Cultural learnings from America

We have been in the US now for 21 days which fully qualifies us to comment on what we can learn from the US. There are three questions I have been able to answer since coming to the US that I was unlikely to be able to come to a conclusion on in the UK.


Question 1 - What is philosophy useful for?
I have found three main purposes for Philosophy since coming to the US. The first is to provide a framework by which to understand and assess the world around us. The second is to fix fridges with, and the final one is to kill black widow spiders. There may well be more but I have only had my book for seven days and I have found it an invaluable tool on all three fronts.

Question 2 - Is it possible to walk unnoticed in a library while wearing flip flops?
Emphatically no. It does not matter what style of walking you choose it still sounds like you are beating a bald man soundly around the head with a fish. The quicker the walk the more violent the beating.

Question 3 - Can a US voice activated telephone menu speak English?
Again it was a no. No matter how politely, slowly or loudly I talked in my beautiful English accent it was not good enough. So I was reduced to putting on my best Californian accent (which is stunningly convincing - or at least Verizon think so) to order my broadband setup.


So there you have it. Three nuggets of information not available in the UK. I will enrich your lives with more as they come along.

One life, two questions

A lot of people have been asking about my reasons for leaving Procter & Gamble to go to bible college. I guess I can understand why, it is a bit of a radical shift. So if you are interested or care, here's why.

One life...One shot. No retakes.

I have often thought it would be nice if life had an 'Undo' button, like all good software packages have. Those of you who know my ability to put my foot in it will fully understand why I think it would be nice. Unfortunately there is no 'Undo' button, this is not a dress rehearsal, it is the main event. So I need to be intentional about how I live my life and what I live my life for. If I am not intentional then the risk is that I will find myself pursuing things that may be immediately satisfying but not ultimately fulfilling. What I mean is that money, power, relationships, all these things can define and shape our lives and at the end of those lives we may well question why we let them set the agenda. Two questions have defined my life.

Two Questions...What am I for? What to do about Christ?

Firstly, What am I for? What is my purpose? Generations of philosophers have spent their lives arguing over that one. So bear with me while I give a very simplistic response. I believe what I am made for, is to be in a living relationship with the God of the universe. Not some abstract or theoretical concept, but a day to day faith that impacts every aspect of life, the good bits and the bad bits. Because real life is not all chocolate cake and champagne, (more's the pity) real life also includes struggle and loss. I want a faith that goes there with me...but faith in what?

Well, that leads to the second question. What to do about Christ? Now you can think what you want of Christ, but please don't think that he was just a good man. He claimed to be God (John 14:6)! In my world that only presents me with one of two options: either he is God or a very disturbed / evil individual...nice and good are not options here. If the decision is that he is God then that has big implications for how we live our lives (you can read more on this at Knowing God Personally ). It is a longer story about how I worked through that and how I came to the conclusion that Christ is God and responded to His love. But once that step was taken it has had massive implications for the priorities that govern my life and the directions I have chosen.

So why leave P&G?

It is not like working for P&G is unchristian :o) Yes, all those weird rumours about P&G sponsoring the church of Satan were false. There is no sacrifical altar at the reception desk (ok if you don't believe me...http://christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-r012.html). As a Christian the question should always be, "What do I think God has called me to do?" and then to do it to the best of your ability. For me over the last 9 years that has meant working at P&G, and I have enjoyed it, it has grown me in my faith, and as a person. But now it is time to set that to one side and be obedient to the next chapter I believe God has in store for me myself and Christine. That involves taking time out to learn more thoroughly what we believe so that we can communicate and share that effectively with others within and outside the church.

So why am I leaving P&G? One life, one shot and a desire to be obedient to God.