The Carter Clan

What do you think of your neighbourhood?

2009-08-01T14:19:00.002+01:00

Over the last month or so, we have been doing some survey work around our neighbourhood to see what people think about living here, about God, and about how we could help them.

I thought that I would plug some of the responses into Wordle to give a graphical representation of what people said. This is what came out:

Good stuff about Etruria:

Bad stuff about Etruria:

I wonder if it's significant that people and community are prominent in both sets of words? Does this mean that some people in the community are good and some bad, or that the same set of people is seen in different ways by different people?

What Puts People off going to Church?

This one really interests me. There are families in this area working long hours a long way away. They are time poor. I am convinced that every minute we can find for exploring the big issues of life and death and investing in our relationships with each other and God is a minute of pure gold. We can't create time, but we can choose how we spend it. I am so sorry that the people of God (including me) have been such faithless witnesses to the life changing power of God, that we have let down our friends and neighbours by not living this out, by not walking the talk.

Anybody want a caravan?

2009-07-10T12:22:00.002+01:00

http://tinyurl.com/abirallymanforsale

Anybody want a caravan?

2009-07-10T12:22:00.001+01:00

http://tinyurl.com/abirallymanforsale

vegetables

2009-06-30T13:54:00.002+01:00

I've been growing some and it's a lot of fun. Even better is eating them :-)

Give by Gift Aid and get more Tax Credit

2009-06-06T12:45:00.002+01:00

Not a lot of people know this, as I didn't until I was informed by my Tax Advisor on Thursday.

If you give money to charity, by Gift Aid, you can subtract it from the income that you report for Tax Credit purposes. Because Tax Credits are very income sensitive at certain levels, depending on your income and how much you give by Gift Aid, this could have a big impact on how much Tax Credit you receive.

Here are the official websites that give me some reassurance that this is correct.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/tc825.pdf

http://www.taxaid.org.uk/uploadedfiles/document/1_261_Tax_Credits_and_GiftAid_v1.pdf

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/ManagingMoney/GivingMoneyToCharity/DG_078490

World Book Day, 2009

2009-03-05T11:44:00.007Z

Tabitha and Nathaniel went to school today as Pippi Longstocking and Diego the Animal Rescuer. Can you spot the real one? :)

Tabitha or Pippi?

Nathaniel or Diego?

And here they are together all ready.

Selfishness

2009-02-19T17:43:00.000Z

I've read two books today, addressing very different issues in our culture today, but identifying a common root cause of those issues.

"A Good Childhood" looks at the lives of children in the UK today, discusses the difficulties our children face and makes suggestions for how these might be overcome. One of its key conclusions is that many of the problems faced by children stem largely from an over individualised society that encourages selfishness.

"Planetwise" explores Christian responses to the environmental challenges facing the world today. It also sees selfishness as a fundamental root cause of the exploitation of natural resources and lack of care for creation.

So, if we are to allow our children grow up healthily and if we are to leave a planet for them to live on we need to stop putting ourselves first.

Will we do it?

Mummy - Animal Rescuer ( a true story recounted by Tabitha)

2009-02-06T17:24:00.003Z

One morning mum was walking by the canal when she saw a cat trying to get across but when she tried to do it, the ice broke and she went down . Mum felt terrified then she said, "come here kittey kittey" and she came. Mum tried to put her arm in but the cat went down again but when she went up mum leaned harder in and caught her and read the label and took her home to its owner. The End.

(Diego's got nothing on my missus)

Support your local library.

2008-12-18T12:20:00.004Z

This morning I was in Stoke On Trent's City Library. Just for somewhere quiet and warm to do a bit of reading and thinking. I also thought that I would have a quick look at the "Religion" section to see what it was like. I wasn't really surprised to see that it was a bit sparse.

But, we could change that. Public libraries are there for the whole public, and if they don't hold the books that we might want to use then we only have ourselves to blame. So, I requested that the library get in a few books that I want to read for some thinking I'm doing on how men and boys engage (or don't engage) with church. Next time you want to get hold of a book, or recommend one in church, why not see if the local library has it or if it could get hold of it for you.

There's even the possibility of going a bit further, you could give some good quality Christian books to your local library. Speaking Volumes is a charity that specialises in enabling individuals and churches to give packs of a books on a variety of subjects, from a Christian perspective, to libraries and schools.

Might make a novel Christmas gift project - see what I did there :-)

this looks a bit daft to me

2008-11-24T20:14:00.002Z

Am I the only one wondering how a crisis, caused largely by people and institutions borrowing beyond their means, is going to be solved by us, as a nation, borrowing a whole load more money.

We've already had one credit crunch. What happens when an even bigger one hits the national accounts. Isn't it time to face up to the fact that consumerist capitalism is, literally, bankrupt.

Some writing what I did

2008-11-16T17:07:00.003Z

During the spring I did some writing for a couple of projects associated with college. They are both now publicly available in two very different formats.

Along with 7 or 8 other students I produced a load of material for a whole week's worth of WordLive, Scripture Union's online bible study and devotional website. The material starts tomorrow and runs all the way through until next Sunday.

If you like what you read there, then you might also be interested in another collection of material that the community at St John's put together. "Walking to a different drum beat" contains Bible readings and reflections to help us spend Advent preparing intentionally for Christmas.

No prizes for spotting my contributions to either this year, but please do have a look and see what you think.

I got really cross this morning

2008-10-20T21:22:00.002+01:00

I don't often rant on this blog, but I need somewhere to let off steam. Something that clergy promise to do when they get ordained is to pray and read their Bible every day. To help us with this there are set readings for each day, which take you through the Bible. One of this morning's readings was Leviticus 19.1-18, 30-end. This means that whoever had compiled this set of readings had thought that for some reason we didn't ought to read verses 19-29.

Now, if you look at them, they are difficult verses. No question about it, they could be discussed and chewed over for many hours before we might get even close to working out what on earth they are doing in the Bible. What we have absolutely no mandate for doing is to pretend that they aren't there. If we are to have any integrity in saying people need to take the things in the surrounding verses seriously, then we need to do the tough work of wrestling with the bits we would rather weren't there. Copping out and not even reading them is not wrestling, it's cowardice.

Sing a new song

2008-10-01T21:02:00.003+01:00

Ever since I went to New Wine in the summer, I've been thinking a bit about the link between worship and intercession, and particularly sung intercession. Having sung some of the "breathe" songs a fair few times with the Eden guys, I've also been finding "God be Gracious To Us" and "You're the God of this city" really helpful in my own worship and prayers. Yesterday I was working through the song book and came across I song that has spoken for me when I've been down, "When I am lost". It struck me that as it is written it is fairly "me" centered, but could actually be a great song of prayer for others. So I had a go at a bit of a rewrite, so you can see what I mean.

Here's the original ( by Wendy O'Connell)

When I am lost, when I am all alone,

Burdened by my sin and shame, there's one place I can go

I look towards the cross

Where my saviour died

Suffered in my place

The perfect sacrifice

For me so I can know

Now I am forgiven

I have been set free

Through the blood of Jesus

I have been made clean

Now I know of Hic mercy

Because he died for me

I have been redeemed

Here's the rewrite:

So many are lost, so many are all alone

Burdened by their sin and shame, there's one place they can go

We look towards the cross

Where the Saviour died

Suffered in our place

The perfect sacrifice

For all so we can pray

Now will you forgive them?

Will you set them free?

Through the blood of Jesus

Will you make them clean?

Let them know of your mercy

Because he died for all

We can be redeemed

Back to Church Sunday

2008-09-24T10:28:00.002+01:00

I'm really excited about this Sunday coming up. All over the country people are inviting their friends and relatives, work colleagues and netball team mates to come and visit the churches they go to. Jesus was all about inviting people to come and find out how great he is and then sending them out to invite others. And over the last few weeks we've being inviting and on Sunday we're going to have the privilege of seeing people find out for themselves. You can't get much more exciting than that.

If you're reading this and thinking, "but I haven't been invited", then consider yourself invited by me. If you're in the UK then you can find out where your local church is, here. If you're not in the UK, then check the phone book or Google.

Let me know what you find out.

Pride

2008-09-10T16:35:00.002+01:00

Does anybody else find pride a really debilitating thing? So much so, that I hardly know how to write this note.

The short story is that today I had a column published in our local paper, The Sentinel. I guess I'll know if it's any good if I'm asked to contribute again.

To be honest I didn't do much to get the original invitation. In my first couple of weeks here I spent a bit of time with the director of Saltbox, a local parachurch organisation, who has contacts at the Sentinel. About a month ago he sent an email to a few of us saying that the paper was looking for contributors to its weekly "Yours Faithfully" column, and I stuck my hand up and volunteered.

The thing is, just before I left college someone suggested to me that writing might be part of the ministry that God has for me. Here I am, three months later with something like this falling into my lap. It's almost like there is actually a God :-)

So, what has all this got to do with pride? Well, I'm absolutely tickled pink. I love the fact that I wrote something and now loads of people might be reading it. On one level this is because I'm chuffed that I've had the opportunity to write Kingdom stuff in a public forum, but to be honest it's also about me having had something published.

I don't know what to do with this feeling, and I don't want it to stop me engaging with the stuff God has for me to do, so I'm going to keep going (if they ask me to). The best I can do at the moment is to write this in a public space as well, and ask you to pray for me, that my pride might be at the level of a workman taking pleasure in a job well done, rather than that of a peacock.

2008-09-01T20:08:00.008+01:00

We've just returned from a holiday in not-so-sunny north wales. Was a good week, with lots of walking, steam trains, getting muddy, playing in the sea, etc etc. We're pretty exhausted now....somehow holidays with young children don't seem to be quite the rejuvenating thing they once were! But lots of fun and a good time to go just before they start school on wednesday, which is good but pretty scary for all concerned.
Here's some pics of the holiday...

x Playing at Llandudno

Tabitha and Daddy climbed Snowdon. Even the beginning was in cloud...

A Warm House

2008-08-17T17:44:00.002+01:00

Not just a warm house, but a warm garden on Friday evening which helped make for a fab time at the BBQ. Thanks to lovely neighbours for lending us their super-duper gas BBQ. Great to see lots of friends, both old and new.

I'm afraid that there isn't much else to write about at the moment, tho' I want to keep blogging fairly often so that I can keep track of what's happening as much as anything else.

I've met some really good people this week, including the director and some of the staff at the local YMCA. A really good crew, I'm looking forward to getting to know some of them better, especially as one of them has promised to show me the best chippie in Hanley on Thursday.

Preached today at a Sunday service at St Mark's for the first time. Seemed to go down OK (on the sermon blog if you fancy a read). Weirdly for me, for the first time ever for me audibility appears to have been a bit of an issue. Maybe need to so a bit of work on the old voice projection.

Enough stream of conciousness I think, time for tea.

The first week

2008-08-08T14:36:00.002+01:00

So we've all been here all week now. It's still a bit unreal as the kids are out of school so finding a "normal" rhythm of life is still a way off I think. Liz and the kids have been out and about, finding the library and museum. Tabitha and Nathaniel both got books out, and Tabitha got a book with a cardboard model of a castle to build from the museum. Photos to follow, if it ever gets finished :-)

I've been getting more stuck into parish life. I have now worn my new frocks. Photos to be avoided. I've also helped lead a funeral which wasn't as traumatic as I thought it might be. Also been buzzing around meeting and chatting with people who've lived and worked in the communities around here for a while. There are some real opportunities and challenges and I've just been getting more excited about what God's got for us here.

Looking forward to our house warming next week. The neighbours are going to bring their big gas bbq round and we're going to have a blast.

Rollercoasters

2008-08-02T14:35:00.002+01:00

We got back last night from New Wine, Newark. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride, but with more ups than downs. Highs included seeing many people healed, having the privilege of preaching to some of the kids workers and praying with them, seeing God working in their lives.

We spent the mornings in sessions led by a team from the Message Trust. These guys have moved onto some of the toughest estates in Manchester and are living there, living out Jesus teaching, and are seeing lives changed and people come to faith. Their example is inspirational. We were especially moved by the songs that they have written that provide a way to worship and to cry out for God to come and do more, to change more lives, to break through.

Liz's health was a bit iffy through the week, which is tough when there is so much healing going on around. Even this, though, was a source of encouragement. Through the week we kept on praying and the symptoms would subside and she would be able to carry on. On the last evening, one of the New Wine leadership team prayed for her. Although there was no physical healing, Liz had a sense of God saying that she has not been abandoned or forgotten. God is with her, strengthening her as we explore what the next stage of our ministry in Stoke is going to look like.

It was fab to meet up with, and spend time with so many friends from St John's and other places. We have a hope and expectation that next year we will have new friends in Stoke that we will have a similarly great time with.

Home, sweet home

2008-07-24T21:24:00.002+01:00

Is now in Stoke. There is nothing left in Nottingham, all the furniture is assembled and most of the boxes are empty. The kids are asleep in their new rooms, and the broadband is working. Just in time for us to go off again, this time on holiday. First day tomorrow meeting up with some old friends from college first time round who are on holiday together 30 minutes from here. Then on to New Wine in the caravan, hoping for more dry than wet on Newark show ground.

Maybe I'm being a drama queen

2008-07-11T10:21:00.003+01:00

Maybe I'm over reacting, so I need some impartial input. If your toenails look like this after 3 hours basketball, are they going to fall off?

Reality Check

2008-07-06T21:06:00.003+01:00

It's odd, the things that finally make something real to you. On Thursday evening I sat and read the Church Times, and looked through all the photos and lists of ordinands around the country. Now, we actually went to one of these ordinations, at Leicester, on Sunday. At that time I felt a bit jealous, but I was OK with it because I knew that was getting on with the job, even if the ordination bit isn't going to come until the Autumn. But on Thursday, looking at the photos of people I had trained with, spread all over the country, reality hit me. They've all gone. College is no more. I'll probably see few of them again in this life. I felt sad.

And so to Stoke......

2008-06-23T13:35:00.002+01:00

This weekend Tim and I and the kids spent our first night in our new house and went to our first service at our new church. Exciting stuff! We were delighted when we arrived to find that the house had been cleaned from top to bottom and that the lawns had been mowed, looked fab. Also to welcome us was a big basket of fruit, bottle of wine, chocolates and cake....sorted :) The house is lovely, kids very happy with their new rooms, as are we :) On Sunday we enjoyed visiting St Mark's and received a wonderful welcome from the congregation there - they had bought us some flowers and a present for the kids. We went to our new vicars house for lunch with the rest of the Hanley team so was good to meet them and enjoy lunch together. All in all a very positive weekend. I felt all wrong coming back to Nottingham and leaving Tim there, just kind of want to get on with it now - but Tabs will love finishing off her school term here, and starting new in September at her Stoke school. Feels somewhat strange though with most college peeps having moved on last week - slightly feel I shouldn't be here.
Looking forward to going up again Weds night and going to the new school on Thursday morning where T and N will spend some time with their new classes. Then back here Friday for school, brownies and dancing, back to Stoke Sat then going to a friend's ordination on Sun - busy busy. Hmmm, can I harness some of that energy the kids seem to have in surplus??

Summer Bash

2008-06-20T11:43:00.002+01:00

I realised that I had not got around to posting some photos of our little trip out to the "Beach Party" that was the St John's Summer Bash:

No Longer a Student

2008-06-15T19:03:00.002+01:00

Here I am, footloose and fancy free. The last essay went in on Wednesday. The last lecture was Friday morning. Yesterday was Commissioning Service. I now have a week off to sort stuff out before our first Sunday at St Mark's next week.

I seem to have lost my voice a bit, not physically, but metaphorically. For somebody who usually has something to say, I have been lost for words over the last couple of days. I'm sitting here trying to think of something to write about how I feel and think about endings and beginnings, but there's nothing there.

Not that I feel numb, just that I don't have the words at the moment. Ho hum, I'm sure that it will pass.

Tabitha and Dad go Camping

2008-06-01T15:10:00.002+01:00

Over half term Tabitha and I went on a bit of a camping trip to Edale. Here is a map showing the walks we did over the three days. Photos to follow.

View Larger Map

Special Studies Week

2008-05-24T19:52:00.003+01:00

We have just finished a great week at college. The idea is that all normal lectures stop and that the college has a week to get together in different, cross year groups and look at issues or engage in creative activities.

The second years spent some time looking at personality indicators: MBTI, Belbin, and Enneagram. Whatever your view of the foundations of these theories it was useful to think through some of the ways that our personalities affect the way in which we engage with each other and with God, especially given the ministerial contexts we are soon to be going into.

Creative things going on included silk painting, song writing, hand bell ringing, guitar workshops, photography, Powerpoint presentations, drama workshops, story telling ...

The whole college community spent Thursday morning hearing from four visiting speakers sharing their experiences in the current debates about human sexuality in the Anglican Communion. It was extremely valuable to hear these different perspectives presented in a open and frank discussion.

I spent a good chunk of my week organising and writing material for WordLive. Scripture Union offered the college the opportunity for us to prepare a week's worth of material for their web based Bible reading notes. If all goes to plan, the material we have prepared this week will go onto the site for a week in November.

A diverse, creative, and stimulating week. Now it's Reading Week, and I have two essays to write before they'll let me out of here.

The time of last things

2008-05-17T10:09:00.002+01:00

This week feels like it has been chock full of things that have probably happened for the last time. The last Spirituality, Quiet Hour and Fellowship Group on a Monday morning. Maybe the last game of squash with Paul on Tuesday. The last meal at Jordan and Ben's on Wednesday. The last modules of my course finishing on Thursday and Friday. The last sermon at St Peter's on Sunday night, (an experimental dialogue on the Trinity).

I guess this is what meant when they kept going on about liminal times in Pastoral Care. What's really odd, and adds to the air of unreality is that although a load of things have happened for the last time, Commissioning service isn't for another four weeks. I've got loads left to do. But I've already finished.

Home and dry

2008-05-11T20:40:00.003+01:00

Home now from the preaching trip to sunny, very sunny today, Redditch. Preach seemed to go well, with plenty of positive feedback and encouragement. If you're interested, text of sermon is on my sermon blog, here.

I still find preaching to be a really odd experience. I usually love preparing for it, and this time was no exception. In College Fellowship group prayers on Wednesday morning I asked the group to pray for me as I prepared. In the 25 minutes following that meeting I sat there in my private prayer time and all the key ideas for the sermon came to me. It was then just a case of writing them down, polishing them a bit and developing a few of them into a fully worked sermon. It was as close as I ever experience of God giving me stuff to say.

I felt energised as I spoke, and the feedback from the people there, as I was speaking was friendly and welcoming. But since, I've been absolutely bushed. It still seems to take an inordinate length of time to get my energy back having preached. I find this a bit of a paradox. Preaching is something I enjoy, I appear to be good at, I feel energised whilst I'm speaking, but then wiped out when I've finished. To be reflected on further...

Being a Guest Preacher

2008-05-10T09:10:00.002+01:00

We're off to visit Liz's Mum and Dad this weekend. Nothing particularly unusual in that, but I'm a bit more nervous than usual. Wallace has invited me to preach for one of the congregations at the church he leads. And it's not on any old Sunday, but Pentecost, the church's birthday. It also happens to be Wallace's birthday. No pressure then :-) Please pray for us, especially if Liz succeeds in persuading me that we ought to go shopping for a new mattress this afternoon!

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth

2008-05-08T19:50:00.002+01:00

Or at least, that's what Tabitha now wants, since she managed to knock the corner off one of hers this evening. There she was in Chapel, teaching her friend "dig samba" to "Crown Him with Many Crowns". It was just a little stumble and suddenly there's blood all over the place and a chip of enamel staring up at us from the floor. Off to the dentist tomorrow....

God is a Womble

2008-05-01T19:58:00.003+01:00

And if I don't manage to work this quote from one of my lectures this week into a sermon that I'm preparing for a fortnight hence, I promise to blog about it instead.

In the meantime, I'm not sure where the time is going. Somehow three weeks of my last 2 modules have gone, it's May, and I'm starting my new job next month. We went over to Stoke on Saturday to drop some stuff off and hang some curtains. The fact that there is now stuff in our new house has bought home to us that we are actually going to be moving.

In two months most of our friends will have been dispersed all over the country, we will be in a new place, starting a new phase of ministry and family life. It's enough to give you goose bumps.

Goose bumps of apprehension, but also goose bumps of excitement, anticipating all the things that God has prepared for us to do, the people we are going to meet along the way, can't wait for the ride to start.

How does that make you feel?

2008-04-16T19:57:00.002+01:00

So I have made it to the end of my 'Counselling skills for pastoral care' course. It's been fun, harrowing, hard work and rewarding. We had the 'concluding residential' last week at college - 5 intense days running from breakfast right through to around 10pm. Not just sitting through seminars - we got to practise on each other. There was about 16 of us on the course, split into two groups, and in these groups we took it in turns to either speak or listen. No role play allowed - we had to do real stuff, then analyse each others' listening skills. As you can imagine this was pretty exhausting - not only having to 'perform', but just listening to others' stuff - lots of depth. It was helpful, I do feel much more equipped now to use some of these skills I've been skirting round in theory for the last 6 months, and concrete them a bit. Had a good tutorial, my tutor was very positive and encouraging and gave me a good mark so I like her. :) She reckoned I could go on to do the next stage (a 'proper' counselling certificaty-qualificationy thingy) but that involves a lot of money and a lot of erm health, so maybe not for me at present, but I can certainly use what I have learned in our parish ministry, which was really what it was all about. I'm looking forward to getting stuck in now - we only have a couple of months left here which is rather scarey too.

On yer bike...

2008-04-06T19:14:00.003+01:00

A short post to note Tabitha's accomplishments riding her new bike today. A haiku to salute the achievement:

First time Dad let go.
There were no stabilisers.
But there was the snow.

TimC

Rites of Passage

2008-03-15T21:29:00.002Z

Last Thursday night, Tabitha was admitted to communion at college. Having been through a short course exploring communion and what it means, she is now allowed to take take the bread and wine at communion services. As I side bar, personally I reckon that if we, as a church, are willing to welcome children into God's family through Baptism then we ought to welcome them to the family meal at communion from day one, but the Church of England has a different mind.

On Wednesday night, Nathaniel finished his first football course, and received his first football trophy. As I've blogged previously, this whole experience has been a term long rite of passage for both Nathaniel and me. Looking forward to next term now.

Last night, Tabitha skipped round the circle, recounted the appropriate motto and law, and made her promise. She is now, officially, a Brownie. Note to self, it probably will not go down well to continually remind her of her promise to be helpful when she's complaining about tidying her room :-)

Dad, I've got a peppercorn up my nose.....

2008-02-23T23:23:00.002Z

No, really, that is what Nathaniel told me as I took him up to bed tonight. Now, I knew that he'd spilled some peppercorns out of a home made shaker that he'd been playing with. I could believe that he'd got a sneezy nose because he'd been sniffing them, but, had he really got one stuck up his nostril? A preliminary investigation later and I couldn't see anything but he was insistent. So, an extensive search for a non-existent torch ensued whilst nightmares of the local A&E on a Saturday evening began to play in my imagination. Wielding a bedside lamp at odd angles did give me a glimpse of something that looked peppercorn like, a reflection off a wrinkly, curved surface. How to get it out? Suck with a straw? That didn't work. Blow your nose Nathaniel, no, blow not sniff! Tweezers - oh no, it's going deeper. The spectre of a trip to A&E looms larger. One last go at the blow your nose technique. And oh, the joyful sight of a snotty peppercorn nestling in my hanky :-)

New Woman Article

2008-02-05T18:01:00.000Z

I came home from work one day in December and Liz said, "Would you like to be featured in an article on being married for ten years." So, we had a chat over the pros and cons, took some advice and decided to go for it, what could possibly go wrong? We headed down to London for a photo shoot (what a palaver that was - good photos though), and then answered some questions we were sent by the journalist:

What's been your best time?
Your worst time?
Anything almost driven you to walk away?
What keeps you together?
What would you change about him/her and the relationship?
Describe your sex life over the years.
What's been your biggest challenge?
What's your 10-year secret?

Now, you won't get much of the answers we gave in the article that appeared in the magazine that hit the shelves today. If you're interested in a game of spot the difference, here is what we did say, one set a joint effort, and a second set from Liz.

What's been your best time?
The last eighteen months have been really good. We moved to Nottingham, for Tim to college to start training to be a vicar. This was a significant step along the road towards what we want to be doing as a couple. We've made some good friends, Liz was in good health for the first six months of our time here, and has started training as a counsellor. We had one of our best ever family holidays over the summer. Although Liz's condition has deteriorated more recently, we have been moved and encouraged by the support of those around us and have grown closer through it.

I can think of many really good times. Our wedding day itself was wonderful, but things have only improved since! I would say that since moving here to begin Tim's training for ministry has been a really fulfilling time in our life and marriage, as we are going toward the goal we have shared for a long time, and we have been really happy here in our family and with friends.
One of my best times was a few months after the birth of our daughter, when she had settled down from the newborn stage. I was loving being a mum, Tim's job was going well, and we were enjoying our life together a lot.

Your worst time?
2003 was a difficult year for us. Early in the year Tim went through the selection process for going into full time ministry in the Church of England for the first time, but was not recommended for training. This was a blow to what we thought that we were going to be doing for the majority of our life together. Liz was pregnant with our son Nathaniel, and was taken into hospital three times with breathing complications. Once Nathaniel was born, Liz had post natal depression. Under the stress and strain caused by these setbacks it was difficult to maintain the energy levels needed to communicate well and to invest in our relationship.

Both my pregnancies were a very stressful time for us as a couple, I was severely ill with my lung disease both times and hospitalised a number of times. We struggled to cope with a lot of stuff at the time. The worst time was probably 2003, when pregnant with our son, Tim was turned down in his first application to the Church and we were both very down about this, as we'd felt it was the right thing for us to do. I was ill and then had PND after the birth. Communication between us was at a low point at that time, and although I wouldn't say we were drifting apart, I'd say we were not as together as we are usually.

Anything almost driven you to walk away?
No.

What keeps you together?
Through all the tough times and the good times we are kept together by lots of things. Our love for each other has grown and deepened. We have been deliberate and intentional about doing things that have nurtured our relationship. For instance, before getting married we went away on a weekend designed to help people think through issues that are likely to come up in a marriage. In 2005 we went on, "The Marriage Course"* as a kind of MOT for our relationship, and this was really useful in helping us to step back and review where it was working well, and where there might be issues beginning to develop. We make sure that we have time alone together on a regular basis, going out on 'dates' or having a night in with a takeaway and a bottle of wine, having time to chat things through and fill each other in on our busy lives, and just have fun together. We also have an agreement that we don't let issues and resentment build up, we make sure we communicate about stuff that's bothering us and talk things through. We laugh together a lot. We pray together, this is important to the health of our relationship. We have similar values and a shared outlook and vision for our lives.

We make sure that we have time alone together on a regular basis, going out on 'dates' or having a night in with a takeaway and a bottle of wine, having time to chat things through and fill each other in on our busy lives, and just have fun together. We also have an agreement that we don't let issues and resentment build up, we make sure we communicate about stuff that's bothering us and talk things through. We laugh together a lot. We pray together, this is important to the health of our relationship. We have similar values and a shared outlook and vision for our lives. We have been on a course designed to talk about how our marriage is going, and went on a preparation for marriage course before our wedding. We put effort into our relationship, and make sure it doesn't just drift along.

What would you change about him/her and the relationship?
We have quite different personalities, that affect the way that relate to other people and situations. We both still have to work on communicating our love to each other in the way that the other finds most easy to receive.** Tim still doesn't buy Liz flowers often enough :-)

I'd love it if he would do more surprises/gifts for me as I am a person who loves romantic gestures. We both have different emphases on what we need in our relationship and are learning more and more all the time how we can give to each other in this.

Describe your sex life over the years?
Our sex life is like the rest of our life together. As we have grown closer our whole relationship has become deeper, more intimate, and more fun.

It's got better and better :) Obviously there have been up and down times as with everything else, especially with illness and babies, but it is an important part of our marriage and we feel it enhances what we are to each other.

What's been your biggest challenge?
Our biggest ongoing challenge over the years has been living around Liz's chronic lung condition.*** This has stopped her being able to work, and has caused us lots of stress when we have had to juggle child care and Tim's work commitments. Through all this, we have been blessed by being part of a supportive church and circle of friends. Even more important has been our faith and our experience of God holding us and walking with us when it's been tough.

I'd say my chronic lung disease, Bronchiectasis, has been the biggest challenge we face, and it's something we've always faced together and Tim has been a huge support to me in. It has been often so difficult to cope with the demands of the disease, and the side issues of childcare, me being unable to work and Tim's job suffering when he's had to look after me and the kids. We have incredible support from family and friends, and keep picking ourselves up and getting on again after each exacerbation. This is obviously an ongoing challenge for us but I think it has bought us even closer in our love and support of each other.

What's your 10-year secret?
Our secret is an open one. We have a deep and committed love for each other, underpinned by a shared faith and relationship with God.

We love each other deeply, both in an 'in love' sense and in a committed way. We always seek to put effort into our relationship and our shared faith and purpose means that we are strongly joined together.

* http://themarriagecourse.org/
** http://www.fivelovelanguages.com/forcouples.html
*** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronchiectasis

Growing Sunflowers

2008-01-31T19:58:00.000Z

Last year I tried to grow some sunflowers. I put some seeds in a pot, waited for them to sprout and then put the young plants in the garden. Next morning there were no plants remaining, the slugs had eaten the lot. All foliage fed upon.

This year I was given some bird feeder things for the garden. The idea is that they look a bit like flowers, you put bird seed in them and then the birds come and eat the seed. The supplied seeds happened to be sunflower seeds. So, I put the feeders in the garden and put the seeds in them. A month later and there is no sign of any birds being fed, but there are loads of sunflower seedlings. Here's a piccie:

Go Figure.

It's pretty gross

2008-01-23T21:38:00.000Z

Liz found some pictures of what the insides of her lungs probably look like, so I thought that I would share :-) This isn't completely random. Apparently the antibiotics she is currently taking aren't keeping the horrible bug (psuedomonas) she now has under control, so it's back into hospital next week for some more IVs.

Football Again

2008-01-18T18:47:00.000Z

Week two of football, and Nathaniel is getting the hang of it very quickly. Joining in with the skills training, practising taking penalties and getting the idea of the games a bit more. However, daddy has once again let his little boy down.

But before we get to that, a couple of photos:

For the games the kids are divided into teams. The captain of each team is chosen first and then the guys running the session divide the remaining kids amongst the teams. Nathaniel was chosen to be a team captain this week. It is at this point that I realise that I have not equipped him for this task. The one responsibility of the team captain is to choose the team's name. This was the same last week, but it had just not occurred to me to brief him on the possibilities available to him.

Sure enough the first team captain chose Arsenal, the second chose England, the third chose Notts County. Nathaniel did not even understand the question. Blessings forever on the coach who grasped the situation, asked Nathaniel where he lived and, on being told, "Nottingham", announced that the team would be Nottingham Forest. Task for the weekend, watch MoTD with Nathaniel on Sunday morning and get him to pick a team.

My little boy

2008-01-10T17:32:00.000Z

I took Nathaniel to Football Club on Wednesday.

Having booked him in on Tuesday (forward planning and organisation being key features of our family life) we realised that he didn't actually have any trainers, so first job was to get to SportsWorld and get him a pair. His first football trainers, a pair of Umbros reduced to seven quid, trying not to think to hard about the Vietnamese kids about his age who probably sewed them together :-(

So to the club, a session for 4-5 year olds at the indoor pitch at the local high school. About 25 lads and one girl, all bigger than my little boy, only just four, short for his age, and with the football coming up to just over his knees. Some have obviously been last term and the two coaches know most of their names, and I was impressed that by the end of the hour they seemed to have got all the names learnt.

Skills training first: dribbling, heading, keepie ups with feet and thigh. My little boy starting off running all over the place but then started to get the hang of things. Between exercises they all had to come into the middle of the hall with their footballs and sit and listen. The first time they did this, a lot of those who had been previously were sat on their footballs. Nathaniel sat next to his and held it. The second time he tried to sit on his, but was a bit wobbly. Third and subsequent times he sat on it, no problem, just like all the others. My little boy.

Then it was time for 5-a-side matches. 10 little people running round after a football. My introvert, control seeking, little boy's idea of hell, especially if nobody's explained to him what's going on. Why couldn't he have the ball and what was meant to be happening? Why hadn't daddy explained what happens in a game of football? Because I hadn't realised that I needed to, I hadn't got into his head and thought in advance about what he wouldn't know, but might need to know to enable him to get the best of it. My little boy.

He loved it, and wants to go back (just as well really as you have to pay for 4 weeks in advance), my little boy, growing up fast.

Hanley here we come

2007-12-22T17:01:00.000Z

We can now let people know that my curacy post has been confirmed. We will be moving to Hanley, in Stoke-on-Trent, where I will be working in the parish of The Holy Evangelists, Hanley. I will be working for The Rev'd Keith Haywood, the team rector, based at St Mark's, Shelton.

View Larger Map

We are looking forward to moving here next summer, and to the opportunities and challenges that this next step in our ministry will present.

Angel Tree

2007-11-30T20:22:00.001Z

Regular readers may remember that earlier in the year I spent some time with Chaplaincy Team at Lowdham Grange Prison. One of the things I found out about, when I was there, was the Angel Tree scheme.

Here are some startling pieces of information:

• It is estimated that 150,000 children have a parent in prison
• 66% of female prisoners and 59%of male prisoners have children under the age of 18
• During their sentence 45% of people lose contact with their families
• Maintaining family contact can make prisoners up to 6 times less likely to re-offend.

Angel Tree provides Christmas presents for prisoners’ children. Local Prison Fellowship volunteer groups raise funds and work with churches and prison chaplains to buy and deliver the presents. Each gift is sent as though it is from the parent in prison who is also able to write a personal message to their child. If the parent requests it, a Christmas story book is also sent.

The immediate effect is the delight of the child who receives the Christmas present. Angel Tree is a wonderful link between a child and their mum or dad in prison and helps towards family reconciliation.

If you think that you could help with this scheme, this Christmas, please contact the Prison Fellowship to find out how it is being organised near you.

Tel: 01621 843232
angeltree@prisonfellowship.org.uk

The suspense is killing us...

2007-11-26T16:58:00.000Z

I'm aware that the blogging frequency has dropped off a bit recently. Despite this we still seem to have a fair few people checking in to see what's happening with us. So, to the faithful, thanks for sticking with us and sorry for being a bit slow at updating you recently.

The major reason for this is not that nothing is happening, but that we can't share the exciting stuff in public. We have been going through the process of looking for a curacy, my first post out of college. We are 99% sure that we know where we will be moving next summer, but until the Bishop confirms it and the church family there has been told, we can't talk about it widely. Suffice to say that we are very positive about the opportunity, are excited about the way God has been working in the area and we are itching to join in.

But, we are here for another 8 months, still have loads to learn and experience and don't want to lose those things by letting our focus shift too early. Having said that, I'm off to see the Bishop in question on Friday morning, so come the weekend I'll be packing :-)

Catching up

2007-11-09T14:40:00.000Z

Tim keeps telling me I haven't blogged in yonks so here I am at last. This is just a general catch up, then hopefully can blog more on stuff in detail, if I ever manage to get my act together that is.

You know all about the hospital shenannigans (baad spelling I know), glad it's over with but I am happy to report that my lungs have been much happier since the whole IV thing. Lets hope it continues. Also my consultant has been brilliant and they are keeping a closer eye on me now at the Cystic Fibrosis clinic - my condition is the same lung condition as CF patients get and the treatment, physio etc is the same so it's good to be able to get that care.

Enough about that. I am enjoying doing my counselling and pastoral care course and am catching up on my assignments now. It's good to have something to focus my ickle brain on. The reading is all really interesting and I'm loving it.

The kids are very well (well, saying that they both have colds and T has been off school some of this week, but in general!!) and very happy at school and nursery. I am enjoying school governing and have some visits to school to do this term for it which will be good.

Not much else really, for now......here's some photos of the kids on their birthdays...

Published Authors

2007-10-18T20:05:00.000+01:00

There are many better reasons for buying a a copy of, "Looking Towards the Dawn", St John's book of reflections for each day of Advent, than the fact that it contains the first published writings of Tim and Liz Carter.

These include:

1. Encouraging spiritual growth in what is often a pressured time leading up to Christmas.

2. Finding out a bit more about St John's and what we get up to here.

3. Profits from the sale of the book support the work of the college.

The fact that there's a small prize for the first comment on this blog correctly identifying one of the reflections written by one of us should also be almost irrelevant :-)

NHS Musings

2007-10-02T22:10:00.000+01:00

The most important thing to remember in all this is that if we didn't live in country with universal, free at point of delivery, healthcare Liz would probably have died years ago. With a chronic condition such as hers, unless you are very rich you cannot afford the healthcare costs yourself and you are virtually uninsurable. We are very glad we are not in the US.

But, now entering rant mode:

Two different members of nursing staff who take notes on their hands in biro during your admission procedure.

SHO's who discuss starting a particular course of medication on a Friday, but don't write it up so the nurses can't start it till the Monday when the consultant does his rounds and looks more than a little peeved.

An SHO who inserts a canula without gloves on and proceeds to wipe up the blood he spilt making three attempts to get it in, with his fingers.

A policy that says if you have Cystic Fibrosis we will teach you to mix and administer your IV antibiotics at home because you are likely to be young with a family, but if you have Bronchiectisis we won't, even though it's the same meds, because you're likely to be older and without family commitments. So unless her consultant can persuade the pharmacy department to fit the policy to the person involved, looks Liz might be in for a fortnight.

end of rant, I'm going to bed.

What a Week

2007-09-29T20:42:00.000+01:00

On Monday lunchtime I was looking forward to a busy week: a couple of sermons to preach, a deanery synod to visit, a potential curacy to visit and a load of freshers to say hello to.

Well, it was a busy week but in a completely different way. When I got home from my parish placement on Monday afternoon, Liz was curled up on the sofa, in pain and struggling to breathe. We already knew that she was going to have to go into hospital for IV antibiotics, but were hoping that we'd be able to wait until term started and my diary was a bit more regular. Oh well, we thought, and decided that it would be best for her to go in as soon as possible.

I rang the hospital on Tuesday morning, cancelled most of my appointments for the week (a grateful shout out to my placement supervisor, Jackie), and prepared ourselves for Liz to go in to hospital. Liz spent most of the rest of the week in bed, not keeping any food down but slowly getting a bit better.

One of the main frustrations was that every day we were waiting for a call from the hospital, not knowing what was going to happen during the day which made planning child care and actually getting anything done really difficult.

Now it's Saturday night, Liz was finally admitted to hospital yesterday afternoon, the sermon for tomorrow night is written and the kids are in bed asleep. Here's to the next week, which is the first week of term and hoping that Liz is home and better soon.

TimC

Everyone back to my place

2007-09-18T09:02:00.000+01:00

I've never been into a betting shop. Wouldn't know what to do if I did, not sure that I'd know how to place a bet and, especially being a bloke, I'm definitely not going to ask anyone to go with me.

It's a long time since I've been to a Scout meeting. I used to go when I was a boy, and enjoyed it a lot, my Dad got me into it. But I stopped when I was about 16 when I was meant to move to the Venture Scouts, I went off to do my DofE somewhere else. I hear that the movement is short of leaders and is recruiting adult volunteers but I'm not sure I'd know what to do. All the uniforms have changed, there are badges sponsored by McDonalds, and they've let girls join.

I've never stopped going to church, but I know that some people feel the same way about church as I feel about betting shops and Scouts. They're curious and maybe want to explore but are apprehensive about the alien and unknown, not sure of the welcome, and concerned about making a fool of themselves.

I'm not the only one who knows this. Across the country there are churches that want to welcome people. Many of them are joining in on September 30th as a focus for inviting people back to church and giving a gentle introduction to the local church family. If you've been looking for an opportunity to investigate your local church, this might be it. I reckon that it's a better tip than, "Prodigal" in the 3:20 at Lingfield.

Lake District Video Montage

2007-09-07T11:30:00.000+01:00

More on our Lake District holiday - here's a video montage of it:

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Our Holiday

2007-08-31T21:30:00.000+01:00

Here is a map of our holiday, with the walks we did, and some photos of us and our hills. I am extremely proud of my kids, who are only 3 and 6, and have now both climbed at least one mountain (apparently the definition varies between 600m and 700m depending on who you ask).

View Larger Map

For all of us

2007-08-14T14:16:00.000+01:00

Stumbled across this today. A little cheesy to start with, but tells the story fantastically.

TimC

Summery things

2007-08-10T19:53:00.000+01:00

We have been busy over the last couple of weeks enjoying the sunshine.

Here's a few pics of what we've been up to.

Having fun in friends' gardens

Splashing around

Enjoying picnics

Climbing Trees

Enjoying the Wollaton Park sculpture trail

And more tree climbing

Stories in Community

2007-07-29T19:42:00.000+01:00

We've just got back from New Wine, where I was serving as a Pastor to one of the children's work teams. During the week, I had a few conversations with people about stuff that is going on in their lives, did some Bible teaching and prayed for and with the team. I also got a bit of reading done.

In all this, a couple of themes kept coming up.

The first one is how important community is. We really cannot function effectively in splendid isolation. Time and again the thing that people needed was someone to work through an issue with them, and support them as they worked out the best way forward. We all need friends and mentors, and this is just as true for Christians. Jesus wandered around with a gang of mates, teaching them together and getting them to work through things together, holding each other to account and supporting each other.

The second theme is that of story. When I was chatting to people, I wanted to know something about them and where they were coming from. So I would ask them how they came to know Jesus. The stories they told me, even when fairly simple, were so powerful. Sometimes just the act of recalling and telling the story was enough to bring encouragement and hope where there had been confusion or disappointment.

The two themes came together in two very different books I read over the week.

In "Velvet Elvis", Rob Bell writes, "Our story is God's story. So many of us have been conditioned to think of our faith as solely as issue of us and God. But faith is a communal experience. A shared journey. I have heard people say that their stories and not exciting... But the point of our stories and our faith journeys is they are something much bigger."

In "Bacon Sandwiches and Salvation", Adrian Plass writes, "the place where we are as individuals is of little importance compared with the body of Christ as a whole. That person who seems to project the love of Jesus so effortlessly is a part of me, just as I am a part of them. Their smile is my smile. My low wattage glow is their low wattage glow. Do I dare to own whatever I find, good or bad, in my brothers and sisters? Do they dare to do the same?"

Story and community. Both key to living life to the full.

Prison

2007-07-15T19:46:00.001+01:00

I have just finished a two week placement at Lowdham Grange Prison. This is one of the few privately run prisons in the country, run on behalf of the Home Office by Serco.

I was well looked after by the Chaplaincy team, and was privileged to spend some time with the prisoners, finding out about the issues that they face.

One of the things that struck me most was the number of children that there are in our communities whose fathers are in prison. These children have done nothing wrong, but are growing up without contact with their dads. One project that aims to help these kids, even if in a small way, is Angel Tree.

Another key issue is finding somewhere to live and to work when you get out. I heard the story of one lad who had left prison and got himself trained up as a forklift truck driver. After 120 job applications over 18 months he had lost hope and motivation and ended up back in prison. I know that employing an ex offender, or renting property to one, is a risk, but if we are truly about redemption, surely it is Christians who ought to be taking those risks.

I experienced the power of Victim Awareness programmes, in particular one called Sycamore Tree. This is part of an initiative to introduce restorative justice ideas into the UK penal system, in place of the retributive justice ideas that we currently work within. If we are actually going to reduce offending behaviour in our society and reduce prison population I believe that it is only through improving communication between different groups in society and owning the effects that our actions have on others.

Finally, if this stuff has been nudging you to get more involved, there are lots of opportunities to visit people in prisons, and take your own place in this healing process of communication.

The Lurgy

2007-07-05T19:31:00.000+01:00

Last week Tabitha had the lurgy, and most of the week off school, but it abated for us to be able to get away for the weekend. The kids to Uncle Jez and Aunty Clair's and me and Liz to a hotel for a anniversary weekend away (10 years, can you believe it). Liz might blog about it, but we didn't get any decent photos of the place because it rained all weekend.

Anyway, now Liz has Tabitha's lurgy - horrible sore throat and achy/shivers and Nathaniel has an infection in both eyes. It's a real blessing that Liz's mum is staying with us, otherwise the first week of prison chaplaincy shadowing for me would not have been able to happen. Anyway I now have one dodgy eye and a itchy throat - it's not looking good for the weekend.

Really need to be well for New Wine in a fortnight, please God.

TimC

General Catchup

2007-06-26T21:35:00.000+01:00

It feels like I've had a pretty laid back time over the last couple of weeks, but am going to be doing a whole load more in the next month.

To Be Done:

Two weeks shadowing a prison chaplain, starting Monday
6,000 words reflection on the experience
Team pastoring at New Wine North
Leading Services at St Peter's
Start process of finding a curacy for next year

So, if we don't blog that frequently then please don't forget us, but do pray for us to find some time for family stuff in the busyness.

TimC

First Sermon in Placement

2007-06-22T19:39:00.000+01:00

I am trying to write my first sermon in my placement church that I'm going to preach on Sunday. Actually what I'm doing is unwriting my second sermon (my spell check doesn't like unwriting but I don't care). Let me explain. I am preaching at both the 8:00 am and 10:00 am services, on the same readings. At the 10:00 am service I have a 15 minute slot, at the 8:00 am service I have a 5 minute slot. Because I have prepared 15/20 minute sermons before I wrote that first, and am now attempting to work out which bits to leave out / trim / otherwise reduce, to get it to a third of the length. I suppose I could just speak three times as fast as normal, but that might defeat the object of clearly communicating something of God's word :-)

TimC

A Classy Sermon

2007-06-15T14:22:00.000+01:00

A mate of mine preached this sermon at her placement church. It is a really fantastic example of how to preach a story. Please go to the download site and download "I am a widow" by Kate Bottley.

Thnx

Back to life.....

2007-06-09T17:35:00.000+01:00

Finally gettiing back into the swing of things after being out of it all for a while with this last bout. Thankfully it seems the last load of abs knocked it on the head and I'm back to (almost) normal now. yay.

Even felt well enough to go to the college Summer Bash last night and stay til almost midnight....things definately looking up!! Unfortunately we couldn't get a babysitter so it was me on my ownsome but it was really a great night. Kate had outdone herself on the whole thing - it was a western theme, with everyone being encouraged to dress up western style, and the whole place done out in keeping with it. There was a bucking bronco (no you didn't see me anywhere near that thing, well I was wearing a skirt, having gone for the tavern girl look as opposed to the cowboy thing) , this provided much amusement for all. One of the girls is great at horseriding and had also been on some kind of rodeo holiday thing, so had all the authentic gear plus was pretty good on the bb. Was fun to watch :o)
Then there were all kinds of bits - pinatas, blow up cacti, country music, etc etc, 3 chocolate fountains and a candy floss machine. All really well done.
Most people dressed up and had a whale of a time. Haven't had such a fun night out in ages :o) I also experienced tequila slammers for the first time and wondered why I hadn't come across this phenomenon in all my 35 years. Something of a kick, those things, about 10 minutes later!
Anyway great night, would have been better if the hub could have come but never mind.

Nothing much to report.....all bumbling along quite nicely at the moment. It is a very wierd time, the leavers are all....leaving, funnily enough. Having only known them for 9 months or so it feels very strange, quite sad, and quite scarey knowing we'll be in the same boat next year (and how quickly has this year gone?) We will be thinking about curacies very soon. it all feels so transient and unsettled, but still determined to make the most of being here and we are mainly having lots of fun and making some great friends.

For now, looking forward to the summer....we are going away for the weekend to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary (yes 10 years!!!), the kids will be staying with my bro and sister in law. Then we're off to New Wine, then later in the summer a couple of weeks in the lakes.

Will blog more....honest guv! ;o)

Facebook

2007-05-29T17:46:00.000+01:00

I've now been on Facebook for a couple of weeks now. I've put a few details about myself, imported my blog and invited a load of mates to join. What do I do now? What's it for? I'm not really sure, but I also seem to keep going back to it to see what people are up to. Either I'm of the wrong generation or this is genuinely just complicated work avoidance!

A rite of passage

2007-05-22T19:56:00.000+01:00

Let it be noted that an important step in the process of becoming a vicar type person has occurred. The time was 8:00 a.m. The date was May 20th 2007. The place was St. Peter's, Littleover. The service was Book of Common Prayer Holy Communion.

The event?

I wore robes in public for leading part of a service. Precisely, I wore a cassock alb what I had borrowed from a cupboard at college. All was fine, apart from the occasional kneel on / stand on the hem event.

This is not me, but it's not far off...

Mission Impossible?

2007-05-17T20:23:00.000+01:00

One of the great things about college is that sometimes you can end up getting a whole load of really good input from experts in a field, on the same subject, in a fairly short space of time.

At the moment I am in the middle of module on Mission Theology and History, which is all about how the church has and should go about its mission. Last week we had, as part of this, a session from John Finney, a retired bishop who led up the Church of England's approach to the Decade of Evangelism, helped design the Emmaus course, and continues to write and teach about evangelism.

Today, we had a double helping. This morning we had a college lecture from Robin Gamble, whose job title is, "Canon Evangelist" in Manchester Diocese. Basically, he teaches church leaders in evangelism and church growth, not just in Manchester, all over the country.

This afternoon it was onto George Lings. This guy is at the cutting edge of thinking, observing and working out what is going on in the Church of England, especially with regards to Fresh Expressions of Church, and Mission Shaped Church. It was seriously impressive to see someone with a brain the size of the planet, and vision to see patterns and models of church growth think on his feet and engage with the issues facing the church.

It was very encouraging to see the passion and expertise that these guys have for mission and church growth. But, to leave it at that would be to miss the point. Today is Ascension Day, when Jesus returned to heaven following the resurrection, and Robin preached on this at our college communion service tonight. His basic thrust was that Jesus came to do God's work: to proclaim good news; to heal the sick; and to cast out demons. Jesus has gone now, so who's going to do the work?

We have to. Not just the experts, though it's great to have them, but us, all us normal Christians who have experienced the Good News, healing, and freedom, we have to take them into the world.

Living in Hope

2007-05-09T17:22:00.000+01:00

Life has been a bit tough over the last month or so. Liz picked up a chest infection over Easter, and the bugs causing it have seen off the various antibiotics that have been tried, though they do seem to finally be succumbing to a new one, Levofloxacin. As a result of this, Liz has been advised to stop working. This is particularly hard t0 hear, as she was looking forward to getting back into work and had just started doing a day a week at Little Peaches, the nursery at college.
We're both quite tired and more than a little fed up with the situation, as we try to balance child care, work at college, placement requirements and both of us getting enough rest.

In all of this, we also continue to ask where God is and continue to ask for healing for Liz. There are a few things that we are working through that are coming out of this.

One is the idea from Paul's letter to the Romans which says that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope, which will not disappoint us, because of God's love for us. The challenge here is to endure and not despair.

The idea that has helped with this comes from one of the gospel stories. I spent 3 hours on Tuesday morning in lectures on the healing miracles of Jesus. Something I was really in the mood for, with an ill wife at home :-0 Anyway, we were talking about a story related by Mark about a healing. In this story, the first thing that Jesus says to the person is, "Your sins are forgiven", and only later, "Be healed". One of my fellow student asked what the person's reaction might have been when Jesus forgave. Was it, "Oh great, now what about the legs?"
Are we so hung up on seeing the physical healing that we forget the fantastic news that we are forgiven? The thing that will secure our eternal perfection of life, to the extent that the sufferings of this life are not even worth considering, is already complete in Jesus, and this is the certain hope that can defeat our despair.

I do believe that God heals physical things. I know that God has already healed the relationship between us and God, and that we can trust God for that. In the meantime, I don't really know why Liz is still ill, but we will persevere in prayer, and live in hope.

Today I choose to follow You
Today I choose to give my "yes" to You
Today I choose to hear your voice and live
Today I choose to follow You

As for me and my house
We will serve You
As for me and my house
We will spend our lives on You

Brian Doerksen & Sandra Gage

Proud Daddy

2007-05-01T19:53:00.000+01:00

My daughter is a dancer, two steps towards the Rainbow Award:

Samba - Highly commended

"Danced with good feeling for the rhythm of the Samba. Very pleasing to watch"

Salsa - Commended

"Trying hard with this rhythm, pleasing movement"

Well done Tabitha

Some catch up stuff

2007-04-18T20:05:00.000+01:00

About time I blogged....

We've had a good holiday, in general. I've not been so well but it was good to get to mum and dad C's and have a good rest, and having Tim around so much has been fab, trying not to get too used to it for when we are back in the real world! Here's a few catch up pics and snippets.

We went to Luton for a day to catch up with some friends - we kept it a surprise from the kids till we got there, at which point Tabitha went slightly wild with excitement. It was lovely to see some very dear friends we miss very much.

The kids had fun making Hot Cross Buns with daddy on Good Friday. They also went along to the Good Friday march of witness in Beeston, where scenes from the Easter passion were played out along a route. Tabitha was fascinated by it all...lots of questions!

They enjoyed a couple of Easter Egg Hunts organised by church, and on Easter Monday we went off to the grandparents new pad in Dudley. The kids loved exploring the new house and eating lots of chocolate.

Tabitha then had her dancing exam on Sunday - she did two, salsa and samba, and I was very proud of her - she really put her all into it and looked very beautiful. :o) She enjoyed it lots - we went along with one of her best friends and they certainly let off steam in the car on the way home...giggly 6 year old girls, fun.
Here she is all ready for her dancing.

Now we are almost back to normal - T back at school, at least. N starts at his new nursery (the school one) next week proper, and I start work officially next Friday. I have just found out I have been accepted for the counselling and pastoral care course starting in September, so am looking forward to getting into thinking mode again.

Feelings of Futility

2007-04-16T12:08:00.000+01:00

You may have heard or seen over the last couple of days the pictures commissioned by Oxfam from the refugee camps in Darfur.
Last week there was another attempt to make us realise the scale of the problem out in Darfur. The US Holocaust Museum has mapped all the villages that have been burnt out using Google Earth. You can zoom in on the satellite images of the area and see the shells of the houses that used to be there.
So, there is no doubt that there is something horrendous going on out there. What am I going to do about it? All it takes for evil to prosper is that the good do nothing. But I am here and Darfur is a long way away. I have a family to be responsible for. I can write letters and maybe even give money, but I don't believe that this will stop the insanity of the conflict. The UN appears to be stalemated and the international community has little appetite or resource for another peace keeping intervention.

We have just celebrated Easter, and I am in the middle of writing an essay on the Work of Christ, and particularly the Cross. To my mind, situations like Darfur show beyond all doubt that left to its own devices humanity screws things up and can't fix them. We really do need saving. That does leave me with a question though. Why doesn't God, if God is powerful and loving, sort this situation out. God is constrained by none of the things that constrain me. I don't really know the answer to this, but I think that I have a start.

In coming to live on Earth God, in Jesus, took on the constraints of humanity. Despite being innocent, Jesus suffered unjust torture and death. Parent and Child were ripped out of each other's arms as the Child took on humanity's sin. As Jesus was raised to life, God declared that sin and death were defeated and that relationships could be remade.

Because of Easter, we have access to God, and can intercede with confidence. We can uphold those who are working on the ground, blessing them with wisdom and endurance. We can speak against the powers of evil, reminding them that they are defeated and binding them. We can pray for an end to the violence and the outbreak of peace.

Because of Easter, we have Good News and need not be shy about sharing it. However, we must live it as well. Our response to Jesus' cross should be for us to take up our cross and follow him. The temptation for me is to be over awed by the situation. My actions may not be the whole solution, but that should not stop me being part (however small) of something that might become the solution. In fact, it is in being obedient and taking up the cross that I am able to bear, that I testify to the power of the cross that I couldn't bear, to be the source of healing and reconciliation for the whole world.

TimC

My new hobby!

2007-04-06T14:21:00.000+01:00

I've always loved mucking about with photo imaging programs, have played with free trials of photoshop, paint shop pro etc. We have recently installed the Gimp
which is a free download but has pretty well all the features you can find on these other (much more expensive) programmes. It is a little more of a learning curve but fun nonetheless. I have been playing with it for a while but recently been getting into Digital Scrapbooking, which is much like paper scrapbooking but involving no glue and scissors and countless bits and bobs - you can download all these bits onto a file then play! I've definitely been bitten by the bug and spending far too much time on it, lol.
Here's a link to my first few goes.

Contributions Welcome

2007-04-02T19:41:00.000+01:00

I've got to write an introductory article for the Parish Magazine in Littleover. First draft is here. Comments, additions, flames all welcome.

TimC

"Sea Scene"

2007-03-31T17:50:00.000+01:00

The kids (and us) have been having fun making this 'sea scene' or 'zeenzeen' as N calls it over the last few weeks...we actually started it in half term but kept adding to it. It has finally come to its life's end so we thought we'd better capture it for them! Full size it was about 5ft square on the dining room wall.

Bible on your iPod

2007-03-28T11:00:00.000+01:00

Term finished last Friday, and between travelling around for a couple of placements, more details later, I am busy avoiding writing my essays. In the process I stumbled upon this little site. Now I don't have one of these iPod things, don't listen to music, but if I did, I'd love this. Plus, I think the site design is fantastic, not too fussy, stylish, and understated. podBible, it does exactly what it says on the tin.

TimC

Parish Placement

2007-03-17T14:51:00.000Z

I've now know where I will be doing my parish placement. Starting a couple of weeks after Easter, I will be spending some time at St Peter's, Littleover. This is where I will see how some of what I'm learning and becoming might be applied in a parish context. I hope that it will also open up some opportunities for me to get back into exercising some of the skills that I haven't been able to use much in the college environment. I'm looking forward to this a lot, but I do need to be careful about getting the balance right between college work and getting stuck into the placement, particularly as it is likely that Liz and the kids will continue to go along to Christ Church rather than get all uprooted again.

More stuff

2007-03-12T19:45:00.000Z

Last week Tabitha's school had a World Book Day dressing up competition. The children were invited to dress up as their favourite book character for the day. T initially wanted to be Sleeping Beauty with corresponding Disney outfit, but was persuaded to try something different when told most of the girls would be in such attire (they were.) So after much deliberating she chose The Tale of Tom Kitten and, of course, Mrs Tabitha Twitchett. So here she is....

She loved it and had a great day! Notice also her gappy smile....our little girl is growing up, suddenly all her teeth are falling out. The tooth fairy is very busy here (and at times a tad forgetful ;o))

Things are going well....I am working quite a lot at Little Peaches and N will start at the school nursery after Easter. I am thinking about applying for a course at college next year so will be pretty busy. The school governing is now taking off too, I am going to take over a curriculum area (not sure which yet but poss ICT, aaagh) and will then need to visit school a few times to make sure things are going smoothly.

We are planning another Together event for later in March, and Tim then will start his placement after Easter, but I'll let him tell you about that. :o)

Tomorrow we are visiting Tim's parents new church for their installation service, looking forward to seeing them and meeting some of their new church folks.

That's about it for now.

(un)answered prayer?

2007-02-24T19:19:00.000Z

Been a while. Not been ultra busy, but have had half term and have had a bit of a blip in the health thing...nothing too horrendous but enough to be spaced out on the meds again....ho hum.
Just finished a very interesting book, 'Healing and Deliverance' by John Woolmer.
I always approach any books about healing with slight trepidation as there is such a range of views, and I am, as a sufferer of a chronic lung condition, quite tired of premises such as no healing=no faith, or unconfessed sin, etc etc. This book provides a balanced and compassionate exploration of some of the issues around healing, and doesn't skirt round some of the nasty realities in this life, i.e that people, yes even Christians! - do get ill, do have accidents, do die. Not everyone is healed, and not everyone isn't. Is God not answering our prayers when we ask for healing and we are not healed? Woolmer seems to argue that yes, he is, simply not in the way that we would perhaps want him to. He talks a lot about healing being not simply about relieving physical symptoms, but about a whole life change - a more holistic view. He refers to many cases of medicine and complementary medicine working together with prayer for a person being part of a process of healing, though not necessarily ending in a full healing as such. In the end, as Christians we believe that death is not the end, and therefore we are only fully healed when we do die. Not an easy book to read, but it is fully of stories of amazing healings (eg see Jennifer Rees Larcombe). It documents healing through the Old and New Testaments, then through from the early church til today. It's very interesting reading and while not providing any easy answers it does have a lot to think about, and makes me feel that I am not healed not because God doesn't love me, but on the contrary because he does.....I will never understand this! I will (try to) never come to a bitter acceptance, more of a hope.....God can heal me, and God wants me to be whole, as he does everyone, and I will keep praying. Meanwhile, I am doing pretty well healthwise, having had the best winter in years, and thank God for this.

'For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part, but then shall I know even as I am also known' (1 Corinthians 13:12)

Powerleague Promotion

2007-02-23T18:38:00.000Z

Our first Powerleague season has finished, and we have been promoted. Or at least, as of Monday we are in Division 9 rather than Division 10, though that has more to do with teams dropping out of higher leagues. There is now no Division 10!

Anyway, here are our results:

P, W, L, D,GF, GA, PTS
14, 7, 5, 2, 101, 71, 23

Although, it does have to be admitted that we did have 6 10-0 walk overs awarded to us by other teams being missing from the league, or not showing up, so for actual games played it looks more like this:

P, W, L, D, GF, GA, PTS
8 , 1, 5, 2, 41, 71, 5

:-)

Anyway, we did improve a lot through the season, and were unbeaten for 3 of our 4 last games. Lots of great hopes for Division 9, starting on Monday night.

TimC

Microfinance Opportunity

2007-02-22T20:15:00.000Z

Have you got £500 in a savings account?
Are you likely to need access to it in the next 12 months?
Is the £25 interest you're likely to earn on it in that 12 months critical to your long term financial plans?
Would it be a disaster if you never saw the money again?

If your answers are:

then you might want to consider making that £500 available to majority world entrepreneurs via a Microfinance broker.

TimC

Farewell to the Chaplaincy, would you like to say hello?

2007-02-19T21:51:00.000Z

Yesterday was the last day of our six Sunday placement at the hospital chaplaincy at the Queen's Medical Centre.

It was tough at times, particularly the cold calling on the wards to talk with people and ask if patients would like to come down to the chapel service. However, there were real high spots of people grateful to come to chapel, people who didn't know there was a service happening but wanted to come when we asked them, people who wanted to talk and tell their stories, people who allowed us to pray with them and for them.

We had to do this as part of our training, and I'm really grateful for it. The real heroes are the people who go and volunteer to bring people from the wards down to the chapel on a regular basis. If your house group or cell is looking for a servant ministry to get involved in, then you could do a lot worse than ringing up the chaplaincy at your local hospital and finding out if you can get involved.

TimC

Slavery Action

2007-02-13T12:28:00.000Z

Regular readers may remember that I wrote about slavery and its continuing reality in this country a little while ago.

So now for some suggestions for action, as the 200th anniversary of Britain's abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade comes into view.

March of the Abolitionists
The first of two walks will begin in Hull and reach Westminster on 24 March, joining with the Walk of Witness (see below). The walk will be 200 miles long -- a mile for each year since the act was passed -- and provides opportunities to learn about and reflect upon the Transatlantic Slave Trade and its abolition, as well as the continuing impact of the Trade on society today, and the realities of modern day slavery.

The second walk, June 3rd - July 11th, is still looking for participants and for hosts, take note you guys in Luton, see July 9th. I hope to join for a couple of days early July, depending on my placement church and term dates.

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York are inviting you to join thousands of people from across the country to join a Walk of Witness on Saturday 24 March from Whitehall and Clapham, through parts of the capital to culminate in a large-scale act of worship in Kennington Park, South London. Walkers will be invited to sign Anti-Slavery International's Declaration as they reach the park. I'm gutted that I'm not going to be able to go as we are having our next Together celebration on that day, but I'd encourage you to get along if you can.

TimC

25% there

2007-02-08T15:00:00.000Z

Well not quite, last day of this module is tomorrow, but that will mostly be revision for the exam on Monday, so I can safely say we have now done the material for a quarter of the modules I will do before leaving. And I've only been here five minutes, doesn't time fly when you're having fun.

The season of elections is now fermenting around the college. The presidential nominations go in next week. For some reason I appear to be being set up to be the Children's and Youth rep, which would be a new experience for me :-)

Today we had the last session of our Pastoral Care module. Bits of this have been challenging, as they have required more self-examination than the more academic modules. It has also bought home to me the privilege it will be to listen to people, support them and celebrate with them. Reflection on this privilege reinforces the sadness that we are generally so poor at doing this and at allowing others to serve us in these ways.

More Liz catch up..

2007-01-29T19:19:00.000Z

Oops, time seems to have flown by again without me getting round to blogging. I did say I would report back on the New Wine Leaders Wives conference which was a couple of weeks back now, so thought I'd better get round to it before I completely forgot everything, as is my wont.
Brilliant. That do? Ok, I'll dig up more. Pretty nice hotel in Coventry, all got our own rooms (6 of us from college) with huuuuge bed, spa bath, all the luxuries, very nice indeed. And got time to indulge in some of the hotel facilities - sauna, pool etc, tho I didn't do too much of this as most of the time seemed to fly by with lots of ermmm well chatting really. Very nice, I must say, to have 2 mornings of getting up and putting on gmtv instead of cbeebies, and only getting myself ready, and having a bath without little visitors! Nice meals too.
So, the conference bit. Lots of good stuff really. I can see that it was a real oasis for some of the ladies who had some pretty horrible situations going on, to be able to talk about it with people who understand, and to pray together, and just to feel part of a big thing, was just great. I'm not 'out there' as such yet but there was so much stuff that was good for making me think about being prepared for when we do (which is only next year...aaagh!!) Lots of confirmation to me that this time is for resting and for getting to know God better, taking some time out for that, after the rush of the past few years, especially after having been so ill for much of the time, to now spend some time being seems so right, and it's been obvious in many ways that this is what I need to do right now....not to rush around so much for a while. Very liberating, realising that it is OK to do that. :o) A kind of preparation time.
The second evening was good, a gala dinner was put on where we all got in our posh togs and the conference room was transformed into a very nice dining room, and Michele Guinness did an after dinner talk. I've never heard her before, she has an amazing gift, very very funny and very deep too, you just hung onto her every word....she did a kind of run down of stories of leaders wives through the ages, and including a lot of her own experiences. Would recommend reading her books - good stuff.
Celia Bowring, wife of Lyndon (chairman of CARE) did the main talks which were on prayer. And there were various workshops etc. And of course a lot of time to relax and chat. Would definately go again, good place to have a reunion of the college girls too!
So, what am I up to now. well, from March I'll be doing a day in peaches every week, and more supply, so quite busy there, but in a nice way, and after easter N will be going to the school nursery every afternoon, so a big change there...he will love it, I will be bereft!! I'm not sure yet what I'll do with the afternoons, but have a few plans in the pipeline, but for now, just lots of being, praying and reading (and watching neighbours ;o))
We're planning another 'Together' event at the end of March which should be good and everyone seems very positive about, so look forward to that.
That's it for now...will endeavour to catch up more often.

A Church Near You

2007-01-21T18:53:00.000Z

The observant among you may have noticed that I have added a new link to the right hand side of the blog template. A Church Near You is a great little mash up site that allows you to put your postcode or town into the search engine and will pop up with a map showing where you live, your parish church, and other churches in the vicinity.

Why is this so useful? Well here are a few possibilities:

You are moving or have moved to a new town and you want to find out about the churches in the area.

To are going to Europe for holiday or work, and want to know if there any any English speaking Anglican churches near where you are going. This is because the Diocese in Europe churches are included, for instance, try typing "Milan" into the search box.

You are investigating having a church wedding or baptism. The vicar will be very encouraged to see that you have done a bit of homework about which parish you live in, before phoning her.

TimC

Actually doing something.

2007-01-15T19:19:00.000Z

I've been at college just over four months, and so far I've done a lot of reading, thinking, reflecting, praying, writing. Yesterday I did some doing. Our first ministerial placement began at one of the local hospitals. The idea is not to train in chaplaincy, but to have some exposure to what it is like being with people in hospital in a ministerial role, and gain some insights into pastoral care. We have six Sunday mornings at the hospital: fetching people from the wards for chapel, helping with the chapel service and then going back up to a ward and cold calling, wandering around and asking if anybody wants a chat.

This is the first time I have done anything like this and I was a bit apprehensive, especially about wandering around just chatting. I was encouraged at how full the chapel was for the service, there were about 20-25 patients there, and it was obviously important to many of them. The ward visit was good. The first guy I spoke to was a Christian and set me at ease and I found it reasonably easy to get talking to various other people on the ward. I really want to think through and explore the boundaries of what I can say to people about faith and relationship with Jesus in the context of their statements of what they believe Christianity is really about.

Stuff

2007-01-12T15:06:00.000Z

Well things are getting back to normal after Christmas. T is loving being back at school and N is now doing 3 nursery days and loves it at much as ever. He now goes on a Friday morning and I have been wondering what to do with it as the other mornings he goes I am busy with things in college, but yesterday I was asked to take over Friday mornings in Peaches on a permanent basis (in a few weeks) so there's my answer...in the meantime, a bit of reading time, and considering what I'm going to do this year. There are a few opportunities coming up at the moment which I am procrastinating over somewhat but prayerfully iyswim, lol. Will fill you in when I actually decide, if ever. But a bit of chill out time isn't a bad thing...prayer and all that.
We spent last saturday in Luton taking T to her very good friend's birthday party and visiting his family who I miss very much, so that was great to catch up, also got to catch up with more friends. This last few weeks has been a really good catching up time, but it was also nice to come back here - really feeling like home now, and friendships are taking off so much.
Am looking very much forward to next week - am off to the New Wine leader's wives conference (yes, I know, why not husbands too, another issue!) at a posh hotel in Coventry - get to have lots of me time plus teaching, worship, etc etc, am expecting great things, and a chance to get to know some of the others a bit better. The second night we get to glam up and have a 5 course meal which sounds wonderful, then get to have our own rooms with jacuzzi bath, mmmm lovely. Will miss T T and N loads of course, but can't wait nonetheless!!
Will report on it when I return.

Back Home

2007-01-02T20:43:00.000Z

All but one piece of tinsel is down. Christmas is now officially over and the New Year is here. We had a fairly chilled holiday. Some time at Liz's parents before Christmas and then over to mine for Boxing Day and following. Highlights included: the Christmas Eve crib service, stacked to the rafters in Ipsley, all the kids in Nativity costumes, Tabitha was an angel (one year I'm going to go as a proper angel - not one of these blond girly ones) and Nathaniel reprised his role as the inn keeper; the last Christmas in Ironbridge, before my mum and dad move onto pastures new (or Netherton as it's more commonly known); and the New Year's eve / birthday for the missus party. Bidding is now open for those who want me to YouTube the video of Liz giving a rendition of "Ace of Spades" by Motorhead on Singstar.

How good a Christmas Parent are you?

2006-12-21T16:57:00.000Z

So, there we were driving over to Nana and Granda's for Christmas, I turn to Liz and ask, "???". The answer to the question made us think about what awful parents we are, and left us hoping we aren't the only ones. To find some fellow sufferers, we thought it might launch our own interactive quiz. A small prize to the first person to guess which Christmas parenting faux pas was ours. Another one to the person with the best (or worst) example of Christmas parenting (in the opinion of the esteemed judges)

Tim and Liz C

Plays, Balls and Weddings

2006-12-19T19:48:00.000Z

Thought I'd better get round to reporting on our latest activities before we go off for Christmas (starting tomorrow at the parents.) Last week was a mad rush of kids parties and plays, with the Christmas Ball on thursday night. Tabitha was an elephant (of course!!! :os) in her play 'A present for the Baby.' She did a fantastic job and loved every minute.

Nathaniel had his toddler group Christmas party also on the Thursday which was fun, quite nice just to sit and relax where for the past few years I've been rushing round like a headless chicken at such things. (couldn't compare to Chimps though I'm afraid ;o)) My mum came to stay in order to babysit for the ball, which was lovely. The dinner was nice, tho we were all put on tables with lots of people we didn't know, but was good in the end, and the disco was great fun, lots of good cheese in there, all the usual suspects. Particularly enjoyed dancing to 'Cotton Eyed Joe' with Maria, mum of Emily who goes to Tabitha's dancing class - the girls do a dance to this song every week so of course we had to replicate it. Was very funny. Honestly. The chapel looked wonderful and a good night was had by all. The blokeys scrubbed up pretty well in their tuxedos and the ladies looked pretty good too.

Friday was Peaches party and nativity. I was working as all hands were needed. Party was fun, then came getting about 12 toddlers and babies into the nativity clothes. Hmmm, interesting. Quite a few protestors at this point. My son declared that he would not wear his headdress. However with the blackmail technique 'Nana will love it' applied he changed his mind. We had a few reluctant sheep....those hats were no way going on. All mummies and daddies and extra people crowded into peaches and the play was on. It was very cute, as nursery nativities are. Nathaniel spent most of it admiring himself (in said headdress) in the unforunately positioned mirror on the outside of his 'inn' (him being the innkeeper. He said his line, and added another one (hello Nana!) and did very well. The reluctant sheep did not wear their sheep hats, but looked very cute nontheless, and the angel gabriel decided that standing still by Mary was far too boring. All in all it went very well. Here's my little innkeeper!

After those busy few days we had an even busier weekend. We popped down to Luton for Richard and Sarah's wedding. We visited a few people first on Saturday - Catherine and Anthony, the Masons and the Lanes and Ann. Was fantastic to see everyone, a lovely surprise as well when we went to Caroline and Johns for lunch and they'd got Allison and David round too - fab to see them. :o) The kids had a wonderful time. The wedding was beautiful, kids completely hyper - Tabitha catching up with Daniel. Very late night - sat down to eat at 7.30 and finished eating at 10 then we joined in the ceilidh til 11 when the kids were about to drop. Stayed at the Brewers in their lovely home and went to St Mary's in the morning. Wonderful to see everyone again, but very very tiring, after lunch the kids were dropping and so we came home. All in all a great week, and my health stood up to it all which I am so grateful for. :o)

Nuclear Family evil?

2006-12-19T10:19:00.000Z

There we were, sat in an ethics seminar a couple of weeks ago, when one of my fellow students came out with, "The nuclear family is one of the greatest evils in society today". There was a stunned silence, but when we'd chance to think about it, we saw what he meant, and the concept kept coming up as we considered various ethical dilemmas.

There is a great emphasis on the individual and self sufficiency in western society today, and this has infected our ideas about family as well.

Married couples are led to believe that they should be each other's all-in-all, best friend and should be able to provide for all each other's needs. This leads to huge pressures being bought to bear on these relationships, which might actually be healthier (and more likely to survive) for a strong network of supporting friends, and the realisation that no one person is going to fulfil all the emotional needs of any other person.

Parents are led to believe that they should be able to bring up their kids on their own, and, because of the geographical dispersal of families, often don't have extended family to support them. Very often we also believe that we have the right to bring up our kids as we want to. We react very negatively if anyone dares to comment on our parenting. We have lost community norms in the raising of our children, a vicious circle that leads to increasing cynicism and lack of acceptance of authority.

When we were thinking through our reactions to various ethical case studies, a common reaction was that, whilst we knew we had to deal with the situation as presented, if we wanted to stop these type of situations occuring, one of the most important things would be to develop healthy communities.

It's all to easy to bemoan the break up of the marriage of the couple married in our church a couple of years ago, but unless we have been intentional about creating community around them, and supporting them in their marriage, we have failed.

It's easy to condemn a pregnant school girl, but unless we have developed a community in which she knows that she will be supported and loved in the raising of the the child, we have no right to comment on her decisions regarding the pregnancy. This is particularly true if the community has done nothing to counteract the cultural emphasises on sex as a leisure activity or as the only valid expression of romantic love.

Community and relationship is at the heart of our God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But that three-in-one relationship is not a nuclear, inward looking one. It is a creative, outlooking, indrawing one. That is the type of community we need.

TimC

And so the end is near....

2006-12-15T11:37:00.000Z

Apologies for the lapse in posting, I do have a couple of things I want to post about (come back later for, "the nuclear family is the greatest evil in contemporary western culture") and will do so early next week, just been a bit buried for the last 10 days.
Anyway, all lectures of term now lectured, Christmas ball danced, and just the assignments to be writ. Just a little bit daunting to think that we are now a sixth of the way through the course and being unleashed on the big wide world.
This morning in Chapel we were invited to reflect on the term, what we might have learnt and what has had an impact on us. I remember really enjoying the first five weeks, feeling I'd come home. Then it got tougher as illness hit the household, and I got stressed again as we had to work round that. In fact I did very little work outside class for about four weeks, and none of the extra reading I'd had time to do in the first five weeks. But in the middle of that we had the "Together" event, where we had the privilege of enabling families to worship and experience God's love and power. I may always struggle to hold onto joy when Liz is ill, but I know that God is faithful and does see us through, even if it isn't in the way we expect.

Together - again!

2006-12-04T21:16:00.000Z

Well much of this weekend was taken up by the Together event we've been planning for a while with James, Lou and Gaz. Friday night was spent decorating the chapel and getting very annoyed by the lack of power points in said venue, most of them being unreachable among the rafters, so we couldn't put up a load of fairy lights as planned. However Lou and I did have fun draping lots of funky material round the chapel and playing with the lights. :o) Little things. The band rehearsed and we had a good pray.
So Saturday, Tim went up early to set up/rehearse and I took the kids up about an hour early to set up the common room for the tea. It went brilliantly (imho, lol), we had a good turnout and lots of positive feedback. God turned up! The band were marvellous and really rocked, the kids were well involved, dancing, running round madly etc, and even the adults got in there with the actions etc. Bit in the middle was a kind of prayer activity where the kids prayed for their parents and vice versa, they were fantastic and really got into it, amazing to see. Everyone then wrote prayers, stuck them in a balloon and had fun batting the balloons around (and bursting them ;o)) We had other stuff, game etc, and lots of bouncy songs. Especially loved the fiddle solo in Come on and Dance. Tim and i were doing the actions at the front and endeavouring to be bouncy all the way through and I have not felt so completely exhausted in a loooong time. Too much exercise for me!! Enjoyed it lots though. Tabitha was in heaven, just her thing, and asked when the next one was. :o) Nathaniel asked why he wasn't going to his group. (he loves his butterflies group on a Thursday night.)
All in all couldn't have gone better, I think, and certainly looking to making it a regular thing, there seems a lot of interest in that, so hopefully termly, we shall see.
Spent Sunday winding down, but still completely creamed today, not quite well yet so must take it easy over the next week - next week will be manic with kids Christmas plays, working a couple of mornings, toddlers Christmas party, college Christmas ball, and not to mention trying to finish shopping etc. aaagh!!

Go tell the world.

2006-12-03T20:35:00.000Z

It's taken a while for me to get round to blogging about it, but we had another class act for college lecture last Thursday. Gillian Oliver is the Communications bod (not sure of job exact job title) at the Church of England head office. Her background is in editorial positions in TV news broadcasting. In short, I was left reassured about the quality of the comms material due to be coming out of central office if people of her calibre are involved. If you have any opportunity to hear her talk, or get on any of the comms training, then I highly recommend it.

We were also given a sneak preview of the online Advent Calendar that eventually launched yesterday. Looks good, take a peek.

TimC

An Even Keel

2006-11-28T20:20:00.000Z

After a couple of lousy weeks we do now seem to be in much better state. Everybody is almost better from their various ailments, even Liz is up and around again. It's a classic risk assement job: Have the flu jab knowing it'll make you feel ill for a week, but might stop you getting flu badly in the winter, or don't have it and run the risk of coming down with a nasty bout over Christmas.

I had the college quiet day yesterday, which was a welcome opportunity to spend some time getting centred after the last fortnight. Really good guy, David Runcorn (Ministerial development guy in Lichfield diocese), leading the day. Gave us some excellent stuff to ponder and chew over about mercy and ministry, and the necessity of being grounded in love.

Today Nick the Vic (ar) came up from Luton to see us, which was much appreciated. Caught up on all the news from St Mary's - it's amazing how quickly things change when you're not there to see them.

So, as I said, back on an even keel and heading for the weekend, with "Together" on Saturday (see earlier post if that means nothing to you). Lots of praying going on that the keel stays even, that we remember the dependance on God that we've had to renew our grip on, and that we catch the wind of the Spirit for Saturday and rise on wings as eagles.

TimC

The Lurgy

2006-11-22T19:52:00.000Z

What a weekend, we invented a new game in our house. How many illnesses can you collect in the same household? We managed to get: throat infection; croup; ear infection; loose stool syndrome; high temperatures; achy limbs; and general lethargy.
Hooray for CBeebies, Mermaidia and International Rugby Union. Calpol also made its usual star appearance.
Almost all up and running on at least 3 cylinders by this evening, though Liz had her flu jab yesterday and is feeling the aftereffects.
But, do you know the best bit? If this had hit us anytime in the past, Liz would have been laid up for at least a week as the lot hit her chest. But it hasn't, she's been unwell but not wiped out. That might seem an odd thing to be immensely grateful to God for, but we are.

TimC

2006-11-16T20:46:00.000Z

A couple of weeks ago we got a letter home from T's school asking for nominations for parent governors. I thought to myself 'maybe I should go for that.' Tim and various friends encouraged me to so I did, thinking that there'd be lots of applicants and I wouldn't be elected being new and all that. Errrrr, no. On Wednesday T came home with a letter saying there had only been 2 applicants and both of them were now..yes....parent governors. gulp. What have I done? Seriously, I'm very pleased and excited about this role, not sure what it'll be as yet but looking forward to being more involved in school. The head said she'll be having a chat soon with me and the other newbie, but the next big meeting isn't til February, so not a lot to do yet. Exciting stuff though!
Had another mornings work this Monday which was fun, and I'm officially on the supply list now. Hopefully after Christmas I'll get some more regular work there, it's great fun and N enjoys me being there 'working' with him.
N is going to be an innkeeper in his first ever nativity. Awwwww...can't wait. Not sure what T will be in her play yet. She's very excited about it, whatever it is!
Tomorrow I'm helping at the KWON sale, which is this huge NCT type sale at college, on a large scale, churches from all over Nottingham are involved and we spend all tomorrow night sorting out stuff and setting up, then the sale goes on all saturday. Hoping to pick up some clothes for the kids and other bargains, and should be fun, if very chaotic by the sounds of it. Basically a percentage goes to an orphanage (in Romania I think?) and the rest goes back to the seller, so there's a lot of keeping track involved.
off to play on the PlayStation :o)

Power League

2006-11-14T20:24:00.000Z

Despite being beaten by the Methodists last week, St John's FC decided to go ahead with our debut match at the Nottingham Powerleague last night. The story that was agreed at the end of the game to be relayed back to college was: We took the lead, Joel got a hat trick, we lost count of the score. All of these things are true, but incomplete. Truth is we got hammered 23 - 4. And we had subs, and they didn't. Apparently this match was to decide what league we should be put in. I think the answer is a pretty low one :-) I've never been to one of these places before and I was gob-smacked at the number of pitches and people there. Whoever thought this up must be minting it. 30 pitches, in use all evening, every evening, plus bar takings. There must be hundreds of guys go there every week.
On the plus side, I did win my first squash ladder game today. If it ever happens again, I'll let you know.

TimC

The Lord is One

2006-11-09T20:05:00.000Z

Excellent preacher in chapel tonight. He did have a bit of a challenge. The Bible reading was a bit where Jesus is asked what the most important thing in the whole of the Jewish law was. The answer was: God is one, love God with all that you are, and love each other. Not much sermon in that, it's simple: Love God and Love each other. As preachers do, he did find a fair amount to talk about anyway. One thing he said, that struck me, was this:

God is one. That means that God is the God of your work, your home, your family, your pub, everywhere you go and everything you do, God is God there. You can't have one God at church, or with your family and then have a completely different God in other parts of your life. God is one God, and you are to love God with your whole life.

Even the bit where you lose a football match to the local Methodist college 3-1 as we did yesterday :-(

Even the bit where you've finished all the lectures for a module :-) but still have to write 3,000 words to complete the assessed assignment :-(

Perhaps I'd better stop blogging and get on with it.

TimC

Together

2006-11-06T20:47:00.000Z

We have been given the provisional go ahead for our Praise Party/Great big God thingy celebration which is now called Together, pending definate chapel hire confirmation, so very exciting! heres the poster I had fun making.

Tabitha is the second left, it was taken at a baptism of a child at college the other week.
Hopefully we'll get enough interest and a good turnout, seems to be quite a well received idea anyway.

For those of you who haven't seen us in a while thought you'd appreciate this pic:

Going for the grungy student look. :o)

Catch up on me

2006-11-02T19:50:00.000Z

I haven't disappeared, I've just been v busy lately. Tim is having some fun setting up our new PlayStation (he's got this thing called eyetoy which has a little camera thingy and you can play interactive games, at the moment he is being an American footballer, which seems to entail knocking all your opponents out as far as I can see. :o)) So anyway I'm coming to say hello.
Just been to chapel, was great as tonight it was a cafe style service - chapel all changed round as tables and chairs, with coffee, tea and cakes, lots of chatting and a fab talk, really enjoyed it, love experiencing different styles.
On Tuesday night we went to a Light party (alternative halloween as we don't do it) which was good, the dad running it had set up loads of games eg apple bobbing but insisted we all had a go, which was ermmm interesting. We then had an impromptu dance/praise party as this family has a huuuuge house (jealous, moi?) And the kids loved it. Here is Tabitha at said party:-

One of the girls at college is great at face painting and is in high demand for the many parties that go on. Nathaniel still refuses to have his face painted though, conservative little chap that he is, bless.
Loved half term - lovely time at the in laws, and my very dear friend Ulrike from Luton came up on Friday with her four, including baby Peter who I'd never met as he had the cheek to be born on the day I left. ;o) He is gorgeous of course and it was just fantastic to see them all again.
Tim, myself and three others are having fun planning a Great Big God - esque praise party type thing at college for december, the premise being to get families together to worship and have a great time, we're just waiting for it to be approved by the powers that be and then we can go ahead. Hoping for it to be an at least termly thing if it goes down well. we shall see - very exciting stuff. :o)

Modern Slavery

2006-11-02T14:05:00.000Z

Thursday is college lecture day. Today we were given some real heart rending stuff on modern slavery. Next year is the bicentennial of the Abolition of the Slave Trade legislation in the UK, pioneered by William Wilberforce. However, it is reckoned that there are still at least 26 million people in the world living in slavery today. And that is not counting those in child labour, child soldiers, or economic migrants. Slaves range from people in India selling themselves in to bond labour to pay off debts that they can never repay, and their children being born into that bond labour, to women forced to work in brothels in European cities, to labourers shipped across continents to work in sweat shops to provide us with cheap clothes and food.

Jesus came to set the captives free, it's one of the first things he said in his public ministry.

How can we take our part in that work? Well, that will be different for all of us, but what we can all do is look at how we live, and the impact it has in this arena. We can all raise the public conciousness of these issues. There are some good resources and ideas from Anti Slavery International.

Sorry for the preach, but it hit me hard.

TimC

Time to go back in the water

2006-10-29T21:55:00.000Z

Reading week is nearly over, we start again for the 7 week stretch to Christmas tomorrow. What have I discovered over the last 7 days?

I can work whilst the kids are around. One assignment done (fundamentally on why most Christian men have foreskins whilst most Jewish ones don't). I do have to give credit to Liz and my mum for taking them out for long and exhausting walks while I got on with the reading.
Liz and I can play a game of Risk and I didn't end up sleeping on the sofa. I've never played this before, but always wanted to try it, so we bought a set. Didn't really realise the potential relationship destroying nature of the game until I prevented Liz getting complete control of Asia for the 5th turn in a row :-)
The Pilgrim Church in Nottingham has much more bling robes than the CofE ones. I went to an ordination service at this black majority Wesleyan Holiness church tonight. Absolutely fantastic gospel music and great encouragement seeing three young, black, men dedicate their lives to serving God and bringing the light of Jesus into the world.

Three lessons learnt (of variable importance), time spent with the kids and dinner out with the missus. All in all, a good first ever reading week.

TimC

Do you carry important stuff on your USB Stick?

2006-10-23T21:08:00.000+01:00

Came across this cool little utility today, increases your chances of getting your data back if you lose your USB stick.

You could also use a sync programme like this to ensure you always have an up to date copy of your stuff.

Whilst on data security, I'm using Buddy Backup as my primary backup solution - if you want to use it as well, I'd be happy to buddy up to increase redunancy on my backups - just let me know.

TimC

The Carter Clan

What do you think of your neighbourhood?

Anybody want a caravan?

Anybody want a caravan?

vegetables

Give by Gift Aid and get more Tax Credit

World Book Day, 2009

Selfishness

Mummy - Animal Rescuer ( a true story recounted by Tabitha)

Support your local library.

this looks a bit daft to me

Some writing what I did

I got really cross this morning

Sing a new song

Back to Church Sunday

Pride

A Warm House

The first week

Rollercoasters

Home, sweet home

Maybe I'm being a drama queen

Reality Check

And so to Stoke......

Summer Bash

No Longer a Student

Tabitha and Dad go Camping

Special Studies Week

The time of last things

Home and dry

Being a Guest Preacher

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth

God is a Womble

How does that make you *feel*?

On yer bike...

Rites of Passage

Dad, I've got a peppercorn up my nose.....

New Woman Article

Growing Sunflowers

It's pretty gross

Football Again

My little boy

Hanley here we come

Angel Tree

The suspense is killing us...

Catching up

Published Authors

NHS Musings

What a Week

Everyone back to my place

Lake District Video Montage

Our Holiday

For all of us

Summery things

Stories in Community

Prison

The Lurgy

General Catchup

First Sermon in Placement

A Classy Sermon

Back to life.....

Facebook

A rite of passage

Mission Impossible?

Living in Hope

Proud Daddy

Some catch up stuff

Feelings of Futility

My new hobby!

Contributions Welcome

"Sea Scene"

Bible on your iPod

Parish Placement

More stuff

(un)answered prayer?

Powerleague Promotion

Microfinance Opportunity

Farewell to the Chaplaincy, would you like to say hello?

Slavery Action

25% there

More Liz catch up..

How does that make you feel?