I love stories! I love telling stories and reading them. I love hearing other people’s stories … other people seem to have such wonderful adventures and have amazing tales of excitement, and places they’ve been!

Even their troubles and heartaches seem to come over with such a sense of success and achievement!

Isn’t it funny how “my own story” never seems enough, or exciting … or even worth telling?!

I began to listen to what others said about their lives and their journey in life and so often they would despise or have a disdain for their “own story”.

I thought around that for a while, and realised how precious the “most ordinary” story is! Your story is yours… it tells a bit of who you are, where you’ve been and what has affected Continue reading

Mark and I have just come back from a long journey: our journey from home and back again took place in cars, ours and someone else’s, busses, shuttles, transits, travelators, trains, planes, metro, walking – lots.

We had a great time chatting to our hosts on the first evening, to our travelling companions on the journey, reading and listening to lots and lots of various instructions in different languages and finding out places and ways of getting to our destinations by ourselves!

Some of them were wonderful… the transit train from airport security to the gates for flight and the same on the return journey, had a very pleasant lady’s voice, but quite insistent that we “don’t get off this transit at this stop”! Three times she insisted that passengers did not “get of the transit at this stop”, as it wasn’t where we were supposed to be! Another instruction was at both ends of the flight the chief flight attendant thanked us for travelling with the airline and, “would advise you to collect all your belongings before leaving the cabin. Please be careful when opening the overhead lockers as objects may fall out due to movement during the flight, and do have a pleasant onward journey to your final destination!!!

Pretty obvious … but it is a journey we are on! It will have a “final destination” (heaven… when a new adventure will begin!), but for now our “journey in life, our journey together as a local church, will have many mini journeys! Some may feel pretty epic and not so mini, as we navigate people, issues, problems, attitudes and changes… on our way to our Continue reading

Ever been in a position where you feel the need to say something, but are not exactly sure just what to say?

Where you’d like to give your opinion but sometimes it just might not go down too well?

Or where you’re asked for your thoughts and you know really well that, whatever you say, they won’t hear it or will be highly offended?

Wisdom is very often “when you say nothing at all!”

Wisdom knows when to speak a word in season, when it is right to say what is asked for; even when you know it won’t go down too well!

Oh for wise people to speak out, and stay silent… and knowing which is when!

The Bible has a lot of things to say about what we say! That our speech ought to be Continue reading

Eve …

Eve fascinates me… not because all the artists impressions of her portray her as beautiful, slim, with incredible long hair (in various shades) that obviously was washed in pure spring water with built in conditioners! … but because she lived!

She fascinates me because she lived after the biggest a faux pas (dict: social blunder or indiscretion!) in the history of the world!

Consider when we mess up, make mistakes, react badly … sin … whatever we choose to call it … none of us really cause the consequences of our mistake to have such far reaching effect s as the eating of the tree of knowledge did for, not only Eve, but mankind for ever after! How could anyone live with that? But she did!

I admire her … oh not because she sinned, disobeyed and encouraged Adam to do the same, (think I might have a t-shirt on that!), but because she got up went on and LIVED again … Continue reading

I had a short, but interesting encounter, yesterday, with the young lady who was on one of the tills in a local supermarket! She was maybe in her early 20s and she caught my eye immediately … she was exceptionally different from the number of other cashiers on duty. It struck me straight away how well she sat!!… Yes I did say sat!

Most cashiers (and probably most of us generally!) are quite slouched at a desk or till… but not her! She had a lovely straight posture and looked very elegant and, dare I say, almost out of place at this till!

I commented on how lovely she looked and what a beautiful straight back she had. She beamed at me and said, “Thank you… most people tease me for it!!”

I couldn’t believe she said that and when I asked her more, she replied that she had a slight curvature of the spine and she had practised toning her back muscles so that she sat, and stood, tall because it made her back stronger.

As serendipitous encounters usually get me thinking… that is what I found myself doing

How easy it is for us to slouch in life -as well as how we sit stand or walk! Our default is often Continue reading

Wow – now that’s a thought!… actually being an answer to someone’s prayer!!

Amazing how we can overlook that fact … God can actually allow me to be His answer!… so many times we look to get answers we can miss an important element – I might actually be needed!

Isaiah had an encounter with God (Isaiah 6) that caused Him to respond to God to be the answer . His being the answer wasn’t easy nor was it always accepted with readiness and open arms … but … isn’t that just like life?

We respond to God – and say “Here am, I send me!” and He does – months later when we’ve forgotten we said that! When we eventually do realise we need to “go”, it’s often to people who are on our doorstep (family?) to our local community and not always to some glamorous sounding place on the other side of the world!
Continue reading

Have you ever found it so hard to wake up?

I’m not a natural “morning person”… I do late nights much better! It’s when I think and become creative often!

So sometimes,  it really is a hard thing to wake up… I mean, not just open my eyes and get out of bed, although that’s hard enough, I mean really WAKE UP, be alert and focussed.

I so admire those people who, on waking, can be on the ball and ready for the day, filled with fun and optimism and, if I’m honest, a pain in the neck for the grumpy grouches of the morning!

Oh, I’m not usually grumpy in the morning… just not always really alert!! Continue reading

I went for an eye test today … usual stuff – how  far down the chart can you see – without lenses, with lenses, then the light in my eyes to check my retina, look up, look down, left, right.

I’ve had itchy eyes for a wee while and wondered if it was my contacts, or what?… turns out I’m probably allergic to some seasonal thing in the air – few  eye drops and ease off on how long I wear the contacts for each day – and it’s sorted.

As usual I pondered … on eye tests!

How we need them regularly… eyes change as you get older, lenses or glasses need to be tweeked and the amazing way the optical specialist is able to know how healthy you are by looking at your retina!  Amazing! Continue reading