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DIECAST Collectible Model Cars And More
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73171BK/4 |
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BCK02R |
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BCK04R |
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8217EEJ |
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821PEJG |
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821TWKK |
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BPTSNK |
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EHJG |
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GADP |
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KBJJCOP |
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WXRN |
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BBRTFC |
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BDKHSU |
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CAJBCOP |
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GIDPNK |
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I12KB |
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MBTSCOP |
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MLBWBL |
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QSKK |
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SHJL |
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SMAA |
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8657EEJ |
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865B4KH |
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865BBRT |
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865F2KK |
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865LGJJ |
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865MNKH |
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865MTMA |
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865NORT |
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865NSBW |
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865PEJG |
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865TWKK |
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865WTTS |
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866HDJL |
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866TAJM |
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SC452W |
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36665GY |
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32180BO |
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32305W |
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34362 |
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34363 |
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34501 |
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32419GN |
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BOOK
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145802 |
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Thank you
Lu Su
Toy Wonders, Inc.
www.toywonders.com
201-229-1700
God and the Art of Toy and Diecast Marketing
Marriage in the 21st Century (Tying It Together)
By L S Su
We're very near Christmas. Wow, where has this year gone? To me, this year's Christmas seems to have been approaching for a long time. Besides marriage, we seem to be a society that likes to keep pushing the envelope on all traditions; This year I noticed Christmas lights up in stores even before Halloween.
There use to be a tradition where retailers would not put up Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving. There also use to be the tradition that most companies would give their employees the day off on Thanksgiving. Our envelope pushing society has even moved the start time of Black Friday to an earlier and earlier start time.
It was only a few years ago where a handful of retailers would open their doors a few hours early -like 6:00am. Then I think some other retailers felt they needed to be first in opening their doors, so they announced a 5:00am start time. Then another announced a 3:00am start time. And then some decided open a minute past midnight and made Black Friday a 24 hour event.
2013 marks the year that most of the largest retailers in America remained open on Thanksgiving Day. So I figured out a way for one retailer to trump all the other retailers with the earliest start time possible. Open your doors on Saturday, the day after Black Friday, and announce to your customers they your store is being extra generous and giving customers a 364 day head start for their Black Friday shopping fix.
I watched an interesting video that was produced 11 years ago. People on the street were simply asked, "What does Christmas mean to you?" I wasn't surprised by the lack of references to Christ. As our society continues to become more secular, we'll continue to take the "Christ" out of Christmas. I had asked my wife what would become of the name Christmas, because in the early 21st century there has been a big movement to rid all religious symbols and terms from public squares and airways. In New Jersey a couple of years ago, a school district (because they were sued), banned Christmas music; and even Christmas instrumental music. Frosty the Snowman is fine, but Silent Night has been banned, because Christ has been found offensive.
"A few years from now, will they even call the holiday 'Christmas'?", I asked my wife. "What will this holiday be renamed to, so there is no reference to Christ?"
My better half came up with, "Winter Magic".
I'm sure more and more people will be unable to answer WHY did Jesus Christ enter our three dimensional plus time world. What was God's purpose in becoming a human being? God incarnated (became a man) a couple of thousand years ago. But why come in the first place? An answer like this needs to be revealed.
Fortunately for us folk living in the 21st century, you don't have to enter into a cave or crawl into a native American sweat lodge to obtain the revelation. The answer to this question has been revealed in a single sentence, It's found in the most published and translated piece of literature in human history.
She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their _____.” -Matthew 1:21
Got it? Christ came to save his people from something. Something that we must already have because the word "their" is used. What's the correct word (or phrase) that ends this sentence? Passions, Ignorance, urge to shop, tendency to go bad by the need to cook crystal meth?
I find the passage interesting, because the answer is so simple to understand. Jesus' purpose in coming was to "save" us from something. But from what and for what purpose eludes many. We Americans live in the most influential and militarily powerful nation in the world. What could we possibly need saving from? Being trampled to death during a Black Friday opening?
I find the passage intriguing, because the text does NOT say he will save "ALL people". The passage just says "HIS people". This then immediately begs the question, who are HIS people?
Are you able to fill in the blank with the correct word? I'll give you a hint. It's a one word answer. And it's very destructive. If you are operating a business and if this little thing enters you partnership, your business will fail. If it enters your marriage, your marriage will fail. If it enters your relationship with family or friends, it will ruin those relationships. This little thing at its core is very destructive. Now here's annoying part, the Bible explains that it has already entered us and we are now literally falling apart. God didn't originally design our bodies to just last 120 years or less. So God entered our world so that he could save his people from their ______.
The correct word is sin. It's such a small word. Yet it can destroy relationship and bring down small, medium and large families, businesses, and governments. Sin can even take down entire civilizations. Sin is lawlessness against the highest law. Sin is rebellion against God. When you do (or even just think) evil, God is offended because you are sinning against Him.
About a week ago, I experienced sin in action and witnessed how sin can transcend past those who were directly involved. Let me explain. After school one of my son's got on his middle school bus and sat down in a seat. A few minutes later another student gets on the bus and tells my son to "get the <bleep> out of my seat". This kid's vocabulary is constantly filled with expletives. The kids do not have assigned bus seats. It's been this way since they started 1st grade. The bus was mostly empty and there were plenty of available seats. My son politely declined. So this middle school kid takes my son's cap and flings it towards the back of the bus.
My son, now extra annoyed, gets up and goes and fetches his cap. When my son returns, he sees his backpack dumped onto the floor and the bully seating where he was sitting. So my son takes his cap and flings it towards the back of the bus. And as he turns to look at the kid that just stole his seat, my son catches a right hook on the left side of the face (near the ear). My son being bigger and stronger than this kid, grabs him by the head and throws him head first into the adjacent chair. Then the little bully runs off the bus and screams, "I'm going to tell!"
This little bully sinned against my son. Though I wasn't even present at the time, this little kid sinned against me too. I, a father, was offended. I made me really angry.
In one of my classes, I was asked. "Are homosexual acts sinful?" and "Are homosexuals going to hell?". Upon occasion, I get asked some very difficult and controversial questions by young adults. I remember teaching a Sunday school class and a high school level student came in late, sat in the back, and I noticed that she was crying during my lesson. Now it's probably not uncommon when students come into the classroom and see me standing up front, that they want to cry; but this young women was literally crying without sound throughout my lesson.
Then after class she approached me and asked me softly with swollen eyes, "Why does God permit suffering?"
All deep questions can be categorized into origin, meaning, morality, or destiny; I make a conscious effort to be careful in answering these types of questions. It's my great desire and need to make sure the answer can be backed up Biblically and that I don't says something based on my personal preferences or feelings. This suffering question, like the two questions above relate to morality and destiny.
So back to the questions I was given, "Are homosexual acts sinful?" and "Are homosexuals going to hell?"
The answer to the later question is easier to answer. Your sexual orientation is NOT the determining factor on whether you enter heaven or hell. Therefore you can be a homosexual and enter hell; you can also be a heterosexual and enter hell. For that matter, you can also be bi-sexual, trans-sexual, or celibate and still have the opportunity to enter a place where God is not. Both death and hell doesn't seem to show any type of partiality or favoritism towards age, gender, sexual orientation, hair color or nationality. I guess it's one of those equal opportunity provider. So if sexual orientation isn't the determining factor what is?
The Bible teaches us the refusal in receiving God's free gift to us (a personal with Jesus Christ) is the X factor.
Many of us are NOT adept with relationships. Most of us have been in relationships that have failed. Some of us have a trail of wreckage behind us. Relationships are time consuming and often messy. Many of us just plain fear commitment. But there is some good news here. Remember that thief that was crucified next to Jesus Christ? He got to have maybe a one minute conversation in with Jesus? But in just that brief encounter we learn this.
Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” -Luke 23:43
Wow, that thief couldn't have had that deep of a relationship with Jesus. He didn't have any opportunity to bond or accomplish anything good. And yet he got saved. Could it be that easy? I feel that so many Christians get side tracked on issues (e.g. marriage) and we forget that there are people dying out there; and our priorities sometimes get messed up. So for example, with the thief on the cross, you want him to stop stealing because God doesn't want HIS people to steal. Getting the thief to stop stealing is good, but the problem is, it won't save him. We often like to treat the symptom and not the cause.
At this point, I know there is a major disconnect going on right now. The topic is marriage, but for weeks now, I start talking about these abstract concepts like holiness, exclusivness, incarnation, saving (preserving), and sin. But once you can start putting these five concepts together, you'll then start to realize the Christmas story is actually a love story. It's about a story of God's great love for us. Love for beings he made in His own image. And the relationship He wants to have with us is akin to a marriage.
I see that this essay is now running long. I'm going to tackle the question of "Who are HIS people?" and the awkward question of "Are homosexual acts sinful?" next time.
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