Ramblings along the narrow way

And these few precepts in thy memory
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportion’d thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch’d, unfledg’d comrade. Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but, being in,
Bear’t that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice:
Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express’d in fancy; rich, not gaudy:
For the apparel oft proclaims the man;
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be:
For loan oft loses both itself and friend;
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all,–to thine own self be true;
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!

Hamlet, Act 1, Scene III. William Shakespeare

It would seem that, when I look around at my friends, everyone around me has a laptop. Their reasoning for having one varies from it being their main/only computer, to something which is more convenient than a desktop, through to no reasoning at all. My mum recently acquired one, and I said I’d set it up. A quick download of Xubuntu, Gutsy Gibbon, (it’s an old laptop!) and it was up and running. Web surfing is accomplished by Firefox, dial-up access and wireless networking worked out of the box. Whilst it is in my possession, I figured I might as well use it, so Pidgin, Xnest and Gnomesword/ESV were installed which enable me to chat on MSN/GTalk/ICQ, open XDMCP sessions on my Fedora 8 box and read the bible all from the comfort of my bed. (Where I am now )

Eventually I’ll return the laptop to my mum so she can use it to check her email and browse the web. The question I’m left with now is; Do I get a laptop? Sure, it’s nice for blogging from bed, or instant messaging in front of the telly, but do I really need one? It would be useful when I’m on holiday to copy photos onto so my camera doesn’t get clogged up, to watch DVDs, to make blog posts and email, but do I really need it?

I’m not sure I need it, but it’s sure nice. We’ll see I guess…

I charge thee, fling away ambition
By that sin fell the angels. How can man then,
The image of his maker hope to win by it ?
Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee;
Corruption wins not more than honesty
Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
To silence envious tongues: be just, and fear not.
Let all the ends thou aim’st at be thy country’s,
Thy God’s and truth’s

William Shakespeare

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings. Wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

John­son Oat­man, Jr.

Movie Reviews

A good thing or a bad thing? I’m not sure…

To those who regularly read this blog, I do apologise for the lack of original ramblings of late! (I get the feeling I may be apologising to no one!) This is partly due to the madness of the Christmas season, and an inability to decline requests for help. Needless to say, even though Christmas is a long distant memory, January was busy!

Over the past months or so I have learnt a few new things which are possibly worth sharing.

I read somewhere that if your blog is mostly your own ramblings, rather than links to other people’s, you probably need a dose of humility. Fortunately, del.icio.us keeps me on the humble side!

Buying fruit loose is generally cheaper than buying prepacked. Case in point – I was in Sainsbury’s last week and saw a bag of 5 apples, ready packed, going for £1.99. I saw the same kind of apples being sold for £1.39/kg loose. I thought I’d try something, so picked out 5 apples, put them in a bag and went to the checkout. They came to £0.90(!) Over a pound cheaper than the prepacked! As an added bonus, they’re also a lot fresher – crisper and tastier! (Although I guess the latter is a little subjective and might be coloured by my feeling of self-satisfaction!)

Finally, the Sony Ericsson w910i rocks! A few weeks ago, I’d contacted my mobile operator with the intention of changing my tariff to something which would suit my needs better. I’d succeeded in increasing the number of free minutes and texts, whilst paying the same monthly rate, and the operator mentioned I was eligible for a free upgrade of my phone as well. Initially I was offered the Motorola K1 KRZR, but after a week of sending texts to the wrong people, finding the keypad irritating and generally being frustrated by the unresponsiveness of the software, I sent it back and was sent the w910i. Needless to say, because my previous phone was also an SE, I got on with the interface without hitch, the hardware is much higher build quality and it’s a whole lot more responsive than the Motorola! The fact it has a beautiful screen and plays mp3s is an added bonus!

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!
Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Ho­ra­tio G. Spaf­ford

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Our_Lady_of_Peace_of_Yamoussoukro

I do not feel that I am the product of chance, a speck of dust in the universe, but someone who was expected, prepared, prefigured. In short, a being whom only a Creator could put here; and this idea of a creating hand refers to God. Jean-Paul Sartre

As I  watch the TV, when I talk with others, I find it irksome when words are misused. One of my pet peeves is the misuse of the words evangelical and evangelistic.

From context, you can usually guess which of the two a person meant to say, yet it would be nice if they used the right one in the first place instead of relying on error correction in the listener!

For the record, an evangelical is a Christian who holds to a particular theology, with a strong emphasis on the Bible as the word of God and the gospel (the ‘evangel’) of Jesus Christ contained therein. Something like the basis of faith from the Evangelical Alliance is fairly representative.

Whereas an evangelist is a Christian who seeks to tell the gospel (the ‘evangel’ to all. So they both have similar roots word, but are different in meaning.

With this in mind, it’s possible to be an evangelical and not an evangelist (although it shouldn’t happen!), or an evangelist but not an evangelical. Ideally, an evangelical should also be an evangelist.