If you haven’t heard, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, hits the big screen on December 9. I’m tempted to start camping tonight!

Anyone else out there read these books as a kid? Anyone else hate what the BBC did to them? Ah, yes, finally they’ll be done right. Count down the hours with me now…

Oh, yeah….

Hey Disney, when does “Prince Caspian” come out?

Wow, the Step2 Motorcycle has been selling like crazy today. It gets put on the MSN homepage as one of the “Top 20 Toys”, and we’re swamped with traffic. Behold, the power of massive exposure.

If you’re shopping for Christmas gifts for young people though, $25.98 includes shipping from www.step2.com.

Ah, today I need to quickly extol a great declaration that the Vatican released. It seems that despite the numerous theological disagreements I have with them, they do have some things going right. And I give them mad props for being so vocal about this one:

They said that homosexuality can be a destabilizing influence on society! Other notable quotes include calling homosexuality “a sexual tendency and not an identity” and claiming that it “does not represent a social value and even less so a moral virtue.”

To clarify my opinion on the matter?

Having homosexual temptations does not make you a sinner any more than my temptations to steal make me a thief. But being predisposed to such behavior (if indeed there is some predisposition) does not make it right. Otherwise children’s natural tendencies to be selfish, hit their siblings, etc would have to be condoned.

Homosexual acts are a sin. Being tempted is not.

Well, although my favorite store declared the holiday season to have arrived about two weeks ago, I think it officially arrived last Friday. My wife and I were up at 4:00 to rush to Best Buy (we “needed” a new TV), and were shocked to find a line 10,000 miles long. (Honestly, it was 4:50AM, and probably 800 people were standing in line)

We dutifully queued up, and tried not to freeze for the 15 minutes before we made it in the door. Utter chaos. Really, it was utter chaos. But hey, we got a sweet deal on a TV and a few possible gifts, and it was definitely an experience to have. Never again.

I hear that retail stores were slower this year than last though, but our online sales have been flying at Step2. Not just our factory-direct program, but all of the major retailers we sell to have been seeing amazing online increases (at least with our products). I guess those people must have already done that insanely-busy-black-friday-thing and decided it was better to sit at home in their PJs, sipping a hot cup of coffee, and clicking their way to the most comfortable Christmas-shopping season of their lives. (What was I thinking?)

Stop back again soon, I’ve got a great idea percolatin’, and it won’t be long before I unveil it!

Praise the Lord for those who are serious about placing Him first in their lives, and doing so publicly. I was shopping for CDs online and found this comment in a review of Big Daddy Weave:

Big Daddy Weave hopes to see the focus and attention be on the message of the music and less on the image of the band. In fact, Jay Weaver told Fervent Records, “My prayer every night is that you would get me and everyone else out of the way and bring Jesus to the front, because that’s the image we need to portray. That’s what I want people to know — when they saw Big Daddy Weave, they saw Jesus.”

Now we’re back to that old debate that started all of this. (Switchfoot) Oh well. If Jesus tells us to be salt and light, we might have to realize that sometime salt stings, and sometimes light reveals things we’d rather keep hidden. If the world accepts you as its own….are you?

(Oh, and if you’ve never heard their song “Audience of One,” you’re missing out big time. Request it on your local radio station, buy it off iTunes, or go buy the CD!)

Today’s post is on a somewhat more somber note. My best friend back in ND is having heart surgery today. They just wheeled him in and are expecting to start the procedure at about noon. It will last at least 6 hours, and include 6 different things they have to do.

Praise God that he is in good hands at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.

Please pray for the success of this procedure, as well as for Nate’s wife. (They’ve only been married since June)

Thanks.