Archive for the ‘UK’ Category

Zero Tolerance #2 of 2

Posted: March 14, 2013 in family, love, life, religion, Health, friendship, blogging, words, UK, alcohol, Crime
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Zero-toleranceYesterday in Zero Tolerance #1 of 2 I spoke about how many zero tolerance posters I’ve noticed in different places over the last few weeks. This in turn got me thinking about what these zero tolerance posters usually relate to. i.e. racism, verbal or physical abuse, sexism, bullying or harassment, alcohol abuse, drug abuse.

This in turn got me wondering about whether we should have a zero tolerance poster to indicate that Christ has a zero tolerance policy towards sin. I know this is slightly different from the zero tolerance posters we’ve all seen in that we cannot be prosecuted for disobeying the directives on the poster…or can we?

1 Timothy 15-17 (NLT)

This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all.  But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. All honour and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; he alone is God. Amen.

If we believe in Christ and repent, by giving our whole life to God, we will be rewarded with the gift of eternal life with God. What greater promise is there than that?

Let’s make sure there is zero tolerance for sin in our lives, and those we come into contact with.

Zero Tolerance #1 of 2

Posted: March 13, 2013 in Crime, death, friendship, Health, hospital, life, politics, Shopping, UK, words
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Zero-toleranceI don’t know about you but there seems to be Zero Tolerance posters on walls in nearly every customer facing office or public service office such as council offices, hospitals, police stations, schools, doctors surgeries, shops. My question for you today is, do these posters work?

Personally I’m not sure they do, as I doubt very much that someone who is ready to inflict any kind of abuse on a member of staff in these places, would stop and consider their actions just because they saw a zero tolerance poster! Maybe I’m wrong, as I obviously don’t have any insider knowledge on this.

However maybe the fact that these posters are even there, make it more likely that someone will come to the aid of someone who is being abused. Or does it simply makes it easier to prosecute these folks because there are warnings about the consequences of them inflicting abuse.

Maybe I’m just a little sceptical that a poster saying zero tolerance is all that’s needed to stop abuse. Hopefully I’m wrong, as I certainly do not condone abuse of any kind.

No Hope

Posted: January 16, 2013 in bible, Christmas, clothing, family, finance, Food, holiday, life, music, news, politics, poverty, religion, television, UK
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There are many people in this world who feels as if their life has no hope. I personally find that very sad and am challenged to do something about that. Surely as Christians we must work together in Christ to let these people know that there is hope and that Christ can provide them with all they need.

I found myself getting very upset while watching various adverts that restarted on TV over the Christmas period, and are still continuing now – I’m sure if you’re in the UK you’ll have seen them too – various charities asking us to donate money to help them provide assistance and aid to adults, children and animals in third world countries and in our own country…boy do they pull at our heart-strings, don’t they!

I’ve now got to the stage where I have to go out the room now when these adverts are on as I just get too upset otherwise. What really gets me in these adverts is that they talk about the children and adults in these countries having “no hope”. Saying they have no hope suggests that no matter what any of us try to do for these folks, it will be futile. I however believe, as I’m sure many of you will too, that as long as there is God, there is hope.

Psalm 62:4-5 (NLT)

Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken.

Never give up hope, because God is still here!

#NAW2012

Posted: November 8, 2012 in adoption, baby, blogging, children, family, friendship, life, love, UK
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#NAW2012 – National Adoption Week 5th – 11th November 2012

Earlier this week I heard on the radio that this is National Adoption Week here, and as adoption is something which is particularly close to my heart, I wanted to highlight this in my blog.

One of the main things which made me want to blog about this is, that on the radio they mentioned that so many people rule themselves out of adoption before even starting going through the adoption process, simply because they assume they wouldn’t be accepted as potential adopters.

There are 10 steps to adopting:

  1. Apply
  2. Attend an open day / Join preparation course
  3. Assessment
  4. Adoption panel
  5. Link with a child(ren)
  6. Match with a child(ren)
  7. Meet the child(ren)
  8. Move in
  9. Make adoption legal
  10. Live together

That may all sound quite daunting, but from the minute you express an interest in adopting, you will be given support and information, helping make this process as smooth as possible. There are so many children who are in need of the love and support a stable family life can offer them, so please, if you are able, please seriously consider adoption.

For those of you currently going through the process of adoption, I’d like to wish you all the best, and say thank you for putting yourself forward to adopt.

For those of you who have already adopted a child/children, I’d like to say a big thank you.

On behalf of all children in need of a loving family, I’d like to ask you to consider whether you could give a child/children a loving and supportive environment to grow.

So if you’re interested or want more details about adoption, please count yourself in right from the start…give a child, and yourself, a chance of having a loving family, and contact your local authority adoption team or an approved voluntary adoption agency (use the BAAF agency directory).

Go on rule yourself in for adopting!

You can get more information about #NAW2012 at the NAW website: www.nationaladoptionweek.org.uk

Abuse

Posted: October 27, 2012 in celebrity, Charity, family, friendship, life, love, news, Security, television, UK
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I’ve been deeply shocked and saddened by the pedophilia allegations against former TV presenter, Jimmy Savile, that have hit the media in the UK in the last few weeks. I must admit when I was younger while I loved the TV programme Jim’ll Fix It, I always found Jimmy Savile a bit creepy though I was never sure why – maybe that’s just my memory playing tricks on me now, but I honestly didn’t feel comfortable watching him…

I’m not going to get into a discussion about whether these allegations against Jimmy Savile are true or not, I’ll leave that to the police, but what I do want to take about today is abuse…

Abuse of anyone in any way is wrong.

Abuse by anyone in any way is wrong.

It doesn’t matter whether the abuse is physically, sexual or emotional, they are all equally immoral and wrong in my eyes. Whether the abuser knows the person they are abusing or not, doesn’t make it any more or less abhorrent.

To those of you to have suffered abuse in the past or are currently suffering abuse, I’d urge you please, to tell the police, or tell someone you trust implicitly, as together we can put an end to abuse.

Please don’t let the abusers can get away with hurting innocent adults and children, report them, report them now!

Let’s put an end to abuse today!

Most Embarrassing Moment

Posted: October 12, 2012 in church, friendship, life, religion, Rutherglen, Salvation Army, UK
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What is your most embarrassing moment?

I can think of one or two and I’m sure there are plenty of others, however there is one particular moment which I find still haunts me to this moment.

Of all the daft things I’ve done in my time, I’m not sure why this particular moment sticks out in my memory more than any other.

So first let me build you a picture of the time and situation…I was probably about 19 or 20, so it was a few years ago! It was a Sunday morning and as usual my dad gave me a lift to our Sunday morning meeting…at this time my mum had stopped attending the salvation army for a short time, my dad never attended but still willingly gave me a lift to the hall.

At this particular time I was still attending Rutherglen salvation army however it was while our new hall was being built so we shared church halls with one of our local churches.

At this time I was had been a senior soldier in the salvation army for a year or two, and at that time we were wearing the older style uniform which meant that yes, I was one of those ones who wore the funny hat which we called a bonnet!

…and that’s where my embarrassment started!

Those bonnets had a couple of bows at the side which in order to keep them from getting squashed or flattened when stored, we used to keep rolled up tissue paper in them.

Have you guessed where I’m going with this yet?

Well this particular Sunday morning I remember I was running a little later so was rushing to get ready and get to the hall in time, so I forgot to take the white tissue paper out of the bows in my bonnet!!!

Well fortunately for me I didn’t get too far into the hall before someone told me what I’d done. That didn’t stop my embarrassment of course as I still felt everyone had seen me and everyone was laughing at me…

So there you go that’s my most embarrassing moment. I know it’s maybe no that bad but it was for me, and I still feel mortified by it! I guess that says more about me than about what happened. I’ve always felt as tho I’ve struggled to be accepted and doing stupid things such as this just highlighted that I was (and still am) a quiet n shy individual and gave more reason for others to ridicule me unnecessarily just because I was being me!

Maybe this story explains one of the reasons I was never a great fan of the bonnet, and am so happy we now only wear our bowlers when we’re outside or at funerals!

You Are An Advert

Posted: September 28, 2012 in bible, blogging, life, love, music, pray, prayer, religion, Salvation Army, UK
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In yesterday’s blog post, His Advert, I briefly spoke about the fact that we are advert for God, but are you a good advert for God?

Are the words you say in all situations, honourable to God?

Are your actions those God would be happy with?

If you answered “Yes” to either (or both) of the above questions, don’t worry, you, like me, are only human! However all is not lost, as we are not beyond help…help from God!

If we pray, study God’s word (the bible) and listen to God’s message to us, we can become more Christ-like in all we do, and thus become a fantastic advert for God. So it’s down to us to let God mould us into the great adverts He needs us to be…so let’s get praying!

Here’s the International Staff Band of the Salvation Army playing Just Like Him by Terry Camsey:


Advertising

Posted: September 23, 2012 in religion, television, UK
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Just sitting watching the TV the other night and became increasingly frustrated by just how frequent the breaks in the programmes were for adverts. I was frustrated! Why interrupt my programmes by showing me the same adverts over and over again?

Well research shows that TV advertising does work – We may not think we pay any attention to the adverts when they are on, but subconsciously they must make some impact.

Just to prove my point…how many times have you heard a tune/song on the radio and thought, “That’s the tune from the….advert“? Yes you may not have thought you were paying any attention to that advert but as I said, subconsciously you have been!

Don’t the same sort of rules apply when in comes to God? If we keep telling people about God, and don’t give up just because no-one seems to be listening to us, God can and will get His message through to those who currently don’t believe.

So let’s get out there, and do some advertising for God!

Astonished

Posted: September 1, 2012 in family, life, management, UK, work
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How’s your week been? Busy? Quick?

Well my week at work has been one of those where I’ve been really really busy, but now the week’s over I can’t actually list you anything I’ve achieved!

It’s funny how we get weeks like that isn’t it? It’s been a weeks where I’ve just had one thing after another to do, with not much time to stop and take breath, or assess what I have or haven’t achieved.

I always find it funny how when you’re really busy you feel as if you’ve achieved little, but when you’ve had a bit more time to focus and do your own thing, it often feels like you’ve achieved more. Imagine what it would be like if we combined those two things. i.e. Achievement with constantly busy…

If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would astonish ourselves.

Yeah! Imagine we were always focused on our work and constantly completing our allocated tasks and achieving other objectives too…wouldn’t that be amazing! I guess our workmates and managers would wonder what’s happened to us all if we all started over achieving!

Anyway, after an extra busy week at work, I’m glad to have a couple of days of no work…mind you that doesn’t mean I’m not busy with other important family things!

I’m hoping for a slightly less busy week at work next week, but ‘ll be surprised if that happens as looks like we’ll be moving office!

Inspire The World for God

Posted: August 14, 2012 in friendship, love, news, olympics, religion, sport, UK
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There’s been a lot of talk recently about inspiration, particularly on a sporting front, because of the London 2012 Olympics. When thinking about how inspiring the olympics has been in encouraging us all to do a little bit more exercise or encourage some to go that extra step and try to become the greatest sportsperson at their particular sport, it got me thinking about God.

Why did thinking about inspiring a sporting generation get me thinking about God? Well, hasn’t it been incredible how much the Olympics has pulled this nation, Great Britain, together, even for those of us living miles aways from London. Now why can’t we inspire the nation for God with such great effect?

There are thousands of Christians in this country, just as there are thousands of sports people, so come on let’s use the motivation and inspiration started by these Olympics, and use this to not only inspire the world on a sporting front, but also remind them of God.

Let’s inspire this and future generations to live their lives for God!

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