I'm still excited part 2

Random things that have made me excited since yesterday:-

(1) My Q magazine arrived this morning..... 'they' are on the front page (see yesterday) and there is an 'in depth' interview (well as in depth as a magazine that has taken the corporate dollar can be.....now there is Gen X irony for you- I'm ironic, detached, but I still read the thing)...

(2) Fractious wife and children yesterday, so I moved stuff around and went to see 'Madagascar 2' with Matthew and Benjamin- not as good as the original, but plenty of wry laughs. Watching films, eating junk food and it is called 'child minding'. That for me is a result every time (my summer version of this is walking across the fields at the back of our house with Matthew and Benjamin, watching cricket, filling them full of lemonade and crisps and me drinking beer). We also repeatedly played 'Hallelujah': the Jeff Buckley and Leonard Cohen versions. The voting from a 7 year old and a 4 year old was for the 'old man's version'....

(3) This:-

http://www.churchads.org.uk/downloads/media/nativity_animation.wmv
(see image at the top- I couldn't get it to embed)

It has been seen in loads of places on the web and I'm just repeating myself- but I like it. I have a soft spot for what this organisation do and a friend of a friend produces this clip. Note: Justin Hawkins (ex Darkness) as the singer.

I won my only preaching bet ever through the Darkness. A few years ago at Ben's dedication, I told a friend who rarely came to church that I was going to preach about 'I believe in a thing called love; just listen to the rhythm of my heart'. He could not believe that I would (why do people persist in thinking that church is alien and unrelated to culture...and why do large parts of the church persist in living up to that belief?) and bet me £5. I forgot this until after the service, when he came up to me, laughed and produced £5. Wonder what I could get if I tried a similar thing on Babyshambles' 'F*** Forever'? Maybe not.... If you google, check out Justin Hawkins new band 'Hot Legs' and their new download 'I've found Jesus'...

(4) Check out this thoughtful upload.....

http://www.backyardmissionary.com/2008/12/what-happens-when-you-give-an-atheist-a-bible.html

(5)My favourite hymn line of this season- rendered here in all it's 18th century glory:-

'Our God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man'

Nadolig Llawen i bawb......