In light of yesterday, this seems a pretty neat idea and one worth doing.

ICE stands for ‘in case of emergency’ and this could help the emergency services contact the right person should an accident ever happen.

Thanks Joe for the tip off – when are you going to get a blog and share ideas yourself?

I have just finished reading Yancey’s ‘The Jesus I never knew‘.

This book is fascinating. Yancey has immersed himself in Jewish culture, watched all the films on the life of Jesus, and has tried to re-discover who the true, real Jesus is. He suggests, with good evidence, that he is a more human, grittier, fun and real character than the ‘Swedish type’ blonde, blue eyed,sparkling clean Jesus that we see on church walls and in Christian writings. He suggests that in the western world we have sanitized the character of Jesus.

I feel I agree and think as church we have totally reversed what Jesus did. Think about who he spent his time with (the smelly, unclean, undesirable, outspoken, passionate) and those he challenged (the pious, religious, proud, know it alls). Jesus set an example of reaching out to the weak, the poor, the ‘undesirable'(if there is such a thing). These are the very people who are far removed from the church because, if we are honest, they are not really welcome because we do not know what to do with them!

I feel like I have a new relationship. I feel like I now know a totally new and different person. I feel that I have missed out over the past few years. I think I can genuinely say that for the first time in quite a while I an genuinely personally excited about my faith in Jesus for me.

Don’t get me wrong I have always been excited about what Jesus did. I think, though, that I had kind of got accustomed to what he did and my excitement was pretty much sown up in seeing others respond to him when they realised too. What I think I am saying is that I was excited about Jesus because of the difference he had made in my life, and the difference I could see him making in the lives of others.

One little question hits me in this book which I think will stay with me for a while to come. Yancey talks of a time when he is stranded at an airport on the way to a conference. He starts talking to a woman who is going to the same conference. We’ve all been there; the chat goes around what we do, what we want to see God do, the stresses, the excitements and so on. After a while this woman asked Yancey this question:

Tell me; do you ever let Jesus just love you?

As I read the words I heard the voice of Jesus. Rob when are you going to let me do what I want to do? When are you going to stop and let me tell you what I think? When are you going to sit down, rest and just chill with me? Rob; when are you going to let me love you?

I’m so keen to work for God sometimes that I don’t let him love me. I’m finding it’s just so easy to keep trying to prove myself, to do this extra job, to just finish this or that. In fact Sarah said just the other day ‘You work all the hours you can for YFC…’ It’s true, because I enjoy what I do I can easily do more.

But Rob, when are you going to let me love you?

This book has helped me to re-focus. I think it’s true to say I have fallen in love again with my maker. I have re-discovered, or rather re-learned, who Jesus is. It’s easy to let other things become important and deflect us from where our true focus should be. Yancey gives a good illustration:

Martin Luther encouraged his students to flee the hidden God and run to Christ, and I now know why. If I use a magnifying glass to examine a fine painting, the object in the centre of the glass stays crisp and clear, why around the edges the view grows increasingly distorted. For me, Jesus has become the focal point. When I speculate about such imponderables as the problem of pain or providence versus free will, everything becomes fuzzy. But if I look at Jesus himself, at how he treated actual people in pain, at his calls to free and diligent action, clarity is restored. I can worry myself into a state of spiritual ennui over questions like ‘What good does it do to pray if God already knows everything?’ Jesus silences such questions: he prayed, so should we.

I loved this book, there is so much more in this and I think I could probably write about what I have learned every day for at least the next week. Maybe I will yet!

Leaving Birmingham at 1.30 and seeing this sign on the M6 was both horrible and weird.
Listening to reports on 5 Live made me feel sick, helpless and angry – and it was not even affecting me directly.

You can find reports here from the BBC and The Guardian.

At times like this all we can do is pray for those that are hurting.

This photo was quick on the circulation list and I could not resist posting it as it made me laugh loads. Anyone for a half price t-shirt. Surely they should be on Ebay as collectors items!!

Where will you be in 2012? The Olympics are coming to London!! Fantastic news, so flipping wonderfully stupendously fantastic. In addition my little home town of Weymouth gets to host the sailing. I’ll be torn … London athletics, or Weymouth beach and sailing. It’s a good job I have 7 years to decide.

London …Olympics … 2012 … did I say I was excited?

I saw War of the Worlds this morning.
It was a great film although I thought the ending was a bit lame,. although more believable probably than flying into the centre of a fleet ‘Independance Day’ style and uploading a virus.

I will say no more in case you have not seen it yet.

The film is worth going to see. It reminded me of the fragileness of humankind and the strength of the parent child relationship. There is a good scene where true love needs to be displayed by a letting go, even in the face of certain disaster – maybe there is a slight prodigal theme here?

Today it starts.
Keep praying.
Light your candle.
Hold vigil.

Another decade of failure would mean 100 000 000 people would die; each one is avoidable.

Can you exhaust feelings of being proud? I don’t think so. I’m obviously having a proud period!

Today, at 4.00pm, I opened the front door to a singing Thomas. He was singing because his report tells us that he is a level 5 across the board (with a 4 for writing) for maths, english (rreading) and science. The expectation by the end of Year 6 is to be Level 4, hence his excitement, and my pride.

Well done Tom!

On Thursday I have been creative with my diary and my car. I need to be in Birmingham at 10 am for a Locdown meeting and then need to return to London by 6 pm for a Soul in the City meeting in London.

I realised too late that I was doing this and so cannot now get a reasonably priced train ticket so will need to be driving.

This is a long shot – but does anyone know a carpark or somewhere to park near a tube station which would be on my route into London from Birmingham which will enable me to get to the SITC meeting which is to be held in central London?

Found this today – amazing what bargains you can find on ebay!

Will anyone actually buy this?

But … more importantly … what does this mean?

doo doo doo doo …. we are entering the twilight zone!

Maggi writes well here and gives us a good reminder that the responsibility for eliminating poverty is not just the responsibility of 8 men who meet in a room by a golf course at the end of the week.

If this is going to work, if we are to see a change – then we must all be prepared to eradicate poverty.

Go have a read of maggi’s words and the comments too.