Episode 120 - Special

I am probably by most definitions, not normal. I look different to most people, think different to many people and behave pretty different sometimes too. I am unique. You’re unique too. I find that amazing; 8 billion people and no two of us are the same. Each one has their own identity, and each of us has a unique set of gifts, talents and character to bless the world with. Of course some of us are more different than others. I have always felt like one of the more different ones, not that this ever bothered me. I’ve never cared too much about what other people thought about me and I imagine that for the most part who I am is met by bewilderment. I think on the most part my differentness is inoffensive, even likeable, although there are always some who are opposed to it, but I figure that’s their prerogative and I don’t let it bother me.

Recently I was criticised for something which I thought was quite unfair and couldn’t really understand where it had come from. The funny thing is, it wasn’t that I felt I had been falsely accused because what they said about me was true. I felt it was unfair because I couldn’t for the life of me understand why this aspect of my character would be a bad thing! But that was because I was different and so I see the world differently. But whilst this wouldn’t normally bother me, it got me thinking, could it be that my differentness which God gave to me to bless those around me was actually getting in the way of me blessing those God intended me to? I don’t actually have an answer, and don’t worry, I’m not going to start being any less me, but has made me think more about understanding other people’s differentness and how we might be able to complement each other better.

Episode 119 - Happy Easter!

It's Easter Monday! Which is very exciting, because it means we get a day off work! But more than that, as a Christian, Easter is a time that I remember all that Jesus has done for me (not that I don't remember it ever day). Even if you're not a Christian, I imagine that it's a time that in between the chocolate eggs and the hot cross buns you're inclined to wonder even if just for a second, how people can really believe all that crazy stuff about Jesus. Well whatever you make of Easter, today I want to share a couple of Easter articles from the Guardian which I hope you will enjoy whether you consider Him your Lord and saviour or as real as the Easter bunny. Here they are;

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/apr/14/what-is-the-historical-evidence-that-jesus-christ-lived-and-died

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/aug/03/christianity-resurrection-religion

If the links don't work for you, you can copy them directly into your address bar at the top of the screen. Don't worry they're safe I promise!

Epside 118 - When There Are No More Signs

Yesterday I went for a walk somewhere I'd never been before. It was a well marked path. Or at least it was to begin with. As I started the walk there was a big footpath sign that pointed across the field ahead, to a stile. When I got to the stile there was a little yellow arrow pointing across the field to another stile with another little yellow arrow pointing across the next field to yet another stile with another little yellow arrow. And so it continued. Or at least so it continued until it didn't. Eventually I came to a field so big and so hilly that I couldn't see the other side, and didn't know where there the stile was. So the only choice I had was to trust that the sign was pointing in the right direction and keep on going until I could see the next one. And lo and behold, there it was, eventually, and my uncertainty had been proven to be for no good reason. And all was good again. For a while. But then later I got to a stile that had no sign on it! How was I supposed to know which way to go? How I was I supposed to know that I was even on the right path at all? 

Much like the piece of wood in the corner of the field that doesn't belong to me... 

...it's not my stile

Well I didn't. But going backwards wasn't going to help me at, so I had to just keep going. Going wherever looked most like it was the way I was supposed to go, looking for signs and stiles or anything else which might indicate the way forward. In the end I made it. There were a few sign to reassure me, but often I was on my own just trusting what had come before me to direct me towards what was ahead. Sometimes life is easy, with clear directions and a straight forward path. Other times it's not. It can be hard and confusing. Vague and unclear. In those times we just have to trust the direction we have been given and trust ourselves to follow the path the best we can.