Prayer Request

Hey friends-- if you could be praying for Krista's dad, he just had a heart attack last night. He's fine, but they're going to keep him in the hospital for a couple of days. As you can imagine, it puts everything in life into a bit of a spin. Thanks!

My Kids Discuss The Resurrection

While playing "My Little Ponies":

A: Huh. One of my ponies died.

Z: You just need to pray to Jesus and he will bring it back to life.

A: Oh.

Z: Just pray to Jesus.

A: Dear Jesus, help my pony come to life. Amen.

Z: Tomorrow your pony will be alive again.

(The pony gets up and starts running around.)

Z: Sometimes they come to life right after you pray.

If I ruled Christmas

No one over the age of, say, eight years old would be allowed to sing "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." It makes the song too weird and creepy to have 30 and 40 year olds singing it.

Hooray!

My passport (complete with visa) is on its way via FedEx and should arrive this morning! For real-time fun you can track its progress here.

Taking your lost friends to Narnia

Here is a website that gives you links and ideas for how to use the upcoming Narnia film to share Christ with your friends, neighbors or small groups. You're going to go through the wardrobe anyway, you ought to take some friends.

Free Switchfoot Songs! (!)

Hey, here's some free Switchfoot songs... I haven't listened to them yet, they are dowloading right now. That is what a good friend I am... I give you the link before I have even listened to the songs myself.

UPDATE: Okay. Now I have partaken of the complimentary music. Here's what you are getting... basically a surfer jam session with some guys who can actually play. It's nice. I like the second and fourth tracks best. I know, I know, you really prefer the first and third tracks. Whatever, dude.

Spanish for Beginners

I heard my two-year-old singing "Fleece knobby dog" to the tune of "felice navidad" today. Pretty good if you ask me.

That's a Good Question

Tonight my eldest daughter said, "When I am seven years old, I will be big... all the way up to the sky."

Me: "That's pretty big."

Her: "What do you think people will say when I step on their cars?"

O Christmas Tree O Christmas Tree

Today was Go Buy A Christmas Tree Day so Krista, the kids, my parents and I all heaped into a couple vehicles and headed for the tree lot.

An eight-year-old kid greeted us and let us know that we should be sure not to pet the pony as it had recently bitten a girl. Apparently I did not look horrified enough because he followed this comment up with, "She bled a lot." as well as, "Would you like some candy canes?" We took two.

As you can see, I encourage the children to hold saws while cutting down trees.

Then we've been home most of the day getting all Christmasy, listening to Christmas music and so on. It's nice. This is my favorite time of year. I like the music. I like the decorations. I like the reason we are celebrating. And to be honest I am really okay with the fact that the celebrating starts on October 15 and goes through Dec 25, midnight. In fact, it is my intention to celebrate Christmas until December 31 this year. So there!

A last thought: I was on my roof tonight putting up lights. It really could have been a last thought, actually, as I am a little clumsy (I dropped three Christmas light bulbs onto the driveway in the course of about six minutes). Anyway, I put up this little light-up angel in the window of our laundry room and even though it's half burnt out and sort of pitiful it reminded me of the fact that the angels came to proclaim the birth of the savior. It does my heart good to see something meant to represent them up on my house.

Happy Holiday to you, too, Buster.

I told Krista today that I plan to say "Merry Christmas" to anyone who says "Happy Holidays" to me this year.

She said that this was a good, friendly way to show my contempt for the term "Happy Holidays."

"Oh," I said, a little disappointed.

So now I've decided to punch people in the nose when they say "Happy Holidays" to me. Then I'll help them up and say, "Merry Christmas."

Yes, yes, I know. Leave me alone.

First, let me say that it is a holiday tradition for me to go to a movie for Thanksgiving Weekend. So don't come down on me for that!

Gentlemen, here is a guide to How To Enjoy "Pride and Prejudice" (disclaimer: this only counts for the current production):

1) Begin by getting a woman to agree that she will take you to "King Kong" if you will take her to "Pride and Prejudice." Krista claims she never agreed to this, but we will see what she says when she is watching King Kong savagely attacking a tyrannosaurus rex.

2) The acting is actually quite good.

3) If possible, get some Chinese people to sit behind you. We had three of them right behind us and it brought this really funny aspect to the movie. Of course they see no reason to keep quiet during the film since they don't really understand what is happening, and they prattled on happily in Mandarin pretty much the whole time. My favorite moment: they show the main character writing a note and the guy behind us says (really loud) in Chinese: A QUILL! SHE'S WRITING WITH A QUILL! Ha ha ha.

4) You get major points with your significant other. Or, with your potential significant other. Going to this movie shows that you are truly a sensitive, deep, soul-searching individual and not a proud, unflinching, heartless fiend. Do not be surprised if your girlfriend throws herself at your feet after this movie and cries out, "I have misjudged you, sir! Misjudged you terribly!"

5) Listen, because this is true: You will get the same amount of points for watching this (the two hour version) as you would for watching the six-hour version on television. Think about it.

Worth a Look

Let me just start by saying I'm not a friend of the Clancyesque political techno-thriller. I'm not a bitter enemy, either, just a deeply uncaring passerby.

I met Joel Rosenberg this summer and was pretty impressed with the things that he had to say about how he writes and why. His entire goal is to share the gospel with people, and he presents it in an entertaining (NY Times Bestselling) sort of way.

Here's my take. Like I said, I am not a fan of the genre. But by the end of this novel I was deeply moved by Joel Rosenberg's committment to share the gospel and the relevant way in which he did it. If you or a friend like Clancy, you'll like this book. It's a great gift for friends who aren't Christians, too. It's not in-your-face at all. It's a lot of fun.

Melts in Your Mouth, Not On Your Head

Note to Self: Watching the Thanksgiving Parade is much more exciting in person.

Happy Thanksgiving

To all my international friends: I know how hard it can be to find a turkey overseas. Feel free to use this photo in one of two ways: 1) To lose your appetite for turkey or 2) Print and eat!

Take On Me

That's right, friends. It's time for you to try your skill and knowledge against me in a head-to-head battle for gameboard dominance. Chess, checkers, battleship, whatever. But I warn you that I will SHOW NO MERCY!

My screename is St.Matt (it's case sensitive). So sign up and then challenge me... if you dare!

My Latest Rejection

Dear Matt,

We have all read, reviewed, and discussed your submission, The Hooded One, and we have decided to pass on the story.

Although the story offers some creepy and interesting moments, we feel the story needs more clarity. Some of the imagery seemed off to us.

We do thank you for considering AlienSkin Magazine for publication, and for allowing us the opportunity to read your work.

Do try us again.

Sincerely,
Katherine A. Patterson
Senior Editor
She's editor of a sci-fi mag called "Alien Skin"

World's Largest Fish-Rodent

Capybaras are huge rodents (can be up to 130 pounds) living in South America and are considered by Venezuelans a delicacy to be eaten and enjoyed (so they say). I've sent an e-mail to some friends in Venezuela to find out if this is true. Another interesting fact is that the pope (years and years ago) declared the capybara a fish so that Venezuelans could still enjoy this Rodent Of Unusual Size during lent.

Zanahorias!

Mmmmm! You just learned some Spanish! And it's good for your eyesight!

Two Movies I Can Recommend Without Seeing

I almost cried when I saw the newest Narnia trailer. It is that cool. Seriously, this looks like a great movie. I am trying to keep my expectations down so I am not disappointed. Of course the best thing is that there could be six sequels if this is well received.

And then there is KING KONG! My friend Sam is working on this film. He is probably the crankiest film critic of all time and he says it is going to be awesome. The trailers tell the same story. Directed by Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) and starring Jack Black and Naomi Watts, it brings up an important question: Do we really need to see an enormous gorilla fight a lot of dinosaurs? Yes, we do! Of course we do!

Bleh.

Okay. All I have to say is that I would rather watch Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory than Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. At least we got the rental for free since it was out of stock the first time I tried to rent it.