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This week is looking hopeful. Camping in Devon this week and the forecast looks kind. Counting chicken and eggs is in the back of my mind and is tempering any optimism!

So Nicholas Anelka runs 3/4 the length of the pitch, skips 3 or so tackles and rifles the ball in from 24 yards securing the top goal scoring spot for the season - and doesn't get a mention on Match of the Day last night. Outrageous!! The injustice :) Sent from my iPod

Eryn made her West End debut today in the Royal Ballet's 'chance to dance' end of year show at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. Ok it wasn't on the actual stage but in the more intimate Linbury Theatre in the basement of the Opera House. It was fabulous seeing Eryn perform with the other kids of her dance class alongside real ballet dancers from the royal ballet. She loves dancing and it did something deep inside me seeing a real gift in my daughter develop and to see her enjoy it so much. Sent from my iPod

mission is not want we magnanimously do for others but is about what we become together, bringing the kingdom into being. This is the reality of 'heaven on earth'. A regular feature at Faith House has been the development of a thought to round off the evening, each of the volunteers take a turn to share something of their thinking. This week it was my turn and I finished my thought by thanking the guys at faith house and by letting them know how much they bring to my life. "This has become an important part of my community; I don't come to Faith House to make cups of tea and give out fish finger sandwiches ... I come because I want to be here, I am who I am because of what you share of you with me... together we are community". Frank chips in, looks around at the 10 or so of us in the room. "I don't come because of the tea and fish fingers either, I come because it is important that I am with you all as well, you are family..!" Last week Frank manag...

"...it is in deep solitude that I find the gentleness with which I can truly love my brothers" (Merton) Ringma comments that 'in the daily round of being in a community where one sees faults and weaknesses, where one may fail to respect others' differentness , and where one does not see the realisation of one's ideals, it is so easy to become negative and critical.' Toleration is not enough - transformation is the goal, In the quiet place one discovers the 'grace for forgiveness , for perseverance and for hope. Ringma , C. R. (2003:87). Seek the Silences with Thomas Merton: Reflections on Identity, Community and Transformative Action . London: Spck Publishing.

I wonder why I am still watching Heroes - I'm not sure how many times I can cope with the world being saved, however appealing Hiro may be! However, just as I am about to give up a new twist sucks me back in. Mohinder's narratives are worth listening to at the beginning and the end of the episodes. The final episode of this season finished with Mohinder talking about what connects us in community. Why? I'm not sure, but nevertheless well written We are all connected. Joined together by an invisible thread, infinite in its potential and fragile in its design. Yet while connected, we are also merely individuals. Empty vessels to be filled with infinite possibilities. An assortment of thoughts, beliefs. A collection of disjointed memories and experiences. Can I be me without this? Can you be you? And if this invisible thread that holds us together were to sever, to cease, what then? What would become of billions of lone, disconnected souls? Therein lies the great quest of our ...

Discipleship Journal looks a useful resource, we have it in our library but have just noticed that it is on-line here .

Soren Kierkegaard introduces us to Phalaris who tortured people within bronzed bull that had a fire put under it. The cries of anguish to Phalaris the sound of a bull in his macabre entertainment. He heard what he wanted to hear and didn't hear what he didn't want to hear. On criticism Kierkegaard says: "I would rather be a swineherd understood by the swine, than a poet misunderstood by men..."

More on Frank here . Frank's miracle continue. Once sleeping in doorways, now as the proud tenant of a one bedroom flat he tells us. "I can't believe it ... I have my own place with everything I need ... I sometimes think I don't deserve it." It is good to see his smile and something of his life coming together.

It was great to meet with the corps at Cheltenham 17 years after the last time we had been invited to minister there! The second time I had ever preached! We led a weekend's retreat and it was great to introduce Rembrandt and Henri Nouwen's thoughts on the prodigal to a new group of people and to be involved with discipleship at a local level. Sometimes you visit places and you feel really encouraged. We came away feeling encouraged today!

I've noticed that the concept of 'A Curriculum for Christlikeness' is cropping up in various places. Willard seems to have coined the phrase first based on Colossians. Here is a rushed summary from The Divine Conspiracy. Colossians 1-2 Behold the loveliness of God by keeping your mind tuned to that of the fullness of Christ, so that nothing else is as beautiful or desirable. This then frees us to do what we know to be right. There is a need to identify all that impinges this, a need to look to the attitudes that redirect attention and to identify the stimulus. Willard suggests that a starting point can be by looking back to attitudes to parents and authority. This he points out sometimes can be very painful. Colossians 3-4 Breaking of the powers of patterns of wrong doing and evil that govern our lives. Willard suggests that, what he calls, Consumer Christianity leads to non engagement to true inner transformation with the result that we can remain governed or slaves to fea...

I have had Drop Box recommended to me and am finding it useful for moving and sharing big files when I need to. It's clever how it syncs to two computers if you need it to. Anyway thought I'd pass the recommendation on! If you use this link you get an extra 250 mb of storage - oh and so do I :o) if you use this link