Carbon Fast Day 4 & 5

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Chris

With being so tired after the One Voice 14 hour prayer event yesterday, I’ve not had much of a chance until now to write about the Carbon Fast challenge.

Yesterdays challenge was: Find ways to garden in or with your church or community. Resurrect a forgotten wasteland or help weed a neighbour’s garden. Grow things you can all eat and enjoy.

In all honesty, I have no idea what to do with this challenge. I’m not a huge fan of gardening – out garden ag home is a testament to that! We rent our flat, so we’re not going to be growing anything there. I do know of 1 lady in our Church who needs help with her garden – de-weeding etc, so I’ll be making a point of getting in touch with her!

Todays challenge is: Pray for a global response to climate change, giving thanks for individuals and churches in the UK and across the world who are helping by reducing their emissions through the Carbon Fast

Indeed I shall! I have been! I’ve been following a number of individuals and Churches taking part on twitter (they can be found by doing s twitter search for #carbonfast – I’ll hyperlink it when I get to a computer). If you want done names to include in your prayers, that would be a cracking place to start.

Hows your fast hoing?

Peace Out

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Carbon Fast – Day 3

Posted on February 25, 2012 by Chris

So – day 3′s post is a little late, this is because I’m down in Glasgow taking photo’s at the Tearfund 24 hour prayer and Worship event. More about that later….

Day 3′s challenge was: Pass it on. Tell a neighbour or friend about the Carbon Fast and suggest one action they could do. Use the postcards in the booklet to help

This kind of went well for me. On one hand its very much my nature to tell people about things like this
anyway – not in an attention seeking manner, just telling them about it. On the other hand, I failed to make an intentional effort to pass on one of the booklet postcards – but I will yet!

I am trying to spread the word through my blog, facebook and twitter, but the personal touch, face-to-face interaction is always better. I’ve spoken at length to a couple of people at work (as well as Hoskins Gallery I work in an outdoor shop) about the challenge – although they didn’t seem to keen on the challenge! To be fair though, being an outdoor shop, a fair few are already quite environmentally conscious.

Did you tell anyone about the challenge yesterday?

Peace Out

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Carbon Fast – Day 2

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Chris

Day 2 – again, this challenge required, on my part at least, any extra sacrifice on my part. The challenge was: Compost. Put nutrients from your food waste back into the soil, not into methane-emitting landfill. If you don’t have a garden, investigate other options like wormeries.


We do have a garden, but we don’t grow anything in it except grass (and weeds!). So we don’t have anything we wish to encourage to grow there. But, we are fortunate here in Aberdeen that our local council help us to recycle food waste. Next to our kitchen sink we have a wee green bin, that comes with biodegradable bags in which to put our food waste. This then goes directly into our brown wheelie bin (same bin as garden waste) to be recycled appropriately by the council. Not a new challenge for me today then, but it did make me wonder what I would do with all the food waste if I didn’t have that bin – and I probably would put it into the general rubbish. for that, I’m glad for the council scheme. I know I wouldn’t recycle anywhere near as much if they didn’t make it so easy! Hopefully, if and when we move house, we will have a similar scheme in our new place – or at the very least I will be more thoughtful about what I do with my waste and why…..

 

How’s your Carbon Fast going?

 

 

Peace Out

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The Carbon Fast – Day 1

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Chris

So today’s challenge in Tearfunds material is: Remove one light bulb in your home and live without it during Lent as a reminder of what you’re doing.

 

My first decision was ‘Which light Bulb?’ it took me a while to work out which light bulb would be the biggest sacrifice for me in the house. (This is probably a boring bit – sorry!). We have this up-lighter in our living room behind our sofa – I always have it turned on when I’m in, well, just because I like that wee bit extra light over the up-lighter, lamp and fairy lights that are already turned on. It’s the closest light to where I usually sit – but I can easily move if I need the light! I’ll find out over the next 40 days if I really need it or not….I’m also trying to take today’s challenge a bit further and be more disciplined with turning lights off when I leave a room – I’m not always great at remembering to do that! So, all in all, today isn’t the most challenging day (sacrificially) to start (it’s nice of Tearfund to ease us into the challenge!). But it’s still a challenging day as far as my usual behaviour goes….

 

Peace Out

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The Carbon Fast – Tearfund Lent Campaign

Posted on February 21, 2012 by Chris

For Lent this year Tearfund are running a Carbon Fast Campaign. It’s a suggestion from them to try and make an impact, however small it may be, to use this time of Lent to affect a tangible change on the lives of those around the world who are worst affected by climate change. Each day there is a suggestion of an action – practically or prayer based – to focus on for the day. I’m hoping that I can take some, if not all of these actions, on board as a continuous action in my life, not just for the day. Each day I’ll be blogging a little about the suggested action for the day and how I’ve done with it – how easy or hard it was, how I think it will affect my life and any other relevant thoughts that pop in there!

 

Here’s what Tearfund have to say about it:

 

The Carbon Fast provides  daily actions and prayers for Lent to help you and your church protect poor people from the changing climate and care for God’s good creation.

 

This year we’re excited that the Carbon Fast has gone global, with churches in Australia, the Netherlands, Brazil, the United States and many more joining in!

Look out for the weekly actions and reflections, each based on a different theme, to get a flavour of how the Carbon Fast is happening around the world and to help you along too.

 

Our day-to-day lives may not be impacted severely by the changing climate – yet.

But what about people who struggle to feed their families or find a home that won’t get washed away, or who can’t work because the fields have been destroyed by droughts and storms?

And here in the UK, as many people struggle with heating bills we can see how even predictable weather can push us to the edge.

It’s our job to bring hope.

What cost do our energy-intensive lifestyles have…on us…on poor communities…on God’s creation?

Join us in the Carbon Fast this Lent to respond to this challenge, remembering how God has called us to respect and look after his good creation and to protect poor people who we know are suffering the most.

 

 

For more details about this campaign, and other Tearfund campaigns, follow this link: http://www.tearfund.org/en/get_involved/campaign/

 

Will you join me?

 

Peace Out!

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Day 5…We did it!

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Chris

Well this is the final day of the challenge.  I can’t say it has been a good day. Health wise my circulation began to go very strange yesterday. This intensified today and by the afternoon my hands and feet were blue and white. This was followed by a near fainting episode and back pain and then a call to the doctor….hmm…the last day has been tough. I wasn’t going to put anything on here about that but the more I thought about the more relevant it became. If this is me after 5 days how on earth do people cope when this is all they are faced with? I’m not even talking just about the ‘starving kids in Africa’ I’m talking the kids on our doorstep, the parents who can’t afford to feed them. The adult who had a series of events that has taken them to homelessness. A blank face to us. Someone we don’t know, we are just glad it is not us when we walk by. What a sad sad world we are.

This challenge has been a CHALLENGE!!! I shall never eat rice in the same way (next time it will be with an Indian :-) I will think of others differently and I hope and pray I will think of my own diet differently. Chris and I have learnt a lot of lessons since starting our business about what we ‘have’. We are so blessed to have a supportive family who have bailed us out when we literally couldn’t afford to eat. Who does that for others that don’t have that support? Or who’s family want to give them everything but can’t? One lot who are part of this are Tearfund. The whole starting point of this challenge began with them and their hard work. They are trying to get people to see for themselves what poverty does to people. What they have to face. Dave and I haven’t even scratched the surface. I encourage you, who feel compelled, to try this challenge. It has changed me and I truly hope it changes you.

When I press the send button on this blog the challenge is off for me on medical advise and I shall celebrate with a muffin! For we are lucky to have them and I would love to give one to everyone else who feels as hungry as me tonight.

Thank you for your support.

Here’s Dave’s last day (by the way I was honest too just we had different things to say)

Day 5, the end is in sight!

Well, it’s nearly over.
Rice and butter beans are cooking on the hob, my last “meal” of the challenge.
Had porridge and rice/red kidney beans today, boring

So what have I learned this week:-
Obviously when I’m hungry, I go into self-preservation mode and can’t think about anyone else!
Eating for enjoyment is much more fun than eating to survive.
I could easily eat half of what I normally eat and be perfectly (more?) healthy.
Hot water doesn’t taste like coffee.

All in all, it’s not had the effect on me that I, or Tearfund, had hoped for but I’ve tried to be honest and not put a spin on it just for print.
Many others will be going through the challenge at the end of the month and I’m sure that we will see a whole spectrum of experiences. I look forward to reading about them, maybe then I’ll be able to look back on this week and empathise with them and the millions of people who live like this every day.
Until then though…………..bring on the cake!!

Dave

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Day 4

Posted on February 8, 2012 by Chris

Well day 4 and I feel much less angry today. In fact I don’t even feel hungry. I made breakfast ate half and couldn’t stomach it. Made lunch ate half and just looked at the rest. Thought about dinner couldn’t bring myself to eat it so didn’t even make it.

I have had a lot of interesting conversations today and I have thought a lot about how we use food to abuse our bodies. Anorexia, bulimia, addition, comfort eating, starvation and the list goes on. Our access to food seems to control us in a way that we end up using food to ‘feed’ our own problems. That may be too much or too little but I have found it interesting that while others starve with no other choice we have an opt in opt out approach to our diets.

So far on this journey I have been pretty consumed by what others think but today I really took time to reflect on how I felt about it. It has been something that (weirdly) I have really enjoyed. It has opened my eyes up to poverty and to far more issues than just  ‘rice and beans’. It hasn’t been about just depriving my food intake but has made me open my eyes to more than that.

I hope for some of you the work of Tearfund has had an impact on you and what they do. My most favourite thing about them is that they equip people to change their own lives not just to give a ‘quick fix’ in times of desperation. I encourage you to read more about them and learn more about what they do and how you could support them at www.tearfund.org.

Here’s Dave’s day:

Day 4……..I wish I was a nicer person!

Well the headache’s still there, lurking in the background instead of hammering on my eye sockets but still noticeable, ah well.

I managed to have both porridge for breakfast and rice & beans for lunch, well organised today!

I have found it quite impossible to think about anyone but me again though, which is not really the point of this challenge but there’s not much I can do about it I’m afraid. I’ve tried but I very quickly turn my thoughts back to me, me, me!

I even managed to shock myself today. I convinced myself that I’ve got it worse than starving kids because they’ve got no choice and I’m depriving myself of food when there’s an abundance all around me!
Really?….I’ve got it worse than some kid living in poverty and hunger in a third world country?
Get a grip on reality you selfish, self-centred fool!

Tomorrow’s the last day of the challenge, my last chance to feel something other than sorry for myself, wish me luck!

p.s. my Niece, Gail, has just said that she’ll join me in the next one that I do……..NEXT ONE!! Not likely!

Dave

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Day 3

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Chris

Day 3 and I don’t have much to say. I’m irritated, grumpy and may vomit if I eat another bean.

Here’s Dave’s day:

Day 3 and still hanging there!

Actually, a much better day than yesterday, only minimal headaches and toothache.

I stopped being lazy and made my lunch last night, 30g rice and 30g black-eyed beans. It was packed into a 200g sandwich filler container and only 3/4 filled it!
Off to work this morning, lunch in my pocket and ready to start the day with porridge again. I had planned to go at 08:30 as I’ve got a meeting from 08:00 to 08:30. The meeting, of course, generated some discussions that took place at 08:30 then I had another meeting at 09:00. No problems though, it was only for 30 minutes and I could get breakfast at the canteen until 10:00. You’ve probably guessed that the meeting ran over and then I was stopped on my way to the canteen by one of the bosses. Ten minutes later I look at my watch and it’s 10:01, I could’ve cried!

Still, lunch was much appreciated when it came (early).

The afternoon was uneventful although everyone around me still seemed to spend the whole day gorging from a trough!
Dinner tonight was rice and red kidney beans. The beans made the rice go an interesting colour, that’s probably the most positive I can be.

Have I spent the day reflecting on how lucky I am to have my family, my house, my job and cupboards that we struggle to get more food into…..no not really!
I have thought a lot about why I normally eat as much as I do (I can normally pack away quite a bit on a single sitting). Food for me has very little to do with sustenance and much more to do with pleasure, comfort and socialising.
Maybe when this is finished I’ll be changed forever, but only maybe!
Dave

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Day 2

Posted on February 6, 2012 by Chris

I woke up this morning feeling quite good, not too hungry. I put off breakfast until about 8:15 (an unusual move for me I usually eat as I wake!) my morning was good. As I work from home I am alone a lot. I hate this at most times of the day but today with hunger and how tired I felt it all became that bit more elevated. I was in tears by the time my poor husband came home!!
I spent this morning thinking about the issue of fasting. Until this point, as a Christian I know a lot of christians fast but I have never really understood the purpose of fasting. I always thought it was just about going hungry. Today I suddenly got it. It is not for getting something you want or for hoping people will think more highly of you but to focus your mind on something more than yourself. To know that by giving up food, TV, Alcohol or whatever you’re addition is, you have reached a point that your time with God is more important. I am sure theologians discuss and debate this round in circles (Chris has!) but I have no interest in that. Perhaps to you it sounds silly maybe, stupid. But how often do we get distracted by the general little things of life and give up the most important?If you are a Christian what do we do to focus our minds on the needs of others. We can’t see what people go through (other than media) We can’t smell it, we can’t taste it, we can’t even begin to relate to it here in the West. Perhaps our arguments should be put on hold and action should replace them.

This afternoon I ended up in Asda for a few thing for work. I was awed by the choice. Just for rice there is a whole aisle! I have never noticed that before. (see facebook photo) I began to notice more:
A child screaming wanting what it wasn’t allowed. A lady looking at several bags of potatoes before making a choice. Another lady picks up a pineapple and goes back for one more. Buy one get one free. Three for Two. A crowd round the reduced section. Even as I get served I asked the guy how his day had been “crazy” he said ” Why I got myself 3 jobs I will never know.” I looked at him and responded “You are lucky then. Some people have none” (Poor man)
What was supposed to be a quick trip to the shops messed with my head.

This 5 days was just meant to be something to do to support Tearfund. It is already, for me, becoming way more than that. By this point you are probably desperate to know more about Tearfund and how you can support them right? Well please go to their website at http://www.tearfund.org/ and ‘See for Yourself’ what they do.

Hungry? Oh yes. I am so thankful for Dave doing this too otherwise I may have not managed :-) But we are two days down. My plan for this evening is to go to sleep as soon as possible to pass the time until breakfast! I will leave you with Dave’s comments….

Day 2 and the novelty’s wearing off quickly!

Spent last evening / night / this morning with a thumping headache. Whether it’s hunger or spreading from the toothache I’ve got I couldn’t be sure but it hurt all the same!

Being basically very lazy, I thought I’d just go to work this morning and sort something out (we have a big canteen).
Breakfast – 1 scoop of porridge into a take-away tub that would hold probably 4 scoops, yummy!
Lunch – had a good scout around but couldn’t find anything that I could call suitably bland and uninteresting, that’ll teach me to be lazy!
Dinner – 60g brown rice (too lazy to soak any beans last night)

Lesson learned today…. be better prepared tomorrow or at least get more porridge and save half for lunchtime! I’ve already got some portions of beans soaking ready for tomorrow, might cook them tonight and take to work in a very small Tupperware container.

Things I’ve noticed today -
Everyone around me seems to be constantly gorging themselves on fruit, crisps, chocolate and cake!
It doesn’t matter how hard I think, I can’t make hot water taste like coffee!
It’s very difficult to think about anything but food when your hungry.
I’m glad I’ve got an office job and I’m not expected to put in a day’s hard manual graft on those portions.
Disappointingly, I’ve not spent much time thinking about starving people around the globe, I’ve been too busy thinking about the starving office worker in Dyce!

Never mind, this time tomorrow we’ll be more than half-way through!

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Superbowl XLVI

Posted on February 5, 2012 by Chris

Tonights the night of  Superbowl XLVI (46 for any non- Romans reading this!) – I know a lot of folk in the UK couldn’t care less about NFL, but I love it. I’ve only missed 4 live Superbowls since 1998 (not bad given that they air around about midnight UK time!). This year will be the first time since 2004 that I haven’t stayed up late to watch it live!

I’m missing it partly because I’m up at 6am for work tomorrow, but mostly because I’m ill, otherwise I’d happily be sleep deprived! I’m especially gutted because it looks like its going to be a cracking game (as most of them have been!). I can’t decide who to root for – I really like Tom Brady as a QB and because of how storied his career has been, how much he overcame to become “Tom-Terrific”; but as much as I like Brady, I really like Eli Manning’s ‘I don’t give a crap what you think’ attitude – especially with him being a QB in New York – home to sports prima-donnas and divas!

We all know that Brady is one of the greatest QB’s to grace the game, if not the greatest. Eli never seems to get the love he deserves from commentators, bloggers and so many people talking about the game. Obviously both teams have worked and played hard to get here – but it’s the QB’s I want to focus on – partly because that’s my position, partly because there’s some good stories there!

Brady is playing in his 5th Superbowl, with a chance to win his 4th ring; Eli in his 2nd Superbowl with a chance for his second ring, by taking down the same team as last time! If New England wins, Brady will become only the 3rd QB in history to win 4 rings, If New York wins, Eli will become only the 11th QB to win more than 1 ring, and he’ll be a ring ahead of his brother. Peyton, who is without doubt one of the greats of the game.

 

I love an underdog – how couldn’t I being Scottish!?! So I’m going to be rooting for the Giants – although I’ve no doubt though that either will have another Superbowl appearance in their career.

Tomorrow I’ll be trying to avoid Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, texts, emails, phonecalls and people until I’ve watched the game – we’ll see how that goes! In the meantime, you can read more about it from people more knowledgeable than me here: NFL Blogs or follow along on twitter hastag #SB46

 

If you’re watching tonight – enjoy the game – but don’t be telling me the score!

 

Peace Out

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