Wednesday Wisdom

Who would have thought? When celebrating the end of 2019 none of u realised that we were counting down the days until the world would be crippled by a global health crisis. Yet, while we celebrated many great minds were already focused on a novel pathogen that presented a significant potential for harm globally. Immediately the scientific community jumped to action to determine what the world was about to face. Despite inevitable political intrigue, scientist had rapidly discovered the genetic code of this novel virus and distributed it publicly for global researchers to get a head start to which they took full advantage off. Now as of writing this, various vaccines are now in phase 3 trials in less than a year and numerous clinical trials are under way. So a question I find intriguing, as we cautiously pause mid-way to reflect is; how can so many people be surprised that something so small, so biologically “narrow minded” has caused so much devastation and yet the scientific community...

  Going Against the Norm by Ben McMechan from International Justice Mission How would you define unfairness? Your sibling taking charge over the T.V. remote? Something you were blamed for but didn’t even do? Covid-19 cancelling holidays, seeing friends and just generally messing up your plans? This year, the phrase I have heard the most has been… “I can’t wait for everything to get back to normal”. In the case of all the changes that Covid-19 has had on our lives, I personally look forward to getting more back to normal. It will be great to see my friends and family more again, to get stuck into 5-aside on a Monday evening and to wear a face mask less! But, this season has also allowed us time to think about how ‘the normal’ isn’t always okay? Let me explain further with 3 everyday items. Chocolate, a phone, and an item of clothing. All three of these items can relate to something that is deeply unfair and, unfortunately, has been considered ‘normal’ in today’s world. I am talking ...

Under Pressure by Robyn Weir   For this week’s Wednesday wisdom, I’m going to chat a little bit about pressure. I would love to say I volunteered for it but its more realistic to say I was assigned it because anyone who knows me, knows that one of my mottos or catchphrases in life is  “diamonds are made under pressure”, although to be honest, that has always been more of an excuse for my procrastination but here we are. So let’s gets started… Pressure is something I guarantee everybody has been through in their life or will face at some point. It may have been just a passing moment or something that has stayed with us for a long period of time. For me, I have felt pressure I would say most of my life. And I know some people are watching this and thinking “Robyn, you’re only 24 what have you had to be stressed or feel pressure about” and you know what that’s very true, I’ve been very blessed in my life and a lot of people have been through a lot worse.  For me pressure has...

Stepping Out by Stu Armstrong, who is  currently  training for ordination I remember one year at Summer Madness there was a boy in our group, let’s call him Ryan. There are a few things you need to know about Ryan. Ryan was nearly blind. His eyesight was awful. Most things were just fuzzy shapes until you got within about a metre of his face. He had almost no depth perception. Ryan was brave, adventurous and confident. Undeterred by his eyesight and always up for a challenge. Ryan was also an idiot. He was wonderfully intelligent, but lacked any and all wisdom or common sense.   Some of you will remember that across the street from Glenarm Estate there is a little play park and some public toilets by the beach. One morning, Ryan went exploring. He somehow managed to make it off site, cross the road without getting squashed and found his way to the play park.   Now, there is one final thing you need to know about Ryan. Ryan loved parkour… …or at least the idea of park...