Suddenly ....

I don't like 'suddenly'. 

Let's unpack that a bit to give you some context.

When asked to describe myself for a recent church event I included the phrase "I don’t like things to be too busy, too noisy, or too chaotic". 

This week has been all of those things. In the last seven days I have had the following:

• A quiet morning in the office, with only a couple of issues - followed by seven separate problems to solve, all arriving within a fifteen minute period. Just like buses, they all came at once! Do these guys save these problems up, and co-ordinate sending them to me just to annoy? (yes, I did work through them all - it took a couple of hours)
• Then I got some news that a work colleague had suddenly retired. The first I had heard of it was an out-of-office notification sent to someone else that had been forwarded to me. So much for our close working relationship! Guess we weren't that close after all - except when he wanted a favour...
• A meeting I had been planning for three weeks had to be moved into a completely different room and IT setup with less than half a day's notice. No, it didn't go as well as I'd planned. Of course...
• Traffic in the local area is currently appallingly bad. Road closures, road works appearing with no prior notice. Where did those temporary traffic lights come from - they weren't there this morning! No, really, you have to leave yourself an extra half an hour just to get across town! 
• There are other examples, however that gives you an idea of how infuriating things can be this week. All one after another. And all just as sudden. And then - suddenly - it's all back to what it was before. Was it a bad dream? 

When talking to someone about how I felt, he said that I shouldn't be so sensitive. 

Which is a pity. Because that's who God made me. 

See link here .

If only ....

Food for thought. Are you doing your bit to spread the love around?

Foolishness?

1 Corinthians 1:18, NIV

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Perhaps the words of God don't make any sense to you? Yeah, I get it. Because that's what scripture tells us in the above verse. Oh, you didn't know the bible spoke directly about those who don't believe the gospel... 

To one group of people - Paul calls these 'the perishing' because it means they are heading for death - the sacrifice of Christ makes no sense. The original Greek term used here is mōria, from which we get the English word moron. Consequently, those who don't know God think believers, and their faith, are stupid.

However, those of us who do believe, Jesus' sacrifice on the cross is a powerful act. Without that powerful act, we would be lost and without hope.

Which group are you in?

Crazy

Cracked

 

Z is for Zebroid

A zebroid is the offspring between a zebra and any other equine (horse-like animal) to create a hybrid. 

A zorse is the offspring of a male zebra and a female horse. 

A zony or zoni is the offspring of a male zebra and a female pony.  

A cross between a zebra and a donkey can be known as either a zenkey, a zonkey, or a zedonk.

And I never thought that my entry for Z in this collection of posts would be so long...!

Y is for Yellowback

Yellowback

noun: an inexpensive novel. The name comes from their cheap binding which was often covered with yellow paper.

Some book publishers began mass-producing cheap, sensationalist novels in the 1840s, in an effort to compete with the increasingly popular penny-dreadfuls (which was cheap popular serial literature). It was the predecessor of the modern paperback book.

These books were printed and bound in bright mustard-yellow jackets to attract readers’ attention, and were put on sale as impulse buys in tobacconists, train stations, and other everyday locations rather than booksellers. 

Yellowback publishing didn’t last, however the name continues to describe any sensationalist, mass-produced, and often poor-quality novel.

X is for Xenophobia

xenophobia  

noun: fear of anything or anyone foreign or strange. From the Ancient Greek xénos (strange, foreign, or alien) and phóbos (fear). 

One of my favourite X words, naturally. Not a long list, there isn't many of them!

W is for Wazzock

Wazzock

noun, informal, used frequently in the Midlands and Yorkshire: a fool, an idiot. 

The word is of unknown origin, but is increasingly popular. 

I get more than my fair share of Wazzocks on the road when I am driving... this is perhaps my favourite word in this group!

V is for Vulpine

vulpine

• adjective: relating to, or resembling a fox
• adjective; crafty or cunning; clever and dishonest

Thus, "Colin gave a vulpine smile"

The word is derived from the Latin word for fox, vulpes.

Another useful verb is to vulpinate, which describes how a person could cheat or someone with crafty wiles or deceits.