Two Heavyweight Comebacks

It warms my heart on a cold winter's day to learn that Georgie Pie may be making a comeback! I long remember post Sunday service Georgie Pie debrief sessions discussing deep and meaningful truths...Well MacDonalds say they're interested...what will it be? MacGeorgie?

Speaking of comebacks, John Hopoate is facing former heavyweight champ Oliver McCall in a boxing bout this week. While McCall wasn't a great champion, he will surely be a test for a newcomer like Hopoate. That said, Hopoate probably has the better track record with ring work...

Arrived!

Ryleigh Jeanne Carys Jones arrived on 18 May @ 2.26am weighing 9lb 9 ounces. All well.

Rhys meets his newest little sister:

Raegan finally has someone smaller than her:

I sense trouble in the future:

Still Waiting

My wife woke me at 6.15am this morning and said, "Shall we have this baby today?" Contractions seemed to be progressing and it looked like we'd have another 17th of the month baby. Many hours later, we're still waiting. Maybe tonight/tomorrow. Frustrating. Still with Raegan keeping me awake till 3.15am and work all covered today, I was able to sleep in anticipation of a long night tonight.

Iron Man

For most of this year I have had a nagging feeling that this year will be a year of transition. Not just because a 3rd child will join us. Nor because there are obvious and "immediate" changes afoot at cessioncommunity. But more that there is a new season coming and that somehow involves a change for me. I am slowly grasping the implications of these changes and the imperatives for this new season. I am kind of amazed at what I'm discovering in me - not so much "me" per se, but more that God might be into some audacious things that I have not given myself permission to speak aloud.

Which is not really the point of this post! The point is this:

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another (Proverbs 27:17)

I am finding this to be a very true principle for me in the process. And even in the past week there's been an acceleration. For some months now I've been processing this unease with my ministerial supervisor which has been good. Also talking about some things at cession that seem key to me with original cession collaborator Melissa. This overflowed in a conversation with a new friend more recently. Then this past week a random conversation with someone who I had kinda assumed was "just passing through" my life really lit something up in me. There was another conversation with another person that got me answering some questions I was asked - it got me speaking out loud some of these things gestating in me. I read this post and recognised the raw hunger for knowing God's purposes that was flowing in me. Then yet another conversation this morning with a very wise and learned friend stimulated me to start putting some stuff down on paper.

I'm sure I'm still duller than I need to be. But sharper for the voices that speak life into me.

I Blog Therefore I am

There has been just a little pressure for me to start blogging properly (as if my recentish long post on the super 14 didn't mean anything - actually it didn't with my round of predictions not even making it past round 1). Actually, the pressure comes from the last remaining vestiges of the blogging community I spawned in a frenzy of blogging procreation. Yes I was the first...But if you check all the links around the place you'll see they no longer update. Maybe the continuing bloggers just want some company? Add to that another interesting insight - I was fortunate to be an admin on the cession Lent blog (and not just because it meant I could log in as cessionite and comment on someone's blog once...) and therefore got to see the hit stats. The reality: very little sustained interest from the local church. Now maybe the topic was boring for most, but on the whole, I thought the blog was worth a read and was generally encouraging of a person's Lent journey. My point is this: if no one is writing and no one is reading, why blog?

This blog originally started as a means of communication with friends supporting the cession church plant. Over time it became a way of sharing my odd thoughts about things as well as family news and personal introspection. Some of these things, I now do in other ways - for example, I have a personal superviser for ministry which probably draws away some of the written processing, I am a radio star for 3 mins a week where I have to be current and deep, I have 2 kids instead of 1. But most of all I am part of a vibrant, growing church where I get to connect on a daily basis with real people living real lives and sometimes the blogging thing just doesn't fit into that lifestyle, nor does the world of ideas seem so important in the context of simply being with people who I might be able to help.

On the other hand, I still enjoy reading blogs and follow the current ones. Many of them have a clear purpose and seem to engage others as well as bring meaning to the author. I still have thoughts that are bloggable and maybe even interesting. And I still blog. Occasionally.

So, a little experiment! If you are reading this drop me a comment so I know you read it. Tell me why you bothered and if you are a blogger, why you bother. I really want to know!