Thank you to.......

Emma (again)

Sarah B

Sally

Tom

Liza

Dave, Sue Chris and Frankie.

And, of course, Dan.

It's very special when other people remember too.



The malt loaf with 18 candles was brilliant! The decorated fondant fancy was great too.

You did really well to make us laugh.

Happy Birthday Darling....

.... I hope you're celebrating with the angels.

Love Mum

Today Sarah would have been 18

Emma - thank you so much for leaving that card and flowers.

Well it looks like we've FINALLY chosen a holiday.

Now Chris is concerned about being fit enough to manage 2 1/2 days of trek, 6 hours canoeing and 30Km bicycle ride. She has a month to build up for it, so I'm sure we'll be OK - IF I can make the booking tomorrow.

I'm home again part deux

Some may remember this post. This time I managed the same thing in 55 min - around 16mph. Bearing in mind I was in shorts and light riding top (but still carrying that rucksack) I'd say fitness hasn't improved one iota.

Oh well.

Bums.

The holiday we were hoping for is fully booked.

C'est la vie.

So why do we have all these 'books'?

There was a question recently on Smulospace about the origins of the bible and how the writings that we now officially recognise as scriptures came to be so. As is often the case, this generated plenty more questions and stated points of view.

In the past I’ve seen people taught academically about the origins of scripture and I’ve seen the confusion that (bad) teaching has brought. This has certainly served to harden my attitude toward theologians and Christian academics and such teaching, even becoming convinced that most theologians had ‘missed it’.

But blissful ignorance can only carry one so far.
Now I don’t think that a working knowledge of how the bible came to be is AT ALL important for the faith of the average Christian, but it is *interesting* and potentially useful if one is that way inclined. I am so inclined, and therefore in my own fumbly and pitfall-strewn manner am trying to learn a little.

As part of this learning, I’ve begun reading some of the books that are rejected by what one might call the ‘post reformation’ church, but accepted by the older streams – the Apocrypha. This collection of writings dates from around the end of the old testament through to the re-established state of Israel after the return from exile in Babylon prior to Roman occupation. The books seem to be a mixture of the prophetic, historic and story telling, rather jumbled up together, and in some cases, having significant overlap.

Now if I said I was trying to read through prayerfully, that would sound ‘cringy’ and be only half true. For example the book of Tobit starts off like a genuine historical account but eventually ends up reading just like a Jewish version of the Arabian nights tales, and is, I’m pretty sure, a distillation of popular myth and stories. The first part may well be a genuine account but the latter part involving the son seems to be just a bit of fluff, added to ‘prove’ to the reader if you’re righteous everything will come good in the end. There's nothing complex about it, and the distinction *seems* obvious.

The 2 books of Maccabees are interesting because they overlap with different perspectives. It’s hard to be completely objective because I automatically distrust the writings and feel as though I want to find things wrong, proving to myself that these books aren’t ‘scripture’. However they have the feel of historical writings that have been massaged to emphasise certain points of view, and don’t feel totally consistent (I’d need to do a event-by-event breakdown to feel happy with this conclusion). I also felt a little ill at some of the descriptions of torture.

Esdras is interesting – I’m still reading through – and it's the strangest so far. Parts of the book I feel are genuinely prophetic, almost shockingly so, yet other parts miss the mark so widely. I took this one to God because I really wanted to know, and I believe what I heard was that the prophetic word was for then but is not for now – it was made to a very specific group of people. I am SURE that the book has also been very substantially added to or modified as well, because the manner in which it talks of God does not seem to honour Him or reflect a character consistent with either the old or new testaments.

In fact the kind of God reflected in most of what I’ve read so far lines up much better with the characters of gods in Greek mythology: capricious, wasteful of human lives and suffering and uncaring for His people. I very much wonder if there is a substantial influence from Greek culture in these writings, as Greece was the major military power in the area at this time, and seemingly constantly at war with Jewish culture. This is probably not helped by the translation I’ve got – the ‘Good News’ version was never more than approximately right, and although easy enough to read, lacks anything like precision. I’m not sure that the benefit of this kind of knowledge actually justifies spending money on a better version, so we’ll have to wait and see.

So based on my reading thus far I’d say it was definitely right to exclude these books from the canon of scripture. While they have a spirituality about them and use some of the right words, they do not provide a presentation of God that is consistent with the rest of scripture as I recognise it. I don’t *think* that I am just reading it that way because I already know them to be excluded.

Those of you with a great deal more knowledge than me, feel free to chip in on my conclusions. Who knows – I might even agree. For those who’ve never read them, unless you have a thirst for this kind of knowledge, don’t bother, there’s nothing there to push you further into God.

Am I racist?

Or elitist.... or a grumpy and difficult old man?

We've just finished a period of recruiting, and thankfully have managed to fill all our vacancies now. It's not the first time we've done this and I'm sure it won't be the last, but there was something different about this occasion.

I've never seen so many applications from foreign nationals.

This post has been a long time brewing, prompted by a CV and application letter that landed on my desk about 3 weeks ago. It was from a young feller with an unpronounceable name living in India. He had good qualifications and some relevant experience, the covering letter was polite (although way too obsequious) and he seemed like a nice chap. What was special then - nothing! Or rather what wasn't special was the spelling, use of words and general inability to communicate in an appropriate manner. This letter was also typical of the applicants from other foreign nationals - we've had Russians and Poles for example.

Am I racist? I judged this application in exactly the same manner that I would one from someone born here - poor communication skills, inability to write well, inappropriate choice of words. It didn't get as far as the shortlist.

And BTW a general word of advice for those that are applying for jobs etc from school/university. Use spelling (and grammar) checkers if you aren't sure. Capitalise and punctuate. Learn to write in paragraphs. Do not punctuate frequently - you are not writing a blog. Ask someone difficult and crabby to proof-read your application before you send it. I have been dismayed that students of apparently graduate level produce job applications looking as if they were typed from a mobile phone. There are hundreds and thousands of people like me out there that will put your CV in the waste bin if you don't give them a reason not to.

There are quite a lot of potential employers that will also reject you if you don't wear a tie and jacket to an interview. I'm not one of them. Yet.

I am seriously considering changing my bank right now, because I HATE dealing with foreign call centres. We're with HSBC, and ALL calls MUST go through an Indian call centre. I have nothing against people from the Indian subcontinent, however I do find that a strong accent makes communication very hard. The same would be true if the call centre was full of Geordies exercising their accent to the best of its ability. When I am the customer, why should I have to struggle with someone who I cannot understand well and who in turn struggles with me? I took a call recently from the VISA card service of our bank, and the lady on the other end was very pleasant, but completely mis-communicated essential information to me. I also called them this week, and was barely able to communicate with the first person and utterly unable to communicate with a second.

This is unacceptable.

It isn't helped by another evil of modern communications - the IP telephone system - used to save money because it's cheaper to send call traffic through the internet than by conventional means. Call quality has gone to hell in a hangbasket, but that's another rant.

Apparently I am....

Which famous guitarist are you? Your Result: David Gilmour You play from the heart. You also deliver a great show anytime. You have skill, but you really don't like to show off. You let the music come in second to the visuals of the show. You prefer to play with people who know what they are doing.
Jimi Hendrix
Jimmy Page
Adam Jones
Tom Delonge
Synyster Gates
Dimebag Darrell
Another dumb quiz?

It's actually not *too* far off, in that the music I play is second to the worship going on, so I'm happy with that.

BTW

I wonder if gummi-worm pizza is home yet?

Private speakers.

I'm not normally one that cares about home movie systems and all that stuff, but I've been impressed recently.

When I moved the other computer upstairs to make a place where we could play movies I bought a cheap 8 channel soundcard and 5.1 speaker system.

My first try using them wasn't spectacular, as the Power DVD software refused to play back more than 2 channels of audio unless I had either an expensive creative soundcard or paid to upgrade my version of the software. Stereo using a subwoofer is *ok* for movies, but that's all.

Enter VLC media player.

It has a clunky interface, partly because it does lots of things. However it's free AND plays back DVDs with full surround sound. This time, even though the movie we watched was the derisory 'happy feet' (how to put a political message in a kids film and make it annoying) the speakers handled the sound in a way no 2 speaker system could have. OK, I'm sold.

Well that was the week that was.

Thanks to Alan Whicker for the title.

I had all these posts floating around and now my head is just idea-soup.

The funeral for Chris's mum was on Thursday - a really big thanks to all the wonderful people that made cakes (Sandra, Jane, Jackie).

*edit* Really special thanks to Kita, who made teas and coffees and served everyone on one of her rare days off - how could I forget you in this list?

We've recruited 2 new people for work, and said goodbye to to one of our guys that's been with us for about 2 years - we'll miss Nick. Looks like being a manager is now unavoidable. Guess it's skills I'll need later.

Chris has been grinding through the probate paperwork - probate is effectively permission to manage the estate and administer the will, after you've told the government about how much EVERYTHING is worth.

Ben seems to have found someone interesting.

We watched 'Happy Feet' last night, recommended by Janique. That's 1 1/2 hours of my life I'll never get back.

Another guitar has arrived, but it's destined for someone else.

Chris has a sense of humour.

Good job too!

Last year I bought my Mexican strat:



and she made me this birthday card to match.




Some of you will remember I bought Kermit this spring:



So she made this card for me this year.

We're back.

And this isn't the first time I've used that title.

Good time away.

Much needed break.

Now we need to digest what we've heard, including stuff about the future and what we should be doing. There's a strong sense of stepping into a new phase, but not *quite* completely yet: or rather the new phase has already started, but the fullness of it won't be here for a few more years yet. More changes/growth required in both of us before we're fully ready.

This place will be quiet next week

We're heading off to camp with the Church and get away a little.

Ben's looking after the house, feeding cats etc while we're gone so that he can go to Soul Survivor at the end of August.

Sooooo....... see you in a week or so.

Can you carry someone's life in a few plastic bags?

Chris's mum died this morning. We've been to the hospital, seen the body, brought back all her 'belongings' in 3 plastic bags.

It's difficult, as you might expect, even though we'd prayed she wouldn't go through all the pain and humiliation that cancer often brings. We'd rather expected that she'd get weaker and go down hill, but instead last night she seemed less ill and this morning apparently ate a little and responded to people.

Then it seemed she rested.... and slipped away.

Chris spoke with her a few days ago about faith. Seemed she'd grown up knowing Jesus as a child, continuing in that in her own uncomplicated way as an adult. When she got married church and God got moved to the edge, although they never got crowded to the point they fell off. After moving to Bicester she re-established her faith (without pushing from us). We're at peace over her.

To those that prayed for her and us, thank you.

There are odd emotions

.......that surround you when you're trying to sort stuff for someone and their time is nearly there. The problem is, there's no way to tell how long someone has.

This afternoon I cancelled the special bath (side door, lowering equipment) Chris's mum was due to have fitted. The bit I struggle with is that in cancelling, it's like saying openly "you aren't going to come home again", almost like condemning someone to death. That ISN'T the case, but even now I'm thinking 'suppose we've got it wrong: what if she comes out in a week or 2?".

And when someone is clearly not having a good time, it's really hard not to think "wouldn't they be better off just getting a quick bout of pneumonia"? But that's really not helpful either - it's still conceivable (to me, at least) that she might pull through and have another year or so - people sometimes do that.

This is a messy time.

This is quite relatively pleasing.....

but I seem to have managed to migrate most of my emails going back to '97 to a new computer (at work). Outlook is now busily downloading a couple of thousand emails that I've not been able to file through the exchange interface I was using. The plan for this afternoon *had been* more SOPs.

Oh well.

Not so good

Chris's mum didn't look to well this evening in hospital. Breathing difficulties and what looked like oedema on her left arm. She's on oxygen, and finding it very difficult to speak, although she *seems* relatively cheerful. Shortness of breath is making her panic at times though, which brings fear - not good.

We're sleeping with a phone nearby tonight.

BTW for those who prayed....

THANK YOU.

My mother is in, and we now start the work of sorting out what will fit and what must go.

Thanks Randall, for asking if we were still dry.

The answer is YES, but these pics of the valley bottom might be interesting.

Remember where we walked?


Wet feet?


In the floods of '02 the water was coming through the railings above the middle bar, and was level with the top of the wall.


Pooh sticks, anyone?

Today is a moving day

And we have rain of 'Hollywood' proportions.

Think I'll be getting a lift or driving to work this morning.

Apparently I am 'unified with the badger overlord'.

At least according to www.yournotme.com. Thanks to Martin for the link.

Would you have a woman lead a church?

"Would you have a woman lead a church?"

"Which woman?"

"Well, any woman."

"Oh, any woman. No."

"Why not?"

"Well, would you have any man lead?

"Of course."

"What if you thought he was manipulative or domineering, more interested in pushing their own issues than building Gods people? How about if he was insistent that he should lead because of his gifting and ability, yet continually struggled against existing church leadership, even causing divisions?"

'Okay, then, no. There's more to church leadership than just ability or training, and you have to take into account character and calling. And then the church needs to be willing to follow them too....."

"Exactly!"

"Exactly what? And why don't you just answer my question?!"

"You wouldn't have every man that just came out of bible college lead a church."

"Obviously"

"And even though you might be inclined to think that with all that training, gifting, expectation, zeal for God, they might not be the right ones to lead your church?"

"Yeah, but I'm losing how this relates to whether or not you would have women leading churches."

"You recognise that leading a church is more than just being at the front. There is a specific calling, a humble character, a servant heart, a gifting beyond their gender. You need to know that God has called THEM and given them grace for caring oversight of His people, rather than managers or directors that will casually use them."

"Yeah, I guess."

"But when it comes to a woman, you want me to make a sweeping statement about them - and every woman that says she should lead - based solely on their gender. Suddenly, who they are, what they do, their divine spark and calling, the grace of God available to them, that's all irrelevant..."

"No, it's not irrelevant..."

"But I can ignore all of that in order to appear feminist or misogynistic on the basis of their gender. Whereas your male leader has to have a very detailed and specific calling: walking the walk and eloquently talking the talk before they are acceptable, my female leader should be evaluated on the basis of her womanhood.

"So, you would you have a woman lead a church?"

"Which woman?"

"Any woman!"

"What's her name?"

"She hasn't got a name! She's just a woman leader..."

"Exactly!"


With credit to Graham at Leaving Munster whom I stole the form of this 'conversation' from and thanks to Marc for making me notice it.

Congratulations

To the girl with beautiful, educational moles.

;¬)

Last night was interesting, but not how you'd expect.

Last night 2 of the church housegroups got together to hear from a guy called Bryn, who's worked as part of the leadership in Oxfordshire Community Churches and abroad with salt and light over the years we've known him.

Bryn is not a highly educated, polished individual, and although certainly not stupid, is also not given to amazing theological insights. Instead he exercises the gifting God has given him - he's a prophet in the true biblical sense - and his purpose was to both bring prophetic encouragement and to encourage people to seek God for prophetic insight for themselves. I've seen and heard him at work, and can testify that he's the real thing.

That's all I want to say specifically about last night.

With someone like that around there's a certain sense of wondering "what's God going to say to me/reveal about me" and sometimes a feeling of relief when you are not the one to get a 'word'. Almost a sense of 'missed me that time'. So in the afternoon at work I was wandering round the lab, praying quietly, kind of saying to God "it's OK, you can say what you want any way you choose tonight" (NB I don't always feel quite as secure as this). I felt God say to me "It's OK, I don't need to do that: I already talk to you about all those kind of things". This is almost disappointing - there are times I've wished God would simply say through someone else "do this and your life will be turned round" but that's not living in the reality of having to work things through.

The other thing came out of something Bryn said and a comment on Johanna's blog about her time in bible college. OCC has a bible college in Oxford (for those who don't know) and runs a variety of training courses, some full time, others part time. There was a lass at the housegroup (for the first time - part of another church) who clearly had prophetic gifting, and it was suggested she should come along to a workshop aimed at training her further in that area. The thing that struck me was that here was a bible college that ran a course to train people to hear God's voice more clearly and to bring it to others. Not just to teach people more about the bible or philosophy or history or Greek or Hebrew or use of powerpoint in a 3 point sermon or how to manage their churches (I won't use the word pastor - that isn't especially what it's about) and make a living off it. Sure most of those things are useful, but this is about training people how to draw nearer to God, to know Him more, to hear Him more clearly.

It's a little strange, but I actually feel slightly proud to be associated with these people. Not in a 'we're better than all you lot' kind of way, but honour through association.

I'm sure almost every bible college would quote hearing God more clearly as one of their aims for students, but I rather think a dig under the covers might prove interesting. Not sniping at anyone in particular, but I've long wondered at the point of classical bible college. Judge them by their fruit - let's see what the results of KBC are in 10, 20, 50 years time and whether there IS a difference.

Chris's mum is being taken into hospital this afternoon.

Can't really say very much - her body is becoming uncooperative, but as far as I know it's not an utter emergency so much as trying to make sure things don't deteriorate more. If you have some spare prayer going, I'm sure Eileen and Chris would appreciate it.

Well, it's all come together pretty painlessly.

Took around 2 hours from opening the first box to completing the Office install. Suddenly this monitor looks a little smaller than I remembered it: and a little less sharp.

Next task - install firewalls, AV software, browsers and then connect to the net for the interminable automatic updates. I've a feeling I won't have an activation/license issue after all. The disc I installed came from a virgin OEM packet, and I'm kinda hoping that I wasn't simply extremely good at re-sealing it. Well find out shortly I guess.

Ben has impressed me.

He borrowed an inert gas welder last night and was shown how to use in briefly. He's out there now, patching the holes in his 'show' beetle, ready for the MOT.

Welding isn't totally easy (I've done some myself) but he seems to have picked up the technique at least useably, if not with much neatness *yet*. Some people can't weld at all.

It's pleasing to see skills developing.

There's something of a childish pleasure

In receiving a large pile of parts though the post.

The bits to build that PC have arrived, and are sitting on a trolley about 6 feet away. Tonight I'm supposed to be helping Ben fix the wiring on his beetle. :/