if only life was as simple as an iphone or macbook!
Recently I have made the change from PC to apple. I have been helped in this process by very generous friends, and recently received an ordination present of an iPhone which is pretty amazing.
In the early days I struggled with Apple technology and then found out this was due to me trying to make life too complicated. Apple works simply, my difficulties were due to treating the apple like a PC which tends not to be be simple and straight forward. I am finding more and more that Apple technology is quite straight-forward – if you want something to happen you just drag it, click it, move it!
In my Christian journey I can look back and see how I have made things complicated by not doing the obvious to achieve what I want to achieve or get where I wish to get. I have been conscious that there has been that desire to make things difficult which I probably think has it’s roots in the ‘no pain no gain’ mentality that is not uncommon to many of us.
The two computer systems of PC and Mac seem to originate from two different lifestyles: a PC of ‘this is life’, you need this and so be consumed; the Mac with ‘life is out there’, have fun with this, but there is more and so do it quickly and get on with other stuff.
My brand of Christianity is about having a life, not about being consumed with doing things. It is about fun not a set of systems and rules about how we should behave and what we can and cannot do. It is about creativity and following your path with the relational God with others others but not being compelled to believe or do the same as everyone else.
This is about discovering life.
I believe this is authentic discipleship.
My wonderful daughter has started to blog again. You can catch her here at The Vicar’s Daughter – I admire her humour! (and there was me worrying about her wanting to hide the fact!!!)
I’ve seen a couple of people in the media suggest that China is trying hard to change and is honouring its promise to clean up its human rights act as it stages the Olympics. Well this BBC footage of a dealing with a peaceful protest shows nothing’s changed!
I have been finding the EA Slipstream podcasts well worth listening to. There are now 4: Terry Virgo, Shane Claiborne, Tom Wright and more recently Michael Frost.
Go listen.
On one of our many days in Lyme Regis we came across Adrian Gray who balances stones and takes some pretty impressive pictures of them. They are quite stunning and again look to have that unexplainable edge about them.
The cynical side of me suggested glue until there was a slight breeze which caused the stones to topple meaning the guy had to start again.
Well … one day while sitting on Charmouth beach as the children were rock-pooling I found two stones and after about 30 minutes of patience and ‘feeling’ the centre of gravity I was able to balance stones too!
I was so proud I took a photo! Of course the family did not believe me when they saw the stones and I had to take time again to prove the stones did balance … but interestingly each successive time to balance them got shorter as I was able to ‘feel’ where the stone was at.
Balance in life can be a bit like that – I guess knowing where our centre of gravity is and how do keep close to it can also be a bit of an art.
We’ve returned from a great holiday in Dorset, staying in our caravan close to Lyme Regis.
It’s always great to get away and going to Dorset in particular reminded me how much love I still have for the beauty of the area I grew up in. It’s interesting too how memories flood back from certain scenes. Standing at Portland Bill brought back memories of kyaking around it one windy wavy day, sitting on Lyme Beach brought back the school holiday there when I was 14 (my first ever holiday) and many others.
We visited Weymouth a few times (Mum was 70 … woohoo!) and generally had a great relaxing time. The pic shows a cloudy day when we walked to the top of Golden Cap – the scene behind, which is the Dorset coastline from Lyme to Portland with Chesil Bank is stunning.
Interestingly – in our technologically advanced society it is still true that no one can give a definitive explanation of how the 18 mile Chesil Bank has formed in the way it has – I read one sign that said something along the lines of ‘it’s a mystery’. Some things just cannot be explained and sometimes we have to accept that. We cannot explain everything.
The highlights of the holiday are too many to mention – but the drinking of Jura while watching the sunset and chatting rates up there but not as high as a parting comment from the person camping next to us – as we left he came to say that he wanted to congratulate us on the behaviour and attitudes of our children – we drove away proud parents!
I’m taking a little blog break to sample the finer things in life – see ya in a couple of weeks!
I had an interesting day in London today with a couple of meetings which I think are likely to be my final YFC engagements.
It feels odd, but not as odd as I thought it might. In fact the long drawn out leaving thing has enabled me to focus quite well on the future. Rather than a sudden ‘all change’ the gradual letting go of YFC and the gradual taking up the reigns of thinking about something new are working quite well for me.
I met with Luella this morning at Waterloo and we wandered over to the Southbank Centre for coffee and to talk about how things are progressing with Basingstoke YFC. While there we came across Volume which looked great but I feel the need to return in the evening with my children to see it properly. I think we’ll do that when Sarah goes to Soul Survivor with her youth group.
As we sat and watched people engage with Volume, yet again there were 2 distinct reactions and quite uniformly these reactions separate into adult and children. Adults were trying to ‘get it’, to understand the experience or to be able to explain it. The most beautiful reaction I saw was a girl of about 5 or 6 gracefully dancing between the speakers and lights while flapping her arms like an angel or a fairy. This little girl had it sussed – this was not for explaining or understanding – this was created to enjoy.
There is a sermon there somewhere!
I met up with the London Cluster for the last time today. This is the group of YFC Directors that run centres in and around London.
We did our business ‘bit’ in Covent Garden before retiring to the Chandos (which is still my favourite London pub)for lunch.
After lunch I was presented with some wonderful gifts – something to wear under my cassock (I’m not telling?!) a pack of Drinking Games cards which will come in handy when I am sitting in Wetherspoons in Rochester with my dog collar on, a very generous gift of money and a fantastic card.
I was entirely surprised and lost for words – not a common or comfortable place for me to be in!
These great friends told me how much they appreciated what I had been doing but I sincerely believe that all I have been doing is encouraging and supporting friends – the job has been fairly easy because the people I work with, my friends, have made work very easy.
I am touched by the generosity of gifts, but more so by the generosity of friendship of this group of people that have become a large part of my life.
Thanks again guys and girls – you’ve been great and I really hope we manage to stay in touch.
The Shiny Headed Prophet 