Dangerous Driving...?

A few weeks ago I made the 3 and a bit hour drive up to the Parentals in the Farmlands to get my car MOT'd.  It's a drive I am very familiar with, and know pretty much like the back of my hand - although I still set my SatNav each time I make the journey, but that's another story.

As usual I made the journey late into the night, setting off from London at 9.30pm so that I could miss the traffic on the Car Park that is the M25 London Orbital.  Firmly cosied down in my PJ's (I know - what if I needed to stop for any reason...) and with the iPod on the go, I set off...and I was thwarted in every direction.  Road works on the M25, road works on the M40, a diversion on the M40, then a Diversion when my exit onto the M6 was closed, which took me right through the centre of Birmingham and into No Mans Land.  Hellish.

At about 1am I hit the A41, a single lane road in the Farmlands, full of twists and turns and blind corners, and possibly the most frustrating road in England due to the myriad of articulated vehicles and tractors that seem to think it's a great idea to hold up us normal cars who JUST WANT TO GET TO WHERE THEY'RE GOING!  It is a highway fraught with Road Rage.  Namely mine.

And, after 4 hours of diversion hell, I got stuck behind a Milk Lorry.

By this point in the 'should have been an easy ride but turned into the drive from hell' journey I was just about ready for a cup of tea and a sit down. 

And then it happened.

Blue lights and sirens behind me.

I pull over, thinking that they're after the Milk Lorry because of the drivers obvious inconsideration of my need for a cuppa.  But no, the Milk Lorry continues, and the Policeman comes towards MY car.

At this point I metaphorically soil myself, and the fleeting thought of, 'they've caught up with me,' flits through my mind as unfounded paranoia (I really haven't done anything worthy of 'being caught up with' for!) takes a momentary grip.

As the policeman makes his way ominously to the car I try and look innocent of anything I may be accused of.  Innocent is not a good look on me. Then I remember I'm wearing my PJ's.  Oops.  Mature starting place, I think not.

He asks me if I've been drinking, at which I laugh (not a good idea), as my driving is, I quote, 'all over the place, and very erratic.' 

I stop laughing.

He is pacified with the explanation that I've just driven up from London, have had the journey from Hell, and that my erratic driving was just my attempts at trying to find a place to overtake the blessed Milk Lorry that was thwarting my attempts at getting to the Parentals and embedding myself in the Sofa with the much needed Tea.  And he waves me on my way.

I make it home, in one piece, to the desired cuppa and laughs from the Parentals who know my driving too well and are surprised I've not been pulled over more often.  Encouraging.

And I got to thinking. 
I know that drive, I know the destination, I know the twists and turns and I know that, even stuck behind a Milk Lorry going at 40 miles an hour, I would have been home in 20 minutes.  Yet, still I felt the need to drive in such a way that I appeared drunk to a bystanding Police Officer.  For what?  To get past the Milk Lorry and shave another 5 minutes off the time it took me to get back?

I think we do that quite often.  Not only in our cars, but in our lives.

We each journey in different ways and in different seasons.
We think we know what the journey of the season will be like, how long it will take us to get where we're headed and what the conditions will be, and we even sometimes wear metaphorical PJ's because we think we'll not have to stop for anything.

And then, 20 minutes away from home, we get frustrated at how long it's taking, by the other people who are on the same journey but who are going slower than we would like to, by people who 'get in our way', by our desire to 'just BE THERE already.'

We drive dangerously.

The stop I was forced to make by the police meant that the last part of the journey home took me just as long as it would have, had I patiently stayed behind the Milk Lorry.  And, it would have been WAY less stressful, with one less 'potential soiling of myself' incident.

I wrote a few days ago about 'Dead Poets and Dreaming,'...about how we need to leap into the journey and take risks and move into the unknown, trusting that all will become clear...

But, there are moments on the journey when the old adage, 'more haste, less speed,' is so true - that when we're moving in the flow, when we're on our way, we need to think about the way we're 'driving'.

Sometimes we make the journey harder than it needs to be by rushing.

This, I think, is a lesson worth learning.

Derren Brown and Dodgy Faith Healers...

I have always had a soft spot for Derren Brown (read:  I fancied him a LOT and then I realised he prefers the company of Men Folk...sigh). 

For those of you friends from overseas who don't know who Derren Brown is, check out his IMDB profile here - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1494925/.  He's an amazing psychological trickster and a bit of an evil genius.

I find him incredibly funny in that wonderfully subversive 'not everyone quite gets it' kind of way, I think he has a HUGE heart and soul, and his intelligence wows me - I love the way his brain works. He also hails from my part of London (Croydon). During his school days he professes to have been a Christian, worshipping in a 'Charismatic'church, but has since become rather vocal in the defence of Atheism, is a rather good friend of 'Dastardly Dick Dawkins' (Richard Dawkins - famed Atheist and irritant to 'God-Botherers') and has much to say about his experiences during his brief period in the church - many of which make me cross on his behalf and want to explain to him the Jesus I have come to know.

Last night Channel 4 aired one of his 'Specials' called 'Miracles for Sale'. 
The premise of the show was that the 'Faith Healing' business - particularly in America, where the end part of the show was based - is indeed that, a business.  A business, Derren contends, that is designed to rip people off, create false hopes, is based on power-trips and hype, adrenaline rushes and trickery.

Based upon that premise, Derren set out in search of an unsuspecting member of the British public prepared to adopt the guise of a pastor and miracle worker. Nathan was the chosen one, and he then had 6 months in which to learn the 'tricks of the trade' so that he could successfully take off as a Pastor across the pond in the US of A, the aim being to expose the insidious business of 'Faith Healing' for what it really is.

Nathans preparation included intensive schooling in the Scriptures from a Christian who was a 'recovering Faith Healer' himself, acting lessons, coaching in vocal dynamics and explanations of the 'methods' used by Faith Healers to make crowds more compliant and induce various mass group behaviours - such as hypnotic music, rhythms and manipulation.

As they prepared for the trip to the US, the production team, and Nathan himself, experienced pangs of guilt, fears over the level of deception they were embarking on and worries over their safety and their ability to 'pull it off'.  When they reached the US they experienced the level of security and paranoia that surrounds some of the 'Faith Healers' ministries, and witnessed at first hand some of the deceptions that abound in that particular area of 'Ministry.'

I will leave it up to you to watch the show for more of the detail but the culmination of the programme was, in essence, the holding of a 'Revival' meeting at which Nathan - by this point firmly in character as his alias 'Pastor James', who had been living in Uganda and practicing his ministry out there - 'healed' people in the manner of the Faith Healers that the show was designed to reveal as fraudsters.  Given that Nathan was a 'plant' and claimed to have no healing gift, yet still seemed to achieve the results that other self styled Faith Healers do, it threw up a myriad of questions around that whole area of Christian Activity.

I found that I had a few responses to the show.

Firstly, I LOVED it.  I really appreciated the way that the show was framed - which was that it was not designed to be an attack on Faith, Religion, Church, or even aspects of Gods ability to heal today, rather that it was designed to highlight and reveal a certain 'element' of activity by specific people who have an agenda other than the Kingdom of God.  It felt very respectful of Christians, and of Faith in general.  He did make some unhelpful comments about the lack of verification of people who had been healed by God which were not true, as there are many instances of those in the Medical Profession having verified such things as Tumours disappearing between scans and Diseases being miraculously healed.  I wish he hadn't said that part.

Secondly, I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly with the conclusions that the show came to - in that there ARE aspects of 'revival' and 'healing' meetings that, even beyond the 'money' element of certain ministries, are manipulative and rely on crowd dynamics and hysteria in order to bring about certain responses and results.  I have the channel 'God TV' as a part of my cable package, and have on occasion flicked over to watch. There have been numerous times when, upon my channel hopping, I have been confronted with scenes of hysteria, manipulative preaching and 'suspect supernatural activity' that seems to have NO basis in scripture or the vision of the Kingdom of God which I understand.

Thirdly, and for me, most importantly, I found myself convicted enough to need to look at my own practices and understandings of the more 'Supernatural' aspects of Gods activity (although for those of us who believe we are participating in the coming of the Kingdom, these are less 'supernatural' and more 'entirely natural'). 

I firmly believe in the fruit and gifts of Holy Spirit (including healing) and the activity of Holy Spirit in the here & now.  I have experienced the power of Holy Spirit as She has ministered to people, comforting and healing and restoring and revealing.  I have prayed for healing of others and received healing myself on a number of levels.  I have had encounters with people in ministry that have been firmly unexplainable were it not for Holy Spirit and Her leading and guiding.  I believe that times of abandoned and exuberant celebration (both personal and collective) of all that God is are beautiful and wonderful, and that when we see glimpses of the glory of God we are changed and renewed.  I have been present in large gatherings of Jesus-Followers where Worship has been life changing, Teaching has been mind blowing, and Ministry has been so powerful that Heaven has been coming on Earth - and all of that has been kosher and un-manipulated.

BUT I have also been in situations where I have seen various types of what can only be described as Spiritual Abuse taking place - where people have been told what to think, told off for not being more compliant or for daring to question the person 'leading' the session, where the atmosphere has been so hyped up you would almost need to be stone cold dead not to feel the dynamics of the crowd.  I have watched preachers push people over, manipulate people and, in the case of a certain recent Floridian 'Revival' behave in such an abusive way that it bore virtually no resemblance to the quiet, creative and lovingly gentle way we see our Jesus deal with issues of healing and restoration.

I have the privilege of teaching and leading worship regularly and I have to say that, for the most part, I know how to hold a crowd (and I do not say that to big myself up in any way).  A huge part of that comes naturally as I love to tell stories and weave tales, and my inspiration for that is the best story teller in the world - Jesus.  There is nothing wrong in that, in and of itself.  I guess that the problem comes if manipulation is allowed to sneak in, if my evaluation of how well something has gone, or how something should go, is based on anything other than Holy Spirit being allowed to do exactly what SHE wants to do, rather than MY desired outcomes of an event or service. 

I guess that, after watching last nights programme, I am left with the question, 'does what I do EVER look like 'that',' and, if it does, even just a tiny bit, well - that's just not on.

Resurrection Sunday...

I spent last night at the 'institution' that is the Christ Church annual Easter Saturday All Nighter with some of the amazing young people I get to do life alongside...we worshipped, we pondered, Rob (not Bell) created a Fake Nooma for us (some of you will know what I mean) based around Badgers, Mushrooms and Snakes (you kind of had to be there). We walked into town near midnight and ate kebabs and slept very little before heading off to join other Jesus Followers at Higher Drive Rec to welcome in the Sunday of Resurrection. The sunrise was astoundingly beautiful, breathtakingly awesome.  Jesus is Alive.  Grace is here.  The reconciliation of ALL THINGS is in motion. 

"The third day began with a chuckle.  The sun snickered as it climbed over the worlds edge.  The trees trembled and shook as they caught on.  A great belly-laugh thundered from the earth to the sky, booming through the heavens.  The tomb was empty; death was empty; hell was empty.  Jesus was alive, alive with a life freshly immune to death.  Every hammer blow on Golgotha had driven another nail into the coffin of the system,  By the time the Life-leeches understood, it was too late.  They themselves had planted the seed of love in the raw earth and now it had struck, never to be uprooted...

God's laughter springs from the final turning of the tables.  The worst of the world was aimed at God on that cross; evil, hatred, jealousy, fear, cruelty, revenge, death itself.  It was all swallowed up in love, as the sea absorbs a rainstorm, and changed - transformed into goodness and hope and unassailable life.  Jesus didn't just come alive again...He rose to a way of being that compares to human life as the sun to a torch."
Mike Riddell - Godzone

Jesus is Risen, He is Risen indeed.

It's Friday...but Sunday's coming...

Holy Week – Thursday

Old City of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives

I have always ‘got’ aspects of Thursdays journey in Holy Week, but my understanding of the significance of the Seder which Jesus celebrated with his friends on that last evening together was sharpened and made more poignant after celebrating a Passover Meal with friends a while back.

Hearing and participating in the Haggadah, the retelling,  breaking the middle piece of Matzo bread as a symbol of the Passover Lamb and hiding it, ready for it to be found later in the meal, broken into pieces and shared as Jesus’ words about body broken echo in the memory and heart.   The poignancy of sipping from the third cup of the Seder, the cup of redemption which marks Gods promises about redeeming us with outstretched arm, the image of Jesus, holding the cup out and pronouncing blood poured out for us and inviting us to share in the journey with Him, vivid in the room.

It is, however, when I ponder the Garden of Gethsemane that my heart breaks wide open and the fullness of Jesus’ wrestling hits me.  I remember sitting a couple of years ago in the church that marks that garden, on the Mount of Olives, just outside the Old City of Jerusalem.  Years of seasons of Holy Week musings about that place, that encounter, those moments, hit me, and I was simply overwhelmed and sat as a friend read the account in scripture of Jesus with his best friends by his side (albeit asleep) as He wrestled with the weight of the world.

‘At some moment during that midnight hour an angel of mercy comes to the weary body of the man in the garden.  As He stands, the anguish is gone from His eyes.  His fist will clench no more.  His heart will fight no more.

The battle is won.  You may have thought it was won on Golgotha.  It wasn’t.  You may have thought the sign of victory is the empty tomb. It isn’t.  The final battle was won in Gethsemane.  And the sign of conquest is Jesus, at peace in the olive trees.

For it was in the garden that He made His decision.  He would rather go through hell for you than to heaven without you.’

Max Lucado – ‘And the angels were silent’

Amen.  The reconciliation of all things.  May your Kingdom come ON EARTH as it is in heaven.



Dead Poets and Dreamings...

*Warning* - Cliches may abound in force!

My all time favourite film is 'Dead Poets Society'...a somewhat cliched choice for some, and lampooned in a certain episode of 'Friends' in which Monica meets 'Other Monica' who has stolen her Identity and been living a life full of adventure.  When 'Real Monica' asks 'Other Monica' what it is that enables her to live a life of such freedom, the response which comes is that 'I watched Dead Poets Society...and it was so dull I resolved never to waste two hours of my life like that again.' Ha!

However, for me, I remember watching the film for the first time as a teenager and being inspired to Dream big Dreams and Live a big Life...

One of my favourite quotes from the film:
Mr Keating: "Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, "Most men lead lives of quiet desperation." Don't be resigned to that. Break out!"

Even now, as a supposed 'grown up', at those times (and they come for all of us) in which I feel myself slipping into a moment of 'quiet desperation' I sink back into the ingrained memory of those moments when I realised that (in God) I could Live Big...

I have been reminded of this over the last few days because of a couple of things.

I was emailed an amazing quote by W.H. Murray, a Scottish mountain climber and writer. The email was exploring the idea that many people have immense dreams and visions and longings, but that they are paralysed to pursue them. That many of us feel the need to wait for concrete answers and absolute certainty before we leap into action or into the unknown, but that the nature of adventure and the commitment to living in the 'now' is simply the ability to ask good questions, gather the information that is available, and then act anyway - because if you don't, well, therein lies the path to 'quiet desperation'...

W.H. Murray says:

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness.

Concerning all acts of initiative and creativity there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans:
That the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.

A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.

I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets: ‘Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.’”

I am a dreamer and a ponderer by nature.  Those who know me well know that I can overanalyse to the point of that paralysis sometimes.  Being a dreamer has its benefits - I am reflective, and try to learn lessons from my journey, and I am filled with hope and excitement about what the road ahead looks like.  But, in this, God is constantly teaching me the discipline of being 'fully present' to each moment - to not be hamstrung by the past or captivated by the 'what if's'.  He's always having to remind me that, yes, that dream and vision He has awoken me to may exist firmly in the future, but if I don't move NOW I will never walk into it.

I have also been reminded of this because a week ago (how time flies!) I returned from a great adventure and season of learning with CPT (Christian Peacemaker Teams) in Iraq KRG (more about that soon).  This trip threw up all kinds of personal learning opportunities in terms of the Kingdom of God, my journey, relationships, adventure and much more.

Whenever I have been 'on the road' I always find it hard to transition back into 'every day life,' (my wanderlust is far too strong) but even more so than normal this time.  It took me a good 48 hours to be even capable of holding a coherant conversation about all that I was processing, which was not helped by the fact that my 'things I put off doing until I returned from my trip' list was longer than both my arms.  Paralysis, meet Claire, Claire - Paralysis.

This is all compounded by the fact that I am in season of discernment about future opportunities - I have been for some time - and have become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of options and possibilities.  God has been challenging me about this, and speaking more clearly into the things He has given me passions for, which is incredibly helpful.  There are a couple of things that I am about to 'leap' into (more on those developments soon), but the 'framework' surrounding those things is still hazy.

I guess I just needed to be reminded, on several levels, that:

• it is OK not to have all the answers.
• that dreaming means action.
• that I don't have to be in control, just trust.
• and, to quote W.H. Murray: ‘Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it; boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.’

Many things to ponder.

Holy Week Musings - Tuesday

As part of my journey through Holy Week this year, I am reading Marcus Borg and Dom Crossan's fabulous book 'The Last Week - What the Gospels really teach about Jesus's final days in Jerusalem.'  I highly recommend it.

Part of todays chapter resonated hugely with some of the things I wrestle with on a regular basis.
I have HUGE problems with aspects of 'paying Tax'.  Not so much the parts of my tax which are used for education, healthcare, provision of services etc, but the parts of my taxes that are used to prop up failing banks, used to finance the Military system and finance the Arms Trade.  I know of people who either choose to live below taxable income in order to not be complicit in the murkier areas of our governments operations (which in itself throws up many issues of civil responsibility and 'sponging' off the state which they so heartily find problems with), or in the US who pay only that portion of taxes which pertains to all the positive aspects of society and then treat their withholding of portions of their Tax as a non-violent action of protest against the State.

I can already hear the cries of 'naive, naive' rising up, and so I remind you that this is an area I 'wrestle' with, and have not come to any solid conclusion about at a personal level - so back off, ok! (only joking.  a bit.)

Anyway, back to the book.  Todays chapter was a long one, given that in Marks Gospel Tuesday is a busy day, a full day.  Marks narrative of Tuesday covers almost 3 chapters.  About two thirds of Tuesdays narrative deals with conflict with temple authorities and their associates.  The remaining third is mainly concerned with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.

A part of Tuesdays conflict comes in the form of a discussion about 'Taxes to Caesar'...aha...the penny drops.

Mark 12:13-17 (New International Version, ©2011)

Paying the Imperial Tax to Caesar

 ¹³ Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. ¹⁴ They came to him and said, “Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax^[a] to Caesar or not? ¹⁵ Should we pay or shouldn’t we?”    But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. “Why are you trying to trap me?” he asked. “Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” ¹⁶ They brought the coin, and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”
   “Caesar’s,” they replied.
 ¹⁷ Then Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.”
   And they were amazed at him.

Some thoughts from Borg & Crossan on the subject - as they are far more insightful than I.

"As often happens in the interpretation of the Bible, there is a habituated way of seeing this passage that gets in the way of seeing its meaning in the context of Marks story of Jesus's last week...once this had happened “Give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s" was understood as a solemn statement about the relationship between civil and religious authority, between politics and religion, or, in Christian terms, between 'Church and State'....

What this means in practice has varied considerably.  It has been understood to mean absolute obedience to the State, notoriously by the majority of German Christians during the Hitler years.  But the attitude is far more common.  Long before the modern era, monarchs and their supporters used this verse to legitimate their authority; their subjects were to obey them because Jesus said that their political obligation belonged to the rulers realm.  More recently, many American Christians used it during th Civil Rights era to criticise acts of civil disobediance.  This verse, they argued, means that we are to be obedient to civil authority, even if we might want to modify its laws.

Some use it...to argue that Christians in the US must support their governments decision to go to war...

But the heavy weight given to this verse as a solemn pronouncement about the relationship between politics and religion obscures what it means in Mark.  The story in which the verse appears continues the series of verbal confrontations between Jesus and His opponents...to imagine that their purpose is to provide a set of eternal rules about how human life should be ordered is to ignore the larger narrative of which they are a part.

They ask Jesus a question intended to trap Him in what He said...It was a volatile question.  Ever since the Jewish homeland had been added to the Roman Empire in 63 BC, Rome had required a large annual 'tribute' from the Jewish people...though tribute included the per capita tax levied on all adult Jewish men, the annual sum due to Rome included much more...It was the way the empire profited from its possessions.

Roman taxation was so onerous not only because it was economically burdensome.  It also symbolised the Jewish homelands lack of sovereignty.  It underlined the oppression of the Jews by an alien lord, as the word 'tribute' itself suggests.

The spokesman of the authorities set the trap skilfully.  Either answer would get Jesus in trouble.  If Jesus were to answer 'no', he would be charged of advocating denial of Roman authority - in short, with sedition.  If he were to answer 'yes', he risked discrediting himself with the crowd, who for both economic and religious reasons resented Roman rule and taxation...

Jesus's response is masterful...he sets a countertrap when he asks to see a denarius.  A denarius was a silver coin equal to approximately a days wage.  His interregators produce one.  Jesus looks at it and asks “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?”  We all know their answer; 'Caesars'.

Jesus's strategy has led his questioners to disclose to the crowd that they have a coin with Caesars image on it.  In this momen they are discredited.  Why?  In the Jewish homeland in the first century, there were two types of coins.  One type, because of the Jewish prohibition of graven images, had no human or animal images.  The second type (including roman coinage) had images.  Many Jews would not carry or use coins of the second type.  But Jesus's interrogators in the story did.  The coin produced had Caesars image along with the standard and idolatrous inscription heralding Caesar as divine and Son of God.  They are exposed as part of the politics of collaboration.  Jesus's rherorical strategy is brilliant:  their trap has been evaded, his own countertrap set and sprung.

Thus, even before the famous words about rendering to Caesar, Jesus has won the encounter.  But there is more:  he responds to their initial question.  His response is in two parallel halves:

1. Give to Caesar the things that are Caesars
2. Give to God the thigs that are Gods

Following immediately upon the disclosure that they are carrying a coin with Caesars image, the first half of the saying means simply, 'it's Caesars coin - give it back to him.'

This is in effect a non-answer to the larger question, 'should we pay taxes to Caesar.'  It cannot be seen as an endorsement of paying taxes to Rome, or Romes rule.  If Jesus had wanted to say 'Pay taxes to Caesar,' he could have simply answered 'yes' to their question.  There would have been no need for the scene with the coin, the central element of the story.

The nonanswer is not simply a dismissal of the issue, however.  The second half of Jesus's response is both evocative and provocative: 'Give to God the things that are Gods.'  It raises the question,'what belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God.'  For Jesus and many of his Jewish contemporaries, everything belongs to God.  So their sacred scripture affirmed.  The land of Israel belongs to God - recall Leviticus 25:23, which says that all are tenant farmers or resident aliens on land that belongs to God.

To use 'tuesdays language', the vineyard belongs to God, not to the local collaborators, not to Rome.  Indeed the whole earth belongs to God...

What belongs to Caesar?  The implication is, nothing."
Extract from 'The Last Week' by Marcus Borg and Dominic Crossan - SPCK 2008


And, after mulling over the above reading of the passage, I am left with a distinct need to ponder the question, 'so, what now'...how do I deal with the fact that everything (my Tax included) belongs to God, and yet can be used for distinctly Anti-Kingdom purposes...how am I engaged in 'subverting the Empire' and growing the Kingdom?

I love the scriptures that describe Jesus's response to needing to pay taxes - He pulled the coin out of the mouth of a Fish...which suggests that (in that season of His life at least) He did not carry money, and so did not need to participate in the economic horrors of the Empire.

Hmmmmm...

And so, the Blogging begins...

I said for quite a while that I wouldn't start a Blog.  That it felt a tad narcissistic to self-publish my inner thoughts and musings in the vain hope that others would find them interesting enough to read and comment on my insightful and incisive commentary. 

For me the art of journalling has always been a private and inward discipline which rewards the writer in years to come when, chancing upon an old journal stuffed in a cupboard, one has the chance to reflect on either the depth of thought contained therein and the lessons since learned, or to wonder at how such inane matters were so all consuming at the time of putting pen to paper (the latter of which has been my experience more than the former).

But, I have been challenged recently by a few friends who have amazing Blogs that engage me and enrich me - and give me valuable insights into the things that are important to them.  I have become more aware of the fact that I have things that I am thinking about which might have otherwise been consigned to the private pages of my journal and that, whilst many may wish them to stay firmly there, some of these ideas and musings and ponderings may grow and be challenged and shaped by a more public airing...and others may be revealed to be utter drivel by the mere act of shining a light on them.  This, I welcome. I am also aware that, hopefully, the more I write the better a writer I become and, again, this I welcome.

And so...the act of blogging begins.
Welcome to my ponderings