Airborne Coat Hooks (Learning to Say No)
I find myself sitting here on a plane, once again gazing at what can only be described as the most unnecessary addition to passenger comfort. It’s the kind of thing that is easy to miss, and yet once you have seen it, you never forget it.
I speak of course, of the coat hook.
As my eyes wander down the rows of seats, I notice these coat hooks are found on the side of every single one, that means in this plane there would be over one hundred! Why? Just why? How many people:
- Deliberately choose to bring a loose coat on the plane, and
- Have the desire to hang in front of them rather than stow it away in the overhead lockers or under the seat?
Even if you do happen to find yourself eligible at this point, then there is the matter of the effectiveness of the hook itself. Prying with my fingernails, freaking out the person in front of me to extend the hook a mere centimetre then hardly allows for any purchase on this hypothetical coat, rendering its purpose and value once again moot! Read More…
The New Song
Do you ever get a song stuck in your head that you just can’t shake? They call them earworms. There you are minding your own business, cooking a burrito then suddenly “Friday, Friday, getting down on Friday…”
The most frustrating thing for me is that I can often only remember part of a lyric that then just plays on repeat in my head. “Hey brother…” Sometimes I try to extend the track by mumbling lyrics that might be accurate. “Hey brother, there’s an endless code to read this summer…” But they clearly aren’t.
My latest earworm, the song that is literally pumping through my head right now? “Cos’ the players gonna play play play. And the haters gonna hate hate hate. Baby I’m just gonna shake shake shake. Shake it off. Shake it off!”
I would argue that there are two things that can make a song compelling. Read More…
Take Your Mat
Sometimes the idea is perpetuated that we should bring our troubles, frustrations, and fears to Jesus so that he will just get rid of them, the evidence to never be seen again. While Jesus’ heart is always for our healing, what if he actually desires to breathe life into our pain and give it purpose, commanding us, like he did the paralytic to take your mat home so that the story of your transformation might then have the power to heal others.
Will you bring your mat to Jesus, and will you take it home?
(Mark 2:1-12)
How to Overcome the Fear of Public Speaking
The fear of public speaking (aka glossophobia) is one of the most regularly identified fears among humankind with many people ranking it of higher concern to them than the fear of death!
The eyes. The eyes say everything.
For the huge proportion of people who suffer from it, whether mild or severe, we know the signs and symptoms: increased heart rate, memory loss, moisture being absorbed from the mouth to magically reappear in the form of profusely sweating armpits. For me, it was that my hands would shake as if I was holding a jackhammer. At times it felt frustratingly irrational, my brain would look down at and scream, “STOP SHAKING!!” all to no avail.
Ah, but did you notice the subtle change in tense? WAS.
Free Radical Gav 