Ok, so everyone* is noticing it, and blogging about it, and being amused by it. But it’s so deliciously fun. I always knew the West Wing was real. 🙂 One day it would be fun to write an thesis on the nature of being human as reflected by the West Wing. For now enjoy the overly talked about similarity between series 7 and the current US elections.
*’Everyone’ being a pejorative term, and only really including West Wing geeks like myself.
Thursday is Relay Day. Here they are:
And here’s what we did today. Prizes for which bit of the Bible this represents:
It’s four weeks until Easter week.
This week saw the move of Neighbours to Channel 5. I haven’t watched the fair programme for a while now but I am delighted that finally after all the petitioning, Channel 5 have seen sense and you can now watch the Neighbours omnibus on a Saturday. Woop.
Tonight I baked a cake and used my lovely bread maker for the first time in about 3 years. Tomorrow morning we will awake to the smell of fresh bread. Mmm.
Things the English take for granted really aren’t that simple. For example, tonight my Danish housemate asked me about the Prince of Wales. Who is he? Why is he the Prince of Wales? Why not the Prince of England or Britain? Things got a bit more confusing when I revealed that his wife was the Duchess of Cornwall and the Queen’s husband the Duke of Edinburgh. To which she quite rightly responded, “and the Queen? What is she?”. My reply: “Just the Queen really.” If I was Stephen Fry and headed up a quite interesting quiz show I’d be able to furnish her with the answers. As it is I may ask my parents tomorrow.
Tomorrow my parents visit. This is another thing I like. Hugs, walks on the beach and the delights of people who really know me and, somewhat bizarrely, still love me. Hoorah.
This week has been a strange one in the world of Hoveactually. Illness has bound me to the sofa, memories of this time a year ago have made me muse, and the constant sunshine has made me smile and think that something might be ok after all.
Things of note this week:
It’s been a year since the lovely James Meagher went Home. Quite apart from the strangeness of the passing of time, it’s weird that it’s been a year. We wonder how we cope with life, how people manage to keep walking through the pain of this world. And there is no quick answer, sometimes it’s like walking through the rain on a windy day, head down, face set and just the effort of putting one foot in front of the other. This life has many of those moments in it. Thankfully they are tempered by the times when the sun shines through the clouds, or even when the rain eases up a little.
I always turn to Martyn Joesph at these times:
“Sometimes I’m tired of the struggle, sometimes I’m tired of this face. We shall overcome, just like the man said. We’re walking on , we are walking. We’re walking on, just like the man said.” “And though the bleak sky is burdened, I’ll pray anyway, And though irony’s drained me, I’ll now try sincere, And whoever it was that brought me here, will have to take me home.”I’ve therefore been pondering the resurrection a whole lot more this week. It’s the one thing to hold onto. I have so many questions, so many things I don’t understand about this world and faith in it’s Maker. But I do know that He lived, died and rose. And that makes all the difference in this crazy world. Eternity is out there. Now we walk through valleys of shadows, one day we’ll be home.
Being ill is fairly rubbish, even for a little while, but when you wake up and your head is clear, your body has stopped aching and the sun is shining, the relief is wonderful. Times that by a million billion and you’ll not even come close to the sense of relief when we stand on the new earth, sun streaming on our faces, and the sure knowledge that we have come home.
Here some advice I’m giving at an evangelism training day tomorrow.
Don’t pray.
Don’t talk about Jesus.
Don’t love people, have chats with them purely to win arguments and not cos you care for them.
Don’t enjoy it, it’s rubbish news.
Don’t live it out, get drunk down the bar each night so that people can see it doesn’t really make any difference to your life.
Give up
Hide away for the next two weeks
Feel guilty and rubbish, God doesn’t really love you and thinks you are a rubbish person, why would he want to use you anyway?
Think that it all depends on you.
Get fed up when everyone you talk to doesn’t get converted the second you start talking about Jesus.
Don’t listen to people, answer the questions you can answer, loudly, force your opinions on them.
Don’t bother inviting your mates to anything, they think you are weird as it is.
Don’t bother making friends with people you meet this week. They’re all a bit odd anyway.
Do things on your own, be a lone ranger, don’t encourage anyone, what use will that be?
Complain A LOT. About everything. Moan moan moan about the CU, about the committee, about how rubbish life is.
Complain some more, especially behind peoples backs.
Did I mention?, don’t pray, it doesn’t work anyway.
God doesn’t really want people to come to know him does he?
Be confident in yourself, you are great aren’t you? And certainly not weak and foolish, of course you can convert the world.
Think the message is stupid. Tell people something they want to hear. Tell them becoming a Christian will make them happy, healthy and rich.
Of course it’s not true for everyone, as long as people are happy, that’s what counts.
Stop praying, I thought I told you before. A waste of time in this random fate driven world.
The Long Walk Home 