Easily Confussed

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Amazing day in New York, celebrated our arrival with a nice Breakfast just round the corner near Gremacy Park then hit the sights – view from Top of the Rock was great, everything you expect NY to look like, although wasn’t sure if the hum you could hear was the citys airconditioning or traffic. Times square was something to behold and unsure if I was amazed or shocked. Was told by a local on the subway that it was a walking town so went into Toyrus for buggy for Indi which also had a full sized Barbie house which she had to check out and ferris wheel. She is having a ball.

I cannot fathom the Subway system but Lori has got it sussed, so long as we dont get separated I guess everthing will be fine. After walking down most of Avenue of the Americas (which top gear drove) we arrived at a what appeared to be a bit of a run down Macys. I know everyone says it but it is the scale of stuff I just can’t get my head around, whether the advertising, the block sized department store, or size of a sandwich. The locals seem to love kids, and Indi was constantly being said Hi to, asked questions or played with, number one so far was the security guard in Bank of America (which also has a Starbucks and Garden on the ground floor) who was saluting her on one side of the glass, people seem to have general postive disposition and we have never had trouble asking for directions or help. So far so good, hope this continues once we hit the road.

New York

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We had a great flight. Saw Kings Speech and the Fighter and half of The Eagle.Indi did brilliantly on the flight and enjoyed the ride through JFK on her Trunkie. Several people suggested that the Dragons from the den must be kicking themselves when they rejected that.

The welcome to New York was cool and once through immigration going through the customs the security police simply said “Welcome friend, and Go straight through man and stay safe” it was warm welcome rather than a warning. Whilst in the Big Apple we are staying with the Mennonite community in a volunteer house. We heard a lot of police sirens last night but generally the area seems fine with a park and basketball court opposite which Indi thought was cool.

Final Outline and My Buttons Oddsey

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Thank you for the comments and emails in helping me work out the research outline. The various changes have been included and a third stage added. If you are interested in what I am trying to achieve on my sabbatical you can download it Pulse rate research outline.

Lori has managed to secure a new job blogging for Mr Button whilst we are traveling across the USA and you can read about it HERE

Sabbatical and Pulse rate research

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Later this summer I will be starting my sabbatical and I have attached a second draft of the Pulse rate research HERE which I would value any comments on this is a new version based on david comments from the one posted earlier.

It is not designed to a academically rigorous paper and process but would welcome general comments of ideas that may help, similar approaches to data gathering etc.

Mayor to BBQ

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StreetSpace Chard, in conjunction with Chard Town Council, is hosting an event at the local Skate Park in Chard. Following on from the successful Fun Day last July, this year sees competitions for bikers and skates of different ages and abilities as well as games on the MUGA and a BBQ provided by our very own Town Mayor, Cllr Cath Morrison.
The event will take place at the Skate Park in Henson Park, Chard on Saturday 2nd July from 11am to 3pm. This is a free event, open to all young people in the community, with prizes for the competitions being provided by NVMBR and Wheels in Motion. For more information visit Chard Skatepark Comp and BBQ on Facebook Events page. We hope that many will attend the event, the skate park having become a popular destination for skaters and bikers around the region since the completion of the redevelopment of the skate park last summer. If any other businesses would like to support the event please contact Richard Passmore on 07830197160

Was Peter telling porkies?

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The other day we were looking at Luke 18 with a group of young people and it was questioned if Peter was telling a lie about how much he had given up as after Jesus had died he returned to his boats and fishing, and this source of income and resource was still available to him.

The other week with a group of young people we were looking at Like 18 18 A certain ruler asked him, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 19 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 20 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.’ 21 “All these I have kept since I was a boy,” he said. 22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 23 When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was very wealthy. 24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 Those who heard this asked, “Who then can be saved?” 27 Jesus replied, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” 28 Peter said to him, “We have left all we had to follow you!” 29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God 30 will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.”

In other versions it states how the rich young man went away sad, and we wondered if Jesus were actually aimed at Peter rather than the ruler as he was not around to hear the words about how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom. Was it that Jesus saw through Peters words and was encouraging him towards fully giving everything up? A part of the journey for someone human, who like us is on a path that leads to a more committed sense of discipleship, a stage in his development as a follower?

Caricatures and youth worker Spirituality

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Since the Ann Widecombe encounter I have been reflecting on a conversation about how people become a caricature of themselves. That is, as people see one thing in themselves that others like, comment on or creates some some positive reward, that part becomes exaggerated.

As youth workers we swim in the semiotic fluid of culture, engaging young people on their terms and using their language etc. We appropriate the culture we are engaging, critic it, challenge it, and in a worst case scenario it is easy to lose yourself in the process. As youth workers we constantly work with and engage the he more we engage the culture, through newspapers, friends, film and the creators of culture. We live in an outward way making it harder to hear from inward selves. Recently, when I have been speaking around mission and the importance of culture as a source for the divine. The conversations keep returning to the themes of personal spiritual disciplines. This is the source to hear from the inward and brings balance, helping us avoid slipping into syncretism and hopefully avoid becoming a caricature of ourselves.

Henry Thoreau say “when our life ceases to be inward and private, conversation degenerates into mere gossip. We rarely meet a man who can tell us any news which he has not read in a newspaper or been told by a neighbor; and for the most part the only difference between us and our fellow is that he has seen the newspaper or been out to tea and we have not. In proportion as our inward life fails we go more constantly and desperately to the post office. You may depend on it that the poor fellow who walks away with the greatest number of letters proud of his extensive correspondence has not heard from himself in a long while.”