How cruel do you feel when you call the vet to check on your kitty and she says “Sorry, is that Monty Turner in for castration?” Sounds like a jail sentence!! I feel guilty…

Today Monty has gone to get his bits chopped off…. I feel terrible!! JT suggested posting a before and after shot but we decided that it was probably a bit twisted…!! xx

Has anyone ever seen Babe? Or I guess, more importantly, has anyone read ‘The Sheep Pig’ by Dick King-Smith? Today something odd happened. Much like the chicken moment on Babe, our fishies decided to sort themselves into colour order! It was really funny so I took some pictures through the glass. I know that shoaling is normal fish-scu-lar (new word of the day) behaviour but I was delighted with the resulting look. Simple things…

This made me laugh…

The other night was ‘Hungry for God’, which was excellent. I did some singing, some praying, some carpet therapy and some listening. This is what I heard/have been hearing/anticipate hearing some more of…

I was reminded of the times in the Bible when people are given glimpses of heaven and revelations in part. God shows some of his promise and reminds us that we have to wait. Sometimes you see what is often referred to as ‘a glimpse of what is to come’. We often unwittingly focus on the ‘what is to come’ without adjusting our focus to the other side of the equation (’a glimpse’) which is needed in order to achieve balance.

Often we get so hung up on waiting and hankering after the ‘what is to come’ that we forget to get excited about the waiting because we have in fact only seen a glimpse. Waiting is a privilege and the resultant ‘deferred gratification’ is definitely worth the wait.

Let’s look at the Odeon… What if that was a glimpse of what is to come? If God didn’t trust the faith of his leaders, he’d probably have said ‘take that Odeon - do what you will’. Instead he tests us by saying ‘do you take this and run, or do you hand it back to me?’ We have handed it back, in anticipation of something greater and more apt for God’s purpose. We have an idea of what it might look like because we have seen a glimpse but the test is now. How do we respond to what the world sees as ‘failure’ almost? Well we could get angry, we could become bitter, we could get frustrated, we could become divisive (it doesn’t take the physical act of walking away to harbour an attitude of division, it is all to do with where your heart is and what it is doing).

An alternative attitude would be to recognise that when God stretches faith and gets his people ready for ’something bigger’, the devil reacts with all of the above, trying to create conflict. God is pleading with us not to become divisive, but to fight the battles that are placed before us. For some of us this is daily, some of us even hourly and for others still it feels like a constant barrage of rubbish is hitting us in the face at the moment. God showed me that in church we sing ‘Blessed be your name even though *add every tough situation*’ but out of church we are getting despondent, angry, disappointed, frustrated etc by the silly things in life. Don’t divide. Don’t give up. Keep going.

This section of Psalm 62 summed it up for me really:

5 Let all that I am wait quietly before God,
for my hope is in him.
6 He alone is my rock and my salvation,
my fortress where I will not be shaken.
7 My victory and honor come from God alone.
He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me.
8 O my people, trust in him at all times.
Pour out your heart to him,
for God is our refuge.

9 Common people are as worthless as a puff of wind,
and the powerful are not what they appear to be.
If you weigh them on the scales,
together they are lighter than a breath of air.

10 Don’t make your living by extortion
or put your hope in stealing.
And if your wealth increases,
don’t make it the center of your life.

11 God has spoken plainly,
and I have heard it many times:
Power, O God, belongs to you;
12 unfailing love, O Lord, is yours.
Surely you repay all people
according to what they have done.

Should you be worried when you receive emails from large PLC’s which begin with the cheery greeting:

“Hello from Vaseline

Dear Miss Turner,

Thank you for sending your enquiry to Unilever.com.”

HELLO FROM VASELINE?!?! What’s wrong with that?!? Help! It’s just…weird.

I love it!!

As you will probably all know by now, my latest project is to launch an advertising campaign for Vaseline… Frankly I am shocked. I had no idea that Vaseline had so many uses!! I was also amused by some of your responses and am now feeling worried that my tutor has said “Well if your research shows that people use Vaseline for that use then you have to bear that in mind when planning your advertising strategy!!” Thanks guys. My fault for choosing the stupid product in the first place I guess! I found this quote which may aid the campaign because it made me laugh out loud…

“Robert Peary took it to the North Pole. There’s a song in its honor. It makes smiles sparkle. It’s used to coat the feet of vending machines to keep pests out. It controls unruly hair. People put it on chickens to prevent frostbite. It protects baby’s bottoms, and is invaluable to virgins. A tycoon swore eating a spoonful a day helped him live to see 96 years, and odds are that you have some in your home. It’s Vaseline.”

Today is a better day. We have not had a very nice run of days lately but thanks to God and His wonderful people, things are getting fixed now…

Here are some pictures of JT trying to fix my poorly bike last night - we have not yet fixed it, but Dan kindly lent us some bike tools and and a manual and now it is being fixed!! Thankfully JT happened to have a couple of spare wheels - one to replace the one that was stolen and one to replace the one that was kicked in. It was nice to spend some time with JT doing housey things instead of work.

The other day a wonderful friend sorted our damage deposit from the previous agents for us, which was one of those things that may seem small to some but that was causing a whole lot of stress. You know sometimes people can offer a whole lot of advice and sympathy but all you really want is someone to hold your hand and step into a scary situation with you and help you. Thank you that person. Now we just have to sort out the heating issue and their odd phonecalls. The ‘current tenant’ thinks someone has access to the flat which “may explain the heating thing, did you give anyone else a key?” they said. I don’t actually think there is a current tenant and if there was they need to call the police. They also need to take responsibility for the heating thing but I’d just be happy never to see them again.

This morning some cash dropped through our door with a postcard from Jesus (how cool is that?!). I nearly passed out when I opened the envelope - I have an idea of who it might have been but that ‘who’ wishes to remain anonymous. All I can say is that I sincerely hope that ‘who’ knows how much they are loved by us and what a timely blessing that was. I am literally overwhelmed. Thank you.

The other day I decided that the fish tank was distinctly lacking in colour, so went out and bought three orange fish and some more neon tetras (not enough for a sandwich Mark!!) Yippeee!