What an oppor-tuna-ty....

Recording here.  






Good morning and welcome to my Thought for the Day entitled what an "oppor-tuna-ty".

Well I’ve been doing a bit of research and a tin of tuna will set you back about £1.50 in the Huntingdon supermarkets these days, though you might be able to get a budget tin for more like 80p if you hunt around.

So guess how much Kiyoshi Kimura paid for his bluefin tuna in Tokyo last month? Answer, a staggering half a billion yen. That’s £2.4million for a fish! Well that must be the most expensive fish ever sold[1].

Apparently big blue fin tuna (and this one weighs in at 243kilos) sell for big money. But the first tuna of the year at the opening fish market in Tokyo in January are particularly sought after. They are believed to bring good luck.

Mr Kimura who is known as the “Tuna King” bought the fish for the record breaking amount (yes £2.4M) for his restaurant chain Sushi Zanmai, and one customer said after eating some of the Sushi containing this fish “I feel like I've begun the year in a good way after eating something so auspicious as the year starts”.

Well do you think that eating a fish brings you good luck? Do you avoid the number 13? Do you fear breaking a mirror, or spilling salt, or opening an umbrella indoors?

Why would eating a certain fish make the year better? How does that work? A lot of people can’t explain why they are superstitious or how it works, but they still reckon that seeing a black cat or walking on cracks will make their life worse.

Christians generally don’t go in for superstition. We believe that there is a good God who controls the world. Yes bad things still happen, but God is in control of them too.

Rather than being enslaved by having to do the right things, or avoid the wrong things, God has made a way to find peace in life, and hope for the future. And that is found by placing your confidence in the rescue plan that he has sent in Jesus.

So next time you look at the diary and it’s Friday the 13th (that’s next week by the way), or you walk under a ladder. Don’t panic. Put your life in the hands of the one who loves you, and who sends his Holy Spirit to everyone who turns to him, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consider that it’s Him that calls the shots, not you!

Thanks for listening.

Charlie Newcombe 02FEB26



[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8d0q16zvzgo