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The worst time of year to be a petrolhead.

The off-season for motorsports is always a barren time for petrolheads, the withdrawal symptoms driving many true fans to extraordinary lengths to simply get a second of the glorious engine note that can only come from a finely-tuned piece of engineering being thrashed to within a hairs-width of its tolerances. With the faffing around and shambolic handling of the WRC this year, there’s even been uncertainty over getting a fix of dirt and gravel action.

Football fans get their beloved sport pretty much all year round thanks to friendlies, tournaments, internationals etc so don’t truly appreciate how bad it is for us. There is no F1, no MotoGP, no Touring Cars and no WRC this year (well, there is but it’s pot luck on the coverage) – yeah there’s NASCAR but you have to pay for that, and even American friends we know admit that watching it on TV can cause a strong desire to watch some paint dry. It’s a different matter being there, and I’ve always said I’d like to experience a NASCAR event for real to get that sense of atmosphere, excitement and thrill that people enjoy.

What is it about the thought of motor vehicles being pushed to their limits? It’s the sound, that rasping sound of internal combustion and the vibrations you get in your chest as a car (or bike) shoots past. It’s the smells, being at a racetrack and getting that whiff of oil, carbon, petrol. It’s the thrill of seeing people pushing finely engineered machines to their limits. It’s the technology and the engineering itself, the genius of design and science with the best engineering solutions that exist. It’s the whole package.

The petrol withdrawal symptoms are so bad that F1 testing (yes, TESTING) is marked on calendars, counted down to, and then followed on Twitter, Autosport, blogs and more with a level of enthusiasm that is almost embarrassing in its anorak-yness (hey, a new word!)

What’s truly sad about testing is that it doesn’t tell you anything. The times are often irellevant as each team is doing different test programmes. The cars that have just been launched will bear little resemblance to the cars that will turn up for the first race (due to the endless push for performance, and the perpetual air of paranoia) so you can’t even get a full picture of what the cars are going to look like. Yes, you get a rough idea as a cars appearance will rarely change drastically but the front wing will change, the rear wing will likely change, elements on the bodywork will change, the diffuser may well change and so on.

The biggest sadness of this all, is that I am one of these people. I’m counting down to the first race in Australia. I’m looking forward to seeing what Sky are going to bring to F1 coverage. I’m following all the tests. I check Autosport more times a day than I check any other site (except twitter, but I use an app for that and that’s primarily to get the latest motorsports news the instant it’s out there!)

Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Mr Hartley and… I am a petrolhead.

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And the next destination on life’s journey is….

To be revealed as you read on 😀

Regular readers of this little corner of the blogosphere will know that we feel God has been preparing us to move for a few years now. I heard a great analogy the other day that God sometimes lets us know his intentions early enough that our roots, like those of a tree being moved, are gently shaken loose and worked free to make the replanting elsewhere an easier and less harmful activity.

The preparation time came to a head late last year and we felt that God had fired the starters’ pistol triggering much prayer, soul-searching and deep-thinking.

As we looked on the invaluable Google Maps/Earth, we very much felt drawn towards the Rugby and Daventry area. It was almost as if the map dimmed slightly and that area was lit. As we looked around at several areas surrounding my workplace, there were no churches that seemed to draw us in and nowhere else seemed to sit right.

After the dust of the chaotic Christmas period had settled, we quickly decided to spend a couple of weekends exploring both Daventry and Rugby. Looking at the areas, the facilities, the Churches and getting a feel for where we thought God was calling us to. It was also a chance for the kids to get a chance to have a look and get an idea themselves as it’s important to us that they are included in the process – God isn’t just calling me and Mrs H, He’s calling us all as a family and it is imperative that the kids all get their say in where they feel comfortable, excited, at home.

This weekend that has just gone saw the second of our “explorations” completed, covering Daventry after visiting Rugby the week before.

It’s amazing how God works. It really is. He can change hardened hearts, open blinded eyes and bring about a unity of purpose. Praying that 5 people ( of ages 7,10,14 and 30+) would find themselves with a desire to move to the same place and the same church, and that we’d all feel a sense of excitement about it, sounds a bit like herding cats… but our Father is the Great Shepherd and even cats cannot escape when He wants them herding into one place!

And so we find ourselves, after the 2 weekends, with a unified view of where we want to be and a genuine feeling of anticipation and adventure.

Do you think I’ve procrastinated enough? Are those cries of “Just get on with it and tell us where” that I can hear from you dear reader? I know, I’m really dreadful at making important announcements – I love to waffle and then suddenly drop in to the conversation that we’ll be moving to Rugby at some point in the near future. It’s so easy for me to talk and talk and casually drop it in so that the casual reader (or listener) misses the big announcement.

In case you missed it there – yes I did say that we will be moving to RUGBY.

There’s a lot to happen before we actually move there but we all had the same feeling that Rugby is right. The Church there is welcoming, spirit-filled and comes across as having a great heart for God, for His plans and for His vision. There’s loads there for the kids as they grow up and there’s so much regeneration and rebuilding work happening around the town that we really had the sense of Potential in the whole adventure. Potential in Rugby, potential in the Church, potential for us as a family.

It’s a strange feeling or, to be more accurate, spectrum of feelings. There’s excitement at the thought of what we’re heading into, relief that we now know where we’re going, nerves about the road ahead, and sorrow at what we’re leaving behind. The fact is that this has been building up now for the last few years, and we’re finally at the point of starting to fulfil that sense of purpose.

Now, where’s that mile long to-do list gone?!?

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Why is it a daily walk with God can require so much effort?

When we were discussing the subject of spending time with God, on a daily basis, at our house group the comment/question was raised that “if I’ve not spoken to family/close friends I really want to catch up and keep in touch with them – why is it that we can struggle with feeling the same way about our relationship with God?”

There was a fair bit of discussion and then I had a sudden flash of inspiration – believe me, it sometimes happens!

Most of us are fortunate to have grown up with a healthy relationship with family and/or close friends. That’s a daily thing that has been a part of our lives since the day we were born. If, like me, you don’t start out life in a Christian household (we started going to church when I was about 9 and for a time it was a “Sunday thing” for me) then you won’t have grown up with that daily relationship with your Heavenly Father.

As a result of this, it requires work to have that daily connection with God. It requires effort. It requires time. All of which we can sometimes be reluctant to commit to in the midst of our hectic lives. We’ve always got something else to distract us and pull our attention: the kids, the housework, the job, the family, the TV, the Xbox. You get the idea.

When I got married, and indeed when I was dating the lovely Mrs H, it quickly became routine to be in daily contact with my better half. If I’m ever away then there’s at least 1 or more phone calls. When I get up in a morning to come to work and my wife is in bed, I always text her to say good morning. Because of my love for her, and the value I place on our relationship, I crave that daily contact and I honestly cannot think of a single day in nearly 12 years of marriage when there hasn’t been some form of communication and contact between us. I honestly think there hasn’t been a single day when we haven’t spoken – genuinely and truthfully I have spoken to my wife every day.

I think it’s sometimes difficult for us to apply that same raw emotion and depth of feeling to God. Sometimes it’s easier to love something/someone tangible and physical. Love for God can somehow feel higher, nobler and above the baser feelings we have for family. It’s so simple to try and spiritualise and not pursue a more familiar type of relationship with God.

The thing is – He is our Father. He is Abba which means DADDY. It doesn’t mean Father, a word which can sometimes sound aloof, it means daddy. It’s a word that conjures memories of being a young boy and playing with my dad. Play wrestling, time spent playing chess and backgammon, listening to War of the Worlds on original vinyl. It’s a word that brings emotions of joy at visiting my daddy at work, and the smile on his face when he sees me. It’s a word that speaks of a stable, protective and strong presence – but also of gentleness, tenderness and love.

I know that for people who haven’t known that kind of relationship with their earthly father, this can seem beyond comprehension. I know for some people daddy was a figure of fear, whilst for others he was completely absent and an unknown entity. That’s something I’m going to pray about and pick up later on in a future post – it’s not something I want to rush blindly into as I know it’s a big, no huge, issue.

The image of the Father in the Prodigals Return is technically an image of Christ rather than God – let’s not go into the technicalities though as it is still a hugely important image. When the prodigal returned, the father saw him coming and RAN. There are cultural reasons for that, but also cultural implications. A father did NOT run. It was undignified, below them, a child’s activity not a mans. But that image of the father running speaks of compassion, love, protection and more – it’s how God, our Daddy, sees us.

If we manage to grasp even the smallest part of that, then it has the potential to completely shake up our relationship with God. To personalise it. To bring a new level of intimacy and connection. Taking hold of that should give us a desire and eagerness to be with our Heavenly Daddy.

It may be a struggle at first – new relationships require work, and building a deeper relationship with anybody takes time and effort. As we start to build that connection, as we make that effort to be with our Daddy, it will get easier and it will become something that we want and desire – not something that is a chore.

The end result is a relationship full of joy beyond imagining, intimacy beyond earthly comprehension, life to its fullest extreme.

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Glancing Back and Looking Ahead

Well, we’re now pretty much both feet into 2012 with me hardly ever getting the year wrong on forms etc. This means that it’s time to take a look back on 2011 and a look forward into what my hopes, dreams, thoughts and plans are at the beginning of this new year.

Before I do that though – allow me to wish all my readers a belated Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great time over Christmas and that this year will be a great time for you all.

I’m going to do things a bit different this time around as I’m not going to split the two years into individual posts – mainly because life is just so busy right now and I seem to have little time for breathing let alone anything else.

Regular readers will know that last year was quite the rollercoaster ride – with many highs (holiday, Big Church Day Out and more) and various lows (the biggest being the shock loss of a job) so summarising the year, and the lessons learnt, is a bit of fun.

Continue reading “Glancing Back and Looking Ahead”

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Faith requires Action which results in Faith. And repeat.

It’s been buzzing around my head for a couple of weeks now and I listened to a talk by Pastor Steven Furtick (Elevation Church, Charlotte, USA) which re-inforced the point and has had me looping through an endless cycle that I really have got to apply immediately to stand any chance of stepping in to what God has planned for us.

It’s simple really, and pretty obvious, but we so often get it wrong.

Faith requires Action which then results in Faith.

Confused? It’s really not complex. For us to HAVE faith, we’ve got to ACT in faith which will then lead to us GROWING in faith and moving forward. Think about it. When a person takes those first steps of faith, there is an act involved – even if it’s simply raising a hand or saying a little prayer. There is an Action, which then leads to an increase of Faith… which then leads to more Actions, leading to more Faith.

We’re so busy over the next few months that moving house seems a crazy goal, and yet I firmly believe it’s what God is calling us to. It aint going to happen though, unless we get off our backsides and do things that will enable us to take the step of faith.

God can move mountains, but He may well ask for people to get behind the wheels of a JCB to achieve it. He doesn’t NEED us in order for His goals to be achieved, but how else will we grow and develop if not through the lessons we learn executing Gods pland for us?

It’s like the old joke of the man stranded on the roof of his house in a flood. A woman in a boat comes along and offers him a ride, the man replies “God will rescue me, I’m waiting on Him”. A helicopter flies by and offers to rescue him, they are given the same reply. Eventually the man drowns and when he gets to heaven he asks God “Why didn’t you save me” – to which God replies “Who do you think sent the Boat and the Helicopter?”

It’s an exciting, frightening, stressful, wonderful time at the moment and I genuinely feel Gods presence over our future – but it isn’t going to happen unless I get off my backside and get on with bringing about Gods plans.

How about you? I’m sure I’m not the only one who sometimes needs a nudge and a kick into action instead of sitting on the roof of my house.

P.S. As a friend commented – remember FAF. If you don’t put it into action you’re just faffing around 🙂