CliveSLewis's Xanga

Friday, July 07, 2006

Fri, 07 Jul 2006 07:42:24 GMT

I've been setting up a new WordPress 'blog.

http://completegeek.nfshost.com is taking over as my main 'blog. I shall be merging the content of my IkeNewton 'blog with the content of this one into one journal, which I'm really looking forward to.

I shall miss Xanga. Thanks so much for visiting my site. I'll still be on Xanga occasionally, sometimes posting, but generally just leaving comments. But please have a look at my new 'blog! I'll be updating it far more regularly than my Xangae, so please check back regularly.

-CliveSLewis

Monday, April 10, 2006

Mon, 10 Apr 2006 16:35:33 GMT

Earlier this month, our church held its annual worship conference. It was absolutely fantastic! The highlights for me included:

A dramatic rendition of Paul & Silas praising in prison
Tim Hughes speaking on songwriting
RPM (our church youth band) launching I Surrender All (review coming soon)
Helping out throughout the conference
Picking up thousands of shreds of confetti at the end!

In other news, I'm currently writing a concept album about different philosophies and worldviews, chronicling the quest of a man to find the Absolute Truth. Lyrical sample from the opener, "Dental Flossophy Pt I", follows.

"What is my philosophy? What should I believe?
Terminal velocity by my brain has been reached
Postmodern or postdecon? Platonists abound
Apatheists don't care as atheists are drowned
Question Time's arrived; today, I shall begin
To investigate the claims about spirit and skin
Wandering generalities and meaningful specifics
If I could find the latter answer, that would be terrific!
I'll talk with all the experts, I'll read through all their books
And after that I'll sum up how the situation looks
Slowly, but with certainty, the choices will be narrowed
Hopefully before the time that I get sworded/arrowed...
There's no chance of NPOV, but I'll get to the end of
This thing if it kills me, the last thing I do
An internal struggle, a brain-mashing muddle
I'll make sure that all's clean, brushing this tooth!"

-CliveSLewis

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Wed, 15 Feb 2006 17:00:24 GMT

Three very big albums are set to be released in March (or around).

The first is Yfriday's "Universal".

The second is UNITED's "United We Stand".

The third is our very own RPM's "I Surrender All" (click for sample tracks).

I'm getting very excited...

-CliveSLewis

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Sun, 15 Jan 2006 14:37:27 GMT

I've suddenly realised that I've been tagged by Seanna to list five weird things that people don't know about me, so I shall certainly start...

#1. A common practice in rock circles is to play "air guitar". I prefer to play air theremin.
#2. Once (when I was extremely young), I wanted to marry five people at once. I was very sincere about this.
#3. I am a secret supporter of Britain's Official Monster Raving Loony Party (2005 Manifesto available here).
#4. I have two pseudobrothers and two pseudosisters, even though I am an only child.
#5. When I was three and a half years old, I spent three whole days roleplaying Noah. That is, I sat on the couch and called all the animals into the ark by their genus and species, using Longman's Illustrated Animal Encyclopedia.

And, as a bonus:

#6. I'm a member of a *parody* (it's highly important to stress this) cult, in which I am known as OtHO. (Seriously, I'm completely orthodox otherwise. )
#7. I spent my 13th birthday participating in debates at Speaker's Corner.

I tag:

#1. Katie Beth.
#2. David.
#3. Dale.
#4. Ali B.
#5. Lord Jabez.
#6. James.
#7. Fleur.

-CliveSLewis

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Thu, 15 Dec 2005 14:43:13 GMT

On Saturday, I watched the new Lion/Witch/Wardrobe film.

I'm still speechless.

It was completely and utterly brilliant. I was crying barely five minutes into it - and at the Stone Table - everywhere, it carried the book (and its message) through almost perfectly. Lucy with Mr Tumnus... the almost Cockney-ish beavers... Lucy and Susan walking with Aslan... the final battle... it was truly amazing. I couldn't help but see all the Gospel parallels, especially with the way that they managed to portray Aslan.

And the actor playing Lucy absolutely stole the show.

Go out. See the film. See it twice. See it again and again. This deserves to be the most-viewed film in history.

-CliveSLewis.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

Thu, 01 Sep 2005 15:53:41 GMT

Wow. Take a look at this article. Delirious? made BBC news. More importantly, the author of this (secular) article has located the origin of (at least one of) the major problems in witnessing: "But scepticism about rock and religion runs deep: in America Delirious is a rock band who happen to be Christians; in Britain they remain Christians who play guitars".

People look at things according to their backgrounds and perspectives. According to CrossRhythms, a recent poll by Gallup and Reader's Digest ranked the UK the second most Godless nation in the world - second only to Japan. America, on the other hand... well, its whole culture is built on Christianity, and it's far more receptive. What else can you say about a country where The Purpose-Driven Life topped the New York Times bestseller charts for over 115 weeks? In the areas of books (The Purpose-Driven Life), film (The Passion Of The Christ), and music (Delirious?), the US was much more responsive than the UK.

This is the underlying principle behind the fact that the UK's background is less receptive to Christianity than is the US. But with the undermining of false images of an irrelevant churchianity comes a different background - a different set of glasses, so to speak. And that's when this will happen...

-CliveSLewis

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Sat, 20 Aug 2005 14:22:49 GMT

"You came for peace; You came to die for White Ribbon Day. And here we stand, saved by Your blood; we'll stand with courage; we'll live and die for White Ribbon Day!"

There's nothing better to live or to die for than for the Glorious Appearing, when "God will save the day, and all will say: My Glorious!" Everything we do as Christians should be in anticipation of this event: "Our heroes lived and died to see these words of glory set us free, to live for Heaven on this earth..." In fact, we should be far more excited about Jesus and His return than anything else.

Unfortunately, it's all too easy to get more excited about something else - even if that something else happens to be, say, attending church, or one's area of ministry.

It's a pretty shocking thought that that can happen. As J. John said, it's important to make sure that the work of the Lord does not become more important to us than the Lord of the work.

And if you're the biggest thing in God's life, shouldn't He be the biggest thing in yours?

-CliveSLewis

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Tue, 14 Jun 2005 14:19:52 GMT

For those who've never read the Bible...
...and for those who've read it too much.

"Gritty. Honest. Real. Kinda like Jesus".

It's not a Bible... it's a "bible" to point people towards the real thing, and it works very well indeed. Scroll down to the bottom of the page linked to see a further synopsis of the book and a medical testimony from the paraphraser...

-CliveSLewis

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Wed, 01 Jun 2005 05:43:35 GMT

A new 'blog... http://www.xanga.com/Agnax_Duo. It's two 'blogs for the price of one. Please feel free to visit it and comment on it.

-CliveSLewis

Tuesday, May 24, 2005

Tue, 24 May 2005 12:24:32 GMT

The aforementioned song (139) has to be one of my favourites - it's virtually straight out of the Psalm of the same number. Have a look at the lyrics, especially the first two verses - that's something to hang onto when you feel down or insignificant...

VERSE 1:
You have searched me, Lord;
You have known my thoughts...
All my words and ways Your eyes have seen...
There's no-where I can run to that your hand cannot reach!

VERSE 2:
You have made me, Lord;
You watched me as I formed...
All my days were written before they came to be...
I cannot escape this love, 'cause You are holding me!

CHORUS:
Here in Your arms,
Close to Your heart,
I feel the breath of Heaven over me.
I'm carried away
In the warmth of Your embrace,
And the fire of your kiss has set me free...
Here in Your arms.

VERSE 3:
Even when I wake,
I am still with You...
Search me, oh God, and know my anxious heart...
Heal my broken ways and keep me on your path!

BRIDGE:
Search me...
Know me...
Love me...
Keep me...

It's an amazing promise, isn't it?

-CliveSLewis