These are the days of Miracle & Wonder!

My Year in Facebook Statuses (Statuss/Stati/Statae?)

[enlarge for more easy reading] 

Home ish

After an almighty kerfuffle (I'm not sure I've every written that word before, so it may be wrong) and quite a degree of consternation/anxiety/all the rest, Maria & I made it back to Britain last Friday.  Her visa arrived (or, more accurately, I went and collected it from the UPS van) 2 hours before we left for the airport - cutting it a bit fine for my tastes.  But we are here.

And of course, still without a home.  Plenty of temporary ones, or places to visit, present themselves, but it's a bit wearying really; we could do with a bit of space we can call our own.  All prayers, as ever, much appreciated.

But it is good to be here once more.  Just need to avoid sneezles and wheezles now.

Whilst sitting in a foreign land, waiting to come home, this helps to put things in perspective

This is Stackridge, with North Street Grande.  Merry Christmas.

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the evolution of Darwinism

I think I'm going to start getting into Tom Wright from now on - partly because I agree with him, and partly because, even when I don't (or I'm not sure if I do), there's something about his tone of voice that makes me feel that he doesn't mind too much.  Maybe that's what Anglicans bring to the world - an accepting tone of voice.

Anyway, this is just an example, but a very good one.  I love a bit of historical context.

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You know where you can stick your over-exuberant Christmas Lights, don't you?

Three Songs

Now, I don't have time to tell you about who John Clare is and just why it's so important that he's recognised as one of the great English poets.  That's my Dad's job.  All I wanted to say is that since this summer, I have been writing tunes to carry his words.  Have a listen, and see what you think.

Download 03 Remember, Dear Mary

Download 04 Nutting

Download 09 Three Springs

There's a possibility that I may get to record some of these properly in the next year or so - I have about a dozen of decent quality.  I apologise to anyone who may be instinctively opposed to the singing of folk music.

Quidquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur

Translation:  Whatever is received is received according to the manner of the receiver.

Basically, I think this means that your perception of something is shaped as much by who you are as it is shaped by the thing itself.  The antenna determines the signal received.

So, how did you receive that?  And does that tell you anything about yourself?

Or, to take it a step further and be practical:  How much of my view of Jesus is basically me looking at an idealised version of myself, or at least of my preferences concerning what I would like the incarnated God to be like?  Do I walk through Advent purely looking for a Christmas present that suits me, or am I open to whatever I may receive?  Am I Christian, or Davidian?

'when we are married'

Last night, struggling to get to sleep, I was noticing that December is pretty much here.  Advent.  Newness, new-life, salvation & all that.

It's funny how (for most of us) it's a winter festival - a festival of light at the darkest time, and of life when all around is bare and empty.  Good theology.

I've been away from my homeland for about 8 weeks now - when I left, Devon was just beginning to lean towards Autumn, although the leaves were all on the trees, the sun was out and the blackberries were still making my country walks slower than otherwise.  South Carolina is just reaching a similar stage now.

How does that feel?  I feel like I've been in stasis for 2 months - I've got married, been on honeymoon, been to California and back, etc.etc. - but no time seems to have elapsed in the world outside.

Yesterday, when we were talking about what we'd be doing once our visa arrives and we can finally come back to Britain and normality, Maria (accidently) said, "Yeah, when we're married we can ...".  That's how it feels - like we've had the ceremony but are yet to actually be married; to actually live as husband and wife.

It's like we're in the Christmas season, but aren't feeling Christmassy.  We are in Advent, but the actually new life hasn't really started yet.

Important Questions!

One of the advantages of living in such an exciting, joined-up world community is that find ng out what everyone else is doing/thinking/saying is pretty easy.  For example, type 'what is' into Google and allow it to suggest a completed questions, and you instantly discover what is most commonly on other people's lips/keyboards.

So here are a selection.  I've put the actual question in bold, the rest is what Google suggests.  Welcome to a world of important questions demanding to be answered.  It's comfortingly peculiar:

Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
Which is the only king in a modern standard pack of cards that doesn't have a moustache?
What are these strawberries doing on my nipples I need them for the fruit salad?
Why can’t I own a Canadian?
Why is there a dead Pakistani on my couch?
Why won't my parakeet eat my diarrhoea?
Who isn't your sister and isn't your brother but is still a child of your mother and father?
Why should you never weigh a hot object?
Will your grandchildren be Jewish?
How could you separate tellurium dioxide from silicon dioxide?
What do snails eat?
Why do Indians smell?
Where is Chuck Norris?
What won't Meatloaf do for love?
Who moved my cheese?

I used to presume that the funny guys at Google put these suggestions in as a joke, but now I'm not so sure.  I think life is weird enough to engender these kind of results.

fed, up to the back teeth

I have had a week of being very impressed with our friends.

At one and a half days' notice, Maria and I headed out to California last Tuesday - it cost us $10 each, the legacy of Star Alliance membership on the behalf of my wife.  Sometimes trans-Atlantic living has nice side-effects.

We stayed within sight of the HOLLYWOOD sign (with Dyball), within sight of a woman walking her pet pig (with cousin Janet's family in Oceanside), and within sight of the Pacific Ocean in the most expensive suburb of America (with Ariel & Chris in La Jolla).

We got into San Diego Zoo for free, renewed treasured old friendships, and got given presents by people we'd never met before.

We met an author and a rock star and a tiger, watched hummingbirds at breakfast-time, never had to so much as take a taxi for all the offers of lifts, and were fed an absolutely ridiculous amount of fantastic food.

In/after all this, the temptation for me is to go, 'Thank you God for looking after us!', and I think that is fine.  But I am of the opinion that the more prescient prayer is something more like, 'Thank you God for making humans like these and bumping us into them.'

Even though they are our friends/family, they didn't have to act like that; they didn't have to drop everything they were doing so as to take us out for milkshakes on the pier.  They chose to (and not grudgingly, either), and that is what impresses me.