Category: General

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To all the pioneers–??????? (that’s thank you if you didn’t know!)

Forget politics, budgets, priorities, ethics, religion, race – put them all to one side for now and just think for a moment. Fifty years ago today the human race took flight and left the earths atmosphere for 108 minutes.

Major Yuri Gagarin from the USSR climbed aboard Vostok 1 and left Baikonur Cosmodrome Site No.1  in what is now Kazakhstan and headed out to become the first human to go into space.

It’s remarkable, humbling, amazing, outstanding and mind-blowing. The human spirit for adventure, for exploration, for pioneering never ceases to amaze me (and yes, I know there are cynics who will say that this was just about the US and the USSR trying to outdo each other) – we’ve seen it throughout all of history, let’s face it we wouldn’t be where we are today without pioneers. We see it all the time with people pushing boundaries and trying to do more, be more, find more, go further and understand more.

The Russians made it into space first, the USA made it to the moon and then the motivation and the drive to take us forward got lost. The US lost interest in moon landings and started to see how much it was costing, the Russians had lost the ultimate race and had money concerns of their own along with the struggle to match the western world for weaponry in the cold war.

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Conflict, Comfort Zones and Fractured Heroes

“I need to get out of my comfort zone” or even worse “They need to get out of their comfort zones” – those phrases have always, sometimes irrationally, wound me up. The first as I’ve always found myself thinking “well do it then”, the second as it has always appeared judgemental and holier-than-thou and yet the past year or so I have found myself increasingly challenging myself with the uncomfortable. Making myself ask questions that can give me headaches.

There’s always need for caution though. I don’t want to walk the path that is lined with fluffy thought clouds and warm fuzzys, but I think there can also be a real danger in challenging yourself too much. Overthinking can lead to less faith, more logic (not necessarily more truth though!) and would probably turn me into a completely paranoid conspiracy nut who wouldn’t believe in anything – in fact I’d probably end up questioning it was raining whilst being stood outside getting soaked!

So why am I sharing these somewhat jumbled thoughts?

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There are times…

I’m British, or English to be more precise, and even though I can’t always explain it I feel proud to be who I am and proud to be what I am. In fact I probably can’t rationalise or vocalise my sense of patriotic pride for most of the time.

I struggle with seeing how we can sometimes be amongst the worse kind of fans at sporting events, especially football. I find it hard to swallow the selfish attitudes of some areas of our society from the rich and their duck-castles to the benefits hogs who don’t get off their backsides and get jobs but instead take, take, take all the time – and both always want more and are reluctant to risk what they see as theirs by right and/or privilege.

But there are also times when I know just why I love this country, why I love being an Englishman, why I am so proud of being British.

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To be, to do. To see, to say. To live, to love

be inspired

be inspired

What inspires you? What motivates you? Drives you? Gets you excited, scared, fired up, moved?

What makes you feel ALIVE?

Sometimes the day-to-day monotony of life can drain us in oh so many ways. It can wear us down physically, it can tire us emotionally, it can even weaken us spiritually and when it does it can be an effort to stir ourselves back up again and find that get-up-and-go.

The early part of the year is always a tiring season for us. The end of the year is a mad rush with Christmas, our youngest lads birthday and Mrs H working all hours selling trees. The beginning of the year isn’t much calmer with another birthday just into the new year, the end of the annual adrenaline rush and then our daughters birthday and more mad rushing around. It’s always a season when catching a breath is a thing to treasure, and where getting going is always an effort.

In the midst of this, I’ve found myself thinking about inspiration. What it is that I can use to stir me up, to get the blood flowing and the fire burning. Searching for that lightbulb moment that will shine through the greyness of winter and bring spring to my spirit. I’m not saying that I feel down, depressed or even mildly like eeyore on a rainy day – it’s more a lethargy and weariness that sets in and drains me and that’s something I actively have to kick to get myself going as soon as I can.

And that’s where inspiration comes in.

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Through it all – He is Holy

"When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don't panic. This is routine history; this is no sign of the end. "


"When reports come in of wars and rumored wars, keep your head and don't panic. This is routine history; this is no sign of the end. "

At the beginning of the year nobody would have predicted the events that have been taking place in recent weeks, and that are still taking place today, as waves of civil unrest sweep across Africa and the Middle-East and event threaten to touch nations such as China. We’re not removed from it here in the UK either as rumblings against cost-savings, student fees, petrol prices and more lead to threats of strikes and “action” within our nation.

On top of this there have been the natural disasters in Australia and New Zealand, the on-going rebuilding of Haiti and Pakistan and the war in Afghanistan and conflicts in Iraq.

The situation in Libya has particularly shaken and scared me as I’ve read and watched the news of people being killed by Gaddafi and wondering just what atrocities his insanity will lead to. I’ve found my heart crying out and my soul shaken and unsettled, with the only possible response being to call out to God for His peace, mercy and endless Love.

Then one song struck home with me and made me realise that through it all, and even if we can’t see it, He is Holy. Gods heart breaks at the suffering and the hurting, and it’s hard sometimes to see suffering and equate that to a loving Father – but without getting into the whole debate over free will etc all I can say is that faith and personal experience speak louder than words to me.

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