Category Archives: faith

Stopping Places

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Signs for National Cycle Routes

Say “140 miles in a saddle” and your calves start to ache and your bum feels sore before you turn a pedal. So what is the secret of cycling long distances without a serious dose of weary anticipation?

It’s all to do with stopping points.

I’ve booked three places to stay overnight on my charity ride from Coast to Coast. The first is in Whitehaven. I arrive on June 22nd to make an early start the next morning on my C2C ride. The second stop is 53 miles away at Penrith. I’m staying at lodgings that specialise in looking after C2C cyclists. Fellfoot Independent Hostel has secure cycle storage and it’s really cheap. Then it’s over the Pennines for 40 miles, the stiffest part of the ride, to Rookhope, where I’ve booked into the Rookhope Inn for what will be a well deserved sleep (after suitable refreshment.) That leaves another 40 miles to complete the ride. After an initial climb it is – as they say – all downhill from there to Sunderland and the sea.

In between those planned stops there will be times for coffee, tea, cake, lunch, photography and map reading. I see no point in being in some of the loveliest countryside on earth if I don’t stop now and again to appreciate it. So the trip will be split into manageable sections which follow one after another until I reach my destination and collect all your sponsorship money.

Talking of which I am raising funds for two charities. Riding Lights Theatre Company and the Funzi and Bodo Trust. The first to support a professional company that delivers original productions in schools, prisons, theatres, churches across the country and also offers great experience to aspiring actors in its two youth theatres and Roughshod company. All with a Christian purpose. The second trust is providing two communities in Kenya with a much needed Medical Centre and a School.

To donate follow one or both of these links.

Riding Lights Theatre Company

Funzi and Bodo Trust

 

 

The starting point

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C2Cstart.jpg

C2C for Charity

My ride starts in Whitehaven. If you hadn’t heard of it before, this small town on the west coast of Cumbria is now known for the most tragic of events. There can hardly be anyone who hasn’t turned their mind to the killing of so many people by a vindictive gunman in West Cumbria.

West Cumbria is where my great grandparents come from; Isaac and Martha Stephenson came from Whitehaven and Harrison and Annie Ware from a little further north in Cockermouth. My father hailed from Langdale in The Lakes – where I too was born. So I have long connections with this part of the world.

So as I arrive in Whitehaven on June 22nd I will be aware of the sorrow that fills that town, and in following the early miles of the C2C route I will pass through places which heard the sound of the first fatal gunshots. Those first few miles are supposed to be the easy approach to the tougher miles ahead through the Lakes and over The Pennines. But on my ride they will be be challenging, not because of steep inclines, but the emotional rollercoaster the people will be experiencing as their community life recovers from those recent horrifying events and the loss of people they love. I trust they are receiving the support they will need to complete the process.

My ride is for worthy causes elsewhere. If you want to sponsor me, follow these links: Riding Lights Theatre Company or Funzi and Bodo Trust

Why does God allow natural disasters?

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This question was asked on the BBC News Site and comments were invited. Only a few were published and mine was must have landed in a waste bin somewhere. So – not to waste my thoughts, here they are. It’s worth reading the other comments on the story first to give the context

Burning Church

At the heart of Haiti’s humanitarian crisis is an age old question for many religious people – how can God allow such terrible things to happen? Philosopher David Bain examines the arguments.

Evil has always been a thorn in the side of those – of whatever faith – who believe in an all-knowing, all-powerful, all-good God ……….

The Christian scriptures indicate that the earth was thrown into chaos as a result of man’s disobedience. The stories in Genesis describe the events that led to man being banished from paradise.

The result of those actions, actions which if we’re honest we all imitate in our daily lives, was a creation waiting for a day of redemption.
God doesn’t ignore it. On the contrary, he came in the person of Jesus Christ to share in our sufferings. He felt pain, ridicule and all the limitations of human frailty and earthy chaos. Now, wherever there is pain, fear, disaster and chaos, God is right there sharing in our suffering. I can’t fully explain in a few words why that’s a better way.
If you want to know where God was when the earth convulsed in Haiti – he was right there in the rubble. It almost seems too trite to suggest this idea from the comfort of my home in affluent Britain but I know that when I pray for the people of Haiti and the rescue and aid workers there, I am talking to a God who understands and is already there on the case. But he has chosen to work in partnership with us. I believe the outcome, on the day of redemption, will be better than if God had intervened to make crumbling buildings indestructible or hold the tectonic plates under the island in place. Somehow it inspires us to work harder and to sacrifice our resources on behalf of those in trouble instead of sitting on the sidelines and blaming God that it happened in the first place.
And if there is no God, there is no hope anyway.

DJ Fat Roland – from Autechre to eternity!

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Refresh FM Manchester: how I was stopped from presenting because I was gay.

I worked with Ian Eyan at Greenbelt FM and was shocked when I read an article in The Guardian’s Comment is Free today that he had been sacked from presenting on a community radio station because he is gay.

I was not stopped from being a radio presenter because I was turning up drunk. I was not stopped from being a radio presenter because I was saying offensive things on air. I wish it was that clear cut, because Ofcom have clear guidelines on that.

I was stopped from being a radio presenter because I am homosexual.

I don’t need to go into a long explantation because Ian explains it all very graciously on his blog. He and others like him who have been treated unjustly should be supported, listened to and valued.

Ian Eyan starts presenting on another radio station on Sunday – I wish him all the best.

Billy Graham’s Suit

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I received this story in an email from my cousin – I felt it needed to be shared …….

Billy Graham

Billy Graham

Billy Graham is now 86 years old with Parkinson’s disease.

In January 2000, leaders in Charlotte, North Carolina, invited their favorite son, Billy Graham, to a luncheon in his honor.

Billy initially hesitated to accept the invitation because he struggles with Parkinson’s disease. But the Charlotte leaders said, ‘We don’t expect a major address. Just come and let us honor you.’
So he agreed.

After wonderful things were said about him, Dr. Graham stepped to the rostrum, looked at the crowd, and said,
‘I’m reminded today of Albert Einstein, the great physicist who this month has been honored by Time magazine as the Man of the Century.  Einstein was once traveling from Princeton on a train when the conductor came down the aisle, punching thetickets of every passenger. When he came to Einstein, Einstein reached in his vest pocket. He couldn’t find his ticket, so he reached in his trouser pockets.
It wasn’t there, so he looked in his briefcase but couldn’t find it.
Then he looked in the seat beside him.
He still couldn’t find it.

The conductor said, ‘Dr. Einstein, I know who you are.  We all know who you are. I’m sure you bought a ticket. Don’t worry about it.’
Einstein nodded appreciatively. The conductor continued down the aisle punching tickets. As he was ready to move to the next car , he turned around and saw the great physicist down on his hands and knees looking under his seat for his ticket.

The conductor rushed back and said, ‘Dr. Einstein, Dr. Einstein, don’t worry, I know who you are. No problem. You don’t need a ticket.. I’m sure you bought one.’

Einstein looked at him and said, ‘Young man, I too, know who I am. What I don’t know is where I’m going.”

Having said that Billy Graham continued, ‘See the suit I’m wearing? It’s a brand new suit. My wife, my children , and my grandchildren are telling me I’ve gotten a little slovenly in my old age. I used to be a bit more fastidious. So I went out and bought a new suit for this luncheon and one more occasion.

You know what that occasion is? This is the suit in which
I’ll be buried. But when you hear I’m dead, I don’t want you to immediately remember the suit I’m wearing . I want you to remember this:

I not only know who I am .. I also know where I’m going.’