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If you haven’t seen this yet, you need to.
New Blog!
After several days of sweating over CSS, trying to learn it but mostly just playing until I got it to work, the newly redesigned website & blog are live!
I finally took the plunge to move my blog over onto self-hosted WordPress, and set it alongside my photography portfolio. It can now all be found in one place – here! The archives from my previous blog have all been imported, and will soon be searchable again.
Do take a bit of time to poke around & let me know what you think.
Things
No, not a random collection of things, but Things – the excellent task management app I’ve been using on my iPhone for the last few months.
I’d been looking for a decent way of doing task management between my phone & my laptop, and everyone I talked to was recommending Things. Being the cheapskate that I am, I only bought the app for the iPhone (and not my laptop); even at that I was reluctant to pay £6 for an iPhone app.
I can honestly say it’s been the best £6 I’ve spent! I’ve been using Things for a few months now and it’s so versatile. Highly recommended! Once I rejoin the world of the employed I’d like to get hold of the desktop Things application as well.
Lyrics On Friday
I’ve been listening to a lot of phenomenal music of late, but this is the song that has been grabbing my heart for the last couple of days…
If you were hungry would we give you food?
If you were thirsty would we give you drink?
If you were a stranger would we let you in?
What would be a song we’d sing to you when there in need?
Would it be an empty hallelujah to the king?Turn down the music
Turn down the noise
Turn up your voice oh God and let us hear the sound
Of people broken, willing to love
Give us your heart oh God a new song rise in usAnd if you were naked, would we give you clothes?
If you were an orphan would we give our home?
And if you were in prison, would we visit you?
What would be a song we’d sing to you when there in need?
Would it be an empty hallelujah to the king?Turn down the music
Turn down the noise
Turn up your voice oh God and let us hear the sound
Of people broken, willing to love
Give us your heart oh God a new song rise in usLet it be our worship
Let it be our true religion
In this world but not of it
Holding on to our confessionTurn down the music
Turn down the noise
Turn up your voice oh God and let us hear the sound
Of people broken, willing to love
Give us your heart oh God a new song rise in
A new song rise in
A new song rise in us[Turn Down The Music – Shane & Shane]
What’s been running through your ears, heart, and head this week?
Bind Them As A Sign
There’s this passage in Deuteronomy that I love,
Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Bind them as a sign on your hand, fix them as an emblem on your forehead, and write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
[Deut 6:4-9]
It’s such a physical thing. Maybe God know’s we’re not so good with abstract concepts; after all, wasn’t that the point of the Incarnation? God with us. Flesh & blood. Physical.
At my old flat, I had scribbled in big, bold, red letters above my bedroom door “LOVE WINS”. Every time I left my room I caught a glimpse of those words. Regular reminders of the world that is to come, the kingdom we are anticipating.
Then I took it to another level. Five months ago, I got inked:
And yep, it’s physical. It hurt. I’m a wimp [No surprise there!]. Bind them as a sign… It’s not on my forehead, but it’s an emblem for sure, and it’s fixed on my ankle.
These past few weeks I’ve realised how important it is for me. It’s been a beautiful & difficult few weeks – I’ve come to expect that paradox now. Broken & beautiful. Grieving for friends I’ve lost. Celebrating with friends embarking on new journeys. Searching for my own answers.
Some days I want to give up. Some days it’s hard to keep going.
And then I catch a glimpse of my ankle. And I’m reminded of the God who leads me on a wild goose chase. Who is making all things new.
And the pain of getting inked was totally worth it.
An Evening With…
Jonny Baker, which was actually weeks ago now. But hey. Jonny was up in Scotland and held a little Blah/Blether, which my wonderful flatmates where catering for. I’ve been thinking a lot about a couple of things he said…
Jonny talked about “bishops as permission givers”, and I’m intrigued. That perhaps their role is more to give us permission to go and experiment and do stuff, rather than prescribing their own/ their denominational ideas of how ‘it’ (whatever it is) should be done.
And this phrase, which is perhaps the most hopeful thing I have heard in a long time… “The church might appear to be dying, but the Spirit likes resurrection.”
Photographing The Hidden Story
TED Talks continue to inspire me with their phenomenal content. I watched this talk by Ryan Lobo today, on Photographing the hidden story, and was inspired all over again by the power of story and of photography… this is why I do what I do.
People Of The Second Chance
I meant to blog it last week, then time ran away with me as usual. However, the newly relaunched People Of The Second Chance blog is live! Check it out.
Cold Tangerines
A while ago I discovered that I comment I left on an article on Wrecked For The Ordinary resulted in a copy of Cold Tangerines winging it’s way to my doorstep. You know me… I’m never one to turn down free books.
That book happens to be Shauna Niequist’s first book, and it is stunning. It’s very easy to read, yet it’s this beautiful celebration of life in all it’s fullness. It’s learning to let go of the need to impress and simply rejoicing in the little things (and the big ones). Perhaps my favourite thing is that it’s real – that I can imagine having been a part of the kind of stories she tells.
You can read a few chapters from it on her website.
Check Boxes & Wild Goose Chases
“Therein lies the best career advice I could possibly dispense: just DO things. Chase after the things that interest you and make you happy. Stop acting like you have a set path, because you don’t. No one does. You shouldn’t be trying to check off the boxes of life; they aren’t real and they were created by other people, not you. There is no explicit path I’m following, and I’m not walking in anyone else’s footsteps. I’m making it up as I go.”
[Career advice from Charlie Hoehn, via SwissMiss]
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