My blog is now at http://www.ceilidhblog.typepad.com

If you're anything like me, you've got a problem with humility/pride. I just came across this cool guide to Christian humility by a guy Mark Driscoll, who is a pastor in Chicago (I think? Mars Hill church?)

anyways, have a listen.

 Because they aaarrr!

So it was national "talk like a pirate day" last thursday. I felt this joke deserved an airing.

I was reminded of the pirate I saw with a steering wheel attached to his groin. I asked him if it was sore and he said...

wait for it...

"arrr. It's driving me nuts"

Splice the mainsails, ye greasy landlubbers.

Give the phone to daddy. That's ri..aaaAH! Oh dear.

A lovely sensitive soundtrack too.

I recently sent an email of some thoughts on blogging to gadgetvicar specifically in relation to the benefits & pitfalls of blogging within a church community. These weren't rules, but more ideas to think about. I've spoken to so many bloggers who have regrets about what they've posted.

The overarching appeal (and danger) of blogging is that it reveals the character of the author, and probably more than any other form of written material ever can.

Even personal diaries? Is a blog more revealing about a person than if you happened across their "do not read" reflections? Yes. In a way, it is.

The difference comes from the fact that a blog is written to be read in public. You would expect that the knowledge of the inevitable publicity of the blog would serve to influence what a person says and doesn't say when writing it. Well, yes, but not in the ways you might expect.

The problem is that people want to get their opinions across. They want to display their personality, to seek affirmation from like-minded individuals. They want to challenge the attitudes of others when they are not in line with their own. And the result of this is that people can discern your motivations, your attitudes, prejudices and insecurities from your posts (and from your replies, which can often be less thought-out, and harder to retract!). Scholars think that with high-faluting language and ambiguous sentence structure, they can hide their true personality. But there's always text the author can't see between the lines.

When posting, I think I am blinded by my positive attributes that come across in the post. How wise. How pithy. How amusing. Then, when reading back on subsequent days, the negatives attributes really make themselves clear. How cringeworthy.

Blogs differ from personal diaries because they often don't share totally honest personal feelings of inadequacy or guilt, or tales of where you've done the wrong thing. Yet these are the things that make us human, and frailty has an endearing quality. It's never advisable to show it in a public forum, because the very nature of the forum taints the veracity of the emotion ("is that what he wants me to think about him?").

So should I answer the question in the title of my blog? Or will it be misinterpreted? Is it better to keep that to a private forum, or a personal diary?

I don't think I'll go into detail, actually. It's there for the discerning to see.

Maybe the nature of this very post is ludicrously self-absorbed! I apologise for my weaknesses, and thank God for my strengths. Judge my blogs, and replies, (and for that matter, my emails, phone calls and conversations) how you will. Forgive me: I'll forgive you!

Miss Tulip says I should blog more, instead of posting rubbish on other people's blogs (sorry Gadgetvicar)

Having just returned from a Switchfoot gig in the lovely but rather out-of-the-way Perth Horsecross Concert Hall, I thought I would end my blogfast by giving a succinct review of the event.

Really very good.

Jury is still out on their new album "Oh Gravity", (could be a grower, like the previous one) but yes, overall an excellent musical performance. Great sound. Lights pretty, but nothing ground-breaking. Did get the feeling that their hearts weren't into it quite so much as other bands I've seen, especially at the start, but I guess that's something you have to deal with when you're touring rigourously well into your 30s (especially when you start in your teens). Still had a fantastic moment towards the end of one song when the whole band froze in a tableau of rock poses, for something like 30 seconds, as the crowd grew wilder and wilder.

As I was getting my CD signed, I mentioned to them that I sold T-shirts for them at their last gig in Scotland (about 7 years ago?). They did their very best to look interested in that fact, God bless 'em.

Thanks to I Hutch 'n' son who took time out of his hectic recording schedule to accompany me on the roundabout road to Perth. Back in the studio at 8am mate? When you fall asleep on the console, try not to dribble on the faders: it rusts the joints...

Here's one I found quite interesting

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists. Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 86% Neo orthodox 71% Emergent/Postmodern 71% Reformed Evangelical 50% Roman Catholic 50% Fundamentalist 39% Charismatic/Pentecostal 39% Classical Liberal 39% Modern Liberal 18% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

One for the Chrimbo's out there...
Kind of not really surprised with the result... But it was quite a challenging quiz, as a lot of the issues were things that I hadn't really delved into. How many people really know why they believe what they believe?

Choice, as any marketing person will tell you, is mostly an emotional and not an intellectual exercise. That means your feelings tell you which thing to go for, and then your brain backs it up with arguments that you choose to listen to. Kind of scary to realise that, huh? Look back at the last 5 major purchases you've made. How many of those were emotional rather than rational intellectual decisions?

When presented with a whole lot of worldviews and religions: which do we choose? The ones that "feel" right? Many Christians are Christians because it "feels" right to them. Same as people of other beliefs (or non-beliefs.)

 For most people, it "feels" too disturbing to consider that your previous belief system is fundamentally flawed. And that's why most people will simply not change their minds based on intellectual reasoning.

The problem is that feelings can (and do) get in the way of the Truth. What things do you think are True? Ask yourself whether your reasons are intellectual or emotional. What an enormous challenge, huh?

It reminded me of an interesting soundbyte I heard the other day (I think from a pastor called Rick Warren)

"If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything".

Do you know why you believe what you believe? And will any of those reasons stand up in a court of law?

Hat tip for the quiz goes to Nodrog, who is a pal of Nick who is a pal of me.

    As in "move house".

Yes. That's the subject up for debate at the moment. The 24 hour BP garage across the road from the Beatcave has recently started closing its doors at 10pm. Why? I'll tell you why.
Because some of the local young people feel the (God bless those monks) Buckfast- fuelled urge to make artistic and creative statements through the juxtaposition of heavy objects with other people's property. Indeed, they seem to accord it with additional aesthetic merit if the heavy object and the object upon which it had been juxtaposed were both other people's property.

On your left,  just beyond the scarpering youths, you can see our latest piece, simply entitled "hawhawyaweejakeybasa". Materials used in this work include a kerbstone,a bus shelter, a Glasgow City Council bin and fire.

So it was the general harassment from the locals that forced them to decide that doing business through bulletproof glass was the future of late night shopping.
Well, it was that and the stabbing on the forecourt. I hadn't heard about that one (a few weeks back, apparently) but then, it's becoming quite commonplace round here. Honestly, kids. Knives are for spreading "I can't believe it's not butter" and occassionally peeling carrots. Don't insert them into people. I know it wasn't explicitly laid out on the instruction manual when you bought it, but trust me, ok?

So the people working at BP don't feel safe. I don't blame them. If there are idiots around here stupid enough to attack someone with a knife in the one place where there are around 6 CCTV cameras trained on you, then it's probably not best to trust your awareness of the predictability of human behaviour to keep you safe.

But you know, it's not even that report which is making me consider upping sticks. In fact how does one up a stick? It sounds like a painful process. Maybe not as bad as having a knife inserted, forecourt-style.

 No, the real reason is that there's only so much you can take with crappy neighbours. When people living in your own close take the same meticulous care over trashing the place that you have obviously taken in cleaning it, it gets rather wearing after a while.

Now as a Christian, I'm sure I could find some more constructive terms than "white trash". So....

...

nope. None yet.

Hmmm. GSPC website, here I come.

 I'll need to have a chat with Miss Tulip. Anyone want to buy a flat?

Hi folks. For anyone who liked it, I've re-edited the re-edit of the Xtina Aguilera song from a wee while ago. The middle 8 break is a bit better, and a couple of synth parts have been altered slightly. Think the whole thing sounds a bit more cohesive now... Let me know if you like it.

Hear it on the beatcave profile

Do your thang, honey

Here's the Jiggers video on youtube.  Gimme some nice comments on it, all youtubers out there.
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