The heating is off in the church. It hasn’t broken down, we simply switch it off at the end of April each year and turn it back on in the autumn. As soon as we switch off the heating you can be sure that the weather will turn colder and we will all feel the cold. It’s one of Murphy’s Laws.

Others include that buttered toast will always fall buttered side down (see blog entry for 16 Feb). The Official Monster Raving Loony Party have taken and used it to create a perpetual motion machine that will solve many power problems. Cats always land on their paws. So if you strap buttered toast to the back of a cat and drop it the result will be a perpetually spinning cat. The energy created can then be harvested.

Ingenious!

Before you all go scurrying off to make some toast and find a cat I should point out that Murphy’s Law may be violated by the strapping of the toast to the cat. It will surely create an imbalance in the weighting of the toast (if not the whole Universe) meaning that it will more likely land cat side down and thus the cat will simply land on its paws with buttered toast strapped to its back.

Jesus seems to be an equally improbable and unlikely happening. He was simultaneously fully divine and fully human without compromising either aspect of his nature. He was subject to the same laws of physics as us (gravity, laws of motion etc) and yet was able to transcend them in the miracles he performed. He died yet was raised to eternal life. The Bible has a wonderfully optimistic phrase: “… with God all things are possible.” (Matt 19: 26)

I don’t think Jesus was saying that God can do the logically impossible (such as creating a stone so heavy he can’t lift it) but he was talking about how God has made it possible for all people to enter the Kingdom of God. He said the words in the context of his saying that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God. While his disciples were shocked (the prevailing view was that rich people were blessed and therefore had a headstart on getting into heaven) Jesus continued to show that getting into God’s Kingdom is possible for all.

Perhaps if you strapped a cat eating buttered toast onto a camel and pushed it through the eye of a needle you would create perpetual motion (or simply a terrible mess).

Other wonderful (?) inventions:
The water-proof towel
Solar powered torch (except they do exist!!)
Submarine doorbell
A book on how to read
Inflatable dart board
A dictionary index
Ejector seat in a helicopter
Dehydrated water
Wooden barbecue grill
Water-proof tea bag

A number of years ago nightwatchman came into work clutching his brand new gadget – a thermos flask. His friends had never seen one before.

“What does it do?” asked one.

“It keeps hot things hot and cold things cold,” he replied proudly. “I’ve currently got two scoops of ice cream and a bowl of soup in there.”