Brokenness
On Thursday my housechurch was together again. It was a real good night which began with a number of us feeling like we weren't really up for it, but turned out to be awesome. I think what really stood out for me was the level of vulnerability in the group - none of us were pretending to be something we are not. With this kind of reality, ministering to one another and working out life as a follower of Jesus is much more straight forward.

I saw the advanced screening of School of Rock with John C on Tuesday. It was very funny. Jack black is very talented and funny, it's hard to get bored of him. Watch out for his theory on 'the man' - apparently rock music is designed to "stick it to the man." (The man apparently invented MTV in order to kill rock music...hmmm...a convincing argument?). It's a good film for almost any age.****

Check out Freelance Theology and get some of those meaty questions answered.

Strange Dream
I had the weirdest most vivid dream I've had in a while last night. I was being held hostage with a group of other people, being regularly beaten and threatened with death. I didn't recognised anyone I was being held with, but as the years went by we got to know each other.

In the end, just before I woke up (an estimated 20 years later in dream terms) one of the men responsible came into the room in which we were being held and said "with all this talk of human rights we just can't hold people like this any more." There was a great sense of relief! And then I woke up.

Marketing to Introverts
I read this article, thanks to a link from Darren's site a few weeks back - it makes interesting reading.

That weekend went fast. Today is my first back at Uni, although this semester I only have one lecture on a Monday and that's not until midday.

Last night was fun - I got Ann to sing with me when leading some songs, I'm trying to a) learn to play with other musicians and b) gradually develop a band. I'm realising that more musicians can actually mean greater flexibility if you practise enough. Jonny Danger told the story of Jonah and managed to fit in a fairly cutting joke about Swansea (likening Swansea to Nineveh) which didn't go down well with our Swansea boy Bids.

I've just finished The Way of the Heart by Henri Nouwen, a great book looking at Solitude, Silence and Prayer from the perspective of the Desert Fathers. I can't wait to read more Nouwen.

On Saturday our next door neighbour, Nigel was airing his pheasants at his front door. I think he has this idea that I'm the kind of veggie who is squeamish about dead animals, but the only person in our family who gets freaked out by dead birds is my Mum!

Before I sign off, I just wanted to mention that today is the day that Baby Evans will be born! How exciting.

Sharon's Birthday
We went out to celebrate Sharon's 22nd Birthday last night. It was fun. The queue was so big at Clwb Ifor Bach that we decided to go to the Toucan for a while. The band that was playing there had about eight members and they were playing everything from funk to country - amazing. We got into Clwb at about half twelve and had a good dance.

Little blogging
I haven't been blogging much this week for a few reasons. I've been working on the Cardiff Vineyard site while trying to work out some more details on next year. Uni starts back next week, so I've been making the most of the quiet before the storm!

Last night Lewis and Maria finally announced that they're having a baby! This is a big relief because I've been under strict orders not to tell anyone until they decide to do so and I've found it so hard to keep quiet about such good news. Congratulations guys!

Today I was painting the downstairs of M-Store with Charlie. I think we're going to use it as a sales room. We had some great chats about music, politics, theology, ethics, family...etc.

On Thursday I finished The Challenge of Jesus by NT Wright - what a great book. I'm not really sure where to start with talking about it, but just love the way he straddles the roles of both pastor and academic. The start of the book is a historical overview of the person of Jesus within the context of first century Judaism, while the end relates to the application of these findings to the life of a disciple. A great combination.

And check out Johnny Cash's last video that I found thanks to Jason. It's a cover of a Trent Reznor (NIN) song and is amazing - real haunting. It's like he's singing those words to his creator.

Here are some extracts that stood out to me this morning, reading The Imitation of Christ (from pg38):
"A humble ignorant man who serves God is better than a proud scholar who observes the movements of the heavens and never gives a thought to his soul. A man who really knows his own nature sets no value on himself and takes no pleasure in being praised by men"
"Unless your life shows a corresponding growth in holiness, increased knowledge and better understanding will only mean severer judgement."
"real wisdom and perfection comes in having no high opinion of oneself, but always thinking highly of others."

Verra Cruz
St Albans based rock outfit Verra Cruz have recently launched their new website - complete with audio tasters from their recent EP produced by Jason Corsaro (Soundgarden). Definitely worth a listen.

Andrew Wallis has finally made a worthwhile entrance into the blogging world.

We watched Pirates of the Carribean last night - a film that I had, for some reason, expected to be crap. Turns out it's a real good fun story - Johnny Depp seems to be in the habit of choosing interesting 'theme movies' like Sleepy Hollow.****

Last night we were driving back from Lewis and Maria's place and a weird thought came through my head...perhaps I played some part in Doug and Michelle getting married! My thesis is this...

I decided to go snowboarding...Lewis and Maria knew that I was going snowboarding so suggested that Maria's sister, Michelle joined us...on the trip Michelle met Richard, who invited her on a sailing holiday...the skipper on Michelle's boat was Doug...

Perhaps I'm just self obsessed!

click here for the Ooze web-a-thon video, it made me laugh.

The last few days have been a bit crazy, post communism by day and my steps for next year by night. I'm learning how important it is to make space to hear that one voice (God's voice) above all those others. As Henri Nouwen calls it, the "voice that calls you Beloved."

When my focus is on getting everyone elses' opinion I'm like a loose leaf blown in the wind. When I focus on His voice I feel grounded, attached to the tree. It's only in that grounded state that I can sleep easy.

Some eco-ideas
When you get married, why not have an online invitation to your wedding (like this one) - thus saving the expense and cost on the envirionment of having paper invitations.

And (for when you have babies), did you know that 4% of landfill waste is made up of disposable nappies? By using cotton nappies like these or these you can really make a difference to the environment.

I've just been cruising the library for information on Post Communist Central Europe - on the subject of Lustration and Restitution (I know what you're thinking - sounds fascinating!)

Downhill Battle - music activism