Rogue traders

Got totally ripped off by an internet website we thought was the passport office.  At least a genuine mugger is honest enough to hold a gun to your head, but these people have no shame.

Woolly liberals

I can't believe I have just recommended to my wife that she visit the local progressive christian movement church.  My parents will be turning in their graves.  I can't wait to get into my have so that I can turn in it too.

Flowers - a very nice way to make your lover smile for a short while

Oh thank you dear, they're nice.  [count .... 1 ... 2 ... 3]  can you putt then in a vase for me?

And then it's over till next year.

Storms of life

While the uk has been battered by floods, winds and waves, our church life also feels battered.

The situation is much as it was some years ago when we first left the church.  Everything that my wife does, every initiative that she leads, is crushed, while lesser people are promoted and praised.  Wee don't resent their success: its not their fault that they have the vicars kind eye.  But he dislikes my wife, so matter what she shoes for the Lord in the church, he finds a way to demoralise her.  He closes her opportunities to speak, while allowing others to say what they want.  Where she does loads of work for the poor, someone else is appointed 'social action leader' having visited one tramp in hospital.  And when he can't deny that my wifes initiative is a good one, he places it under the leadership of a less experienced man rather than letting her lead her own initiatives.

A large part of us wants to just jack it in and leave again.  Either angrily like last time with lots of letters and shouting matches, or just slip away quietly.

But our children are still flourishing in the church and we don't want to disrupt them again.

Also, it would be unrighteous.

Also, we believe we are called to ordination, and the diocese is hardly likely to agree if we keep church-hopping.

So we must grit our teeth.  but it is hard for mrs to flourish in a church where the vicar hates her.  And it is hard for me to serve with sure respect as a Reader under the leadership of a man who hates my wife and whose every action inflicts further psychological harm on her.  If he literally kicked her in the face he would be arrested and put in prison.  I'm not sure why the mental damage he is doing should be treated any less severely.

We trust that we are called by God to ordination, and that one day the vicar will see her in her robes and black scarf, being ordained by his boss the bishop, and that her will eat his hat and finally acknowledge that she is a true and effective minister of God.

Spending the inheritance

We have foolishly agreed to the purchase of a two bed apartment in a scenic area, with a sea view (through the trees).

We intend to use this as a holiday home for ourselves, and may also let it out as a holiday flat in sure course to help subsidise its running costs.

Perhaps more importantly than either of those is that we also intend to use out to provide free holidays for low income families recommended to us by their churches.

Mrs is fully convinced that this is the Lord's will, that he has guided us to this property, closed the door on others, etc.  And I don't disagree with her.  But I am perhaps a little more earthly-minded than she is, fretting about the £10k shortfall in our funds.  Mrs is convinced that if it is the Lord's will, the money will appear when we need it.  My own experience of 'living by faith' as the son of missionaries is that often things do not work out as neatly as we would expect them to.  Sometimes we are expected to rough it.  The Apostle Paul was in the Lord's will, yet he was frequently beaten up and frequently hungry.

So I have grave concerns over how it is going to work out.

Setback, again

Well, the setback I alluded to in a previous post is back again, but not in its full fury.

My ordination quest will be delayed for at least twelve months, and after that it is still not a certainty that it will proceed at all.

If God has called me, who can stand against me?  Moses was 80 before he was finally let loose into leadership, and even then he only got there by the skin of his teeth.  (Or should I say by the skin of his son's bits?  Exodus 4:24-46).  So, set backs happen, but God is not thwarted.

Vortex equation wrong

Learning up on how to design a vortex drop in a sewer network.

Found something in the text book which I just couldn't make work in the spreadsheet.  Eventually told my colleague the text book must be wrong.

Later consulted my boss.  'Why can't I get this to work?' I ask.  'The text book is wrong' he says.

So it's gratifying to be right for once and not a complete idiot.

But don't worry; it's not a major error in the book; just the expression that gives you the range of validity for the main equation, and it gives answers that are obviously wrong so no one will have designed a vortex drop with it.

Which is a good thing, given that my current project is just £18 million preparatory work for the main £30 million project to be done on the next five years.

Wondering how to spend inheritance in a godly way.

Well the obvious thing would be to pay off a chunk of mortgage, but the inheritance isn't really enough to make much difference there.

So we could use it to get a new kitchen and new bathrooms.  But we don't intend to stay here forever.  We want to continue seeing the benefit of the money and it world not raise the value of the house by as much as we spend.

So we want to invest it.

In fact we want to invest it in a way that serves the kingdom of god.

We are looking at things like a holiday flat or caravan, which could be let out to provide some income but which could also be used to help deprived families to have a free holiday.  Hopefully it could also be used by us for our own holidays, and also as a retreat when we need space.  Or we could lend it to others needing a spiritual retreat.

Not sure if any of this will ever come to pass, but that's how we're thinking.

Recurrent dreams

I quite frequently find that during early afternoon meetings I fall asleep enough to have dreams, and them wake up.  Fortunately, only occasionally have I woken up to find the meeting asking me a question.

Yesterday was an exceptionally dull meeting in which I head very little contribution. During this meeting I woke up from dreams 14 times before I stopped counting.

So today, although I am hypersensitive to caffeine which makes me lie awake at night shaking, I am starting the day with a normal caffeine-ridden coffee.

Windy day on Anglesey