... Had a great time with P and N walking the Shine half marathon - which we reckon was more like 14.1 miles than 13.1 given how some of the signage and odd detours worked.  Really good fun and we managed it in a very respectable 4 hours or there abouts.  So that'd be 18 minutes a mile on average if it was ~13 miles, and we certainly got in a few 15 minutes miles along the way.

Really well organised - even if the start was delayed by about 15 minutes as Strathclyde Police weren't ready.  Lots of freebies - mostly sample sized things.  Lots of refreshments en route - water, juice, caramel wafers (yum), crisps, etc.  Friendly marshalls and shiny happy people - about 3000 of them - having fun on a beautiful clear moonlit night.

Very humbling to see so many people and to read their back messages.

Very humbling to be one of the "survivors" (don't like that word in that context) who were clapped (en masse) before the start.

Very humbling to see one or two people participating who are currently undergoing treatment for cancer

Very touching when a couple outside a pub asked us what we were doing and why, then thrust £15 into our hands

Very tired now - and need a shower before bed before getting up to lead worship... the last of the walkers won't be back much before 8 a.m. so the marshalls have a VERY long night ahead of them.

I have raised well over £1000 so I'm really pleased.

Edit: pictures added - complete with ridiculous bright pink hat

Today Dibley Baptists induct their shiny new part-time minister.  A Scot.  A NAM.  A man who with his wife has left his home to follow God's call in a 'foreign' land.

I am really pleased that the service is being held in the school hall that has become the meeting place of this little church, with the tea being in held in the school's other hall (fortunate to have two!).

I really pray that this new beginning will be the start of great blessing for church and minister.  This is a tiny little church with enormous quantities of grit and determination, a church who put up with my strange ideas about mission and ministry and who will always be part of my story.

God bless you Dibley BC, God bless you P&C, may you each know growth, fulfilment and love in the years ahead.

So here I am in the Shine teeshirt, using the self-timer on my camera, trying to look as if I'm not looking at the camera and wondering how long before everyone susses I take these pics in my bathroom so I can use the mirror to see what's in field?!

In between now and this evening I will be getting together the other items...

• clear plastic poncho in readiness for rainstorms of biblical proportions (it is Glasgow after all)
• ridiculous bright pink (just for Julie's benefit) beanie rain hat
• borrowed head torch - not sure it's needed but it is advised
• if I can find them, some reflective/fluorescent armbands so I show up a bit more
• a whole pack of glow sticks to share with team members
• my fancy new water bottle
• my hiker's "utility belt"
• some 'squirrel bars'
• GSOH
• Grit and determination
• bag of stuff for Cancer Research UK to sell in their charity shops

If you happen to be in Glasgow late tonight and find yourself trampled under the feet of thousands of nutters in black teeshirts, lookout for 10248 (I like the geometric progression of the last three digits, I think the '10' is a red herring) and say 'hello'

And another 'altered worship' yomping song...

Shine Glasgow walkers

Step out in the darkness

Head torches so they can see

Black are the teeshirts and coloured the glow sticks

Walking around the city

So here we are to step out

Here we are to raise cash

Together we will be beat cancer

And it's all together worth it

All together needed

All together we will beat cancer...

And we still don't know how much it costs

To make this become a thing of the past...

repeat chorus ad nauseam and fade.  (apologies to Tim Hughes)

PS If you are in NW England you may still be able to get tickets for Annie's bash in Ormskirk tonight

Recently I posted on approrpriate and inappropriate humour in relation to Christianity.

Over the last day or so another area of inappropriate and, to some people offensive, humour has come to light in relation to charitable fundraising.  I would have to say, my view on this teeshirt is that it is just plain wrong.  It doesn't offend me but it is totally inappropriate. 

When I was being nuked, I nicknamed myself Robyn, an avian in-joke which was readily understandable but was amusing because it came from within the relevant context.  I understand that women who have sentinel lymph node biopsies are injected with a blue dye which turns a certian part of their anatomy blue for a while... they have another avian in-joke.  And of course oral yeast infections are offically referred to as thrush, which brings a third possibility.

I am astounded that a tee-shirt manufacturer and a respected charity can think it is funny or appropriate to sell a tee-shirt featuring two of these birds strategically located, when many of those affected by breast cancer would, to be blunt about it, be pleased to have two t*ts at all.  As someone on the forum noted, would someone sell undies in aid of prostate or testicular cancer with equivalent images or implied comments strategically placed?  I think not.

Humour is a powerful tool, but sometimes it seems that some important filters of taste and decency have got lost along the way.

Yesterday I was sorting out the pet insurance for Holly Cat.  The last time I had a pet, there was no such thing, or if there was, it was in its infancy and I didn't use it anyway.  Anyway, after a very long, convoluted discussion it got sorted.  I just don't get why they need to know (a) my date of birth or (b) my occupation.  It is surely Holly's age (nine), occupation (manse moggy) and medical history (no known problems) that count... Perhaps I should be grateful that unlike travel insurance they didn't demand a blow by blow account of my medical history (evidently having/had cancer means I'm more likely to lose my luggage or be robbed if I go abroad...).

I can see that some questions make sense, such as the fact that she's an only pet, that she is nine, that she lives indoors.  But I'm not clear why me being a minister or living in this specific part of Glasgow makes a difference.  After all, as a sanctified moggy whose primary task is to beautify the manse you'd think she was a very low risk.  Strange then that her insurance has gone up by 50p a month from the old policy...  Must mean RCs are lower risk than Baptists... what can I say?  I wasn't planning on baptising her...

Between that and a technical hitch on the VOSA website meaning my car had to have its MOT done twice even though it passed first time it has been a confusing couple of days.