Things I've learnt (been reminded of) in the last fourteen days

1. A baby oyster is called a 'spat'.

2. I really love cycling.

3. We've got some crackin' friends.

3. A group of hippopotamuses is called a 'bloat'.

4. I've got a great family.

My Aunt Ann cooks a cracking cooked breakfast (but so does Lisa I add without hesitation to avoid any claims of unfavourable comparison!) while much appreciation heads to my cousins (who we unfortunately only see infrequently) and their spouses/family for the time taken to pop in and to garner some Infacol from 'somewhere' as Daniel threatened to blow!

5. Scotland is one beautiful (if rather wet) country!



It's fair to say that Lisa was hard pushed to tell the difference between summer in Scotland and autumn or winter!





6. Holidaying with two young boys doesn't always feel like a holiday?!

The shepherds cottage in the middle of nowhere would've been cracking if it was just Lisa and I, but when there are four of you in a two roomed 'house', you're all sleeping in one room and one of the four spends a large proportion of his time crying at full throttle (and it wasn't me!) then a time of relaxation is not always readily attainable! That said, it was beautiful and Joshua does look great (courtesy of generous, breakfast cooking Aunt)in his little 'wetsuit'!

Oh, what a perfect day!

Thursdays are good days.
At least they usually are.
But not always as good as today!

Having spent a great morning with a group of 'Little Acorns' (our parent and toddlers group) and their accompanying parents we headed off to enjoy a gloriously bright and warm Spring day as we met a great friend for lunch. Then Joshua had a chance to terrorise the tourists and pigeons that gathered in Trafalgar Square before we headed home and I got set for Youth Club, which, as ever was 3 hours well spent.

I love Thursdays.
I love London.
I love the Jubilee Line.
I love my wife.
I love my son.
I love my friends.
And I'm also quite partial to a Pizza Hut buffet lunch!

Big up Cando Bradbury!!

I'm not generally in the habit of biggin' up Candidates for Officership, but Cando Bradbury is no ordinary girl - her Candidature(!) is but a small slice of this unique creature! Besides which I really only want to sign-post folk to her life-loving blog - any woman who can wear odd shoes to a funeral has got to be worth reading! And you can do that here

Serre 2007

Back in January me, some mates and my brother were lovingly sent (by our wonderful wives!) to the South of France in search of the ever elusive white stuff (and we're not talking about milk!).

Thankfully for us God blessed us with enough snow for a great week. The company was crackin' and the food phenomenal! If you're looking for a skiing resort with plenty of runs, atmosphere, but without coach loads of Brits - you'd do a lot worse than Serre Chevalier. I can't wait to take Lisa, Joshua and his brother!

Art?

A few weeks ago a friend got in touch to ask if I was up for 'experiencing' the latest large scale art installation to grace the giant turbine hall at the Tate Modern. Having recently heard of the five slides that have been constructed in the name of art I needed little convincing that it might be an hour well spent.

According to the artist(Carsten Höller), 'the experience of sliding is best summed up in a phrase by the French writer Roger Caillois as a ‘voluptuous panic upon an otherwise lucid mind’. The slides are impressive sculptures in their own right, and you don’t have to hurtle down them to appreciate this artwork. What interests Höller, however, is both the visual spectacle of watching people sliding and the ‘inner spectacle’ experienced by the sliders themselves, the state of simultaneous delight and anxiety that you enter as you descend.'

I don't mind admitting to a little bit of 'voluptuous panic' as I entered the giant pipe! Whether or not it's art it does wonders for the prayer-life! As fun as it was to actually slide my personal highlight was watching and listening to adults and children alike gigglying and screaming excittedly as they spiralled 'artistically' downwards.

Whether you fancy sliding or not, it's well worth a visit.

What does a tenner get you?

According to the United Nations 'half a million children's lives in the Third World could be saved a year, at a cost of less than £10'.

We agree and thats why we're keen to support our friends who are actively seeking to save lives in Zambia, and to do so they need a new ambulance and so we're asking 200 people to give '£10 and a not a penny more!'

If you'd like to do so, or you think others might like to, click here to find out what to do, or here to find out what its all about.

Who will be the 100th?

Over the last couple of weeks people have continued to sign up to make the Chikankata Ambulance an impending reality. So much so that we are almost half-way there, but as England supporters know only too well - it's the second-half that often proves trickier than the first! Just ask Sven!

So who will be the 100th donatee and see us into the second half? Click here
if you fancy it! Click here if you need an explanation.

They came from the east and they came from the west...

It's fair to say that I've never been at a wedding quite like it. Just about everyone had to travel miles to be there! I mean the two ring-bearers travelled from Bermuda and Dallas, Texas and they weren't alone.

But something that blew me away was the fact that Nick's family who had travelled from Vancouver (Canada) to Newfoundland (also Canada) had travelled further to get there than anyone else - including those of us who'd travelled from the UK?! That's a big country!

If you're like me and you like to check these things out you'll find that there are 3135 miles (5046 km) (2725 nautical miles - what's going on with 'nautical' miles?!) between Vancouver and St. Johns and 2345 miles (3774 km) (2038 bizarre nautical miles) between London and St.Johns so it isn't even a close run thing?!


Canada is a beast of a place! A beautiful beast, but a beast nonetheless!

Job done... I think?!

Like first time pilots and first time dentists you could be forgiven for not wanting to be around when a vicar/officer type-person is conducting their first wedding/funeral. The funeral will have to wait, but I've got my first wedding under my belt and I'm led to believe it went OK - job done! At least if it's legal?! Because these things are rarely straight forward and this was no different - the wedding involved two people living in Texas and the wedding itself was in St. Johns, Newfoundland - Canada. So as long as I've done all I needed to do to be properly licensed(!) it's job done, otherwise its an expensive cock-up! If nothing else they look married!
















Remember, if you want to get married in Canada - I'm your man, at least for the next 30 days?!

65 and counting!

The Chikankata Appeal is a little over one week old and already 65 brave? foolish? but definitely generous people have joined the cause and donated £10 of their hard-earned cash.

It means only 8 days in we've acquired 25% of our mission's target. Of course it also means we have another 75% to find and vacancies for another 135 willing volunteers eager to 'sign up'! But remember, it's £10 per person and not a penny more!

We're really humbled and grateful for everyone who has already given and for those who are working hard to spread the word - please keep doing so, the quicker we complete our mission, the quicker our friends at Chikankata can get their new Ambulance.

If you don't have the foggiest idea what I'm talking about, please click here
for an explanation or head to www.justgiving.com/notapennymore to get involved.

Boys will be boys!

I spent yesterday on a stag-day for Adam 'the best of men' Bonner, who 'weds' Gemma on the 9th of September. As someone who has always been a source of encouragement, support and inspiration (not to mention friendship!) it was great to have the chance to spend some 'staggish' time with Ads.

And so we spent most of the day racing between Southampton and the Isle of Wight on two 'rib boats' and as my wind-beaten face and tired, gelatanous legs will testify - it was a great day! Certainly something I wouldn't mind doing again - but I seem to be running out of unmarried friends!

In the evening it was back to London, the East End and to Brick Lane for a curry - nice! As we relaxed, chatted, laughed and enjoyed each others company I was really encouraged by the assembled group of 'stags' - a group who didn't have to be plastered to have a good time, a group who genuinely like and respect one another, a group pretty much to a man who are passionate about God, serious about their faith and enthusiastic to flesh out their belief in careers as diverse as catering, telecommunications, youth work and international development. I was chuffed to be part of the group and to call many of the guys friends.

I was also reminded of something Jacques Ellul had said about how those in 'the clergy' should support and encourage those who witness in the workplace. I'm paraphrasing but the guist of it was 'the purpose of an Officer should not be to make the plumber into an Officer, but to make him or her into an effective model of Christian witness and service in the workplace.'

i don;t know about anyone else, but I was encouraged by the mighty stags!

Welcome to our world...

We have a couple of friends we joke with that over the last 4-5 years we hear from them about twice a year - once when they tell us they're expecting a baby and the second when the aforementioned baby has arrived!

Well we heard from them earlier in the year when they told us that they were indeed expecting and yesterday we heard that Esther Louise has arrived. I'm not sure whether or not Ian has finished 'proving' himself, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if early next year we get another phone call!

The Chikankata challenge

We recently received this email...

'Two weeks ago our ambulance broke down, resulting in the death of one newly born baby and severe complications in another delivery case. On Friday we were given the news that the Chikankata Hospital Ambulance is in need of an ambulance itself as it is very ill! Basically we need a new ambulance desperately.'

So our friends at Charlie Chikankata have given us a mission. Inspired by the Danny Wallace's of the world the mission is to find 200 people willing and daft enough to donate £10 towards a new ambulance. The 'catch' is that donatees (obviously it should be donors, but donatees seems to have more of a ring!) can only donate £10 and not a penny more!

Led by the Guv'ner, the Chikankata Ambulance Appeal has gone global, but time is of the essence. The quicker we can find 200 people to give £10 the quicker we can get the Chikankata Ambulance back on the road!

If you'd like to get involved and give £10 just click here. If you feel that £10 just isn't enough and you want to do more why not encourage someone else - friends, family, complete strangers(!) to donate £10 too.

But remember, £10 per person and not a penny more!

InTouch and knackered!

We've spent much of this week recovering from what we got up to last week!

We had the privilege of being part of Childrens Ministries' SportsWeek (InTouch 2006)and while it was a little tiring it was a phenomenally rewarding and exciting week to be part of. Ostensibly responsible for leading the worship and teaching throughout the week we did get stuck into everything else that was jammed-packed into the week - including a little bit of tennis coaching! The future of British tennis is bright!

As someone who loves his sport it was great to be part of a week that sought to draw connections between faith and sport.

As someone who loves working with kids it was great to be part of a week that acknowledge the central importance of children to Jesus and his Kingdom.

As someone who loves working with other people it was greta to be part of a team of enthusiastic, like-minded people committed to giving the children the best week possible.

As someone who didn't get to work with Roger and Noreen Batt for long enough it was great to spend the week with them.

For anyone with children likely to be aged between 8-12 next year - look out for applications next year. Your kids will come back knackered, but they'll have had a great week!