Since DynDns announced they were withdrawing their free offering, I have been looking for an alternative.

Turns out Microsoft’s Azure DNS has a REST API, and python library. While not free, it is very cheap – so far my DNS costs with Azure are running at 1p/day (although I only incur 5k queries a day).

Setting up Azure and a DNS zone is pretty straightforward, getting the authentication and python script working as a bit more tricky, so here’s what I did.

1. First set up the DNS zone in your Azure Portal
2. Now Create an App:
   1. Go to Azure AD, then “App Registrations”, then “New Registration”.
   2. Name it something meaningful for you, like “autodns”
   3. I chose “Single Tenant”
   4. The next page gives two of the magic ids you need:
      • Application/Client Id
      • Directory/Tenant Id
   5. Then on the left menu, go to “Certificates and Secrets”
   6. Create a new client secret – choose the expiry you want
   7. Copy and store the client secret – this is the only time it’s show in in full
3. Then you need to give this app permissions to edit DNS records:
   1. Navigate to your DNS Zone
   2. Go to Access Control (IAM)
   3. Add Role assignment
   4. Choose “DNS Zone Controller”
   5. Type in the app name you create above (autodns, or whatever).
4. Back in the DNS Zone Overview, make a note of the Resource Group and Subscription – you’ll need these later.

That’s it for the Azure side, and you’re ready to write the script to do the update.

My script is python – you’ll need the “azure” libraries


$ pip install azure


First job is to obtain an access token for the API, using the ServicePrincipalCredentials.

import adal
from azure.common.credentials import ServicePrincipalCredentials

client_id = '<value from app registration page>'
client_secret = '<secret from certifications and secret>'
tenant = '<value from app regsistration page>'

def authenticate_client_key():
  credentials = ServicePrincipalCredentials(
    client_id = client_id,
    secret = client_secret,
    tenant = tenant
  )
  return credentials

This can then be used to interact with the Azure api – in our application it’s the DNS Management we are interested in:

from azure.mgmt.dns import DnsManagementClient

resourceGroupName='<Value from DNS Zone page>'
subscription_id='<Value from DNS Zone page>'
dnsZone='yourdomain.com'
dnsRecord='yourhost'

cred = authenticate_client_key()
dns_client = DnsManagementClient(
  cred,
  subscription_id
  )

# Get the 'A' Record
res = dns_client.record_sets.get(resourceGroupName, dnsZone, dnsRecord, 'A')

print(res.arecords[0].ipv4_address);

# Update the A record
dns_client.record_sets.create_or_update(
  resourceGroupName,
  dnsZone,
  dnsRecord,
  'A',
  {"ttl": 300, "arecords": [{"ipv4_address": '1.2.3.4'}]}
  )

In my application, I’ve got a server running behind a NAT router on my broadband, and when my public IP address changes I want to update a DNS record to this address.

The missing piece here is to determine my public IP address – I’m currently using “ipify”.

from requests import get
currentIp = get('https://api.ipify.org').text

Glueing it all together, you end up with:

import adal
from msrestazure.azure_exceptions import CloudError
from azure.common.credentials import ServicePrincipalCredentials
from azure.mgmt.dns import DnsManagementClient
from requests import get

client_id = '<value from app registration page>'
client_secret = '<secret from certifications and secret>'
tenant = '<value from app regsistration page>'

resourceGroupName='<Value from DNS Zone page>'
subscription_id='<Value from DNS Zone page>'
dnsZone='yourdomain.com'
dnsRecord='yourhost'

def authenticate_client_key():
  credentials = ServicePrincipalCredentials(
    client_id = client_id,
    secret = client_secret,
    tenant = tenant
  )
  return credentials

currentIp = get('https://api.ipify.org').text
print('Current Public IP is {}.'.format(currentIp))

cred = authenticate_client_key()
dns_client = DnsManagementClient(
  cred,
  subscription_id
  )

# Get the 'A' Record
res = dns_client.record_sets.get(resourceGroupName, dnsZone, dnsRecord, 'A')

dnsIp = res.arecords[0].ipv4_address;
print('Current DNS record for {}.{} is {}.'.format(dnsRecord, dnsZone, currentIp))

if dnsIp != currentIp:
  print('Updating IP Address')
  dns_client.record_sets.create_or_update(
    resourceGroupName,
    dnsZone,
    dnsRecord,
    'A',
    {"ttl": 300, "arecords": [{"ipv4_address": currentIp}]}
    )
else:
  print('No update needed')

The code above also may well have syntax errors, as I’ve just typed it in – but the approach is pretty clear.

Obviously for production code, you’d need to add exception handling, logging, and notifications. You are also effectively trusting “ipify” with the ability to set your DNS A Record!

Then you can drop it on your server wrapped up in a crontab, or task schedule, or whetever takes your fancy.

Oh yes, and I’m not sure what the API limits are for Azure, so you could always cache the ‘dnsIp’ or do an nslookup rather than hitting Azure every run.

Sometimes I deeply dislike computers, especially when they try and be too clever. It’s actually a little bit scary (The Terminator‘s looking less and less far fetched!).

Recent incident – true story. My website now runs on my own server at home, at the end of my broadband pipe. Despite what the provider claims it really isn’t fibre, but it is 100 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up, which is far more bandwidth than the traffic I generate. So far so good.

Last week, I suddenly started getting e-mails from Google’s search bot telling me the number of 404s on my site has suddenly increased. Oops, think I, must have bust something when I moved it. I look at it – strange, all seems fine. I also found out that my sitemap XML hadn’t updated itself since 2006, but that’s another story.

So I try from Google using the “view as Google” thing – 404s, 500s, cannot access, requires authorisation. Really weird.

So I forget about it for a bit, and then try again from work. Suddenly I can’t see my website at all, just errors. I go to the homepage, and am presented with the login screen for my NAS drive!!

Eeek – that drive has got all my photos, filing, backups, etc, and it’s being exposed to the Internet?!?!?!

Turns out that my Broadband hub had turned on UPnP by itself. It then also turned out that the NAS drive will aggressively try to find a router on the local network, and ask it to forward ports 80 and 443 to itself. And the broadband hub will obey, even though I had manually set up those ports to be forwarded to my hardened server. I didn’t see the problem from home because I was accessing the server directly (even though I thought I was going through the router).

Thankfully I could SSH in from work, which meant I could access the hub admin site, and turn off UPnP and the port forwarding, and put some measures in play to stop it happening again.

Very excited that I’ve relocated my website and my photo site onto a Raspberry Pi, which is sitting on my desk looking at me as I type!

I purchased said Pi for this purpose over a year ago, but somehow didn’t quiet get around to doing anything more than having it as a Linux box I could SSH into should the spirit move me. This is more useful than it sounds, as Linux network tools are good, it’s immensely useful to be able to test things from outside my work LAN while at work, plus SSH tunelling is the best thing since sliced bread.

I know that, by saying all this I’m potentially revealing details about the server running stuff, which is a security vulnerability. But I reckon anyone who’s serious about trying to hack me will already know what OS and hardware I’m running, and the chances are they aren’t reading this blog either!

• Well, I’m now officially an alumnus of Durham University. Was a long way to travel for a handshake, but grand sense of occasion and lovely to see fellow @sthildcollege alumni again. #dunelm (11/01/2018 18:18:10)
• Olly Murs comes on the radio.
  Me: “it’s Olly Murs”
  7yo: “Is he the one who drives a car on the ice?”
  Me: …
  7yo: “You know, the car on the ice being chased with a satellite laser.”
  Me: …
  7yo: …
  Me: “You mean James Bond?”
  7yo: “YES”
  #What?!
  #HesNeverSeenABondFilm (13/01/2018 14:26:57)
• OO – just got a lovely e-mail from a lass called Anastasia saying she’s seen my picture on the net, and that she thinks I’m “hot, smart, and sexy”. #OnceMaybe #ButProbablyNot (20/01/2018 07:42:26)
• “The night has passed, and the day lies open before us;” – and it’s actually light(ish) outside! I can’t remember the last time that happened. (22/01/2018 08:13:29)
• RT @LeedsCofE: Resurrected Bites, a new ‘pay as you feel’ cafe launched @stmarkshgate this weekend with food which otherwise would go to l… (22/01/2018 08:13:57)
• Challenging reading in @ChurchTimes about why (some) youth leave the church. “Any questions would be answered by the end of each sermon. They felt like a sitcom, where some mild peril would be introduced, only to be safely tucked away in time for the next hymn.” (v. edited quote) (23/01/2018 07:02:47)
• Been messing around with melted sugar. More fun then you might think (and have so far avoided burns). t.co/uBdJ759EwX(26/01/2018 08:12:37)
• Top marks to the @yorkuniversity library. What a fabulous building, facility, and study space. (27/01/2018 12:28:00)
• Wonderful service at @riponcathedral to install and welcome Bishop Helen-Ann. Welcome to Yorkshire and the Diocese @h_ahartley, so glad you have you as our Bishop. (04/02/2018 17:52:45)
• I think @ChurchTimes is onto something with this notion that culture is jumping the ecclesiastical calendar’s gun. Christmas is celebrated in Advent, Lent is marked in January, and Easter eggs and hot cross buns already on the shelves. (11/02/2018 08:12:41)
• RT @TheKevinHudson: I went to the Harry Potter Pound Shop. Everything was a quid each.
  #UKPunDay (13/02/2018 07:33:46)
• Lovely baptism service this morning. Great to welcome T, T, and R into God’s family. Such a privilege. (25/02/2018 14:18:17)
• Snow day for both my boys’ schools today!! Unusual for the High Schools to close. (28/02/2018 08:07:10)
• At least 108 schools closed in the region today! Feel sorry for the kids of the 10 schools who aren’t getting a snow day. As for me, wellies on and walking to Morning Prayer! (28/02/2018 08:29:17)
• Tension in the room last night during Night Prayer as the printed liturgy accidentally included an “all*luia” – would any of us curates say it?? #Lent 🙂 (03/03/2018 07:44:24)
• … nobody did. #WasItATest #Nailedit. (03/03/2018 07:46:05)
• “The real and palpable holiness of a leader steeped in the grace of God” #Leadership (03/03/2018 11:10:30)
• Who’d have thought it would so much fun to discuss using the “A” word in Lent? I’m sure it’s unrelated to me also currently trying to prepare a sermon from Romans 5… (03/03/2018 15:49:17)
• A rare treat to sing worship in 5/4 time this evening. Really good job by the band and vocal quartet too. (03/03/2018 19:13:25)
• Looking forward to preaching at Evensong at Ripon Cathedral on Sunday – 3.30pm if you want to join us! (The cathedral ask all the freshly minted curates to come and speak during Lent) (06/03/2018 08:19:10)
• One year older and (possibly) wiser today. Not often one can claim to have undergone an ontological change since last birthday (and never without sounding silly). 🙂 (17/03/2018 16:03:55)
• Heading into Holy Week, reflecting on how the first Easter was anything but joy and celebration – fear and incomprehension is closer to the mark. Seems to me that it took the first disciples 7 weeks (and the Holy Spirit) to arrive at joy and celebration. (24/03/2018 08:43:31)
• “But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed” (Luke 23). First century Twitter? #PlusCaChange (29/03/2018 07:29:56)
• So excited to be preaching today on the foolishness & weakness of the cross! Jesus is risen – the failed Messiah was actually the victor all along, and no-one saw it coming!! Turns out that God’s folly really is wiser than our wisdom. #Easter #JesusLives (01/04/2018 06:34:16)
• Cracking start to #SpringHarvest Harrogate with the all age celebration. Excited about evening session. (03/04/2018 17:48:56)
• Very weird to see @petejamesglobal leading worship at Spring Harvest without a woolly hat! #SH2018 #WarmUpNorth (03/04/2018 19:33:10)
• Words are the clothes that our thoughts wear. Faith is enrobed in actions. @MalcolmJDuncan #SH2018 (04/04/2018 10:23:35)
• 3 motifs in James: Wisdom, Words, Works. Like 1 John and Proverbs, nonlinear/intertwined theology – we need to connect how we think and how we live. @MalcolmJDuncan #SH2018 (05/04/2018 09:39:40)
• You can’t live a Godly life without Godly wisdom, and Godly wisdom will shape our words. The threads of the tapestry of our life are how we live (works), what we say (words), bound by wisdom. #SH2018 (05/04/2018 09:46:47)
• Three tests James gives us to assess our Godly living:
  How is my conversation?
  How am I showing care?
  How is my character and conduct?
  #SH2018 (05/04/2018 09:59:45)
• Jesus: “Moses gave you the Torah. But I AM the Torah.” Not words about a Godly life, but an actual Godly life. Wow! @MalcolmJDuncan #SH2018 (05/04/2018 10:03:35)
• Especially early Big Start, as my little Adventurer wants to participate in this morning’s story. *Yawn* #SH2018 (06/04/2018 07:18:00)
• What if church isn’t (always) meant to be enjoyed? What if it’s about God, not us? @MalcolmJDuncan #SH2018 (06/04/2018 09:59:26)
• Every time you exercise judgement on another person, you’re asking God to use that same criterion to judge you. What if, instead of comparing our best against others’ worst, we compare our worst against others’ best. #humility @MalcolmJDuncan #SH2018 (06/04/2018 10:20:14)
• “For the believer, suffering and death never ever ever get the last word.” Incredibly powerful message and testimony from @MalcolmJDuncan – thank you so much for unpacking James this week. #SH2018 (06/04/2018 10:42:27)
• Big shout out to Becky and Nick Drake (and the team) for fantastic all age celebration each night at #SH2018 Harrogate. Just do it! (06/04/2018 17:40:41)
• You make me brave, you make me brave, you call me out beyond the shore into the waves. #SH2018 (06/04/2018 18:45:40)
• Why do we have an act of remembrance at the centre of our worship? Because we forget! #SH2018 (06/04/2018 19:19:20)
• There are only two ways. The way of the crowd, or the way of the cross. (06/04/2018 19:37:21)
• Literally lost for words after the act of reflection in the final celebration at Harrogate. Not even going to try to describe, except to say it was holy ground, our saviour on the cross. #SH2018 (07/04/2018 10:33:47)
• Just got the letter through confirming the details of my ordination to the priesthood in June! #Exciting #ServingGodsPeople (21/04/2018 08:43:23)
• Amanda Holden: “Good comedy should push the boundaries. It should make us laugh, while also making us feel uncomfortable.” I guess the same applies to good theology. (22/04/2018 21:25:27)
• … or at least to a good sermon. (22/04/2018 21:30:36)
• RT @wardrox: Can you recommend a GDPR expert?
  Yes!
  Great, can you give me their email address so I can contact them?
  No. (24/04/2018 10:40:38)
• My phone just auto-completed/suggested (my mistyped) “God bless” as “His glory” at the end of an email. I quite like it as a sign off! (26/04/2018 21:25:34)
• I found out on Sunday that it is very hard to lead worship with bi-focal glasses because the chord sheet is too far away for reading distance. 🙁 #GettingOld (02/05/2018 15:19:24)
• I wonder if, when we find it difficult to recognise the image of God in someone, this says more about our image of God than it does about the person him- or herself? (06/05/2018 06:19:33)
• Our crab-apple blossom is out two and a half weeks later than last year. #BetterLateThanNever t.co/viaQthV5Iz (07/05/2018 09:07:08)
• Feeling a bit Mark Twain, after being asked at work today how my funeral went… (08/05/2018 20:56:49)
• I cannot unreservedly endorse Cats does Countdown (although I do enjoy it!).. but this is a particularly cool thing. t.co/wf7uCXO5NY (23/05/2018 15:57:33)
• Tirbs out its vrry hsrd to typw accurTly on the bus. (23/05/2018 16:00:45)
• Today:
  Prayer walking the parish.
  Admin meeting.
  Chatting with some new folk.
  Lunch with @h_ahartley & others at our Pay As You Feel cafe.
  Planning Sunday’s services & sermon.
  Meeting with my spiritual director.

  Tomorrow:
  Project Planning.
  Writing code.

  #SelfSupportingMinistry (23/05/2018 16:10:48)

• (to be fair, tomorrow I’m also gate crashing a wedding rehearsal in the evening, but I ran out of space) (23/05/2018 16:11:11)
• Just seen an advert for T20 blast by NatWest: “Cricket has no boundaries”. Ummmm.. I’m pretty sure it does. Isn’t that the whole 4 and 6 thing? (02/06/2018 19:08:48)
• Off to preach this morning at @stmarkshgate on the crucifixion, and in particular the power of redemptive suffering. Nice and light. #BringBackTrinitySunday #WhatsSoBadAboutSpritualMilkAnyway (03/06/2018 06:35:34)
• So excited to be part of the worship band at the lay conference today – such a privilege. (09/06/2018 05:50:42)
• Looking forward to the study day with @h_ahartley today in Pateley Bridge. Think I’ll be blown most of the way there! #Windy (14/06/2018 06:05:57)
• I have recently discovered Taize coding (well that’s what I’m calling it). Writing software with Taize chants on the headphones. I’m definitely more chilled, I reckon the code is better, plus it makes it easier to remember that doing your job really well is an act of worship.* (14/06/2018 06:28:11)
• * unless your job happens to be drug dealing, or Satan worship… (14/06/2018 06:28:43)
• Inspirational stuff from Rob Cowen (he of “Common Ground”). Removing the human/nature division, understanding the importance & history of place, and asking who are you, how did you get here, where are you going? (14/06/2018 12:04:17)
• The meaning of ordination: bless, reconcile, nurture (through the Father Son and Spirit). Jim Francis (14/06/2018 12:30:21)
• Reflecting on Kingdom and Incarnation with Jim Francis. To/for or in/with. Both gospel, both Jesus. (14/06/2018 13:26:06)
• Thanks for today @robbiecowen – not read your book yet, but top of the list now. (14/06/2018 17:42:31)
• I’m loving the #immodestwomen vibe going down on twitter. It’s never even crossed my mind to fret about a woman using “Dr” as her title. (15/06/2018 06:43:37)
• Great away day yesterday with @stmarkshgate PCC. Thinking about our discipleship pathway, which is just a posh way of saying how we can be more like Jesus and help others recognise what an amazing and beautiful thing it is to be his follower. (17/06/2018 06:31:03)
• How well my children know me… t.co/3Vo4x7wh13 (17/06/2018 07:48:15)
• Final packing before ordination rehearsal, then off on retreat. Been looking forward to these 3 days of God-space for months! #NewLeedsCofEPriests2018 (20/06/2018 08:04:36)
• So that’s weird. When I put in a hashtag the second option is #GeorgetteHeyer. I confess I’m partial to a spot of Regency romance, but it seems an unlikely suggestion. (20/06/2018 08:09:39)
• Last night’s ordinands’ supper was great. Good to catch up with colleagues, enjoy the fantastic catering by Nurture and @nickbaines and his wife’s generous hospitality. So good to laugh, and share stories of ministry, faith, and love from the past year. #NewLeedsCofEPriests2018 (20/06/2018 08:25:52)
• Arrived at Mirfield for our retreat. The sun is shining, already seen some old friends, and I have many happy memories of this site from @sthildcollege days. But going to sign off twitter for the next few days, to focus on prayer and worship and silence. #NewLeedsCofEPriests2018 (20/06/2018 15:04:55)
• Just about to head off to Ripon Cathedral.
  Me: “I’m going to get there early, to spend time in mediation and prayer”
  Wife: “No you’re not, you’re going to sit in the sun and have an ice-cream.”

  Actually, I really wasn’t, but that’s a *much* better idea. (23/06/2018

• Intense but good week on retreat. Thanks to @CoRMirfield for the hospitality, @dwalmsley9 for his care and love and accompaniment, @bishopSarahM for holding us and inspiring us, and my fellow priests(!) for the honesty, laughter, tears. And of course Diane for sorting us all out! (24/06/2018 06:15:51)
• Thankful for the service yesterday too. Such joy amid sorrow. Many thanks to @h_ahartley, @RiponDean, @riponcathedral, Canon Wendy, all the friends and family and other clergy who came to support us, and everyone else who made it what it was. It *was* awesome. (Dude). (24/06/2018 06:22:46)
• Final thanks for the most important people of all. To Jesus for giving me something to live and die for, and to my wife and kids for their unrelenting love and support.
  I first felt the call to what happened yesterday 25 years ago, so please forgive my Oscar acceptance speech!! (24/06/2018 06:33:15)
• What a great joy and privilege to lead my first communion service today, at @stmarkshgate. And a beautiful priesting gift and cake too. #blessed #NewLeedsCofEPriests2018 (24/06/2018 21:11:33)
• Watching England, with a glass of Rev James. (Thanks Abbie). t.co/827BhYxKiS (28/06/2018 18:13:05)
• RT @rebecca_rocker: Lord Nelson was about 5ft 6. His statue is 17ft 4. That’s Horatio of about 3:1. #puntastic #scholastic #fantastic (28/06/2018 18:13:49)
• Another Saturday, another ordination. 🙂 Not mine this time. #NewLeedsCofEClergy2018 t.co/bIGUQvHxSn (30/06/2018 09:26:09)
• W00t – WordPress just told me traffic on my site is booming – a spike in my stats……. because I got two whole visitors in a single day. 🙂 (01/07/2018 10:58:18)
• Missed a trick in Ripon – @h_ahartley could have brought her TARDIS… t.co/iuxM1pxU8l (01/07/2018 12:36:41)
• Been invited to a BBQ at Bishop @h_ahartley’s. She says children could bring a garden game. 7yo immediately suggests a sprinkler. Can’t say I’m not tempted…. 🙂 (04/07/2018 18:45:35)
• Me: : – )
  7yo: why have you done a bracket?
  Me: it’s a smiley face
  7yo: no!?!?

  I rotate phone 90°

  7yo: IT IS!! (04/07/2018 18:51:02)

• Me: :o)
  7yo: that’s a PIG.

  (This could go on some time…)

  #DigitalParenting (04/07/2018 18:52:07)

• I love that 6 weeks ago nobody even considered that the World Cup might affect events – now we’re cancelling everything on Sunday even though we’re not in the final yet! (11/07/2018 15:09:21)
• You’ve got to give to the Leeds Bishops – they throw a mean garden party (even if the super soaker 3000 didn’t make an appearance @PhilCarman). Many thanks to @h_ahartley, we all had a lovely time. (14/07/2018 16:45:20)
• Cutting critique of my housekeeping from 7yo: “Do you remember when we used to hoover the carpets?” #OutOfTheMouths (21/07/2018 15:31:33)
• Closely followed by the identification of the cause: “He’s on Tweet”. (21/07/2018 15:35:09)
• My plan for drying loads of washing on the line while I was out at work was brilliant right up to the point of the thunderstorm. (03/08/2018 14:58:35)
• There is the sea, vast and wide. #MorningPrayer #Holiday @ Fowey t.co/5JfgSTleGU (11/08/2018 05:41:00)
• After 2 weeks of waking up to bedroom views of the sea or a woodland stream… #HomewardBound @ M48 Services: Moto, Severn View t.co/9P6FfhHx2A (18/08/2018 06:52:54)
• Every Friday and Saturday night we optimistically discuss what time the alarm should be set for, as if we weren’t going to be jumped on by a 7yo at 06.30. 🙂 (15/09/2018 20:54:03)
• Proper power cut. Might need to dig out the candles! (19/09/2018 16:01:53)
• One of the less positive aspects of my formation at vicar school is that I now have a Pavlovian desire for chocolate whenever I read a theology book. (26/09/2018 19:18:31)
• Another stereotype ticked off, as I stagger into church with a stack of bibles in my arms. (30/09/2018 17:32:58)
• … mind you, don’t need to wait until Heaven for my reward. #Cake #Chocolate t.co/O7HKDxu1aE (30/09/2018 17:35:10)
• Very excited about speaking to the Pannal Silver Surfers tomorrow. We’re going to be thinking about mapping in the 21st century – why it’s hard, and how computers and technology have helped! #ComputerGeek (02/10/2018 19:01:13)
• At work:
  “Do you want milk?”
  Me: “No thanks.”
  (shocked) “You don’t take milk?”
  Me: “Um.. no. Not since Twin Peaks – black as midnight on a moonless night”
  (pause)
  Them: “Oh, I thought it would be because of ethics around animal welfare or something”

  🙂 (09/10/2018 06:36:39)

• Of course the other person had never heard of Twin Peaks either, so now they think (know?) I’m even stranger. 🙂 (09/10/2018 06:40:26)
• Singing The Wall on the way to school – “we don’t need no source control”. Mind obviously already on work!! (15/10/2018 07:43:54)
• Investigating a leak under the bath, I discovered 2 pages from a 2003 Church Times!! (20/10/2018 11:15:50)
• Managed to tap into the sermon zeitgeist last week, as the lead feature in this month’s Christianity is very close to what I preached on! #IWasFirst #AlthoughProbablyTheArticleWasWrittenFirst (26/10/2018 07:28:50)
• RT @TobyonTV: Big fan of the new #Strictly tweak where Villanelle takes out the lowest-scoring couple t.co/JbmEg4nqiK (12/11/2018 22:16:23)
• RT @northantsfire: Incident 15:45 False alarm – this was caused by a parrot impersonating the smoke alarm at a property #Daventry (15/11/2018 07:43:27)
• Tough decision tonight – PCC or “Passengers” on Netflix? Mind you, I suppose they’re not mutually exclusive… 🙂 (21/11/2018 19:21:02)
• Found out that we’re all going to do unconscious bias training. I’m hoping it will help with my recurring dreams about loaded dice. (22/11/2018 07:28:21)
• As far as I can tell, the knitting and stitching show has brought Harrogate to a standstill. (22/11/2018 15:37:54)
• Having repeatedly steadfastly stood up for the fact that Advent rarely starts on Dec 1st, I discover that this year it actually does! (30/11/2018 21:37:56)
• This morning’s coffee is like camping – dark and in tents. https://t.co/mAWzk3Sb3M (02/12/2018 08:13:15)
• Not sure where this idea has come that half the country wants Brexit. As I recall, just over a third did, just under a third didn’t, and the rest didn’t express an opinion? (06/12/2018 12:47:38)
• Lots of fun at @WillowPrimary Winter Wonderland this evening. Won big at the chocolate tombola (well, a box of matchmakers, but they’re mint). (07/12/2018 18:14:17)
• I had to stop listening to Weird Al Yankovic at work today, because it was making me laugh too much to code (as well as putting off my colleagues by giggling to myself). (11/12/2018 18:20:05)
• Maybe one day we will have a vote that’s actually about what’s being voted for? (14/12/2018 07:01:01)
• Really looking forward to kicking off Christmas tonight at @stmarkshgate. All are welcome to join in the wonder of the God child’s birth. #MidnightMass #FollowtheStar (24/12/2018 13:07:45)
• Getting changed into clerical shirt for Nativity.
  8yo: “Why are you putting on smart clothes Daddy?”
  #OutOfMouthsOfBabes (24/12/2018 13:24:00)
• I’m super excited that sermon tomorrow is chiastic – I’ve even labelled my points A B B’ A’ 🙂
  (and, as you can tell by the fact I’m tweeting, I haven’t finished it yet). (29/12/2018 10:09:16)

I lit up Darth Vader’s lightsaber with a laser pointer – think it worked pretty well.

And I also had a stab at BB8.

The second idea for child-friendly prayer/worship was from CBBC’s Art Ninja program(!), specifically The Day of the Bug episode (although I’m guessing the iPlayer link will expire in a week or so).

It needs a little bit of organisation and time – but the basic idea is that you create a large (A4 or A3) picture of your fingerprint, with the prayer bit being that we’re each special and uniquely made by God, so all the fingerprints are different. It is a two-stage process (especially with lots of children), so is probably best done either over two days/sessions, depending on your context.

You will need:

• An inkpad
• A piece of paper per person
• A photocopier, or scanner and computer and A4/A3 printer
• PVA Glue and glittter
• (optional) cardboard picture frame slightly bigger than A4 or A3

1. You start by taking a fingerprint of each person, using an ink-pad and paper (remember to name/label each one!)
2. Then blow this up, using a photocopier or scanner/printer, until it nearly fills an A4 (or A3) sheet. Again remember to label each one.
3. Now, carefully paint PVA glue over the blown-up fingerprint lines.
4. Then cover the whole page in glitter, so the PVA glue is covered.
5. If using a picture frame, when the PVA is dried, frame it!

Once they’re framed, you can display them all, and use them as a celebration of how we’re made!

Just wanted to jot down a couple of really good ideas for child friendly worship/prayer activities I’ve come across in the past few days.

The first was courtesy of Nick and Becky Drake at Spring Harvest this year (which was in Harrogate – amazing! Also come back in 2019, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.)

You have 3 large boards/blackboards set up at the front, one that says “School/Work”, one says “Home”, and one says “Relationships”.

You then have 8 sets of sheets of large stickers, each set of sheets printed with a fruit of the Spirit:

• love,
• joy,
• peace,
• patience,
• kindness,
• goodness,
• faithfulness,
• gentleness, and
• self-control.

The prayer activity is then to identify which fruit and area of life you would like to ask God to help you with – so it might be for joy at school, or love at home, or patience in relationships – you get the idea.

Each person then comes up to front, gets a sticker with their particular fruit on, and sticks it onto the relevant blackboard.

At the end you end up with the boards covered in stickers (you obviously need to choose boards that are an approppriate size for the number of people) – which we all hold up in prayer to God. It’s good for adults to join in with too.

Most of my new posts are going on what is turning out to be my main blog.

So, here are some pictures of a Danger Mouse cake.

I seem to be in a bit of a macro phase at the moment – my 100mm macro lens is a permanent fixture on my camera!

I love how you can draw out both intricacy and abstraction by getting that close in, especially with flowers and plants (as you may have noticed).

Head on over to the 365 to see what I mean.

In honour of my pending ordination (tomorrow!!) I have set up a new blog, which will (hopefully) be a bit deeper than my ramblings on here.

It’s at revjameshandley.wordpress.com

I intend to keep this site going with photos, reviews, random thoughts (not that there has been a lot of that recently – doing a theology degree will have that effect!), but my main blogging will now be on t’other site.

This isn’t a sacred/secular divide thing, it’s more like the difference between the editorial and the cartoons in the newspaper. I will leave you to decide which one you think is which!!