I’ll share them but they will be fairly obvious:

• Read my Bible more
• Pray more
• Have a healthier diet
• Exercise more
• Spend more time with friends

Today I’ve be good on the top three and I’m planning a short jog in about 30mins.  The last one will need to wait until after Monday when I hand in my uni work which I’m slightly procrastinating now but even this has been okay today, especially considering my lack of sleep last night.

Last year I’m glad to say I did read my bible more and pray more than many of the previous year but this still has eminence room for improvement. As for eating healthier  well it’s always going to be a struggle for me & I’ve really struggled to find time to exercise this year but I’m trying to gain motivation by remembering a couple of comments I received this year, one saying I was like a movie star (Jack Black) and one like a TV comedian (Johnny Vegas). I’m not sure this was entirely for my devastatingly quick wit and comedy timing either.

Added to the above I guess I’d like to read more and listen to more sermons, Last year I read 2 books (a record for me) so perhaps I’ll try for three this year (sorry Jim not 1/month). I’m starting with Worship by the Book by Mark Ashton (Author), R.Kent Hughes (Author), Timothy J. Keller (Author) and D.A. Carson (Editor). As for listening to sermons I have my iPhone loaded up with Mark Driscoll, Alistair Begg, John Piper and RC Sproul. I like to listen while driving too and from work although sometimes Radio 1 and Radio 4 proving easier listening when I’m tired.

Anyway Happy New Year to you all and if you’re thinking about making New Years Resolutions read this BBC news article first.

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me
to k eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet I will be confident.

Psalm 27:1-3

Here’s a picture from our Carol service last Sunday, it was  nice evening and even with my perfectionist disposition I would say it went well. Voices held up to perfection for the solos, well done Cherith and Elia. All the musicians play well, I didn’t even notice any mistakes (although a few of them said they had made mistakes but if I didn’t notice them I’m quiet certain no one else did). Also and this is the big improvement over last year, the technology all worked (then again we did use Keynotes on a Mac instead of PowerPoint on a Windoze laptop), well done MeeLan and Nev!

Elia and cousin Lois did a lot of the work for it this year and it really showed with their musical direction adding a new dimension.

As always Lindsay delivery the Gospel in a clear and precise manor and it’s my prayer that many of the visitors would come to know the Lord as their own and personal saviour.

When Christian musicians get together, our tendency is to assume we all have our theology down and we can focus on honing our chops, discovering new gear, and improving our techniques and methodologies. Or maybe we think that theology isn’t that important. Whatever the reason, I wanted to make clear that even at the Christian Musicians Summit, theology matters.

I started by saying that theology is literally the “study of God,” particularly as he has revealed himself in Scripture. It includes not only studying the Bible, but understanding how the different parts of the Bible fit together. Christian musicians need to know theology. But before I explained why, I shared four potential objections people might have.

1. People just argue about theology.
Yes. Partly because we’re sinful. But mostly because there are some truths that are worth defending and fighting for. Even dying for.

2. Theology just makes life complicated.
It depends on what you mean by complicated. If you think that knowing how to play your instrument makes it complicated, then yes, theology makes life complicated. Theology doesn’t make like complicated. It actually makes life simpler. It protects us from reading verses out of context or reading only our favorite passages. Theology tells us what words like glory, gospel, salvation, and love mean. Theology helps us understand what we’re actually doing every Sunday. What complicates life is not theology but ignorance of theology.

3. Studying theology makes people proud.
It shouldn’t. The better we know God, the humbler we should be. The more we should  realize that what we know will always be dwarfed by what we don’t know.

4. We’ll never know it all anyway.
Just because we can’t know everything about God, doesn’t mean we can’t know some things truly. God has revealed himself to us in his word and given us his Spirit so that we can know him.

I then went on to give three reasons why theology should matter to Christian musicians.

1. You’re already a theologian.
Every Christian, musical or otherwise, is already a theologian. The question is, are you a good theologian or a bad one? We’re good theologians if what we say and think about God lines up with what Scripture says and affirms. We’re bad theologians if our view of God is vague, or if we think God doesn’t really mind sin, or is we see Jesus as a good example and not a Savior, or if we our god is too small to overcome evil or too big to care about us.

2. God reveals himself primarily through words, not music.
Because we’ve encountered God profoundly during times of musical worship, we can wrongly start assuming that words restrict the Spirit, while music enables us to experience God in fresh and powerful ways. If God had wanted us to know him primarily through music, the Bible would be a soundtrack, not a book. Music affects and helps us in many ways, but it doesn’t replace truth about God. By itself, music can never help us understand the meaning of God’s self-existence, the nature of the Incarnation, or Christ’s substitutionary atonement. Simply put, truth outlasts tunes.

3. Being good theologians makes us better musicians.

• Theology teaches us what music is meant to do.
• Theology teaches us that worship is more than music.
• Theology teaches us that Jesus is better than music.

If you are involved in a church playing music or leading services this blog is a must for your RSS feed.

Tomorrow I’m being assessed teaching and I’ve just finished my lesson plan etc. I’ve been trying all day to get it done as I haven’t had a free night in weeks to prepare so today hasn’t excatly been as nice as my Sunday’s usually are.

BUT something that did made me smile was the result of the Arsenal vrs Chelsea game. Tomorrow night Liverpool have the chance to go three point clear at the top of the League if they beat West Ham. Come on the Reds!!

me: “Come in!”

Two pupil’s I’ve never talked to before come in to my office.

them: “What do you call them people who pull faces for a livin’?” Complete with demonstration.

me: “Gurners”

them: “Ah yea we thought it was grinder or somethin’, thanks.”

Pupil’s leave.

Often the ads I get are slightly mocking e.g. “over 30 and still single, meet nice girls on …”, sometimes the manage to home in on the fact I’m a christian & single with ads like “meet Christian girls at ….”. Both of these are nothing spectacular since my profile lists that’s I’m single, 31 and a Christian but today they surpassed themselves with the advertisement shown here.

They must have taken the fact there’s a fishing album in my photos and added that to my advertising profile. The lower ad isn’t anything special since half the world thinks their a webdsigner and I probably have that listed in my profile somewhere.

Just for the record despite admiring their advertising strategie I’ve never clicked on any of their ads.