Community of Readers

I was invited to join this group on Facebook. Most of the time I ignore this kind of thing because I’m sick to death of “join this group and we’ll change the world” kind of thing.

It is good, run  by good people. Don’t worry so much about the Facebook group – check out their website HERE.

Happy Christmas

To all those who stumble on my blog…

Be blessed and be merry.

Peace.

Leadership

Over the next couple of weeks I’ve got to write an essay comparing leadership and pastoral care… I have my pile of books ready to read over Christmas, which will inspire me to write yet another master document…

Or on Jan 5th, I’ll pull an all-nighter.

Being Ill

I’ve been ill (well still am a bit).

I caught a bad cold about a week ago and have spent most of the week sputtering, pouring snot and feeling reasonably crap. My worst day coincided with my Greek exam and the big Christmas party I was organising at college.

I have always been very proud about how I never get ill. In the 7 years I was working at Trinity, I didn’t have a single day off sick. In fact in that time I got ill once – during the Christmas period last year.

This time I’ve been able to watch ridiculous amounts of the West Wing during my recuperation. Although on the days I felt worse I had to revise and then sit my Greek. I even felt too ill to eat my college Christmas lunch.

There are always so many jokes made about moaning blokes who get ill – I wouldn’t want to comment on whether women moan the same amount…

Anyway, more importantly Wolves are 7 points clear at the top of the league… any team with our number of points at this stage of the season has ALWAYS been promoted.

Fishing… is spiritual

I was told by a mentor I once met with that fishing was a spiritual activity for me and something that I should do regularly. Music to my ears. He didn’t really unpack what he meant by that so here are some of my thoughts about it.

Fishing is solitude… as per my previous posts on Myers Briggs – I came out as a 61 on the extravert scale. I’m not supposed to like being on my own. But I do. In fact, it is absolutely crucial to me. If I don’t get time on my own I can’t hear God speak to me. I need to be on my own to make decisions. I don’t spend much time actively praying whilst I’m fishing, simply because I’m usually concentrating on what I’m doing (I don’t tend to sit still for long). Every human being needs solitude… Jesus went to the desert, escaped the crowds, climbed mountains so that he could have time alone with his Father. Sometimes exhaustion can only be solved through solitude rather than sleep. Perhaps you need to clear your head and get some space. You need solitude.

Fishing is challenging… I don’t fish for small fish (unless I’m going to use them as bait). I’m after big fish. The fish that I usually fish for are called Barbel. I fish for them in areas that don’t have a lot of them, but do have big ones. Big fish grow big because they’ve avoided being eaten by predators and caught much by anglers. This makes them hard to catch. I spend time thinking about how I might approach a particular session… I understand the weather better than most. I exercise my brain and my instinct when I’m fishing. That is a spiritual activity.

Fishing is really good fun… if it wasn’t I wouldn’t fish. I love nature, I love catching fish, I love fishing with others, I love it I love it I love it.

One of the biggest killers of Godly spirituality is boredom and monotony. God created us to enjoy life. “The glory of God is man or woman fully alive.” Fishing is one of the things that keep me fully alive. Fishing will help me not to be a workaholic. Fishing will keep me connected to the outdoors. Fishing is a gift from God.

Jokes

I can’t tell a good joke, but my niece told me this one earlier and I laughed a lot:

What’s invisible and smells of carrots?

A rabbit’s fart

Myers Briggs part 2

This comment was left on my last post… I hope Phoebe doesn’t mind me making it a proper post!

Did Myers Briggs when I first started youth work and found it immensely helpful in understanding my personal traits and how I work best!

I’m an ESFJ, glad that you’re proud of your E score!!! My E score is not quite as high but my mate (also ESFJ) got 56 on the J score and our workshop leader said:

“Andy’s score is 56 for “J”, but this doesn’t mean that he just has the “J” qualities and no “P”s. Because it’s a spectrum and a scale and no person is just one thing or the other, we’re all somewhere between the two, with attributes of both J & P. So even though Andy has a lot of “J-ness” he also still has a little “P-ness”….

Not even the tiniest bit of laughter from the rest of the group and in a room full of middle-aged church folk I was nearly crying whilst trying not to laugh….

CJ does the Jackal

Christmas coming to a church near you