Now let us turn on our phones and browse to John chapter 3

How many times have you heard a mobile phone ring during a church meeting and wished that people would show a bit more courtesy about turning them off? Well, all of that is about to change.

No, not because someone has invented an effective phone blocker, or that everyone in church has been struck by an attack of consideration for others. No! Now we'll be asked to keep our phones on, because we need them to participate in the service!

I was alerted to this revelation (or is that 'revelution'?) by a post on Dean Peters' Heal Your Church Web Site - Pastors preach: turn on & tune in … to your Blackberry. Apparently a pastor informed his congregation:

‘“Please bring your cell phone with you to the service this Sunday. Yes, you
read that right. I, the President of the ‘I hate cell phones going off in church
club,’ am inviting you to bring that blasted thing to church this
Sunday. At the end of the teaching on prayer this weekend I am going to
devote about 7 minutes to answering questions on the topic and the way you will
pass on your questions is by texting them to a number you will receive during
the service. We will of course all have our phones on SILENT won’t we!”’

So now, instead of counting the number of colours in the stained glass windows during a boring sermon, you'll be able to surf the web on your phone, or even play solitaire, and everyone will think you are tuned in to what is going on.

Really though, some are finding it's easier to surf to a Bible gateway than to carry a heavy book around anyway.

Casey Stoner takes pole in Italian MotoGP on his Ducati

Congratulation to young Australian Casey Stoner for his first pole position in the MotoGP Motorcycle World Championship. Casey has qualified first ahead of fellow Aussie Chris Vermeulen and Casey's main rival, the Yamaha rider with the home track advantage, Italian Valentino Rossi.

While the fact that Casey's 800cc Ducati Desmosedici is by far the fastest bike on the track, what is really impressive about his performance, which has him leading the World Championship by a healthy margin, is that Casey does so well in heavy rain against much older and more experienced riders. The calmness, coolness and maturity displayed by this young Christian man does all of us, but especially his family and new wife Adriana, proud.

We'll be watching the race with fascination tonight Casey. Well done!