Wind Blows Deeply

This is one incredible version of Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring. A must see/hear!

Check out more by Josh Garrels

I am not much of an active morning person. I like my snooze bar. I like lounging in bed as the sun rises.
Sometimes I sing myself a segment of a certain cartoon theme song: “Gotta get up, gotta get going.”
Usually I roll over and try to get “just five more minutes.”

But, for the next forty odd days, I have a different plan.
Tomorrow marks the start of Lent 2011. In the past I’ve given up things like TV or snacks or coffee. Friends have given up red meat, eating anything after supper, chocolate, alcohol. My Catholic friends follow calendars provided by their parish, usually about food restrictions.

This year’s plan is to give up my habit of sleeping past my first alarm. I will get up when the alarm sounds and not aim for the snooze bar. I might be tired. I might be a bit grouchy. I will certainly need more coffee.

The way I understand it, Lent is a set-apart to bring one’s attention closer to God. It’s not about merely denying oneself some type of pleasure. It’s not about a tortuous absence. It’s about filling a newly created space with something to help refocus on God.

I’m not sure what my morning minutes will entail but I will endeavour to share some of them with you. Who knows what amazing things might happen.

This TED talk by Hans Rosling (of gapminder.org) came up in my DiscoveryNews feed. It’s only twenty minutes but well worth the watch. Take away points …
- Africa is not a country
- you might know more about how the world was than how the world is
- visuals and stats can make stats understandable and more easily applied

Jump over to gapminder.org to have a look at more videos – the joy of stats, population growth, child health, HIV, human rights, cancer stats and more.

Crooked Still – “Half of What We Know”

HT: Joe Carter’s Commonplace