NOT QUITE 50 SHADES OF PINK...

...but I tried!  

We had a great service at Church this morning with some great worship songs and then we heard from Gareth Davies, who works for the Bible Society, the headquarters for which is based in Swindon, but he lives near the New Forest.  His title is “Church Engagement Lead” which means he  works with church and network leaders to help resource them to encourage Bible use in every sphere of life - be that at work, during recreation, in our own quiet times or in any other way.  

On the Bible Society website it says the following about Gareth:

“Gareth is married to Ruth and lives on the edge of the New Forest. They moved to the area when Gareth pursued a call to study theology at Moorlands College in 1997. Since then he has worked for different Christian agencies and has always loved spending time with church leaders of all denominations and giving Bible talks with a contemporary application. His particular passion is for the Bible to be the source of wisdom and understanding during our emergence from the great disruption of recent years.”

Gareth preached a good sermon and afterwards, over coffee, we could chat to him about the various ways we could help get the Bible known and into the hands of those who want to read it.  I was pleased to see he was wearing a shirt that matched my “purple themed” outfit - which I’m saving for another Blip -  and although it looks pink in the shot at the bottom left, it was actually more a lightish purple.  However, I was happy that it looked pink for my Blip today and he was happy for me to take this shot.

Michael, affectionately called “Mikey” by most of us, is leaving later this week to move to Manchester for work - he has been coming to GHBC since before he was born, and one lady told me that she had known him since he was a baby!  He is a very popular young man not only with all the young people in our Church, but also with the congregation and we have enjoyed his preaching in the last few weeks.  We will all miss him, but I’m sure he will be back down to Wiltshire sometimes to visit his Mum, Dad and sister.  In the shot at the bottom right, Pete, who was leading the service, was praying with him - and I was pleased to see that the purple wall, another shade of pink, came out well.

I spotted the pink trousers, socks and hat worn by A. and having asked her Mum’s permission, she was happy for me to use them for my Blip today too - more shades of pink.  We did have a few issues with A. keeping the hat on and it was thrown onto the floor several times, but eventually, we persuaded her to wear it and Mum then held her whilst I took the photograph.

The pink Alstroemeria is one of a bunch given to me by Gill, a dear friend, who visited earlier in the week - they are looking good at the moment, so I decided that this shade of dusky pink would look good in the middle.

I had an interesting time after the service when I introduced myself to a lady who was sitting in front of me in Church.  I realised she was not English when I saw the word “Biblia” on the front of her Bible, so when I spoke to her after the service, she told me that she was Romanian but did not speak much English.  I invited her for coffee, which she understood, but then “chatted” with her whilst waiting in the queue via Google Translate.  I know our son who lives in Vietnam relies on this and it turned out to be a “God-send” this morning and we managed very well.  I told her about the Community Fridge and said she could come on Monday, Tuesday or Thursday, but told her that I would be there on Thursday and we could perhaps meet in the café and have coffee together, so I hope she comes.

So, my many shades of pink for today - and you all know what to do by now, I’m sure.  Please continue to CLICK on this LINK so that those who cannot afford to pay for a mammogram may have a free one.  As I have said, we often don’t appreciate how blessed we are to be able to have this sort of thing FREE on our National Health Service.  

Hope you all have a great week - perhaps this would be a good week to practice smiling at someone you meet but don’t know - I do it all the time, of course I do - and of course, give out my little wooden hearts, so go on - be brave - you will be surprised at how many people smile back!  M xx