On Monday night I took my children to see "Pirates of The Carribbean 2 - Dead Man's Chest" at the local multiplex. It was a great movie and we all loved it! The sword fighting was fantastic.

Recently, I was on tour with Rebecca St James and her band. Immediately before a show in Switzerland, I looked in a locker and found some fencing gear. I threw a foil (the posh name for a sword!) and a mask to Scott Murray, the legendary rock and roll gutarist from the band. What started as a joke with a few tentative moves soon escalated to a full on swashbuckling fight. It was utter madness, one slip and either one of us could have seriously damaged the other. With pride on the line it quickly degenerated to a wrestling match....I will leave you to guess who won.

As i reflected on this, I thought of other times when I had done other stupid things like runnig through a railway tunnel on the mainline between Leeds and London, jumping from the roof of one building to another, climbing to the crows nest on an ocean going tall ship, driving down a single track road at 90mph, are just a few. Now I hasten to add, all these are acts of madness and I neither condone them, recommend them or think I am likely to any of them again. However, when I look at the risks the early disciples took I can now see that much of my Christian life is safe and lacking in adventure. What are the big risks I can take for God? I am planning to be here for a little while yet but wouldn't it be amazing to say, and really believe it, as the apostle paul did that to die in the service of Jesus be a gain?

So now we are all excited about "Pirates 3" what will we do until then...Well there is Superman Returns!