The f*** word!

I've just come back from a walk around the corner to get a bag of chips. On the way home I was followed by a guy who was using his mobile phone. The conversation was liberally sprinkled with the f*** word. I don't think I'm an old prude, but am I the only one who finds the way this word has become common language now really offensive?

Last week I saw and heard a father telling off his young son. The lad was probably about 4 or 5 - yet Dad berated him, shouting the f*** word at him. It won't be surprising if that youngster grows up thinking it's an OK thing to say.

I thought Rod Stewart's recent comments at a concert (he said that if he swore on stage he would give every member of the audience £10) were great. I wouldn't allow people in my house to use the f*** word - but even the mainstream TV channels regularly feature programmes with strong language and swearing.

How about a campaign to stamp out swearing? It's not cool, it's not bright, it's not nice, it's not really how we want our kids growing up, is it?

Through my window

Morning prayers happens at IHQ every Thursday. Now I'm not saying I'm a creature of habit - but I confess that I always sit in the same seat - back row, right in the corner against the window. Those of you who are familiar with the new IHQ know it is a beautiful glass building. If I described it as transparent that would be an understatement. There's no hiding - everyone can see exactly what is happening as there are no walls - everything is glass. So when I sit in the corner I am just a few feet away from the pavement of the very busy Queen Victoria Street. If prayers are a little boring (I know it's hard to believe but even at IHQ we occasionally have some less than stimulating meetings!) it means I can amuse myself watching what's happening in the street. The flip side is that we are rather like goldfish in a bowl and I often wonder what people passing by make of us - we must be a strange looking bunch.

Sometimes tourists come right up to the window and take photos - which can be a bit embarrassing. Commuters heading to work cast a furtive glance - they want to see what's going on but don't want to stare - Brits don't like to appear rude, do we??

But the vast majority actually just pass by without giving us a second glance. Despite the unusual sight of about 50 people in funny uniforms, singing, clapping their hands, or sitting with eyes closed in prayer at 9.15 on a Thursday morning, as they head to work or go about their business passing within feet of us, we are a complete irrelevance - an odd group bothering no one in their own little world.

I confess I find myself wondering 'Is that actually what we've become - just an irrelevance'? If so, I don't feel too happy about that. So what am I going to do about it? What do you think?

Others

When William Booth (the founder of The Salvation Army) was on his death bed, he was visited by one of the managers of the telegraph system of London. The man asked Booth if he had a last message he would like to send to his Salvation Army officers around the world. He said, "If you have, whether it is long or short, we shall be glad to send it free of charge." Looking up, the General smiled his thanks and said just one word: "Others."

This old story has been recently revived. That word 'others' was used as the theme for the Salvation Army's ROOTS conference this year. I received a very flash, glossy brochure this week advertising the Hillsongs European Conference which takes place in London in October. They have taken the same theme and quote that old story. It's quite challenging to see how one of the world's largest and most dynamic churches are finding inspiration in the example of our Founder.

But what does 'others' really mean? In a mission sense it has been used to challenge church goers to live a life of influence and impact. But I'd like to give you a real life example.

Yesterday Lyn and I heard that Alec had died. Alec was a soldier at one of our first corps appointments. He's been in a nursing home for the last year and his passing, though very sad, came as a release for him and his family. Alec was one of the churches unsung heroes - he knew and demonstrated the meaning of the word 'others'. He was a hard working man - a former coal miner. His hands, hard as leather from years of mining and gardening, were the tools of a christian who lived out the life of a servant of Christ.

When Lyn and I first moved to the small village where Alec lived we found a community struggling to come to terms with the closure of the coal mine which had been the life-blood of the village for many decades. The village had no gas supply - we all relied on coal and coke boilers. The problem with coal is that you have to keep the fire burning - when you go away the fire goes out. In the 4 years we lived there we never came back from a holiday to a cold house - Alec had been in to clean out and relight the fire - making sure we had a warm welcome back. Regularly I would come home after a morning out and about visiting the 'flock' to discover that Alec, without any prompting, had loaded his lawnmower in the boot of his car and come around to cut the lawn and tend the garden.

The surprise of finding a bag of newly harvested vegetables from Alec's allotment and left as a gift on our doorstep meant we enjoyed the cream of the crop every harvest time.

Alec wasn't a public speaker but his life spoke volumes about his understanding of 'others'. Conferences may never be held in his memory but he enriched my life greatly and the church on earth will be a much poorer place without him.

Tuesday thought for the day (3)

Our emergency service teams have been working in Rwanda for the last few months, supporting a group of 70 refugee families who were recently forced to return to Rwanda after a decade living in Tanzania. We've built individual latrines for each family and installed a borehole and safe supply of clean water. The place has been transformed.

We are now hoping to construct a community centre on the site - from which education programmes and a health post can be run. It will also pave the way for a new corps.

I received a report from the team today. last Sunday they held a worship service on the ground that has been donated by the Mayor for the new worship centre. 197 people attended (135 adults and 62 children). When the appeal was made at the end of the meeting 25 first time seekers came to the 'mercy seat' to claim salvation!

And still I hear people question how Emergency Services contributes to the mission of The Army!!

Tuesday thought for the day (2)

Appropriately named places that I pass each day on my way home:
'Hair Force One' - ladies hairdressers
'Fulfilled' - local sandwich bar
'O my Cod!' - guess, that's right - local chip shop.
'The good intent' - local pub (wonder how many people have gone in there and said 'just one for the road' - and staggered out a few hours later?)

Tuesday - thought for the day (1)

While on holiday in Crete last week I discovered that the average Cretan consumes 1 litre of olive oil per month! How much????? What do they do - wash in it??

(Pr)air miles!

So many things that we take for granted in The Salvation Army were actually years ahead of their time. We had women vicars before they became fashionable, and William Booth's 'In Darkest England' was published decades before Iain Duncan Smith started thinking about social justice.

But what about the humble 'star card'? It was years ahead of its time. If you ever attended Sunday school at The Salvation Army you will remember the star card. Every week when you attended Sunday School you had your card stamped with a little star (hence the name). In the 'old days' we went to Sunday School in the morning and then again after lunch. The star card was so important we even took it on holiday so that we could get our stamp when we went to Sunday School at the nearest corps (church) - something we had to do before we were allowed anywhere near the beach, of course. It was important to get your stamp because the number of stars you had determined the quality of 'prize' that you were given on prize-giving Sunday. As Brucie says 'points make prizes'.

Today my Star Card has been replaced by my Emirates frequent flyer card. I carry it whenever I travel and make sure I present it when I check in. My regular journeys mean that I am the proud holder of a Gold card! Whoooooo!! It means I get better treatment than those who only have a Silver or a plain old Blue card. When I board a plane the cabin crew come to my seat, greet me by name and welcome me back. Why? I'm special - and my Gold card tells me so!

I reckon if William Booth was still around he would resurrect and update the humble Star Card for this post-modern age. We would not only get points for attending on a Sunday but extra points for things such as putting a Bible text on your blog site, or sending one of those 'show a friend how much you love them' emails. Sitting in the balcony would earn you miles + 25%, on the platform and you would get miles + 50%! Responding to the invitation to pray in the meeting would also earn bonus points - regular participants would move up from Blue to Silver, then Gold. A Silver Card would guarantee you priority seating - your preferred seat reserved on the front or back row - in the Holiness meeting. Gold Card holders would have their own dedicated Lounge where they could have their after-meeting coffee away from the 'common people'. We could call the new scheme 'SA Pr-air miles'.

Don't like the idea - well how about an S.P & S Ltd Clubcard then?

Just a thought.........

Do I know you?

This 'Facebook' thing is a bit confusing. Since signing up less than a week ago I've spent hours checking the site, only to see who has become friends with who, who has 'poked' who, and what photos have been added by people I know. But I have a confession - I can't work out what the whole purpose of the thing is - all I know is that it's a very public window into the private world of friends where I can see exactly what time of day people are doing things at their computers. It seems like a nosey-parker's paradise. Have you noticed the very odd times that people make changes to their pages? Don't people ever sleep? The only good thing is that I am encouraged that my list of 'friends' grew very quickly - it's still not a huge number but at least it' nice to know I have some!

Over the weekend an odd thing happened, though. I received a 'friend' request from someone I don't know. What a dilemma! Is there an etiquette to these things? Should I blindly accept, knowing that this so called 'friend' will be invited into my world? I'm not sure that I want someone who I hardly know looking into my world. I could easily reject the request - but what will that do for the esteem of the person who wants to be my friend? In my work I travel all around the world and meet many people. It could be someone who has met me on one of my trips. They might think we already know each other as friends - they might be mortified to discover that our meeting left no impression on my life whatsoever!

It raises a thought - are our relationships as deep and meaningful as we think they might be? I've heard many people drop names into conversations to show how well connected they are - perhaps I've done it myself from time to time - but what level of relationship do we really have?

It had me wondering, is my relationship with Jesus as real as I think it is?
21-23"Knowing the correct password—saying 'Master, Master,' for instance— isn't going to get you anywhere with me. What is required is serious obedience—doing what my Father wills. I can see it now—at the Final Judgment thousands strutting up to me and saying, 'Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking.' And do you know what I am going to say? 'You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out of here.' (Matthew 7:21 - from 'the Message')

Potter mania hits the Hills house

Well it's finally here - the thing we've all been waiting for. I'm speaking of the latest (and last?) Harry Potter book. I'm not sure whether I'm a good Dad or a 'mad Dad' but at 10pm last night I headed off for Lakeside to take Rebacca to join the queue outside Waterstone's to pick up her copy. Rachel came along to show sisterly support. We expected a crowd to be there already and were surpirsed to find ourselves only about 15th in the line. But as the time drew nearer the crowds grew and the line snaked around the Debenhams end of the shopping centre. I don't know what I expected - but it was surprising to see the age of the waiting throng - older teenagers and early 20's -all those who had grown up and spent their teenage years with 'Harry'. If JK keeps her promise and makes this the last, will life ever be the same?

Waterstones did the waiting throng proud - free sweets, games and even magicians on hand to entertain. The magic guy was brilliant. Some of you may know that I have turned my hand to a little magic over the years - this guy was superb, with sleight of hand stuff so slick that he left us literally 'spell bound'. Midnight arrived and staff tried their best to whip up some excitement with a countdown. By 5 past midnight Becky emerged triumphant with her personal copy. She's determined to read it before she goes to church on Sunday (700 pages!!!) so we expect a nice, quiet day.

Frustrations at the Harvester

Isn't it frustrating when you spend 15 minutes carefully looking through the menu, the waitress comes to take your order, you give it and she says, 'we don't do that any more'. Ahhhhhh! If they don't do it any more why don't they cross it off the menu. Sounds simple to me - just takes a felt tip pen - not too hard for anyone.

You don't get that problem with Ronseal - it always does what it says on the tin. Simple! I'm having my next meal out at B&Q!

A seemingly odd habit!

I have a habit - well one of many, actually! I thought it was one that most people had but I am beginning to wonder. It started about 25 years ago when I was working as a trainee manager for Curry's (a national chain of electrical retail stores). I discovered that if a customer sent to head office a letter mentioning you in a positive light you received a rich fruit cake (in a tin) on the next delivery lorry, along with a note of commendation. On the very few occasions when I received an unexpected 'thank you' bonus it really made my day.

As a result of this I developed a habit. Over the years my kids have poked fun at me often for it. My habit is that when I receive good service in a shop, from a company or even another department at work I try and remember to drop them a little note of thanks. This habit has had interesting results. A few years ago I bought a new CD player for my car at Halfords. A special tool was needed to remove the player fitted as standard. Rather than sell me the tool, a young salesman offered to remove the old radio for me using one of the shop's tools. It saved me a few pounds and did me a favour. When I got home I went on-line and sent a note of thanks to the Halfords Head Office, mentioning by name the young man who had helped. Later that day I visited the retail centre again and parked up near to Halfords. The young lad recognised my car and ran out to tell me that the message had been immediately forwarded to his branch manager and he had been presented with a large bottle of Whiskey! Whether that's better than a rich fruit cake depends on your personal tastes.
It's nice to receive a thank you. I'm not always good at it - and particularly bad when it comes to writing thank you cards for Christmas and birthday presents. My brother and sister in law put me to shame every year. A few days after each birthday or Christmas we receive lovely handwritten notes thanking us for gifts we gave them. They have even trained their children to be as thoughtful and each of my nephews and nieces send similar thank you cards. I should learn to be more thoughtful in showing my gratitude to family and friends for what they do for me.
This week Lyn and I returned from our summer holiday. We had a wonderful week in Crete - the sun shone gloriously every day, we relaxed and unwound in a setting that can only be described as idyllic. The hotel was wonderful, the flights ran on time and all for what we thought was a bargain price. I decided to drop the holiday company a note to say 'thanks'. What has happened since has rather surprised me. Within 24 hours of sending it I've had 2 e-mails and a personal telephone call from different staff at the travel company all thanking me for thanking them. They all commented that customers only ever write to complain - a word of thanks seemed so unusual.
Are we such a miserable lot that all we ever do is complain? I think that's kind of a shame, really, and it's made me more determined to try and show my gratitude more frequently.

Thursday morning musings

Thursday 19th July: Enjoying my last few days of holiday (at home) I decided this morning to go on a motorbike ride. Lyn had to go to a funeral - so it was a great chance to take my newly cleaned and polished Blackbird out for a spin. Heading out through Brentwood I took the road to Ongar - not a road I use often but a great back road for a Bike. I was rather surprised to see a sign for the 'Secret Nuclear Bunker'. It wasn't a 'hidden' sign but one of those brown, tourist attraction signs. Seemed a bit odd, I thought. Surely if you advertise something on a brown, tourist attraction sign you can't call it 'secret' any longer. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to rename it the 'once upon a time was a bit hush hush, but now known by millions nuclear bunker'! Not content only to advertise the secret, the next sign directed me to a car park to accommodate all the people wanting to see the 'once upon a time was a bit hush hush but now known by millions' bunker.
I pondered this as I rode (as you do) and wondered if they would get as many customers if it wasn't advertised as 'secret'. If it was any old bunker would people want to see it? Probably not, eh? I thought some more - riding a bike is a good stimulus for thinking, obviously, and wondered if this is perhaps the same attraction which makes gossiping so interesting. If you are reading this thinking 'I don't find gossiping interesting', I'm afraid I don't believe you. We love it when we have a secret which we can share (confidentially, of course) with others. If the secret is a bit 'juicy' then all the better. It's my experience that the church is certainly not immune to this attraction. I thought some more (that's 3 thoughts in one day - pretty good, eh?) - and recalled the advice I was given when I joined the Rotary Club a few years ago. Rotarians call it the '3 way test'. Actually, it's the 4-way test (I almost forget one of the tests, sorry).

These are:
1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL & BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
It's not a bad test for all church members to sign up to, is it? Perhaps some of our secret 'bunkers' should actually remain that way?
Anyway - that's my Thursday morning 'ponder' - I share it with my friends (and I'm pretty chuffed to know that I have 6 since setting up my Facebook page!!) for your edification. Have a nice day!