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May 13, 2015 | The Role of Philanthropy in Shared Value, featuring FSG's Mark Kramer, Walmart Foundation's Kathleen McLaughlin, and Ford Foundation's Darren Walker.
Eco Fashion Week April 22, 2013 Three stylists with $500 each made three runway collections from outfits presented by Value Village. Photos by Sean Herd.
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I was dangling my legs in the pool when Linda swam up and blocked me. Something about Linda always made me a little uncomfortable. I wanted her to like me, mostly because none of my classmates lived close enough to hang out after school. Linda lived only two houses down from mine. But this warm spring afternoon, her words made me shiver.
“You’ve got to do what I say,” she commanded, her voice low. “Otherwise, I’ll tell your mom you did it anyway.”
“She won’t believe you,” I protested.
Linda glanced a few feet away at our moms in their pool chairs. We could hear them laughing and chatting. They weren’t listening to us. Linda tossed her wet ponytail over her shoulder. “Oh, I don’t know… maybe she will. And even if she doesn’t, my mom wouldn’t talk to yours anymore either.”
Uh-oh. Linda’s ideas weren’t always fun. And sometimes they were downright mean. “What do you want me to do?” I squeaked.
“You know those new people in the house on the corner?”
“Yeah,” I answered.
“We-ell… they’re such pains,” Linda declared. “All I have to do is put a toe on their precious lawn and they come running out to make sure I didn’t run over their flowers with my skates. I have an idea that will show them.”
Linda pulled me down into the shallow water beside her and whispered her hideous plan.
“Soooo…. you just bring me a bag of your grossest garbage tonight,” she said. “Then, when it’s dark enough, we can pull our stuff down there in my wagon….” Her voice sounded mysterious, like a kid detective. Only she wasn’t solving crimes. She was planning one.
“But…” I tried again. “I don’t like this. What if they see us?”
“Don’t be a baby,” she said flatly. “They won’t.”
Maybe I could do it after dinner when I was supposed to be taking the trash out anyway. But I was feeling sicker by the minute. Why was I doing this? So what, if Linda dumped me. I knew it was wrong. I didn’t even know those people. But it was like Linda had some sort of hold on me that I couldn’t explain.
As Mom and I left, Linda wrapped her dripping arm around my shoulders and laughed loudly like we were best buds. “See you later!” she said.
“Feeling okay, hon?” Mom asked when I could barely eat my dinner.
“I’m just… not… too hungry, I guess,” I said. Now I was lying too! How did I get in this mess?
I pulled the kitchen trash bag to the door. “Be back in a bit,” I called.
Outside, I nearly abandoned the whole idea. But there was Linda, waiting at the end of our driveway. She must’ve known I’d chicken out and she wasn’t going to let me.
“C’mon!” she urged, tugging our cargo down past her house to the corner. The home was dark. “Perfect!” she said in her director’s voice. “Now!”
And suddenly, there we were, tossing all that yucky grossness onto the clean driveway. Lettuce leaves and greasy foil wrappers and wads of smelly tissue landed at my feet. I could hear cans dinging and rolling behind the bushes.
My heart was pounding, and my feet felt glued to the pavement in horror at what we’d just done. Somewhere a light went on in the back of the house. “Run!” Linda cried, yanking the rattling wagon and pulling me down the street. I never ran so fast in my life.
The next morning I truly did feel sick. But somehow I made it through the door, into the car with Dad, and on to school. “Have a great day!” Dad called. I hugged my books to my chest and clunked the door behind me. I didn’t think I’d have a great day ever again.
I flubbed the easiest math problem when Mrs. F. called on me. I couldn’t concentrate on my favorite reading book. I could barely swallow my peanut butter and jelly sandwich at lunch. And by the time I got home, my insides felt as wobbly as Jell-O Jigglers.
“Is something bothering you?” Mom wondered when I turned down Toll House cookies. Her voice was quiet, but I could hear a firmness in it. I knew she wouldn’t let this one slide.
Suddenly, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “I think I did something… terrible!” I blurted on a sob. “And I’m… not sure… how… to fix it.”
Mom just listened, pushing my bangs away from my eyes as I choked out the whole disgusting story. I was sure she was going to be so disappointed in me. More than I was in myself… and that was huge.
But she only looked into space for a moment. “I saw the husband out trying to scrape his driveway this morning,” Mom told me then. “His wife is recovering from a fall she had last month and he told me how glad he was she didn’t trip over any of that slop today.”
I looked into her eyes, miserable. She reached over and tucked her finger under my chin. “I think you know what it feels like to be the new kid in school. And how they feel being new on our block….”
“Yes,” I admitted softly. Then, after a moment, it was like I suddenly woke up from a nightmare. Yes! I did know. And I also knew how much I wanted people to like me and to fit in. So much that I let someone talk me into doing something so unlike me that it left me heartbroken. I had hurt someone for no reason. And like Mom always said, “hurting someone else hurts God, too.”
Suddenly I was angrier than I was afraid. Mostly at myself — for letting Linda talk me into such a plot. I wanted to march two houses down and tell her my own plan. And if she didn’t care to join me, that was her problem.
Linda did go with me, hanging behind as I rang the bell. I stuttered our apology to the woman in her wheelchair. At first, her black eyes flashed, reminding me of dark skies on a stormy day. I could tell she wasn’t sure if we were really sorry, or if someone was making us confess. But after we finished hosing down her driveway she asked us in for lemonade. She told us about her grandchildren, who were our age and lived in another state. I confided how I loved to read and that Linda was a great swimmer. By the time we left, I had a new friend, and dinner sounded good again.
Even Linda seemed relieved. It was almost like she had needed me to stand up to her. Maybe all her crazy ideas were because she tried too hard to feel… important. Because she wanted me to like her, too. I hadn’t thought of that before.
“Hey! Race you to your house!” I dared.
I was through doing whatever old thing Linda said. But after today, maybe, we could be real friends….
P. D.
Some of the values artists value. Croudsourced values, part of *For the Love of it*, Artquest, London 2013
Everywhere you look, there are reports about rising inflation, which is presented as increases in prices of goods. But contrary to the news media explanations, inflation and rising prices are not the same, although there is an undeniable relationship between the two.
Inflation isn’t prices going up but the value of money going down. Spending power decreases. The classic case is late-1923 Germany, when, because of hyperinflation, “a loaf of bread cost 140 billion marks. Workers were paid twice a day, and given half-hour breaks to rush to the shops with their satchels, suitcases, or wheelbarrow, to buy something, anything, before their paper money halved in value yet again” (source: “Loads of Money“, Economist; www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/1999/12/23/loads-...).
To finance World War I, Germany eliminated the gold standard and started printing lots more money—essentially what the United States has done during the past two years in part as response to SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus 2)/COVID-19. To oversimplify: The more dollars circulating, the less valuable they are.
Let’s try a different example based on my recent experience. In January 2021, when the administration in Washington changed, gas at my local station cost $2.86 per gallon. Yesterday, I paid $5.80, which is a little more than twice as much. The $28.60 to fill up 14 months ago is good for half a tank today. My money is worth less to purchase the same quantity. Or if you prefer: I pay twice as much to get the same thing.
While it’s true that gas prices are rising for other reasons, too, such as the West’s sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, costs of goods are up everywhere and the value of money is down. Again, additional causes come from disrupted supply chains, among other factors. Meaning: Prices rise for multiple reasons in the current economy. Nevertheless, each dollar is worth less and more are required to purchase the same thing. As such, prices increase independent of inflation—or hadn’t you noticed before this inflationary period that you gradually paid more for all kinds of goods?
Another example: Dollar Tree recently raised prices to $1.25. The retailer cites a host of reasons, such as costlier distribution and wage increases. Bottom line: Your buck buys less today than a few months ago.
Last week, the U.S. Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 0.25 percent as part of several measures meant to curtail inflation. But as long as our esteemed lawmakers continue to pursue passing massive handout packages, printing presses will continue and the value of your dollar decreases. Matters might be different if those funds weren’t backed by debt.
So the next time that you see or hear something about inflation, don’t think prices going up but your spending power going down. Why do I overly repeat? For example: Your existing assets. Let’s say you are saving up to buy a house, and you need 20 percent downpayment, or you’ve got $500,000 put away for retirement. The money saved for the home may no longer be enough and the retirement nest egg could last lots less time because you have to spend so much more.
Or perhaps you live paycheck to paycheck. Every dollar you earn buys less as inflation rises. Again, that’s deflated value. Last week, you paid $5 to buy five boxes of Mac-in-Cheese for the kids. Now your hard-earned dollars are only worth enough to purchase four, or you can scrap snacks for the kiddies’ lunchboxes and pay $6.25. You can view that as either a 25-percent price increase or decline in your money’s value.
Just remember this and hope that it’s never you: The German woman hauling a wheelbarrow full of money to the baker. The intrinsic value of that loaf of bread didn’t change, just the number of marks necessary to buy it—or for you, dollars.
Note: I used Leica Q2's dedicated Macro mode for this shot.
After coming out of prison last summer, Welcome is now a One Man Can Training Assistant. He explains how the project asks questions and encourages men to rethink how they value women and change their lives.
“How can I say that I’m gender conscious if I’m still being abusive? How can I say I’m gender conscious if I’m still seeing women as objects rather than our equals? So in order to change, I needed to do this introspection and move myself away from gang activity to understand I could be a loving man and a loving provider, if I just worked on that process.”
Background
In March 2013 the United Nation's Commission on the Status of Women will meet to discuss how to prevent all forms of violence against women and girls.
UK aid is working in 21 countries to address physical and sexual violence against women and girls and will be supporting 10 million women and girls with improved access to security and justice services by 2015.
Find out more at www.dfid.gov.uk/violence-against-women-and-girls
For more information about the Sonke Gender Justice programme visit genderjustice.org.za/
Picture: Lindsay Mgbor/Department for International Development
Terms of use
This image is posted under a Creative Commons - Attribution Licence, in accordance with the Open Government Licence. You are free to embed, download or otherwise re-use it, as long as you credit the source as Lindsay Mgbor/Department for International Development'.
Nestlé helps farmers in the Parma region of Italy to increase their production of tomatoes whilst reducing their water consumption.
Everything I think seems to have a little strain of chaos, that buzzing happening of a brain that won't give itself a break. It keeps me thinking that I've done too much, even if there's not much truth in the matter. I'm the wrong one to ask about how to relax, you'll find me running on a tightrope and talking up the meditative value. Always about what's next, what's now, intensely impatient to reach it. If I ever seem calm, it's because I've found a fever pitch at its greatest, and stood still on a precarious peak before tumbling. Steadily swaying sort of sickly, thoughts that call me craving speaking, nothing I tend to keep inside for long. When I'm about to fall asleep, I know how much I need the rest.
May 14, 2022
Beaconsfield, Nova Scotia
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Santiago's Shop #1 & #2 is a distinguished family owned business that was established in 1992 by Santiago Cruz and Roberta Garcia. We're happy to announce that we've finally decided to go with the technological times. Therefore, we've created this website for our customers to gain an insight of the large array of unique items that we carry in our stores. We offer an eclectic range of merchandise from industrial to architectural salvage, to modern and a lot of weird and unusual things. We provide our clients with superior value and service that lead them to acquiring anything but ordinary items. Our business is built upon our constant hard work, honesty, and the desire for our customers to experience excellency at its finest. We gain access to our merchandise through the connections that we hold in the LA area (Bel Air, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Calabasas, Encino, Pasadena, Westlake, Thousand Oaks, etc.) Our items come from the best homes and some even come from celebrities' homes. We work with the best dealers on La Brea, La Cienega, Melrose, etc. Our store has been featured on several shows like Keeping Up with the Kardashians on E! and Antonio's Treatment on HGTV. We've also had a lot of celebrities visit our stores. This is only the beginning for us and our goal is to fulfill the customers' needs and to evolve into a bigger and better business. We invite you to visit us and experience exceptional service! There are new arrivals to the store everyday. Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or comments.
We have an eclectic range of items! From antiques, architectual salvage, to modern furniture and.... weird stuff!!!
You will never come across an antique store quite like ours!
Santiago Mid Century Antiques
5641 & 5645 Lankershim Blvd North Hollywood CA
Santiago Cruz (818) 445-8410
Roberta Garcia (818) 445-8409
santiagomidcenturyantiques@gmail.com
santiagomidcenturyantiques.com
George Nelson
Herman Miller
Frank Lloyd Wright
Barovier e Toso
Dyrlund
Paul McCobb
Paul Evans
Paul Frankl
Edmund Spence
George Nakashima
Milo Baughman
Harry Bertoia
Charles Eames
Charles and Ray Eames
Charles & Ray Eames
Jere
Kravet Furniture
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Keeping Up with the Kardashians
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High style
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Rose Bowl Flea Market
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Pacific City College Flea Market
Long Beach Flea Market
candleholders
candelabra
drawer
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Old Medical supplies
Dentist Cabinet
Chinese
This picture has light from outside of the underneath path of the stairs and shadow as well because of how the stairs cover the sky.
Podium at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC.
Please attribute to Gage Skidmore if used elsewhere.
Steffi Czerny (DLD Media) on stage of DLDwomen (Digital Life Design) Women at 'Haus der Kunst' on July 11 and 12, 2012 in Munich, Germany. DLD is an international innovation conference with a focus on female markets in business, the media, technology, society, healthcare, education, politics and science. (Photo: Tobias Hase/picture alliance)
Value City (90,000 square feet)
837 J Clyde Morris Blvd, Newport Square, Newport News, VA
Opened August 5th, 1993; originally Murphy's Mart (October 3rd, 1973-1986), later Ames (early 1987-April 1993)
The heritage value of the Mont Blanc Anchor Site lies in its commemoration of the Halifax Explosion of 1917 when the “Mont-Blanc,” an ammunitions vessel, collided with the Norwegian relief ship “Imo.” Over 2,000 people died, and an additional 5,000 were injured as a direct result of the explosion classifying the event as the largest manmade explosion prior to Hiroshima. The explosion projected the 1140 pound anchor shaft of the “Mont Blanc” approximately two and one half miles from the point of the explosion, a fact which attests to the power of the explosion. (Source: Halifax.ca)
This is not just another cardboard, retail sign. This patented system is quick and easy to assemble. It’s foldable and economical to ship. Our high quality graphic print capabilities and graphic design team allow us to fully customize each display for your specific needs. We offer multiple sizes and all of our corrugated displays and signs are made from sustainable and recyclable materials. The Flash Totem is a great value for little cost. We offer the best in-store, point of purchase signs and displays on the market today. We can help you come up with a design that will make an impact in retail stores everywhere and maximize your ROI. Contact us today to get your free quote at www.landaal.com
Imagine I offered you a choice of four gifts:
* The original Mona Lisa
* The keys to a brand new Lamborghini
* A million dollars in cash
* A parachute
You can pick only one. Which would you choose? Before you decide, here's some information that will help you to make the wisest choice: You have to jump 10,000 feet out of an airplane.
Does that help you to connect the dots? It should, because you need the parachute. It's the only one of the four gifts that will help with your dilemma. The others may have some value, but they are useless when it comes to facing the law of gravity in a 10,000-foot fall. The knowledge that you will have to jump should produce a healthy fear in you—and that kind of fear is good because it can save your life. Remember that.
Now think of the four major religions:
* Hinduism
* Buddhism
* Islam
* Christianity
Which one should you choose? Before you decide, here's some information that will help you determine which one is the wisest choice: All of humanity stands on the edge of eternity. We are all going to die. We will all have to pass through the door of death. It could happen to us in twenty years, or in six months, . . . or today. For most of humanity, death is a huge and terrifying plummet into the unknown. So what should we do?
Do you remember how it was your knowledge of the jump that produced that healthy fear, and that fear helped you to make the right choice? You know what the law of gravity can do to you. In the same way, we are going to look at another law, and hopefully your knowledge of what it can do to you will help you make the right choice, about life's greatest issue. So, stay with me—and remember to let fear work for you.
The Leap...
After we die we have to face what is called "the law of sin and death." We know that Law as "The Ten Commandments." So let's look at that Law and see how you will do when you face it on Judgment Day.
Have you loved God above all else? Is He first in your life? He should be. He's given you your life and everything that is dear to you. Do you love Him with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength? That's the requirement of the First Commandment.
Or have you broken the Second Commandment by making a god in your mind that you're comfortable with—where you say, "My God isn't a God of wrath, he's a God of love and mercy"? That god does not exist; he's a figment of the imagination. To create a god in your mind (your own image of God) is something the Bible calls "idolatry." Idolaters will not enter Heaven.
Have you ever used God's name in vain, as a cuss word to express disgust? That's called "blasphemy," and it's very serious in God's sight. This is breaking the Third Commandment, and the Bible says God will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
Have you always honored your parents implicitly, and kept the Sabbath holy? If not, you have broken the Fourth and Fifth Commandments. Have you ever hated someone? The Bible says, "Whosoever hates his brother is a murderer."
The Seventh is "You shall not commit adultery," but Jesus said, "Whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart" (the Seventh Commandment includes sex before marriage). Have you ever looked with lust or had sex outside of marriage? If you have, you've violated that Commandment. Have you ever lied? Ever stolen anything, regardless of value? If you have, then you're a lying thief. The Bible tells us, "Lying lips are abomination to the Lord," because He is a God of truth and holiness. Have you coveted (jealously desired) other people's things? This is a violation of the Tenth Commandment.
Little Jessica....
So that is God's moral Law that we each will face. We will be without excuse when we stand before God because He gave us our conscience to know right from wrong. Each time we lie, steal, commit adultery, murder, and so on, we know that it's wrong. So here is the crucial question. On Judgment Day, when God judges you, will you be found innocent or guilty of breaking this Law? Think before you answer. Will you go to Heaven or Hell? The Bible warns that all murderers, idolaters, liars, thieves, fornicators, and adulterers will end up in Hell. So where does that leave you?
Perhaps the thought of going to Hell doesn't scare you, because you don't believe in it. That's like standing in the open door of a plane 10,000 feet off the ground and saying, "I don't believe there will be any consequences if I jump without a parachute." To say that there will be no consequences for breaking God's Law is to say that God is unjust, that He is evil. This is why.
On February 24, 2005, a nine-year-old girl was reported missing from her home in Homosassa, Florida. Three weeks later, police discovered that she had been kidnapped, brutally raped, and then buried alive. Little Jessica Lunsford was found tied up, in a kneeling position, clutching a stuffed toy.
How do you react?...
How do you feel toward the man who murdered that helpless little girl in such an unspeakably cruel way? Are you angered? I hope so. I hope you are outraged. If you were completely indifferent to her fate, it would reveal something horrible about your character.
Do you think that God is indifferent to such acts of evil? You can bet your precious soul He is not. He is outraged by them. The fury of Almighty God against evil is evidence of His goodness. If He wasn't angered, He wouldn't be good. We cannot separate God's goodness from His anger. Again, if God is good by nature, He must be unspeakably angry at wickedness.
But His goodness is so great that His anger isn't confined to the evils of rape and murder. Nothing is hidden from His pure and holy eyes. He is outraged by torture, terrorism, abortion, theft, lying, adultery, fornication, pedophilia, homosexuality, and blasphemy. He also sees our thought-life, and He will judge us for the hidden sins of the heart: for lust, hatred, rebellion, greed, unclean imaginations, ingratitude, selfishness, jealousy, pride, envy, deceit, etc. Jesus warned, "But I say to you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment" (emphasis added).
The Bible says that God's wrath "abides" on each of us, and that every time we sin, we're "storing up wrath" that will be revealed on Judgment Day. We are even told that we are "by nature the children of wrath" (emphasis added). Sinning against God comes naturally to us—and we naturally earn His anger by our sins.
Instant Death...
Many people believe that because God is good, He will forgive everyone, and let all sinners into Heaven. But they misunderstand His goodness.
When Moses once asked to see God's glory, God told him that he couldn't see Him and live. Moses would instantly die if he looked upon God. Consider this: [God] said, I will make all my goodness pass before you . . . And it shall come to pass, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand while I pass by.
Notice that all of God's glory was displayed in His "goodness." The goodness of God would have killed Moses instantly because of his personal sinfulness. The fire of God's goodness would have consumed him, like a cup of water dropped onto the surface of the sun. The only way any of us can stand in the presence of God is to be pure in heart. Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."11 But as we've seen by looking at the Law, not a single one of us is "pure in heart."
These are extremely fearful thoughts, because the God we are speaking about is nothing like the commonly accepted image. He is not a benevolent Father-figure, who is happily smiling upon sinful humanity. In the midst of these frightening thoughts, remember to let fear work for you. The fear of God is the healthiest fear you can have. The Bible calls it "the beginning of wisdom."
Again, your knowledge of God's Law should help you to see that you have a life-threatening dilemma: a huge problem of God's wrath (His justifiable anger) against your personal sins. The just penalty for sin—breaking even one Law—is death, and eternity in Hell. But you haven't broken just one Law. Like the rest of us, you've no doubt broken all these laws, countless times each. What kind of anger do you think a judge is justified in having toward a criminal guilty of breaking the law thousands of times?
Let's See...
Let's now look at those four major religions to see if they can help you with your predicament.
Hinduism
The religion of Hinduism says that if you've been bad, you may come back as a rat or some other animal. If you've been good, you might come back as a prince. But that's like someone saying, "When you jump out of the plane, you'll get sucked back in as another passenger. If you've been bad, you go down to the Economy Class; if you've been good, you go up to First Class." It's an interesting concept, but it doesn't deal with your real problem of having sinned against God and the reality of Hell.
Buddhism
Amazingly, the religion of Buddhism denies that God even exists. It teaches that life and death are sort of an illusion. That's like standing at the door of the plane and saying, "I'm not really here, and there's no such thing as the law of gravity, and no ground that I'm going to hit." That may temporarily help you deal with your fears, but it doesn't square with reality. And it doesn't deal with your real problem of having sinned against God and the reality of Hell.
Islam
Interestingly, Islam acknowledges the reality of sin and Hell, and the justice of God, but the hope it offers is that sinners can escape God's justice if they do religious works. God will see these, and because of them, hopefully He will show mercy—but they won't know for sure. Each person's works will be weighed on the Day of Judgment and it will then be decided who is saved and who is not—based on whether they followed Islam, were sincere in repentance, and performed enough righteous deeds to outweigh their bad ones. So Islam believes you can earn God's mercy by your own efforts. That's like jumping out of the plane, and believing that flapping your arms is going to counter the law of gravity and save you from a 10,000-foot drop. And there's something else to consider.
The Law of God shows us that the best of us is nothing but a wicked criminal, standing guilty and condemned before the throne of a perfect and holy Judge. When that is understood, then our "righteous deeds" are actually seen as an attempt to bribe the Judge of the Universe. The Bible says that because of our guilt, anything we offer God for our justification (our acquittal from His courtroom) is an abomination to Him, and only adds to our crimes. Islam, like the other religions, doesn't solve your problem of having sinned against God and the reality of Hell.
Christianity
So why is Christianity different? Aren't all religions the same? Let's see. In Christianity, God Himself provided a "parachute" for us, and His Word says regarding the Savior, "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ." Just as a parachute solved your dilemma with the law of gravity and its consequences, so the Savior perfectly solves your dilemma with the Law of God and its consequences! It is the missing puzzle-piece that you need.
How did God solve our dilemma? He satisfied His wrath by becoming a human being and taking our punishment upon Himself. The Scriptures tell us that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. Christianity provides the only parachute to save us from the consequences of the Law we have transgressed
Back to the Plane...
To illustrate this more clearly, let's go back to that plane for a moment. You are standing on the edge of a 10,000-foot drop. You have to jump. Your heart is thumping in your chest. Why? Because of fear. You know that the law of gravity will kill you when you jump. Someone offers you the original Mona Lisa. You push it aside. Another person passes you the keys to a brand new Lamborghini. You let them drop to the floor. Someone else tries to put a million dollars into your hands. You push the person's hand away, and stand there in horror at your impending fate.
Suddenly, you hear a voice say, "Here's a parachute!" Which one of those four people is going to hold the most credibility in your eyes? It's the one who held up the parachute! Again, it is your fear of the jump that turns you toward the good news of the parachute.
In the same way, knowledge of what God's Law will do to you produces a fear that makes the news of a Savior unspeakably good news! It solves your predicament of God's wrath. God loves you so much that He became a sinless human being in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
The Savior died an excruciating death on the cross, taking your punishment (the death penalty) upon Himself. The demands of eternal justice were satisfied the moment He cried, "It is finished!" The lightning of God's wrath was stopped and the thunder of His indignation was silenced at Calvary's bloodied cross: "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." We broke the Law, but He became a man to pay our penalty in His life's blood.
Then He rose from the dead, defeating death. That means that God can now forgive every sin you have ever committed and commute your death sentence. If you repent and place your trust in Jesus, you can say with the apostle Paul: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
So you no longer need to be tormented by the fear of death, and you don't need to look any further for ways to deal with the dilemma of sin and God's wrath. The Savior is God's gift to you. The gospel is unspeakably good news for the entire, sinful human race! God Himself can "justify" you. He can cleanse you, and give you the "righteousness" of Christ. He can make you pure in heart by washing away your sins. He can shelter you from His fierce wrath, in the Rock of Ages that He has cleft for you. Only Jesus can save you from death and Hell, something that you could never earn or deserve.
Repent (Luke 13:5) of your sins (turn from them), and put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14) as you would put on a parachute—trusting in Him (Psalm 62:8) alone for your salvation. That means you forsake your own good works (Isaiah 64:6) as a means of trying to please God (trying to bribe Him), and trust only in what Jesus has done for you. Throw yourself on the mercy of the Judge. The Bible says that He's rich in mercy (Ephesians 2.4) to all who call upon Him, so call upon Him (Isaiah 55:6) right now. He will hear you if you approach Him (John 6:44) with a humble and sorrowful heart.
I bought a used 50mm f1.8 lens for 80 Euros. Very good value. Fantastic DoF and nice bokeh. Amazing how good it works in low-light conditions! I really love my Sigma 17-70mm, but this one will get some attention :-)
And it is very lightweight. I could not believe that there was a lens inside the box :-)