Tall Skinny Kiwi

Happy New Years

Time's up. Cant do much for for 2004. Time to journey into another year.

Happy New Year Everyone. Thanks for pilgrimaging with me in 2004.

God give you vigor and courage and compassion and generosity to make your entry into 2005 one of hope and delight.
Cheerful prayerful thoughts from me and my household to you and yours.

God, thanks for all you did for us and in us in 2004.
For health, for life, for the chance to play.
Bless those who finished the year without homes
with less family members
without hope.
Forgive our screw ups, our rebellions, our stubborn fits of independence, our neglectful attitudes, forgive our missing of your best and our shameful downgrading to things lesser.
Give us a clean slate for next year. A new beginning. A empty vessel.
Fill us with big dreams for 2005.
Fill us with big hopes.
We will be strong and courageous
and greet the new year with outrageous boldness
because
YOU ARE WITH US!

Bloggers Top 5

Bob Carlton got bloggers to submit their top 5 blog posts for 2004. This is worth sitting down with a cup of coffee and making the broadband start paying for itself. Or, if you are like me and are living in a ADSL impoverished land ("a dry and weary land"), then put the dial up into high gear and go surfing. Go for it!

Reflecting and Resoluting

Its the best week of the year for me - between Christmas and New Years - a time of reflection and planning, repenting and dreaming, finishing off and deciding which projects to commit to. Its the week before the New Years Day of Resolutions, and i usually take a week to think through which resolutions are attainable and which should be attempted anyway.
I am sure you will find out which ones are which if you track with me in 2005.

Everything is up from grabs this week. I am even wondering if i should maintain this blog in 2005. Yes, i probably will. But there will be other projects to be involved with as well. Some may be more important.

Flood - Ecumenical News Service

ENS sent out the following report

Prayer from India

Victor Choudrie from India gives the skinny on the post-flood situation and what how we can pray. Thanks Reinhold.

More on Tsunami (updated)

- Justin Baeder has set up a wiki on reconstruction called Recotourism.
- A virtual prayer space is set up on Messy Christian's blog.
- Jason Clark is asking the theological question "Where is God?"
- Joel Vestal of Servlife would be a good person to talk to about getting money or help out to where it is needed. He blogs at Zaydsdad.typepad.com
- Wikipedia has the updated information.

Tsunami

Devastating news to bump us all out of Christmas mode and back to reality. Messy Christian is blogging from Malaysia and will be posting updates.

Your Christmas QT movie on your Blog

Want to put that Christmas video on your blog? Here's how . . .

Our Christmases

Merry Christmas everyone. We are having 3 Christmas celebrations up here. We celebrated Christmas with Cindy and Julie Blick from our old church in Australia (when i was a youth pastor 12 years ago). they were here for 4 days and have left now. They hope to be back here in Orkney next summer.
Christmas 2. A quiet family Christmas - the big Turkey, Bing, crackers, tree, etc. Tomorrow night is the carol service for the city of Stromness, and I have created the video loop for it.
Christmas 3. Derek and Amy Chapman and their dog will be coming up from Belgium in a weeks time for our final Christmas.
So we are finishing off the year quietly. Kids are off school now. I am working on video and the production of a multimedia book that outlines the past 10 years of emerging church history.
A little bit of snow fell today. We are all well. Hope everyone out there has a GREAT CHRISTMAS.

Ragstone27 - the video

UPDATE: Here is the video i promised - 3.9MGs
I had the privilege of witnessing a great band at their first appearance ever. Ragstone27 performed at Orkney's Fusion club in Kirkwall on Thursday night. And they did really well. Click on the image to see it - or continue for a small video file . . .