Christmas!

Christmas is amazing! There is just so much I love about it, the chance to spend time with friends and family, fantastic food, especially mince pies, singing carols, Christmas trees and the classic Christmas movies we watch again and again, but most of all I love what it means for me as a Christian.

The idea that Jesus loves us so much, that he leaves heaven to come down to first century Palestine, to live and die and then be raised to life again as a man in order that we might be reconciled to God is just mind blowing! Christmas is the story of God getting his hands dirty, serving the people he created and bringing with him the Kingdom of God as he heals the sick, gives sight to the blind, teaches incredible, life changing truth and raises the dead.

Christmas is about the God who created the universe stretching out his hand and offering it us, offering us life and salvation, offering us the chance to start over without the guilt of our wrongdoing hanging over us. But it is even bigger than that, bigger than you or me. Jesus birth is the beginning of the end for death, suffering and pain- it is God starting to restore all the things we have messed up. This is the hope of Christmas.

One of the first Christian songs of praise, found in Philipians 2, sums up just what is so special about the Christmas celebrations....

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Have an amazing, hope-filled Christmas

Traffiking true life story

Carol, from Zimbabwe to South Africa, Mozambique,
Zambia and finally Tanzania

In September 2006 Carol, a Zimbabwean girl aged 18, escaped from captivity of traffickers whilst in Tanzania. Carol was trafficked from Zimbabwe two years earlier when she was 16. Carol was orphaned and staying with her grandparents when this happened. One day on her way to school she was approached by two men who offered her a job. Carol was enticed by the job prospect as this would give her the opportunity to help out her grandparents, support her siblings and other relations. Carol left with the men and they took to a place where they raped her and then they transported her out of Zimbabwe to South Africa. She was drugged and placed in a coffin and crossed the Zimbabwean border. When she was in South Africa she was forced into prostitution. She was not allowed to go anywhere and was under lock and key.

She stayed in South Africa for several months before being taken to Mozambique where the abuse continued. Then she was trafficked through Zambia to Tanzania where she managed to escape. At an open market her captor left her for a few minutes to order food. Carol took the opportunity and ran off. She asked help from a woman who then took her to the Zimbabwean Embassy in Tanzania. The Embassy transported her back home and she was handed over to the police under the care of the International Organisation for Migration who offered her care under their victim support program. From medical tests carried out it was discovered that Carol had contracted HIV. The other difficulty Carol has to face is her family failing to accept her as they believe she will have a bad influence over the other children. Carol is currently staying at a centre and is receiving care.

This kind of story is hideously common. At least 2 million men, women and children are traffiked a year. This is a conservative estimate.It is time to Stop the Traffik. Visit stopthetraffik.org to find out what you can do.

My First Poetry Reading

Sat in the corner with a Jack Daniels and Coke

Just there on my own

A sea of faces, some friendly, some not so much

The poetry starts, an open mic


Autobiographical

Short

Long

Funny

Sad

Navel gazing


So unlike English in year 9

Why don’t they teach this stuff in school?

Then I’m off

Embarrassingly early

Social skills all gone

Iraq: an op ed piece

6 years after entering Iraq in a blaze of 'shock and awe' along with the rest of the so called 'coalition of the willing', the British army will be pulling out in July. They will be leaving behind them a country that is now a genuine, functioning democracy, with a army and police force, without its genocidal dictator and with a recovering infrastructure. When you look at those facts it is almost tempting to write a revisionist account of the whole bloody saga, but it is vital we do not, not yet anyway. These facts do not affect some of the huge problems that have been associated from this ill-fated endeavour right from the start

Firstly we sent our troops into harms way, based on a lie. George Bush said at the time of the invasion;
"Iraq continues to flaunt its hostilities toward America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a decade... This is a regime that agreed to international inspections — then kicked out inspectors. This is a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world... By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes [Iran, Iraq and North Korea] pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred."
The fact that Tony Blair went along with this nonsense, in retrospect is damning. There was no genuine evidence for either claim, WMD or links to international terrorist groups. Whether you believe it was a desperate grab for oil, an attempted to finish up what his daddy started or something else entirely, the reasons put forward to the public, parliament and the UN for going to war were lies.

Secondly, far from blunting the terrorist threat (remember there were virtually no terrorists in Iraq before the invasion) this war has only heightened tension and acted as a recruiting magnet for radicalised Muslims. It is seen as the West persecuting Muslims yet again, and the disgusting actions of US troops in abu Ghraib prison only highened these suspicions and accusations. Before the invasion al-Qaeda had no foothold in Iraq, after the invasion Iraq became a stronghold for them as they took advantage of the Sunni insurgency and began operating in the country.

Finally this war diverted valuable manpower and resources away from the genuine war on terror in Afghanistan. There was no evidence at all that Iraq had anything to do with 9/11, in fact Saddam, whilst hardly a pleasant dictator had very little to do with religious extremists, considering them a destabilising factor in his nominally religious state. Afghanistan (and the border with Pakistan), by contrast was a hot bed of radical Islam, breeding the kind of men that carried out terrorism all over the world before and after the invasion, not just 9/11 but bombings in Kenya, Bali, London and elsewhere. If the £5.5 billion the UK government has spent so far in Iraq (according to the Times) had been spent only in Afghanistan then it probably would have had a genuine influence in reducing the terrorist threat to the world. As it is, the invasion of Iraq has just made it worse.

So yes, things might improve for the Iraqi people in the future, and this may in the long term be a stabilising influence, but none of that changes the very dubious footing on which this war was fought, the mess that was made of the aftermath and the thousands of lives that have been lost. Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg is right when he says;

"There must be a fully independent public inquiry into how this was allowed to happen. The time when Brown has been able to hide behind our troops' ongoing presence in the country is coming to an end... The death and injury of hundreds of British troops and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians in this futile war cannot simply be swept under the carpet."

So let's have an inquiry, let's get to the bottom of this sorry saga and let's see if we cant get to the truth of it once and for all.

Halleujah

Today X-Factor winner Alexandra'a version of Leonard Cohen's Halleujah became the fastest selling single ever. Whilst she does do a pretty good job with it, I think its worth reminding ourselves of the definitive version, courtesy of Jeff Buckley. Amazing.

Silence

Really thought provoking post on The Resurgence today. If you are busy, and never have enough time, spend 2 minutes checking it out....
silence

Sports Personality of the Year- what about Shane?

It's Sports Personality of the Year this Sunday, and after last year's non-event (aside from the very deserving winner) it looks like it could be a cracker. In the wake of the Olympics and other various sporting successes over the past 12 months it is a much more interesting race for the top prize.

However there was one name missing from the list that more than deserved to be there- Shane Williams. Right up front I will say I am an England supporter through and through, but I do think this was a bit of an injustice for the Ospreys winger. He played a pivotal role in Wales' 6 Nations win, broke the all time try scoring record for his nation, helped his club to the EDF Energy Cup and finally he became the first Welshman to win the IRB's player of the year award. The last player to win this award went on to pick up Sports Personality of the Year- Johnny Wilkinson (OK, he had just won a world cup too, but we wont go on about it!), so it seems wrong Shane doesn't even make the shortlist.

I don't think Shane should win, but I think at the very least he deserved a nomination. He has had a phenomenal year for club and country and somehow this seems to have passed the decision makers by.

For my part I think Rebecca Adlington should win, and probably will. The double gold she achieved this summer at the Olympics was amazing, all the more so when you consider how British swimming has been in the Olympic gold wilderness since 1960. Lewis Hamilton may be the youngest F1 champion ever, but Adlington is only 19, and when you consider she beat swimming legends like Katie Hoff of the USA on the way to her triumph, she should get the prize. Lewis Hamiltion's time will come again I'm sure.

I'm not a big Star Trek fan, but....

... this looks pretty awesome!
(and is directed by JJ Abrams, the man responsible for Lost!)

So long sicknote...

This Saturday, an English footballing legend (for all those under the age of 30 and over the age of 23) quietly ended his long career at Dean Court in Bournmouth. Darren Anderton, the last remaining playing member of England's Euro 96 squad retired. He hangs up his boots just one short of 600 games - having made 569 club appearances for Portsmouth, Spurs, Birmingham, Wolves and Bournemouth, as well as winning 30 England caps. He had so much potential, but was hampered by constant niggling injures and consequently earned the nickname 'sicknote'.

I'm writing a blog about this because it makes me feel like an era has ended and the world has moved on. Euro 96 was the first football tournament I truly got into, and was my first experience of England losing on penalties to the Germans. Anderton retiring makes me feel older and strangley nostalgic- it is as if a link with a long gone summer and some happy memories has been snapped. Anderton was at the peak of his powers during Euro 96 when I was in year 8, playing lots of sport, listening way too obsessively to Oasis and watching Shooting Stars with Vic and Bob- coo coo!It all seems a long time ago now!

In many ways it is hugely ironic that he is the last to retire given his horrific injury record. My hat comes off to a fantastic player, who soldiered on for his love of the game, when all to many are mercenary and in it for the money!
So long Sicknote! We'll remember you for that summer in 96...

Jesus:One solitary life....

“Here is a man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty, and then for three years He was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He never went to college. He never put His foot inside a big city. He never travelled two hundred miles from the place where He was born. He never did one of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but Himself. He had nothing to do with this world except the naked power of His Divine manhood. While still a young man, the tide of popular opinion turned against Him. He was turned over to His enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a Cross between two thieves. His executioners gambled for the only piece of property He had on earth while He was dying—and that was His coat. When He was dead He was taken down and laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Such was His human life—He rises from the dead. Nineteen wide centuries have come and gone and today He is the centerpiece of the human race and the Leader of the column of progress. I am within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, and all the navies that ever were built, and all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man upon this earth as powerfully as has that One Solitary Life.” --James C. Hefley

World AIDS day

Today,December 1st, is World Aids Day 2008.The number of people living with HIV is continuing to rise in every part of the world - including in the UK. There are now 33 million people living with HIV worldwide and 80,000 people living with HIV in the UK. This is an epidemic that is just getting worse and worse, and needs to be addressed with all the resources that we can muster, sticking heads in sand is no longer an option....

HopeHIV (www.hopehiv.com) are a Christian charity working in Sub- Saharan Africa, doing all they to help and support those with the virus, stop its spread and educate people all over the world to the horror of this illness. If you do nothing else today check out their website to find out more.