Thanks Sheila!

from my inbox, from guess who?...

Las Vegas Churches accept gambling chips

THIS MAY COME AS A SURPRISE TO THOSE OF YOU NOT LIVING IN LAS VEGAS, BUT THERE ARE MORE CATHOLIC CHURCHES THAN CASINOS..

NOT SURPRISINGLY, SOME WORSHIPERS AT SUNDAY SERVICES WILL GIVE CASINO CHIPS RATHER THAN CASH WHEN THE BASKET IS PASSED.

SINCE THEY GET CHIPS FROM MANY DIFFERENT CASINOS, THE CHURCHES HAVE DEVISED A METHOD TO COLLECT THE OFFERINGS.

THE CHURCHES SEND ALL THEIR COLLECTED CHIPS TO A NEARBY FRANCISCAN MONASTERY FOR SORTING AND THEN THE CHIPS ARE TAKEN TO THE CASINOS OF ORIGIN AND CASHED IN.

THIS IS DONE BY THE CHIP MONKS.

Blogging for 7 years!

Blogger extraordinaire Ed Hillen informed us, his loyal readers, last week that he'd been blogging for 7 years. He'd posted 4,875 blog posts, nearly 2 a day and received 2.5 comments a day [1.3 comment per post].I'm sure all that blogging would be the equivalant of at least 3 books written. Ed's bloggged regularly at CatchThat.Net over the last 7 years without a team of ever changing bloggers to keep the blog going. He's also never, as far as I know, pleaded for people to 'hit the tip jar' or placed adverts on his blog.
Now that he's reached the time when things might get a bit itchy maybe he'll grace the twittersphere as well. I've noticed some of the top twitterers in Northern Ireland only blogging for a year with followers of over 12000. If Ed had been twittering for 7 years I'm sure he'd be up to around 84000 followers. Ed if you don't grace the twittersphere I'll understand and well done for keeping going for 7 years.Here's to another 7 years at it!

It's February already

I can't believe it's February already and according to my Church Art Calendar Monday the 1st is St Brigid Secondary Patron of Ireland day. After a really quick look at Google I've found out she is one of the most influential of the Irish saints.She must've influenced the hurlers as I've also found out that there is a GAA club in Belfast named after her. She's also meant to have been a good friend of St Patrick, wasn't he the guy who invented Green Beer?
Today is also the day I change my desktop wallpaper. Again I visit the shrine that is known as Our Lady of the Smashing Magazine to search through all the romantic Valentine wallpaper to find something I could leave on my screen for more than one day of the month. I found a calendar wallpaper entitled Raindrops designed byAlejandro Pratto from Argentina. Raindrops seem so much more appealing to look at now after all the snow we've had for the last month.

"Wall inspire by a macro photography taken by me with a reflex camera in the glass of my car."

Let the little children...

The news report reads...

Haitian police were holding 10 US citizens Sunday on suspicion they tried to slip out of the country with 31 Haitian children in a trafficking scheme, a government minister said.

The Baptists response...

A ten member church team traveled to Haiti to help rescue children from one or more orphanages that had been devastated in the earthquake on January 12. The children were being taken to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic where they could be cared for and have their medical and emotional needs attended to. Our team was falsely arrested today and we are doing everything we can from this end to clear up the misunderstanding that has occurred in Port au Prince.

The plan was...

Rescue Orphans from Port au Prince, Haiti 

Friday/Saturday,
 Jan
 22nd
 :
NLCR 
team
 fly 
to 
the 
DR
 

Sun
 Jan
 23rd :
Drive 
bus
 from 
Santo 
Domingo 
into 
Port
 au 
Prince, 
Haiti
 and
 gather
100
 orphans
 from 
the 
streets 
and
 collapsed
 orphanages,
then return
 to
 the 
DR 

Mon
 Jan 
24th Bus
 arrives
 in 
Cabarete,
DR
 at
 New 
Life
 Children 
Refuge
 

 The Bible says...

James Ch 4:13 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."