mrhedad: New Mission Statement for St John's Stone

mrhedad: New Mission Statement for St John's Stone: Sharing the love of Jesus Shaped by God’s presence Making a difference in our community We believe God’s undeserved favour and love h...

New Mission Statement for St John's Stone

Sharing the love of Jesus

Shaped by God’s presence

Making a difference in our community

We believe God’s undeserved favour and love has been poured out on us and our world; so we want to share that love with those we meet.  

We seek to see our lives shaped by God’s Spirit so that we grow in faith hope and love; so we meet regularly to share our lives with one another.

We know God cares for our neighbourhood and especially that His heart is for families, the poor, widowed, lonely and the bereaved; so our premises are here for our community not just us.

St John’s Stone is a United Church which shares the values and traditions of our parent denominations (Methodist and United Reformed Churches).

Our worship is broadly informal, often led by lay people and usually has those of all ages present.

Our Church government and organisational structures reflect those found in our parent denominations.

Mission Statement

St John’s Church Stone

26^th September 2011

mrhedad: Eccleshall 2012

mrhedad: Eccleshall 2012: Launched a consultation process at Eccleshall today asking what the future holds for us. We will be meeting every week for the next 6 initia...

Eccleshall 2012

Launched a consultation process at Eccleshall today asking what the future holds for us. We will be meeting every week for the next 6 initially to continue to listen to one another & seek God's will for us.

Was very encouraged today that 20 or so people came & everyone contributed. I got them talking about how they came to faith & how they came to attend our chapel. Setting the scene, this is where we have come from & where we are now, not oh woe is me, but Praise God for His faithfulness.

Its a long road but an exciting one too. I wonder where God is leading us?

mrhedad: 1 year on

mrhedad: 1 year on: I have been asked repeatedly lately how much weight i have lost, how i lost it & why i allowed myself to get so big. The post below answer...

1 year on

I have been asked repeatedly lately how much weight i have lost, how i lost it & why i allowed myself to get so big. The post below answer these questions. 

That horrible picture above is me & my lovely wife taken in the summer of 2009. September 2010 i was still the same size, in fact the trousers in that picture are the suit trousers i wore at a funeral almost exactly a year ago before i went off sick. They were size 48 inch waist, as are the ones in the after picture below.

I got that big & really the main reason is i like my food & ate too much. I ate lots of healthy stuff, but loved rubbish too especially chips Indian & Chinese food. The car accident 3 years ago scuppered my plans to use my sabbatical to get fitter & loose weight but really i was well on the way to being that size before then.

I was ashamed i got so big & there are very few photographs of me standing up without someone else carefully hiding me. I don't know how heavy i was because when i did try to weigh myself the scales didn't go high enough, & anyway i really didn't want to know, it was so embarrassing. 

I was very unhappy. That thing you hear about fat people being happy & jolly was never true for me & I suspect its not for lots of people. I knew my health was at risk & I was depressed about it. I wanted to do something about it, but didn't know really how to start because feeling pressure or feeling down always fed into wanting to eat & especially at my last appointment i was under more pressure than i can explain.

Last September, the 26th i think I was signed off work sick & I knew i had to do something because the back operation i was waiting for was more dangerous if i didn't lose some weight. Big problem was i didn't know how to start because i physically couldn't do anything. I started to try hard by cutting down anything that was fattening & inputting less calories as i was flat on my back almost 24 hours a day.

Watching mind-numbing daytime TV reduced my world to a very dark place & one day in October i stumbled on the USA show Biggest Loser. I had always thought it was a terrible programme & I guess thats how most people view it, but its really helped me see that i could change how i looked & felt - if they could do it why couldn't i?
I noticed that i was the same size as some of the men on their & watched everyday & saw how they exercised & ate to loose weight. Sometime in November i got up & started trying to walk slowly on the spot for 5 minutes or so at a time. It was very hard; it hurt so much I would cry, but i knew i had to try. I kept going.

After the operation on the 2nd December i decided that i would do everything in my power to get fit. If i didnt my back wouldnt recover. I had to do it.

So within 3 days i was out walking 100 metres or so in the snow - hanging on to Jane because i was scared of falling! The next day we went a bit further, then again the next day. Then the next day i went out on my own. Within not much more than a week i walked around the estate. It took so long but it felt so good.

In January i walked everyday, a total of 108 miles across the month in some bloody awful weather. I kept up the healthy eating & continued to see weight go. Biggest Loser continued to motivate me & I started to do some very light weights work & a little walking on the spot as & when i could between the long periods of rest.

These exercise periods were very hard at times - several times i walked with tears streaming because the pain relief had started to wear off while i was still miles from home; its amazing what your body can do though if you push it.

Sometime in January i started making my own soup because i thought being liquid it would fill me up & stop what were quite serious hunger pangs. I got quite good at it!

The exercise has got harder since i went back to work in May, partly because of time & partly because at the same time i was trying to stop taking so much medication. Yet I am still loosing weight even though i cant quite do so much. I am though very strict about what i eat & don't ever think i will go back to treating food in the same way again.

I am off a very large amount of the medication now & was discharged by the Consultant today.

I said to our Hannah a month or so ago that i wanted to put the horrible picture above on the fridge to remind me not to eat stuff i shouldn't & she really made me feel proud because she said 'you don't need to because you have more will power than anyone i know'.

So one year one i am down 14 inches round my waist & about 6 around my neck. I feel happier about how i look than at any point in my adult life & looking forward to life.

Saluting Policeman & respect

It seems to be normal these days when in a funeral cortage to see other drivers jump in between the hearse & the other cars, or race past dangerously; happened today & always is so infuriatingly disrespectful.

At the start of my ministry you would sometimes see older people generally stand still & bow their heads or take off their hats when a hearse went past. Cant remember the last time i saw that happen.

Seeing as we all have to one day make the same journey you would think that people would so a bit more respect.

Then today out of the blue I saw a Policeman while travelling to the crematorium stop walking, turn to face the road & salute. First time I've seen that for a very long time.

That should surely be the kind of respect we show those who have died. Shame it isnt.