Due to recent post of fattriplet3, the BLOG DESTRUCT SEQUENCE HAS BEEN ABORTED.

There have been no posts on this blog since December 22

The blog self-destruct sequence has been activated. If nothing is posted in the next 24 hours . . . THIS BLOG WILL SELF DESTRUCT!!!!!!!

24:00 . . . .
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23:58 . . . .

It is sort of weird how accurate this assessment is. There are just a few exceptions but on the whole it is pretty accurate.
Here it is:

O Source of all Good,

   What shall I render to thee for the gift of gifts,
   thine own dear Son, begotten, not created,
   my Redeemer, proxy, surety, substitute,
   his self-emptying incomprehensible,
   his infinity of love beyond the hearts grasp.
Herein is wonder of wonders:
   he came below to raise me above,
   was born like me that I might become like him.
Herein is love;
   when I cannot rise to him he draws near on wings of grace,
   to raise me to himself.
Herein is power;
   when Deity and hunanity were infinetly apart
   he united them in indissolubale unity,
   the uncreated and the created.
Herein is wisdom;
   when I was undone, with no will to return to him,
   and no intellect to devise recovery,
   he came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,
   as man to die my death,
   to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,
   to work out a perfect righteousness for me.
O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shephards,
   and enlarge my mind;
let me hear good tidings of great joy,
   and hearing, believe, rejoice, praise, adore,
   my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose,
   my eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father;
place me with ox, ass, camel, goat,
   to look with them upon my Redeemer’s face,
   and in him account myself delivered from sin;
let me with Simeon clasp the new-born child to my heart,
   embrace him with undying faith,
   exulting that he is mine and I am his.
In him thou hast given me so much that heaven can give no more.

from the Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions - pp 28-29

“In him”—in this Son of God and Son of David, (Romans 15) verse 12 says—“will the Gentiles hope.” So our first answer to the question, “Hope in what?” is hope in Jesus Christ. The emphasis falls on Christ as the ground of all our hope. Bank your hope on him. Not yourself, not your intelligence, not your health, not your money, not your job, not your reputation. None of these can sustain your hope. They can collapse in a moment. God means for our hope to be firm and unshakable and so he put underneath it his own Son. In him will the Gentiles hope. At every turn in your life say, “Jesus, you are my hope.” You are my hope for my salvation, you are my hope for my marriage, you are my hope for my children, you are my hope for my ministry, you are my hope that I will live and die well. “In him will the Gentiles hope.” -John Piper

Find the whole sermon here.

HT to the BHT

I have a confession to make: I enjoyed but was disappointed in The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe. I think Stephen Greydanus review summarized my feelings best. Jeffrey Overstreet’s Looking Closer Blog is “hosting” the Christian movie reviewers Narnia Smackdown debating the merits of the movie and, in particular, contrasting them with Peter Jackson’s LOTR trilogy. Christian and hollywood scriptwriter Barbara Nicolosi condemns Greydanus for a Jackson “fetish” and for not giving Narnia and “A”. Greydanus is withering in his response and, I think, right on. You realize from his response how much he held back from his review. This is one of the most interesting debates on the internet I have ever witnessed.

Steve

I love this story at Common Grounds Online. The older daughter explains to the younger one how mommy became a christian from reading The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Beautiful.

Check it out.

I have just recently become a “grobanite”, a fan of Josh Groban. What a beautiful voice he has. You can hear him sing a couple of songs at his official website, www.JoshGroban.com.

I recently purchased a Josh Groban iTunes music mix and one of the included songs is Vincent by Don McLean. All I can say is this song is ABSOLUTELY incredibly beautiful and Josh really delivers the goods in his rendition. A google search and reading comments on a couple of forums indicate that this is the favorite song of many people.

Click HERE to hear a sample. You will have to scroll down and select the sample from the song list to hear it.

I thought I would do a little contest. I will publish below the lyrics of this song. Here is the contest: CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHO THE SONG IS ABOUT? Web searching is not-allowed. You have to figure it out from the lyrics alone.

This contest will be very easy for even a marginally culturally aware adult. But I wonder how the kids will do with it?

“Vincent” by Don McLean

Starry, starry night
paint your palette blue and grey
look out on a summer’s day
with eyes that know the
darkness in my soul.

Shadows on the hills
sketch the trees and the daffodils
catch the breeze and the winter chills
in colors on the snowy linen land.

And now I understand

what you tried to say to me
how you suffered for your sanity
how you tried to set them free.

They would not listen
they did not know how

perhaps they’ll listen now.

Starry, starry night
flaming flowers that brightly blaze
swirling clouds in violet haze

reflect in Vincent’s eyes of China blue.

Colors changing hue
morning fields of amber grain
weathered faces lined in pain
are soothed beneath the artist’s loving hand.

And now I understand

what you tried to say to me
how you suffered for your sanity
how you tried to set them free.

They would not listen
they did not know how

perhaps they’ll listen now.

For they could not love you
but still your love was true
and when no hope was left in sight on that starry, starry night.

You took your life as lovers often do;

But I could have told you, Vincent
this world was never meant for one
as beautiful as you.

Starry, starry night
portraits hung in empty halls
frameless heads on nameless walls
with eyes that watch the world and can’t forget.

Like the stranger that you’ve met
the ragged men in ragged clothes

the silver thorn of bloody rose
lie crushed and broken
on the virgin snow.

And now I think I know

what you tried to say to me

how you suffered for your sanity
how you tried to set them free.

They would not listen
they’re not listening still

perhaps they never will.

Enjoy.

Seth

One of the features I have wanted for gMail to add is Contact Groups or what is commonly called a Distribution List (DL). They allow you to send email to many people just by selecting the group. Well I was delighted to notice this evening that the have just added that feature. Click here for more information.

Scott

Narnia had a great opening. But not even close to my prediction of the biggest opening in movie history that I referenced in an earlier post. No stoning please. It WAS the third largest this year and it slated to be an ENORMOUS hit. That’s good enough for me.

It is still not easy to find a lot of box office info this early in the game but here is an excerpt that I found:

Delivering the third biggest opening of the year, Narnia attracted millions of fans grossing $65.6M, according to final studio figures, from 3,616 theaters for a sizzling $18,130 average. Only Star Wars Episode III and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire have opened stronger this year with Friday-to-Sunday bows of $108.4M and $102.3M, respectively. Based on the wildly popular book by author C.S. Lewis, the PG-rated adventure tells the fantasy tale of four British children who discover a world of mythical creatures and talking animals where they must help good battle evil.

Produced with Walden Media, Narnia carries a production cost of over $150M and hopes to become a bankable franchise for Disney that can keep the cash coming for years to come. As with Potter, there are seven books in the series so more movies could be on the way if Narnia can conquer the global box office the way it ruled in North America. This weekend, Wardrobe also debuted in 14 international markets to the tune of $42M.

Narnia’s opening stands as the third best in studio history for Disney behind the $70.5M of The Incredibles and the $70.3M of Finding Nemo. Both of those hits were supplied by Pixar Animation which is ending its relationship with the Mouse House. Narnia also generated the second largest December bow ever sandwiching itself between the last two Lord of the Rings films. The Return of the King bowed to $72.6M over the Friday-to-Sunday period (and $124.1M over its five-day launch) while The Two Towers debuted to $62M over three days (and $102M over five days). Peter Jackson’s PG-13 King Kong will undoubtedly boot Narnia from the top spot when it attacks theaters at midnight on Tuesday night, however strong exit polls indicate that it should still have room to breathe in the marketplace over the entire holiday season and become a megablockbuster.

To read the whole thing go to http://www.boxofficeguru.com/weekend.htm.

Seth