Wishing all my readers, the CITRT community, family and friends a Merry Christmas.  Our church is “old calendar” so we don’t celebrate the Nativity of Christ until January 7th (13 more days of festivities).  I leave you with a few beautiful nuggets.

• St. John Chrysostom’s Christmas Homily
• ORTHODIXIE - Word & Virgin, Mary & Child
• An Arabic Christmas Carol (Byzantine Hymn of the Nativity)

My wife and I love sitting in front of the fire in our living room, we would love to have a fireplace in our less formal family room but alas it isn’t practical.  In my typical geekness I wondered if there were any virtual fireplace options available for playback on our big screen.  After scouring the net for a while, I did manage to find a few fireplace DVD options, but I couldn’t justify handing out cash for those.  While taking a nice retreat day in front of the fire, I set up my Canon Vixia HD Camcorder on a tripod and got 30 minutes of great flames.  I’ve put it up on Vimeo in case anyone else is as corny as I am and wants to loop it on their TV…at least it is greener than burning firewood!

This version has no audio, maybe I’ll get the shotgun mic setup for a second version if there is enough demand. Go here to view in HD or to download the MP4 (must be logged in to Vimeo).

Microblogging with Twitter has taken off over the past year, many have moved from longer blog posts to frequent 140 character updates.  Twitter is amazing when you want reach an audience, but what if you want something to use with a certain niche?  Emad Ibrahim, a friend of mine saw the need and was inspired to startup Yonkly.  Yonkly is a hosted, white label solution for creating your own microblog network.

Creating your own microblog network is a good idea if you want something specific to your organization or community.  That way posts don’t get lost in all the noise.  A great example is Christtr, a Christian microblog running on Yonkly. where it asks “How are you living Christ’s word?” instead of  “What are you doing?”

Yonkly is still in beta, I have played around with it and it definitely has a lot better usability and polish then other niche microblogging services I’ve seen.  RSS support, Twitter integration (supports cross posting), an API and a desktop client are all in the works.  I think Yonkly is coming to market just in time and has a lot of potential.

Update: Yonkly now support integration with Twitter.

Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. [youversion]Philippians 2:1-11[/youversion]

God has nudged me in several different ways that the virtue I need to be working on most these days is humility.  With that I decided to do a character quality bible study on humility using the method outlined in Rick Warren’s Bible Study Methods.

Additional Reading:

• Humility: True Greatness by C. J. Mahaney
• Humility by Andrew Murray
• Service & Humility - Life of Pope Kyrillos VI
  

JellyTelly, a new Christian online video channel from Phil Vischer, the creator of VeggieTales, has launched. For those who are curious, they seem to be using Ooyala to for their video distribution.

Happy Thanksgiving!  While we are are on the subject of giving thanks, I am going to highlight this wonderful campaign, Advent Conspiracy, that is working to bring back the true meaning to Christmas.  The vision: Christmas was meant to change the world. It still can. Worship more. Spend less. Give more. Love all.

Watch the video, it hit home with me and I am sure it will for you. This season is a wonderful time to think about how I can give more to those who have less.

I have been quiet over the past month or so because I have been feverishly working on three projects, two for ministry and one for fun/profit.  This week I am ready to unveil one of them, Drew’ Deals, a site where we research and make purchasing recommendations on the latest technology.  The site is geared mainly towards the not so tech savvy consumer who is looking for an educated opinion on what to buy.

God willing, I will be able to announce the release of the two ministry projects in the near future.

P.S. If you are interested in writing for Drew’s Deals, drop me a line.

Follow Drew’s Deals on Twitter.

This past Sunday, my cousin, Daniel Habib (now Fr. Daniel), was ordained to the priesthood at the hands of His Eminence Metropolitan Hedra and His Grace Bishop Serapion.  He will serve as a priest for the Diocese of Los Angeles at Saint John Coptic Orthodox Church in Covina.  Congratulations to him and his wife Marsha,  I pray that God grants them an amazing, fruitful ministry.

Both mother and son are healthy, thank God and thank you all for your prayers!

Update: Latest photos on flickr.  Videos on Vimeo.

Sherry started labor this morning, latest updates on my twitter feed.

Prayers appreciated.