Using The F Word

A few years back I had the privilege of attending a pension’s event in Australia. (Stay with me- I know pensions is pretty much a ‘click to the next article’ subject). One of the guest speakers was Dr John Trickell. He was discussing longevity- a hot topic for us pension geeks!

Dr Trickell said we had to start using the ‘F’ words – fun, family, friendships and faith. It is these four ‘f’s that give us long life. He went on to prove it with research and data.

It makes sense. A good combination of a healthy lifestyle with lots of family and friends around. And linked to a real faith that there is more to life than just the latest paycheque or the newest gadget. (Which is why I HATE Black Friday by the way).

So it was interesting to note a new article on the BBC website today, investigating a community that lives a lot longer- and a lot healthier- than most. They are a church community in California.

Fun, family, friendships and faith. Try it. It works.

Black Friday or Red Friday?

I must admit it had passed me by. Black Friday that is. It was only on the actual day that I noticed it, so I guess I can be grateful that I managed to avoid most of the hype.

Apparently, it’s the day after Thanksgiving in the States. I’m pretty sure we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving over here, so it’s sad that we decided to import the day after. Or did we?

Of course, it’s not ‘our’ import at all - ‘us’ being the Great British population. It’s the retailers. Another opportunity to make some money. Another ‘sale’. And sadly, we fall for it.

I much prefer Red Friday. Instead of needless taking, it’s about selfless giving. One man who gave all.

Black Friday? Bad Friday. Red Friday? Good Friday.

REPOST: When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say.....

As we commemorate Remembrance Day this Sunday, it's 100 years since the outbreak of world war one. It's reflected with an amazing display at the Tower of London.

This is a repost of my visit to a particular battle ground in North East India. The poem is haunting in its simplicity.

Over the last three weeks, I have had the immense privilege of working with some of the most wonderful people in the world. I'm sure there will be more stories to follow, but this seems appropriate with Remembrance Day around the corner. 

During my time in Nagaland, an extreme North-East State in India, I was able to drive to Kohima. Here there is one of the best kept war cemeteries I have seen, a memorial to all those who gave their lives in what was the turning point in the Indian war against the Japanese in 1944. Amongst the thousands of graves, each one recording a British or Indian soldier, usually in their early twenties, there is a poem, called the Kohima Epitaph, and copied by many other war memorials. This is what it says:

When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For your Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today.

Simple and poignant. Still as true today. Let's not forget. [November 2011]

The Birth of Something New

It’s not every day you get to take part in launching a new church. But that’s what we did on Sunday.

After a year of preparation, team forming, moving house, LifeGroups and Café Church, the real thing arrived at City of Leicester College on Sunday. 317 people walked through the door. Admittedly, that included over 150 from our sister churches in Peterborough and Cambridge, but it’s a great start.

KingsGate Church Leicester is for those that don’t like church or used to go to church. If that’s you and you are within reach of us, see you on Sunday at 4.30 in the afternoon.

Leicester has a rich history of Christian enterprise and mission. It’s a privilege to be joining those that have gone before us and those already engaged in seeing the 10^th biggest city in England transformed by the power of God’s love.

Bring on week two!

Sunday Sunshine in Leicestershire

A few musings from my daily diary today.....

'It's a beautifully sunny Sunday morning and I'm sitting in the back garden, looking over the rolling fields. The sheep are on the far side today and I can see the cattle in the distance.

The bird feeder is doing good business. A flock of sparrows come and go. They do great damage to the two containers with normal seed, spilling the contents onto the floor in a flurry of wings. Having seemingly spilled a lot and eaten little, they contentedly sit as a flock in the nearby rosebush, observing their destructive handiwork.

There's two starlings in attendance too. They don't balance too well as they try and eat the fat cubes. One seems to be the baby of the other and even in this extended summer, it's still calling for attention.

A robin stands contentedly on the floor below the feeders, picking up a King's breakfast from what the sparrows drop.

A blue tit flits in and out from the peanuts, startled by the noise from the starlings. There's a great tit in attendance too.

The swallows are still here, occasionally landing on our roof, and because of the Velux windows, we get a close view of their beauty.

A cock crows in the distance and I pray a prayer of thanksgiving to the God of all creation.'

Ten Years Ago Most Clouds Were Wet

30 years ago, there was no Internet.

20 years ago there were only 130 websites. You couldn’t Google anything.

10 years ago, most clouds were wet.

Today there are over 10 billion mobile devices. 40,000 Google searches every second. 3.5 billion a day. 1.2 trillion a year.

We live in an instant society. Fast food. Fast answers. Instant texts.

But some things stay the same.

The Bible says of God: ‘I am the Lord, and I do not change.’ (Malachi 3:6)

Moving House

We moved house on 10th June.

It took Severn Trent Water a day to change our contract. Scottish Power - a day. Sky TV - two days. Driving licence change - a week.

BT broadband? 91 days and 4 hours.

Incredible incompetence, a lack of customer care and an Openreach operation out of control meant we went around in circles for a long time. All BT seemed able to do was the equivalent to switching an appliance off at the mains, and then back on again, hoping against hope that it works next time around.

I'd like to record here my thanks to all my friends who helped me bombard BT with tweets. Over 200 tweets were sent and I'm sure that was one of the main reasons we got somewhere in the end.

It doesn't seem right that Openreach can dictate what company we use either. We started with Sky, because of the good deal they had. But a month in and a few 'failed connections', Openreach said that they were 'unable to support' another provider. So I had to move to BT. Twice the cost. Half the service.

And that's when the real fun began. It turns out that BT Retail have no say over what BT Openreach do. Or in my case, don't do.

My thanks to Tracey and Robbie from BT Retail for their persistence on my behalf. But in this day and age, to take 91 days without any good reason beyond a 'software problem' is not acceptable.

One of the tweets I sent a number of times referred to BT being 'the worst company in the world'. I stand by that. Don't use them. Unless, like me, you have to.

Run the Race

She was sick all night. So much so, that by 5.30am  -the day of her Commonwealth Games race in Glasgow- she was on a drip in hospital. Add the that the fact that her operation previously meant that she still had an open wound and things were not looking so good.

Lynsey Sharp is a Scottish athlete and that day was the day she competed in the 800 metres final. She had scraped in as a ‘fastest loser’ so things were not adding up to any kind of medal. But on the night, she ran. And ran. Breaking apart the Kenyan/Ugandan duo expected to win, she came away with a silver medal.

It was her last race. Her final time on the bike. But rather than try and win, she did something extraordinary. She pushed on ahead, sacrificing her own stamina to help her younger colleague get the gold. And a silver for her- Emma Pooley.

He was in the first leg of the 100 metres relay, first round. But as he stretched away, Kimmari Roache’s leg gave way. Extreme pain. But he kept going. He had to keep going. He owed it to his teammates, and especially Usain Bolt, world 100 metres champion who ran the final leg for Jamaica. Many would have given up. But Kimmari ran through the pain. The rest, as they say, is history.

Now aged 40, with a 10 month old child not so long ago, Jo Pavey could have been forgiven for simply finishing well. It looked like a brave fourth place when she was passed, but she fought back. She finished brilliantly. Breaking into the Kenyan domination of the event, she reached the line and took the bronze.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,  fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Hebrews 12: 1

Dear BT (again.....)

So lets’ recap why I can’t blog so often, tweet so often, or do my work properly....

This is day 41 without broadband and you are no nearer a solution. Just so you know, this is the story so far....

We moved house on 10^th June. The electric contract took a day to transfer. The water services took a day. Sky TV took two days. The Post Office took a week to change the address.

And BT have taken 41 days. And counting.

First I went for a Sky package. BT Openreach apologised when the first deadline was missed. They said they had sent the instruction to the wrong exchange. A week’s delay. Then, when the second deadline was missed, they said they had lost the link with the phone number. Funny that one, as it’s their phone number. Finally, after a month of trying, Sky were told by BT Openreach that they were unable to facilitate a service at the required exchange.

So.... Unwind the deal with Sky and go to BT. Twice the cost. Half the service.

Two week delay while BT retrieve the phone line from Sky. Then.... surprise, surprise.... deadline is missed. Re-scheduled for the next day. Missed again. ‘Give us 48 hours and we’ll have it sorted’. 48 hours later, next deadline missed.

A call from a BT specialist is promised on Friday. No call. ‘Sorry’ they say, ‘we’ll call Monday on your mobile.’

Text on Monday ‘we were unable to contact you’. That will be contacting me on the mobile that is in front of me and hasn't rung this morning then?

British Telecom- a monolithic monopoly with no controls and no customer care.

I have no choice but to sit it out and hope that somewhere in that organisation, someone cares enough to do something. Someday.

Between the Times

I live Between the Times.
Between my birth and my death.
Between my salvation and a final day.
Between the morning and the evening.

I live Between Each Breath.
Between the gulp of air
inhaled before the start of a new journey.
And the sigh of fatigue
at the end of a long day.

I live Between the Arms.
The loving mother
at the day of my birth.
The caring child
as I slip into eternity.

I live Between the Times.
And every precious second given to me.
Tells a story.
Of Life.
Love.
Pain.
Passion.
And finally.
Of Glory.

©Ralph Turner 2014

Apathy and Protest - Who really Wins?

Be careful what you ask for.

Apathy and protest have won in Europe this weekend. Apathy in that only 43.1% voted throughout Europe- even less in the UK at 33.8%. And protest, with many fringe parties winning big majorities.

But here’s the problem. Today’s protest vote is tomorrow’s policy. Is it really wise to have the right-wing and reactionary UKIP as the overall winners? Are we so naïve as to think they are going to have answers to our nation’s problems? Who are we punishing? Ourselves of course.

It may be we’re unhappy with the government and with a weak opposition leader – but UKIP?!

And what goes for the UK goes for France too. In spades. Are our neighbours so short sighted and racist as to vote for their National Front party? It seems they are. There may be racial tensions in France. And it may be that the main parties are not responding well. But the French have just put the fox in the hen coop. Perhaps that should be spelled ‘coup’. It’s not the first coup in France of course. They have a history of revolution. Not sure it turns out too well though.

As peaceful democracies we need to guard our ability to vote. By voting.

And as intelligent citizens, let’s be careful who we punish with our protests. This time around, I fear we’re hurting ourselves.

We Are A Christian Nation (Part 2)

Here's a quote from the late Malcolm Muggeridge that sums it up pretty well:

"I've spent a number of years in India and Africa where I found much righteous endeavour undertaken by Christians of all denominations; but I never, as it happens, came across a hospital or orphanage run by the Fabian Society, or a humanist leper colony."

We Are A Christian Nation

When a group of Atheists and Secularists write to the Sunday Telegraph decrying the Prime Minister’s comments that we are a Christian country, they are ignoring history. There is no doubt we are a Christian country. Our democracy, our schools, our hospitals - even our Trades Unions - have a Christian foundation. Without the faith of our forefathers, we would not be the nation we are.

Today the UK is multicultural with many minority faiths. But this doesn’t take away for one moment the foundations we stand on. We are a Christian nation and my prayer is that as a nation we will once again embrace a living faith and always appreciate the incredible debt we owe to the Christian pioneers that have gone before us.
 

Time

“Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear,
too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice,
but for those who love, time is eternity.”

Henry Van Dyke

 This is a portrait of a girl filmed by her father every week for 14 years

REPOST: Winning Gold

Just met an amazing friend for coffee. He's recently lost his wife and continues to care for two wonderful daughters, one of whom is severely challenged with learning difficulties. It reminded me of a blog from 2012, which I re-post in his honour:

Her name is Rebecca and I saw her on Saturday. She is maybe 9 or 10 years old, but I guess with a mental age of an infant. Her chair was amazing. It kept her body from twisting and held her head upright. There was a big smile on her face as her father teased her and tickled her and cheered her on as she ate.

Her name is Jessica and I saw her on Saturday. I guess she’s in her 20’s. Her race was amazing. She pulled away from the opposition to win the heptathlon gold. There was a big smile on her face as the crowd cheered her achievement.

Jessica has her gold medal. One day so will Rebecca.

Tony Benn: He Dared to be a Daniel

Tony Benn (1925-2014) died this week.

An amazing man. Someone who stuck by his beliefs throughout his life. Even if you disagreed with him, you had to admire his courage, persistence and lack of compromise.

In 2002 he came to Peterborough for his ‘An Audience With’ tour. A packed theatre sat for two hours with him chatting and answering questions, accompanied only by his beloved flask of tea. (Earlier tours also included his pipe, but health and safety regulations put paid to that!) It was one of my political highlights. I was glad to be there. As Benn put it, the tour ‘reignites the public meeting, uninterrupted by Jeremy Paxman or John Humphrys’!

His autobiography is called ‘Dare to be a Daniel’. It’s a reference to a Salvation Army hymn of the same name, sung to him by his father. His parents appeared to have had a stronger Christian faith than he, but in amongst the ‘honest doubts’ of his first chapter in the book, there is a clear belief too.  Not a traditional Christian one, but as you read the pages, you see the passion:

Dare to be a Daniel

Dare to stand alone

Dare to have a purpose firm

Dare to make it known.

 

He surely did that. He dared to make his views and purpose known. An honest politician- a phrase that is not always a juxtaposition of opposites!

 

In the end, he left parliament after fifty years ‘to devote more time to politics’! He considered politicians as either signposts or weathercocks. The first, clear in their views. The second awaiting the prevailing political winds before deciding. Tony Benn was a great example of the former. I wish there were more. A rare breed.

 

History will show he was not always right. But he dared to have a purpose. And he dared to stand alone.

The Bible in Fifty Words

God made. Adam bit.

Noah arked. Abraham split.

Joseph ruled. Jacob fooled.

Bush talked. Moses balked.

Pharaoh plagued, people walked.

Sea divided, tablets guided.

Promise landed.

Saul freaked, David peaked.

Prophets warned. Jesus born.

God walked. Love talked.

Anger crucified. Hope died.

Love rose. Spirit flamed.

Word spread. God remained.

I Don't Know Her Name....

I don’t know her name. But God does.

A big city in central India. The middle of a Christian festival. Over 400 had come forward for prayer and to commit their lives to Christ.

A feeling there was meant to be one more. A debate with God. ‘Really God, there are 400 here already. What’s one more? And the meeting has moved on. It would be difficult to say something now.’

But, no. I’m sure God is prompting me. There is a girl here, He says to me, a student. She’s been away from faith in Christ for a while. But she’s here tonight. And she should have come forward.

Okay. The announcement is made. The meeting moves on. Many people healed. Amazing times.

Then, as we make our way back to the car at the end: ‘Please sir, please sir. I’m the one! I’m the girl! It’s me.’

I don’t know her name. But I know that on that night, in the middle of a crowd of thousands, God singled her out.

We prayed. I left. We may never meet again. But I know that on a warm night in central India, a young student girl gave her life back to Christ, recommitted herself to God. And I know that at that moment, God gave her a hope and a future. A destiny only she can fulfil.

I don’t know her name. But one day, probably the other side of this life, we will meet again and I will see the wonder of all God did on a warm India night.

The Pages are Rustling with Adventure (2)

Again, to misquote C S Lewis, the pages are once more rustling with adventure. I will be writing my daily journal in a different country and continent for the next two weeks as I take a team out to Kolkata for a week, and then another team to Hyderabad for a week.

Working with local churches, there will be much to do- children's fun days, visiting sponsored children, teaching pastors, reaching out to communities. Lot's to do. Lot's to write. Lot's of life to celebrate.

The Bible says 'I can do all things through Him who strengthens me'. (Philippians 4: 13).

Choices

We decide where we go and what we do in life.

 

We choose whether we lose our days in TV soaps and game shows or determine to achieve more by our lives.

 

We decide whether life is an existence or an achievement, whether we leave a memory or a mark on our generation.

 

Bryn Jones

Today, Dear Day, I'm Going to Live You

Dear day,

It was tough yesterday. Tough to live. Hard to breathe.

But you’re a new day.

You’re ahead of me.

And I’m going to live you.

I’m going to squeeze the life out of you today, dear day.

I’m going to care.

And I’m going to laugh.

Give.

Smile.

Stand up when I fall down.

Walk.... Run.

Breathe the air.

I’m going to appreciate the simple today. And lose myself in something pleasurable.

I’m going to listen. To God. And to my friends.

Did I say I’d stand up if I fall down?

Oh yes.

Not only that. I’ll laugh.

Laugh at the trivialness of what used to upset me.

Today, dear day, I’m going to live you.

Poem based on the 16 Habits of Exuberant Human Beings by Kate Bratskier

The World in 50 Years

Isaac Asimov was a science fiction writer and fifty years ago in the New York Times he predicted what 2014 would look like. At the time he was living with inventions like eight-track tapes as being cutting edge and with no sign of personal computers and the like, so that helps us understand how far seeing he was. How did he do?

1.       Coloured glass that can change colour to suit the mood and rooms that can change colour at the touch of a button.

-          Correct. Not common in homes yet, but the technology exists. Last year Mercedes introduced sun panels that darken in response to the extent of sunlight, already common with sunglasses of course.

2.       Lab grown meat to cope with the food crisis.

-          Correct. Lab grown burgers were produced for the first time last year.

3.       Self-driving cars.

-          Correct. On the way to being reality. Current cars already  have the technology to park, break  if too close to other vehicles and drive at constant speeds. Automatically driven  cars exist and are being developed.

4.       Sight and sound communications. You will see as well as hear  the person you are calling.

-          Correct. Skype.

5.       Documents, photographs and books will be on screens. And people will be able to watch screens in 3D.

-          Correct. Ipads, kindles and tablets. And 3D cinema.

6.       Robots acting like humans will not be common, but they will exist.

-          Spot on. They are expensive but have been invented.

7.       Automeals and automatic coffee will be possible.

-          Correct. The microwave and coffee machines.

8.       Machine tending will be on the school syllabus.

-          Call it computer studies and he’s correct. He thought computer languages would be taught as well, but we’re not there yet.

9.       Large scale Solar Power Stations

-          On the way. Solar power in the home is more and more common.

10.   Unmanned Mars landings and planned human landings.

-          Spot on.

11.   Large underground and underwater housing projects.

-          Oops. Not yet anyway.

12.   Enforced leisure with less jobs and robots and computers doing more.

-          Not yet but the signs are there.

Bear in mind the world as it was in 1964- the first lung transplant was recorded, the Rolling Stones were on their first tour and the Ford Zephyr and Morris Oxford were the cars of choice. Pretty accurate predictions bearing in mind the world he lived in.

Anyone want to have a go at the world in 2064?!