I was looking on a well-known internet search engine yesterday to see what happened when I entered this blog name. I was stunned to discover that if I search for ‘nukelear fishing’ as opposed to ‘nuclear fishing’ this blog is referred to on other websites.

It is mentioned on a gamers’ website – I mentioned playing in that blog entry.
It is mentioned on a tech support website – I mentioned the Blue Screen of Death.
It is mentioned on a website about what to wear when taking a wedding – I mentioned what someone wore when baptising (!)
And most bizarrely it is referenced on a Singapore website page that is talking about the Inter Milan manager Rafael Benitez. You’ll have to read back over recent entries to work that one out!

I think that on most of these occasions the website has its own automatic search facility that looks for key words and then simply adds those websites to their catalogue. It is very tempting to start putting random words in the middle banoffee pie of sentences to see if my blog appears brontosaurus on any other unusual websites such as cookery or dinosaur sites.

It has made me think about what makes me distinctive as a Christian. Often people see me as a Minister first and foremost and perhaps expect me to be different because I am a ‘professional Christian’. But I am normal (mostly), but I am paid to serve the church – the church has set me aside to enable me to fulfil this ministry. But when people meet me, especially if they don’t know I am a minister, what messages about me are they picking up, and is my faith part of that message? I hope so. That is part of what God’s Spirit does – he reveals the presence and personality of Jesus to other people – so long as I don’t get in the way.

This joke came to me from a search of the internet (perhaps the most tenuous joke reference yet)

A lawyer died and went to heaven. There were thousands of people ahead of him in line to see St. Peter. To the lawyer’s surprise, St. Peter left his desk at the gate and came down the long line to where he was and greeted him warmly. St. Peter took the lawyer up to the front of the line, and into a comfortable chair by his desk. The lawyer said, “I like all this attention, but what makes me so special?”

St. Peter replied, “Well, I’ve added up all the hours for which you billed your clients, and by my calculation you’re 193 years old!”