NEW FRIENDS

Having finished work on Thursday it was straight off to Scotland for the weekend to join the new Team that I will be working with at New Community Church in Southampton. Apart from it taking most of the day to fly up and sort out hire cars arriving at 9pm (could have just driven!) it was so good to be back at my friend Jim's house in Killin. The house has been transformed over the last 6 months since I last saw it with 10 bedrooms completed as well as new kitchen and new chef Stuart installed. Lottie, Flo and I stayed in Fingal which completely overlooks the Loch Tay for an amazing view. The weekend was designed to bring the new leadership team together and to discuss how things could look in September. Jim lead us through 2 days of teaching about how we all function differently and helping us work together - it was excellent.

It was so good to have Lottie involved as part of the team, Billy and Caroline made us both feel very welcome. There were many highlights including late nights in "the snug" with a 15 year old malt, singing songs around the bonfire with Ken, enjoying the unbelievable views over the Loch or picking strawberries with Flo.

Jim is such a great facilitator we had some very helpful and thought provoking discussions (and dialogue!), but most importantly we felt welcome and part of something which is very exciting, that God so obviously has his hand on.

This week we are back home and although I have been described in our local newspaper as an "inspirational community leader", I feel more grounded than ever before and excited by what God has stored up - in the mean time I have some packing to do.

You can never have enough cardboard boxes...

MY FRIEND NICK

I received some sad news yesterday, one of my school friends Nick Flaherty died in a motorbike accident in Scotland. He was the tallest guy in the year, which was great because we played rugby together for many years and he was the guy you wanted on your team. He played second row and I played number 8, so if you know your rugby you know how close we had to be! He was always full of life and desperate to fly planes, but was unable to because of eyesight requirements, but bizarrely was allowed to fly helicopters - so he did! His parents Roger and Peggy-Anne were like second parents to me in my late teens and early adulthood. I was always round their house chatting about life's challenges. Nick was never a heart on your sleeve evangelist, but he had a faith that was as solid as he was, you know like a brick out-house kind of thing. I hadn't seen Nick for a few years but his untimely death, brings home the fragility of life and how important it is to live it to the full while you can. I'm gutted for the loss of an amazing guy, for those left behind: his wife Katie and their 2 small boys - but I am glad he lived his life to full, followed his dream and got to fly!

Below is the full BBC press release:

Family says crash biker a 'hero'
A motorcyclist killed in an Aberdeenshire crash was a former search and rescue helicopter pilot whose family described him as a "hero".

Married father-of-two Nick Flaherty, 33, died after colliding with parked vehicles at Whitecairns, near his home, on Saturday.

He had been heading to his work at Bond Offshore when the accident happened.
Relatives said in a statement: "Nick was a larger than life character who lived his life to the full."
Mr Flaherty was married to Katie and they had two young sons, Harry, six, and four-year-old Finn.
He had risen up the ranks at Bond to become chief pilot last year, and had also been involved in several search and rescue missions.

'Greatest love' The family statement said: "Nick set off for work on his motor bike on Saturday morning and was tragically involved in a fatal accident not far from his home.
"Katie, the boys and Nick's mum and dad would like to thank family, friends, colleagues and strangers for the love and support that they have given at this sad time.
"They would particularly like to thank the emergency services and those at the scene of the accident, for caring for Nick."
They added: "Nick and his family have been attending Balmedie Church and Nick had a simple faith in Jesus and the family take great comfort in the assurance that he is safe in heaven.
"His greatest love was Katie and his boys. He will always be loved and remembered by those who knew him. "

SCOTLAND - Home of the brave (and my friend Jim!)

Just spent the weekend in the highlands of Scotland near the village of Killin in the unique company of my friend Jim McNeish. Jim has just bought himself a 16 bedroom hotel with the most incredible views over the loch. Have a look at his company site www.cantle.net for more details on the work that he does. I managed to cram a weeks worth of activity into a weekend and spent the evenings in front of the open fire in the "snug", nattering chatting like a couple of old women! Jim used to live in Arundel and attended Arun Community Church while he worked for the Body Shop some 7 years ago. He now works as a life coach for some of the most senior business leaders in the UK as well as other parts of the world. Jim is a great friend as well as someone who helps me see lifes issues in a different light. Or in his words "actively disturbing the everyday thinking to create new thought processes".


Jim often has friends to stay and loves to entertain with great food, walks around the incredible countryside and chats by the fire. Everyone who stays overnight has to fill in a guestbook describing "What was fun?" and "What did you learn?". So what did I learn? I learnt that I am one of lifes "fixers", I try and make things right and have a high sense of fairness. Which is great, but I also learnt that you can't always fix everything and sometimes situations and people are unable to be fixed! Sounds kind of heavy, but it's not - it's fun learning how people tick especially ourselves!



Finally some travelling advice: Scotland is lovely, go visit if you can - but if you fly make sure you only carry liquids less than 100ml in your hand luggage. I lost half my wash bag to the very polite man at Gatwick Airport security!