Warm

Good evening, everyone. I hope that you are ok. I am coming to you from watching the Women's Euros. So, I have one eye on the telly, sorry. It's very warm, isn't it?  I have spent most of the week going to work, then lying on the sofa and watching Wimbledon. Wimbledon is fine, obviously, but I always feel that the thought of watching Wimbledon is better than actually watching Wimbledon. When it's on 24/7, I feel that it can go on a bit. Also - the Women's Euros. Have you noticed the women's sort of jumping and chest bumping when they score? Does that not really hurt your bust? 

Believe it or not, I used to play a bit of tennis and actually had a coach for a while. Please don't be too impressed. I used to go with my friend who was an excellent tennis player, and her coach offered me cheap lessons in exchange for getting her to change to him as her coach. This may also have reasons not entirely unconnected to possible jig-a-jig. (She was a really good-looking girl, my friend.) Why am I telling you this? Oh yes, I do have some experience with how tough a game of tennis is, and I do appreciate their efforts. It's just that when it's on all the time, I can feel it might be better if I go away and do something else. Incidentally, as a completely irrelevant aside, the people that I met in the tennis club were some of the poshest, richest people I have ever met. Nice enough, but I kept feeling that I should be bursting into songs from Oliver! like a poor Victorian street urchin.

We were giving away free ice lollies on the door at church this morning. (Only to people attending church, obviously, we're not made of money.) It's nice how excited people can get about the offer of a free FAB. I personally had a lovely morning because someone brought their baby in and, for unfathomable reasons, felt that I could be trusted to spend the meeting with her baby on my knee, surreptitiously kissing the back of her head. (The baby, not the mum). What a life. I left HOH to deal with the bloke who came in, saying he would just like to worship God alone in the cafe, and when we said he had to go into the meeting, he snatched a full packet of Cadbury's Chocolate Tea Cakes and legged it like a comedy version of Linford Christie. It's too hot outside to be running like that. If he'd have asked, we would have given them to him and a free FAB lolly as well. 

This week we also went to see the new Jurassic Park. (It's fine - there's a lot of crunching.) We went to the Everyman (see photo above), which has sofas rather than seats, and I had a nice cup of tea and a carrot cake. Also, we were the only ones in there, so we could discuss plot points (what there were of them) at the top of our voices. This may well be the future of cinema. 

I also finally finished You're Only Human by Kelly Kapic. I wrote about it a few weeks ago and said that I was finding it hard going, and I carried on doing so.  However, this has been a classic case of something being worthwhile, taking some effort. I've been dipping in and out of it and put it down completely to read "Everyone Brave is Forgiven", which was borrowed from a chum. It's a wartime romance, really, which I wouldn't usually give the time of day, but it is one of the most turny paged books I have ever read. A bit brutal, but highly recommended. Anyway - Only Human. One of the things he talked about was the anxiety epidemic, part of which he put down to a lack of reverence for God. However, he felt that the word reverence had been mistranslated a bit because it has become about fear and being a miserable crow, whereas he felt that reverence was more about giving God constant attention and tenderness and seeing your life and thoughts become soothed as you become more aware of God. 

Skilled living gets its start in the Fear-of-God,
    insight into life from knowing a Holy God.

Proverbs 9

I think that it makes sense when you think about it. We are all queuing up to live a life full of calm and peace, and we don't seem to know how to do it very well. And here is day-to-day wisdom and the rest that follows on from that. Makes you feel a bit better about things, maybe. Have a good week.