beautiful mournes

Yesterday we spent a day dandering through the mourne mountains with some guys (and gals!) from our church. I've been finding great joy of late just spending time in the glorious nature God has provided for us here in NI. A lot of people will talk about the beauty of other places in the world that they have visited like there was nothing more beautiful to be beheld, and I'm sure there are other places of great pulchritude (<-- that one's for you norman!) but as the proverb Travis once wisely quoted goes... the grass always seems greener on the other side.

I think we have been truly blessed in this country with it's outstanding beauty, and in particularly the mournes. There is something mystifying about this places that's captures my heart and imagination. I can see myself doing a lot more exploring.

< - below is a picture of where we went yesterday Loughshannagh/Slieve Doan. One of the unsung heroes of the mournes. It has a wonderful view from the top overlooking most of 7 over 700m as well as lough shannagh and silent valley. There is also some fun rock climbing to be done on the top. If you have any other tips please let me know! - >

numbers can deceive.

I remember reading recently that there is more to averages than meets the eye. For example the GDP per capita in the UK and end of year 2007 was roughly £20,000. Which means the average amount of money each person earnt per year was £20,000. However how many people in the UK actually earn this? the answer is not many. When you take into account the over inflated (to put it politely!) salaries of a few fat cat millionaires, that number is only brought back down to size due to the many people living amongst us living under the poverty line.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we brought back the great Jewish tradition, the Year of the Jubilee, and evenly shared out all our wealth every fifty years regardless of whether you contributed five quid or five million. We would all be earning twenty grand a year! That'll soon sort out the credit crisis!

So the moral of the story is don't always believe in averages, if you did you might be led to believe that...

"Those with 2 feet have an above-average number of feet"

Crazyness.

fear

Some good quotes about fear

I was ice-skating with elevate last friday, and I discovered that the less I feared the fall, the faster I learnt and the more exhillerating was the ride. It lead me to some brainstorming thoughts about fear that I have been pondering recently...

If we give in to fear we will never reach the heights of our potential, in all God that has for us. We will not live life, nor life in it's fullest.

Fear is like a cancer that grabs a hold of our lives and starts infecting every aspect of it.

There is only one thing that should be feared and that is a holy fear for the Name above all names.

what does the God's word tell us to do ...

fear not

... 365 times.

hd projectorness

This is where my geeky side comes out. I recently bought an HD projector for a very reasonable amount of money. I have it on my wall at the moment covering 100inches. (picture below in comparison with a standard tv), without compromising any of the hd quality. It's been amazing to watch my favourite tv shows and have people round to play games on it, but I hope to give it some real purpose in the future.

Part of me feels quite bad about spending a significant sum of money on a luxury item like this. I guess at the time I viewed it as a bit of a Birthday/Christmas/Comfort present to myself. I justified it by saying I am working and saving hard this year, this was my one treat, but there really isnt any excuse is there!

Anyway, the Optoma HD700X comes highly recommended to anyone interested out there.