Not only can she not spell, but I would hardly dismiss the items she is asking for as “paraphernalia”!!  That makes me think of things like wooden spoons and tea towels, not the furnishing of your entire house!

So whilst JT was building his train set…. I got bored and decided to strip all the wallpaper off the lounge and fillin the resultant holes with Polyfilla!  I could not believe the pikey finishes that had been made to the room.  Not only do we have the most foul carpet in living history (I reckon the designer was inspired by “patterns that dog poos make in a monsoon”) but it is patched up (where a fireplace used to be) with a spare piece that is so dirty that I am not even sure what colour it is supposed to be!  The blocked fireplace is a combination of cardboard hardboard stuff, a piece of plywood with holes in it and plaster.

Anyhow, I have done 3 our of 4 walls and then need to hang lining paper before painting.

School girl error….  Take curtains down before stripping paper.

Monty slept in the steamer box….

Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the common place, the slaves of the ordinary. (Cecil Beaton)

This article by an atheist captured my attention.  It is about Christian missionaries in Africa and the value of the work that they do, not because of the ‘work that they do’, but because of their faith.

I was particularly interested by this quote:

“Christianity, post-Reformation and post-Luther, with its teaching of a direct, personal, two-way link between the individual and God, unmediated by the collective, and unsubordinate to any other human being, smashes straight through the philosphical/spiritual framework I’ve just described. It offers something to hold on to to those anxious to cast off a crushing tribal groupthink. That is why and how it liberates.”

Referring to a relationship between the individual and God that is “unmediated by the collective” is true, but if it is only that, then it rather negates the responsibility that we have as being part of ‘the church’.  Yes, your relationship with God is you and him, with no other human standing in the way and in that particular sense, it is unmediated.  However, if Christianity was just about us chatting to God, then it would be an easy ride.  There are fellow human beings to consider and also the way in which God would want us to live our lives.  Fascinating article though.

I came home the other day delighted to find JT and Hughesey hanging the mirror that has been leaning against our dining room wall since we moved in!!  So things are improving about the house, apart from the general (urgent) need to replace the pub style carpets and paint the old lady walls. 

The cereal boxes/general clutter will not be on the sideboard soon.. Have finally got some shelves for the kitchen!

Yesterday we paid a visit to B&Q…  Since their profits were down last week by a staggering 75%, we felt that we had better offer a little support.  Hard times.  JT bought a work mate as he had never had one before and is building his train set…er layout sorry.  I had seen a lamp shade a while ago that I thought would fit the idea I have for our hallway perfectly.  The downside was, that it cost £20, which is a little excessive to go in our hallway, which is about the width of a large dog.  I had been looking elsewhere for a similar one, but with no joy.

Imagine my delight when I walked into Block&Quail yesterday and found a clearance bin with said lampshade (only the one) for £3!!!  Get in!

Isn’t it beautiful?

When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle.
Then I realised God doesn’t work that way, so I stole
one and prayed for forgiveness.

- Emo Philips

Always topical, always unresolved.  I liked this interesting article.  Good for them.  I believe that God created the Universe and despite many discussions with people about it, I stand by that belief.  This brings me to my next point.  Let us never confuse proof with evidence and let us never confuse proof with truth.  Evidence can only act as proof, it is not proven truth.  To be ‘evident’, is to be discernible or apparent.  To be proven, enough evidence is formed to make a decision.  This is still not truth.  To be ‘true’ is totally different.

Very little in life is certain, therefore ‘truth’ is often learned rather than known.  There is very little that we can know is actually definitely absolutely true.  In fact, a degree of faith is required to ascertain ‘the truth’ (or to trust ‘the learned truth’) in any given situation.

Therefore I contest anyone who tells me that evolution is definitely truth “because of all the proof”.  This is simply not true.  There is evidence (and that takes some stretch of the imagination) to suggest that ‘a proof’ of sorts could possibly be formed.   However this is like saying that seeing a man walk into a bank with a gun is evidence enough to attain proof that he intended to rob the bank.  Well, until he definitely does rob the bank, that is not truth.

I have to hold my hands up here and say that technically you could say the same about the existence of God.  This is because, like any theory of existence, it takes an element of faith to know that you know that it is truth.  Jesus said “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”, or in other words, He is the way to get to everlasting life, by believing the truth.

Where do you place your faith and therefore find your truth?

A while ago, my brother-in-law and his friend came up with the idea of building a web site for people to upload photos to, in order to find their stunt double, using facial recognition software.  Unfortunately, a lot of people had already done it.  I decided to try one out…. Hmmm…  Think they might need to work on that software a little?!?!

FAIL!!!!