still reading

although winston churchill is now finished. the end is sad - he dies. just incase you were left wondering, or have i just ruined it for you haha
but his life was amaizing - PM at 79, seeing things that other people where too blind or naive to see. People say he was not a good peace time PM - true his best work was during the wars....but before both the wars he had thought about minimum wage, the NHS and social security. so far ahead of the pack....

and v inspiring. It also showed me some good sides in our history and culture which are so easily blasted because of the bad things that came from them, such as colonialistion. But things like when he was voted out of power after WW2, his response was "its what we have been fighting for all along"....

(it could be said that WW2 came out of WW1, which has v doubtful motives - ie prob not for democracy, but empire building)

but a simple view of the start of ww2 is that Poland had been invaded by a tyrannt and not allowed to hold votes to get him in or out - so we wanted to help them. So when he was voted out in a demcratic process he could only rejoice that the process could still happen - when so many were behind the iron curtain without that right. (this in turn got me thinking about politics today - where do we fit into them today - dunno)

anyway, am getting distracted - i think i jsut learnt a lot. and stopped being quite so cynical about it all. Yes we are fallen, not v nice people, but behind so much there is a hint of the purer version that God had intended. I think it has reinspired that hope. We, well me anyway, are so quick to shout at the bad stuff, without making a good hard search for the good stuff, even if it is well hidden.

am also thinking a lot about lots of other things - like politics and the church etc. did you know that in the 1st century - the kiss of peace was full on the lips, so outsiders thought we were a sex cult, because they loved each other so much. (I might add this was not just shown in the kiss, as they could only do it once, but in general lifestyle choices).....

so lots of questions and interesting thoughts, but other than that life is really normal for once. and i am quite enjoying that. i can't say how long it will last though.

reading

so i have been reading some really great stuff recently. Winston churchill is on going and as inspiring as ever.

but just started a study group re church history and read this great quote from a first century christian......

"We do not talk about great things; we live them."

my preference exactly.

life as it is

man - time is flying by and suddenly we are in mid october (soon be christmas i hear you shout!!)

life is wonderfully full of colour, diversions and lots of laughter, with a healthy dose of brain sqeezing and muscle pulling!!

The colour and diversions have come in the form of my housemates and various free tickets to west-end shows. If you ever get the chance you should try very very hard to NOT go and see 'Daddy Cool'.... its music taken from ronnie m (whoever he is - clearly an historically famous singer). The plot is as thin as a thin piece of paper, (although they do make camden market quite realistically), singing quite bad, acting slightly better. But the show truely finds its own "special' form 20 minutess before the end. clearly the writer was getting bored with his own ideas, took some 'exotic herbs' and then continued to jazz it up a bit. the adjustments include a giant parrot being suspended from the ceiling, lowered and lifted up again, followed by a giant mechanical snake where you can almost see the guys working the winch in the background....

they did manage to recieve a standing ovation, but only by the fact that they had everyone up dancing and singing to the last song where the most hiddeous costumes were worn. suddenly it was the end of the show and the audience were clapping and standing - cheeky me thinks....

anyway, don't bother.

did go see some comedy though, david o'doherty was great.

Brain sqeezing is coming through meeting people who totally disagree with many aspects of church/God (or rather totally don't think he exists)...... love the challenge of learning to communicate clearly and making sense of ideas i thought i really knew. the most interesting so far being with a sheik mystic.

Muscle twanging has come from dancing, prob quite badly on various occasions, and walking really quite far shopping or in parks. it autumn and lush outside!!!

Other news is that i am now the owner of a lush red, bright red, dress. can you believe it - the pastels have gone, long live all the others!!!

so life is god and full. although sadly the flipflops have been put away. I will miss them, but i do love the seasons....

as the one and only fleetwood mac sing "I don't care for sunny weather, I like the change of seasons better". amen to that sister.