good looking stick figure is me. So we basically have height and width; but no depth (I needed to shed those few pounds anyway). Now what would a ball look like to us? How could 2D people understand what a 3D sphere looks like?

As stick men and having no depth perception, we could only have an understanding of what a ball looked like If the ball was pushed through our world (our world being the paper). So upon the ball making initial contact with the paper, it would just be a dot. As the ball was pushed through, it would look like a circle getting progressively larger. Once the ball was half way through our world, the circle would start shrinking in size and eventually just being a dot again. So a ball to us stick people, is a dot that becomes a circle that gets larger and larger then smaller and smaller and then is a dot again. That is what a ball looks like to 2D people and it doesn't look like a sphere. Notice that TIME is required for these 2D people to understand what a ball is.

For us 2D people, the size of the ball would not be known until the circle reached its climax and started shrinking. So upon the ball just entering their world (just a dot), it would seem impossible for anyone in our world to know what the size of the ball was going to be. Yes, impossible for the people in that 2D world; but not for people who exist outside that world. So for us humans asking the question on how God knows the future, it's the exact same question as the stick men asking how we know what the ball size is -when the ball has not yet reached it's climax. Notice that both us and the stick men need TIME in order to process what a ball is. People outside the 2D universe don't need time to understand a ball..

So here, I need you to make a jump in comprehension. Call the ball passing through the 2D world an event. Events have a starting point, a climax, and and ending point. When it comes to events, God sees our events as clearly as we see ball. So I believe that to God, our events in our 3D plus time world, look like solid object to him. He sees the past, present, and future all at the same time. Although we do not know what the future holds for us, that does not mean our future does not already exist. What is very interesting, is if you read the Bible, he gives us insight on how he sees us. He often calls people by what they are to become -even before they have become that person. More on this later.

As for the question If God knows the future, do I have have free-will? In my opinion, this is one of the thorniest questions Christians have to contend with. Because we believe in free-will and we also believe that God knows the future and thus our destiny. So if the destiny is already set, it does not appear that we have free-will to alter its course. It's sort of like that dreaded Terminator question. How can someone from the future, come back to the past and impregnate Sarah Conner? Who then will eventually be the descendant of Sarah?

To my knowledge, James Cameron never addresses that question. The apostle Paul actually touches on this very subject, but does not answer the question either. Well, if these two famous characters got to put the question off, I probably should too. But I am confident that that these two concepts (free-will and destiny) are not two mutually exclusive things; thus it is NOT an impossibility but only a paradox.

 

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