One Woman's Musings

New Blog!

2011-01-02T18:33:00.002Z

I've got a new blog which is purely dedicated to reviewing new and recommendable things, such as books, films, music, gadgets, recipes etc.

I hope you'll find it both interesting and helpful.

Thank you for your continued support!

http://www.allthingsreviewable.wordpress.com

Edinburgh Fringe

2010-09-17T20:13:00.005+01:00

"This would be the only place where the sun is shining, but it’s minus five degrees!” The dark haired Canadian, comically poised in nothing but his underwear, winked at the tittering crowd. I glanced up at the blazingly blue sky, felt the warmth of the midday sun soak into my bare shoulders and couldn’t help but smile. Playing the British weather card was always guaranteed a reaction.

The Edinburgh Fringe was in full swing; the golden sandstone grandeur of Scotland’s national museum a serene and surprising backdrop to the ongoing frivolity. Rows of quirky canvas stalls were strewn along the sidelines of the spectacle, proudly exhibiting unique articles of jewellery, clothing and art. My sister-in-law perused them with great interest, delicately fingering each gem while her Mum walked tentatively behind, hoping the crisp twenty pound notes (Scottish, of course) would not be sweet-talked from her purse.

The buzz in the air was energising. Pulling into the station an hour earlier, we had been full of anticipation for the much-awaited evening event. We had tickets to see the Tattoo and, in our imaginings of it (who doesn’t love men in kilts?) we had clean forgotten that Edinburgh’s streets would be littered with hopeful, ambitious dancers, singers and performers. It was more than a pleasant surprise as we, like thousands others, found ourselves caught up in the exuberance.

The duo of near-naked men, now being wrapped together in cling-film (and somewhat inappropriately patted down) by two middle-aged, obviously single women, were drawing an even larger crowd with their hilarity. The pair had captivated our attention from the outset, as they brazenly, yet comically, attacked and humiliated their spectators.

A petite, elderly woman, resting alone against the black, iron fencing which bordered the museum, visibly recoiled as the loudest of the two (at this stage, fully dressed) pointed at her and shouted: “This is the most dangerous woman in Edinburgh! Look, she’s behind bars!” Roaring with laughter, while also niggled by a pang of sympathy for this innocent bystander – who, it turned out, was hunting for her lost husband (Mike Tucker) - I knew we would be in for a good show. Intelligent and dignified? Certainly not. Cringe-worthy and fabulous? Of course!

Nearing the pinnacle of their performance, while embarrassingly enveloped in a cellophane cocoon, their heads jolted up and to the left as a man – clearly of the clerical calling – missioned towards them. Head bowed, but not low enough to disguise the white dog collar, he ignored the crowd and our inquisitive looks (was he going to reprimand them for their indecency?). Silence fell and all eyes rested on this man of the cloth as he drew closer to the (genuinely surprised) Canadians. “Are you Mike Tucker?” the taller one called. The clergyman stopped short, raised his head and revealed a face full of horror as he absorbed his surroundings. He couldn’t have run away any quicker and we couldn’t have laughed any harder.

How easily we are entertained.

Apple iPad

2010-02-02T13:43:00.019Z

We are seeing history in the making as technology hits a new level of brilliance. Following on from the innovative success of the iPod Touch, Apple has released news concering the production of their newest, and supposedly greatest, creation to date - the iPad.

As slim as the iPod Touch and as large as a magazine, the iPad boasts to be an aesthetically pleasing product to behold and to be held. Those who were involved in the design and production of this prototype have stated that they intended the iPad to feel completely comfortable in the hands of its owner; in the same way as a book or a newspaper is naturally handled. As such, Apple are claiming that a person's regular activites can be all the more enhanced by the use of the iPad. Web browsing, email, viewing photos, watching movies, playing games and reading books are at their best, according to Senior Vice President of product marketing- Phil Schiller, and certain applications have been created to ensure that this will be so.

The iPhone and the iPod, as they stand, have access to iTunes and the App store, but as well as these the iPad intends to bring to the market the iBook store. At the touch of a finger, you can chose, download and immediately start reading a book. You could imagine that on such a large display, where the book fills the screen and a single touch turns the page, the experience is almost as satisfying as holding a real book in your hands. One of the creators, Scott Forstall, says that "when you couple books with a high-res colour display, reading an eBook is just such a pleasure".

But the question begs to be asked, why not just do all this on a laptop? Surely it is just as easy to browse the web, send an email, watch a film and read a book on a laptop as it would be on the iPad? Well, aside from the obvious of having touch-screen technology that would accompany the iPad, rendering the keyboard obsolete, there is also the benefit of having no right or wrong way to hold the device. It can be flipped any which way, and the picture will automatically adjust for however you are holding it. It also seems to be far superior to a laptop in the way it allows you to share the screen with a friend. LED and IPS technology, in the iPad, permits you to tilt the screen at an angle without the quality of the image being compromised. Which means watching a film, or viewing photos, with another person doesn't impare the experience.

Overall, it looks very impressive! However, I wouldn't get too excited about rushing to the shops to buy one just yet. Apple have a few hurdles to clear before the iPad can be released to the retail world, and even then, there's no guarantee we'll see them on UK shelves. Some speculate that we might be seeing the iPad some time in June of this year, following a proposed US release for the end of March, but we'll just have to wait and see.

So what are your thoughts on the iPad? Do you think it is just a glorified iPod or iPhone? Do you think it far surpasses the purposes of a laptop? Would you consider buying one if they were released in the UK? They've estimated that prices would start at around $499 (aprox. £313). Please feel free to leave your comments!

Avatar

2009-12-29T17:23:00.016Z

Fifteen years have passed since Oscar-winning James Cameron first embarked on his epic journey to create something that would potentially revolutionize the film industry forever. Avatar has now hit our screens, and it's taking the nation by storm.

Set in the year 2154 amid the foreign, yet beautiful, surroundings of Pandora - an Earth-like moon - we find a team of human scientists dedicated to the study of a native people; the Na'vi. Yet, as in all typical American films, there is an underlying selfish objective which accompanies the presence of humans in this distant land. I'm sure you've guessed it, but just in case you haven't twigged yet, the Na'vi community happens to be sitting on a "goldmine" of precious mineral which, once retrieved, would solve Earth's energy crisis once and for all. That's right, fuel.

Ex-marine paraplegic, Jake Sully, is called to Pandora to continue the work of his murdered twin brother. As they shared similar DNA, Jake is introduced to his brother's Avatar - a replica of the 10-foot tall, blue-skinned indigenous Na'vi - and brings it to life through a specially designed machine enabling him to live in the alien land as one of the natives. Having so far been unsuccesful in reaching a diplomatic relationship with the Na'vi, the team are keen for Jake to learn the ways of the indigenous group, gain their trust and persuade them to move away from the mineral enriched land. Failing to do so within a certain time frame, however, means that power-crazed Colonel Quartich, leader of the forces out in Pandora, will execute his plan to take their territory by miltary force - an approach he has not been reluctant to voice from the start. What he didn't bank on, however, was Jake's growing love for the luscious beauty of the forest and for the people. Jake becomes torn between the two worlds until war eventually breaks out and he must decide which side to defend.

While the film would lack a certain credibility with regard to its simple, uninspiring storyline and the intangibility of, and between, the main characters, it well makes up for it with the sheer brilliance of the imagery and graphics. Avatar incoporates the most stunning visual effects which suceed in pulling you into the incredible world of Pandora. As a viewer, especially when watching it in 3D, you find yourself becoming a part of the film. The forest, in its beauty, tranquility and magnificance, is almost addictive. It reminded me instantly of Fern Gully which, for those of you who haven't seen it, portrays the forest as something truly magical.

The film also manifests a strong spiritual element, which I found to be both fascinating and eerie. The Na'vi believe in a diety, akin to the worship of Mother Nature, called Eywa. While she is not a deity who answers specific prayers - but instead sustains a healthy balance in nature - they do appeal to her for the salvation of their people during the war. It was actually a heavily integrated aspect of the film, and it is fitting with how today's society seems to be crying out for something to fill a spiritual void and to answer life's questions surrounding suffering and war.

Overall, I thought it was a fantastic film. It has undoubtedly raised the bar in film making and we can expect great things to follow. This is the future of great cinema.

Daily Audio Bible

2009-11-16T20:45:00.008Z

I don't know about everyone else, but I sometimes struggle to fit a "quite time" into my day. By that, I mean a regular time of day that I sit down with my Bible and spend some quality time with God; reading his Word and praying to him. The reasons tend to be varied - from busyness to lethargy. It can be hard to motivate yourself to want to spend time with God. We are too easily swayed by other things - watching TV, spending an extra half an hour in bed, being distracted by housework and the like.

And it shouldn't be a chore - it should be something we love to do. We should enjoy sitting down with God every day and meditating over his Word. So why is it so difficult? Well I think the simple answer to that is our own selfishness and the devil's all-too-easy and clever manipulation of that sin.

But recently I've discovered a really encouraging and helpful aid to enjoy, and stick to, spending time with God on a daily basis. It's a podcast, which is free to subscribe to through iTunes, called the "Daily Audio Bible". Basically, this guy called Brian Hardin felt God calling him to set up his own podcast with the aim of reading through the Bible in a year. So he did! Every day, Brian reads a variety of passages from the Bible to the backing track of gentle nature sounds, introduced by a short history or context of the passage and followed by a short devotional commentary about what we can learn from the text. He also reads from a different translation of the Bible each week, so that the listener gains a wider understanding of Scripture from these other versions.

At the moment, he's working his way through Ezekiel, Hebrews, Psalms and Proverbs and so he includes a passage from each of these books every day. I've found this really helpful as his approach of, for want of a better phrase, "mixing it up" is incredibly refreshing. His love for God, and for others, is evidently genuine and challenging.

What I find most amazing about listening to the Daily Audio Bible, is how connected you suddenly feel to your brothers and sisters in Christ. There is an allocated slot at the end of the podcast for voice recorded messages of people from all around the world, who have phoned it to mention a particular request for prayer. In an instant, listening to the description of their current situation or of a friend's dilemma, you feel an overwhelming desire to pray for them. This person, half way across the world who you've never met, suddenly has a place in your heart. It's then that you truly realise how united we are, as a Church, in Christ Jesus our Lord. How incredible is that?

I really recommend any one reading this to access iTunes (download it if you don't already have it), search for the Daily Audio Bible podcast on the iTunes store and subscribe to it. It's free and it will automatically upload the newest podcast to your computer whenever you log in to iTunes. It really has been a blessing to me. I can listen to the podcasts on my ipod in bed in the morning, or on my way to work, or sat in a coffee shop. Having that flexibility really does make it easier to spend time delving into God's word on a daily basis, no matter how busy you are. Having someone read it to you also brings the message of the Bible to life and I really do recommend it!

You can also check out their website at http://www.dailyaudiobible.com/ and if you click on "About Us" you can watch a short video clip about how the idea was formed and what it's aiming to do. It really is a wonderful ministry that reaches out to millions of people. They also raise money for various organisations. At the moment they're encouraging listeners to offer a donation to help rescue women who are forced into prostituion and drug abuse.

Seriously, check it out!

A Word From God

2009-11-11T18:17:00.005Z

Yesterday I was given some news that stirred up an array of emotions that I had been trying to keep under control for a while. As a result, I suddenly felt alone, abandoned and in pain. I tried to get my heart and head into the right place by spending all afternoon in prayer and reading God's word but I didn't really feel any peace or comfort from that immediately. I wanted to feel Him with me, but I couldn't.

This morning, I went into the bookshop as normal. And a customer came in - who I recognised straight away - but I couldn't remember her name. I'd only met her once before, and I remembered that she was a lovely lady who had spoken to me about a friend of her's who was quite ill. She came up to me and told me that when she woke up this morning, she suddenly had a strong desire to pray for me. She'd only met me once, and she didn't know my name or anything else about me, except that I worked in the shop! She told me that she felt that God had given her this desire to pray for me and to come into the shop later to give me a word of encouragement and to give me a few bible verses to meditate over. How amazing is that?!

So she told me that God showed her that I was really struggling with something and was feeling very alone and very sad, but to take comfort in the fact that God hasn't ever left me. That he is right there in the middle of everything holding me up. She said that he is sharpening me and training me to be ready for some kind of ministry, and that it will come at a cost. And even though I have endured painful things in my life, and will continue to do so, he has a wonderful plan for me. She encouraged me to just let go of everything and to hand it over to God, trusting that his will and his ways are perfect.

I thought this was absolutely incredible! That God would speak to me through a stranger, and tell me exactly what I needed to hear. I felt such peace from her message. I know some people feel a bit sceptical about visions, words from God and the like, because it's not as common now as it was perhaps in the Old Testament. But I believe in the gifts and power of the Spirit. And if these gifts are not forced, or particularly invited, then God can reveal things to people in this way.

I just wanted to share this with you all.

Friendship

2009-11-09T20:56:00.009Z

Recently, I've been reflecting on the varying levels of friendship and how our perceptions of it change over time. Since moving to Reading, I've really noticed how dramatic the shift has been from the safety of studentdom to the shock of the "real world", especially with regard to friendship groups.

Throughout school and university, I've been surrounded by big groups of people that I've spent a great deal of time with. At school, it seems to be a given that you attach strongly to a group of people because you spend all day, every day, with the same people. I really miss the intimacy of the group we had at school - Katie, Katie, Emma, Beth, Craig and Gemma - but people move on from that and unfortunately you can't quite keep that same connection when you're away from those circumstances.

At university it's a slightly different situation. There is a great deal of freedom, a bigger group of people to befriend and you don't spend as many hours in lectures as you would have spent at school. Yet the friendships seem to be even more intimate than those made at school. Here, you're all in the same boat - away from home for the first time - and so you're forced together in quite an unnatural situation. I made some fantastic friends at Bangor and I really miss them. We still keep in touch, of course, but it's not the same as seeing them every day.

Alex, Rhodri, Lois, Dawn, Dan, Tom and Little Dave were people that I was especially close to on our course. Most of us were inseperable. Lectures together, lunch together, library together, pub together, dancing together, beach together, picnics together, walks together, cinema together. Pretty much everything we did, we did it together. When people say that the most free time you will have is at uni, they're not wrong. And we pretty much spent all our free time together!

So when you leave, and enter the real world, it really throws you. At least, this is what I felt. I can't just text everyone and say "Pub?" or "Cuppa in Dylans?" - we're miles apart! That really sucks.

But my friend, Helen, who I used to live with in Bangor for a couple of years, came to visit this weekend. We were talking about this and she reminded me that university is a completely unique and unnatural situation, and that you can't continue that type of commitment outside of university. It doesn't mean that the frendship loses any depth, or reality, but that it just can't ever exist in the same context again.

And that's where I realised that our understanding of what friendship is has to change as our circumstances change. After uni, we just don't physically have the ability to see each of our friends all the time, or to be able to do everything with them. But the mark of a real friendship means that your love for them will never wane (I'm not getting soppy - if you've got a real friendship, then you do love each other). You think about your friend, you get in touch when you can, you meet up when you're able to, you pray for them, you text, email or write to them and you just generally let them know, in your own way, how much they mean to you. You treasure all the great times you had and reminisce about them together. And there's something just as intimate and deep in that as there is in spending every minute with them.

I thought that was just a really great reminder. So if anyone, like me, has been missing the freedom of being able to go out when you like with friends at university, then I hope you can take comfort in the fact that it doesn't mean you're any less of a friend to them if you can't see them all the time. As the saying goes, "absense makes the heart grow fonder" and you could develop an even greater friendship with someone when you're further away from them because you're forced to try and keep in touch. Relationships are so integral to our humanity and real friendships and emotional attachments are things that we all crave.

Twilight

2009-10-08T21:53:00.013+01:00

I, like thousand others, have fallen spectacularly head-over-heels in love with the Twilight series. From the family of 'vegetarian' vampires to the enemy pack of the werewolves, from the assumed royalty of the Volturi to the ancient Quileute legends and from suspense-filled action to unbridled romance - the Twilight books are undoubtedly the most gripping novels I've read to date.

If you haven't seized the opportunity to read the books yet - you must! Get them all, get them now. But be warned, Stephanie Meyer's words flow so effortlessly from the page that you'll have a near-impossible job not to read the book in one sitting. Too many have fallen into the trap of reading late into the hours of the morning, before realization strikes that the sun is actually starting to rise again and that the alarm clock will soon start beeping.

I won't say much for the film, as the books are the sole feeders for the imagination, which in turn creates the intensity and atmosphere that we, as readers, crave. But I will tell you this: a film can't ever do the book justice, but it does what it can to emanate the suspence, romance and magic of the story. Bella is not how I imagined her and R-Pattz is only human, so how can we really expect him to be as superhuman as Edward? Overall, it was good. It gets better each time you watch it and I'm excited to see the New Moon film in November! (See trailer here)

One last warning: if you read the books, you will fall in love with Edward. That is just a fact. If you think your other-half, your job or your sleep pattern might not take too kindly to your obsession with a fictional vampire, then perhaps you'd better give it a miss. Being in love with Edward has its risks - you may suddenly find yourself wanting to become a vampire, just so you can be with him. It sounds crazy, I know, but that is how you will feel. Ask anyone (female) who has read the books and they'll tell you the same thing.

I would say "I hope you enjoy them" but I don't need to, I know you will. Kudos to Miss Meyer.

Consumerism

2009-10-05T23:00:00.018+01:00

Last night, one of our pastors (James Muldoon) preached a very challenging and culture-appropriate sermon on greed, covetousness and consumerism. Expounding on Luke 12: 13-34, James picked up on Jesus' strong warning against greed - "Watch out! Be on your guard!" (v. 15). He talked about how Jesus illustrated that a person's life isn't measured, or made complete, by the acquisition of material possessions. In the end, we can't take anything with us when we die. As somebody had pointedly remarked to him, "you don't see a removal van following a hearse, do you?"

The passage encourages us to be on the lookout for signs of greed and to take actions to stamp it out when we recongise it. I found it a real challenge. He ran through a list of things that would be considered covetous or greedy. Engaging in retail therapy, excessive amounts of food, wanting the newest model of mobile/ipod/car, dreaming of a bigger house, etc etc. Things probably most of us would consider to be quite normal - we're not dreaming of being millionaires, having swimming pools, planes, helicopters and the like - we only want to buy a little something from the shops to cheer ourselves up, we only want that extra slice of delicious chocolate cake, we only want the best toys for our kids... but this passage tells us that wanting more than what we really need, is greed. And greed is sinful.

And once it's taken hold of you, it's a diffult thing to shake. We need to recognise what those triggers are that make us greedy. Is it walking past the shops? Is it opening the kitchen cupboards? Is it flicking through a magazine? Is it going to a friend's house who has a bigger TV than us? Very challenging indeed. I probably find it mostly with food. I suppose I comfort eat, if I'm being honest. When I'm feeling low, I'll go straight to the corner shop and stock up on Thai Sweet Chilli Sensations Crisps or microwave butter popcorn. I certainly don't need it - it's only going to give me temporary satisfaction. It won't erase the problem that made me feel down in the first place, and in facts it adds a whole new problem - greed - and the sin of that being a psychological crutch. James said "God knows the content of your stomach". That was a bit of a wake-up call.

I think we desensitize ourselves to the sin of greed. Our culture certainly doesn't help matters. We've got adverts screaming at us, telling us we need the newest of everything. We've got high street stores inviting us in with their enticing window displays. We've got friends competing with each other for the best gadgets, homes and holidays. On some level, we've convinced ourselves that it's OK to want bigger and better things. James reeled off a list of items that people said they couldn't live without - TV, internet, mobile phones, chocolate etc - but then asked: "What if you were in a third-world country, experiencing a famine? What couldn't you live without then?" Certainly a poignant question.

He goes on to explain the pointlessness of worrying and how we should trust that God will provide for all our needs. To listen to the full sermon (and I recommend that you do; James has a very good preaching style and it would be better to listen to it youself than to just read my brief explanation of it), entitled "Covetousness and Care", dated the 4th October, visit our church's website at http://www.careybaptistchurch.org.uk/

Dream World

2009-09-14T23:09:00.021+01:00

A few nights ago, I had a dream. Its subject was unusual -but it wasn't one of those dreams where its oddity could be attributed to eating something peculiar before bedtime. I knew that it had a meaning - and it was related to something close to my heart. This was my dream:

The world was a busy and confusing place. People, not seeming to know where they were headed, travelled at a pace akin to a brisk walk - oozing urgency. Young mothers were racing, in exceedingly impractical stilettoes, with prams occupied by their screaming infants. Business men in sharp, swarve Italian suits scurried down the street, briefcases swinging helplessly at their sides, whilst constantly checking the time on their Rolex watches. There was a real weightiness about the situation, the reason for which I couldn't quite identify.

Then, all of a sudden, I was approached by a man. I knew instantly that he exhibited marks of a celestial being - but I could never quite figure out whether he was God, Jesus or an angel. He told me, in both an authoritative and gentle way, that I needed to do something for him. He told me that something terrible was about to happen and all these people, that I saw before me, did not know it was going to happen. He told me that there would be a number of buses, each arriving and departing at certain and precise times, from the same location, which would relocate people to a place of safety. He told me that it was my job to tell people that someting bad was about to happen and to encourage them to get on the buses. Then he left me.

I was filled with an incredible sense of urgency. I saw all these people before me - mothers, children, the elderly... "Quick! Quick!" I shouted. "Something terrible is about to happen! We need to all get on this bus, and it will take us to a safe place!" I was met with cold stares, confused expressions and even laughter. "Please, please listen to me! We all need to get on this bus! You... sir... won't you get on the bus, so that you can be taken somewhere safe? You... what about your child? Don't you want her to be safe? Quick, we must hurry, we don't have much time!"

After a long time of shouting, I managed to persuade a few people to get on the bus with me. Mostly women and children. Some elderly people and a couple of other people who seemed to trust that I was telling the truth. All of a sudden, the doors of the bus shut. A brilliant light flooded our eyes and by the time we had adjusted them to see again, we had left the place that we knew. Instead, we had been transported to a whole different world. I wouldn't be able to explain it - it was magical. Everything moved at a slow, pleasant and refreshing pace - there were mountains, and lakes and there was snow everywhere. People, who were already there, were dressed in big fur coats. Everything the eye could see sparkled as if it were coated in a layer of glitter. I wanted to stay there forever. But the man I had met earlier was in this world - he walked up to me and said "It is time to go back and collect the others". So I went.

After a few trips, I was coming back with fewer people each time. By the fourth or fifth attempt at persuading people to get onto the bus, I had become sincerley dejected. Nobody would listen. Nobody would believe me. I became saddened and angry. This wonderful place was there waiting for them, and all they would face in this world was some sort of terrifying distaster. I decided that I'd had enough - they were so infuriating. "Stuff them" I thought.. "I'll just leave them to suffer and I'll go and live in that wondeful place forever, they've had their chance." So I got on the bus, for what I thought would be my final time, and went back to the safety of that world.

As soon as I stepped off the bus, the man who had set this all in motion stormed up to me in a blazing rage. I had never seen anybody so angry. He looked so different. "How dare you! How dare you give up on those people!"

"But they wouldn't listen to me." I said, attempting to defend myself. "I gave them plenty of chances to get on the bus, but they kept laughing at me. What's the point in telling them the same thing again and again if they won't listen?"

"You will go back, and you will keep telling them that they need to get on the bus. You will keep telling them that getting on the bus is the only way that they will be safe. It's too dangerous for them to stay where they are. Don't be discouraged or angry if they don't listen to you - just keeping telling them what they need to hear."

So I went back - time and time again. I was exhausted and frustrated, but I did as the man had asked me to. I only brought a handful back with me each time, but after about six more trips, I realised that those handfuls of people added up to quite a lot when they were together in this new, safe world. I was glad I had gone back to get them. The man then came up to me again and said "It is time. You will not go back there anymore. It is the end of that world now. It has gone, and all the people with it who would not believe you. But these people are safe because they chose to accept what you were telling them as truth. Aren't you glad, now, that you didn't give up? Look how happy they all are. Look how many people still live, even though many people have died."

And that was it. It was an amazing dream. I knew I was dreaming about the end of the world - but I didn't actually see it happen. And I also know that I wasn't having a prophetic dream. I don't believe that God is going to transport all his children out of this world by the bus load like that, or that we'll all be wearing fur coats in heaven and playing in the snow! (Well, you never know actually...) But I was impacted hugely by the dream. I believe that God was telling me not to give up on evangelism. No matter how frustrating it can be at times, no matter how unresponsive people are to the gospel message, no matter how afraid we are or even ashamed, and no matter how much we feel like just giving up, we need to persevere with evangelism. It's our duty, as Christians, to share the good news of Christ with people who don't yet know him! Just think - there was a time that you did not know him, so how would you know him today if somebody had not told you about him?

God speaks to us in so many different ways - he speaks to us when we read the Bible (his word), he speaks to us through other people, he speaks to us in our dreams and he speaks to us in so many other ways! We need to be receptive to his word - listen to it, dwell upon it and act on it.

How is God talking to you today?

Knowing

2009-09-10T18:49:00.021+01:00

Knowing, a newly released film starring Nicolas Cage, Chandler Canterbury and Rose Byrne, is an exceptional amalgamation of genres - sci fi meets thriller. In this bold and bleak depiction of earth's future, as directed by Alex Proyas, the characters are brought to life to illuminate human vulnerability and inability to control the future.

John Koestler (Cage), a widower and a son of a preacher - who struggles to comprehend that there might be a divinely inspired purpose behind everything - embarks upon a thrilling and dangerous race against time in a couragous, albeit fruitless, attempt to prevent disasters of a colossal nature. His acquisition of such prophetic knowledge regarding disasterous occurences of the future begins when his son, Caleb (Canterbury), discovers a note left in a time capsule at a local elementary school, buried in the ground for fifty years.

A seemingly random and meaningless string of numbers scribbled fiercly onto a piece of paper, at first glance, was penned in 1959 by a disturbed young girl by the name of Lucinda, who found herself constantly tormented by voices. Deciphered by John, an Astrophysicist at MIT, the note soon reveals itself to be a cryptic warning, compiled of dates, coordinates and death toll numbers, pointing towards all the great tragedies endured by the world in the latter half of the twentieth century, including 9/11 and the Indian Ocean Tsunami.

Convinced that the deadly digits are now directing him to imminent local catastrophes, and worried that his son is somehow connected to the prophecy, John contacts the family of Lucinda for quick answers on what may have been her ultimate and final prediction. Diana (Byrne) and her daughter, Abby, unwittingly become an integral part of the story, providing clues to help uncover the unnerving, apocalytpic fate of the entire human race.

Theological to the core, the film picks up the much needed intervention of extra-terrestrial beings; whether they're meant to be aliens or angels is a little unclear. Throughout the film, they are "talking" to a number of children and as the film draws to an Armageddon, the creatures reveal that only those who heard the call could choose to be led by them to safety. In this sense, there comes into play a sort of rapture event at the end of the film, before the final judgement falls.

If you're looking for a Christian film - this certainly wouldn't be at the top of my list. It's not intentionally Christian, although it does, surprisingly, portray Christianity in a favourable light. There are overt references to Ezekiel, John's gospel and events in the book of Revelation. The gospel is not preached, as such, but there are undertones of it in reference to the prophecy, how it paved the way to its final conclusion and how people were blind to it. Subtly reminiscent of Jesus, perhaps?

As a film, the special effects were spectacular, the plot was exciting and unusual, but there was something lacking. Cage's character was, for want of a better word, vacant. He distanced himself from all genuine relationships and even the connection with his son was disjointed. Throughout the film, there was also a perpetual tension portrayed mostly in the music. I'm a bit of a lightweight when it comes to scary films, and watching this film in an empty house, in the dark, was a bit much for me! But, admittedly, I did enjoy it. It had a bit of a Sixth Sense feel to it. It was tense sci fi-thriller with strong theological overtones. Watch it if you get the chance!

Reflections

2009-08-28T20:07:00.018+01:00

We've now been living in Reading for just over a year and a lot has happened in that time - not all of it good. In fact, everything has pretty much worked out to be the opposite of what we had planned for the second year of our marriage. With another year passing, I've recently been able to reflect on what we've done and how far God has brought us, and to see God's goodness and will for our lives.

There have been some difficult times this year - we've really been missing the company of our friends in Wales, especially Rich and Jo, who we spent almost every weekend with. For Jan, I know he has been missing his work colleagues at Prospects and I've particularly missed spending quality time with my university friends (Lois, Dawn, Dan, Rhodri, Alex, Little Dave, Tom...) We've also battled to find work, we've struggled to support ourselves financially and we've suffered in not being alone as husband and wife in our own home. But God has shown us recently that, despite what we've considered to be "bad", he has been working in our lives to guide us to where we are now.

For about five months, I had the worst job in the world! (Slightly dramatic, but there we go). Being a supervisor at Blacks was insanely stressful. I worked, on average, fifty hours a week. I lost an awful lot of weight, I was stressed, exhausted and I didn't like the person I had become while working there. I put on a brave face for the rest of the world but I was actually quite depressed and, although we needed the money, I couldn't cope working there whilst doing an MTh at the same time. Either my job, my Master's or my sanity would have eventually given in at some point. So I decided to jack in the job.

But looking back, working at Blacks has actually been one of the best things that ever happened to me. Not only did I acquire some valuable leadership skills, among others, I also made some incredible friends. One girl in particular, Shelley, has become a very close friend, and I could not imagine living here now without her friendship. On top of that, the experience brought me a lot closer to God. I had to draw on his strength day by day to be able to cope with the demands, office politics, and physical exertion of the job. He aided me in battling forward with my work until I had cleared my student overdraft and he let me know when it was time to leave.

If I had never worked at Blacks, and if Jan hadn't worked for a year at the Christian bookshop, I don't think I would ever have applied for a position at the bookshop. And if I had, I certainly wouldn't have been given the job as I wouldn't have had any valuable retail experience. We're both very happy in our new jobs now, and it's obvious, now, how God has guided us to them.

So we still may not have our own home, or a family, or any money. But we're getting there. And even if we never get there, God has taught us that these things aren't a measure of a man, and we shouldn't be focusing all our attention on trying to acquire them. This past year has been a real lesson of patience, trust and obedience. We are constantly reminded that we need to be confident in God's perfect will, and that we need not worry about what tomorrow holds, for it is all in God's hands, and that is an amazing comfort! (Matthew 6.34 is one of my favourite verses!) We just need to make sure that we constantly remind ourselves of that fact, and to pray that we would live to please God in all that we do, at all times, no matter what the circumstances.

During difficult times, it is often hard to see the whole picture. It has been a real encouragement to be able to sit back and reflect on this past year - to see how everything has fitted together - and for that I am thankful! We are blessed daily - we have food, a roof over our heads and we're members of a great, bible-believing, mission-oriented church. If it is his will, then we will both make some more friends here, and we will get a steady income, a family and a house. But I hope to be able to live more in the present, worrying only about how to please God now, and not to worry so much about the future.

Lasagne Recipe

2009-08-27T21:17:00.018+01:00

As many of you know, I love food. I love to cook it and I love to eat it. I'm especially fond of quite a few recipes (from the traditional to the slightly more exotic) but I believe that you just can't beat a good lasagne. It's my favourite dish to cook!

Funnily enough, I wouldn't ever order a lasagne at a restaurant. I'm not sure why, exactly, I think I've just had bad experiences with that particular dish - either they serve it with too much white sauce, or there is too much meat (yes, I said it!) without any real flavour. I like flavour - a dish has got to have a real zing to it; something to excite my tastebuds. Poor things, they only get attention on average three times a day, they deserve something mouthwateringly delicious, don't they?

So I've been experimenting with different variations of this fine, Italian meal over the past couple of years. I can probably guess what you're thinking - it's only lasagne, it's not rocket science! You just stir some mince, add a few herbs and chuck in some chopped tomatoes, right? Err, wrong! If you want a good flavour, you have to put in the right ingredients. I think, in the end, it definately comes down to personal taste. I like my lasagne quite light in texture, but tomatoey and rich in taste and others like it meaty and filling. I've finally come to a (rough) recipe that I quite like and thought I'd share it with the world (or at least the four of you who read my blog!) I apologise in advance as I don't ever stick to exact measurements unless I'm following a recipe for the first time. So it will require a reasonable amount of guesswork to decipher my recipe:

Serves 6

You will need:
- 2 bags of frozen minced beef

- 1 large onion

- 1 large carrot

- 2 garlic cloves

- 3 tins of chopped tomatoes

- Some dried herbs (pick your own - basil/oregano etc)

- a generous tablespoon of tomato puree

- A few drops of Lea & Perrins sauce

- 2 teaspoons of sugar

- A sprinkle of ground black pepper

- Lasagne sheets (dried is fine, but fresh is better)

- Grated cheese (mature is best)

For the white sauce:

- A generous knob of butter

- 3 or 4 tablespoons of plain flour

- About a pint of milk (ish)

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees (fan assisted). Heat some olive oil in a wok (it's nice and big - better than a frying pan). Dice your onion and your carrot and crush your garlic. Fry it all together on a medium heat until soft - add some ground pepper. Then stir in the frozen mince. Keep stiring until cooked. Add the three tins of chopped tomatoes, tomatoe puree, Lea & Perrins, sugar and the herbs. Stir and leave to simmer.

Meanwhile, make the white sauce. Melt the butter in a deep pan. Take it off the heat and stir in the flour to make a stiff rue. Add a little milk, still taken off the heat, and stir well. Add a little more and smooth it out. Keep adding little bits of milk and stiring the sauce so that it is silky and smooth. Finally, pour in the rest of the milk and put it back onto a low heat. Let it gently heat up, making sure you stir it constantly. If it's heating too quickly, and lumps are beginning to form, take it off the heat for a while and keep stiring. After about 7 minutes, it will start to thicken up. When it gets to the perfect consistency, take it off the heat and set it to one side.

By now, your meat sauce should be perfect. Taste it to be sure. Perhaps add more pepper if it needs it. Don't add salt. Spoon a small amount into an appropriate oven dish and then top with some sheets of lasagne. Keep repeating this until you have layered all your meat and pasta. Now, stir in a small amount of the cheese into the white sauce. Spoon this on to the top layer of your pasta and make sure it spreads out evenly to cover the corners - you don't want your pasta to go dry in the oven. Then top with a generous helping of cheese and put it in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling and is a beautiful shade of golden brown!

Voila! You have a lovely lasagne :-) If you want something lighter still, a really good tip is to replace the white sauce with a tub of creme fraiche and then to top it with fresh, grated parmesan. Mmmm, delicious!

Writing Update # 2

2009-08-17T20:44:00.022+01:00

I sat down the other day, read what I had written of my novel so far and thought "this is terrible." I wasn't happy with the development of the characters, I didn't feel as if the plot was really taking off how I had intended it to and the underlying issues weren't as thought-provoking, disturbing or challenging as I had hoped. And I knew, there and then, that I had to scrap it; start afresh.

The predominant issue and message that need to be tackled and addressed haven't changed. I still want to cover the effects of abuse and to promote an ethic of forgiveness. Yet, for some reason, it didn't work as planned. But I'm glad I got as far as I did. It taught me what worked and what didn't - there are things that I'll happily take away with me and use for this next idea and there are things I'll know to stay clear of.

I was soon struck with a new idea - a new plot, new characters, a new setting. It is still in keeping with the theme of that which I had already written, but the narrative, I believe, will be all the more compelling. For me, I can envisage the novel capturing a real sense of romanticism. I mean this, not in keeping with the entirety of the Romantic movement, but in these two specific ways - firstly by being able to enjoy the creative license of "liberalism in literature" (thank you, Victor Hugo) and secondly by being able to focus on the understanding and implications of human volition.

I can reveal that I'm planning on setting a great deal of the novel in France. While the internet serves as a great tool for researching purposes, it is nevertheless not as beneficial as experiencing something first hand. A website can't successfully place you into the heart of a particular location - it can't identify specific aromas, it can't tell you how you'd feel walking along the beach, barefooted, with the warmth of the sun on your back, it can't express the assortment of sounds you'd be greeted with at the local marketplace. You need to really know it to be able to feel it, and you need to really feel it to be able to write it.

So while the internet will come in incredibly handy for researching basic facts about places, people and buildings in France, it won't serve to equip me well enough to write a successful novel. I'll have to go to France (what a shame...) and experience it all for myself. I'm excited about this!

Writing Update # 1

2009-08-10T13:06:00.015+01:00

As many of you will have gathered from my recent posts, I am currently in the process of writing a novel. As this is my first attempt at tackling an epic work of fiction, I thought it would be beneficial (and hopefully of some interest) to regularly update my progress. I want to take the time now, as I may be too swamped/stressed later, to thank you all for your support. I have had many encouraging comments, especially on this blog, and it has really given me the confidence to go ahead with this. I have always enjoyed writing but I am naturally a doubtful person and so I don't always believe that I am any good at it - but thanks to my husband, many friends and everyone else who reads my blog, I have had a renewal of belief in myself and of the gift God has given me. I hope and pray that I can use it for his glory.

As this is the first update, I warn you that it might be a bit long. But I can assure you that not all of my updates will be this detailed, as I'll want to keep the majority of my plot a surprise!

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I have officially been writing my novel for a week now, after quite some time of careful planning. I first sat down and asked myself why I wanted to write a Christian novel. This is what I came up with:

1. To use my talents to serve and glorify my Lord and King
2. To challenge Christians to practice total forgiveness (and to remind myself to do the same)
3. To illustrate the forgiving nature of God
4. To illustrate that sin and guilt can be eradicated
5. To point non-Christians to the gospel and to Christ
6. And to do all these things in a loving and compassionate way, not forgetting that I’m trying to relate to real people with real feelings.

I try to remind myself of these things every day. If I lose sight of why I'm writing this novel, then I might as well not write it at all. I obviously want the story line to be interesting, captivating and entertaining, but I also want it to convey a very significant message. I want Christ to be at the heart of it. Mostly, I want this book to be about forgiveness. In all honesty, I struggle with it sometimes and writing this book will hopefully help me in that area too.

The novel will pick up a very difficult, and even disturbing, issue that many children in this world unfortunately have to endure. Abuse. Now I'm aware of how delicate an issue this is and that is why I don't want to forget that I may be addressing people who have had to go through this. I don't ever want to lose sight of the fact that I'm relating to real people with real feelings, as set out in the sixth point. So I know I'm going to have to pray for real wisdom and compassion to be able to write this novel well. If you would like to pray for me on this point too, then I would greatly appreciate it.

I plan to write a little bit each day, even if it is just a sentence, so that I don't lose sight of what I am doing. So far, I have written the prologue and a good portion of the first chapter. While I have the plot in place, an idea of the twists and turns each chapter will take and how the characters are going to develop, I have had a little trouble knowing how effectively the words on the paper actually reflect what I am imagining. Even though I have read the pages back to myself countless times, I can't be sure that it is reading exactly how I intended it to. This might sound a little complicated but because I can already see how everything plays out in my head, the way I read what I've written may be biased. I realise that this may be the case for the duration of the novel so I am just going to persevere with it and I will just have to rely on a number of trusted proof-readers (friends) to give me honest, constructive feedback when I have finished.

So far it is going well. It needs a lot of tweaking already, but I am happy with the progress I've made. As long as I keep those six points in mind, and pray often for God's guidance, then I have faith that I will be able to see it through to the end. Whether it gets published or not is a different question and it is completely in God's hands.

Health, Wealth and Prosperity

2009-08-05T19:26:00.027+01:00

As an unspoken rule, we refuse to stock or advertise any books at the Christian bookshop which overtly advocate "health, wealth and prosperity", although we obviously do not decline anybody the opportunity to order them from us if they so wish. So imagine our horror the other day when we recieved a stack of books which bordered dangerously on this type of "gospel" message. "Supernatural Childbirth", by Jackie Mize, now appears on our shelves.

I have a habit of being unnecessarily nosey when it comes to checking in all the new stock that gets delievered. There's something appealing about a new book - you get drawn in by the aesthetics of the front cover (even though you feel a pang of guilt for judging a book by its cover when your mother told you it was wrong) and your eyes can't help but scan the blurb on the back. Ooh, a new John Piper book! I wonder what this is about... Ooh, a book about heaven? Sounds good... Well, the same happened with this book. Supernatural Childbirth? That sounds interesting - I wonder if it's about the incarnation? Well, if you were wondering, it's not about the incarnation.

In all honesty, I haven't read the book and, if I had, I would have been able to write a review worth reading - maybe I'll have to do just that. But I can tell you that I have gathered enough from the blurb to know that this book is trouble. Listen to what the book says it aims to do in helping couples who are struggling with fertility issues:

"You will learn: How to put faith principles into action for your very own supernatural childbirth... How and when to use your faith for pregnancy."

Now I don't know how many of you are familiar with the health, wealth and prosperity mindset, but basically the idea is that the more faith you have, the more God will bless you in every area of your life. This is pretty much the impression I got from reading the back of this book. The more faith you have, and exercise, then God will bless you. In other, and crueller, words, if you're not getting pregnant, you don't have enough faith!

As I said, I haven't read the book, and I don't have any desire to, but maybe for the sake of clarity as to whether or not this book really is in line with "health, wealth and prosperity", maybe I should give it a go. But I don't think there's much room for misunderstanding when the author claims to encourage people, through her book, to "put faith principles into action" for the purpose of getting pregnant. Not good.

Motivation

2009-08-02T16:24:00.007+01:00

Often, it becomes difficult for us to motivate ourselves to do anything worthwhile. For example, how many of us, on a day off, would feel motivated to do the ironing? In all honesty, not many of us! Unless you had a real passion for ironing (and who, in reality, has a passion for ironing?!) then you're not going to feel motivated to do it. You'd rather use your free time to do something that captivates your imagination - whether it be watching a favourite film, reading a good book, baking, painting or playing on the Xbox. And that's what it comes down to. Passion.

If you've got a passion for something - a real passion which excites you to your very core, which either infectiously induces passion in someone else or bores everyone to death by your endless chatter about it - then you're going to have the drive to really get stuck into it.

I've got a lot going on at the minute. I'm doing a Master's degree, I'm working at a Christian bookshop and I'm writing a novel (and this blog, of course!) and I sometimes find it difficult to get motivated. But recently, I've had a lot to feel passionate about. With regard to my Master's, I'm currently reading about C. H. Spurgeon with the intent to write an essay about his understanding and defence of Calvinism. This topic excites me and so I feel a renewed sense of motivation to actually do some work. With regard to my job, I've recently been asked to write a number of book reviews, to be displayed around the shop, to encourage customers to buy books that I would recommend - and that definately excites me! And with regard to my novel, well, I'm just excited about being able to write creatively, to be able to glorify God by using the gifts he's given me and to be able to share the gospel with others.

My passion is writing. I always loved writing. I've always wanted to write. So I though, well, why not write then?! So I did. I sat out in the garden today, leather-bound journal to hand, with the warmth of the sun on my back, enjoying the refreshing coolness of the breeze and watching the chickens strut happily across the lawn. And I wrote the prologue to my novel. It was so exhilarating! Passion gives way to more passion, which gives way to motivation. I feel all the more determined to write my book, and to write it well.

What are you passionate about? What motivates you? As Christians, we should be passionate about the gospel, which in turn should motivate us to get out there and preach it! Just something to think about...

Writing a Christian Novel

2009-07-27T17:46:00.006+01:00

I just wanted to write a quick post. I'm in the process of writing a Christian novel. Well, actually, I'm in the process of planning to write a novel. And in the throws of preparation, I stumbled across a website which questioned a novelist's intent for writing Christian fiction.

They asked - what do you think a Christian novel is? The author of the website concluded that:

"If non-believers read your Christian novel and are not challenged, outraged, disgusted, or convicted, then you have not written a Christian novel."

I thought that pretty muched summed it up.

I just wanted to post this in case there were others out there who have the same ambition I have.

Impassioned Dissonance

2009-07-27T15:06:00.016+01:00

During the past couple of weeks, having taken up employment at the local Christian bookshop, I've spent the majority of my time greeting, serving and becoming acquainted with an interesting assortment of believers from surrounding churches. The diversity of Christians, from young to old, English to Portuguese, Anglican to Brethren, timid to exuberant and newly converted to spiritually mature, has been an incredibly refreshing experience. Perhaps even more so than the experience of meeting new and varied people at the Christian Union at University. Yet, no matter how much it thrills my soul to regularly be in contact with such an array of Christians, nothing made me smile as much as when a certain lady came into the shop during my first week.

This lady was black, in her 30's and immediately sought my attention. She came bounding up to me, eyes wide and sparkling, with the biggest grin on her face. She took hold of my hand and said "I bought a book from here the other day and I just wanted to let you know that it changed my life. I found Christ!" She proceeded to tell me of how she had been saved and how she has loved going to church ever since. She said "Christ has called me to him and I have been saved. Praise the Lord!" Even though I had never met the woman before in my lfie, I felt an immediate sense of love and joy for her. She said she felt she wanted to sing to the Lord all day and every day and she asked to browse through some of our worship CD's. I happily pointed her in the direction of our music collection and told her she was welcome to listen to any of them on our CD player, equipped with headphones.

Bless her - within 5 minutes she was singing along at the top of her voice, wholeheartedly, but unfortunately, she couldn't sing a note in tune! Without want of sounding unfeeling, it was honestly the worst I've ever heard anyone sing. But to be fair, it was also the most enthusaistic I've ever heard anyone sing! She was singing to her Lord and Saviour - and no-one could take that away from her. Her zeal and new-born passion was a real encouragement to me and I went about my duties feeling uplifted, wearing a genuine smile. She stayed quite a long time, browsing through various books and singing to her heart's content. To my surprise, however, other customers were complaining - quite harshly. I understood where they were coming from, as her singing was quite atrocious, but I was still taken aback that other Christians had a serious problem with her singing praises to God, however dissonant it was. Some were appeased when I told them she was newly-converted. They gave a small nod and said "Ah, I see".

When did we lose this same passion that this woman had? When did singing become confined to church or to the home? When did we become less tolerant of people expressing their worship and praise to God in different ways and in different places? It bemuses me!

Don't get me wrong, I understand that it's a place of business and there were other customers there to think of. We did eventually have to go up to the woman and say "I'm so sorry, but could we ask you to stop singing? Some customers are getting a bit upset by it." And she understood, bought her things and left. It was just a little disheartening - it felt as if we had to quell her enthusiasm for fear of what others might think. Is this what we are often doing as Christans? Are we worried about what others might think? Does it affect our freedom to worship and to proclaim Christ? Does it affect how we act around non-Christians? Should it?

The bookshop has recently changed hands and the new company has a vision to make their bookshops much more mission-orientated; with a drive to encourage non-Christians into the shops. Perhaps with this new evangelistic mindset, we can't be too concerned with maintaining a worldly, business standard. We should let outsiders see that we have a passion to sing to the Lord and let them ask us why!

Influences and Experiences: Land's End to John O'Groats

2009-07-05T21:19:00.070+01:00

Four years ago, I embarked on one of the biggest adventures of my life: I cycled from Land's End to John O'Groats.

For those of you who don't know, these two destinatons are the furthests points away from each other in Britain. Land's End is at the bottom of the peninsula of Cornwall and John O'Groats is right up on the north-east coast of Scotland. The map on the right gives the gist of the route we took to get there, although when we got to Scotland we went through Gretna Green and took more of an eastern track via Edinburgh and Stirling to get to John O'Groats. It was one of the best experiences of my life.

I went with three friends - Rachel Greenaway, Phil Adams and Pete Sales. We were all students at Bangor University and had become acquainted at the Christian Union. Within a few months of meeting each other, we had decided that we wanted to do this, although my memory fails me as to how the idea was formed in the first place. The most challenging and appealing aspect of the idea was that people didn't believe we'd be able to do it - this gave us more drive and enthusiasm to go ahead with it. Their doubts were certainly well-founded as we weren't particularly keen cyclists. However, we were all generally very fit and we had a strong determination to do something challenging and unusual - we called it gutsy, some called it crazy.

So, in the summer of 2005 we caught the train from Bangor all the way down to Penzance, which is the closest to Land's End we could get to by train. From there, we cycled about 15 miles to Land's End so we could officially start our journey.

Now, we hadn't really prepared ourselves enough, physically, as we should have done before we left Bangor. We only had a couple of days of training where we cycled 50 miles around the Isle of Anglesey. This was definately a big mistake, and we suffered for it during the first week of our trip. As we started our cycle ride in Cornwall, we had the steep, although beautiful, hills to contend with and, in all honesty, we struggled.

Our aim was to cover an average of 50 miles a day, but with the severity of the rugged landscape coupled with initial technical problems, like punctures, we were lucky if we covered a distance of 25-30 miles a day while we were in Cornwall and Devon. It was hard work. But, thankfully, by the time we reached Wales, we'd become so much fitter and the hills were beginning to lengthen out which meant we were up to a comfortable 50 miles a day. By the time we reached Scotland, we'd caught up with all the time we'd lost back in the south-west of England and we were managing to cover around 70 miles a day.

We mostly travelled along the Sustrans cycle routes, which not only directed us away from heavy traffic and dangerous roads but it also led us down the most beautiful, secluded areas of the country. Journeying through deepest, purist, English countryside we were met with sights, sounds, people and villages that we would just not have experienced if we had taken the more popular main raods. It was a beautiful way to explore our homeland.

So from Land's End we went through Penzance, Truro, Newquay, Bodmin, Bude, Torrington, Taunton (where we stopped to attend a wedding), Bristol, over the Severn Bridge to Wales, through Chepstow, Monmouth, Leominster, Ludlow, Shrewsbury, Wem, Frodsham, Preston, Lancaster, up to the Lake District, Carlisle, into Scotland at Gretna, straight up to Edinburgh, Stirling, through the middle of nowhere to Inverness, straight up to Thurso and then finally to John O'Groats. I really struggle to remember the names of all the towns and villages we went through in Scotland and I wish I had written them down at the time.

We mostly spent our nights at campsites although we did stay in a couple of youth hostels and we also visited some friends along the way who kindly gave us a bed for the night. Our kit was quite substantal - we had our bikes, a trailer, two tents, sleeping bags, roll-mats and our paniers. We stopped as often as we could at local stores to stock up on food for lunch and dinner although this turned out to be a bit of a mission due to my nut allergy and Pete's dietary requirements.

There were so many things about the journey that I enjoyed, it's hard to condense it all into such a short report. The lake district and pretty much the whole of Scotland was absolutely stunning, it completely took my breath away. On one lonely road in Scotland, in the middle of the mountains and surrounded by lakes, we passed a young man who had driven out there to play his bagpipes. We could hear him for miles after we passed him, the music echoed beautifully off the mountains and I would do it all again just to hear the deep, legato droning of this rustic instrument reverberating in such a beautiful and appropriate setting.

As well as the stunning views that we couldn't help but fall in love with throughout England, Wales and Scotland, I also thoroughly enjoyed the deepening of fellowship with Rachel, Phil and Pete. Rachel and I found a common way of dealing with the pain and exhaustion of the trip; laughter. Our motto was "if we don't laugh, we'll cry" and boy, did we laugh! I don't think the guys really understood it, and I'm sure they were often quite annoyed and confused when we'd fall about constantly in fits of giggles. But it helped. The trip was an incredible demand on us both physically and emotionally, yet we were so grateful to have had the opportunity to do it.

In the end, we cycled 1182 miles, which took 24 days, and we raised over £2000 pounds for a charity called "Send A Cow". The charity runs sustainable agricultural programmes in Africa to support poor and malnourished farmers and their families. We were glad to be able to support them and we thank everyone who sponsored us.

It was definately one of the best experiences of my life. I would love to do something similar; if I ever get the time or the money I will definately cycle across America, as you really do get to see and experience more of a country when you're cycling through it. I would definately recommend it!

I've added a link to this article which leads to an album of photos from Land's End to John O'Groats, if you click on the title of this post. Or if you've got me as a friend on facebook, I've got the photos from the trip in two albums. Please feel free to look through them.

Influences and Experiences: Teachers

2009-07-01T18:06:00.003+01:00

Continuing in my mini-series of influences and experiences in my life, I'll be talking next about two teachers who I have a lot of respect for and who had a big impact on me at school.

(And I challenge you to try and find me in the picture of me and my friends at school in year 7)

Mr Wilson

Mr. Wilson was a history teacher at my school, Ossett School and Sixth Form College, and I had him in year 9 and again in year 13. To begin with, we really did not get on at all. In fact, I had an immense dislike of him - he seemed rude, angry and he absolutely terrified me. He was the kind of man who demanded attention and respect as soon as he walked into a room. We didn't get off to a good start and I was afraid of having him as a teacher again.

But when I got into the Sixth Form, and I chose History as one of my A-levels, things suddenly changed between us. I'm not sure how or when it all really happened, but all of a sudden he became my favourite teacher. I had a great deal of respect for him and we got on really well. I think being a little bit older, and having chosen to study the subject, he opened up with us all a little more and I saw a side to him I didn't see before. He was kind, he was funny, he was generous. I remember one day he asked me and a friend to stay and help him at the Sixth Form Open Evening, to "talk-up" the history department. We gladly helped out and he gave us a ride home. The next day, we went to his lesson and we found a big bar of chocolate and a homemade card on our desk to thank us for our efforts the night before.

He wanted the best for us and so he worked us all really hard. I don't know about everyone else in the class, but I can certainly say for myself that he made me want to do well. If you did something wrong or forgot to do your homework, he could give you one look that would make you feel so ashamed that you'd disappointed him. I worked harder for him than for any other teacher for fear that I might let him down. We had a 3000 word piece of coursework to write on the characteristics we believed were the marks of a great leader. At the time, I was really interested in American history and so I chose to critique the leadership of JFK. I'll always be grateful for the time he spent with me; giving me advice and guidance on how to get the best out of my writing. I got an A.

Although things didn't start off too well between us, I grew to really like him and I had a lot of respect for him. We kept in touch after I left school for a little while, just sending the odd email to catch up and he even sent us a card when Jan and I got engaged.

Mr. Dowling

The second teacher who had a big impact on me at school was my politics teacher, and head of Sixth Form, Mr. Dowling. As head of Sixth Form he was another man who demanded a great deal of respect. Like Mr. Wilson, he had a certain presence about him, and when he walked into a room everyone knew about it. But having him as my politics teacher, in such a small class, I got to see the softer side to him. He was funny, cheeky and also very kind.

What affected me most about Mr. Dowling, was how he pushed me to be the best I could be. He knew that I lacked confidence and so he would do everything in his power to put me in situations where I'd have to speak up. He "persuaded" me to join the debate club with one of my friends, Tony, and would encourage us to practice debating in class. When it came round to the actual debate competition one evening, I was terrified. I couldn't believe I'd been roped into it and I knew it would be a disaster. It was! the first debate went well as I knew what the topic would be and I had prepared thoroughly for it. The second debate, however, was a suprise and I am not quick on my feet. I struggled to make a compelling argument and we lost.

But looking back, although I felt completely embarrased I knew that Mr. Dowling hadn't put me in the competition because he thought I could win, he was just trying to make me be more confident. He hugged both Tony and I after the competition and said he was proud of us. He was very kind.

He was not satisfied with just entering me into the debate competition though, he also signed me up for the Rotary Youth Leadership Award weekend course in Halifax. I went alone, with the desire to push myself to be more confident, and I loved every second of it! We were woken up at 5 every morning by an air horn and loud music blasting from the speakers, taken outside in the freezing cold to do press ups, run laps, etc. It felt like we were in the army! We were divided into small groups and spent our time doing team-building activities like raft-building and we took it in turns to lead our team in events such as orienteering. It was amazing. They pushed us to be more confident and I really learnt something that weekend. On returning home, I had to go to the Rotary Club and give a speech at their annual dinner to say how the Leadership Award had changed me.

I am so thankful to Mr. Dowling for pushing me so hard. He did it out of kindness and I really appreciated his efforts. I'm still not an overly-confident person, I'm still terrified of any form of public speaking, but I'm definately not that timid girl I was at school and I know I can overcome my fears because I did it at the Rotary Club dinner!

Influences and Experiences: DEC

2009-06-29T22:54:00.001+01:00

I'm continuing in my mini-series of influences and experiences that have greatly shaped my life. Next, I'll be explaining how my home church, Dewsbury Evangelical Church (DEC), has encouraged and matured me in my Christian life.

I was brought up and converted at Philip Street Baptist Chapel, Bristol, where I worshipped for about 9 years. It was where I started my spiritual journey, and I am grateful for the ministry I received there, but most of my real spiritual food and growth came later.

My parents moved to West Yorkshire (Ossett) when I was about 9 years old, as my Dad's work closed their offices in Bristol and his only real option was to work for the same company in Leeds. So we moved. One of our main priorities was to find a church, quickly, that was Bible-centred, God-fearing, mission-based and welcoming. We tried a number of churches but we didn't feel "at home" in any of them. Then we tried DEC.

On the way to DEC, that first time, we were following one car for quite a long time which had seats at the rear facing backwards. There were two girls sat in those seats, about my age. My brother and I had fun waving at these two strangers as they smiled and waved back. It was a great game, until we followed them into the church car-park and they must have thought we were stalking them! It turned out that this family were regulars at the church, and we clicked immediately. God's hand was definately in it. My parents soon became members and we settled easily into the church.

They offered a lot of things to get stuck into to - MaD Camp, Good News Club, Friday Club, Sunday School, annual trips to Whitby etc. The church was great with its outreach, evangelism and teaching. As I grew up, I was greatly blessed by God speaking through our pastor, Graham Heaps. He had a clear way of explaining the Bible and challenging us in our daily walk with Christ. I was filled with a passion to share the gospel with people in our community, as well as with my own friends. I witnessed one of my very close friends come to know Jesus as her Saviour - it filled me with such joy!

Our church was further encouraged when we were joined by our Assistant Pastor/Evangelist, Ben Griffin and his lovely family. I think, if I'm honest, the most zealous I've felt in my Christian life is when Ben was with us. It was just before I went away to University and I felt a real renewal in my faith - God built a fire in my heart and it burned with a passion to see souls saved. A big group of us would go out into Dewsbury and have open-air meetings, give out leaflets and talk to people in the community about the gospel. Although we perhaps did not see many declarations of faith, we knew that we had sown seeds and for that we praised God!

I have since left DEC after going to University in North Wales and then moving to Carey Baptist Church, Reading - where I have also been greatly blessed. I know that DEC have always had, and still have, a massive evangelism mission - with Asian Outreach, Conversation Club, Open-Airs, MaD Camp - but Ben and his family have moved on. Their numbers are growing and the congregation is now too large to fit in the church building on a Sunday morning - praise the Lord!

My time at DEC is difficult to sum up into just a short article. I could write epic books on the influences, experiences, friendships, teaching, encouragements and challenges that I enjoyed there. But I know that my journey with Christ has only really just begun - I, hopefully, have years left to grow and learn more about Him each day. I am thankful for the ministry I received at DEC. When I think back, I am encouraged and remember how God has been working in my life and it gives me the assurance that I am still His, and He is still moulding and shaping me.

I truly believe that where you decide to go to church is very important. A lot of people don't see that finding a good church is so critical. It often comes as a second priority to finding a good place to live. But as a Christian, you really need a church that can build you up and challenge you in your walk with God. A Bible-centred, Christ-focused, mission-oriented, loving and welcoming church. It is not only our challenege to find a good church, but to ask ourselves how we can get involved in it. The Church is made up of many bodies, each with different gifts and talents, and we all need to work together. "There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men." (1 Corinthians 12.4-6)

DEC sermons: http://sermon.net/dec
Carey Baptist Church: http://www.careybaptistchurch.org.uk/home

Influences and Experiences: My Testimony

2009-06-26T16:39:00.000+01:00

For a little while, I'm going to be writing a series about different influences and experiences which have greatly affected my life. I thought it was only right to start at the beginning - with the testimony of how I became a Christian.

I was born into a Christian family and so my parents dedicated me into the church as a baby, read me Bible stories at home, took me to Sunday School and taught me to pray to God. From as early on as I can remember, I knew that God was real and that he loved me. But as a very young child I didn't understand the concept or the consequences of sin.

But I remember one Sunday evening very clearly, when I was 6 years old. I went to Sunday School as usual in the afternoon where they taught us the same thing they taught us every week - that because we do things wrongs, like disobey our parents, lie, and squabble with our brothers and sisters etc., we couldn't go to heaven when we die because God is perfect and he cannot accept anything that is not perfect. But because he loves us so much and wants us to be in heaven with him, he made a way for us to become perfect. He sent his Son, Jesus, to die for us on the cross, to take the punishment for all our wrongdoing (sin), so that we could be forgiven. They told us that if we pray to God and say sorry for all the wrong things we've done and to ask Jesus to come into our hearts, then he will forgive us and we can have a relationship with him.

All of a sudden, everything just clicked into place - it all made sense! I went to bed that night and prayed for God to forgive me and asked Jesus to come into my heart. I was immediately filled with so much joy and assurance that I had become a Christian. I ran downstairs to tell my parents what had happened. They sat me down on the kitchen table and asked me a whole series of questions to make sure I really understood what it all meant.

Because I became a Christian at such a young age it's hard to compare my life now to what it was like before my conversion. I hadn't experienced much of "life" or done anything drastically "sinful". But I know that my heart was selfish and I didn't have a desire to put God first or to tell friends about him at school.

Since becoming a Christian, it's been obvious that God has been working in my life. He has given me a desire to want to know more about him, he is constantly convicting me of my sin and encouraging me to obey and follow him, he has given me a passion to share the gospel with others and he gives me a real, overwhelming sense of joy when people respond to his Word and are saved.

I do sometimes struggle with assurance, but God always finds a way of letting me know that I belong to him and I know I will join him in glory one day.

The Atonement Child

2009-06-24T14:37:00.001+01:00

Having always had an inexplicable aversion to Christian novels - perhaps because I feared they would be overtly cheesy and preachy - I was surprised to find that I have recently enjoyed a number of Francine Rivers novels, which are undeniably Christian to the core. In fact, I might be as bold as to declare that I have been converted to a love of a new genre of fiction.

Most recently, I have devoured another of her very well-recieved novels; "The Atonement Child" which has been described as an "awesome book which shows the Power of God's forgiveness and love in the midst of pain." I was shook with a plethora of emotions as Rivers relayed the devastating story of a young woman torn from her seemingly perfect, Christian bubble.

Dynah Carey, a young woman studying at a Christian college, had her whole life mapped out in front of her. She was engaged to marry a handsome man with promising ambitons for joining the ministry, she was doing well in her studies and life was pretty good. Unfortunately, one night on her way home from work, she was raped. This violent attack resulted in a whole stream of physical and emotional consequences for her - the emotional violatation of it disrupted her relationship and her schooling, but everything was further devestated when she found out she was pregnant.

Faced with an ethical dilemma of what to do with the child conceived as a result of rape, Dynah sought comfort from her fiancé. Instead of recieving what she required, her fiancé attempted to push her into having an abortion so they could start married life without disgrace. The fear of reputation being at stake is a theme that is continued throughout the story, as Dynah is in constant battle with people's prejudice and pride, as well as a battle within herself to make the decision that she believes to be right in God's eyes. She is forced to embark on a journey to seek God's love, faithfulness, purpose and guidance, which she often has to do alone, while making the most difficult decision of her life.

I don't want to reveal too much of the story as I would really encourage everyone to read it. While it is perhaps written with women in mind, it would be a challenge and an encouragement for men to read this novel as well. It was easy for me to connect with Dynah, to understand her pain and her suffering, because it seems to be inbuilt in all women to have a compassion for such things. But perhaps like Dynah's fiancé, men struggle a little to understand the emotions behind the abuse and violation of rape, the carrying of a child, and the psychological effects of abortion. I would encourage any men, who might be reading this review, to get your hands on this novel and to try and understand it all from a different perspective.

I appreciate and congratulate Rivers' on her attempt at tackling such a difficult and emotional issue with tact, reverence and morality. She grafts other people's situations and viewpoints into Dynah's story so that all elements of the abortion debate are covered in a well-balanced way. Ultimately, this story is about how God's love and forgiveness is readily available to anyone, at any stage of life, no matter what they've done or how distant they feel from Him. A brillaint read.

Fleeing The Scene

2009-06-22T17:45:00.000+01:00

When the going gets rough, when we find ourselves in situations that we can't handle or when nothing seems to be going our way, often our most prominent gut-reaction is to flee the scene. It seems natural to want to run away and to escape from our circumstances and feelings.

When I was a litte girl, I remember standing at the top of the stairs one evening with a red box full of my favourite toys. My parents were busy doing something downstairs and I shouted for them to bring the box down for me so that I could play. They said they couldn't help me at that moment and I'd have to wait. Being as impatient then as I still seem to be today, I stamped down the stairs and declared I was running away from home! I stormed out of the house, slammed the door and marched down the garden path. But when I got to the road, I realised how dark it was, and how cold it was and I didn't know where I should go. Letting my anger and pride reign, I stood there for quite a long time, not wanting to turn back. My parents, watching me through the letterbox, waited for me to give up and come home.

I was a child then, but even as an adult running away still seems to be the first thing I'm tempted by when I face trouble. I can't tell you how many times I've stormed out of the house during an argument or felt the need to jump on a plane and disappear for a few months when things haven't been going smoothly at home. The very thought of just having some "alone time", in an entirely different setting where nobody knows you, is extremely enticing. In reality, however, I think most of us have experienced that you can't shake off the anger, hurt or depression that drove you to run away simply by changing the scene. It may prove to be a comforting distraction for a little while, but when it comes down to it, we can't run away from our problems - they catch up with us in the end.

I think our biggest problem, though, is that we're often trying to run away from God. We don't like to be told that we're wrong and we'd rather take a stab at figuring out life in our own way. But things don't get better by running away, in fact, things get a whole lot worse when we flee from God. Take Jonah, for example. He didn't want to preach to the people at Nineveh, as God commanded him to, and so he fled the scene. He was thrown into the ocean in the middle of a fierce storm and was swallowed by a large fish sent by God. Three days he spent in the belly of the fish before he repented and was delievered from peril. The Bible relays to us many examples of people who have run away from God only to face punishment and hardships, but God clearly shows us that when we repent and turn back to Him, he will forgive us and welcome us with open arms into His kingdom. Jesus said: "for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3.16). Jesus paid the price for our sin and if we trust in him, in his death and resurrection, we will be washed clean of all our sin and be viewed as spotless in God's eyes.

It is in our nature to run and to try and find our own way, but we can't flee from our biggest problem - sin. However, if we turn back to God he will rescue us from our situation and set us free from our sin so that we can be right with Him, have a personal relationship with Him and join Him in heaven one day!

Depression

2009-06-09T15:36:00.002+01:00

I think it would be fair to assume that we've each experienced a day or two in our lives where we've felt absolutely rotten for no particular reason. We might have woken up in the morning to an overwhelming sense of despondency and want nothing more than to just curl back up and go to sleep. But this sensation rarely lasts much longer than a day or two, and we pull ourselves out of it and get on with our lives.

Unfortunately, this is the understanding of the majority of people when they're met with someone who claims to have "depression". It doesn't register on a lot of people's lists of legitimate illnesses and it's generally seen as something to pull yourself out of. However, depression is a recognised mental illness and I just want to spend a little bit of time addressing the varying degrees of it. My intent in writing this short article is to bring people to an awareness of this illness and to encourage people to be sympathetic towards people who are suffering from it. As it is a mental condition, it may be difficult for some to fully comprehend the implications of the illness and it often becomes too easy for people to say something along the lines of "pull yourself together and get over it".

Having lived with someone who suffers from clinical depression, I can testify to the validity and the dangers of this disease. My Mum, who was first diagnosed with depression at the age of 18, has endured this debilitating illness for the majority of her life. She has been in and out of psychiatric wards all of her adult life, living there for varied lengths of time from 2 months to 2 years. She wouldn't mind me giving her life as an example if it brings people to an understanding of the illness. She's often fought for people to understand that her depression is not something that can be fixed by lively music, a walk in the park or a change of circumstance. She's even written a short book to explain the extent and reasoning behind her suicidal thoughts and the battle between her darkness and her Christian faith.

My Mum has clinical depression, which is the highest and most dangerous degree of depression. There are milder depressive disorders which do not verge on the suicidal but still greatly affect the mood of a person and prevent them from going about their every day activites due to their ever impending sense of despair. The symptoms are low-self esteem, lethargy, lack or increase of sleep, lack of concentration, a change of appetite and a general sense of hopelessness which lasts for weeks or months on end. This is often treatable with anti-depressants.

In extreme cases, such as major or clinical depression, the person is often dominated by suicidal thoughts. This is usually a result of hearing voices which tell the person that they don't deserve to live and that everyone else would be better off if they died. Self-harm, such as cutting of legs and arms, is a way for the person to distract themselves from the pain of these dark voices. My Mum suffers regularly from hearing these voices and on countless occassions she has attempted suicide. It is by God's grace that she is still alive as either my Dad or a nurse have always found her in the nick of time. It was never a cry for help, she always attempted suicide with the intent to actually kill herself and would often wake up in hospital feeling utterly dismayed that it hadn't worked.

Her illness made her fervently believe that killing herself was the right thing to do - the dark voices in her head convinced her that she had no right to live. It is understandable that she often struggled to see God there in these dark times. However, during her good days she would look back and know with all her heart that God had been with her, that He had saved her from death once again. She is strong in her Christian faith and is a loving, godly woman. When she is living in the psychiatric wards, she always shares the gospel with fellow patients and members of staff and is always willing to talk about her experiences and to show them God's love and forgiveness.

I have encountered people who view Mum's illness as demon possession and it breaks my heart. How can a Christian, who has the Holy Spirit living within her, also be inhabited by the devil? I will never understand this line of reasoning and I will always strive to defend my Mum, to confirm that she is indeed a godly, Christian woman and that the illness is just a chemical imbalance in her brain that causes her to think they way she does. This severity of depression is not really curable, although the doctors prescribe a variety of treatments to prolong the "good days". Electro-Convulsive Therapy (ECT) is often administered on the brain, which can result in long-term memory loss, but is at the moment the most effective form of short-term treatment alongside other long-term medication.

Therefore, if you ever meet anyone with signs of depression, treat the situation with care and respect. If it's a sense of depression that lasts for an extended amount of time, or constantly comes and goes, then it would be wise to advise that person to seek medical help. If you're a Christian, then pray for that person and ask the Lord to give you wisdom and compassion to be able to help them. If you find that you display some of these symptoms yourself and are not sure what to do about it, it would be a good idea to confide in a good friend and to go to the doctors if the symptoms persist. Nobody should be ashamed of depression, it's an illness just like any other and it requires medical attention.

I hope this has been helpful and informative to most of you. I know that I have personally come across a lot of people who don't really understand what depression is and I hope this has shed some light on it for those of you who would have said the same thing.

Abortion Is Murder

2009-06-04T14:37:00.000+01:00

While sifting through the websites, manifestos and candidates of all the parties participating in the European election, I stumbled across a website which strives to convey the immorality of abortion; to brand it as murder. As this is also my personal understanding of abortion, under any and all circumstances, I have often read articles and books and even watched short documentaries that rationally, morally and scientifically explain why abortion should become illegal and be deemed murderous.

Yet nothing prepared me for the video that sprang to life when I opened the link to this website. It showed a real abortion.

When discussing the merits, or lack there of, of a case made in favour of abortion, the thought process in refuting pro-choice arguments rarely evokes vivid, bloody images of a dead child. Instead, the mind glosses over the actual practice of the abortion to focus on scientific details of life beginning at conception and to the almost fully developed child at 24 weeks, which is the cut-off point for abortion in the UK. Although the topic of abortion is highly emotive, it makes sense that we don't often dwell on the image of abortion itself. Most of us have never seen it or experienced it. If we haven't seen an abortion it stands to reason that we can't fully comprehend it as murder. Murder invokes a passionate hatred, an emotion that drives us to shout out for justice to be served.

The video did that. It was brutal, it was bloody, it was gory and it was true. It showed a real abortion and a dead child. A murdered child. We can argue against the merits of a case for abortion all day with scientific reasoning and ethical values, but not until you've seen an abortion for yourself will you truly feel the injustice of it.

I recommend that you watch this video by clicking on the link below. But I warn you, it's very emotive and very graphic. If you're squeamish, you'll struggle to watch this all the way through.

http://www.abortionno.org/

The Blonde Vipers

2009-05-22T17:14:00.001+01:00

I recently interviewed a local band, The Blonde Vipers, for the Reading Chronicle. Here is the article I wrote about them. You can find it on p.45 of this week's Chronicle (Thurs, May 21) if you are lucky enough to live in the Reading area! (My husband, Jan, took the photograph on the right)

New band on the block, The Blonde Vipers, are the perfect kickstart to your summer if you're looking for a fresh, lively edge on old-school Rock-and-Roll. The band, whose take on 'rockabilly' aims to 'get your feet moving and your heart pounding', is made up of four very talented and diverse characters: Anthea Neads, 29, on vocals, her husband Matt, 36 on guitar, Jim Dytham, 23 (affectionately named 'the baby of the group') on double bass and Wokingham's Frankie 'Viper' O'Neill, 50, on drums.

Despite the varied age range, it's obvious that this group has a lot in common and generally has a great time just hanging out. They said: "We have a lot of fun together and wind each other up". Their different styles, personalities and backgrounds are surprisingly complementary and their good sense of fun and joviality emenates from their lively performances.

Originally a two-piece act by the name of 'Inimitable Dragonfly', the group has since branched out to incorporate the double bass and drums in January. Realising that their name was not easy to remember or spell, the band decided it was time for a change. After using an online band name generator for inspiration, the group eventually settled on "The Blonde Vipers".

Matt, from Earley, who is responsible for the majority of the songwriting, has also been dubbed as the leader of the group. Jim, from Bracknell, joked: "The band cannot function as a democracy" to which Matt quipped: "We are all equal. But I'm more equal than them." His inspiration stems from a love of B-movies, old horror films and even Marilyn Monroe, but the messages of the songs aren't meant to be particularly obvious. His wife, Anthea, also from Earley, commented that "the lyrics are deliberately obtuse" to which Matt agreed, saying that he wanted people to have to think about the lyrics. Some of their favourite songs include Sweet Sanity, Fifth Helena and Side Show.

Considering they've only been together for five months, the band has had a surprising number of gigs and a great deal of support. They play regularly at the Good Intent pub in Puttenham on every second Monday of each month and have several gigs planned.

To view the band's upcoming gigs, visit their website at www.myspace.com/theblondevipers

Angels and Demons

2009-05-05T22:20:00.000+01:00

For those of you who saw and fell in love with the film adaptation of Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” and are hankering for more screen time of fast-paced action, far-fetched conspiracy theories, brutal murders and Tom Hanks – look no further! Brown’s first Robert Langdon thriller, the prequel to his much debated and controversial best-seller, is about to hit screens nationwide.

“Angels and Demons”, due for release on the 15th May 2009, promises to be an epic cinematic experience. If it’s anything like the book, which I’m sincerely hoping it will be, the film will stand up to the scrutiny of a blockbuster’s check-list. There will be action, blood, gore, history, culture, conspiracy, romance and, especially, relevance. With the latest news reports of happenings at CERN and the attempts of using the world’s most powerful particle accelerator to “prove” the Big Bang theory, “Angels and Demons” is bang-on target here with regard to current affairs.

Beginning with the murder of a Creationist at CERN, Geneva, “Angels and Demons” follows an ancient group called the Illuminati; supposedly a now secret brotherhood, driven underground as a result of persecution by the Church during the age of Enlightenment. The Illuminati are taking revenge on the Catholic Church, slowly killing off a few of the Vatican’s most revered cardinals in painfully gruesome ways. But, between every murder there’s a trail of clues; a pattern that the Illuminati are following and an ancient path of markers to be found. Here, we’re immersed in a fantastic exploration of renaissance art and culture, while iconographer and specialist in symbology, Robert Langdon, with the help of Italian scientist Vittoria Vetra, races against time and odds to beat the murderer to his next location within the chain of scheduled killings.

If the film portrays even the slightest element of the intensity and drama that Brown’s novel presents, mixed with the rush of the twists and turns of the plot, it has potential to be one of the greatest films this year.

Inside Scoop:

Tom Hanks (Robert Langdon) conveys what interests him most about the books and the two films, relishing particularly in Brown’s journeying through the Renaissance and asserts that “by and large, it’s all just one fabulous game of Trivial Pursuit”.

Ron Howard, director, enjoys the fact that "the mystery of the Illuminati goes on and on and on. There’s so much written about it – some believe, some don’t. This is what Dan Brown exploits so wonderfully in Angels and Demons.”

To watch the official trailer of Angels and Demons, click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcE8QaKiTGk

Family Fun

2009-05-03T15:00:00.000+01:00

A large portion of my childhood consisted of travelling - mostly in the car and mostly with just Dad and my brother. Driving 3 and a half hours to visit family in Bristol, longer journeys to various places in the UK on holidays, short, but frequent, journeys to the hospital to visit Mum and then regular trips to church or youth groups each week. We spent a lot of time in the car. And, surpisingly, I've realised that this is where I hold a great deal of fond memories.

One of the problems with today's society is that families don't spend enough quality time together. The great thing with our family was that our regular trips in the car meant that we were forced to spend a lot of time together. (Not "forced" in a negative way, it's just how it worked out). My warmest memory, and in fact one that my Dad included in his speech for our wedding, was how much we laughed together in the car. There was a lot of laughter, and I'm not always sure of how it started. Usually, Matthew, my brother was the culprit. He had a habit of bursting into fits of hysterics for no particular reason and all of a sudden we were no longer immune to such infectious hilarity that we promptly joined in. By the time we reached our destination, tears were streaming and Dad was glad he no longer had to try and focus on the road! Good times.

Singing was also a favourite past-time of ours. We weren't exactly a musical family but we enjoyed listening to Christian hymns and songs in the car (unless it was leading up to Christmas and we'd sing along, quite stridently, to dozens of carols). One particular cassette tape, that we completely wore out, was my favourite. It was full of Christian children's songs, sang by a group of children and led by a young American man, who's name, unfortunately, escapes me. There were two songs, in particular, that I asked Dad to rewind and repeat. I loved them so much and I still love them now. They're songs that just summed up exactly how I felt as a new Christian and how I wanted to live for God and to follow Jesus. The lyrics are still applicable to my life today and serve to remind me to be zealous for God.

These are the lyrics to "I am a promise" and "How I want to be, Lord, just like you":

I am a promise, I am a possibility, I am a promise with a capital "P"

I am a great big bundle of potentiality

And I am learnin' to hear God's voice

And I am tryin' to make the right choice

I am a promise to be anything God wants me to be.

I can go anywhere that He wants me to go, I can be anything He wants me to be

I can climb the high mountains, I can cross the wide sea

I'm a great big promise you see!

..................................................................................

How I want to be Lord, just like you,

and oh, the good things that I want to do.

Listen to my heart Lord, yes it’s true.

When you give your peace,

and you share your joy,

and you show your love,

oh Lord, how I want to be like you.

..................................................................................

Here is the link to a video of "Little Liz" (now Beth Stalker) singing "I am a promise" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gelDIdHxctA

Good Food

2009-05-01T13:31:00.000+01:00

In the fast paced, busy living of 21st Century Britain, we've all taken measures to cut corners in every area of our lives, including work (any way to jump to the top of the ladder without the exertion of climbing it), communication (emails, texts, facebook) and food. We've come to demand, and to expect, that everything be there, bam! on a silver platter before us, ready to go. This is especially true of our dietary requirements. Unfortunately, so many people feel they are too busy, or else culinarily unable, to cook nutritious meals for themselves and their families each day of the week. As a result, we see an embarrassingly high percentage of people resorting to fast food, takeaways and ready meals.

The Independent, last year, revealed that "Britons spend £7.6bn, a quarter of the eating-out total, on fast food, including fish and chips, pizza, burgers and Thai, Chinese and Indian takeaway". That's a shocking amount of money. Not only is it a danger to wallets everywhere, but it greatly affects our lifestyle, health and, even more importantly, generations to come. If we're not setting the right example to our children now about the importance of a balanced diet and the economic sense of buying fresh produce, then how will we expect them to grow up to be anything other than a part of an increasingly lax and obese society? Britain seriously needs to pull its socks up!

Thankfully, we've got professionals on the case! Top chefs, i.e. James Martin, Gordon Ramsey and Gary Rhodes, have provided websites such as BBC Good Food and magazines like Olive with healthy, fresh and easy recipes for the whole family to encourage home cooking. Best of all, those who claim to have little or no time to cook can rest assured that there are plenty of quick recipes for a timely and tasty supper. It’s surprising how time-consuming getting a takeaway can be; from the journey to the shops, to the long queues, to waiting for them to prepare your order and then finally to the trip back home. All the while, you could have cooked up a quick and easy pasta bake, fajitas, spaghetti bolognese, omelettes. The list is endless.

I absolutely love the variety of recipes on the BBC Good Food website. If you’re partial to frequent takeaways, and especially enjoy settling down with a nice Indian dish and a cold beer, then you'll absolutely love this Cumin-Scented Chicken Curry recipe (http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2746/cuminscented-chicken-curry). Why not give it a go? It's full flavoured, healthy, sumptuous, comfort food and not too difficult or expensive to make. Buy a bottle of Corona, a few wedges of lime, a couple of fresh naan breads and enjoy!

Guaranteed to convert you to freshly prepared, home-cooked meals for life!

Redeeming Love

2009-04-28T21:15:00.001+01:00

"Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers is a powerful, fresh re-telling of Hosea, a small prophetic book in the Old Testament. Rivers passionately and originally modernizes the story of Hosea's wife, Gomer, and her unfaithfulness to him, which is a clear depiction of the relationship between God and Israel. In this gripping, "unputdownable" novel, Rivers brings to life the character of Angel - a young woman in 19th Century America thrown into prostitution at an early age as a result of a chain of unfortunate events.

Angel, born and raised originally as Sarah, becomes embittered through her lot in life, and she soon comes to expect litte else. Unwanted and rejected by her own father, let down by her mother and sold to a dominant and loathesome man at the age of eight, Sarah endures great sufferings that no child should have to encounter and abruptly and painfully learns the "God's truth about men". Thankfully, we're not made to actually lift the words from the page with our own eyes, the travesty is only alluded to, although this is certainly distressing enough.

A few years later, we see Angel as a young prostitute in California - the best in her field. She's beautiful, she's alluring, she's the most expensive. It keeps her alive, well dressed and well fed. But it's all she knows. It's all she's good at. She can't make room for the possibility that there could be more to life. It was about survival, and she was doing just fine. Until Michael Hosea comes along. A godly, unmarried man, Michael Hosea sees Angel on one of her constitutionals with her bodyguard and is told by God that she's the woman he's meant to marry. Reluctantly, but faithfully, Michael Hosea eventually spends all his gold dust just to be able to talk to Angel, to persuade her to come away with him and marry him.

In a brilliant, heart-wrenching narrative, Rivers goes on to delve into the complex relationship between Michael and Angel. As a reader, you get dragged into every element of the story, you relate to Angel's pain, you sympathise with Michael's impatience and you hope, with all your heart, that there will be a happy ending.

A rollercoatser of twists and turns, "Redeeming Love" will shock you, depress you, encourage you, challenge you and tug on your romantic heartstrings. Ultimately, it all boils down to God's workings within Angel and using Michael to guide her to Him. Her journey is a beautiful mixture of sadness, hope and redemption. A must-read for all!

Hell's Kitchen

2009-04-28T13:33:00.000+01:00

Well, I don't know about the rest of you but I've been absolutely addicted to Hell's Kitchen these past couple of weeks. I don't know quite what it is that's been so appealing - the celebrities, the competition, the challenges, the cooking or the Chef! (Yes, I'll admit there's something obscurely attractive about Marco Pierre White's fierce demeanor - intently staring at the celebrities, tapping his knife on the metal worktops and remaining intentionally speechless.) He demands and inspires respect. There's been a recent craving for reality TV shows - with Big Brother, I'm a Celebrity, Shipwrecked, Wife Swap etc. But none of these shows have ever inspired me - I don't find anything partcularly riveting about watching a group of strangers sitting together in a big house and swearing, or watching two husbands have to put up with completely different women in their houses, swearing. I just don't get it. But something about Hell's Kitchen has inspired me, has left me feeling excited and wanting to be a part of it.

I absolutely love food. I love creating new dishes, experimenting with varied and challenging recipes, trying out different ingredients. Cooking it all in your own kitchen, at your own pace and all by yourself, however, it a little lack-lustre. It's a little bland. A little too easy. Watching Hell's Kitchen not only inspired me to experiment with more recipes and more ingredients, it re-awakened a passion within me for the fast-paced atmosphere of the kitchen, working as part of a team and learning new skills under the supervision of a professional chef. Oh, how I'd love to work with the Great White!

Hell's Kitchen has stirred up my ambition to be a chef. I want to be the very best - up there with Marco, Raymond Blanc, Gordon Ramsey. How to get there, though? To have the opportunity that Jody, Grant, Bruce, Anthea, Niomi, Danielle, Ade and Linda had, working side by side with Marco every day in a top restaurant, would be a dream come true. But, as I'm not a celebrity, I would be resigned to start from the bottom and to work my way up. It takes a lot of hard work, determination and talent to get to the top of this particular field. It's an increasingly competitive industry - with everybody seeming to have a respectively sudden interest in food.

Therefore, applying for jobs as kitchen porters, kitchen assistants, trainee chefs - anything to gain experience in a professional kitchen - would be a smart move. The hours will be long, the work will be tough, the pay will be meagre, but the reward at the end of it all will, hopefully, be great.

Sell Out

2009-04-27T20:59:00.000+01:00

Walking along Friar's street, soaked to the bone and miserable from the sudden downpour of rain true to our English, hormonal weather, I hung my head in shame. I could see I was fast approaching my destination; that building I so dreaded entering, because I knew that as soon as I did, I would become a sell out. (Oh, please don't let anyone recognise me!) And then, there I was. Walking through the doors of the Job Centre, being watched by a group of youths huddled underneath the protection of the entrance-way, keeping dry and smoking. I was about to sign on to the dole.

This wasn't how it was meant to be. I'm a graduate, I'm doing a Master's - jobs should just fall on to my lap. Shouldn't they? Well, whether they should or not isn't really the point. Yes, I may be more educated than those teens gathered around the door, but am I any more entitled to work than they are? During this difficult time of economic crisis, redundancy and unemployment it is becoming increasingly tough for anyone to find work - regardless of their background, education and expertise. I realised I shouldn't feel ashamed that I couldn't find any part-time work, and I shouldn't feel ashamed of having to sign up for Job Seeker's Allowance. Times are hard - we have no place of our own to live, we have no savings and Jan, my husband, has no solid income. The Government has installed this benefit's scheme for people just like us, in times just like these.

I felt more uplifted once I was inside the building. I'd filled out all my forms, extensively, to indicate how I'd been looking for jobs, what I'd applied for, when I applied for them etc etc and about eight forms declaring the hours and earnings of Jan's part-time jobs. As I stood there waiting for my name to be called, I spent a good while looking around me and observing the variety of people there. I felt a great surge of sympathy for everyone. You had a handful of "chavs", you even had a few immigrants - there was a great mixture of age, race and class. It was so disheartening to see so many unemployed people in one room.

My name was finally called, after about a half-hour wait. The lady sat me down, asked me to sign something and said "OK, thank you. See you in two weeks". I did a double-take. "What? Um, don't you want to see all the sheets I've filled in to show you that I'm looking for work?". Surely, they would want as much evidence as could be provided to prove that you're actively seeking work. "No. I'm far too busy. I've got lots of people to see. Goodbye". I was shocked and disgusted. I was prepared for a grilling as to what jobs I'd applied for. I was prepared to fight for a little financial help from the government. But she seemed happy to just hand it to me on a silver platter without questioning my motives.

I've seen all those adverts on TV threatening that the government was cracking down on benefit fraud. How?!?! I saw, first hand, how easy it would be to sign-up for benefits without the slightest intention of keeping your end of the bargain. If they're not even bothering to check if you're applying for jobs, why would they be bothered to sit outside someone's house and track their every move? It's ridiculous. I had no idea the Job Centre was so poor. How much money are they wasting on people who turn up every week to sign a bit of paper but aren't actually looking for work? Oh it made me so angry!

However, it may not be so easy for me. Although I'm one of the people actually looking for work, I may not be entitled to any financial support. They claim that Jan may be earning "too much" (£400 a month!) and that my claim is based on his earnings. But if I am given the money, I will make sure that I live up to my end of the bargain, even if they don't check my forms. As a Christian, it would be wrong for me to just go through the motions of job-seeking just to claim "free" money, even though it does seem like a tempting option. I will continue to look for work, apply for at least 2 jobs a week and fill in my forms appropriately. In the meantime, I'll be praying that the Job Centre sorts themselves out - it's absolutely appauling!

He's Alive!

2009-04-12T16:21:00.000+01:00

Easter eggs, Easter bunnies, Easter chicks – chocolate and cute, furry animals – is that what immediately pops into mind when you think of Easter? Like Christmas, Easter is decorated with the joys of holidays, giving and chocolate, but perhaps with a little less lustre and festivity. Why it is a little lacking in comparison to Christmas celebrations, I cannot be sure. Perhaps there’s a greater sense of excitement in the giving of a variety of gifts to the whole family, rather than the giving of chocolate to a few close members or friends. Perhaps there’s a warmer sentiment in the hanging of fairy lights to brighten the dark, dreary evenings of winter. Or perhaps, there’s something a great deal more palatable in the nationwide celebration of a birth of a child 2000 years ago, than the remembrance of the death and resurrection of the Son of God. In the grand scheme of things, the celebration of Easter should not be any less significant than that of Christmas. One event is not more important than any other in the life of Jesus Christ; his incarnation, his ministry, his death, his resurrection and his ascension. All are dependent on the others’ occurrence and none detract or add to the majesty and wonder of these events.

But somehow, the truth of Jesus’ death and resurrection is a little tough to swallow for a high percentage of the population. This is understandable, to a degree, if you consider how many non-Christians celebrate these two major events of the year. The gospel, although wonderful, is offensive in nature.

But if we are Christians, we should hold both of these marvellous events in equal high regard and we should be glad to spread the Gospel throughout the world. We should strive to not be enticed solely by Christmas festivities, as tempting as it might be to be caught up in the materialistic joviality. The message of Easter is a wonderful reminder of the truth of the Gospel – that Jesus Christ died for our sins so that we might forgiven, and resurrected three days later so that we might believe in him and be saved. The most marvellous truth is that Jesus Christ is alive today, is sat at the right hand of God in heaven and that we might join him there if we but believe in him and repent. Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!

If I Knew You Then

2009-04-10T17:18:00.001+01:00

Today, we celebrate Good Friday - the day that the Lord Jesus Christ willingly gave up his life so that we might be set free from sin. For those of us who are Christians, we must count ourselves fortunate to have the full revelation of God's word today, so that we can understand fully the magnitude of Jesus' death and resurrection. We have both the Old and the New Testmanents which point us to the coming of Christ for our salvation and we see the fulfilment of that in Jesus. But, what if we didn't have these Scriptures available to us? What if we were 1st Century Jews in the midst of the crowd calling for Jesus' death? Have you ever thought what you might do, think, believe or say? Here is just a litte poem I've written to make you wonder about how you might have reacted at the time of Jesus' death and to encourage you to be thankful that God has revealed these wonderful things to us so that we might believe and be saved.

If I knew you then, Lord, what would I see;
A man drenched in arrogance or the Christ you claimed to be?
If I knew you then, Lord, what would I say;
“Nail him to a cross” or “Master, take my sin away”?
If I knew you then, Lord, what would I do;
Follow the crowd and Pharisees or turn to follow you?

If I knew you then, Lord, I’d have a different scope
I wouldn’t have the Bible to tell me you’re my hope.
I wouldn’t understand all that hadn’t been revealed
I wouldn’t be aware of those truths still concealed.

But if I knew you then, Lord, I hope I would believe
That you’re the Son of God and that you are all I need.
If I knew you then, Lord, I hope I could embrace
Your death and resurrection as my only saving grace.

Facebook Fanatics

2009-04-09T17:05:00.000+01:00

Yes, yes I'll admit I'm one of those "facebook fanatics" who can't get through the day without checking their accounts at least once. Ooh, I wonder who's left me a message? I wonder if anyone's tagged any photos of me from that party last night? I bet she's posted another one of those hillarious videos! Oh I hope he's not beaten my score on scrabble! We all know the type, don't we?

What I find most amazing, though, is how easily persuaded we are by public opinion. (I say public because how many of us actually have just our friends on our "friends" list? Haven't you ever clicked "accept" to people you may have met once or who is a friend of a friend of a friend...?) We seem to want to impress these people escpecially - why, I have absolutely no idea! Maybe it's the idea of creating a persona for yourself to display to people who don't really know the true you; who can't see through the facade. We don't even really show ourselves to our close friends on facebook either. The odd private message might be sent, confessing a true emotion or problem, the occassional vulnerable 'status' might be recorded but, on the whole, we are all too aware that our wall posts are read by others, we are accutely aware of how our statuses reflect our thinking and so we try to make them as entertaining, interesting or profound as possible.

The need to be reassured of our popularity on facebook is stressed further by that one application (you know what I'm talking about).. Compare People! Am I prettier than her? Am I funnier than him? Do people think I'd make a good shopping companion? Would they want to be stranded on a desert island with me? And when we get little notifications from people's comparisons we tend to overthink them.. Why wouldn't they want to be stuck in handcuffs with me? What have I ever done to them? You get the point. When you've used Compare People, did you actually spend time considering the pros and cons of each person? Probably not, you just clicked on a gut reaction. So why does it matter to us so much? Why do we care so much about how people regard us?

Maybe we all need to be a little more honest in our approach to facebook. If you're a facebook fanatic, try not to worry about what people think of your posts, your notes, your statuses or your videos. Perhaps being more vulnerable or true to our characters on facebook will have a greater impact on those we actually know and love. It might enlighten them on something you're struggling with, something you hold close to your heart or a mutual interest that brings you closer together. Why not give it a try and forget about what people think. Your true friends will love you, just as you are.

Ambitions

2009-04-08T20:46:00.000+01:00

If you asked me 10 years ago what I wanted to be when I grew up I would probably have said something along the lines of a teacher, author or lawyer - three professions that summed up my personality and overall ambition in life. To teach was to shape, mould and influence the minds and characters of young people; to encourage them to embrace their individuality, their passions and their aspirations. To write was to delve into a fantasy world that protected me from the harsh reality of life - to escape the bullies, to distract me from actually having to grow up and to continue living in a vivid imagination of colour and opportunity. To be an advocate of the law was to ensure that people were in keeping with the moral requirements of society, and the Bible, and to see that justice was carried out accordingly. This was my thinking then.

So what's changed? 10 years on, do I still have the same career ambitions? No, not entirely. Certainly I maintain the same desire to see the world change for the better - I long to see young people educated and brought up in the most effective way and I long to see society brought back to a right way of living within governmental (and biblical) decrees. The only change that has occurred in my thinking is that I no longer view myself as capable of rising to the challenge personally. Perhaps this is a little pessimistic of me to admit, but when I view myself as a teacher standing in front of her class, or as a lawyer stood in a court of law, I shudder. I completely lack confidence and the thought of public speaking, in any form, terrifies me to the pit of my stomach. However, what I have come to realise is that it does not rest entirely on my ability - but on God's. He does know the extent of my ability, though, and I know if it's in accordance with his will, he will use my skills to his glory. That is why I have never given up the ambition to be a writer. It requires no confidence, at least not in a public-speaking way, and it enables me to express my thoughts and insights in a clear and, hopefully, entertaining manner.

If God calls me to be a teacher or a lawyer I will of course follow his will and, although I may be pertified to do so, I'll be reassured that his strength will carry me through to do his work. For now, until I am called otherwise, I will persist with pursuing a career in writing. I accept that I may not be the most talented writer in the world, but I enjoy it and will use it to express God's goodness to me. In this, I maintain my ambition to change, influence and challenge the world; through God's grace and his powerful Word.