CIRCLING THE EARTH

Abby onboard 'Wild Eyes'

SAILING BY

The great criticism levelled against those of us who blog is that never before have so many had so much to say about so little ! To be fair there is a sizable portion of the blogosphere that even the stoutest blogger could not defend, as many are adrift on a virtual sea of triviality. From time to time one stumbles across a gem that redeems the whole blogging enterprise and rejuvenates that form as an exciting and vital expression of heroic human activity. Lately I have discovered the delights of Abby’s Blog, the online diary of an American 16 year old who is sailing single handed around the world endeavouring to become the world’s youngest solo circumnavigator . Her trip began last January when she left US waters, sailing along the western edge of South America, around Cape Horn and then across the Southern Ocean, considered for having some of the roughest seas in the world. She plans to sail nonstop on Wild Eyes, a high-tech racing yacht, for the entire trip, which could take up to six months. And you can share the adventure by checking out Abby’s Blog at http://soloround.blogspot.com where she blogs regularly of her daily adventures with some great photographs.

Here’s a sample from her entry for March 21 st., “ Today has been a pretty quiet day with not a whole lot of wind. I'm just slowly headed towards the horn. Yesterday was pretty much the same until the evening. Last night was a little exciting. The wind picked up to 25-30 knots with a large swell that unfortunately was on my beam. At about 2 in the morning, I was asleep down below when I woke up a little dazed, wondering how my dishes that were kept in the sink had made it all the way into my lap all the way across the cabin!
I then noticed that I was sitting on the wall, not my bed. (just goes to show you what a comfortable bed I have!) Well, my auto pilot went into standby mode and so I jumped outside and grabbed the tiller just in time to keep Wild Eyes from gybing. I got her back on course and set the auto pilot again. I walked around to check over the boat, every thing was fine, a little tossed around, but nothing broken. Because I was asleep I'm not sure exactly what happened. With the swells as they were, it could have just been a large swell that knocked Wild Eyes over.”… Exciting huh ?
The uniqueness of being a ‘fly on the wall’ during such a momentous trip is really exhilarating and the opportunity to send Abby messages of support in her ‘comments’ section adds to the sense of being a participant in this 16 year-olds adventure of a lifetime. Even for an old ‘land-lubber’ like myself with the shakiest of sea-legs I joy in the vicarious thrill of sailing full-throttle aboard ‘Wild Eyes’ as she sails around the world. Step on board, and become part of the worldwide virtual crew !

Gerard O'Shea

MIDDLE EAST DILEMNA

This is taken from a blog by Yaakov Kirschen who expresses his

take on life in the troubled Middle East from his own unique

Jewish perspective. I think his illustrations are superb and his

commentary is often (like this example) spot on and cuts

straight to the chase. ~GOSh.~

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You can visit at www.drybones.com

A BLOG TO WAIT FOR

Picture by Antoin

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AN FEITHEALANN

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It’s a while since we trawled the choppy waters of the worldwide web in search of Blogs that are a cut above the rest. John Waters, an Irish Times journalist whose opinion on most other things I regard, reckons that all bloggers are idiots. Present company excluded I think this is a ‘tabloid’ generalisation not befitting a commentator who would regard himself as a serious journalist and writer. And to prove my point I would like to draw your attention to a truly beautiful Blog called An Feithealann posted by the mysterious Antoin. The name of the Blog from the Irish is The Waiting Room, and certainly the mood of the photographs and literary selections suggest a careful and astute observer waiting with purpose ,with not only a keen sense of the solid stuff of this world, but one with an eye for the heavenly and ethereal. Antoin provides the pictures while he gleans the accompanying words from diverse sources hither, thither and yon. Here you will find prayers to still the troubled soul, poems to stir the flagging spirit and mystical musings to inspire the most jaded pilgrim. An Feithealann is a sanctuary of reflectiveness tucked away in a quiet slipstream of the web, pay a visit and decide for yourself if John Waters was right ! ~GOSh.~

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http://feithealann.blogspot.com

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Happy the man who has made harbour,
Who leaves behind him seas and storms,
Whose dreams are dead or never born,
And who sits and drinks in a Bremen beer-hall,
Beside the stove, in peace and quite.
Happy the man like an extinguished flame,
Happy the man like estuary sand,
Who has laid down his load and wiped his forehead
And rests at the side of the road.
He fears nothing, hopes for nothing, expects nothing,
But stares fixedly at the setting sun.

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Primo Levi

STILL BEING

I found this reflection on a very beautiful

blog by a lady called Nancy,

you can find her on
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

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FOCUS

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i think

that we all focus

on doing

and finding

the work

that is going on

around us,

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when the real work

is actually being done

in us.

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Nancy

THE UPPER ROOM

That's Mike in the middle !

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This is one of the most reflective and radical blogs I have come across where Mike unfolds his soul and hearts desire as he struggles to live the Jesus life.As the header for The Upper Room explains …“This blog is about explorations in New Testament Christianity, theology, and living the mission of Christ here and now. This is not a spot for perfect people - those who have all the answers, where GOD is firmly placed in a box. Do you hunger for something more than just Church on Sunday? If your heart beats with the desires of the NT Church, then this is the place for you. Come into the Upper Room. Join with imperfect people and explore the wonders of walking after Jesus.” And later in his bio he shares the purpose of his life…“I'm trying to throw out all the junk that is not biblical and live a New Testament lifestyle” ~GOSh.~

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IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS...

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To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. Prov 21:3

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Solomon built the most ostentatious temple of all. No temple in history will match the size or grandeur of Solomon's creation in Jerusalem. Yet despite this building of magnificence, the wise king says "to do what is right is more important than sacrifice".

It is easy to get caught up in the big. It is easy to be part of something large. In fact we a pulled toward such things. But this is not where the heart of GOD is at. It is how we treat those who come in contact with us. It is how we act when no-one is looking. The sacrifice of bulls never put a smile on GOD's face, but justice and the care for others did.

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I suppose the message to me, is to "go and do likewise".

Posted by Mike on June 15th.

http://theupperroom.typepad.com

SUDDENLY CHRISTIAN

John Shore

There are a world of Blogs out there on the World Wide Web and every once in a million I stumble across a classic Blog that I wish I had written. Some are funny, some are profound, some are intensely human and others just sheer inspirational. In this new section BLOGORAMA I’d like to share some of these gems with the readers of the DEW. To start this series here is the blog SUDDENLY CHRISTIAN by writer John Shore with his unique and often painfully true take on the business of living the Christian life.Try this recent entry for size…

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A BLESSING AND A CURSE

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How can being absolutely certain of Christ’s reality and sovereignty be a curse? Because the one thing that will unfailingly close your mind to the great spontaneous freedom of life — the one thing, in other words, sure to kill the vibrant, open-ended vitality of the Holy Spirit — is being confident that you know and understand everything.
And why, if you’re a Christian, are you at least as likely as anyone else to feel that you know and understand everything? Because you think and feel that you know God.
We Christians think we know God. We pride ourselves on how well we know God, how intimately we relate to him, how constantly we are with him. We’re sure that we know God’s will, thought, purpose, desire, “plan” for our lives. We’re sure we know how God wants us to think, pray, behave, talk, dress, vote.
We have the Bible. The Bible is in black and white. The mind of God is right there on the page.
Read the Bible; know God’s mind.
Know God’s mind; know the world.
Know the world; be above the world.
Be above the world; wouldn’t know God from a used car salesman.
“I tell you the truth,” said Jesus, ”anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
Jesus isn’t explicity clear about a whole lot of things, but on this point he leaves no room for misunderstanding: Without the mind of a child, you can’t come into heaven.
And if there’s one thing you can say about children, it’s that they operate in the world wide open to the knowledge that, when push comes to shove, they don’t know squat about life.
We should never, ever forget that, as adults, we barely know more. And as adults we probably know less about God than we did when we were kids.
My personal opinion and experience is that once you’re sure you’ve grasped God — as so many, many Christians are so sure they have – it’s a guarantee you’ve lost him.

Posted by John Shore on May 31

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http://johnshoreland.com/