Snowdon Trip

We came back a day early due to TERRIBLE weather… gusts of 90mph, rain that came up the mountain towards you (never seen that before!). Pubs weren’t as good as I though either! Did have some nice walks though whilst we were there… we’ll be back!

Snowdon

My dad and I are leaving for Snowdon today… don’t think we’re going to get to the top though – 60mph winds, blizzards, rain over the weekend.

Anyway, there are nice pubs around…

Jogging and saying no

I’m again training for the Tewkesbury half marathon in May. It’s going well so far… my usual excuses of injuries and lack of time will of course be the reason for not breaking my pb set last year.

Jogging as a spiritual discipline?? It gives me perspective, I think clearly about a situation, I seem to be able to hear what God is saying as I run. I can’t talk and run so its a kind of solitude for me. It replenishes my soul. That makes it a spiritual discipline.

Saying no… partly its because I’m already doing too much but the other reason is that it stops me from just doing things to please others. It creates more space for my relationship with God, my wife, friends etc. It puts to death the desire to be liked by everyone.

John Ortberg’s fantastic book “The Life You’ve Always Wanted” gives some more suggestions…

4:14 and Spiritual Disciplines

Not a Biblical reference… the time that I’ve woken up and ended up downstairs making drinks for my lovely wife and myself.

Anyway…

Been reading and thinking quite a bit about spiritual disciplines (things that I can do to become more like Jesus – no hair shirts or self flagulation involved!).

Discipline 1. SAYING NO

Discipline 2. JOGGING

I’ll tell you why later on.

Slimbridge

We went to Slimbridge Wetland reserve today just south of Gloucester. I’ve not been there for about 8 years – it was a great 1/2 day out if not a bit cold…

We’ve got a nice new digital SLR camera and some fantastic photos of birds.

It is also clearly the mating season at the moment… aggressive males climbing on females who aren’t so keen. Did see two swans that clearly felt the love…

Blockbusters

To be honest, I’m fed up with going to the DVD store and having to choose between films like Hostel 2 and I love Chuck. If anyone has some good suggestions for GOOD films that are out at the moment on DVD that I might have missed they would be greatfully received!

And the answer is…

Yes

I’m going to train for ordained Anglican ministry (vicar factory)

Hasn’t really sunk in yet to be honest for either my lovely wife or me… although 3 years as a student suddenly looks VERY appealing

Before you ask, here are the answers:

1. Yes I am excited

2. Not sure what we’re going to do with our house

3. It will be a big change

4. Its up to the vicar

5. I feel no different to last week

(Mars bar for whoever gets the questions right)

Bishops Advisory Panel

As I previous posted, I was on my BAP last week to see whether or not I’m suitable material for the CofE.

The panel consists of 2 groups of 8 candidates – each group has 3 advisors – one for education, one for vocation or calling and one for pastoral. Over the 48hrs that you are there, you have a personal inventory (answer loads of questions about yourself in 40mins), a “pastoral exercise” (not yoga or pilates) which involves writing a letter giving advice etc to someone in a sticky situation, 3 interviews (one with each advisor), and a presentation and discussion.

I quite enjoyed the whole experience – met some great people and enjoyed the whole process to be honest. It was pretty exhausting as you’re on show the whole time (although I found space to watch Walk the Line, go to Starbucks and do a 3 mile run).

I’ll find out this Friday or Saturday… news to follow here!

Updating my blogroll

I’ve put Keith Hitchman’s blog on here… I read it regularly. Well recommended!

Ordination selection

For those of you that don’t know…

Tomorrow I’m going to Ely (Cambridgeshire) for a 3 day interview with people from the church of England to see if they think I’m suitable to train to be a vicar.

I’m looking forward to it… will let you know how I get on

Please pray for us, and the selectors – that they make the right decision.

Uganda Trip Photos

I’ve uploaded a whole load of photos to Flikr – click on the link on the blog and you can look at them!

We’ll be doing an evening at Holy Trinity hopefully before the Easter Holidays (i.e. April) so you’ll get to see loads of stuff there.

Crufts

Went again today with my lovely wife and her mum – it was a late Christmas present that we gave her.

Highlights of the day included the usual competition of which owner looks most like their dog (amazing how many people really fulfil this criteria). Unfortunately most of the dogs are reasonably good looking whereas last year we were looking at Bullmastiffs. No really ugly owners this year

Potters Village

Other than the plane trip home, we had a fantastic time in Uganda. Winston Churchill called Uganda “The Pearl of Africa”…

Above was the town/district that we stayed – Kisoro. Kisoro is about 5 miles from both Rwanda and DR Congo in the SW corner of Uganda. The seven of us spent 10 days here working at the Potters Village and the Anglican diocese (Muhubara). Some of the team painted a fantastic aquatic mural on the wall of the day room at the Potters Village, others cleared out a house for use in the diocese. We were involved in a parish mission at a community called Busambe, with several of the team going into local homes meeting people. They were moved by families asking them to pray for family members, including one young girl sick with Malaria. Several of us preached in different places – I got the traditional English service at the Cathedral, which meant wearing a surplice!

Currently at the Potters Village there are 6 babies, 2 child mothers (16 and 17), and another child mother who is about to have her second baby (16). Her first one died because she neglected it. At least one of the child mothers is HIV positive, as is her husband and her baby boy. The other babies have just been tested…

The Potters Village don’t keep children forever – they look to place the children after at least a year back into their extended family, or foster homes. The want to give these children the best start possible, to give them the best chance of growing up healthy.

Here is one of their stories…

Marie – about 8 months old now. She is Congolese and was left in a field in the blazing sun and pouring rain for 2 days. Both her parents and grandparents died in a refugee camp just outside Kisoro. As a result she is quite traumatised. However, she is growing slowly and being loved and cared for. I played with her for hours… she was my first ever nappy change. I was rubbish.

Highlights for me… I just loved spending time with the team at the Potters Village, changing nappies (well 2 anyway), playing with the babies, learning their stories (heartbreaking at times) and getting to know Jenny and the others. I’m going to put some of the photos on flikr so you can check them out…

Uganda trip

Finally got back from Uganda with the team yesterday morning at about 530am. Our flight was delayed for about 37 hours!! And in the end we flew to Nairobi and got the BA plane out from there instead. The reason our plane was delayed was that the pilot aborted take off just as we were about to lift off the runway. He slammed the brakes on and put the flaps up which resulted in overheated brakes and blown tyres. It didn’t feel especially scary or dramatic but as these news reports show (totally inaccurately by the way) I was involved in an international incident!! The Vice President of Uganda was on board!

British Airways Plane Aborts Take-off At Entebbe Airport in Uganda

March 1, 2008

All passengers on board a British Airways flight to London had a miraculous escape on Saturday when all the 10 tires of the Boeing 747 burst on takeoff at Entebbe international airport in Uganda.

The passengers on board, including the Ugandan Vice President, Gilbert Bukenya and the crew, were evacuated from the plane.

Pius Sawa, who was flying to Arusha Tanzania, witnessed the incident and says airport staff rushed and evacuated the shocked passengers, many of whom were taken back to the departures lounge at the airport.

Sawa says there was confusion at the airport as people tried to figure out what could have caused the tires to burst.

James Baba, the state minister in the office of the Vice President, has confirmed the incident. Baba says aeronautic engineers at the airport are trying to fix new tires, but other sources at the airport say engineers will have to be flown from London.

It is not yet clear whether an alternative flight will be arranged for the stranded passengers, some of whom came with the plane from Nairobi, Kenya.

Sources at the airport say this is the first time such an incident has happened at the usually quiet international airport.

Load of cobblers. More stories from the trip and photos to follow soon