obsession with the self

Are blogs inherently narcissistic?

Sunday Night Live

Anna on suffering, for Sunday Night Live this week

bag the mac

Tonight I was doing some online window-shopping for a laptop bag. I've only ever found one that fits my laptop properly and for the past two years I've been deliberating if £80 is too much for a laptop bag.
Anyway tonight I found this forum with the following comedy comments:

"As demonstrated in one of the most helpful animated gifs ever, one can see that the CORE system is designed to keep your notebook standing on end if you drop it on a pillow." See http://www.brenthaven.com/core-protection-levels.html

millsE @ Whirlpool: "i have a 12" Booq Viper and i am very impressed with it, i had a ridiculously clumsy stumble at school, somehow i tripped over 2 chairs, didn't fall over and managed to gain balance again, and then i stumbled over a further chair, my shoulder bag with my 12" ibook in it fell off my shoulder and i stepped with quite some weight onto the laptop, and all is fine."

(I wanted to add a comment congratulating him on a great story)

i love the bbc

** Man pulls helicopter with ear **
A Georgian man claims to have set a record by pulling a helicopter weighing nearly eight tons for 26 metres with his ear.

pot of gold

Radiohead's new album, In Rainbows, goes on sale in the shops in a couple of months' time. Today you can download it from their website, and you decide how much you pay for it. I say well done Radiohead, for raising an interesting question in a creative way. Monday's Guardian (http://media.guardian.co.uk/mediaguardian/story/0,,2185647,00.html) liked their marketing strategy.
I paid £1 for it (I tried to pay £4 the first time and the site crashed). Afterwards I felt a little guilty, because upon listening to it realised it's probably worth more than that. But now I'm not so sure. On a very philosophical walk home I pondered, how on earth do you decide what monetary value to put on any item, never mind on a collection of music, which can lift or sink the soul? I pay £50 for a pair of jeans because the shop tells me that's how much they're worth. But who gives them the authority to say that? I'm not convinced they have it.
Jesus Christ once said, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man (ie him) will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval." (John 6:27)
In other words, Jesus suggested that an item's value (or whether it is worth investing in) is determined by its eternal worth and significance. The one thing we ought to consider of immense value, that we don't, is the human soul. Only through him can we invest in it eternally. Who gives him the authority to claim that? He claims that God does. I think he's right, and his comments are fresh air for our consumerist culture.

Suffering? Let your light shine!

"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
Jesus Christ, Matthew 5v11-16

"What is most salty and bright in this insipid and dark world is the almost incomprehensible joy of Jesus' followers in the midst of persecution and the hardships of life. It is a joy that is meek and merciful and pure and peaceable, but these things alone do not awaken people to the glory of God. In order to waken people to consider God as an explanation for our good works there generally must be an obstacle of suffering that would ordinarily cause them to be angry or despairing, but does not have that effect on us. Rather they see us "rejoice" in hardship. They see that this hardship does not make us self-centred and self-pitying and mean-spirited. Instead they see our joy and wonder what we are hoping in when ordinary props for hope have been knocked away. The answer, Jesus says, is that we have great reward in heaven. That is, Jesus has become a treasure for us that is more precious than what the world offers. Therefore, when persecution or calamity take natural pleasures away, we still have Jesus, and we still have joy."
John Piper, What Jesus Demands From The World, IVP

woohoo!

The Rees's Swing

I'm a saint!

1 corinthians 1v2 "to the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy (literal translation: have been made holy), together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ - their Lord and ours"

Mike Reeves:
How would you feel if I said, "I'm a saint!"?
You'd think, "that's an arrogant thing to say".
That's because we associate being a saint with doing good. So if I say I'm a saint, you think I'm saying a good person.
But Scripture says being a saint is quite the opposite - it is absolutely nothing to do with what we do, but it is something given to us, regardless of what we do. It is something available to anyone who calls on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So if I trust in Christ, God considers me a saint!

http://thebluefish.blogspot.com/2007/03/uccf-south-east-leaders.html

erm, hi...

thanks to andy and amanda I've decided to keep this blog going. only because they both read it, but that makes my day!

sayonara blogger... hallo facebook

this blog is over. see you at facebook!

Thief steals urinal from city pub

It took him 40 minutes!

happy new year couple

mobile clubbing

How cool is this?!



A couple of weeks ago a circular email went out with words to this effect:

"30/11/06 @ 7.18pm @ Paddington Station. Arrive at location at given time. Start dancing to your personal stereo to the music of your choice. Please utilise the whole space, spread out - this will prevent us from being moved on. Don't worry clubbers you will be one of many."

So about 3500 people turned up to Paddington Station, and at precisely 7.18pm turned on their ipods and started dancing like nutters - in silence, apart from the occasional whoop from the crowd. Anna's brother (above) was there for about 2 hours and got his photo in the next day's Evening Standard!

Postmodern clubbing - what a cool phenomenon!

Go here for a slideshow
http://www.flickr.com/photos/yappa/sets/72157594399493225/show/
and here for a movie
http://www.stevendiffey.co.uk/2006/12/mobile-clubbing-in-paddington-station.html

porth towan

on a saturday afternoon in november

a summary of the past 500 years

by Marcus Honeysett:

Reformation stated knowledge is available because of revelation
Enlightenment removed God from the equation
Morality became based on utalitarianism
Christianity responded by creating liberalism
Naturalism brought feelings back
Science denied it which led to materialism
Materialism demanded to be purely personal - leisure versus work
World War One denied scientific materialism
The Great Depression led to World War Two and ended modernism
Communism failed to deliver
Truth claims were automatically suspect
Hence postmodernism was born.
So Trisha says, personal choice is the ultimate value.

st mawes

baptism, anyone?

I've been thinking about baptism lately, and I've reached a stalemate. Below is my dilemma. I'd appreciate comments, thoughts, opinions on any of the questions below - if anyone's up for it let's discuss! Coffee bible club interested? Thanks

"What I find confusing about the subject of baptism is not who should get baptised – I’m pretty confident that is open to believing adults and their children – nor what is it – it’s a covenantal sacrament, and at the very least I know it’s a good thing, with power attributed to it. The big question for me is, what happens at baptism? After pondering this question for the best part of a year I am still no clearer what the answer is. It is certainly not just a public witness of faith. That is what it’s been reduced to in some circles, but the Scriptures attribute more power to it than that. When someone is baptised, something spiritual happens. It has spiritual power. Which concludes that a baptised believer is more blessed than an unbaptised believer. That makes sense, because the Scriptures encourage us to do it. Is it not then a work? This brings us back to probably the most simple question asked of baptism today: if I am saved by grace, why do I need to get baptised?"

children of men

I thought this film was terrifying. I felt challenged about how much I take for granted the fact that I live in a peaceful country and how grim it must be for people in Iraq or Sudan right now.

goonhilly