I just started reading Signature in the Cell – DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design. It’s a 600 page epic, but thoroughly fascinating. It presents the argument for Intelligent design, based on the fact that the complexity of even the simplest single-cell life forms, is so immense that it is completely impossible that life could have originated by chance. This is probably the most important question we could ask ourselves – how did life originate?

Here is the web site which accompanies the book: http://www.signatureinthecell.com/

Our Church is doing a Christianity Explored course for anyone wanting to find out more about what Christians believe. It is a Bible Study which works through the book of Mark, to help understand who Jesus is and what is the significance of his life and teaching. I have volunteered to be one of the discussion group leaders, and operate the DVD (there are video clips which go with each of the sessions.

You can find out more about the course materials at:

http://www.christianityexplored.org/

I recently discovered a new Christian web site – The Gospel Coalition http://thegospelcoalition.org/

It’s a coalition of some of the brightest and best reformed Christian ministers in the western world at the present time. Many of my favourite preachers are included (John Piper, Alistaire Begg, C.J. Mahaney, Albert Mohler, D.A. Carson and Mark Driscoll. It has audio sermons, articles, books, radio broadcasts, and an online book shop.I’m still exploring it, but so far it looks like a real goldmine of Christian teaching!

This is an astonishing book that you must read. Victor Frankl was a Jewish Austrian Psychiatrist imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps including Auschwitz during the Second World War.

The book begins with the remarkable biographical story of life in the concentration camp in conditions that are scarcely imaginable and where the prospects for survival were bleak.

The second half of the book takes these experiences and their understanding as the basis for development of what Frankl called Logotherapy. At its heart is a belief that striving to find a meaning to ones life is the primary motivational force within people. This may be contrasted with striving for pleasure, or striving for power which are respectively at the heart of Freudian and Adlerian psychology.

I did a training course this week called “Succeeding in Supervision”.

One of the things which stuck in my mind most was a 15 minute DVD they showed which was about the importance of having fun in your job. It’s about Pike’s Place Fish Market in Seattle and how much fun it is to work there. The boss there has generated a great working atmosphere of fun among staff and customers, and people flock there just to see them throwing fish around and joking with the crowds.

I just watched Obama’s victory speech on YouTube. 

I don’t know enough about him or his politics to make a judgement about whether or not he will make a  good president. I’m not really qualified to comment on that – especially since I’m not an American. 

But I have been in management long enough to know an inspirational leader when I see one!

 

I discovered GodTube a couple of weeks ago.

We got tickets for a Casting Crowns concert in the Odyssey Arena in Belfast, and I checked out their web site

http://www.castingcrowns.com/in_index.html  

and I saw a mention of GODTube on Mark Hall’s blog.

There’s a lot of good music videos on there including of course Casting Crowns – here’s an example:

http://godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=9fad456d209b6f5ee932

of course most of this stuff is already available on YouTube

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Ype1xE0wzsg

Here are a number of articles from Boundless on the contrasts between Islam and Christianity:

The Bible and Islam

From Mecca To Calvary

The Real Islam

The “Credit Crunch” and recession are officially here.

I dread to think what sort of battering my pension funds have taken (I daren’t look).

I am just so thankful to God that I came to be working for such a stable company. So far it looks as if there is unlikely to be any redundancies where I work. I’ve already been made redundant twice in my career, it would be a lot harder this time, with the economic climate and my age now.

I came across a series of articles in Boundless this week on the subject of Money: 

Money,Money,Money

Maggots In The Manna

How To Wallow In Debt

Drive Old Cars

Setting An All-Time Credit Record

Taming The Credit Card Beast

Digging Out

Get Out Of Debt!

Stay Out Of Debt!

Is Broke So Bad?

Giving It Away

www.licc.org.uk/culture/redundancy