Carl Belcher

It's my birthday today and whilst I can't complain about people giving me gifts and the excuse to pamper myself, I generally don't like focusing on the fact that I'm not immortal. I wish I had the attitude of Billie Burke who said "Age is something that doesn't matter, unless you are a cheese."

But amongst the lynx bath gift set and Terry's chocolate orange came a present so outstanding that it demanded a blog. Sarah's eldest brother (Joel, aka Jakkstar, aka Ak-TRaK, aka Moley) recorded a couple of bars of me messing about on his piano the other week and has worked it up into a 'hands in the air' anthem (he knows how to please an 80's throwback dance junkie).

The most thoughtful present I think I've ever had. Check out the mp3 or m4a.

Well enough of the "Why haven't you blogged for soooo long" already. I've got no excuses other than I have far too many dreams that need fulfilling, jobs that need completing and people that need the Belcher touch. Something like that anyway.
I think that after checking this out though you will agree that I have redeemed myself with this discovery.

SALVATION CHALLENGE!!

Here's the description from some guy:

"So", you ask, "how does one play this amazing new game?" Well, it's simple really. You start at the cross (how spiritual of them) and you and your friends roll the die until you reach Cavalry, where you--and this is truly the best part--slap a red sticker on your head and shout, "Jesus saved me!" then go directly to the river Jordan to be baptized.

But, that's just where the "fun" begins. The object of the game is not to gain the most money, like in some board games, but to give a million dollars away to Missionary causes. The first person to do this wins the game!

Seriously, go watch this video and prepare to be amazed as a grown man places a red sticker on his forward and screams "Jesus Save Me" in front of the church leaders assembled to watch...or maybe gawk is a better word.

I probably should have warned people at the start of the blog that they may find my cynical approach to 'evangelism aids' offensive. Oh well, too late now....
I just can't wait to see when they are going to create the worlds first 'Salvation' theme park.

I can't believe just how many new blogs and sites have appeared that are devoted to this culture. Emerging culture turned epidemic, love em or hate em, it looks like chavmania is sticking around for longer than their heavily Halfordized nova's will last. Now I'm not going to get into an anthropological rant on Chavs here (although as mentioned there are enough who will) , but during a recent party organised by my cluster I found myself sat at a table chatting away to a small group of people who could quite easily be labeled chavs. The strange thing was, rather than disapproving of this culture invasion (and there are definitely aspects of Chav culture which I find socially harmful and warrant challenging), I found myself at the end of the party thinking "wow this went really well!" and marveling that the the Gospel has the power and relevance to transform any life, any age, any culture..period. I then realized that in terms the socially outcast, apart from those who harm children or suicide bombers etc, Chavs are among the most intolerated and unwelcome sections of today's post modern society. You could go as far to say that they are the equivalent of the tax collectors, political nutters and prostitutes that Jesus hung around with when here on earth. Surely these are the sorts of people who Jesus wants us to 'do life with?' Maybe I'm just being carried away with the euphoria of still having my TV and DVD player at the end of the night (sorry, no more stereotypes...) but I strongly suspect that what starts out as a question of "What would a church effecting Chav culture look like" will end up being "Are you asking me to plant Chav Church God?"

Watch this video. Classic.

If you could add to the 'tools' tab, what would your useful dropdown include?

Now is the time to do something....

Unless you've spent the last few weeks in a state of unconsciousness you have most probably heard a reference or two to the (RHB) Religious Hatred Bill.

Introducing legislation that protects citizens from people intent on inciting religious violence sounds like an excellent idea, but unfortunately the government is trying to rush this one through even though many people have pointed out that as it stands the bill could be used to unfairly restrict and criminalise those speaking Christian beliefs in a 'non offensive or aggressive manner'.

This article does the whole issue far more justice than I could.
Now that the Lords have rejected the bill as it stands, the house of commons has the choice of accepting the amendments suggested by the Lords which make sense to me, or pushing through the existing bill as it stands. The best step to take now is to personally lobby your local MP to not push it through. You can find out who your MP is here and even found out how they originally voted on this bill here so that you know whether you need to lobby them. And if you don't know what exactly to write or say, there's even a suggestion here

Looks like Gillian Merron will be hearing from a few Lincoln constituents...