Conclusive proof of life after death

If I ex-ist there must have been a time when I was "ist ". I am no longer "ist" therefore I ex-ist. The only way I can cease to ex-ist is if I become "ist" again. Since I have no intention of doing so and have no idea what it is then I can never cease to ex-ist.
QED

A Christmas Prayer

Christmas is a time, a season, a holiday.
Time to be with family, to give and receive, to eat and drink.

Jesus the immortal become mortal.
Jesus the infinite become finite.

Houses festooned with lights.
Shops filled with things.

Jesus unadorned.
Jesus emptied of all.

Nativity scenes with shepherds, kings and animals.
Pantomimes with dames, principal boys and villains.

Jesus utterly dependent.
Jesus able only to breathe.

Snow scenes, reindeer and robins.
Dozens of cards on a string.

Jesus.
Jesus Christ.

Santa’s grotto, elves and fairies.
Sleigh bells, fir cones and paper chains.

Jesus
O Jesus.

Hearts adorned with festive cheer.
Minds filled with busyness.
Covering the dark recesses of loneliness, fear and disappointment.

To the one who knows. To the one who was a child. To the one who bore our pain.
We unwrap our hearts to expose the gift that lies within.
Who else would accept our gift?
Who else would accept loneliness with gratitude?
Who else would accept fear with rejoicing?
Who else would accept disappointment with hope?

And then in the deepest darkest corner is our grief, our desolation, our desperation. You will not accept that as our Christmas gift, so we do not offer it. It remains lurking until another Christmas and we pack the tears of another year on top.

Jesus.
Disappointed.

Is our gift not good enough?
Did you want something else? Or someone else?

Jesus.
Light of the world.

No, not there, don’t go into the darkness. You won’t like it. You won’t like me.
I asked you not to, yet you did. You saw the depths of despair and were not consumed.

Jesus.
Redeemer.
Jesus.

Christmas is a time to receive.
Jesus.

Confessions

Did you know you can read the Confessions of St Augustine online?

Purpose driven emergent?

A friend for whom I have a great deal of respect has suggested that there are strong links between the Emergent church and the 'Purpose Driven' movement (Rick Warren, etc.). To my mind the two are very different and I can't imagine where such links might come from. I've asked my friend to explain and he's promised to do so when less busy, but I can't wait - anyone got any clues on this?

The cost of education

My daughter, Charissa, has started her midwifery course at Southampton University. Needless to say everything is ridiculously expensive. The university have, however, found a way of extorting even more money from parents and friends. They very kindly put a phone in every bedroom so you can call your loved one direct. The downside is it's an 0870 number which is described as 'national' rate, but is excluded from all such deals as BT's 5.5p for up to an hour evenings and weekends. It's also excluded from cheap deals from voip providers etc.
Which is why I'm delighted to have found saynoto0870.com which offers alternative numbers for everyone who tries to extort money from you in this way. If you have to call a helpline or know someone at university give it a try first.

Why?

Haven't written much lately.
Could be something to do with having been on holiday.
Could be something to do with returning to the necessity of consigning mother-in-law to a care home for those with dementia.
Could be something to do with having to take on her dog.
Could be something to do with accompanying wife to care home and being assaulted for an hour with a barrage of accusation and recrimination. (How does she cope with this every time she visits?)
Could be something to do with not having anything to say any more.
Could be something to do with being bored of the whole church / alternative / simple / emergent / etc. thing. It all requires too much effort.
What good has a lifetime of church attendance done mother-in-law? No-one from the church she used to attend faithfully has bothered to ask after her, let alone visit her.
When the mind goes, so the personality changes. So what constitutes the person? What lives on after death? The person we were or the person we become as our brain deteriorates? What, after all, actually matters?
I begin to realise that if anyone comments on this it is very unlikely they will have understood what I'm trying to say. Dear commenter, I'm not actually trying to say anything, just feeling guilty for not having written anything for a while.

What I know

Some reading this title will be expecting a very short post. I'm not sure how long it'll be, that's why I'm posting it.
One thing I know is that the older I get, the less sure I am of things. At one time or another in my younger days I have been sure of most things. Often I've been sure of the opposite of that of which I was previously sure. (That sentence is a logistical nightmare). I'm now in a state where I'm happy not to know things. It's much nicer because you don't have to be right all the time and it means you can be surprised. Being surprised is fun, and you can be surprised by an idea. The idea doesn't have to be right, it just needs to be worth thinking about. You don't need to think about it until you get the right answer, just until it stops being fun.
Here are some of the things I'm sure about. I don't know if I'll stop being sure of them when I'm really, really old, but I'm sure of them now:

• There is a God.
• God is bigger than I've ever imagined.
• God is much kinder and nicer than I imagine.
  
• I can't tell God what to do.
• At the end of the day, God will surprise me.
• I can't tell God how to deal with me, much less other people.
• I feel better if I try to do good things and treat other people well.
• Religious arguments are not worth having.
• If you try to follow Jesus, everyone will try to stop you (especially church people).
• Loving people is one of the few worthwhile things to do.
• Table tennis is lots of fun.
• Young people get a bad press, but if you get to know them they're really quite nice.
• Getting old is no fun if your mind goes first.

There are probably other things I know but can't remember. The list gets shorter as the years go by, but at the moment I can't imagine any of the above disappearing from the list.