Ancient paths

I just read a post by 'Lord Veritas' called Heaven Without Christ and it hit home. Reminded me of something I have always held a dear cause... Why preach if you don't preach Christ? Surely philosophy and theory and opinion have their place - but I'm guessing people already know or have their own opinions about it. I am probably going to go off on a completely wide tangent here - but hey, hence this blog's convenient title ;) This is perhaps not a take on Lord Veritas' but just the expression of something it triggered in me - which is what good writing does.

I have a friend (whom I always seemed to be arguing with, until God decided I needed to hold my ahem peace!) - and he believes that God has called him to provide for the intellectuals. And that they can only be reached through expositions of philosophy. My issue with this friend is not that he is right in not including me in the band of intellectuals ;) but that he often makes assumptions of situations, that I (perhaps arrogantly) claim to know better of simply because I am in them. Sometimes even assumptions about being female, or being in my family - in good spirit, he explains what he believes is Truth. LOL Yes, he capitalises the T ;). But that is my point - I would only capitalise it if in reference to Jesus. Some things are absolutes - I live in a country that reminds me of that everyday. The Bible is. But there are interpretations and opinions that are militant against another's - they are not salvation-stealing or power-pilfering, but they are discounted nonetheless. I suppose I have been guilty of having rejected another's view summarily, without listening for God's take first... But in our urgency to give our truth to the people we meet, we forget to give God's truth; forget that at the foot of the cross the same God changes and speaks; forget that the Spirit's discernment is far more understanding than our own. And we are also guilty of universalising personal revelations - no, we do not just share them. We 'absolutise' them. To me, the Bible remains the bottom-line on drawing lines... as does the God of the Bible. No, I am not speaking for those arguments that allow and liberalise everything the Bible says - face-value is not dispensable in our search for depth, is it?

I am, in fact, arguing for the ancient path. I am no post-modern, although there are remnants of truth in nearly every philosophy. I don't entirely hold with co-authorship... I long and hope that the Author will speak sooner than the readers of the Text. But that capitalised Truth? Lol, I believe we will find it here. Here in India, I belong to a church that because of its structure has someone at the top giving it its sermons. And because of its structure, there are several visiting pastors and theologians who preach. Theologians who preach philosophy... forgive me for the pun on those two words, but the wisdom of man is foolishness to God, and vice versa...

Many times you will find me ranting on the opposite side of the track (I have said I was a BoC) - that face-value foolishly forsakes the Spirit for the letter, but not when the Person is lost for the principles. The reason Christianity is different is because it is personal. In my responses to my Muslim students who chose to take the offensive on quite a few occasions, the one point at which they balked is when I told them fuss-free that I knew this fantastic, wonderful, entirely lovable and so-let-down-able Jesus - and that He loved me even more. And the gospel of Christ and the cross, God's love and sacrifice cannot be compromised. God's love not ours... I think that our relationship with Jesus is the centrifugal force that gives our Christianity its validity. Call me old-fashioned. I probably am. But the Bible is never out of fashion. And the Bible has copyright on love, not you or me. When I think of 'old-fashioned-ness', it's not about ideals and values - fashions are much more about the self.

Yet in my worship and in my meditation - if life and truth are not real, then I have lost my way.

Funny English

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I talk too much - faaaaaarrrr too much. Tis a far, far better thing to shut up than I have ever done before... but unlike Carton I don't think I'm going to follow through. You might also guess that I am in another of those silly moods, somewhat like my ramble about a month ago ... maybe I'm just well-timed. Or you might notice because of the wealth of wisdom I display (now if I could just say 'my minions' it would complete the desired effect for that sentence - but I can't cos you're not and you'll be mad and I love you anyway :( )... *Giggle* Ah well...

I want to rant about another of my favourite subjects - the general widespread culture of abuse of that innocent (well, not really) victim - the English Language!!

I mean what can you do with someone who misspells 'maelstrom' so grotesquely (yep, it has been my IM status for the past coupla days!) as to call it 'male-storm'?? And no pun intended... Well, LOL, serves me right for reading a tepid, trashy, mushy first-thing-I-found-online-because-library-was-inaccessible book! And the idiot's mind was on a man - so malestorm might have been right. But then they just misspelled it right through with a grace and aplomb you would have to see to believe :O And then things like 'I had to give him a peace of mind for my piece of mind' - first, I didn't know minds were dissectable, and second it sounds slightly cannibalistic! *Siighhh*

I know, I know what you're going to say - the drama-queenness is overdone, pilgrim. LOL. Fffine :P But these errors really make me laugh and wind me up at the same time. Siiiiggghhh, it's probably why I love teaching English (more so when I'm not doing it;O).

Here's another one which only made me laugh. It was a friend and she's quite nice and hey, she's not undertaking to write a full-length novel and misspell in its first language, is she? Okay here goes - My dad had a provisional store. No, the store wasn't optional just in case other stores didn't work out. LOL.

I've already given you one by the famous college principal in my Those Random Things post. But here's another one - "I have two daughters, both girls".
I, most emphatically, did not make that up. *Giggle*

Another thing - why do so many people (these are mostly native speakers!) use 'I should of' instead of 'I should have'?? Bothers me no end ;) So yeah, the unstressed form of both words is [əv]... so? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever - LOL LOL the funniest bit is when they actually stress the unstressed words in speech and it comes out 'I should OF'...

Okay rant over. RIP :P

verbal diarrhoea

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I've got a severe attack! Been laid up for days on end. It's chronic and it's like an addiction that keeps needing a fix.

My blog is the best place to relieve myself (ahem!) as no one else will need to clean up the mess. I also cannot blame my blog for not responding and reciprocating in kind. Well, I could, as I am not a rational being. If I blame my friends and family for being unable to reproduce my hyperventilation, why can I not blame a space that does not exist in a world that cannot be seen through a keyboard that is a machine anyway! I don't know - I did warn you I was not a rational being. This, as I have said before, is my space to abuse et al;)

Daylight saving time is an odd thing. British seasons are odd things. Well, all seasons are fantastic, wonderful, strange phenomena to an Indian girl who two years ago was only used to hot, hotter and wet. Even Snow White was always warm on Disney... But it is hard to adjust to light and sunshine at half seven in the evening. I remember now as a friend brought it up. Try this for size - bright light at nine at night... Strange indeed. Beautiful nevertheless.

You, my reader (I think I might have a Bronte complex :O), may well ask me if 'beautiful' would be my favourite word! Siiiggghhh - well, it is a label of mine. I think I repeat myself so many times. I tell my students sometimes - as I rub my whiteboard for the dozenth(so I made it a word!) time - that I write too much, I talk too much and I hope at some point they are listening! Perhaps it is the bane of all teachers. The verb 'to be' must go with a verb '__ ing'. It is as if they were married - and the way I believe marriage to be. Now grammar geeks out there - please note I specified verb '__ing' and not gerund or adjective :D. No, no - this is the real thing. Faithful forever ;). The present perfect will, must, should, shall always have 'have' as the aux conjugated verb in the present. Now that means it can be 'have' or 'has'.
Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. Rewind the CD. Play again. Say again. Try again.

But some things bear repetition... Beauty. You're beautiful. Well done! God's brilliant. I love you... Do you know Jesus? Do you know Him?

Passions

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The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word...

Those words are found in Hebrews 1:1-4. I am glad glad glad that I found them today in part of my daily reading!!

Funny story - for what was probably the hundredth time I was telling my students to NOT speak in Arabic during the class hours as it was only going to detract from their learning English. They then told me I needed to learn Arabic. I refrain from expressing my very politically incorrect opinion of their ideas! They are here to learn English, they are learning a foreign tongue because they have found their own insufficient for certain purposes... They then try to convince the teacher of that foreign language that their own mother tongue is the one language you need to communicate to all other nations. That is what they were telling me. Perhaps it arose from some fanatic notion that that was the way it ought to be! Perhaps not - maybe they are just desperately homesick, God bless them. Either way I refrain from expressing my un-PCness ;)

They were also surprised at my not speaking it. I then said that it was no surprise as I did not happen to be Arabic and I was not Muslim, which would be the other reason to learn that language. They then said one day I would. Having left that sentence incomplete I assumed I would one day by some fantastic chance learn Arabic - maybe I will, to be an effective witness in some humanly improbable way the Lord cooks up! But they were not, in fact, saying that! What they were saying was that I would one day become Muslim!!!!!!!

You know me - if you happen to read this at all... So you can well imagine how that statement completely cracked me up. I tried very hard to suppress what most certainly would be classed as unholy laughter by my loving nincompoops! (A more modern term sounds more abrasive I'm afraid...) I was laughing because there was nothing else to do - they completely crossed the line and turned the next fifteen minutes into a hard-sell conversion campaign!

I would like to call them evangelicals - but they did not bring the Good News... I listened but the minute I spoke my piece they were not willing to hear. On the offensive, they were good. Very good - earnest, convinced, warm! On the defensive, they just closed up like a shell! LOL. I was glad of the opportunity to defend my faith. Despite being nearly called an idiot - how can you have all your qualifications? and think what you believe? yours is not rationality it's blindness.

I then gave them C S Lewis' classic line - if he'd been paid royalty for the number of times we pull his trick ;) I said you have to choose to call Jesus a liar, a fool or God. They were a little bit shocked as they insisted Jesus was a prophet nothing more. Bless them! (And heal the blindness, please, Lord?) I also never quite understood why they believed the kuran was the Word of God and the Bible wasn't... They were not willing to say. Lol, so I must blindly accept the false?? I then told them that even if they had the English to understand the archaeology, history and forensic research that held up evidence, I did not need to argue with them on it. I knew Jesus, I had a relationship with Him. No one else did in that room. We simply silently acknowledged the teacher's statement and conveniently bypassed to other arguments.

For the third time, I laughed and warned them more campaigning would mean less coursework and MUCH more homework. On the third time of asking, I believe some of them scared off, LOL. Homework - a total no, no!! Also a couple of other students (also Muslim and never ever tried this trick, lol) came in and this new student who'd started the whole issue stopped.

But it made me think... With all this political correctness, I am so afraid in my little attempts to share the gospel. Here they are with a hard-on approach! Quite as passionate as my sweet year-11s ;) but on different subjects entirely.

Where is our passion? Love and faithfulness are important; a long, slow intimate walk with God has its advantages. It may even be more important than but definitely not a substitute for passion.

Year 11s etc

Cyfarthfa High - awwww grrrr lol grrrr lowwweees

Year 11s - enda thevanae! how do I respond to that?! Lol grrr lol

And you - BO, JR, GJ, DD, amma - comments here! Now... or there will be five minutes of detention on Tuesday!

And God bless the NPs of this world.

Cyfarthfa High - I LOVED it :O

Apart from the fact that I really must get something to do with my life and if I choose not to go to evening service next time, I must vow not to switch the comp on... (no offense to you guys)... here are some interesting snippets from this Friday, teaching at a local high school. It was great and I was so chuffed to be teaching in a proper school as opposed to additional and special needs classes in college!! And it was a posh-ish one at that ;O Anyone clued in who's reading this - no, not quite as posh as the London one but still!! (Tip: it's easier reading my long-windedness if you leave out the Me:'s and the Boy:'s and the Miss:'s...):P

#1 was when I was just supervising course work. These were the two kids in front of me and the most chatty. Rest assured, this was not the content of the lesson, neither did I make it so! But this one goes to show how not a teacher I was!!! Although some of 'em loved it and wanted to know when I was coming again!

Sis: Miss you could never tell we're brother and sister, could you, Miss?
Me: You're brother and sister? No, it wouldn't've struck me...
Sis: Cos he's got a lovely tan which he doesn't want and I want :(
Me: He's got a tan, sweet...? I thought I'd got the best tan of all ;)
Bro: Yeah but you wear make-up... why on earth would you do that? Look, you've got a yellow spot here, and a bluish streak there!
Me: Hey! She's a girl - you never mess with her like that, okay? ;) And no, you don't chuck your book at a girl either - not very nice was it? (This is not his sister btw and no smiling teacher here)
Bro: No, Miss, it wasn't very nice (sheepish smile)
Sis: miss, do I really have a spot here and a streak there?
Me: No, of course not... And yes, you can go to the toilet whenever you're sick and (lol) no you don't look sick :)
Sis: Where do you live, Miss?... Do you have a boyfriend?
Me: (Erm slightly speechless and laughing) n-no?
Sis: Are you married?
Bro: Oi, nosey! What's with you?
Me: (gratefully) No, I'm not married but I live with a family in x
Sis: Oh, cos I was thinking if you're new here it might be difficult. You never wear make-up, do you, Miss?
Bro: See, I told you...
Me: No... (seeing a look tht needed some comforting)... even if I wanted to the time I got the message to come into school this morning, there would've been no way!
Sis: But you never wear it, do you? you're lucky...
Me: Why...
Bro: Cos you don't need to - it's natural.
(Miss at this point blushes nice and thorough!)
Me: No, why would you need to wear it... And how do you get the time...

and the conversation contd... This was a darling class compared to the afternoon; there were a few mischievous nuts but they laughed with me and when I took their trip they took it and were slightly malleable!

The second and third had poetry appreciation and they were English (Higher) so I had a ball! With Period 2, I didn't know they expected a discussion until later. With Period 3, I knew and I prayed again and managed to get 'em involved!! Their teacher came back at lunch bell and said 'You just got a compliment from one of my girls there. She said "Miss, we've got a super-good teacher, Miss. She explained everything very well and then made us write, she didn't just cover, Miss"'. I told her 'Aw, Miss D that's made my day now!' Yes, yes I am tooting my horn but this was the highlight of my day!!! And even if I never get cover work again, I'll be glad for that one!!

Afternoon was a disaster! Science classes and year 9s!!! Gosh - I was in for a time!
#2
Me: N would you please do your work now?
N: No
Me: NOW
N: I've got a sinus (which I may mention was completely dormant when he was jumping on the tables and hollering the girls outside the window!)
Me: Well, if it's just come on, I'm sure it will be gone as suddenly. Do IT NOW
Class - I am this close to giving everybody a detention... It's Friday afternoon and you don't want to stay back in school.
N P!
N: You can't give me detention
Me: You heard Mr B and I can well give you detention as your parents have been warned.
N: I must pick up my sister
Me: Well, your mum knows to expect you may be late
N: No, I tore up all the notes the school sent!
Me: Grrrrrr

#3 is my favourite! It's so un-me like I told MS. But he says it was thinking on my feet and it worked to some degree! They laughed and stared and then just shut up for a bit. All of these are from the second period in the afternoon, LOL.

Me: Now why are you all moving? You're supposed to stay where you've been put.
Boy: Well, Miss, he... he erm (passed wind is the polite equivalent :O)
The accused: He hee (sheepish smile) But Miss I can't stay there all alone.
Me: (smiling and trying not to laugh which the students well know!) Well, could you please stay there? And you move back there now.
Boy: Aw no, Miss. I can't! It's horrid. Please.
Me: (after chatting with a few others) No, come on, you can go back there. It's okay now. Move please!!
Boys: No (and all sorts of jokes and laughter and teasing and wrestling!! Not all nice either!)
Me: Well, I'm sorry THAT IS THE PROPERTY OF GASES. THEY MOVE! Now go back!
(I can't believe I said that. Oh Lord, I can't believe myself! LOL. yes, it's funny but I wouldn't have credited myself with thinking that much less saying it! LOL... well at least they'll have warmed to me a bit...)

Lol, they did a bit. But the end of the day saw the deputy head teacher walking in... The detention names were duly given I tried to save a couple but she wanted the warned ones as well :( Two mobile phones were confiscated. The two boys who had them out were warned by me. And then they did it again - so I said "That is really it. Detention!" They then said "Miss, No! Rugby...we have a rugby match..." Of course I said (like my teachers of old) "Well, you should have thought of the rugby when you were not doing your science work. You know the rules. And I have given this class several warnings". Bless their hearts, when they knew I was serious, they just turned red and lay down their not-so-little heads on the table and tried to go to sleep in self-pity. Even though, I felt awwwwwwful giving out punishment, I sorta loved that moment because suddenly they were children again.... awwwwww.

The trouble is with teaching adults and at a college, you're so used to saying to your students 'Do you want to...' and 'Would you mind...' and 'Please...' AND expecting an immediate aquiescence... My bad, LOL. In the afternoon classes at least. The English classes had a few rugby/football guys in it. But they got involved too and a couple even gave in ideas! So the morning was super-fantastic :D The afternoon was good too - well, some of the kids were fun. But it was just scary altercation because, of course, the kids here aren't quite like the kids there!

English classes

No, actually, students, you won't get through IELTS if the moral of The Gifts of the Magi is 'Never spend too much on gifts' as opposed to 'The best present of all is love'.
Yes, 'tomorrow' really does have only one 'm'. What's that, N? Well yes, I actually do know the language and I can't wait till the end of the day to say that wreathed in polite grins.
No, you were right the first time and when I say 'Brilliant, fantastic' it means you're right and you don't have to get it wrong the next ten times.
No, actually Jim is not sad because Della is a modern woman and cut her hair short.
No, Della does not hate Jim's gift because it reminds her of her hair.
No, Jim is not unhappy because he does not have a job - the book says he does.
Yes, the past tense is past, the present is present and you DID just say that to me when I wasn't asking. WHY will you not answer right when I am???? Waaaahhh, no it will not make it better if you offer to take teacher out to Burger King over lunch. And even if you flirt, I will still be friendly but get very corrective on grammar. For instance if you say 'Do you can go out when night week every?', I solemnly promise not to answer Wednesdays and Thursdays. I WILL say that two auxiliary verbs do not go together in simpler words and disregard your question!

Lol, yes they flirt sometimes but they are lovely and some of them very nice.

Journal entry

It was funny today. I'm afraid this is not really gonna be a soul-searcher ;O
Well, at least I think not :O
The day was quite amazing:
1. MP called me and said, hey when u going to work?? And I said well abt ten I need to be there. So he decided he'd meet me at a quarter to because he wanted to give me something. i asked if it was post and he laughed and said no, he'd forgotten to bring it. The 'something' turned out to be a mobile phone!! With a SIM card and package. It's 3G which means I can use it in this country... but I mean it's just so fantastic. i was only recently talking about the amazing way in which I've seen the love of the church in action - AMAZING. How did I react - i was jus quiet n thankful n slightly unbelievin (are you sure abt this M??).
2. Had a very tiring day. N, a student who tends to have that effect on me, was in all day. Started on about what's in the Qu'ran etc I mean he never listens to what I'm trying to teach - sometimes I can only get a couple of syllables in, AND he will start off on his own tangent and a few minutes in of trying to keep my dignity, I realise he doesn't have to be saying all this in connection with the meaning of the word 'myth' or 'quiz' or 'jump'. Lord, I rest my case!!!
3. Got a tenner more'n I thought. But also doing an hour and a half more'n i thought which doesn't even up but hey... (no, I'm not crazy)
4. Free bread... by Hovis. They must have come up with this idea because perhaps they figured if everyone tried their bread, they would simply know it was good. In a few minutes everyone on Queen Street, and on the bus home had blue and yellow paper-wrapped loaves of bread in their willing hands and smiles on their faces! It made me think of Tommy Tenney's 'The God Chasers'. Is there bread in the house? People who are really hungry will take of it as much as they want. I was embarrassed to take more than one loaf and then I saw a family - they just helped themselves, not in the least in a pretentious manner. I took another loaf. Everyone did in the end. Are we ashamed of hungering for the other kind of bread? Should we be standing on metaphorical street corners and giving as freely as we have received? Because if everyone simply tries ours, they will know He is good.
5. Thought I was not going to Bible study. Was miffed because I couldn't take the bus as I couldn't find Maelog Close (it doesn't exist; Maelog Place and Road do, in different postcodes). And James had not replied to my text of takin up his offer of a list. Imagine my surprise when G knocked on the door?? Unbrushed hair, work clothes... poor G, I even forgot to say 'come in'. Had to run back n say it! But the offer of a sit-down-make-yrself-welcome is now eternally lost ;) (or maybe not, considerin the discussion we had!)
6. Bible study was fantastic. We started off with carbonara and special strawberry yoghurt cheesecake! Then we discussed Revelation. I was a bit doubtful when JCa started last week, but having prayed and decided to go to this one too... I loved it. I mean there were times when JCa said it is meant for the now, symbolism, etc. But I got the courage to say, with another lady, that it is on a literal level too as there are many levels and there is no need to limit it either way! And it got into quite a heated conversation - as Gary says we don't actually go to heaven, God comes to earth... But it doesn't matter and none of us understood why he was so hung up on it, but it still made a great debate. Personally I don't see that it says God will come down to earth either. It just says God spends eternity with us (how incredibly hugged that makes me feel :D) Love You, Lord (did I say? ;))
7. Now I've just had a lovely conversation on Orkut. And a cheery panad with a coupla friends on MSN.
Thank You for today, Lord!! And thanks for puttin it in perspective at the end of the day!! Woohoo :D