The painted tomb...?

I took this picture while out in Durham last Saturday... can you guess where and what?

Urville

Here's something odd, but kind of cool...

A Frenchman called Gilles Trehlin has spent years designing an imaginary city called Urville. His website contains descriptions of the geography, economy and society, but I particularly enjoyed his drawings of places and buildings.

I think these are my favourites:

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

I was reminded recently how much I enjoyed the music video for Sitting, Waiting, Wishing - you can view it on the In Between Dreams page on the official site.

I love the creativeness of it, and trying to figure out what comes next from the clues.. It's a simple idea, but cleverly executed (look out for when the piano comes in), and he does a good job dubbing the lyrics as well - I wonder how many tries that took?!

Abdul Rahman

I was struck by the story of this man, Abdul Rahman, who has been in the news recently, an Afghan Christian under trial for his life.

There is a short video of his confession of being 'a Jesus follower' on the website of the Afghan Christian News.

This man inspires me, standing up and declaring his faith in Jesus, despite the very real possibility of being hanged for his confession. It reminds me that we put our trust in the one who saves; He is only one who holds the power of life and death over us.

I want to pray for Abdul that he holds firmly to this truth, whatever happens. I ask for him to stand tall and be confident in God's presence. And I pray that he brings something of the love and saving grace of Jesus Christ to the prison where he is held, and to the country that wants to kill him.

Google goes out of this world

Check out Google Mars!

There's also a flight into Valles Marineris on Google Video (the HiRes version can be found here)

Church: why bother?

No, I'm not trying to be controversial, that's the title of my half-term-book-of-the-day today (although I should say that this is the first day I've managed it - and potentially the last one!)

This is Philip Yancey's reflection on his own church experiences, and although it's fairly slight and doesn't say much that I haven't gathered already from his other books, he's as readable as ever. I always find Yancey an inspiring read, or at least an affirming one. He asks honest questions and his reflections on genuine God-focused spirituality ring true for me.

However, the foreward by Eugene Peterson is perhaps my favourite part of this book. He relates the story of John Muir climbing a Douglas Fir in a storm, in order to experience the Weather.

He goes onto to talk about spirituality being about lived life, and his inspiration from Muir to "open myself to the Weather, not wanting to miss a detail of this invasion of Life into my life, ready at the drop of a hat to lose my life to save it (Mark 8:35)
"...if there is no readiness to respond to the living God, who moves when and how and where he chooses, it isn't much of a life - the livingness soon leaks out of it"

And two or three thoughts from Yancey that struck me...

On hypocrisy - "one day the question occurred to me, 'What would church look like if every member were just like me?' Properly humbled, I began concentrating on my spirituality, not everyone else's."

On the body of Christ - "As I look around on Sunday morning...I see the risk that God has assumed. For whatever reason, God now reveals himself in the world not through a pillar of smoke and fire, not evern through the physical body of his Son in Galilee, but through the mongrel collection that comprises my local church..."

On the 'saviour complex' - "Nouwen concludes, 'When we can come to realize that our guilt has been taken away and that only God saves, then we are free to serve, then we can live truly humble lives.'"
- (from Helmut Thielicke, on Jesus' ministry) "Though the burden of the whole world lay heavy upon his shoulders...he has time to stop and talk to the individual...for all time is in the hands of his Father. And that too is why peace and not unrest goes out from him."

Actually, this is one of the most interesting sections of the book...a reflection on how ministry in obedience and 'under' God's faithfulness avoids frenzied activity and burnout.

Mini men

These pictures are worth a look... Some French art students have taken a series of photographs of mini people in edible settings!



Excellent! Which are your favourites?

A bit of nostalgia

I re-discovered a page of 'Brockwell D' photos linked from Gav's website.

I believe it's actually me who took these - in the early days of my digital camera... o the excitement :-)

I miss that place sometimes! I spotted a few things that made me laugh to remember..
- rabbit fur armrest
- Pete's cake confusion
- cream and tickle fight
- the ever-present plastic goal
- Gav eating mud
- revision by the lake
- the deer on the wall (there were also badgers by the TV and a fox behind the fridge)
- Tom kidnapping Gav

Unfortunately there's no evidence of the leopard-skin fleece throw... which has strangely disappeared since! (Who do my present housemates have to thank for that?!)

Mystery

Thanks to whoever left the flowers and chocolates this evening! They were definitely a surprise!
But we're all a bit confused about who they're for exactly... to me, Vic, a joint gift to all the girls here tonight??

Maybe if the mystery man (?) would like to let us know somehow...?

Picture Memories

I came across these pictures from my trip to Uganda years ago. Unfortunately they've faded a bit and the scan isn't too good...

In the truck - the boys loved this truck, climbing all over it as we bumped down the 'road' - the girls sitting safely in the middle! We drove about an hour and a half away from the town to a lake, so that they could be baptised. They had become Christians earlier in the year and had been desperately waiting for this day ever since!



Waiting for baptism - the 'White Eagle Boys' had never seen any expanse of water before and they were slightly overwhelmed with the lake. It wasn't long before they were leaping and splashing around in the water though. And they were really excited to be baptised! About 20 that day... (I think I did three!)


Mukama ye ba si 'bwe!' Jesu ge kabaka!

Just a glimpse

My mp3 playlists are constantly changing, but my current collection is about as strange as they get! Here's a sample of what I've been listening to recently:

Landslide - Fleetwood Mac (live)
Crosses - Jose Gonzales
Broken - Jack Johnson
Second Hand News - Fleetwood Mac
Hoppipolla - Sigur Ros
Answer in the Sky - Elton John
Reign - UNKLE
Les nuits - Nightmares on Wax
Protection - Massive Attack
Saltwater - Chicane
Hope - Faith Evans (feat Twista)
Fake Plastic Trees - Radiohead
The letter that never came - Thomas Newman
Goodbye my lover - James Blunt
I will always love you - Whitney Houston
Send someone away - Embee
Dead in the water - David Gray
Lose yourself - Eminem
8 Mile rap battles!

Husbands and Wives: who will come first?

I've been reading Tony Campolo's 'Speaking My Mind' which has as a subtitle, "The radical evangelical prophet tackles the tough issues Christians are afraid to face"!

It's a series of essays on various topics: women, homosexuals, science, Islam, the 'moral decline'... As I'm normally a fan of Tony Campolo and I like how he approaches issues, I thought I'd find out what he had to say. I haven't been disappointed so far.

The first essay is on women in the church (and in marriage). He's less even-handed here than he is in other areas, but I was especially struck by the point he makes about us asking the wrong questions.

For example, he talks about being asked "Who's supposed to be the head of the house?"

'When I hear such a question, I am inclined to say, "If you were really a Christian, you wouldn't ask a question like that. The Christian never asks who's going to be master. Instead, the Christian asks who's going to be the servant. The true Christian never asks who's going to be the first in any hierachy but rather asks who's going to be last."

Fortunately, I don't have to be that tough in my answer. All I have to do is read what Jesus said about all of this when He taught His disciples: "And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all" (Mark 9:35). Then I simply ask how he could apply this Scripture in answering the question he just asked.'

He also makes the point that husbands are told in Ephesians to love their wives even as Christ loved the church. And he quotes Philippians 2:5-8: "...took upon him the form of a servant...and became obedient unto death..."

He goes on to conclude that 'if a Christian husband wants to love his wife as Christ loved the church, he has to define himself as her slave... What all this amounts to is a living out of each serving the other in love, even as Paul instructs them to (Gal 5:13).'

Iceskaters!

What a funny looking bunch! ;-)



Lighting was too poor for amusing action pics - oh well!

Jesus in the Wilderness

We were looking at Jesus' temptation in the wilderness this evening at cell. I wanted to jot down a couple of interesting points that came up...

- Jesus' temptations mirror the tests that the Israelites failed in their forty years in the desert...they moaned about food, they worshipped other Gods and they tested God.

- The choices he is faced with in these 'temptations' are just the beginning. They represent the choices he will face day-to-day during his ministry:
The temptation to use miracles for personal gain, or else to demonstrate his power or identity ('If you are the Son of God')
The temptation to build an earthly kingdom or submit to authority other than God's.
The temptation to test God, to demonstrate his divinity, to find out if God will really save him.

These choices are set before him, as clear as they will ever be. Jesus sets the pattern here, refusing neither to engage with the enemy, nor do what he suggests. He answers but does not bother to dispute.

- In thinking about the last temptation, it's interesting to remember that of course Jesus will die and God will forsake him (Matt 27:46), at least temporarily. He does throw himself from the temple in one sense, and God doesn't send angels to save him (although Jesus later says that he could call on his Father and immediately have 12 legions at his disposal - Matt 26:53) Jesus' focus is on obedience to his Father, not asking 'what if?'.

Birthdays baffled

Friends,

I'm trying to straighten out birthdays because I'm useless at keeping track. I'll try and get round to most people but if you're not feeling shy I'd be glad if you'd comment with the date of your birthday - and then everyone else will know too!

friend or food?

Here's a heart warming story!

Snake befriends snack

Also, check out the link on that page to the story of the lioness and baby antelope - amazing!

More puzzling...

Here's a few more cryptic clues for the puzzlers among you. This time they're all towns and cities in the UK:

1. Tying up cured meat with string. (M)
2. Fresh fortress. (N)
3. Envious magical woman. (L)
4. Stupid chips. (Sc)
5. Young shopping centre. (~S)
6. Murky pool. (N)
7. Contented cat with a lisp. (Sc)
8. Farm animal's car. (S)
9. En-suite, perhaps. (S)
10. Wealthy French world. (N/L)
11. Dancing Queens become clergyman.(Sc)
12. Needed for snooker (L)
13. Where ethnic music meets hard rock. (S)
14. Outdoor caterer. (N)
15. Sight the Queen's birds (W)

Office Linebacker

This video made me laugh a lot!

Google video is impressive - simple, intuitive and fast. Actually I'd be stunned to find a Google product that didn't measure up. They make software that works the way you'd like it to, and more.

First sunrise of 2006

2006 began with a early start (after a late night no less!) and a drive up to Northumberland to watch the sunrise. Alnmouth beach was quiet and gorgeous.. a beautifully still place to begin the new year.










The Sun finally appears - a good 20 minutes after sunrise!

The sun shines on Coquet Island lighthouse

Snowy Durham

Bright winter sun...

...lighting up the Cathedral!

Who do these strange prints belong to? (in the back garden!)

...not this strange beast!