Mike Rutter’s Weblog…….

I am away for the week at wakefield police college doing some vicar training. Its been a good week so far. Here are a couple of my fellow trainees that i am currently enjoying a pint with.

We were up early today to go sledging. Don’t think I’ve ever done that on an Easter Sunday before! Great fun though

Matt wrote a story today on the computer. You won’t get a better insight into the mind of a 4 year old than this! I love the ending. I’m sure he knew what he meant……..

Matt’s Story

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Went to see the U23D film at the Bradford IMAX last night with a few friends. Was everything I hoped it would be The clarity of both sound and vision was amazing. You really do feel as though you are at the concert, except this time you get an amazing view and the sound quality is the best you could hope for. Before the film we went for a curry which is always a good thing.

We’ve just had a great weekend in Oundle with Pip’s parents. We don’t get opportunity to go down there that often but when we do we always have a good time. There are so many people that we care about a lot there that a visit is always an emotional time (in a good way). The service at Oundle Baptist Church was really good. The church meets in the local secondary school and is always a joy to visit. There is always a real sense of God there.

On the Sunday we went to visit a farm that were in the process of lambing 1600 sheep. The shepherdess who goes to the church said we could come over and watch and help a bit. It was quite daunting to be standing amongst all those sheep who just stood there and stared at you. In large numbers they can be a little daunting. I think watching the film Babe hasn’t helped! Anyway – the really cool thing was that Joel decided he wanted to help deliver a lamb which he did. I was really proud of how he was up for doing it. He says he wants to be a vet and I suppose this is as good a start as any. The video shows him delivering the lamb. Its a bit ropey in quality as it was taken on my phone but hopefully you can make out what’s happening.

I hate being ill. I have had this cold for nearly a week now and it has been a rough one (and before any of you say it – no it isn’t man-flu!) I was off work on Thursday which I hate doing although it did give me opportunity to catch up on the sleep I have missed due to hacking away all through the night.

I’m still reflecting on the stuff that I heard from my mate on the Men’s weekend. Carl Tinnion was speaking to us all and one of the things he was addressing was how we often lose our ability to dream and imagine what God might be calling us to do. It might be that what we are doing is the right thing, but it might not. He just wanted to challenge us to take risks again, to challenge where we are at and to think about what we are passionate about because believe it or not God likes to work with our passions. Often we think that the stuff we do in partnership with God is not always meant to be something we enjoy. That may occasionally be true, but more often than not God is keen to work with the interests and passions that we have in or heart. So what are they? What could they become? I was thinking about how when I was 18 I helped set up a coffee bar for the youth that were hanging out around my local church. My mate Lee, and myself just said one day, “what if we did something for those guys?”. Together we set it up. It was really hard work, but it was something that we did that had come from our hearts and our desire to engage with these youth. A key thing to mention here is that we did it together and that is something that Carl also commented on, that we aren’t meant to pursue our dreams alone. We operate out of community, as a team. Jesus did it.

I think I have lost some of my ability to dream and pursue what God might have placed in my heart. Some of that is about becoming older and responsibilities changing. But it doesn’t mean I should neccessarily settle for the status quo. So what are my / your dreams and passions? What could this dreaming look like in the future if pursued? Who are the people around us that might share it with us? I think its worth asking these questions again. With God lots of seemingly impossible things become possible. It will involve taking risks sometimes – but then that’s when life becomes interesting!

I really want to go and see this. I saw a trailer for it at the Bradford IMAX and it looked fantastic.

Am on st mikes mens weekend. Having great time as always.

This made me laugh.

I’ve added some new photos of this February half term. Click here to go to the photo page.