Happy, Shiny Christmas

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These are taken with an SLR and low speed film and come to you by way of a photo CD and digital tampering and with apologies for the graininess.

Blog Card II-A Christmas Acrostic

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For a more dramatic rendering (the Sacred Heart version) click .

Catapult Magazine Article

<a href="http://www.catapultmagazine.com/
I am very excited to currently have an article published in Catapult magazine, a publication which I reccomend to you. Click here to go to my article. While at Catapult, also read Jeremy Huggins excellent Template (Store for Future Use).
If you are here from there, Catapult that is, make yourself at home. Have a seat and read a bit. Or open up the cupboards and get a snack. I’ll put the kettle on.

For the Sins of Edmund, Aslan

Art from Cornerstone 2005.
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Jesus is for Losers

Here are a couple of songs from that great modern prophet and bard, Steve Taylor, who has not made any songs with his biting wit and insight for ever so long. Here are a couple of gems for my edification, and yours if you need it. The first is just selections from the lyrics; the second is the whole song.
Click on the title to hear ’em. Click here for the entire album (and others). They rock; all of them figuratively, Squint literally.
Jesus is for Losers
Just as I am
I am stiff-necked and proud
Jesus is for losers
Why do I still play to the crowd?
Just as I am
Pass the compass, please
Jesus is for losers
I’m off about a hundred degrees
Just as I am
I am needy and dry
Jesus is for losers
The self-made need not apply
Just as I am
In a desert crawl
Lord, I’m so thirsty
Take me to the waterfall
The Finish Line
Once upon an average morn
An average boy was born for the second time
Prone upon the altar there
He whispered up the prayer he’d kept hid inside
The vision came
He saw the odds
A hundred little gods on a gilded wheel
“These will vie to take your place, but Father,
by your grace I wil never kneel”
And I saw you, upright and proud
And I saw you wave to the crowd
And I saw you laughing out loud at the Philistines
And I saw you brush away rocks
And I saw you pull up your socks
And I saw you out of the blocks
For the finish line
Darkness falls
The devil stirs
And as your vision blurs you start stumbling
The heart is weak
The will is gone
And every strong conviction comes tumbling down
Malice rains
The acid guile is sucking at your shoes while the mud is fresh
It floods the trail
It bleeds you dry
As every little god buys its pound of flesh
And I saw you licking your wounds
And I saw you weave your cocoons
And I saw you changing your tunes for the party line
And I saw you welsh on old debts
I saw you and your comrades bum cigarettes
And you hemmed and you hawed
And you hedged all your bets
Waiting for a sign
Let’s wash our hands as we throw little fits
Let’s all wash our hands as we curse hypocrites
We’re locked in the washroom turning old tricks
Deaf
And joyless
And full of it
The vision came
He saw the odds
A hundred little gods on a gilded wheel
“These have tried to take your place, but Father,
by your grace I will never kneel
I will never kneel…”
Off in the distance
Bloodied but wise
As you squint with the light of the truth in your eyes
And I saw you
Both hands were raised
And I saw your lips move in praise
And I saw you steady your gaze
For the finish line
Every idol like dust
A word scattered them all
And I rose to my feet when you scaled the last wall
And I gasped
When I saw you fall
In his arms
At the finish line
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Jesus is for losers like me.

Fanboys of Narnia Unite!

Actually, not all of these are fanboys but most write movie reviews as a vocation. The discussion here validates the tenor I took in my review and mirrors many of the points I made. Click here for the clash or swords, with perhaps a little more polemicism at times than was called for.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrove-A Review

Below is my review of the new movie The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe which contains MAJOR SPOILERS. In fact, I reccomend that if you really are interested in the movie, that you not read this piece until after seeing it. No, really, I mean it, because really it is more of an analysis than a review. Click here for a view at what the expert’s are saying and here for the take of a Christian reviewer whom I read and respect.
New Another Christian reviewer, Steven D. Greydanus, turns in a review that echoes many of my sentiments and more, and conveys them with considerably more skill as a reviewer.
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“This is the land of Narnia…

In honor of the release of the new Narnia movie this coming Friday, I thought I would post this water color that my brother Adrian painted several years ago and gave me for Christmas. It really captures for me the cozy yet intense beauty of a Narnian snowfall. Despite the quote, I think this painting must have been done of an early snowfall after King Peter, Queen Susan, King Edmund, and Queen Lucy had begun to reign, as the trees are unladen with snow.
P.S. I have seen the new movie and will post my “review” on Friday, if you are into reading reviews that is.