Holiday!!!!!

The day after tomorrow i will be waking up in Yorkshire, lunching in the sky and going to bed in Portugal.

That is blinkin amazing!

It's SO crazy that we can just whizz anywhere in the world in a matter of hours........ and yet we complain that it takes too long! Most of the time i take it for granted but every now and then it hits me how lucky we are to live at a time when it's possible to visit all the different places in the world and see all the different animals and scenery and cultures. Not only are we lucky enough to see all these things described and pictured in a book or filmed and presented on T.V we can ACTUALLY go and visit.

Which brings me to my visit to Portugal. I've never been to Portugal before but apparently everyone i know has. And they all say it's lovely...... so that's a bonus. Ever since i booked it people who've been already have been telling me about it. What the weather was like when they were there, what the beaches are like, what things they saw and did there. Similarly i have had a quick look on the internet at pictures and weather forecasts. I know what the hotel looks like, what the beach looks like and what the temperature will be when we get there on Thursday. (28 degreees C and gloriously sunny in case anyone's interested- not to rub it in or anything!). In theory i know everything there is to know about holidaying in Portugal......i don't really need to go.............but i still WANT to.

Just because you know a bit about a place and have seen some pictures doesn't mean you really know what it's like to be there. The sights, the smells, the atmosphere...... these things can all be described or depicted perfectly but they cannot be truly 'felt' unless you ACTUALLY go. Just because someone you know and trust has been to place and told you all about it, and showed you pictures and given you their opinion doesn't mean you can tick it off your list of places you'd like to visit.

It's funny how we know this instinctively when it come to things like holidays. We want to experience these things for ourselves. If anything, the things other people have told me about Portugal are the very things that make me really want to go. They don't satisfy my desire to holiday, they stir it up.

Some things need to be experienced, they need to be felt. It's not enough just to read about someone else's holiday. It's not enough to watch a romantic comedy and watch the happy couple live a happy ever after. It's not enough to watch that skinny girl on T.V eat a bar of Chocolate!!!

Christianity is one of those things that really needs to be experienced.....that needs to be felt. Your not doing it justice if you just glance at the brochure or take someone else's word for it. You have to invest in something properly to truly discover what it has to offer. I may think i know what it is to holiday in Portugal from my friends and the internet but i won't really know til i fork out my money, take time off work, and get my butt out there.

If your interested in taking some time to investigate the concept of God. If your looking to go deeper than the thoughts and theories about God that you have simply accepted and begin to experience the reality of knowing God in your life then this is what you should do......

Come to an Alpha Course at Cobbles and Clay. Beginning Monday 4th October at 7.30pm and running every Monday for ten weeks, the Alpha Course is an opportunity to explore the Christian Faith. A friendly environment to question and discuss thoughts, fears and hopes.

Bear Grylls did it!!!!

For more information find 'Grapevine 2.0' on Facebook or email grapevinetwopointoh@yahoo.co.uk

Baptism

On Sunday i went to FERN Christian Fellowship's annual baptism service. The baptisms take place in the river at the bottom of the valley........the freezing, stony bottomed, muddy watered river at the bottom of the valley. The sun was shining (which seems unlikely looking out the window at the rain today) and the river looked lovely. Green leafed branches dipping in the dappled water, a squirrel dashing along the bank (honestly there actually was.... i'm not just saying it for effect!). It actually looked quite inviting.

Then people started going in!! Apparently; judging by the screams, contorted faces and chattering teeth, it was FREEZING!!! Four people got baptized i.e. dunked completely under the water, and the photographs i took confirmed my original suspicions........ the water was definitely FREEZING!!

It's a funny thing getting baptized.......especially if your perspective is that of an unsuspecting dog walker who encountered an unusual bunch of people gathered by the river! I like to think of it as being a bit like a wedding........ apart from the obvious difference in outfit choice. When you decide you believe in God and your going to try and follow after his ways with your life, you usually say a prayer to this effect and remember that day as the day you became a Christian. This is kinda like getting engaged......you have decided you and God are going to spend the rest of your lives together...... you plan on involving God in your life till the day you die. This commitment is between you and God...... you tell people, but only you really know how serious you are.

Now you see where i'm going with the whole baptism/ wedding thing. Getting baptised is like the big day...... you invite all you friends and celebrate the commitment you've made to God. It's the big display, the sign to everyone else of the commitment you made in your heart!

Getting baptised is not magic. It's not a ticket to heaven or an initiation ceremony into a mystical society to which you are forever bound. It's a person, making a commitment, to follow God.

Is it worth the effort?

I think my dog has 'ADHD'. He's a twitcher. He cannot stand to be still. Right now he is lying down in front of me in an awkward 'i'm lying down because you made me, not because i'm comfy' kind of position, whining relentlessly. I wouldn't mind if he was badly done to, but we're talking about a dog who has just got back from an hours walk in the wind and the rain, been fed a big bowl of gross smelling dog food and is now in trapped (poor soul) in a room full of toys with a warm fire blazing. What kind of dog doesn't settle in front of the fire and go to sleep in that scenario. Or even if he wasn't sleepy you would think he would be happy to curl up with a chew toy. But not Blue, bless him.......he just cannot understand why i would want to do anything other than throw his ball or tug his rope.

Ok so the dog seems to have settled now that he's been in and out of the room several times creating draughts and being a general nuisance. Now it's the cats turn. Independent and stand- off-ish as she normally is Bell has decided that today she wants to sit on my lap.....on the laptop on my lap (I just very nearly lost everything i have written so far). She would also like to use the corner of the laptop screen to scratch her head, which would be fine if the hinge on our laptop wasn't broken and the screen didn't keep falling flat. Bell would also like to go out now please. And back in again now please. That's lovely......out again please...... i'll leave the rest to your imagination.

Pets eh! They get in the way, they make lots of mess, they cost lots of money and they take lots of work. And yet........i'd hate to be without them. They're my little buddies, they keep me company, they bring me so much joy, i love to watch them and marvel at their crazy little characters. Taking a dog on a walk is so much more rewarding than just going for a walk by yourself. They just love it so much. Every day i take Bluey for a walk. And every day when i pick up his lead he looks like he just won the lottery. All his dreams have come true. It doesn't matter that we're walking the exact same route we did yesterday. It doesn't matter that it's rainy and cold and blowing a gale (secretly i think this is in fact Bluey particular favourite kind of weather). And then when your out walking his tails up and he's bounding around like he's just been released from a ten year stint down a mine. I feel like i just gave him the gift of a lifetime, and honestly, it really wasn't that much effort on my part.

I love my pets. Sometimes they drive me crazy..... but they're always worth it.

The best things in life always take bit of work don't they. Family, for instance. Families always require effort and patience, money and time but who would be without them. Relationships of any kind are complicated and require sacrifice but very few people would be happy living all alone. Sometime when i'm tired and stressed out and everything seems hard work i just want to curl up in a ball and not have to deal with or think about anyone or anything. But if i'm honest, i think i'd soon get bored. Not to mention the pins and needles and the compulsion to eat!!!

Some things are worth the effort. We each get to decide what's worth the effort for us. Some relationships are worth the effort, some aren't. I think pets are worth the effort, many people don't. Families are usually worth the effort. Careers are worth a certain amount of effort, though we have to be careful not to put all our efforts in this particular basket. Health is probably worth the effort, even if it's sometimes hard to see that when faced with the option of walk or a run vs the sofa and a bag of malteasers!

I think faith is worth the effort. Some days it seems like it would be a lot easier not to believe in God. I could just live my life however i wanted, i could be entirely selfish. I could stay in an watch TV on sundays and mondays. But then i wouldn't know the comfort and security of having God by my side through every situation. I wouldn't have an overriding purpose for my life that makes everything seem worth while. I wouldn't know God's unconditional love and forgiveness in my heart giving me value and self worth. Jesus said that if we chose to follow his way with our lives it would be like choosing a narrow path instead of a big broad easy route. But he also said that if we did choose to follow him...........it would definitely be worth the effort!

Pub Quiz Glory

Last night our grapevine group got together and attempted Dave's Quiz at The Old Hall in Haworth. It was, of course, organised with the knowledge that we probably wouldn't be any good but with the hope that we would have good fun trying. However as i looked around the pub at all the little groups of two and three people, from my vantage point in the middle of a group of ten my competitive side reared up and i began to feel quietly confident. "I'm reasonably intelligent", i thought to myself, "i have 11 GCSE's, 4 A-levels, and a degree. I listen to the radio, watch movies and scan the bbc news page whenever i go on the internet. I have had good success at exams.... i suspect i may in fact be a pub quiz genius!" Then the questions started.....

How anyone is expected to know what the oldest animal rescue centre in the country is called is beyond me. I don't have the foggiest who Alex Higgins is, nevermind where he comes from. And while i'm sure i could have a crack at guessing WHY a famous reggae singer christened Orville Richard somebody-or-other would change his name, i definitely can't tell you WHAT he changed it to.

As i sat there wallowing in my own foolish pride and bemoaning my apparent stupidity, i suddenly realised we actually had some answers written down. Other people on my team apparently knew this ridiculously random information. SWEET!!! If i had attempted to undertake this test on my own i would seriously be lucky to get a grand total of 3 questions right out of 50, but blow me, between us we got 28. Now i'm not saying we should consider a career in pub quiz's, there were plenty of teams ahead of us but get this..... we were not last!

Thank goodness for friends. I would definitely have snuck out under the pretence of using the toilet and scurried home with my tail between my legs after the first ten questions if i had been by myself. It was shameful how completely blank my sheet would have been. As it was, not only did i stay, we even handed our sheet in....and did i mention that we weren't last!!!

I know it's an obvious link but it's such a good example i can't help myself....... this is why God wants us to work together. It's not about building an empire it's about working together to do a better job. We can all make a difference in this world by the way we live our lives individually, but how much more can we achieve together. Our problem with together is often that we are jealous or insecure. We want to be more important or else we feel we have nothing to offer and we are worthless. In Paul's first letter to the early church in Corinth he deals with these issue's among the people and it's such insightful teaching;

The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body.....If the foot says "I am not a part of the body because i am not a hand," that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says "I am not a part of the body because i am not an eye," would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?

There are two main points i believe God is teaching us through Paul in this extract from the Bible. Firstly; we are all important. We may all be very different but we all have our specialities, our gifts, our skills, our natures. Just because some people may appear more skilled or more prominent doesn't mean they are..... they just have a different purpose. Secondly; we were designed to work together. We were made 'parts' and it's only when we come together as a group that we achieve our full potential as a whole. Jesus taught his followers to encourage one another and help one another, to work together to be salt and light in the earth. To come together and create a whole, capable of changing the world and making it more like God intended it to be.

Working together with the members of Grapevine, i know we will be able to make a little difference in our world- it might not be big but it'll definitely be bigger than i could manage on my own. I know for a fact that i will never attempt Dave's quiz by myself but maybe if we go together......

One Man's Junk.....

I just got back from a week camping in Wales. We went with a small group from church and a good time was had by all. We've actually been to this particular spot before, many times, and seen all the sights, many times but it's quite comforting to go there again and look at the bays and the cliffs and the lighthouse and remember all the good times you've had there over the years.

The weather this year was so-so. Which means i feel bad about complaining because we did have some sunshine while the rest of the country was having rain however there wasn't nearly enough of it for me. What i was really hoping for was the kind of sunshine that sends you scrabbling desperately around your tent at 7-o-clock in the morning looking for a zip so you can stick your gasping head out and breathe. The kind of sunshine that makes you think "you know- i don't care if my bum looks big in these shorts i'm wearing them anyway". The kind of sunshine that makes a day on the beach sound like heaven on earth. The kind of sunshine that makes you believe you might actually go for a swim in the sea - nevermind whether you chicken out as soon as your feet make contact with the water....we all know it's the thought that counts! Indeed i was secretly hoping for the kind of sunshine that would make English people complain.

Unfortunately we got the kind of sunshine that makes the clouds bright enough to stop you sleeping in; but leaves you wriggling round in your sleeping bag trying to keep out the draughts. The kind of sunshine that is completely non-existent in the morning when you decide to wear jeans and only appears at 3 in the afternoon when your well and truly dressed for the day. The kind of sunshine that is accompanied by a windchill of -15 such that the suggestion of a day on the beach produces either a stoic smile of defiance, or an unconvinced grimace (neither of which are particularly flattering expressions for the holiday snaps). We got the kind of sunshine that produces incredulous admiration for those brave souls who actually went anywhere near the sea. It was indeed that rare kind of weather which English people don't complain about. It wasn't too cold or too wet, and it definitely wasn't too hot. Remarkably, considering how far from my hopes it was, the weather seemed to illicit positively cheerful comments from my fellow campers.

Apparently the sun was "trying to come out". It wasn't trying hard enough in my opinion but i think this apparent effort on the sun's part gave it grace in the eyes of holidaymakers everywhere. Patches of blue sky were celebrated and cheered, and pockets of sunshine were rewarded with "it turned out nice again"s and rapid purchases of ice cream. The official school report for the weather in wales during the last week of July 2010 was 'good effort', however my personal feelings were more of the 'could do better', 'must try harder' variety.

Still, we had a good time anyway, and it's amazing what you find to do when the sun's not shining. One day we stumbled upon the treasure that was the Travelling Fair, which we wandered around with morbid curiosity. We dare not ride anything but the dodgems. Partly because everything looks like it was built in the eighties (ie 30 years ago!!!!) and partly because the fact that these rides travel makes me very suspicious. How safe can it be if it also has to be portable? Portable versions of thing are always second rate. FACT. Portable loo's, portable chairs, portable homes (i.e tents), portable loo's......need i say more.

On the bright side this fair was accompanied by a Majorettes competition.......it's true. Unlikely as it may seem there are hundreds of enthusiastic baton twirling, high knee lifting girls in the UK and they all convene in Holyhead in late July for a big stand off. It's definitely not something you see everyday and you can be certain you would have missed it if the sun had been shining!!! Whether you would later bemoan your loss is another matter.

We also spent a happy hour wandering the most impossibly ridiculous car boot sale i have ever seen. I know they say 'one man's junk, is another man's treasure' but i'm pretty sure this was any man's junk. You would not believe how much rubbish was being put up for sale.....i heard one lady enquire after a lava lamp that she fancied to which the man replied "oh well er actually er that's not for sale, it er doesn't actually work". This, the same man who had presumably set said lamp in a prime position on his table earlier that morning. Incredibly the woman persevered with the sale....it seems a broken lava lamp is in fact hidden treasure.

I did buy one thing from the car boot sale....... a soft toy to give my dog to destroy. I gave it to him as i sat down to write this post and it is already lifeless and limp, and the lounge is now a sea of fluff. It has provided much hilarity in it's short life though, since, unbeknown to me, it contained a sound device which made freaky mioux cross laser gun noises when it got bashed.....much to Blue's surprise and excitement. It's the best 10p i've ever spent....... (seriously though, how many items would you need to sell at 10 pence to make it worth standing in the cold at a car boot sale all day- 10 items, 10 conversations, 10 transactions, 10 times rooting for change, 10 carrier bags later......congratulations you've made a pound, thanks for all your hard work.....now, can i get you a drink from the burger van? Cup of Tea? Certainly.....that's a pound please).

So i guess i did find treasure amidst the junk after all, Blue certainly looked pleased with his present (don't be fooled by the fact that he destroyed it- he only likes things he can destroy- his tiny tail was wagging the whole time).