You know how it is, you complete an online questionnaire about something and it says there's a give away prize but you forget all about it because you know you never win.

WRONG!

This morning the postie arrived with a packet for me - but I hadn't ordered anything recently, so it was a surprise.

Ripping it open I discovered I had won the BMS Mission Catalyst Survey Giveaway!  Wow!  It's no secret that I am a big fan of Mission Catalyst, one of the few denominational or theological things I look forward to receiving AND read cover to cover.

So I now have a copy of Denis Alexander's book "Creation or Evolution: Do We Have to Choose" which I am looking forward to reading as it's a very long time since I revisited this question in any depth.  A quick glance suggests it is a complex book, and I suspect the title question is rhetorical, but hey, I won a prize!

Thank you BMS!

Tonight's evening service took the form of a 'street labyrinth', a walk along the lanes (narrow cobbled streets) and streets around church, pausing at various points to consider or pray for people who live, work or pass by there.  The library, a swimming pool, restaurants, derelict buildings, green spaces, fly tipping, homes, shops, the Subway station and so on.

I don't know what struck other people, but the defining moment for me was as we turned a corner in one of the lanes and a street musician began playing Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah'... I had to chuckle to myself, but it also seemed quite a spiritual moment too.

Joanna Rowsell, Olympic Gold medallist defining beauty and health.

Courage and confidence - a shining example to inspire many generations.

Not sure if this is highly inappropriate, but into my mind came this plagiarism of the Mica song title...

Bald girls, you are beautiful!

Having been one, albeit temporarily, I hope I can be forgiven any impropriety...

 Edit: I posted a link to the above photo on a well-known social networking site and someone commented that Joanna is not beautiful, and that outward appearance is not an appropriate way to judge women.   Now I wholeheartedly agree that no-one - female or male - should be judged on the basis of their appearance, but that does not alter the fact that I do think Joanna is beautiful - both in a physical and, based on what I have observed, in the spirit (if not the letter) of a Pauline Biblical sense.  So, if anyone wants to debate with me appropriate use of the word beauty, feel free, in the meantime I'm re-posting this steroid-bloated shiny-pated photo of myself from December 2010 because I stand by my assertion that bald girls are beautiful...

This pleased, but also challenged, me:  I am really pleased that an accommodation has been made to allow a devout Muslim woman to complete; I am challenged that many of the Muslim women in countries permitting women athletes for the first time face criticism (or worse) for participating.  When we mutter in the west, we do well to remember what other people live with day and daily.

This morning I was writing my sermon on the death of John the Baptist - which reminded me that actually I'm a coward.  May be that's a useful message for further pondering by my people, not that I am a coward (though it may be), but the fact that a lot of us are cowards when we compare ourselves to J Bap and others.

Hmmm.  Need to work out how to hold together the encouragement I got from Jeremiah with the kick up the behind from Mark...