Economy dampens Sao Paulo's birthday bash

There will be no giant cake today for Sao Paulo's birthday celebration.


The traditional cake, which measures one meter for each year of the city's age, would have been 455 meters (five football fields) long this year. But sponsors were unwilling to fork over almost US$100,000 to make the massive treat. It's one more sign that tremors from the worldwide economic earthquake are shaking Brazil.

Shortly after hearing this news, I happened across John Piper's comments on the economic downturn (see video below). He suggests that hardship has the potential of drawing us closer to God, more than prosperity. And much more is at issue than 500 yards of cake!

For me, as a missionary, the question boils down to this: Do I want more funding or do I want more faith? Maybe those gifts are not mutually exclusive, but one thing is certain--without repentance and life-changing faith in Jesus, all the funding in the world will not make an eternal difference.

John Piper on the economic downturn

The uniqueness of books

So what's the big deal about books? Brazilian writer Jorge Luis Borges gives us a hint.

Among the instruments invented by man,
the most impressive is, without a doubt, the book.
Other inventions are extensions of our bodies.
The microscope and telescope are extensions of our vision.
The telephone is an extension of our voice,
and finally we have the plow and the sword, extensions of our arms.
The book, however, is something else.
The book is an extension of our memory and our imagination.

Is it any wonder, then, that God's Word has come to us in the form of a book?