Recently in deep thoughts Category

...and yet the stuff that you know is important, like prayer, paying the visa bill, renewing library books, getting the parking permit sorted & changing estate agents gets squashed out by the optional stuff of life like eating, badmiton, computer stuff, playing with phones, work, coffee, movies & more food, until it's (nearly) too late to get the key stuff done.

And the conclusion I've come to is that "people don't like to be hurried". If there we're no deadlines or pressure from people to get stuff done, then maybe everything would fall into the "optional stuff" category and then everything would fit in its proper place and get done in good time.

Or maybe we'd just never do ANYTHING!!

Who knows?

(*obviously the above lists are just totally random items that bear no real resemblance to the actual stuff I'm talking about - I just picked them out of the air, honest!!)

I always thought that clowns were a bit scary, but I never really knew why until I accidentally saw a programme all about them on tv the other night.

It seems that most clowns take up the role because they're either broke and need a quick buck, or they believe that they are actually very funny when actually they're just quite sad. And the really weird bit, is that none of the entertainers on the bbc show seemed to have any interest in actually entertaining children!!

Even the first 2 minutes of it had me with my chin on the floor, and it pretty much stayed that way until it was al finally over.

So, I can at last put to bed this concern that I have an irrational fear of clowns, purely because it appears my fears are well founded after all.

If you didn't see the bbc2 show about entertainers on Monday evening, you HAVE TO watch it on iplayer.

Here's the link...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b009r2kf.shtml?filter=txdate%3A07-04&filter=txslot%3Aevening&start=1&scope=iplayerlast7days&version_pid=b009r2jv 

Now this is strange...

Last night we had a gorgeous Roast pork dinner, and then while Lara put the kids to bed I got on with carving the rest of the meat. The trouble is, Lara makes the best crackling in the world, and whilst carving the huge slab of meat, all the crackling kept falling off, and it was a shame to waste it, so into the abyss-belly it went.

Anyway, the strange bit is this...

As I was carving the meat, I thought about how I should really write a new blog entry as it's been nearly a week, and how making some joke about having crackling coming out my ears would be quite a clever play on words, but I never got round to it as I needed to finish off the shower that I've been fitting this week - IT IS SO AMAZINGLY WONDERFUL to have a shower at last!!

And then, this morning I start getting random texts from friends and family saying "what's all this about pigs on your blog?". I was soooo confused, until we got home from a shopping trip in Hanley and I checked my blog, only to discover 4 entries (which I have NO RECOLLECTION OF WRITING) with the same title (the one above), and no text in the actually entry!!

So here's the question...

Have I somehow learned to do blog entries using my PDA whilst actually asleep?

Have I had a serious brain injury that makes me blank certain parts of my day completely?

Or is this early Alzheimer's?

None of those really appeal,  but it has to be something - cos I really don't recall EVER writing that title (4 times)

Now that is strange!!

Anyway, we have friends here now for the weekend so I better go.

Cheery Bye!!

As you may realise, it has been nearly 3 days since my last post, allowing Jesus just enough time to do his "blinder" of a miracle and rise from the dead again (He didn't actually do it again - once was enough - but we think about it once a year (officially - although we should think about it all the time 'cos it's flippin amazing)) (notice the double close-brackets - normally I forget to even close them once!!). This isn't because I've run out of things to learn, but because I've been so busy learning things I haven't even had time to blog!!

So here's what I've learned since Friday...

On Saturday we visited my lovely parents and learned that programmes about scarey haunted houses and grusome tasks scare small children!! I also learned that it is possible to fly model aircraft in a faily small garden (but these also scare small children) and that you can get a clever chemical to make rotten wood hard so you can fill any holes (very useful - see friday's post).

On Sunday I learned that Jesus reveals himself to each of us in a way that is appropriate to our needs (thanks Mr C), and that sometimes Kebabs aren't as nice as you may expect them to be!! (long story). I also pondered the age old question... "does vampire poo contain blood?" Interesting, huh?

And today... well, today we hung out with some friends, did some work in the garden and went out for coffee it was a much loved and fun day for all, and I learned that Heat Guns get paint off doors really fast, but that molten hot filler really burns your hands!! I also learned that it is possible for a childs shoe to completely vanish, never to be seen again (so far), and that my whole family can fit in a single (standard size) bath but are then unable to actually get clean as it is impossible to move, but you probably didn't want to know that, did you?

So there you go, another 3 days in my life. What a joy to behold,

Enjoy whatever you're going to do next!!

Ciao.

Today started with an interesting meeting with Peter (by boss/vicar) regarding the future of youthwork in Audley and my future as the St James Youth Leader. Very interesting and somewhat confusing (ask me in person for more details).

The most frustrating part of the day though, was definately coming home from lunch to find the same kids that smashed up our garden over the weekend, diving into our front hedge!! Do they have no sense of fear/respect/socially acceptable behaviour? I guess not. Very annoying.

So, what have I learned, I hear you ask. Well...

I've learned that life as a youth worker can be amazing, but can also be very confusing/frustrating.

I've learned that some kids have NO brains

And I've learned how to disable the "screensaver" tab on windows XP desktop properties (how exciting).

I now need to get on with editing video clips for the youth service on Sunday. Another late night, I detect.

And with easter on our doorstep, here's a deep thought... Why do we say that Jesus rose again? At what point did he "rise" before the resurection that would make it acurate to say that he managed to do it "again"? Answers on a postcard!!

Bon Voyage, hairy friends!!

Righty, I'm here at No.38 (the church shop) and it's SNOWING!! after being promised 7ft of snow by the time we woke this morning, we were all really dissapointed to discover that by 7am there was not even a hint of snow, but now there is!! It's not sticking, but at least it's a bit white.

Some of the kids in the shop decided that it must be Christmas, and we had to point out that actually "snow" does not equal "Christmas" - they are two very seperate entities - and this sparked the following series of deep thoughts...

Does snow actually HELP or HINDER santa and his epic yearly globetrot? You see, it has been argued that without snow he wouldn't be able to get his sleigh to move, but then surely Santa's sleigh is most famous for it's ability in the "flying" department? And if this is the case, then snow would, rather than help santa on his quest, cause major issues of turbulance at ultra high speeds.

So here's my logic... Maybe, the reason that no-one has ever actually seen the real santa, is that he actually lives nowhere near the snowy plains of lapland, but rather has opted for more tropical climates where turbulance from solid-state precipitation is clearly not so much of an issue. We've spent all these years looking for the jolly red (although some would argue green - thanks coka cola) cloaked superhero in all the wrong places. And all because Father Christmas choses to ride a sleigh as his primary form of uletide transportation. NICE ONE SANTA!!

I've always found the idea of being a vegetarian comical. Why would anyone want to cut out such a major food group from their diet, and anyway, as a kid in my school said - if you're a vegetarian, you get to eat sesame seed snaps instead of crisps!! Well, woohoo!! I'd give up meat for that. (He seriously wouldn't let me try one unless I became a vegetarian, so I did, for all of 2 minutes in an English lesson - THEY'RE DISCUSTING - eat meat!!

Anyway, I then discovered that some people (we'll call them "vegans", for want of a silly'er word) don't eat meat, or anything that came from an animal (i.e. dairy products) so, no bacon or eggs for them. What a life?

And now, it turns out that there are people out there who go one step further. They call themsleves "Fruitarians" and claim to "only eat foods that fall naturally from a tree or plant".

So here's the deal - I've been thinking about how dumb that sounds for a while, and then I realised - Pretty much anything would naturally fall from a tree - cows, pigs, cheese, hippos (but not anything with opposable thumbs, as they can "cling" - thanks Connie). So that's it. Fruitarians can actually eat anything they like, as long as, in theory, it would fall from a tree quite naturally if placed there!!

And therefore, I would like to suggest that from this moment forth, I am known as a Pseudo-fruitarian (i.e. a fruitarian who actually is just taking the micky out of the whole idea of eating plants).

Would anyone care to join me?

After wanting to see 'hoodwinked' for a few weeks but never getting the chance, I decided that with no small groups tonight, i'd take advantage and go to the movies. Strangely enough, when Tom and I got there we decided to watch the new movie 'click' instead. And it was a good choice.

The basic premise of the film is to ask the question ' if you could skip through bad/boring segments of your life, would you?

The bizarre thing is, that I actually think the film would have been better without the 'happily ever after' ending. It would certainly of left people with more questions than answers. But there you go.

I still think Adam Sandler is a great actor. I just wonder whether this movie should have had either a straight comedy plot, or a slighty more serious undertheme throughout.

Anyway, go see it. Let me know what you thought.

mental note: I need to go to the cinema more often. It's ace!!

It appears to me, that in church life there are various postitions that one can take.

Let's imagine that church life is like a car...

You could easily be the driver - in control of where the car actually goes, a passenger - just enjoying the ride and hoping that we're going in the right direction, or the navigator - directing the driver, re-assuring the passengers, but not actually wanting the responsibility of being the driver yourself.

I actually believe that we play all of these roles at various times and in our church going lives, but that doesn't mean that any roles are less important.

However, I also believe that when we know what role we are to play, we need to commit to playing it well, which means that if we're driving, we listen to suggestions but ultimately have to make the decisions as to where we go, even if it means upsetting the navigator.

If we're the navigator, we need to make suggestions, but ultimately respect the driver's final decision, and if we're a passenger on this leg of the journey, we need to be supportive of the navigator, and drivers leadership, and remember to ask where we're going, not just constantly look out the back window thinking about how nice it was where we were earlier!!

So the big question - Where are you sitting in the car, and is it time you started playing your part?

Hope that makes some sense to someone!!

Ok, so I figured it was about time to update the design of this 'ere blog. It's been ages since I made any changes to it, including the picture that was nearly a year old, so here goes.

If you've just loaded up my blog for the first time, WELCOME (and yes, it always has been this pretty). If not, it's great that you keep coming back for more.

Why not post a comment as to other things that need improving. You could even suggest that I talk about a more varied range of subjects - I really don't mind.

Yeh, you never know, I might even start posting God stuff up here again.

We'll see. But for now, I'll leave you with a deep thought...

The early bird may well get the worm, but it's always the second mouse that get's the cheese!!