At the start of Fairtrade Fortnight, today's challenges are all about trade justice...

£

If you can't support Fairtrade with your wallet, use your voice instead. Read up about the movement, and tell someone why it's a cause worth supporting.

££

Buy Fairtrade today when you stop at the shops for that drink or bar of chocolate. Even better, buy two and give one to a friend.

£££

Ever thought about a Fairtrade wardrobe? It might be more costly, but ask yourself: if that high street store can make a profit on those £5 shoes, how much really reaches the factory worker paid to make them?

Given the title of this blog, given that I have supported faitrade since the 1980s, this one is really preaching to the converted!  However, I will succumb to the invitation to post photos with a fairtrade logo...  me this morning drinking fairtrade tea from a mug I bought in a fairtrade town back in 2003 !!

Oops, yesterday I planned two surprises and then forgot to deliver each of them!  Never mind, I will surprise someone yet today, I will. I will...

Today I was preaching mainly on Genesis 9 and the Noahic covenant with the whole of creation.  We had hymns and songs that mentioned rainbows and rain... and the rain came down in torrents, including inside the foyer of the building...We (I) really need to learn not to choose songs about rain... :-)

Surprise, surprise!  Whoops, I already sort of did this one!

MAKE 'EM SMILE

It doesn't take much to make someone feel special. A treat through their letterbox or on their desk, or an unexpected compliment, can go a long way.

DO THE UNEXPECTED

If you don’t normally cook, surprise your friends or family with a meal.  Don’t forget acquaintances or strangers. Give out flowers on the bus or pay for someone else’s parking.

GO CRAZY

Your imagination is the limit. You might write someone a note of encouragement every day for a week, send them on a treasure hunt, take them out for an unexpected treat or even throw them a party 'just because'. This is the day to go all out, no reasons required.

Hmm, well I will be seeing quite a few folk one way and another today, so I'll get my thinking cap on... but just in case any of them happen to see this, I'd better keep mum!!

Today came news that someone on the very periphery of church life had died.  Most church folk would not have known them, and those of us who did were aware that this was a person whose life was hugely complex and hugely sad.  Not someone I found easy to get along with, yet one of those who find their way under your skin (in the positive north of England use of the phrase) and despite everything you care deeply for them.

Part of a group that meets on a Friday afternoon, they paused to remember their departed friend.  The nonagenarian leader spoke warmly and tenderly of a person whose life had been affected by chronic illness, before announcing a one minute silence to remember.

At the end of the silence I commended the person to God and uttered the words "may they rest in peace and rise in glory"

These few short minutes were beautiful in their simplicity and authenticity.

I will always remember the times I was told terrible jokes, the assurances (on better days) that I was OK as Christians went, and forget the difficult days when my patience was tried.