I spent an enjoyable couple of hours watching ‘Heartlands‘ last night. Rescued from the ignominy of the bargain bin, what a cracking little movie it turned out to be. A gentle tale of a quiet man who sets out on his moped to find his philandering wife and discovers there’s more to life than darts and beer along the way. Michael Sheen (The Queen, Frost/Nixon) delivers a solid performance in the lead role, supported by old reliables Jim Carter and Celia Imrie and a great cast including nicely understated Paul Shane, Ruth Jones, Phillipa Peak and a softer than normal performance from Mark Strong. The only downside were the inconsistent dialects of some of the characters. More than anything I’ve watched recently, this movie reminded me of England and the subtleties of the English sense of humour. Another cracking $4.99 bargain from The Warehouse.
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
Matthew 4:10
We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.
Colossians 1:9-10
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate[a] the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humblywith your God.
Micah 6:8
Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.
Psalms 119:105
Omnipresence
after “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Exodus 3:5
After a week of highs and lows, tonight is definitely a ‘Stars‘ night.
…Stars lookin at our planet watching entropy and pain
And maybe start to wonder how the chaos in our lives could pass as sane
I’ve been thinking bout the meaning of resistance, of a hope beyond my own
And suddenly the infinite and penitent begin to look like home…
“The Ship From October to December, 2009, the ‘Pacific Link’ ship will be a hub, traveling to 8 different port towns/cities in New Zealand. It will spend about a week in each port, with a variety of events planned around it… school group tours, on-board presentations, and city-wide youth events. In the three to four weeks before the ship docks, there will be teams serving in the community, and presenting a missions call in Christian high schools, churches, youth groups, and young adults groups”
KB kindly handed me a copy of Engage, a missions mobilisation resource package by the Create Emerge and Create International teams. It contains two DVDs packed with video, slide shows and PDFs that profile the work of those on outreach or in the mission field. To get a taste of the quality and depth of the contents, check out Voices From The Frontlines.
If you can make it, I can thoroughly recommend hooking up with these folk or the ship on what is it’s valedictory tour before taking on a new role.
A while back, we spent a fun evening working as models for the lovely photographer/artist Jennifer Mason. She came to our house with her partner and had us pose in a tableau-like manner for a variety of pretend situations. One of these resulted in the shot below – the everyday story of a proud Dad snapping the favoured daughter with her medals while the bored/jealous sisters look on.
This morning, we received a message from Jennifer:
Good news, I entered ‘Proud’ in the Waiheke Art Award. Last night it opened. And I won the Zini Douglas Merit Award, The Elizabeth Grierson Merit Award and I sold the work within 1/2 an hour of the show opening.
It is peculiar to think that a picture of us has been purchased by someone and may very well end up hanging in their house for other to look at.
Although I’ve just grabbed a new NLT Study Bible to add to my collection, I like the premise of the Holy Bible: Mosaic from Tyndale House Publishers. I have swapped a few tweets with Mosaic’s general editor Keith Williams in recent weeks and notice that he’s just popped out a video overview of Mosaic and its features.
I think I’m slowly losing my marbles. There I was, about 50 minutes into the Star Trek movie at the local movie house, popcorn and drink at hand, enjoying an afternoon off work. Just as Kirk and Uhura were convincing Captain Pike of the Romulan ruse, I get a text from the kid’s pastor at church:
Cn u pik up 40 x sausage+chips from takeaway on way to church? Thanx!
The action on the screen was only half as fast and furious as the synapses snapping in my brain as I suddenly realised that, as one of the leaders of our church’s intermediate youth group, I was meant to be 10kms away preparing to take 20 kids to a quiz night in a neighbouring town.
Given that I am always helping run the group every Friday and yet failed to recall this when planning my afternoon at the flicks, I can only assume that I have ‘the mad cow’ that so cruelly afflicts William Shatner‘s other great character, Denny Crane. As Boston Legal fans will already know, the show has included more than a few knowing nods to Star Trek.
