the 99%

I am part of the 99%.

We are hypocrites.

Oh dear, he's off on a rant.

We protest against fracking in our country, against nuclear weapons in our country, against restrictions of civil liberty in our country. There's a host of things we don't want in our country. And sometimes we raise our voices for things we would like to see happen in our country too.

Which is all well and good - except we are quite happy that the things we don't like happen somewhere else and we can benefit. Did you choke on your tea there? Tell me that nothing in your life has come at someone else's loss.

I don't want fracking due to the general irresponsibly of the process. But I'll still put fuel in our car that could have come from places like Angola and Ghana which are equally beautiful and arguably more at risk of being left severely damaged by the processes of oil extraction, refinement and transport.

I ride an aluminium bike. I ride it a lot rather than taking the car. But then aluminium is one of the most environmentally-damaging metals to mine and refine.

I really don't want nuclear power or weapons, and may choose my energy supplier accordingly, but I still plug in scored of electrical and electronic devices. So there's still a cost.

And no matter your views, let's not start on the perceived oppression of Europe, Westminster or Holyrood. Do you get to leave your house? Do I get to choose who I work for? Do my children have the chance of an education and life expectancy of more than 20 years?

Can I freely and with confidence proclaim that I am a follower of Jesus and I have faith the God can do more than I can ask or imagine? Yup.

I ran for 13.5 miles to STOP HOMELESSNESS. And do I look for ways to stop the causes of homelessness in the other ways I live?

I might make noise about things that I don't like. You may do that too.

But I perhaps today I have my eyes a little wider. And my awareness a little broader. And my longing a little bit fuller.

And I get it. I understand we're not responsible for other people's land. And I'm not for unilateral action and enforcing my world as the only way. And I am not the saviour of the universe. Nor am I the only one who cares about these things.

BUT, if I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal, then I have no love. I have no consideration for the impact of my actions.

Can I raise my voice for local or regional action without being mindful of what impact my actions are having elsewhere.

If I do, I am a hypocrite.

I'm happy for someone else to suffer as long as I don't.

Our desire for cheap goods has made China's economy what it is today. We knew what we were doing (getting more for less). But did we really know what we were doing? (international trade history in two sentences, I think not).

While I hope for a fairer system of government, I might shake my head 

And I write this in a wearied state of mind, and in very stark language. But such is the way of clouded thoughts and tension. 

That's it. We hold this in tension.

I'm part of the 99%. And I would like to see that change.

Wouldn't you?

soft on Yeltsin

I remember reading this article nearly a year ago.

Mr Gorbachev talked about some of his regrets. How he should have known better. Mr G has regrets, but he didn't do anything at the time. So are they just rose-tinted and fuelled by hindsight and a desire to have remained in power for longer? I don't know as I can't ask the man what the real motivations were.

I'm sure most of us don't want to get to the point where we find ourselves at 80 years old (Lord willing) with a pile of things we wish we'd said or done.

Of lessons we wish we'd learned the first few times, not the twentieth time. Or we've still not learned.

Lots of sporting analogies and blasé statements fill our Twitter streams and Facebook feeds. The reality is, however, that life is all about making decisions.

Too often, I think we make the decision to drop out. To not even make a choice and *let fate decide*. Really?

Is that life in all it's fullness?

I don't think so. I'm not for making 100 strategic decisions about your day before you've got out of bed.

But there's an opporuntity for those of us who want to listen for the Spirit of God as we follow the way of Jesus to find out there's much grace to be discovered as we make decisions in light of His truth and His mercy. If He is with us, are we paying attention? Are we bothered? There's no magic formula, but by faith all things are possible.

In fact, maybe we can avoid regret by spending less time looking through the rose-tints and more time in the present that shapes the future.

How do you do it?

entirely possible

A few years ago, I had the privilege of being asked to speak at the KC.

The content was to be from the beatitudes - Matthew 5. In preparation, I noticed a few things that stood out, but the thing I really wanted to emphasise were inspired by something I'd heard from someone else.

The Lord's/Disciples prayer is smack in the centre of the passage known historically as the "sermon on the mount".

And it's made up for five things:

1. Acknowledging God is bigger than we are (Our Father in heaven, holy is Your Name)
2. We need His ways of thinking and doing (Your kingdom come, your will be done)
3. Help us deal with the past (Help us forgive our debtors)
4. Thank you for being with us in the present (Give us food to eat)
5. Let's go into the future together (Help us forgive those who will wrong us)

This has been in the front of my mind for a few weeks now.

It's a simple faith.

To stop trying to do it in my own strength. Stop treading water.

I think I had got in a rut of existing without living in an awareness of the presence of God. Yeah, I might talk about walking with Him, but am I stumbling in the gloom of self-indulgent, pseudo-darkness?

His timing is perfect. His ways are just.

There is a growing sense in me of the possible. Of what can happen. Of what can be.

Let it come.

Atmospheric pressure

I live in Scotland. I was born here.

Something in the water means that as a nation we talk about the weather a lot. And given the ridiculous amount of rain we've had in 2012, there's more water.


Let's clear something up: I'm not a meteorologist.

I suspect most of you aren't either. In fact, there's only 25,000* professional meteorologists on the planet. That's 0.000004% of the people alive right now. Give or take.

I can't talk about the ups and downs of isobars or the movement of fronts. But I think that despite all that we are aware of weather more than we realise. More than simply talking/moaning/pontificating about it; weather impacts us. The atmosphere we live in changes our breathing. Our body changes based on the atmosphere it's alive in.

The other morning, the atmosphere was heavy. And the temptation is to get wrapped up in that. To focus on that. To make the atmosphere the thing that matters.

(*made up statistic based on there being 9,400 in the US in 2009)

For whatever reason.

Actually, it's mainly for one reason. To keep our eyes on ourself. On what we are feeling. On how we think it's all going to end. But that's the problem. Billy Connoly once said:

"My old fishing pal Jimmy Kemp said there is no such thing as bad weather, it's only the wrong clothes." (from here)

And isn't there truth to that? That we can think we're the centre of it all. And to the weather/atmosphere/job/audience/relationship should be what we want it to be.

Yet for the follower of Jesus, I believe we have the opportunity to more than survive the atmosphere. Not only is God in the high pressure and the low pressure. He is also bigger than it.

"He is here. In the valley low. He's here. I feel Him in my soul. Our God. Here and now."

And how do we get the atmosphere to break? We can try and push through, do it on our own ("I can do it all by myself", as the weeWeir would have me believe). We might not use that language as more mature humans. but the same spirit still rises up in us. At least it does in me.

We need one who calms storms and makes planets outside and inside the atmosphere. And he is the One who knew us before we were born. As a few friends and I have been challenged by recently, we need to become less self-dependant and more God-dependant. 

How else do you overcome the rain?

There's nothing new under the sun

This all came to mind as a few different things converged. 


Last week, Jimmy Adam passed away. He was an Edinburgh taxi driver, a collector of *things* and the first person I can (currently) recall being a bit of a technology geek. Certainly the first person I can remember having knowledge of how PA systems worked. He was unashamedly himself, full of life and most of all, I always remember him making time for me if I was around their house or at their church. I wasn't able to attend the funeral, but my Dad said it was quite something - full of life, and amusingly, the traffic jam outside was a sight Jimmy would have been proud of.

It's exam time in Scotland. And in England too. And probably in other parts of the world, but I can't confirm or deny that. Anyway, I was reflecting on other influences on my youth.

For my Higher English dissertation, I wrote about Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut Junior. The premise of my essay was that the story was really about there being nothing new under the sun. As the main character in the book shifts back and forward through time, the cyclical nature of his experiences was stark to me and while his cynicism increased, the core of the issue was the same. 

There's nothing new under the sun.

The phrase is taken from a book in the bible. I love the book of Ecclesiastes. Many people don't. But it's wonderfully grounding. And there's some great teaching on it from Rob Bell and others.


The word translated as "meaningless" in this book is more like our word vapour. It's passing. It's not going to last. The writer of the book is calling us to remember that the troubles of life aren't forever. There's ebbs and flows, but the fabric of our physical existence isn't all there is. Jesus would later come along and say “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”


I love how Jesus' overcoming wasn't the aggressive forcing of a worldview or the killing of anyone who stood against him in person. But he overcame by having identity and therefore security based on an understanding of who he was and what that meant for how he lived.


It's liberating to have a wider view than current moments of trial. And this week for me has had a few. I'm sure it has had many for you.


So when I saw this tweet and followed through to the article, it was a great reminder of the repetition we experience in life. The first Santram ad was witty:





The spoof by Nando's was a bit cheap, but had a humour to it:





The reply from Santram was classy: 





But actually, the first ad was a bit of a re-working of someone else's idea anyway:





Because there's nothing new under the sun. Or on the internet.


People will rip off your ideas, your wallet and even your emotions. Trials will come. For those grieving the passing of a loved one, may you be comforted. 


But there's a hope beyond our present experiences that means we don't have to fear those moments of loss. We can embrace them as part of the journey. As how we grow. As how we can become more like Jesus.

get started (again)

Like many children, I was able to tell things apart from a young age. In particular, I could tell you a car's make and model from fairly small details (like light clusters, panel shapes, window shapes).

While my focus is now much less on the world of production car design, somethings never change. The other day I saw a car with a 2005 registration plate, but the car shape/detailing was from the 2000-2003 version. Or thereabouts. So that made me thing that the car was likely to have been re-plated, re-built or at worst a cut and shunt.

What does that have to do with starting again?

Well, looking back at over twenty years of car-knowing, I started to see the big picture; the cycle some manufacturers have for a model is to release, refresh and then replace. Usually this happens over an six-to-eight-year period. The mid-period refresh being the one you probably want to buy second-hand as many of the initial bugs of the first version will have been dealt with.

It was really interesting to see this post in Inc from Jason Fried at 37signals (a company I have a lot of respect for given the way they work and the products they produce).

Too often, we don't know when to stop re-touching and *finessing* the existing product and just start again.

There's nothing to say that what we create second time 'round won't be similar in spirit, core value or purpose as the first version, but that we give something a fresh perspective can only be a good thing.

I remember a few years ago a few colleagues and I helped our managers re-examine our approach to telling our story to potential clients, the work was challenging and a lot of fun. The end result was something fresh that still remained true to where we had come from.

Have you ever done that? How did it go?

I wonder if there are things we should start again? Things that are worth the attention. Things that have served us well but need to be given a new perspective.

It's going to be fascinating to see how this plays out for 37signals.

Three words for 2012

Last year, I wrote three words to set the course for the year. And promptly forgot about them.


Alive | Growth | Proactive


This year, I wasn't really thinking about three words as I was struggling to have the mental space or energy to think about it. Then a funny thing happened.


I was thinking about a focus for writing about this year - after last year's eight-thirty project, and the themes of faith, hope and love were really sticking with me. I mentioned this yesterday. 


So those three words are going to be my three words for 2012.


To grow in each area. To live in the light of them. To get closer to God in the midst of it all. I even drew a picture.

As Paul wrote in 1 Corinthans 13:13:


"so these three things continue forever: faith, hope, and love. And the greatest of these is love."


or as Eugene Peterson translated it:


"But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love." Read the whole passage for the context ;->.

300 not out - and four to go

It's 2012. But you knew that already. Or maybe it's not and you are reading this from the future. Welcome back.

Welcome, in fact, wherever you are on the space-time continuum.

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm soon about to reach the end of my 365 project over on blipfoto.com/eightthirty. The idea behind the project was to take a photo every day at either 8:30am or 8:30pm. I started on my birthday in 2011 and it's soon to be my birthday in 2012.

A few weeks ago, I decided that while the discipline of taking a photo and writing about it was something I was really enjoying, the original intention had morphed into something else.

I want to write more about faith, hope and love. And the journey of discovering more about these three things. And the tension that exists to live in the light of what I hold to be the eternal nature of these truths.

So my intention is to keep writing. And to keep taking pictures. I'll aim to keep going with eight-thirty. But I will be doing more writing here. On the old blog, 300 posts and counting. I'll be tagging entries with 13-13 (a reference to 1 Corinthians 13 v 13, in case you missed that!).

It's coming towards my new year, and this is one of my goals.

What are yours? Can I help you work towards them?

Happy Christmas

It's just three days until Christmas.

I've not written many cards this year, but have sent a few e-cards, courtesy of the Open Door project in Livingston.

If you are looking for a cause to support this Christmas time, give them a look:

And have a happy Christmas.

Grace & Peace,

W

what's your number

According the BBC website today, my birth nearly thirty three years ago meant that I was, well you can see the numbers.

Not hugely significant, if you look at it like that.

But numbers aren't everything, are they?

We aren't defined by what our number was. Neither is our identity wrapped up in our place in the queue.

Our real identity is wrapped up in who the creator says we are, which is far more appealing.

Interestingly, the God of the universe seems to care enough about us to have numbered the hairs on our head. The length of our days. The deepest thoughts of our hearts.

And that's a very encouraging thought.

What does resurrection mean to you?

On Easter Sunday (yes, a few weeks ago now), we were asked if we wanted to share a little something about what Easter means to us.

Easter for me is about death and resurrection.

I didn't prepare anything. I didn't expect to have anything to say, but when the moment came, I was compelled to share a few words.

Through tears and trembling, I said something like:

Resurrection and Easter is about:

Hope where there was none

Peace when their is none

Life where their is none

Grace where their is none

Wholeness where their is none

Strength where their is none

Forgiveness where their is none

How about you?

PS: I love this little video about resurrection.

we don't have a clue what's going on.

The future. The undiscovered country. "Next".

As I read it today, I loved this cartoon on the XKCD: Future Timeline. It's an image showing top-ranked Google search results of predictions/claims for each year until 2101. I won't post the image here as it's *way* too big.

If we're honest, we're all control freaks - to a greater or lesser extent. I've come to this conclusion in recent days after conversations with loads of people. More often than not we want to be in charge. That might be through simply understanding what is happening, or by literally being in control of what is going on. I know I am guilty of this a lot of the time.

But what struck me as I chuckled through Future Timeline was that we really have no idea what's next.

Sure, we knew there was a lot of fuss being made about a wedding last week. We knew that there was a sunrise and a sunset. But we didn't really expect to see news reports like this, this or this.

I guess during the last few weeks, it's been all too apparent what it means to have faith. To trust that God is good and that his Love (and Mercy) endures forever. To believe that He is able to do things in and through us that we just can't do on our own. Like cope. Or overcome. Or keep walking. Or stand when there's nothing left to stand on.

And faith comes through hearing. What I hear impacts what I believe. For sure. But I'm not blindly following, but humbly listening for the voice of the Father. He speaks. Often I'm not listening. Often I'm too caught up in what might be, what needs to be done, what seems to be important. This turtle cartoon speaks right to the heart of that. If I loose a file on a computer, is it really that important?

Maybe tomorrow we can walk on water. Who knows. I'm not worrying about it. Because that won't change a thing.

As a friend once said; "every breath is mercy".

Keep breathing.

The Abbey Sanctuary

On Friday, my Father-in-law experienced a massive brain haemorrhage.

On Saturday, his body breathed it's last.

There have been many tears shed - and they won't be the last. But one thing is certain, Peter knew where he was going after his time on the earth was done. He is with His Saviour, whom he loved and served for 50 years.

I have so many things I could say about him, many words that could be written, but for now I say "thank you, Peter".

We will remember, and celebrate his life on Friday 15 April at Lorimer Chapel of Warriston Crematorium, Edinburgh. If you want to come, please don't wear a black tie.

If you want to find out more about Peter, read his blog.

Give us your courage

In the last week, I've heard, read and watched a few things all about courage.

I re-watched the edition of Top Gear where the three protagonists drove through some of the most perilous conditions in Central America in fairly dubious vehicles. Say what you like about these guys, but it will have taken courage to drive in those conditions. Even if there were a support crew not all that far away.

Then at church on Sunday, we were challenged to consider what it means to have courage in your convictions. To stand for what (and who) you believe in. In that context, we were looking at Paul talking about the Hope of Glory - not simply an eternal thing, but a here and now thing. Courage it seems, is a lot easier when you have hope. Hope that God has your back.

Later on Sunday, I watched The Kite Runner. As is usual for me at the moment, there were tears. But there was also the appreciation of great storytelling and the need for courage in the face of injustice. And in the face of out-and-out fear. What makes people overcome that fear? Is it shame? Is it a need to make things right?

Then I saw this Indexed card yesterday.

There's often a courage needed to choose to not complain, but to learn.

To stop and listen (as the playgroup teachers encourage the weeWeir to do when they would like her attention).

And then the courage to take that learning and deliver something exceptional.

Like a life filled with hope.

Or a word of grace when it would be easier to shout and bawl.

To get back on the bike and go for it after we've fall off.

It's so often easier to just walk away.

But that's not going to help anyone in the long term. Is it?

Three Words

I love you. (mostly)

Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. (please do)

Drink TAB Clear* (eh?).

But this isn't about any of those sets of three.

Nope, this is about 2011. It's the first day of a new year and I'm not making resolutions, or rules I want to stick to in the year ahead. Rules for the sake of it aren't very life-giving. Inspired by what Chris wrote, here's my three:

Alive - Moments of life often slip by without noticing. Perhaps it's been the recent weather, holiday from work and Christmas season that's seen my watch more TV, do very little exercise and generally become a little passive. I'll be deleting a couple of games from my iPhone and hoping to be far more present - more alive in THIS moment. I owe it to people to be present and fully alive.

Growth - It's time to get some growing done again. 2010 felt like a season of pruning and maintenance. This will impact all of life, it's time to fail fast, learn and GROW. I'm hopeful there will be a physical sign of this in the garden at home too.

Proactive - Reacting is cool. Being flexible and helpful is great. I love it. But it's time to lead a little more. Not because I think I'm all that. Or that I've earned some right to do it, but it's just time for being more forward and less wait-and-see.

And that's me. Now to get some SMART goals and see what happens next.

What are your three words? Can you help me develop these three?

Grace and Peace for the journey.

W

* This is a reference to a claim that if you played the 1976 hit Combine Harvester by The Wurzels backwards, it said those three words...

Stop whining (and change your life)

I can't tell you how much this resonated with me:

Two problems with whining

The first is that it doesn't work. You can whine about the government or your friends or your job or your family, but nothing will happen except that you'll waste time.

Worse... far worse... is that whining is a reverse placebo. When you get good at whining, you start noticing evidence that makes your whining more true. So you amplify that and immerse yourself in it, thus creating more evidence, more stuff worth complaining about.

If you spent the same time prattling on about how optimistic you are, you'd have to work hard to make that true...

What we fix our eyes on is ultimately what we become, and the sooner we stop blaming situations for the reality of our present, the sooner we can get on with making a difference.

Sound fanciful and un-realistic or suspiciously like truth that we can all benefit from living by?

PS - words came from Seth Godin, here.

Amen, Daddy

Yesterday, the weeWeir got herself all upset over something. I wasn't in the room at the time, and I'm not sure what the *something* was.

Crying, she came running to find me, saying "Daddy" and other words I couldn't quote interpret at the pace and insistence she was using. Kneeling on the floor, I asked her why she was crying.

"Daddy...[insert toddler ramblings here]" was the response. But I knew it wasn't my fault.

"Where is is sore, I asked".

Same reply.

As I held her and she calmed down, I listened again. "Amen, Daddy". It made a little more sense now.

Since before she was born, Jenny and I have prayed with the weeWeir. Before bed for sure, but at other times too. Particularly if she had hurt herself or was unsettled. That and singing with her.

So as I knelt with her on the floor, I prayed a few simple words asking Father to come with Grace & Peace in Jesus name.

An "amen" from Beth (yes, I used her name which is unusual) and she was calm.

A lot of thoughts on the back of this precious moment, which I'll unpack soon, but what's your view. Yes you. Add a comment and share your thoughts.

What's your story?

I spent some time clearing out my desk today.

Fortunately, this was not at the request/instruction of someone else or a prelude to leaving the building. It was time to clear out some old clothes. By clothes I mean mostly paper.

With the recent departure of my director, there is a sense in which a chapter is over. I've written before here and here about how this chapter started.

There's a new day ahead. It is time to close that chapter of my work. Not the end of the story, nor the end of the relationships of that chapter, just preparing what is next.

There were loads of old memories in the folders I emptied today. The notes from my review meetings from 1999 to 2005 tell the story of my contribution to the business in that period.

There were notes from previous projects - some completed, others abandoned.



There were also stickers. Lots of stickers. I used to have all of these 'round my old CRT monitor as far back as 2003. Why did I keep them? Some kind of desire to remain connected to my younger days, I guess. And then earlier this week, McColleague A1tch found a picture of me from back then. Well, didn't I look young...

Most of the material - notes, papers, plans has now gone to be reused or recycled. Why? Most of the stuff doesn't matter. It's part of the story, and that's it. It's part of what got me here. To this point. The next stage is what's next.

I've been thinking about my story, about what it means to be me. I want to update my LinkedIn profile.

The question I have been keen that people I work with answer the question: "what do you need me to do you?". Perhaps another, equally relevant question is "what would I like to do now?"

 LinkedIn 

You have reached your destination

"Really?", I ask.

"You have reached your destination" chimes the Satellite Navigation again.

"I think you're lying".

How often do we think we've made it. We've cracked it. We can do it.

Then we realise we're nowhere. Or at least not where we meant to be. And we have to re-adjust. I was thinking about the conflict of Maps and Satellite Navigation and GPS. Sat Nat works well when we need to get somewhere and don't have time, but maps let us understand where we're going and why we're taking certain routes.

For the past wee while I've been a little uneasy about work - what am I doing, is it fun (which is important, right?), do I enjoy being there. Just when we think we've arrived, we often find that there's much more to come.

The journey makes life interesting, the people we share the journey with are all the more important.

You share the journey with me and for that, I thank you.

Grace for the road.

W

I never knew you

Isn't it amazing how people are great?

Too often we hear how we're hard done to, cheated out of what we're *entitled* to and generally at the wrong end of the wedge of happiness.

Well, it's not really like that in the real world. We all face challenges, sure, but we are very seldom alone and I'm wondering if we do find ourselves genuinely alone and facing a significant problem, it's maybe because of the choices we've made. Of the distance we've kept from others.

So it's with a grateful heart I say thank you to those who supported us with concern, empathy and basically love over the past few days.

I posted some messages on Twitter & Facebook about us taking the weeWeir to hospital at the request of the Doctor, as well as sending a few SMS messages to close family and friends.

The replies brought me to tears, realising we were not alone.

While we were not on our own, we knew that God was with us through it all, we also knew you were with us too. And for that we can only say

Thank you. You know who you are.

The weeWeir is doing better thanks. We continue to keep an eye on her and see how she does in the days ahead.