Read an interesting article on BJP about the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 (an ammendment to the Terrorism Act 2000), which allows for the arrest and imprisonment of anyone who takes pictures of police officers ‘likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism’.
It covers members of the armed forces, the intelligence services and police officers, and if found guilty you could be facing up to 10 years in jail.
What do you guys think about this? I have some thoughts, but I’d like to hear your comments first…
I took off a few days last week and headed on retreat, unplugging from the wider world for a couple days. I feel so much better for it! I disciplined myself to no email, no twitter, no internet… and honestly, it was harder than anticipated. It doesn’t seem to bother me so much when I’m abroad, but when I know it’s there & I could use it if I wanted to… it’s a lot harder not to. I think that time was an eye opener for me, that as much as I love the technology, to never let my worth come from my use of it. Nouwen wrote that as we embrace silence, we quickly discover how dependent we are…
“When we enter into solitude to be with God alone, we quickly discover how dependent we are. Without the many distractions of our daily lives, we feel anxious and tense. When nobody speaks to us, calls on us, or needs our help, we start feeling like nobodies. Then we begin wondering whether we are useful, valuable, and significant. Our tendency is to leave this fearful solitude quickly and get busy again to reassure ourselves that we are ‘somebodies’. But this is a temptation, because what makes us somebodies is not other people’s responses to us but God’s eternal love for us.”
[Henri Nouwen]
These words always hit me hard between the eyes, as I try to live them out and know how miserably I fail. I guess that’s why there is a constant refrain ‘to remember’ in the Bible; God calling us back to the root, to being somebody in his eyes alone. In that knowledge, I long to re-enter daily life with a slower pace; a more relaxed attitude. The world does not fall apart if I check out for a few days. God’s still in control.
I feel like I worked some holy margin back into my life over the last few days; like I gave myself a little space to dream, to play, to be again. I need that little bit of margin in my week to give me space to breathe and dream and create; that somewhat paradoxically actually increases productivity by taking time off. I know that’s been missing lately, and I desperately want to cling onto it this time round.
So tell me, what works for you guys? What rhythms, if any, do you have for your days & weeks? For those of you who often work weekends, when do you take time off?
Last week I got to see a photography exhibition by Sam Taylor-Wood, at the Mitchell Library.
“Portraits For Maggie’s” is a touching glimpse into the life of the Maggie’s Centre in Fife, a drop-in centre for people affected by cancer. Seventeen people came in & had their photograph taken by Taylor-Wood, who conveys their stories with sensitivity & grace.
I’m taking off on retreat for a few days. Need some space & time to decompress and just unwind a bit. Unplugging from email, twitter, facebook, all t’internet, mobile…
Went to see Revolutionary Road last week with a few girls from housegroup. Not an enjoyable film to watch, but a very good one.
I was intrigued by how the only person speaking any sense was the one that was considered insane.
I was challenged to not give up on my dreams.
I was reminded that every choice has a cost.
“It takes backbone to lead the life you want, Frank.”
I wanna find my way
Find my way back home
I want to learn to love
And I want to be known
Cause I want to tell you how
But there’s no good metaphor
Knocking at my door
So will you help me friend?
Help discover this new world
Don’t quite know where to begin
But I imagine it on the horizon
The light is breakin’ through
Still I don’t know what to do
Standing here just me and you
And you know that I would run if the wind would call me
And I would rise, but it seems I’m falling
And I just need a place now to begin… to begin
So I can begin again
So do we just start right here
Or go back to the same square one
Isn’t that my biggest fear?
That I’ll miss it when it comes
Cause I don’t know what to do
Is the Kingdom even breakin’ through?
God, I hope it still is true
Cause from everything I see
The biggest problem still seems to be me
And for all the ways the world is shit
There is so much beauty in all of it
But I can’t seem to find
The very thing that haunts my mind
Could it be that I’m still blind?
And you know that I would see if you’d wash my eyes
But I keep swallowing the same old lies
And I just need a place now to begin… to begin
So I can begin again
Is it true? Or is it fantasy?
What is real? Is it mere chemistry?
And where is home? Some place I can’t be.
Is it true? Or is it just my own delusion?
Cause you know that I want to believe you now
But I lost my way somehow
And I just need a place now to begin…
To begin to see that I can find my way home, my friend
And I might, but until then, well…
I just need a place now to begin… to begin
So I can begin again
Tonight I wanted to go sit in a chapel or church building somewhere. You know, the kind with stained glass windows & high ceilings. The ones where, when you walk in, your gaze is instinctively drawn upwards, and so too your thoughts.
Instead, God took me on a walk through the snow.
I walked out of town, and I wandered around the west end. I ended up at the back of Glasgow University main building, my favourite thinking spot in the city. I stood at the flagpole staring out over the city, frustrated at my inability to voice concerns and stresses to those around me.
And in my frustration, God whispered.
The same God whom I have been annoyed at,
whom I haven’t been conversing with,
whom I have taken my pain out on.
He reminded me that he loves me.
He reminded me that he sees me like the snow that was falling all around me – whiter than white. That he has forgiven me, not only of the past but of the future.
And he dared me…
“I will shower my blessing on you with abundance, if you’ll only step out into the storm to receive it…”
Every day I get the Daily Stat from Harvard Business School, a quick stat or fact about something notable in the business/tech world. One of last weeks stats particularly picqued my interest…
In 2008, for the first time ever, more Americans relied on the Internet for national and international news than on newspapers. In December 2008, 40% of those surveyed said they get most of their news on the Internet, up from 24% in September 2007. 35% still mainly read newspapers, and 70% say television is their primary source of news.
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