A spot of Colour at the south pole

Pic: Jean de Pomereu/Lita Albuquerque Stusio
Blue fiberglass spheres, 99 of them, bring some colour to the normally mono-chrome South Pole region. The pattern they display is the morror of the paths of stars above. This is the work of artist Lita Albuquerque, an earth artist from the USA. Umm, Nice....

Fog at Heathrow

Tim Ockenden

Fog at Heathrow causes chaos and missery to holiday maker hoping to get away for Christmas. British Airways website crashed yesterday causing more problems for would-be travellers. The British weather strikes again. I remember back at school when our geography teacher gave us a title to write an essay on. It was "The British Isles doesn't have a climate, it has weather - discuss".

Anger

Tope Koleoso gave a wonderful sermon today at Jubilee Church on the subject of anger. Get it here for download.

A new blog

I've started a new blog at The Piglet Files where I will be posting my thoughts and ideas about what is happening in the world

Education, education, education...

I've just been reading about and listening to (on the radio and TV) information on the legislation on booster seats for children. Now I'm in favour of safety, but it looks as if this has been brought in on the thoughts that more and more children are die-ing in road traffic accidents and therefore the children must be strapped in safely so that if the vehicle they are in does happen to have an accident, the child would be safe. A fair assumption. But, when there is a traffic accident, surely there is more to protect than the child. What about the adult sitting next to child, the pedestrian walking beside the speeding traffic, the white van driver making deliveries and therefore not required to ware a seat belt, and driver of said vehicle... I could go on. Will those in charge of making legislation be looking in to these areas as well and coming up with more 'restrictive' measures. Wouldn't it be better if we were all strapped in with 5 point harnesses and a roll cage to boot, at least then we'd be as safe as the Formula 1 boys.

A few weeks ago there were articles in various newspapers and on the television and radio about the quality of the exams and whether they were hard enough or not because it seemed that too many students were getting higher and higher grades. I don't blame the students for being up in arms about this as they aren't the ones who decided on the characture of the exams or the content of their courses. The examing boards where saying that the exams weren't becoming easier, but the students were working harder and passing well. The results speak for themselves.

And just now at the Labour Party Conference it was announced that course work would now be done in school under supervision to stop cheating, (as if any student would dare to!) and that it was found that internet web sites where 'geared-up' to help students. You can look at this in two ways, one, well done to the student for their initiative and finding out how to get a task done well and for the minimum work, or, you could tear them off a strip for not entering into the course work in a manner that would benefit them in the long term, eg, do it right now and then take the short cuts later if it works. By using their initiative the student have undermined there own education because there will come a point where short cuts will not do and the long way is the only way and then the student would not know what to do.

This has made me think that maybe, just maybe, we've been heading down the wrong road. I always thought that tests, like the road test and exams like the ones we've all take at school, were there to check what we have learnt and whether we can use it effectively. I get the impression that now that everything seems to be heading for league tables and 'a competitive market' (whatever that means?) that students are being taught how to pass the exam rather than letting the exam be a check on what they have been learnt and to a lesser degree how well the teachers taught. I do believe that this is a dangerous path to tread. Without the necessary skills to use the knowledge gained in education we will have a generation who can excel at passing exams but nothing else. Taking this to the road, wouldn't it be better to teach and educate drivers-to-be how to drive and use a half ton metallic projectile rather than pass an exam. A recent survey has suggested that fewer and fewer drivers know the meaning of various road signs shown them, and various rules in the HIghway Code. Is it any wonder then that there are more accedents on our roads?

My point is that I don't think exams are doing now what their intention was a decade or 2 ago. I consider myself to be fortunate in that when I was at school I was taught how to learn, which then made teaching easier for the teachers and the exams checked how we could use this new information. There always seems to be something useful from the pass. There is the old adage of 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'. Beware of the improvement for the sake of improvement.

Be careful what you say

Adrian Warnock preached on the need for us to control our tongues. Jubilee Church has made the audio available to download.

A new way

Just a quick test to see if this works. I'm using an application called MacJournal which allows me to write up posts for my blog and save them on my computer to up-load at a later date. This is to see if it works...

Free Because Of Jesus

Adrain Warnock's lastest sermon is now available at Jubilee Church Semons entitled Free because of Jesus. Adrian sets out that for those in Christ Jesus there is no condemnation. There are too many christians who beat themselves over and over again for thngs they've done which they feel they shouldn't of done. But because of Christ Jesus, There should be no guilty feeling for Jesus took the punishment for you and me and the world, that we may be set free. Romans 8:1 'Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.' 'nuff said
Part 2 Next week

Up-date

Previously I asked if my good friend Adrian had softened his views on the different translations of the Bible because he had read from the NIV... well, he has informed me that he hasn't and the only reason he had read from the NIV was that he had mis-layed his ESV that morning. Normal service will resume with the next sermon...

A day out in London

On May 5th my friend Jules (now girlfriend and fiance) and I went into London and went on the London Eye and then had a look at some fish and things at the London Aquarium...

Stop Press

Adrian Warnock reads from the NIV bible
Adrian normally reads from the ESV Bible but on sunday he read from the NIV Bible, is he softening his views?? ;-)
Adrian's sermon Needy people need God is now available to listen to or download or via thepodcast, enjoy

Read This

LET IT REALLY SINK IN - THEN CHOOSE.

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

He was a natural motivator.

If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it!

You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"

He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or .. you can choose to be in a bad mood.

I choose to be in a good mood."

Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.

Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood.

You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."

I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.

After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw him about six months after the accident.

When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?"

I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.

He continued, "..the paramedics were great.

They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action."

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'."

Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."

He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude... I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.

Attitude, after all, is everything.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34.

After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

You have two choices now:

01. Ignore this

02. Copy, Paste and send this to the people you care about.



You know the choice I made.

Another Prayer works

Hi All,
Another sermon has been published on prayer, this on is titled Prayer works when life is good by Adrian Warnock, at the Jubilee Church web site. I enjoyed it and learnt lots too, hope you do to.
God Bless
James

Prayer Works 3

Part 3 in the series of Prayer Works sermons, Prayer works when life is tough by Adrian Warnock another of our gifted preachers. This one struck me in the way psalm 13 was explained in that David, the author of psalm 13 (and many others) started off in a sorry state or a 'woe is me' frame of mind but by the end he was thanking God for what He has done and about to do, meaning that just by praying in a humble and 'reliant on God' way can bring you hope where there seems to be none. May I suggest that if you are feeling a little down, whether or not you are a Christian, why not have a prayer, little or big, and trust in God for the answers. Have a listen to Adrian and make up your own mind, mine agreed with Adrian (and the Bible!)
God bless, James

Prayer Works 1 & 2

Hi,
There are now 2 sermons about prayer by Tope Koleoso, the lead pastor at Jubilee Church in the sermons sections. Full instruction for listening and/or downloading and podcasting given.
They are both very good and worth listening to.
God Bless
James