Shhh - It's A Secret! : part two

Following on from last week's blog entry under this heading - and giving me another excuse to use the pic of one of my childhood heroes from the Hanna-Barbera animation studio, Secret Squirrel - here's more from this passage from The Sermon On The Mount about the activities that we are encouraged to carry out in secret.

Matthew 6:6 (NIV)
"But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

Alongside those acts of charity that we are encouraged to perform in secret - there's also those times each day where we simply need to get down to prayer, to recharge our spiritual batteries, sharing quality time with your Lord. This is also something that we are encouraged to do in secret...

This is not saying public prayer is wrong -  there's a place for public prayer as well as private prayer. Jesus practised both types during His earthly ministry. However, there's something particularly special about the intimacy of your private devotions - for instance, this allows for less distractions. Like our acts of generosity, prayer shouldn't be made public just for show - if you're doing it just because people are looking, you've got the wrong end of the stick.

Also, take note - the verse starts with 'when', not 'if' - it's taken as read this activity is essential.

Prayer is the Christian’s vital breath, the Christian’s native air, his watchword at the gates of death; he enters heaven with prayer. -  James Montgomery

Y is for Yogi Bear

Obviously "smarter than the average bear", Yogi has been raiding picnic baskets for well over 50 years. Originally modelled after a 1950s sitcom actor and named after a famous baseball player of the time (Yogi Berra), Hanna Barbera's animated star is still going strong. A new film has just been produced, making him known to yet another generation.

Q is for Quick Draw McGraw

Hanna Barbera's animated western parody featured Quick Draw McGraw, a horse who was sheriff in a small town, assisted by a Mexican burro called Baba Looey as his deputy (both characters being voiced by Daws Butler).

Most Western cliches were covered in the show, even down to the inclusion of a regular Zorro parody, where Quick Draw assumed the identity of a masked avenger called El-Kabong, who carried a guitar instead of a sword.

J is for The Jetsons

Hanna-Barbera's space age counterpart to the 'modern stone-age family' was set in 2062 and depicted domestic family life in a world of robots and labour-saving devices of every conceivable type. Although we've moved forward nearly fifty years since then, and we have gadgets galore at home, there's still one which is on my wish list that hasn't arrived yet.

I'm still waiting for my jetpack!

I is for Impossibles

Here's another two great influences from the Sixties: the 'silver age' of comic strip superheroes and the increasing influence of pop music. Hanna-Barbera's short animated series "The Impossibles" capitalised on both of these genres. Here were a trio of rock and roll musicians, who transformed into a costumed team when the need arose. Yes, the show was full of cliches but it was great fun to watch when returning home from primary school!

Who is this superhero?

It has been announced that yet another classic superhero is making his way onto the big-screen, and he's our "number one super guy". According to reliable sources Alcon Entertainment are in the initial stages of producing a live action version of 'Hong Kong Phooey', with Alex Zamm directing. The original Hanna-Barbera 1970s cartoon TV series only ran for 16 episodes. Our mild-mannered janitor/kung fu crime fighter is planned to be CGI, with everyone else live action. It's in early development stages, so there's no release date as of yet.