Life is a rollercoaster

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The past few months life has been (and continues to be) a rollercoaster and this one has several loop the loops. It has one loop the loop called home, one called school, one called children, one called work, and several other mini twists and turns. And, to paraphrase Anthony Newley's musical.... "Stop the rollercoaster I want to get off!".

I am sure that what we are going through now will change us (it has already); it will bring us wisdom (to know ourselves more and to be more aware of what other want, do or need); and it will strengthen us (our current struggles help us prepare us for future trials).

Earlier this month I heard The Very Rev'd Dr Jeffrey John speak at St Michael's Church here in Bishops Stortford about the Resurrection. He compared Christ's resurrection to our own physical birth which is a form of death to our lives in the safety of the womb, indeed all through our lives there are times of death and acknowledgement of change. One might call the whole of our lives an ongoing resurrection, each little death brings life if we choose to see and live it. Or as Charlie Hall puts it in The Second Alive, "we come alive, when we lose our life".

If you are reading this - and know me and my family - the odds are that you are one of the many people that have encouraged, helped and supported me and my family through these last few difficult months and years. Thank you so much for your support, care, kind words and prayers.

Six Things - Carrie Mann

Carrie Mann is a one woman encouragement machine!
Always impeccably (if not glamorously) dressed and with more matching reading glasses than you can shake a stick at!

Carrie loves children, and even has five of her own with grandchildren being added now too! She enjoys dancing, singing and acting, and has enjoyed singing "Oom Pa Pa" to much aplomb. Carrie loves spending time with people and making people laugh. She tries to spend time cooking for the whole family (all 13 of them) usually a Sunday roast as she believes "a family that eats together stays together".


One thing that's always worth getting out of bed for
A cup of tea. I really can't function without one in the mornings. White and sweet!!

One thing about yourself that often obstructs you
Doubting my ability. I do have to remind myself that God does not make mistakes when designing people and I am exactly the person He intended me to be.

One thing I've learned the hard way
Gossip will always find you out, by that I mean people will find out if you have been gossipping, not a nice place to be.

One thing that gets under my skin
Poor time keeping. My Father bought me up to always be early, and so when people turn up late I find it irritating.

One thing I'd love to change
People making judgements on others. We should try to be accepting of others as we don't know what has gone before.

One thing I hope for
A cottage over looking the sea, it makes me feel peaceful and very relaxed.

Six Things is a series of micro-interviews with interesting and creative people
in which they’re asked to respond to a standard set of six prompts.

Serendipity Saturday - 21/04/12

So you need to cut down that tree in the garden, what are you going to do with the stump? Here's an idea that I  came across in a local garden.

As I walk around in the world (and cyberspace) I try to keep my eyes really open. Open to noticing new things, strange things, things that make me stop and think. I am sharing some of these serendipitous finds with you. Serendipity means a "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise"; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful without looking for it. (and its one of my favourite words!)

Four tricky questions - an olympic interview

Back in February I had my Gamesmaker interview, this was part of the selection process that whittled down the 250,000 people who applied to be a volunteer at the London 2012 Olympics. 100,000 people were being interviewed over 12 months with around 70,000 being needed to run the games.

I was delighted to be offered a place to serve at the Paralympics and I attend my first training session next week.

What stood out at the Gamesmaker interview was the four questions they asked:
1. What have you accomplished that you are proud of?
2. Describe a situation where you had to work together in a team situation?
3. What is your favourite Olympic sport and why?
4. Can you tell me about a time you have gone the extra mile?

Apart from olympic themed question 3, my answer to this is below, I think these are great questions that we should ask of ourselves every so often. So I'm asking you, what would your answers be?

My favourite Olympic sport is the middle to long distance and the greatest Olympian in my opinion is Emil Zátopek who at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, won gold in the 5 km, 10 km, and the marathon breaking the Olympic record in each of the three events! His final medal came when he decided at the last minute to compete in the marathon for the first time in his life, and won!

Habits of a lifetime can be changed

Do you have bad habits, recurring failures, addictions? If not you are one in a million (or fooling yourself!).

The rest of us know we have stuff that keeps tripping us up again and again.

If you're like me this stuff has become almost second nature, part of who I am. Therefore, if I want to change any of these behaviours and actions it is actually painful because in a perverse way they have become a comfort blanket.

I am trying to change a couple of my worst traits and recently I was listening to a couple of preaches from Mars Hill that I found helpful.

Shane Hipps spoke about the hundreds and thousands of choices that lead to situations of personal pain, bad habits or even addictions. We have to admit that we did make those choices, albeit they became more and more automatic responses the more we let the bad habit form. It was one of those sermons when it seemed the preacher was talking just to me. He went on to say there is hope as we come to God and make the right choices. These boulders of bad behaviour/habits will be worn down by the constant flow of God's healing water. (click here to go and listen)

Kent Dobson talked from the story of Ruth of hopeless circumstances. Ruth did all she could in her situation of just taking one step at a time to walk towards hope. (click here to go and listen)

I am trying to take one step towards hope each day and I am thankful for the lovely people I have around me who guide me, encourage me and pull me up when I stumble and fall.

If you are stuck in whatever way I would recommend listening to one or both of these messages, I believe they may just speak to and encourage you where you are at.

Serendipity Saturday - 31/03/12

I came across these wonderful tape sculptures, made from clear sellotape and placed in ordinary spaces creating provoking and amusing works of art.
They are the work of Mark Jenkins. Do check his website which is wildly creative and slightly disturbing(in a good way).

As I walk around in the world (and cyberspace) I try to keep my eyes really open. Open to noticing new things, strange things, things that make me stop and think. I am sharing some of these serendipitous finds with you. Serendipity means a "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise"; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful without looking for it. (and its one of my favourite words!)

Six Things - The Rt Revd Dr Alan Wilson

Alan was born in Edinburgh, grew up in East London and Kent, and studied at St John's College Cambridge and then Balliol College Oxford. He was ordained Deacon (1979), Priest (1980), and Bishop (2003). Married to Lucy, a violin teacher, they have five children.

Not your average clergyman Alan served in a parish which had a Crematorium and visiting several thousand families to listen to their stories of relatives and friends who had died was an education not many of us recieve. He has worked as a chaplain at Reading Prison, and led courses in Applied Ethics and History for Reading University, developed a supervision model for ministry. Alan hasn't worked exclusivly in the church world, in the mid nineties he undertook  commercial design work producing airwaybills, contact lens containers and packaging products.

A member of many ministries and organisations that promote social responsibility and equality, education, arts, and mission.  He speaks various languages badly, having learnt from his Hungarian mother the value of understanding other peoples’ conversations rather more than they think you can.

Alan has been involved in writing on websites and his own blog since 2007 and I came into contact with Alan through his role as a judge of the Christian New Media Awards.

One thing that's always worth getting out of bed for
The buzz of people interacting around visions and ideas, especially friends

One thing about yourself that often obstructs you
A lack of focus pulling together all the strands of life in a way that adds up

One thing I've learned the hard way
To write concisely, not in a St Paul "stream of consciousness" mode.

One thing that gets under my skin
Inequality in all its forms. It gets way up my nose when people suggest God colludes with partiality, or the way things have always been, or that faith is some kind of get out of jail free card for injustice or discrimination.

One thing I'd love to change
(personally) My inability to play jazz piano
(in England) The stuckness in Education - I'd love to see all able to access an education that brings out their God-given creativity and giftedness and enables them to flourish spiritually, mentally, physically, artistically and socially as well as academically. Bit of a tall order, I realise...

One thing I hope for
To see the church become a more open, accepting, and loving network of local disciples - less hierarchically fixated, top-down, anxious and fearful,

Six Things is a series of micro-interviews with interesting and creative people
in which they’re asked to respond to a standard set of six prompts.