hurting

The past 3 years at the Youth Ministry Summer School there has been a lot of focus on teens suffering more hurt and pain than they have in the past. The first 2 years we had Chap Clark who wrote Hurt and Deep Ministry in a Shallow World as one of the keynote speakers. Marv Penner, who wrote Help My Kids Are Hurting: A Survival Guide to Working with Students in Pain was a key note speaker at the last Summer School. So each summer school has featured a lot of discussion around the subject, leading us into the thinking that as youth workers we need to set up communities for young people to feel loved, accepted, valuable and worth something. I have to admit that at each discussion on hurt and pain I was struggling to relate personally because I couldn't remember going through anything similar myself.

When we were in the airport on our way to Egypt a few weeks ago I couldn't help but have a look in the book shop. I'm not much of a reader usually but on holiday I read 2 or 3 books - I ended up reading 4 books and got halfway through another. I left the shop having bought 2 extra books to take away with me, one of which was called Loose Girl. It's a book about the author's struggle as a teenager and beyond to feel accepted and loved. She journals how she discovered a way to be accepted, loved and attractive was to use her feminine powers over men. In a search for attention and love she went down a path full of meaningless one night stands and emotionally unsatisfying relationships. Ultimately using and being used in order to fill a void.

As I read this book I couldn't help but think about Summer School and my own experiences of wanting love when I was a teen. I was reminded of times when I felt desperate for a boy to notice me, not just as someone else in the crowd but as someone special. I remember thinking that if anyone ever did want to be with me that I would have to be someone different than who I am so they would like me. I was insecure and rejection made me feel more insecure. I identified with the author in her quest to work out what it meant to love and to be loved. I identified with her as she dealt with her insecurity and compared herself to other girls. From reading magazines, watching TV, seeing movies and more back then I thought love was about feeling loved and thought nothing about returning love to that person too. I thought about how all this made me feel unattractive, unloveable, unaccepted, useless and worthless. Yes, I had friends who cared about me, but this still didn't make me feel like I could be loved. Thankfully I'm past all that insecurity and am a very happily married woman - though I still have my insecurities but they're not related to feeling loved or valuable anymore.

Thinking through all this helped me to identify more with what we have been talking about for the past 3 years at Summer School. It's helped me think more about how I as a youth worker need to get alongside young people and show them a God who loves them and cares for them as they are and not who they think they need to be or act like. It has helped me to see more of how God has created me and is using me to do His will and show His love. I can see more of how He's using me and my flawed humanity to serve others.

Jargon busted

I posted before about Sainsburys making an effort to explain how their chicken is produced with little luck but just found this jargon buster on Channel 4's Big Food Fight section that explains this all better.

Be informed!!!!

Still on the chicken run

Since we decided to buy chicken that has been given a better life than intensively farmed chicken I've had real trouble getting any. Is it because more and more are buying it? Or do the stores just not have the stock? Well, I was in our local town yesterday passing by the "posh" deli café and noticed something I recognised from Hugh's Chicken Run:


At last! I've found chicken to buy! Yeo!

Chicken race continued

For those who missed Jamie's Fowl Dinners but wanted to see what all the fuss was about be sure to tune into Channel 4 on Thursday (17th) from 23:05-0:45 to see it being repeated.

The great chicken race

Last monday to wednesday Hugh's chicken run was on Channel 4 where Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall sets up a chicken farm where one half of the barn has intensively farmed chickens and the other half has free range chickens to show how over 90% of the chickens in our local supermarkets are produced. Then on Friday there was Jamie's Fowl Dinners where he revealed the origins of our eggs and chicken, explaining the process of food production. The shows are all part of Channel 4's Big Food Fight - a series of cooking/food related shows by Hugh, Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsey. Rob and I have watched Hugh's chicken run (except for Tuesday) and Jamie's Fowl Dinners.

In the first episode of Hugh's Chicken Run, we see Hugh inviting the CEOs of the big supermarket chains including Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons, ASDA, Co-op etc with no response. Sainsbury's changed their mind and spoke to Hugh in the final episode. Sainsburys were one of the few supermarkets prepared to meet with Jamie as well for his Fowl Dinner's talk, but didn't make it to the actual evening he hosted. However it seems that Sainsburys are feeling somewhat threatened by this series (as well as other big supermarkets I'm sure), as amongst the mail recently was a letter from Sainsburys, my regular store, with leaflets about their chicken and egg range along with a cover letter saying:

Over the next few weeks you may see programmes on the television or read articles in the press about the farming practises used for chicken and egg production. We take our responsibilities for animal welfare very seriously.....
Currently all the fresh and frozen chickens and eggs we sell are British and we are one of the few retailers who can make this claim. We also sell chicken and eggs that are produced in a variety of ways, from Assured Food Standards (Red Tractor) to Free Range and Organic.

It goes on to talk about how they have recently won a few awards for their commitment to farm animal welfare and their targets for how eggs are produced, which is great to hear, but when it comes to the additional leaflets to help explain how their chickens and eggs are produced I'm not all that impressed or feeling all that much more educated about the whole thing as there isn't really all that much information about what the "Assured Food Standards" or "Freedom Food RSPCA Monitored" logos actually mean. (Jamie did show us a bit about the RSPCA monitored way of producing chicken in Fowl Dinners though).

Don't get me wrong I'm glad that my store is trying to educate and clarify where the food I buy comes from and what is in it. I love that their loose bananas are all fairtrade, I love the little wheel on the packaging using green, orange and red to show how healthy the product is and I am happy they're being proactive explaining where they source their chicken but I think there's a bit more that needs done on their part on this issue.

Rob and I have decided to go free range or with the RSPCA monitored (corn fed, indoor birds that have room to move, perches, bales of hay and natural sunlight to stimulate them as well as footballs to play with!) chicken from now on and to keep on buying free range eggs. We were in Sainsburys briefly at the weekend and I had to have a look to see what the price difference is, seeing as that is what put me off in the past. For 2 chicken breasts the price was £2.58 for the standard chicken and £2.24 for the "Taste the Difference" free range chicken, so price shouldn't be too much of a problem!!!! So I would really encourage you to think about what you buy, how your food is produced and even where you buy it from!

Thou shalt not borrow

The title of this post is the title of the story (below) that I've discussed with a couple of groups of young people and was curious to know what some of my blog readers thought about it too.

Rachel volunteers her time at a nursing home. She began serving to get community service hours for school but continued to do it because she enjoys it so much. She has become friends with a number of the residents, but is particularly close to a woman named Agnes. Agnes was nearly 98 years old when Rachel first met her. They've spent lots of time together and when she visits Agnes she reads the Bible to her.

Agnes has nearly died 3 times. All 3 times her busy business man son rushes to be there, but doesn't show up any other time. He has even complained to the nurses for getting him out of work for "no reason."

Agnes told Rachel that when her time comes that she is to keep the Bible for herself.

Agnes passed away in her sleep one night and Rachel found out the next day when she came to visit. She went to Agnes' room and cried. A nurse came in and told her that Agnes' son was on his way and had insisted that "nothing was to be touched" in her room.

Rachel picked up the Bible that Agnes wanted her to have then remembered the son's request. The nurse smiled and said, "If I'm not here I didn't see anything." and walked out of the room.

1. Does the Bible belong to Rachel?
2. What should Rachel do?
3. What's the right thing to do?


Would love some other thoughts on this so please add a comment below.

the first year out

This is a fascinating photo essay from The New York times about a man who was wrongly convicted of raping and murdering as a teenager, at the age of 16 went to prison and served almost 16 years of his prison sentence before DNA tests proved him innocent. You really should take some time to watch this.

Another HT to Marko