There is a Storm Coming...

Sometimes, the news can get very depressing... but nonetheless, it's good to keep informed.

Last night was a good example. First there was the news that the ID card bill had passed through the first hurdle on it's way to become law. For those who don't know, this is my position:

As long as it was just a photo ID card with basic essential details on it, I'd be fine. However I resent the whole idea of biometric information being stored. I'm also highly opposed to the presence of a computer chip that can update the Government on your movements, every time you are processed somwhere using your ID. The Government has no God given right to know where on Earth I am, nobody does. As for the biological info. As for the bioligical information, I don't see why any government should be allowed to keep this on file. The Blair regime is corrupt enough as it is, however... can you even imagine what a truly maniacal government could do with access to that much data. In a worst-case scenario, if you became a political "problem" and they had access to your DNA; they could create a personalised toxin that would harm you alone. Imagine what Hitler could have done with access to the information that comprises the human genome, and the resources to develop specialised biological warfare. If you had the knowledge and the technological means, you could theoretically eradicate an entire genetic subgroup in a short space of time. That prospect chills me to the bone. Even if that wasn't the case, our biology is none of the Government's darn business. This isn't just something lawbreakers need to be fearful of, it doesn't matter whether or not you've got something to hide... privacy will begin to become a thing of the past. The current thinking on ID cards is barely a few steps away from skin implant tagging. Trust me, you don't even want to go there. Think about it, it would be the end of political free expression... because if you ever became inconvenient... you wouldn't be able to hide. I don't know any charismatically minded Christian who is actively for such a scheme. As it stands, about 84% of the public are opposed to it... so how the heck can Dr Evil (cough cough) sorry Mr Blair, even have the gall to claim that it's what most of the public wants?

As for making us pay for a compulsory scheme that we don't want, that's just taking the proverbial michael. It is no better than rubbing someones nose in excrement.

As if things weren't enough, the next story covered Zimbabwe. What the heck does my country think it's doing? Our Government is deporting asylum seekers back to a country where it knows they will come to eventual harm... probably death. I know asylum is an issue for many people, but Commonwealth countries should receive our priority in my opinion. If a country within the Commonwealth has become oppressive, I feel the UK is honour bound to take in people who flee from it. As a former colonial power, we must not forget that we share a degree of responsibility for the quality of democracy that has evolved. I'm not saying it's our fault. I'm just saying, if we've historically been in a country and messed about with it's power structure, we should be among the first to offer help when the wheels fall off. Even if we can't take them in ourselves, we should at least have an agreement with the rest of the Commonwealth to share out genuine asylum cases among them. The Government will not reconsider it's position, and the deportations will continue. They have however suspended them according to the Times, merely to keep the heat off Blair. Personally with regard to his career, I say let Mr Blair cook. He was a wolf in sheeps clothing from the start. The Commonwealth and the UK need to come up with a realistic and much stronger approach to dealing with Mugabe. What's the point in economic sanctions... the people who end up suffering are the poor and the common man. Dictators like Mugabe are experts at turning the anger and hatred that come from that into political brownie points. All evil dictators need to turn a people to war and persecution, is a scapegoat. Right now Mugabe is laughing because he's got exactly that, and it's us all the way!

We should never pick our fights on the basis of profitability... but on the worthiness of the cause. This is an issue I raised in an earlier, recent posting as well.

As I switched channels, I noticed the sound of thunder erupting across the dark, shrouded sky. Lightning flashed with intensity, as if God and nature themselves were angered by the politics of Britain at the moment. It seemed fitting to me, that according to the reporter, when the ID card vote was taking place, London was at the eye of a black and terrible storm.

For the Cause

Earlier this afternoon I was talking to Charlotte on MSN about a couple of films. She was asking if I'd seen "The Passion of the Christ". I said no, and I explained why.

You see, when I watched Schindler's List at a friends house, I felt so much rage stirring within me that if I had seen Ralph Fiennes immediately after that film, I probably would have killed him.

It would have been worse with Passion. As a Christian, I do not believe in loving Jesus primarily for what he did. Does that sound odd? Good, I hope it get's you thinking. I love Jesus primarily for WHO HE IS. He is the Son of God and the most wonderful human being who ever walked this Earth. Of course I still love Jesus for his sacrifice, but that is not enough. That is merely the start of the journey, it is important to further your relationship with God beyond that... if it is to mean anything to you at all in the times to come. The point is, he's my friend... and you stick up for your friends. You do it not because they need defending, but because they matter to you. I'd do it for my family and I'd do it for my close friends... so how could I do any less for Jesus?

My mate once went to a passion play. Essentially it's Jesus life acted out on a summers day. When it came to the crucifixion, my friend nearly decked the roman centurions, his wife had to hold him back. He was lost in the moment. I think had he been born in the time of Jesus, he may well have done it for real... he's that kind of bloke... and so am I.

On Maunday Thursday, I sometimes go to pray at night in an empty church... because it's the time we commemorate Jesus being on his own, friendless... awaiting the hour of his betrayal. I hate to think of one I am so close to, being in that situation... so that is why I go. I know it's easy to do it 2,000 years after the event when the only enemy is not a garrison of thugs but fatigue... but that is all I can offer, so I offer it. I'd do it for my friends and family, so I'd do it for Jesus. That's why I complained about Jerry Springer: The Opera. Not because they were "attacking Christianity", (because they weren't directly) but because they were abusing the character of someone I love to attack their genuine targets.

And maybe you are thinking I was stupid to do that, maybe you are mocking me... but I'll tell you it doesn't matter a jot. You may think me a fool for fighting a battle that could not be won. That does not matter either. For:

"The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says.' And whether they listen or fail to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house. You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious. But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you." Ezekiel 2:4-8

If you don't read the Bible, that might not be something you understand... well, think Theoden in Lord of the Rings:

Gamling: Too few have come. We cannot defeat the armies of Mordor.

Theoden: No we cannot. But we will meet them in battle nonetheless.

It doesn't matter whether or not you can win. You fight battles of principle because they are right, not because they are convenient. You may get mocked, you may get scorned, you may be persecuted... but that is not the point. If you know something is wrong, you have a moral obligation to point it out. If people don't listen, that's their choice. All you have to do is play your part. All that matters is that the cause is noble, just or righteous.

It was the English philosopher Edmund Burke who said the wise words "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." If you see evil going on, and you recognise it for what it is... that is the time to act.

There are two scriptures that spring to mind with regard to being pro-active for God:

"For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it." Luke 9:24

and:

"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21

To me those two scriptures are not just about life and death, but about any personal consequence suffered for the sake of Christ. If you are prepared to make any sacrifice for Jesus... it does not go unnoticed by him.

May God bless you and help you to make your choices.

N

By The Light of the Moon

Apparently tonight we are in for a treat. The full moon will loom large upon the horizon, it's supposed to be one of the best chances to see it in such a manner. We are incredibly blessed too, because normally the wonderful British weather blocks out all the funky astronomical stuff.

Even from my early days, I have often seen the moon as an allegory for what Christians should be like. The moon is there for the Earth, to provide a little light when the Sun is not there... yet it has no light of it's own, only that which the Sun casts on it. Truly the Sun is greater because it also bathes this planet in warmth.

In the same way, Christians are called to be light to this world... to shine in the darkness, to show people the power and the true nature of light, when they cannot see it for themselves. Yet, we too do not have a light of our own... only that which God provides us through our relationship with him, and that light is far better than anything we give out, because in that light there is also warmth. Other gods or idols are like distant stars, they may appear to be made of the same stuff... but in comparison to the Lord, they are distant, far off and incapable of giving us the warmth in our souls that God himself longs t grant us.

Something new has occurred to me with regard to this... I have gained new insight. The full moon is only visible when the face of the moon is fully exposed to the Sun. If it is caught in the shadow of Earth, the light it receives and gives out is diminished. We need to be mindful of where we are in the night sky. We need to make sure we are fully exposed to God, that people may see his presence in us. We are ambassadors of light.

Funnily enough, when I was at college, they nicknamed me Lunarboy... perhaps they knew something about me!

A little about people and light... for further meditation and reflection (pun partially intended):

"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."" - John 8:12

"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." - Matthew 5:14-16

"Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God." - John 1:3-13

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." - John 3:16-22

May God bring light to our path, and may we have the courage to step into it when the time comes.

God bless

Nick

Sleeping in Light (Sorry had to squeeze a B5 pun in)

Doctor Who

I thought I'd share my views on the final episode of the first new series of Doctor Who. I have to say first of all, that Christopher Eccleston impressed me so much in the role that, despite being highly skeptical of what he could bring to the role; I now find myself thinking the programme has lost a great asset.

Here are the things I liked:

• The Doctor sacrificing himself by absorbing TARDIS energy before it killed Rose
• Rose's turning of the tide by using TARDIS power.
• Cute Girl on Space Station 5
• The way daleks still say exterminate (albeit silently) in the vacuum of space.
• Jack's attempt to rally people
• Witnessing higher functions of the TARDIS like the defensive shield
  

Things I disliked:

• The daleks killing the cute girl on Station 5
• The way Rose was revealed as Bad Wolf, seemed forced.

Things I'm not sure about:

• Is station 5 a "tip of the hat" to Babylon 5, or is it just coincidence?
• David Tennant
  

I thought the writing of this episode was a bit sporadic. Sometimes it was great, other times it was not. I liked the twist of Rose being Bad Wolf... but not how we arrived at it. That was shockingly poor. There's no explanation as to how Rose was leaving herself messages. I assume she did it by using the power she had acquired to muck about with time itself. If that is so, what else might she have done? She wiped out the daleks and she raised at least one dead person. Could she possibly have restored Gallifrey and the timelords? That's be cool. I also liked the idea of the TARDIS being souped up a bit, bery funky.

Losing Christopher Eccleston has come as a disappointment to me. He had firmly established himself in the role in the short time he had. He played a blinder! When Tennant materialised, he seemed to lack the same level of gravitas. However, lets not judge a man on two lines of dialogue, lets see what he brings to the role. It could have been worse, he could have become Ant or Dec!

I don't think Russell T Davies understands sci-fi as much as he makes out. Technically, Gallifrey can never cease to exist, because the TARDIS can travel sideways in time as well. There are infinite alternate timelines for Earth and Gallifrey, a time war would never destroy all those realities, just the timeline for one of the possible Gallifreys. Complicated I know, but that's time theory for you.

Bottom line is, it's supposed to be on at a time when children can appreciate it. It's important not to get too complicated, and at least as Eccleston said... they stuck to hard hitting plot twists so that children can learn to appreciate good drama when they are older, and not bland stuff.
That's Eccleston's legacy as he departs the role.

The Smoking Debate

I've been listening with great interest, to the radio with voxpops of people's varying opinions on the subject of banning smoking in public places.

I am not, nor ever have been a smoker (that is unless you consider my time in the womb as counting). Everyone else in my family is, although my sister has recently quit. I respect that it's not just a pastime, but an addiction and many people smoke purely because they find it hard to stop.

There is an argument for smokers rights, and I'm glad that this is a debate that is happening with large scale public consultation. However, one lady was very ignorant when defending it. She claimed that excessive drinking was harmful too, so perhaps they should ban drinking. Can anyone else spot the fundamental flaw in her argument?

It reminds me of a wonderful but rather crude Dave Allen observation in which he attended a dinner party after quitting smoking. A guest offered him a cigarette but he turned it down explaining he had quit. The guest took slight offence saying that there was nothing wrong with it and that only the smoker was harmed... people around him only got the residue... besides, every man has a few vices... pointing out that Allen was a drinking man... to which Allen wonderfully retorted that although this wasn't true, he didn't expose his companions to the "residue" of his vice (by urinating on them).

Of course, the lady defending smoking by attacking drinking misses one very crucial point... apart from random acts of violence, the only person a persistent drunk will likely harm, through illness or injury... is themselves. Smoking is a different ball game altogether. Yes, you mess up your own organs, but then you breathe out smoke that damages other people... look at the late Roy Castle - never smoked, often played trumpet in smokey environments... died of lung cancer. Ok, so most people don't spend all their time in smoke filled clubs... but the guiding principle should be the same. The only person you have a right to do that to... is yourself. Smokers pay a heavy tax on their habit, which helps fund the medical bills they stack up in later life.

I think people have a right to eat and drink smoke-free in an enclosed area. In fairness though, many of the traditional pubs in Britain have a character that is in part defined by a smokey atmosphere. I personally feel some pubs should be allowed under license to carry on allowing smoking, but that a clear distinction should be made on the door before you go in.

I feel sorry for heavier smokers... if and when this comes in, the withdrawal symptoms are going to be harsh for them. It would be a cold person indeed who would bring in such a law and have no sympathy for those "negatively" affected by it.

This then raises other issues. What if we drive? Are we not doing the same damage as smokers? I believe a similar approach is needed. I DO drive. I don't live in an area where public transport is readily available. However, whenever I've been to a metropolitan area, I have always used public transport. I must point out though, that public transport in my experience has been sporadic in it's efficiency... and that must be resolved.

I think in both issues, it all boils down to how close you are to the people around you. If you are out in the open, or on your own property, the risk to other people is minimised, and that is all anyone can expect or ask (even in this scenario I'm still at risk because both my parents smoke).

That's just how I see it now. I'm open to other opinions and I welcome you to add your views even if they are at odds with this. All I ask, is that you reply with respect.

Faher's Day

Happy Father's Day everyone! Here's a message from Dad:

Father's Day Message

Sincere apologies to Charlotte who I shamelessly poached the link off!

You know how you get silly debates over praise song lyrics and political correctness every so often? There's one song called "Father God, I Wonder"... it's a beautiful short song of praise. There's one line that goes "now I am your son, I am adopted in your family", a lot of churches exchange "child" for "son". Being a son, it means more to me to know I am my dad's son, than his child. Don't get me wrong, all children are loved equally... but in the west we have a social stigma... sons carry their fathers hopes and dreams, even their very name into the future. So often, father's want mould their son in their own image.

I think as people and ultimately as Christian's that this is what God wants for us. He made us in his own image at the dawn of time, and he wants to restore that broken image in us through his firstborn Son Jesus.

Take a little time to think about the words in that short video, and consider what they mean personally for you.

Some people have a very negative experience of their human father, some have no experience at all. Those of us who have had good fathers should thank God for that. If you are one of the people who has not, I hope that video reassures you that there is hope and love there for you.... no matter the pain, no matter the loss.

Today is quite hard for me, it's another day in the year when I see other's celebrate for themselves, the things I long to be, yet I can only appreciate them from a distance. It's hard not to lay your dreams on the altar when people keep picking them up and waving them in your face. It seems barely a day goes by when so and so is getting married, or x&y are having a baby. Don't get me wrong... to focus on these things would make them all the more difficult to manifest or realise. If I did that, then my hopes, my dreams would be idols... and I wouldn't deserve them. Things just seem always out of reach, and I find it a hard part of my personal cross to carry.

One nice thing that happened though... got a card from my Godson Benji! Have a very happy Father's Day folks... no matter what your circumstances I pray you find joy and meaning in it.

Happy Father's Day.

N

New Archbishop of York Announced

The new Archbishop of York has been announced. He is the Rt Revd Dr John Sentamu (not that titles mean anything to me, or impress me in the slightest), and it will be very interesting to see how he takes things forward (assuming they do go forward and not backward).

I was very impressed by his predecessor - Dr David Hope, who "resigned" his post because he believed revival would come from God through the parishes, God's people... not through (and certainly not from) the General Synod. How right he is, and the clergy should take notice of his wisdom and insight.

I have high hopes for Archbishop Sentamu, I don't know him personally, but I am very excited by his choice of words upon the announcement of his appointment:

“I am looking forward to working with the Archbishop of Canterbury and other bishops to lead the Church of England in its mission to the nation. It is imperative that the Church regains her vision and confidence in mission, developing ways that will enable the Church of England to reconnect imaginatively with England.

“It is important that the Church of England’s voice is heard locally, nationally and internationally, standing up for justice, bringing Good News to the poor, healing to the broken-hearted, setting at liberty those who are oppressed, and proclaiming the death of Christ and his resurrection until he comes again. What an exciting prospect.”

Note the final paragraph of that. He's loosely quoting from Isaiah 61... the same verse that Jesus quoted in Luke's gospel:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

This scripture was given to our church too... several years ago. It's a scripture that has bounced around a lot for a few years now. I really believe that when we as a people, fall into step with the Holy Spirit... instead of trying to kick start the Church in our own feeble strength, we will truly see that scripture fulfilled. When Jesus said it, he was referring to himself. Now, as Christ's ambassadors we are called to be Jesus to the people we meet. We can only represent Jesus, if we allow him to work within us.

The only way we can do the things that Isaiah, Jesus and Archbishop Sentamu speak of, is if the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon us.

May it be so.

New Archbishop of York Announced

The new Archbishop of York has been announced. He is the Rt Revd Dr John Sentamu (not that titles mean anything to me, or impress me in the slightest), and it will be very interesting to see how he takes things forward (assuming they do go forward and not backward).

I was very impressed by his predecessor - Dr David Hope, who "resigned" his post because he believed revival would come from God through the parishes, God's people... not through (and certainly not from) the General Synod. How right he is, and the clergy should take notice of his wisdom and insight.

I have high hopes for Archbishop Sentamu, I don't know him personally, but I am very excited by his choice of words upon the announcement of his appointment:

“I am looking forward to working with the Archbishop of Canterbury and other bishops to lead the Church of England in its mission to the nation. It is imperative that the Church regains her vision and confidence in mission, developing ways that will enable the Church of England to reconnect imaginatively with England.

“It is important that the Church of England’s voice is heard locally, nationally and internationally, standing up for justice, bringing Good News to the poor, healing to the broken-hearted, setting at liberty those who are oppressed, and proclaiming the death of Christ and his resurrection until he comes again. What an exciting prospect.”

Note the final paragraph of that. He's loosely quoting from Isaiah 61... the same verse that Jesus quoted in Luke's gospel:

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

This scripture was given to our church too... several years ago. It's a scripture that has bounced around a lot for a few years now. I really believe that when we as a people, fall into step with the Holy Spirit... instead of trying to kick start the Church in our own feeble strength, we will truly see that scripture fulfilled. When Jesus said it, he was referring to himself. Now, as Christ's ambassadors we are called to be Jesus to the people we meet. We can only represent Jesus, if we allow him to work within us.

The only way we can do the things that Isaiah, Jesus and Archbishop Sentamu speak of, is if the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon us.

May it be so.

MSN, China & Christian Bloggers

Found this news item on the Beeb a few hours ago:

MSN & China story.

I find this very disturbing. I just hope this doesn't result in persecution for the people I know who blog over there. Especially Calven and Pett'ho. According to Open Doors, China is among the top ten countries for persecution of Christians. It's not as bad as it was before. Now it is legal to be one, but you have to register as one... which leaves you open to monitoring and intimidation.

I had heard rumours that factions within China's Government were more open to the idea of freedom of religious expression, because they could see certain economic benefits in being more relaxed about it. I just hope these people win out in the end. I am certain God is at work, in either case.

If you are in China, and this story disturbs you... let me know how you feel. Tell me what we can do to help.

Since writing this article, I was appalled to see on News at 10 last night, news footage that appeared to show clashes in China over rural land. China has one of the most powerful economies in the world (it recently overtook the UK). Despite this, the difference between the rich industrial areas and the very poor rural areas is massive. It now appears that industrialists wish to encroach upon unprofitable rural land and convert it to suit their purposes, despite the protests of farmers and their families.

Back to computers, and I then got to wondering... does my Government crawl my site, I'm sure they must to some degree, I mean they probably snoop on everyone, and lets face it I'm subversive enough to probably qualify for some attention (by that I mean I don't just assume the Government has my best interests, or that of the general public at heart)... just how thick is my MI5 dossier getting these days?

As Predicted...

As I predicted earlier, Ebay are now selling extremely highly priced orange juice with guess what? Free Live 8 tickets!

If that wasn't bad enough, Ebay have suspended permanently, all traders who sabotaged the previous ticket bids.

The Winners:

• Touts
• Ebay's director fat cats
• Wealthy idiots prepared to pay over the odds for entertainment.
• Selfishness
  

The Losers:

• Live 8 organisers
• Ordinary decent folk
• Justice
• Integrity
• Honour
• Love
• Those who tried to stand up to corrupt, money loving slime.

Justice is Served Upon Ebay

The people have spoken.

By causing untold chaos by placing crazy bids, the online auction site changed it's stance over the Live8 issue. It has now backed down and decided to ban the selling of charity tickets.

This won't be the end though. Apparently there was something similar going on with football tickets a while ago, but the lousy touts managed to get round it by selling ballpoint pens for about £50 and including "free" tickets as part of the deal. No doubt the slime that tried to sell Live8 tickets will now resort to this low tactic.

How many attempts from the 2,060,285 applications, were wealthy touts trying to monopolise the ticket allocation for themselves. We know, at least roughly 1,000 tickets were being sold on Ebay; by my reckonings each single application has a (mathematical) 1 in 27 chance of being a winner. Yet fairly early on, we had a high number of people selling on Ebay, so it seems to me the same people have texted in bulk, counting on making a profit online.

There is an obvious way of preventing this. The computer that was picking by random should have been programmed to eliminate a person's number from it's database as soon as they had received a single successful application. It's unreasonable for people to assume they have a divine right to more than one set of tickets, most decent people would accept that and be grateful/consider themselves fortunate to win even one set. It's a fairer system and it means the average Joe on the street has a decent chance of beating money loving fat cats.

What the Live8 organisers should have done following this incident, is suspend the ticket distribution and get government pressure find out which winners have been doing this... and summarily void their applications, and furthermore remove all further applications on their number, then restart the draw with the remaining numbers. However, that's too much like hard work, so it's unlikely that will happen... good as it might be.

Obscene

And so it begins...

No sooner have people received Live8 tickets, then this starts to happen:

Live8 Tickets on Ebay

his is obscene. £10 million for a pair of tickets? I would assume that the reason they've come up so soon, is because a group of individuals have texted blocks of applications in the competition in the hope of profiteering from it. It makes sense, because if their numbers appear that frequently in the draw, then it is logical to assume they will have early success.
I'm totally against touting, it ruins it for people who have a genuine interest in whats going on. I don't mind if someone can't go to something, them selling it on at or around cost... but you cannot apply that principle here.

You could say I'm jealous, and maybe I am a little. However my main anger stems from the notion that the amount of money some decadent people are spending is a substantial amount of the Gross Domestic Product of the worst off countries.

To some people, money truly is their god, and the love of it a root of all kinds of evil. I don't deny it's a valuable resource or tool, but that is all it should be... otherwise it becomes too important in our lives.

"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." Luke 16:13

"People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." 1 Timothy 6:9,10

X & Y By Coldplay

This album is seriously awesome. It's been speaking to me for days, about where I am as a person, and reminding me of the way to take things forward. It's really important that "Square One" is followed immediately by "What If?". "A Message" comes across to me as being about the importance of personal testimony (both in speech and in action).

You can clearly see the tributes both lyrically and musically to U2 and Bowie among others. I can honestly say, that when I listen to this album, I don't feel the need to skip to another track that I prefer. This is Coldplay's best album to date in my opinion. It's worth you parting with your cash.

Personal highlights for me are:

• Square One
• What If
• Fix You
• A Message

There are certain lines that mean a lot:

"Is there anybody out there who, is lost and hurt and lonely too? Are you bleeding all your colours into one? And if you've come undone, as if you've been run through, some catapult has fired at you, and you wonder if your chance will ever come, when you're back in square one..."

"Ooooooo that's right, let's take a brave jump over the side, ooooo that's right, how can you know when you won't even try? Every step that you take could be your greatest mistake, it might bend or it might break, but that's the risk that you take."

Some people have charged Chris Martin with being overly melancholy, but I always feel that his songs are about personal struggle.... he truly is "The Scientist" from "A Rush of Blood to the Head". He always seems to write where he is at. his songs do have a melancholy side to them, but they always leave me simultaneously feeling a strong sense of hope.

I think I'd get on with Chris Martin, we seem to share an over-analytical approach to life.

Buy the album, you won't regret it.