My Reflections on 1 Timothy

I've been going through 1 Timothy with my wonderful girlfriend recently and I thought now would be a good time to post some of my reflections on it.

There were two things that really hit me about 1 timothy this time. The first was:


The fact that desiring the position of overseer is a noble task. 

I really felt that this is something I should pursue for myself, and as such the characteristics that Paul lists.

• above reproach
• the husband of only one wife
• sober-minder
• self-controlled
• respectable
• hospitable
• able to teach
• not a drunkard
• not violent but gentle
• not quarrelsome
• not a lover of money
• manage his household well
• keep his children disciplined
• moreover he must be well thought of by outsiders

These are the criteria I want to be judged on. 

In some of these they don't directly apply (I don't have any wives...yet, though obviously this would mean 1 girlfriend and to be committed to that relationship and I don't have any children!) however, others are areas which I can judge myself on right now.

Am I a lover of money? This has been an area which I have really been challenging myself on this year and I am certainly improving and trusting god more over money. Am I there yet? Have I defeated the god of money? I hope so but I do still greed in my life so I can't honestly say i'm there yet.

The other are is Paul's charge to Timothy.

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

 It's a call to be the best person he can be, to not waste time but to live the good life. Sometimes it can be really easy to excuse wasting time on the basis of needing a rest or having done enough good for this week but this can't be the case. I'm not saying that we have to be slaving away all the time [and we definitely need to be able to say no to certain requests] but rather it's when people just expect things to fall into place.

I know this because I can be guilty of it, I can just say that I'm living a good life, not doing anything too bad, that's good enough right? However I'm not really pursing anything. That's the important thing, Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

So those are my two things from 1 Timothy.

 Why not read it and share your thoughts? How are you doing at these things?

Hello I'm... What's your name?

When teaching language skills we focus on tasks, skills and communicative goals and not teaching a set of grammar or vocab (unless they achieve these goals) [At least in theory!]

Typical the blog post title is the first skill that a language speaker learns in any language. Introducing themselves. After all being able to introduce yourself is usually the foundation in any use of language [even within such things as Airtrafic control pilots have to use such lexical phrases as "this is flight..." or "this is the control tower" a form of introduction in their field.] As such it is interesting to see what Jesus's introduction is.

Jesus being introduced by others

In the gospels Matthew starts by showing us Jesus linage before going on to detail his birth with Joseph being visited by an angel before hand.

In Mark Jesus is first spoken about by John before he is then baptised and God's voice declares him to be his son.

In Luke he talks about John's birth before Introducing Jesus and explaining how an angel tells Mary she will give birth to the Messiah.

In Johns he introduces us to "the word" who was with God and is God.

This is no normal man.

Jesus Introducing himself

The first time Jesus introduces himself  in Matthew[I'm discounting with John the baptist as he knows who he is and the temptations by the devil for the same reasons] is to call people to repent and follow him.

The first time in Mark is for the same purpose.

The first time in Luke is when he declares the year of Jubilee has come with him and that the kingdom is now here.

The first time in John is actually when Jesus ask other people! (also in John 1 v 35-39) He starts with the question "What do you want?" and then invites them to "come" [this is to two of John's disciples who hear John call Jesus the Lamb of God].

Now I don't know about you but I've never had anyone introduce themselves and tell me to follow them. I've never had anyone tell me to "Change direction" when they've first met me. The way Jesus introduces himself and the language he uses tell us so much about him.

A new layout and less sidebars

So you can probably see that I have changed my layout to be a lot simpler and to have less sidebars. There are a few reasons for this (It seams that when ever I do something it's always a few, never one or two, always a few).

The first is that it looks nicer and less complicated. In an internet age when you have social media sites which have a mini version of the social platform held in the top right corner of the page it's nice to have things simple and basic.

The second follows on from this as having less things to load onto the blog each time will mean that it takes less time to load up whenever you come and visit! How nice of me.

Also if you look at the top bar there is a new page link to my new teaching blog. Called A noobs guide to TEFL, you can read more about it here.

I'd like to make a request. Think of someone who might like this blog... and invite them. That's all.

Why are people having fewer kids

Many people look to the growth of contraceptives and reduced infant mortality as the cause of lower birthrates but perhaps they are more the means rather than the cause. I wonder if this comic perfectly sums up why some people in the west would rather have no or a very small number of children.

Thanks to XKCD for there very funny, usually very geeky comics

The Big 450!!!

Well I've reached 450 published posts and I thought it would be a good point to do a little review and look to the future.

As I've entered my second year of teaching I decided it would be a great time to start a specifically Teaching English as a foreign language blog, called A noobs guide to TEFL, and seperate it from this private blog. Why have I done this despite thinking only a few months ago that I didn't like this idea?

Well first I want a to have more comments about my thoughts on teaching. I want more experienced teachers to correct and aid me in my growth as a teacher. Having a Blog with such a wide range of topics hinders this. It makes it harder to search for, can provide a false first impression [or a very accurate one] of the main topics that interest me or that they would see me comment on and discourages returning visitors and subscribers.

In addition it will also provide me another clear goal for writing about teaching and thus force me to work on two of my goals for the year [more and better blogging, improving as a teacher.] However I also hope this will allow me to attract more people to this site and thus at the same time still not keep my on-line life in separate boxes but show how linked they are.

This Blog is going to become more focused in two ways, firstly there will be more on living in the Ukraine and on my experiences out here. Thus it shall continue the function as a personal update to all my friends and family back home. Secondly It shall be more focused on the best focus of all.

On Jesus, what he has done, what he is doing, what he will do.

As such I'm going to do more studies of passages. More about what I feel/know God has been saying to more, More prayer requests. More parables, More graphics, maybe the odd song, and Hopefully the odd video too! [though I left my USB cable in the UK!]

I want your input though. What would you like more of? What would you like less of?

I really wanted the challenges to work and maybe I bit off a bit more than I could chew with the last one so the next one will need less effort to do but there will be a suitable reward as well.

Dacha relaxing ukraine

After months of delays and last minute cancelations I finally managed to go to a Ukrainian Dacha last weekend. A Dacha is a country house that was give as a gift [it come from the Russian verb “to give” Dats] to the old workers in the soviet era for weekend retreats and is somewhere that many city dwellers go to relax at the weekends, or constantly work on and renovate.

One of my now ex students Anna invited me and one of the other teachers [Neil] to come and visit her families Dacha.

First step was the obligatory hour long Marshootka journey to Krivass, a small town outside of Dnipropetrovsk and an hours journey away. The first thing that I noticed was a gorgeous new Orthodox church there. Many of the old churches were taken down during the Soviet purge of religion.

After a quick shop for vegtables and lavash [a form of flatbread] we headed off to the Dacha. In all I think the walk took about half an hour and it was all in glorious 28 degrees. Having awoken to a fairly cool morning heat I had decided to take a jumper with me on the journey and was by this point thinking that perhaps this wasn’t my best decision.

Upon arriving to the Dacha the decision was made to venture off into the nearby forest and explore (and throw a Frisbee). As we walked through the trees I wondered, aloud, if there was a road or river near as I could hear some loud background noise a kin to a dim hum. Upon uttering this comment I was reliably informed [see put down] with a comment that actually that was just the wind and that I was truly living up to the London city stereotype.

When we arrived back to the Dacha we set upon ourselves to build a small barbeque to cook our shashlik upon [a form of kebab]. It didn’t take long to find some cinder blocks, dried pieces of wood and we were off and cooking! I can certainly say that the chicken and peppers were cooked well and thoroughly to Neil’s own personal taste [see charcoal].

After a long and extremely filling meal we travelled down to the local river and tried our hardest to play Frisbee there. However the wind had now picked up and made ever attempt either go off course, be overpowered or underpowered.

At around 5 o’clock we packed all our equipment and set off on our journey back to Dnipropetrovsk. The returning Marshootka journey was equally long but felt a perfect end to a long day. Although we had ended up doing a fair amount of walking and I returned to Dnipro feeling very tired I also felt very relaxed. I can certainly see why Dachas are so popular. 

Why do you read this blog?

A quick question why do you read this blog?

What's good, what's ...not so good.

have you recommended it or not? Why did you/why haven't/wouldn't you recommended it to someone.

Thanks for taking the time to answer, In appreciation I'm posting a new blog post about going to a Dacha tomorrow.

Did even John the Baptist have doubts?

I used to think that John the Baptist sending his disciplesto check out Jesus, when John was in jail, was a very strange thing. They turn up with instructions to ask Jesus “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?” and yet John himself was the one who Launches Jesus on to the main stage, who announces his arrival and hears God’s voice from heaven declare him to be HIS son. In fact in other gospels when Mary visits Elisabeth when she is pregnant with John, John does a summersault in Elisabeth’s stomachas Mary (with Jesus in womb) speaks, he clearly recognised him them. It does seam a bit strange of John to now be reflecting and wondering if he got it right.

However maybe this is quite a natural thing, John knows his time is almost up, he’s probably heard some people bad mouthing Jesus saying he can’t be the messiah as he eats too much and get’s drunk [Jesus does tackle these claims straight after John’s disciples leave] John is probably wondering if his whole life has been built upon a lie or a miss reading. Having had several friends who have stopped following God I have seen this in them too (and at moments myself as well). We hear things like, Christianity is sexist/racist/homophobic/evil/causes wars/not charitable etc and we can start to wonder did I follow the right man? Is my life based on a lie?

So how does Jesus respond?

“Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who doesn’t fall a way on account of me.”

These are thing things that Jesus preached about in his first sermon, the year of jubilee has come, the kingdom of God is here (which is what he goes on to talk about after John’s disciples have left) This is the proof that Jesus is who he says he is.

There is the curious last line though. I do wonder if this is again a comment about accusations of being a drunk and glutton or maybe just the fact of how narky he could be. Either way it almost seams to be Jesus is saying HE can be a barrier to faith. I’m not sure what to make of that! 

The cure for writer's block, seek inspiration

I use to think that writter's block was some mythical creature that couldn't be seen but it's affects could clearly be identified! It would prowl around an innocent Author, Blogger or musician and when they least suspected it strike them and drain all their inspiration in a second.

But looking back on the past few years of Blogging I find myself coming to a different conclusion.

You see when I wrote lots it was because either I was writing rubbish ranty political posts [and there are plenty of people out there doing that trust me] or because events were happening in my life and I thought people would be interested in them or because I had learnt something new about a subject I cared about and I wanted to share it.

Over the years the subject matter has changed from politics to it's current residence of religion and Teaching English as a Foreign language but it is still a true fact. When I learn something exciting I want to tell people about it. 

It makes me think about what my friend Andrew Brims has said about people who come up to him saying they feel called to preach. They often come up with great enthusiasm saying that God has been telling them to preach and their ready and they just need the stage to preach. "Great" he says..."So what are you going to talk about?" they usually reply with less enthusiasm about something or other, or that they'll just preach whatever is on the rota. Usually this is the point where he responds back with asking "what has God placed on your heart."... Now if they can answer this it's great! God may well be asking them to preach and be giving them a message [just this once or often]. If not then he probably isn't asking them to preach. 

I know for myself that the times when I can write about these things are when God is challenging me, when I am regularly spending time in his presence and opening his word. Writing about these things isn't my main reason for doing this but it's a good sign for me. 

[please note the last 2 months of relative silence are more due to large amounts of work plus some things shouldn't be shared.]

A helping hand to bloggers

Since Andrew Brims recommended the blog Tentblogger to me I have really learnt a lot about Blogging. Admittedly there are sections which aren't relevant for me about how to make money off a blog, how to sort out your american health care etc but it has definitely made me think more seriously about blogging rather than the hap hazard approach of the past.

As such I have to recommend that you too check it out.

In addition he has started a new forum with a blogging challenge. Why not check out the forum here.

2011 Aims: August update

I know it is over a week late but late is better than never!

1.I will give at least a 10% tithe in addition to any other giving I will do.

August was a strange month with having a two week holiday, However I have already given half my tithe away from the summer school money and shall do the next part soon.

2. Making Prayer a stronger habit. 

In all honesty my prayer habits have been a mixture of success and failure [yet again]. On the whole I have actually been praying more than I was, though I have noticed that these prayers have been very self-centred [mainly focused on travel, settling and my new relationship]. Whilst there is nothing wrong with prayer for ones self and I am very glad I did pray for these things I still want to push on and increase the amount for other people.

3.Use skype more to chat to people back home/Britain

There has definitely been an increase in use since I've returned to the Ukraine and also during my time at the summer school. This has largely been due to a previously mentioned fact that I have a new girlfriend who unfortunately is now 2000 odd miles away. Luckily Skype does help with this distance barrier. Using the Touchpad has also been a great device for skype and much more convenient that the slightly more cumbersome laptop. 

4.  I will improve as an EFL teacher.

Apart from the obligatory week introduction at the school I also did some serious reading whilst travelling on a couple of scott thornbury books. Teaching Unplugged and How to teach speaking. Finally I have also signed up to do two new International House teacher training courses on 1-2-1 Lessons and Buisness English...despite not having a single Business or 1-2-1 class...at the moment.

5. I will improve my Russian.

The work over the summer clearly came back as despite having a slow start my fluency and accuracy seam to have improved! A few people have commented [and I share the feeling] that I am better at speaking than before I left. I also had a wonderful moment of suddenly knowing how to ask a student if they had finished their test in russian despite never having learnt the verb "to finish".

6. I will write more songs.

Whilst I was back in the UK I had great fun experimenting with my latest instrument, a Kala Ukulele and wrote a few little ditties on that but nothing properly, in addition this aim has been half dropped in the past.

7. Host a weekly meal at my flat.

I have just returned to my flat and so haven't really had a chance to host a meal. Despite this I did assist in cooking whilst back home and recently cooked for a fellow teacher who crashed in my flat whilst he waited for a flat to be sorted for himself.

8. Regular and higher quality blogging.

Again this month [well last now] was a very quiet month. To be perfectly honest I was too busy! However I hope that this month will prove more productive, especially with a more established timetable. On top of this I would like to take this moment to announce my new TEFL blog called A noobs guide to TEFL this is an attempt to both reflect that I am still learning and reflect what I learn along the way and also to help people starting out with these same issues. Please do come and visit it. 

9. I will get involved with some form of charitable work in the Ukraine.

Having just returned to the Ukraine I have yet to get back involved with things. This shall change soon.

10. I will make a Public video each month.
Well I made the promise to wait until I had 5 responses to the last challenge....I'm still waiting for 3 but I shall publish a new video anyway. No new challenge until people respond to the last one!

Back in Dnipro

After a week of training over in Donetsk I have finally returned to Dnipro and on Monday I shall start teaching my new classes for this year.

It should be an interesting year with a lot of new groups mainly focusing on the lower levels and kids. I also have agreed to do two international house courses of business English and 1-2-1. Although i am sure these will help me develop as a teacher, as of yet I have no business or 1-2-1 classes!

Another change will be the new shift system. This year instead of starting almost everyday in the morning and finishing in the evening everyday I will instead only have afternoon and evening classes. This should allow for regular planning in the mornings and also a regular period where I can contact back home. This is also due to the fact that the change in timetable means lessons will no longer end so late A very welcome change!

It looks like I shall be doing some more filming with English club tv but the details still need to be arranged with them and I want to make sure that teaching is still my number one priority rather than childhood tv star dreams.

Other than that it is all very safe and familiar here. There have been some bits of good and bad news with some teachers having changed positions/cities but they all seam to be steps forward for them and so I am glad, even if it does mean the end of Spanish lessons and salsa partners!

I promise that the next post won't just be a general update and I'll press on with setting up a tefl blog in the mean time please feel free to suggest a name for the new blog bellow. Best suggestion will be rewarded with credit in the blog title and much love.