Dear Extroverts

Dear Extroverts,

Please shut up, read this and then go away...

“There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.” Susan Cain

 “Let’s clear one thing up: Introverts do not hate small talk because we dislike people. We hate small talk because we hate the barrier it creates between people.” Laurie Helgoe

 “Evangelicalism has taken the Extrovert Ideal to its logical extreme…If you don’t love Jesus out loud, then it must not be real love. It’s not enough to forge your own spiritual connection to the divine; it must be displayed publicly.” Susan Cain

 “Introverts, in contrast, may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pyjamas. They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues, and family. They listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. Susan Cain

“…because I rant not, neither rave of what I feel, can you be so shallow as to dream that I feel nothing? ” R.D. Blackmore

Thanks, I love you really - I'm more like you than you realise. 

The beauty's in the detail right?

Remember the days when the smallest thing was the most fascinating thing ever?

Remember the days when what is now commonplace was o so amazing?

Remember the days when what is now a nuisance was actually something you excited talked about for weeks?

This week I had a twenty minute conversation with an 8 year old about the wonders of flying economy class...

"You have a TV in the seat in front of you! And you can watch anything you like, even Horrid Henry. And there's a thing for your drink by your arm. And  tray that goes in front of you like this. And they bring you really good food - two lots of food. Lunch and dinner. And they bring you pillows. And they bring you drinks. And there's even something to put your feet on."

All this from a child I who usually only answers my questions with "Yes" or "No." It's in the detail.

Remember when the world was fascinating?

This week I'm looking into the detail of everyday life to rediscover childlike wonder.

Satisfied in You

I have lost my appetite 
And a flood is welling up behind my eyes 
So I eat the tears I cry 
And if that were not enough 
They know just the words to cut and tear and prod 
When they ask me “Whereʼs your God?” 

Why are you downcast, oh my soul? 
Why so disturbed within me? 
I can remember when You showed Your face to me 

As a deer pants for water, so my soul thirsts for You 
And when I survey Your splendor, You so faithfully renew 
Like a bed of rest for my fainting flesh 

When Iʼm looking at the ground 
Itʼs an inbred feedback loop that drags me down 
So itʼs time to lift my brow 
And remember better days 
When I loved to worship You and learn your ways 
Singing sweetest songs of praise 

Let my sighs give way to songs that sing about Your faithfulness
Let my pain reveal Your glory as my only real rest 
Let my losses show me all I truly have is You 

So when Iʼm drowning out at sea 
And all Your breakers and Your waves crash down on me 
Iʼll recall Your safety scheme 
Youʼre the one who made the waves 
And Your Son went out to suffer in my place 
And to show me that Iʼm safe 

Why am I down? 
Why so disturbed? 
I am satisfied in ou

Other People's Emails

Every now and again I get emails from Betty.

Subject: From Lanzarote

Hi there
Island tour was great yesterday. The semi live volcano was fantastic. The restaurant there cooks their food over the heat from the volcano. During one big eruptions during the 17th 18th century the only building left standing was the church with the priest inside, who survived. Perhaps it was a good idea you were reordained! After the heat of the volcano we went to a cooling Aloe vera plantation
Did you try to ring us the other day? We didn't have our phone on.
Don't know if you have left for HK yet Rachel, hope all goes well.
Luv
M & D xx

Subject: From Lanzarote

Greetings from Lanzarote. Hope your flight went well Rachel and you are not working too hard! Think we told you about our Montanas del Fuego volcano trip, since then we have been to the yearly Carnival at Puerto del Carman and had a great evening. Costumes unbelievable and so colourful. Procession startedat 5.30 pm and ended at 11.30 pm. Only 150,000 locals live on the island and we think most of them were in the procession!!
Hotel great, trying hard to limit food and drink intake. Not easy! Will have to diet on our return.......
Love to both of you
M & D xx

Subject: From Ditton

Hope you had a good journey home and trains were on time. Lovely to see you over the past few days, we both enjoyed our time with both of you.
Found Rachel's green jacket behind the bedroom door. Popped it in the post today. Addressed it to Dundas Street as it wouldn't go through the letterbox and expect you'll both be out when it arrives.
Enjoy your week..............
M & D x

I've tried letting her know that unless I'm very much mistaken I'm not her daughter but to no avail. You gotta love other people's emails. 

I am a Pilgrim

I am a pilgrim.

A resident alien.

Wandering and seeking.

Journeying onward.

Step after step...



Come join the song. 
Don't forget your dancing shoes. 

Prayer For the Bold.

Disturb us, O Lord,
When we are too pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, O Lord,
When with the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst for the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, O Lord,
To dare more boldly,
To venture on wilder seas,
Where storms will show Your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.

We ask you to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,
Who is Jesus Christ.

Prayer of Francis Drake, 1577

Where did all the water go?

Omygosh! You will never guess what happened to me today! There was no running water in the flat. Like, the water actually stopped running! The tap was totally on, but there was no water! Nothing. Nada. Zip. No water. 

Did you get that yet? There was no water!

So I couldn't get a drink, even though I was parched.

I couldn't cook my dinner, even though I was hungry.

I couldn't water the herbs in the kitchen, even though they were drier than the plain chicken at Nandos (seriously, why is that even an option?).

I couldn't wash the dirty plates and cutlery, even though flies were hovering menacingly around them. 

I couldn't wash my hands, even though they were covered in Public Transport Filth - I dread to think of what I might have caught if it weren't for my trusty hand sanitizer. 

I'm pretty sure that the washing machine wouldn't have worked either - so no clean clothes y'all.


The tap was totally on, but there was no water. For like, at least half an hour. A full 30 minutes. And then, thank God, it suddenly came back. 


Thank God the toilet was still working.

Thank God I didn't have to make the 30 second trip to the corner shop to buy some bottled water (I mean, I don't think they even stock Isklar Water - my favourite Carbon Neutral Norweigan glacial natural mineral water with exceptionally low mineral content. I might have been reduced to buying Evian or something equally mediocre - just the very thought of it will give me nightmares for a week).

Thank God I then didn't have to carry the mediocre bottled water up two flights of stairs. 

Thank God that even if I had bought some water it would have been clean and wouldn't have made me ill. 

Thank God the water came back on.

Thank God the water came back on and I was able to drink clean water from the tap, cook my dinner, wash up and wash my hands. 

#FirstWorldProblems

From Tearfund

The truth is that not everyone has access to safe drinking water - and by everyone I mean 768 million everyones.  This is roughly one in ten of the world's population. 
(WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Report 2013 update)*


The truth is that unclean drinking water increases your chances of developing water related diseases such as diarrhoea, trachoma and typhoid. Some of these diseases can be fatal, especially in children who are less than 5 years old.

The truth is that women in Africa and Asia often carry 20kg of water on their heads, that's the same weight as the average UK airport luggage allowance (UNDP: Human Development Report, 2006: page 34-35)*. I can usually barely lift my holiday suitcase onto the conveyor at the airport, let alone carry it on my head. Every day. And then walk a few miles. 

The truth is that sickness and having to fetch water everyday is a huge barrier to working and education.

But there is Hope - there are some great organisations such as Water Aid and Tearfund who work with communities to make safe and clean drinking water accessible. See how you can support them.

What else can you do?

Buy Belu Water.

Sponsor the 'I carried a watermelon' team. For real, they're carrying a watermelon. 

Tweet about it, facebook about it, instagram about it. Tell people you know - get them to do something about it too. 

*Info from www.wateraid.org

Where's your phone at though?

Have you seen this yet?

Dear Friends who think it's ok to have your phone out at dinner,

Dear Friends who have to update facebook when we meet for coffee,

Dear Friends who would email the police rather than call them if they ever found my dead body in a recycling bin,

I love you, but please, for the sake of our friendship, for my rapidly decreasing patience, for your personal communication skills, for the children, for Queen and for country, 

put your phone away.

Live your life. Be present in the present. 

And the next time you get your phone out at dinner and its not someone calling to say that your house is on fire and you need to go rescue your goldfish tank and your Extreme Ironing trophies - you're paying. 

With love from Rachel

What are you watching?

From the East Jesus art garden on the outskirts of Slab City, California.

If ever you find yourself at Salvation Mountain in Niland, California, then you should follow the advice of the Liverpudlian hippy who is spending three months driving through the USA and go visit East Jesus.

East Jesus is made up of an 'improvised community of artists, musicians, survivalists, writers, scientists, laymen and other wandering geniuses. Partially an exhibition space for those problematic projects taking up your warehouse space,partially a build space for those problematic projects taking up the desert.' If you want to know what a house looks like when you put three mortgages on it then East Jesus is the place to go.  

Ignore the fact that it's at the end of a dirt track and no-one will ever find your body, let alone hear you scream (I'm sure it's perfectly safe but mate, I'm from Croydon - I don't trust desert hippies).

Make sure you get a guided tour of the garden by the guy who lives there - the art makes so much more sense when its explained to you. 

Don't step into anything that makes a circle on the ground. 

And last of all don't forget to pray like crazy and plead the blood of Jesus over your heart, soul, mind and strength when you leave.