Cleaning out my inbox...

...and here's a sample of what's in there from the last week or so.

First of all: there's a good, long article about the United Church of Christ winning an award for the "bouncer" ads here.

And if you want to know how cool it is to live downtown, check out this photo from one of Jeff's co-workers, who took this picture of the monorail crash right out of his apartment window. (Don't worry, no one was hurt, but the poor, beleagured monorail will not be running for awhile).

Oh, I just HEART Rev. Billy, don't you?

The landlord (who's from California) warns us about the dangers of cold weather and the possibility of the pipes freezing. The tenants (who are from Minnesota) snicker a little in our sleeves about people who dont know anything about cold weather, but we're covering those outdoor faucets anyway.

Here's an ad from Sojo for a poster of Gandhi's list of 7 Deadly Social Sins - still so sadly relevant.


Here's an Emo from Barbara Crafton at the geranium farm that contains this awesome little Advent gem.

What happens to you if you don't pray? Bad things? Does God turn away, refuse to hear you when you really do need him? None of the above. Bad things don't happen to the unobservant any more often than they do to the devout: stuff just happens, as those bumper stickers used to say. The love of God falls gently upon us all, people much wickeder than I am and people infinitely more righteous. Prayer has nothing to do with staying on God's good side.

All that happens is that you don't have a life of prayer. And, if a life of prayer is what you want, rooted in the exploration of what it mean to be a human being beloved of God, you drift further and further from what you want. You are like a person who needs a hammer but refuses to go to the hardware store.

And, oh dear, I've won this on ebay. Evidently, this was the date and time of my bid: "Dec-01-05 21:30:57 PST." Twenty-one-hundred-hours? When is that exactly? Ovbiously, an injudicious and sentimental hour, probably in the middle of the night. And I have so much shopping for actual presents for real peple that I could have been doing then. Sigh.

I guess before any more of my bad habits are revealed (such as not getting back to old friends who are trying to get in touch with me), I better end this little email inbox tour.

But now I'm so curious (as our friend The Bear would say). What's in YOUR inbox?