Is January that bad?

Depressed in the dawn, originally uploaded by iiana.

Speaking to some friends the other day, they told me that statistically January and February are the most depressive months of the year!

I struggled to believe this, for me January is a great time to take stock, to think about the year ahead and to dream dreams! I feel energised in January, I tend to play more sport and make myself busy with the things I want to do.

Am I so different? Is everyone really down in these first 2 months of the new year?

I understand with the days being generally darker that many people can be a tad negative, but is there more to it than that?

Hmmm?

Water crash

Fountain, originally uploaded by King Kieran.

As it comes towards the end of the first month of 2008, already time seems to be rushing by.

Every year I tell myself that I will relax a bit more and take life at an easier pace 'there' no need to rush so much!' but every year life just gets busier and the waters keep crashing down!

Are we all just caught up in the rat race?

Ssshhhh!

There is a website called Post Secret and I read it once a week once they have updated it on a Sunday evening.

I find it really interesting to see what people send to it. I ask myself what secrets do I have that I feel I cannot tell anyone? Do we all have these secrets hiding inside? What would happen if they came out? Once they secrets have been posted do the people that shared them feel free from that guilt or pain?

Should we share our secrets or just stay quiet? Sshhh!

Strangers = angels in disguise?

Just got back from a fantastic week at Soul Survivor and feel uplifted and ready to face the coming year.

While I was there I realised how amazing strangers can be to everyone. They are someone who does not know so they seem to have no judgment of you or you of them, what you tell them means very little to them so when they say something to you it is only based on what they have been told and not about anything else.

I prayed with a lad and knew nothing about him. I passed on what I thought what God was saying to him, it is for him to take it away and see if it is right. 2 days later he came and found me and thanked me for what I had said, I was really touched by this as he could of just thought about it but not done anything. It made my day.

Are strangers just angels in disguise?

Is God a DJ?

Found this today as I was looking for some stuff to use in a lunch time group. Thought it was really interesting.

It made me think about things but would young people grasp the concept? Guess it's worth a try!

I h8 it m8!!

One thing I cannot stand is when people email me and use text type!
I struggle to understand a general text message let alone a whole page email! What is happening to the English language? Are we losing the ability to actually formulate correct sentences? It is not just the use of text type but also all the abbreviations people use, lol, brb, lmao and heaps of others that I have no clue of!

Well that is my short little rant over, thank you!

Parody

Found these and they made me laugh!

Bra Boys

When I was away in Sydney I hung around with a couple of people who were associated with the Bra Boys that are based in Maroubra Maroubra.

I have contacted the producers and they are going to confirm when it will be released in the UK.

Watching the trailer takes me back!

Stitched Up!

Here it is less the patch!

Eye for an Eye

An eye for an eye!

Where to start? Today I went into the operating theatre to have cyst removed from my eye lid. It was only under local anesthetic and so was always going to be an adventure.

When they first inject you they do it just under the eyeball and this is painful. But they no not only do it once, oh no they do it 3-4 times!

Next they wheeled me into the operating theatre put on some massive bright lights then siad keep your eyes open, it was like looking directly at the sun. After they covered me in operating sheets they then set upon my eye. Now this is where it gets really bad! I can see everything they are doing, slicing, cutting, quartarizing and then stitching up! All the while this is going on I can hear my heart beat on the machine, I thin it was about 150 bpm and rising!

After the whole drama they let me see what they cut out, pretty cool!

My Visual DNA

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Thought this was quite cool found it on Tom's blog.

Every Eminem Song Ever!

Found this and thought it was good.

Not bad ot have made a whole career out of - Mum, Kim, Hayley, Dre and Shady!

Wallington Boys

This is a great video of 2 lads I met in Australia. Just watching their video made me smile and think about all the memories they'll always have.

Enjoy

Ghandi

Was just reading Jonny Baker's blog and he has posted a quote from a book he is reading Christ of the Indian Road. Really got me thinking about some of the things Ghandi said and how he saw Christianity being shown to Eastern religions.

What i feel he boils it down to is live what you say you live. If you say you follow Jesus then do it! DO not just go on about it but show people what he means to you.

It has made me think, which is never a bad thing! I spend a lot of time talking about Jesus but do I spend as much time trying to be like him?

Why do we always try to get people to see things our way, why not try to understand them firs them see where our common ground lies? I do not want to hassle someone into faith, I want to walk with them.

Moving Forward

Change is as good as a rest they say! Is it? Change and moving forward can be hard and far from restful.

Moving forward is hard work and can encounter a lot of pain and heartache. Recently I have been talking to different people about change and it just seems that it very rarely feels easy.

But we need change, if we do not have it then we become stagnant, we stop growing, we become like Gold Fish in a bowl. Once they have filled that space they stop growing.

At work we have been talking about Contextualisation, Lil Bill found a great blog by Matt Stone. It has got me thinking and these are very rough thoughts, but how much has our use of words changed over hundreds of years. Everyday our use of language changes. As a Christian where should I stand on adapting my language to better engage people of different world views? Should I adapt it at all?

Hmmmm, what to do?

Cell Retreat

Cell Group, originally uploaded by King Kieran.

This weekend I had my very first Cell retreat. It was a time for us to get to know each other, spend time listening to God, praying and just having fun as a group.

Running up to it was a little stressful/worrying as I was organising a lot of it and I had that worry 'what if people do not enjoy it?'

Well I am pleased to say that that was far from the truth. we all had a great time. and God spoke so much to us as a group and so much as an invidual. I came away feeling uplifted and that my faith had deepened.

It was the first retreat that I have ever chosen to go to. Working for LCET retreat becomes part of your life but it is not something that you choose. Don't get me wrong, I love retreats but there was something freeing about chosing to go on this one, with a whole group that I have chosen to spend time with.

All in all it was a huge sucess, the thing we are left with is where next as a group?

329 and on!

Floating library, originally uploaded by King Kieran.

Not blogged for a whilebut felt that this could de worth a note.

This picture has been on my flickr site for 36hours and at the time of print has been viewed 329 times!

The question for me is why? My previous picture was a lady boy and that i can understand, but a floating library, not sure why it has been so popular?

What do you think?

Snow place like home

Misty, originally uploaded by King Kieran.

I love snow days. It would have been more fun had my Dad not stolen my walking boots!

I opted to take my dog Misty over the park and had a great time. Thee were families having snowbal fights and bulding snowmen. Everyone was miling which is a joy to see in this place.

I took some photos and when I got in I decided to tel my Dad how I felt about the stolen boots, below is the email I sent with teh picture above!

"Hello Grandad,

Well as you can see I had a woofing excellent time over the park with King Kieran, even though he did not have the correct weather gear. He told me some stupid senile git stole his winter boots. If I ever find out who it is I will shitzu on him!

We had fun, I ran around in the snow, rolled over, chased some teenagers and generally kept my tongue hanging out.

I hope that can mirror this fantastic event tonight when you get in. King Kieran says that if that stupid incontinent old git brings his boots back you are more than welcome to borrow them.

Woofs and Licks
Misty"

View Point

Underneath, originally uploaded by King Kieran.

I am not sure if anyone reads this but if you do, I am sure that over the last few days you will have heard all about the Big Brother saga with Jade Goody and the racist comments. Well as I was driving along today I heard about another race problem that has come on a Channel 4 show - Shipwrecked. A young girl has made racist comment. I do not believe that this girl is racist but more small minded and rather a sheltered life. I am actually straying off the point I am trying to get to. A caller made great point on Radio 1 which was 'this is reality TV and this is how some people are'.

So really the question is if people want to be so involved in reality TV do they want it to be real or do they want a censored and fluffy version? If we ask to see reality then we should expect to get reality even if it is something that will offend us or make us feel uncomfortable.

I am not a fan of this type of TV but I do think that if people want to watch it then they should expect realiness instead of a manufactored glorified lab rat test, like Big Bothered, opps Big Brother

My Intelligence

I should reall y find something better to do with my time!

Your Dominant Intelligence is Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence

You are naturally athletic and coordinated, good at making your mind and body work together. Sports are fun and easy for you, especially those requiring good hand - eye coordination. There's also a good chance you're a great dancer, or good at expressing yourself through body language. You learn best by doing, and you feel like you've always got to be moving (even if it's just your hands). You would make a good athlete, physical education teaches, dancer, actor, firefighter, or artisan.

What Kind of Intelligence Do You Have?