God the Creator

 Almost at the end of our first full day of training here and as I type I can hear the thunder and the rain outside. It’s been a lovely day up until now and we had a great game of volleyball. We began the day looking at Psalm 104. I was particularly struck by the connection the psalmist makes between God and his creation. This is no absent designer; he continues to be in intimately involved in all aspects of his creation. Even at the point of death the psalmist acknowledges that all is in God’s hands. It made me think about how important the environment is when we are seeking to connect with God.

 We were then encouraged to make sure that we made the most of the opportunities for refreshment, building friendships and being challenged to learn. I have already had some fascinating conversations that remind me of how privileged we are and how people do so much with far more limited resources

Brackenhurst is at 2300m above sea level. So this counts as altitude training as I get used to coping with less oxygen (That’s my excuse for being breathless and I am sticking to it). The food is great – a good mix of English and local – I must be careful not to eat too much as we are largely inactive. The hardest part is breakfast at 7.30am (you know how much I love mornings!). If you want to know more you can check out their website. 

It has been great to stay in touch with people at home – what a different world we live in.

the illusion of intimacy

A really good article in the Sunday Times this week about friendship and facebook. I often joke that facebook redefines the meaning of the word friend but it seems that I might actually be backed up by some evidence.

On a regular basis the number 150 turns up as the genuine number of people one person can maintain meaningful contact with. I have heard this before from church growth people and in other contexts.

The best bit of the article is where it suggests that even then we are fooling ourselves. Real freindships take time and effort. The picture is of a range of ever decreasing circles where the people who you know and really know you is probably no bigger than 5

One of the challenges of communicating to a generation  of digital natives maybe that their search for intimacy on the internet leaves them with numerous superficial relationships, which take time to cultivate, but few, if any relatioships of real depth and meaning. Maybe what we need to be sure we are encouraging is depth.