It's easier...

It's easier to shock in a bad way than in a good way.
It's easier to hurt than to heal.
It's easier to be mean than kind.
It's easier to criticise than to encourage.
It's easier to laugh at someone than to help them.
It's easier to bring pain than pleasure.
It's easier to be thoughtless than thoughtful.
It's easier to take than to give.
It's easier to ignore than to engage.

Am I being cynical? That's because it's easy.
But the easy way is rarely the best way.

That was close.

So having finally reached the eye of the storm in what is perhaps the most intensely busy period in my life so far, I set off on a long journey to go and be interviewed by the leadership of a church that are considering calling me to work for them. It was a rather pleasant journey, hurtling down the M3 with little traffic in the way – just me, singing along to all the depressingly cheesy pop love songs that I seem to have populated my iphone with. Absolute heaven. What could make this any better? A burger. And spotting a McDonald's, I heard its call and couldn't resist.

As I was returning to my car I noticed that the bonnet was open. Before leaving, I had been trying to fix my rebellious windscreen washers... and had left it open. Thankfully, it was caught on the safety catch, but it did occur to me that things could have turned out so horrifyingly different. After all, what do you do, when travelling in the fast lane of a motorway and your bonnet flies up so that you can't see in front of you? I think the options involve crashing, or causing someone else to crash. Probably both.

I'm thankful to God that it didn't and that I am still here and able to write this. Although I'm not really very thankful for the windscreen washers. They still don't work!

Funny running.

I'm sure we've all seen it. People who manage to walk perfectly normally, but then when they start to run seem unable to do so without their limbs flailing in a rather haphazard fashion. So what's my point?

Well it started whilst I had the joy of following a man who was running for the same train that I was. I say 'running', but it was not really a run; perhaps more of a trot or awkward canter. His legs seemed to ripple and jiggle through their strides – not producing much speed, but affording me a certain amount of amusement. My amusement was cut short as it occurred that since he was running, I should probably be running too.

As I ran, I did so in Great Manly Strides, easily overtaking the unfortunate individual and looking every bit like an olympic sprinter who could do this in his sleep. At least that's how I like to think I looked. In reality, I have no idea of what my limbs were doing – they just 'did'. Then it occurred to me – I had been so quick to judge the man in front, whilst I could, in fact, have such an unfortunate gait that I may have made that man look positively professional. As if to press home this worrying thought, the words of a friend from long ago came echoing to mind, "I saw Matt running for the train the other day and it made me laugh!"

It might just be that a person could get through their entire life without realising that they are in fact one of 'those funny runners'. After all, who is really going to take aside their friend to point out their unconventional running technique? It's just not the sort of thing you do and what would it achieve?

So there you have it. The next time you are tempted to smirk at someone's running style – beware, unless you have filmed yourself running, you could be worse...

Lion food.

I was staying at a farm. This farm had 'tame' lions. I had my doubts, but nevertheless went about my uneasy duties, keeping a watchful eye on the lions. One lion decided that it would playfully put my hand into its mouth. This then became my whole lower arm. I was obviously concerned, but since I had a thick glove on and the lion was tame, hoped that this was just the lion having a bit of fun.

At first the lion's grip was not too uncomfortable. However, as time went by, its bite became increasingly strong, until it became unbearable. I was completely unable to withdraw my arm and my skin was about to puncture. I called for help, but none seemed to be forthcoming. It was at this point I awoke. The dream troubled me and in my semi-conscious confusion I then tried to fabricate different ways to escape the lion's grip. None seemed satisfactory. Usually dreams are quickly forgotten, but this one lingered.

After thinking about it, I can see some interesting parallels. The lion is much like those things in our lives that we play with, but know we shouldn't. Those things or people that we know will be bad for us, but somehow think we have it all under control. Before you know it, you are in its grip and are in severe danger. That's what sin/a bad thing is like. Sin is never tame, it is never good and will always cause injury. So perhaps the moral of this dream is: be careful with who or what you play with – you may become entangled and it could prove costly.

New Year's Eve with our family.

This still makes me laugh – some of my family on NYE. It probably won't play on a mobile as there are copyright issues, so you have to be on a computer to see this...