Something just hit me. I’ve been dealing with a lot of past hurts recently and I was recently told that when the Lord reveals, He heals. I’ve wondered why now. Why couldn’t this have happened earlier in my life? I now realize that I wasn’t allowing my own healing in the past years. Obsessive drinking, drugs, and fornicating can blur your mind and act as “suppressants” to the real issue at hand.

I was self-medicating the pain in unhealthy and ungodly ways. Jesus is a Healer and His blood purifies us of everything that doesn’t need to be there. Painful memories and emotions must surface in order for us to be set free of them. During my time of healing, I’m so grateful for this promise that He will never leave me nor forsake me according to Hebrews 13:5. He will also perfect that which concerns me according to Psalm 138:8. Thank you Lord God.

More scriptures on Healing:

Psalm 107:20
“He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction.”

Psalm 103:2-3
“Praise the LORD, my soul,
and forget not all his benefits—
who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,”

AN H BOMB IN PATAGONIA. Remapping Europe. Royal College of Art. Lecture-brief 6.3.2013 from Federico Vladimir on Vimeo.

The new brief, with the work of the guest can be found in the video above. The guest this time was a student currently studying at the RCA in the second year. The video talks about natives and paleolithic stories, changing the narrative, myths, parallelisms, echoes, fictionalising what hasn’t been documented, changing the play without changing the power rules.

The new brief: “Re-map Europe”

• maps embody power relations
• it’s social and political
• the cartographer has scientific skills, although he doesn’t own the truth
• maps still say the 19th century territorial story-telling
• European narrative is not as simple and linear as it seems, it’s changing
• the citizen, the voter have active roles
• a map can be drawn on a wall and can be considered as a work of art, a political action, or meditation
• don’t stick to an image
• a map is all about performance
• design a map that invites the reader to perform an action, to move, to look for adventure
• new narratives – new maps
• old narratives are falling down
• it’s about failing

I like the idea of creating out of failure, as Europe is collapsing these days, by creating new narratives or reconsidering the language we use it creates a new insights/perspectives.

Some notes from ‘The Shallows’ by Nicholas Carr:

• mapmaking skills are parallel to our maturity/ growing up: from egocentric/sensory perception to adult’s more abstract and objective analysis of experience (Carr, p.40)
• maps used to represent ideas- not only stores and transmits information but also embodies a particular mode of seeing and thinking.
• the technology of the map gave to man a new and more comprehending mind, better able to understand the unseen forces that shape his surroundings and his existence (Carr, p.41)

Well, the first insights I took forward was that

• Europe is falling apart these days, it’s failing. 
• stories and myths were the medium to refer to places/mapmaking.
• there’s a division between North and South Europe

Random and stupid first ideas I had/references

• Chinese could adopt all the Europeans (because they’re getting poor)
• Demolish the whole Europe and rebuild it again – from destruction blooming emerges  again
• get some international yellow pages and call one person from each European country. Ask them something. Collect responses. For example, what shape do you feel Europe is today?!
• Baldessari’s ‘California Map Project’ (1969), which he put all the letters from the map on the actual places
• give South Europe the wealth the North has, and give the North some of the sun the South has
• Give countries the land they deserve depending on their debt! So if your country want a bigger land they have to decrease their debt.
• Re-map Europe. The mythical Europe as mentioned in Ancient Greek mythology.
• Europe is full of metaphors, stories and myths. Use that. Recreate Europe through people’s stories.

Europe as illustrated on mosaics and art

Europe as illustrate on the Greek and Cypriot €2 coin

I really liked the myth idea and I took it on board. The Europe myth goes like this:

Europe was the daughter of Aginor and Telephassa. When she was young she had a dream: she saw two women, named West and East, having an argument which is going to take her. West eventually won. Some years later, on a day when she and her friends were picking flowers in the sun, Zeus saw her and he was immediately seduced by her. He then transformed into a white bull, and approached her very calmly. Europe was cheated by the bull’s beauty and calm, she stroked it’s back, put flowers on him and then sat on his back. The bull then took this opportunity and made a massive jump into the Aegean sea and landed in Crete. When they landed there, the bull went up to the sky and the well know Taurus zodiac was formed. Zeus then took his normal form and expressed his love for Europe: “accept my love and you will give birth to sons that will rule all the people. From you, a big part of the universe will take your name”. Europe accepted and they had three sons who later became kings: Sarpidonas, Radamanthis and Minoas, who later became the king of Crete. Zeus later married her with King of Crete, Asterio. Zeus gave great presents to her, the most important of them was giving her a continent, Europe as we know it today.

There are many versions but I decided to keep this. I wanted to recreate/continue the myth so it relates to reality. But then just presenting the text it won’t be very interesting. With text work I feel you need to find a way that really engages the reader. Also, the brief was asking to create a map which invites the reader to perform an action, to respond.

The solution was to perform the story by revealing the reality behind each metaphor.

Here I’m analysing the original myth and trying to use different elements of the story as metaphors for Europe’s reality today. On the left elements from the original story, on the right what they can represent in reality today

Creating the new story

The idea was to create layers of text and while I’m telling the story I will be ripping a piece of paper and the real word behind the metaphor will be revealed. For example, Europe had many kids with Asterio – at that point I rip the page and the word ‘Capitalism’ appears in the place of the word ‘Asterio’.

Here are all the layers:

How it looked at my crit:

Unfortunately I got very nervous at the time I was performing my piece and screwed it up – my performance was particularly considered as “rubbish” from Neville! I was aware of it as I printed out the whole thing in the morning and didn’t have time for it. I also give preconceptions before presenting, for example: “it’s gonna be boring” etc – all because of my lack of confidence which ruins all my projects.

Other than the performance people really liked the idea and they said I should maybe embrace this messy character of my performance – I could shout the story while aggressively ripping off the paper, something that would suggest the crisis-like seek of truth behind the ‘big’ words.

More feedback:

• maps as story telling and myths is a good way of presenting this
• explore alternative mechanisms of presenting this
• the aspect of revealing attracted people to it
• maybe the text could be written on object (cubes or long triangular shapes) which I can flip
• it could also be a line of text on the wall – walking, telling the story and ripping
• maybe start with the original myth, create several myths for different other eras of Europe and then lead to the last one, the one I created for today’s reality

I’d like to give you a chance to glance over the passages we’ve just heard on the pew sheets and to note down any questions you might have. What stands out as odd? What don’t you understand? What issues are raised that you want to know more about?

[pause]

Sorry to interrupt you; you’ve probably not got through all the stories yet but already, I’m sure, there are some questions you have… I’m probably not going to answer any of those questions because I have lots and lots and lots of questions and I know that others of you have particular questions and we might touch upon them and highlight them but then I want to encourage you to go and do some further study. I want to encourage you to go away and to not just let those questions hang but to go and explore them a bit more.

Today’s sermon title is called ‘Jesus the Healer’ and when a group of us were talking through this sermon series on Mark, ‘Jesus the Healer’ could have gone anywhere because healing is throughout Mark’s gospel; Jesus is healing all the time. So we could have had this sermon at anytime, we just happen to choose this week. I say this because we don’t have the best examples of Jesus’ healings but they are examples none the less.

So I’m going to start by testing you: put up your hand if you have, honestly and truthfully, been reading Mark’s gospel alongside the sermon series.

As you read through Mark’s gospel up to this chapter (chapter 7) there will be some things you may have noticed. One is Jesus is always healing. He heals in every chapter of Mark’s gospel up until this point except for chapter 4 but it’s alright, Mark makes up for it by telling more healing stories in chapter 3 and more healing stories in chapter 5. Essential Mark is saying Jesus heals an awful lot. He heals regularly and consistently. It’s the first thing He does. He comes to a town, people bring sick people and He heals them; it’s kind of like, “Let’s get the healing out of the way and I can get on with the rest of the stuff.” So Jesus is a healer in Mark’s gospel, it’s absolutely clear. He heals regularly and consistently.

I would like to start the sermon by making my position absolutely clear: I believe Jesus heals. I believe Jesus continues to heal. I believe this because of Mark’s gospel. Mark continually tells us ‘Jesus healed’ but it’s not just Mark, the other gospel writers as well. Throughout the gospels Jesus is healing. Not only that but the historians of the time, like Josephus and some Roman historians, when they speak of Jesus of Nazareth, one of the things they mention is ‘the man who healed’ so it’s also non-believers who said that Jesus did healings. I don’t only believe that Jesus healed but I believe Jesus continues to heal through His Spirit through His disciples. Again, through the New Testament, constant healings; the early church healed again and again and again. Also, outside the New Testament, people recording the works of the early church at the time seem to suggest Christians were ones who healed people. I also believe Jesus continues to heal throughout history because throughout history Christians have been known to lay on hands and pray and people have been healed; we are quite famous for it! And I also believe that Jesus continues to heal today because I have seen it, I have experienced it and I have heard of others doing it. When Christians pray and lay on hands people get healed. So I believe Jesus is a healer, not just was but continues to be. Everyone clear on that?

However…

There is a big elephant in the room.

I can call her an elephant because I’m married to her and because, of everyone here, her weight is definitely not ‘elephant-like’ (in fact put on some weight, darling!)

I believe Jesus heals and yet; my wife…

For those of you who don’t know my wife, Sarah has cystic fibrosis. For seven years I have known her I have prayed almost daily that she would be healed. Sarah has prayed for more than seven years along with her family and friends. She has had hands laid on her, she has had oil splashed at her, she’s had all sorts of things… she even went to Soul Survivor and got prayed for and still… she has cystic fibrosis. That’s a big elephant, isn’t it? That’s a big question.

Throughout Mark there’s another thing going on: up until this point you may have noticed that Jesus is constantly trying to escape the crowds. He does it a lot. It says ‘Jesus tried to escape the crowds’ and all the time these crowds seem to turn up and defeat His plans. Up until this point, you may have also noticed, Jesus has based His ministry around Galilee and the Jewish countryside. As we get to the middle of Mark’s gospel and we get to the middle of Lent (that’s not a coincidence, by the way), Jesus takes a massive step. As He tries to retreat again and again, the crowds and the busyness and the ministry keep catching up with Him. He keeps wanting to retreat and have some quiet time but he keeps getting foiled at the last moment and so He makes this massive step, halfway through the gospel: He leaves Israel and Judea and he goes into Tyre, which is across the boundary, across the border into another country where He’s never ministered before and He thinks ‘Surely here I will not be disturbed. Surely here!’ And as we get to the middle of Lent we are asked, if you haven’t already,

‘Have some time alone. Retreat. Retreat. Go and have some quiet time.’

That’s why today is called Mothering Sunday. However much we’d love to bless our mothers, actually it’s called Mothering Sunday because we’re called to go back to our Mother Church, i.e. our family home. We’re meant to go and spend some time with our family. That’s why it’s called Mothering Sunday and that’s why it’s halfway through Lent because it’s a refreshment. It’s like its saying,

“If you can’t do it now, you can’t do it at all. Come on, guys!”

Halfway through Mark’s gospel, Jesus really tries to retreat and leaves the country. He says, “Right. I’m going to have a holiday!” But then this Syrophoenician woman catches sight of Him and she comes on knees and begs Him, “Please, please, please heal my daughter.”

And He refuses her!

He’s never refused healing before in Marks’ gospel; this is the first time He refuses. Not only does He refuse but He insults her (some interpreters think.) He calls her a ‘little dog’. Now, I don’t want to be rude or anything but you know what female dogs are called? Well this is kind of what He’s calling her. That’s quite weird. Why is Jesus so aggressive? Is Jesus aggressive? Is Jesus refusing this woman healing? That’s a question… which I’m not going to answer. One question down!

Also the question is, is exorcism (which is what he’s essentially being asked to do), healing? Do we call demons nowadays just ‘illnesses? That’s another question, isn’t it? Do demons exist? Are they separate from illness? I have an opinion. Other people have opinions. I’m not going to answer that question so off you go!

What I want to talk about is Jesus’ healing ministry in general and ask, what do we mean when we say ‘Jesus heals’?

I think, throughout Mark’s account of Jesus’ healing ministry, there are two categories of healing.

1. There is restorative healing: Jesus restores a person to a state of health that they previously knew or experienced. So they’ve grown up with a state of health and then through deterioration of the body or through an illness or whatever, they can’t hear as well or see as well or move as well. So Jesus restores them to a state of health that they previously knew or experienced. Maybe some of you have experienced this or maybe some of you want this. You used to be able to hear or see or move but now, due to general wear and tear, you aren’t able to and you’d like God to restore you. Well God can and does restore people to a state of health that they previously knew or experienced.
2. There is also, what I’m calling, creative healing: Jesus creates in a person a state of health they haven’t previously known or experienced. In chapter 9 of Mark there is a man born blind* and Jesus creates, in this man, sight. He has never experienced sight before and God creates, heals and brings about this state of health for him.

So we have restorative and creative healing but what do we mean when we pray for healing? When our prayer ministry team come up the front and lay on hands, what do we mean when we say ‘healing’? What is the ideal ‘state of health’? Does Jesus bring us to a state of health which is perfect? Is there this ‘perfect state of health’? If a doctor gives a ‘clear bill of health’, what do they mean? Because there are people in the world who can hear really, really, really well… they are often called mothers! No, seriously, there are people who can hear really well, if not too well! They are bombarded with sound and noise and that’s a problem and then doctors restrict their hearing so they can hear ‘normally’…

Medical science and doctors don’t like talking in terms of perfect health. They can’t ever say to you that there’s nothing wrong with you. So what do we mean when we say we want healing? Usually it’s about being without pain and without discomfort, that’s essentially it, isn’t it? We want to be ‘ok’. We want to be ‘alright’. We want to be ‘normal’. So Jesus makes people ‘ok’, ‘alright’, ‘normal’. Is that really all He can do?

So what do we mean by healing? What do we mean by health, that we can call Jesus, ‘healer’? That we can pray for ‘healing’?

So back to our elephant. What do I mean when I pray that Sarah would be healed?

Well… what I really mean is I want her cured. I want her to have a ‘normal’ state of health. I want her body to stop producing too much salt and it clogs up her lungs and destroys her digestive system. I want that, if I’m honest. When we pray for people, we’re so quick to state, “Oh look God has healed” and as a Christian and now as a minister I have to nod along and say, “ Well, yes, I suppose so…” But deep down I’m shouting, “Is that all You can do? I mean, come on God! Come on! Pull your finger out!”

What I want is a cure! People say, “But medical science!” We raise medical science up and proclaim, “God uses doctors and there will be a cure one of these days, it’s only a matter of time. Let’s pray that doctors will have find a cure.” Well I’ll join you in that prayer but I don’t think that’s all God can do. i think He can do much, much more than that because I have seen it. I’ve seen it in others so I know He can. How quickly do we, when we pray for healing, do we mention doctors… medical science… drugs… medicine? Great, godly thing; fine, I understand that. Humanity has achieved amazing things through medical science; I’m not denying that at all… you should listen to your doctors! But…

That’s not what Jesus did or, at least, not just what Jesus did. He did more than medical science could possibly do even now. He didn’t create another hand out of other people’s genetics; He prayed. God healed. This deaf man: how many of your doctors would put their fingers in your ears and say, ‘Be opened’ and then it’s done? How many of your doctors can do that? Not a lot! God can do much more so when I pray for healing; I’m praying that God heals Sarah. Maybe he will use doctors, maybe but I want to know that it is God is healing her.

So what is my magic answer to the problem of healing?

Where I am up to, at the moment, in my frustration and disappointments is this: when I’m praying for healing, I’m praying that God would reveal his glory in my wife’s life because, here’s a thing you may or may not have asked yourself: the healings we heard about in the passage this morning, the exorcism of the demon and the healing of the deaf and mute man, both of these people’s bodies continued to deteriorate and they did die and their bodies were buried in the ground. It’s never not been the case! All Jesus’ healings and subsequent healings throughout history have improved the state of health but, in the end, the person has always died in their physical body. The physical body has always been buried. So it’s not always complete healing but… God’s glory was always revealed. Healing is not always just the correction of the faults of the human body, yes it might be, in part, about that but what they are always about the revelation of God; He who is greater, more powerful than any human being living now or living previously. He is greater than all of them put together and He is breaking into our world, into our reality and He shows Himself by doing things that we can’t possibly do… not even the best doctor. There are things that doctors just can’t do and they are frustrated and they are working to catch up but God is always one step ahead saying, “Yeah. I can do that. In fact I’ll do it before you.” God does that.

Healing is about seeing God’s glory and power breaking in. What does this mean in terms of my prayers for Sarah? I pray that God’s glory will be seen in her life. And I have seen that. I have seen that on numerous occasions. In fact, I see that daily. Yes I want a cure! Yes I know God can do it! Why he hasn’t? I have no idea! But He can and He might and I will continue to pray for that but while I pray for that I see God’s glory breaking through. I see God sustaining her. I see God defying medical science constantly. the doctors look at her stats and have no idea why she’s still here. Why she’s still able to live without a lung transplant. They just don’t know and I say, “That’s God. That’s God working.” Now he’s not doing all He can do but He is doing something. God is moving in her life.

He’s actually releasing in Sarah the chance to worship Him, to point people to Him. When people see her they think, ‘she is an ‘ill person’. She’s got cystic fibrosis.’ How many of you when you come up to me and ask,

“How is Sarah?” with the gentle tilt of the head are thinking about her health? Thinking, ‘she’s ill.’ Well Sarah’s more than cystic fibrosis; she’s a worshipping Christian. She knows the glory of God! Why not have that conversation? Well we pray for healing. We pray that Sarah has more time to worship God, to show the glory of God to other people and she’s doing that! She’s doing that daily whenever anyone needs that. How? People ask,

“How does she smile so much? When she has such a rubbish life… married that man…no, because she’s got cystic fibrosis. How can she do that?” And she replies,

“Because I have the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have God on my side. I have nothing to fear.” That is showing the glory of God and I say,

“Alleluia. Praise the Lord!” Has He cured her? No. Is He revealing His glory? Yes. Which would I rather? The latter.

So when we come forward for communion and we receive the ‘tokens of love’ (as David so beautifully put it this morning) we can receive healing for anything; emotional, physical, whatever. And when we come forward to the prayer ministry team we trust, through them, the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ, our healer, then and now, can work and can restore and create in you a state of health but only so that your life can sing better of the glory of God, so you can worship Him with freedom from pain and discomfort, that you can live your life to the glory of god and point to God and God alone for He is our salvation! He is our redeemer! He is all I need! That is what we mean when we pray for healing.

So let us pray, now, for healing…

*Some interpreters believe this man is the same as the blind man in John’s gospel hence why, despite Mark’s account not specifying how long the man had been blind, I suggest he was blind since birth.

Last night’s reading was on a chapter called “Multimodal Polyphony,” by Anders Fagerjord. Throughout the chapter, the author speaks a lot about combining different forms of media to enhance one’s understanding of what is being shown. This can be known as “rhetorical convergence”. When we combine different forms of media, we are able to experience three main differences from just a viewing of a picture or listening to a piece of audio:

1. We can look and listen at the same time

2. There is a form of dynamism so timing and rhythm come into play

3. With the movement we encounter, there are new rhetorical possibilities that arise

The Picture Itself

There are four main terms that Fagerjord expresses throughout the chapter in which he says help the understanding of viewing the picture within a documentary (this information is relevant to any form of presentation using pictures):

1. Examining: This is when the frame moves slowly over the image being shown to show detail

2. Revealing: This term is secondary with examining. It is when (through examining) something is shown that was at first hidden at first.

3. Pointing: When the image is zoomed in upon to show the viewer specific details

4. Contextualizing: This is the opposite of pointing. This term is when the camera zooms out so that the viewer can observe the scene as a whole.

Putting the Terms to Actuality

Fagerjord goes into talking about their “The Wild West” production movie as an example of a still-motion film. The three main differences found within rhetorical convergence and the four aspects mentioned above are used throughout this production to enhance its meaning.

The web today has a lot to do with writing, language, and reading. In present time, the generation is changing to a more multimedia world where in the end, having rhetorical convergence will soon be the best of entertainment. When converging voice overs on top of video and pictures, one must take into consideration time and value of what is being said over the picture. This becomes one of the most important roles in still-motion film because without relevance to the picture being shown, what good will this provide the viewer?

Your Thoughts

To what significance do you think rhetorical convergence has? Is it safe to say that audio enhances the viewers’ understanding of any type of project being shown?

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos holds up the new Kindle Fire HD 7″ and Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ (L) during Amazon’s Kindle Fire event in Santa Monica, California September 6, 2012.

Image credit: REUTERS/Gus Ruelas

Out of the box, my Kindle Fire HD was far from the Android tablet of my dreams. At first blush, it seemed like nothing more than a front-end to Amazon’s content ecosystem. The lack of any additional value or personalization options and the limited apps on the Amazon Store were jarring. Over the course of 7 days, I spent a lot of time with the device, trying to figure out ways to make it more than a shopping and consumption device. Along the way, I found some very basic (but important and sometimes well-hidden) settings as well as more advanced steps to make the Kindle Fire HD do what I want.

Setting up the Kindle Fire HD for the first time worked well: The tablet came linked to my Amazon account and all eBooks I previously purchased on the iPad Kindle app synced automatically.

If you use tablets primarily for reading eBooks or watching movies, you’re in luck. The Kindle Fire HD does this remarkably well and easily. But since I use tablets primarily for browsing the Web, my first order of business was to set my default search and browse options.

Search
Amazon has teamed up with Microsoft and set Bing as the default search engine on the Fire HD. Bing is fine, but if Google is your search engine of choice, you can set it as your default by firing up the browser, go to the menu icon, then go to “Settings”. Tap on “Search engine” and change it to “Google”. Done.

“I am no where near perfect so

I jam out to music when I am bored.

I have fallen for boys too quickly.

That I’ve made more than my

Share of mistakes.

I’m vulnerable to believing lies

That I’m hoping that one-day I won’t need

A fake smile. I live by quotes that

Explain exactly what I am going through

I make up excuses for everything

I have best friends and enemies

I have DRAMA and MEMORIES

I am an average teenager

(And that’s life)

Live it..Love it..Learn from it!”

Now that is one quote I live by,

So that my words won’t die.

I know it’s hard to believe when

All I can see is your chin.

But quotes create a part of me,

Just like the group called Glee.

I live by quotes,

I write notes.

I sing and love

Poetry because it’s my thing.

People don’t exactly understand but

Here goes:

You see people walk about their lives,

Minding their own business.

And there you sit, wishing that you could have

Fun like them. But you are

Blind, just like them because they live.

They live in a life of pressure and emptiness.

And all they can do is cope about their

Lives, wishing that they didn’t exist today in society.

These people who cut, who raise the blade on

There own skins are not crazy.

But they crazy enough to think they don’t

Deserve to live.

I’m one of them.

I’m one of them because people has

Done me wrong, just like you,

Your friends, your enemies, whoever.

I cut and cry, not cry because of the pain that

Bleed from my wrist. But from the antagonist in my life

And that is you, people all around me.

They harm me; cause me to hurt when I don’t want to.

I’m tired…tired of all this bullshit happening

To you and me.

And there I remember, everyone

Asked me…why did I cut?

I cut because your words affect me.

You make me feel like crap, like shit,

Like I don’t have any life to live.

You make me cry; harm myself, cut, yell!

And all I just want to do is scream!

Not scream out for help. But for you to just STOP!

STOP and GROW UP!

STOP HITTING ME, YELLING AT ME!

I am emo because I did not choose to be! But you made me!

You made me feel so crushed, that I wanted to harm someone,

Just some thing! But I couldn’t ’cause I knew it

Was and is morally wrong.

—-

I go through a lot of things

That people misunderstand me about.

I try not to be…to be

In the steps that you all

See.

Tell me the degree

That rises up our blood levels today

Because I don’t want to tolerate this kind of

Beep that happens simultaneously

Or accidently.

24/7 a day we take all these various pains

And combine them like a recipe

Ready to be cook.

Just like a hook

We feel all just like crooks.

So am I an outsider?

Do I look like a glider?

That can

I cut ’cause of my dad, momma,

The kids, sister, brother, every living being that loves to hurt me…

I cut because of you.

Now, if you still don’t understand me, then just leave me be and

Leave the razor behind….

Lehmann would be the assistant coach in Warne’s dream team

Almost all people associate the word dream team with a star group of players that would be invincible against any opposition, but former Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne has taken the term to a whole new level after revealing his candidates for Cricket Australia’s dream team.

Warne’s dream team includes Mark Taylor as the high performance chief, while former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming would be the coach of the national side and ex-Australian skipper Ian Chappell would be that fatherly figure who would mentor and give advice to all players both young and experienced.

The rotation policy does not exist, captains are not chosen way ahead of time and sleep is the remedy for all players suffering from fatigue and exhaustion.

Warne believes that captain Michael Clarke should be getting a lot more support from the team management and added that this would be possible if his dream team line-up was put into effect.

Taylor would replace former rugby star Pat Howard, while Rod Marsh would be chairman of the selection committee, which would also include Mark Waugh, Damien Martyn and Glenn McGrath.

Fleming was chosen to be the national team’s coach, with Darren Lehmann being his assistant and Warne believes that neither of them should be a selector.

Former veterans like Michael Bevan or Michael Hussey would be potential candidates for the role of batting coach, while Merv Hughes or Bruce Reid are likely candidates for the bowling coach position.

“All the above people are cricket people, not rugby, tennis or from any other sporting code,” Warne wrote on his website. “They all understand the game of cricket, they have lived and breathed the game for a long time and most importantly have the best interests of Australian cricket at heart, along with being super passionate and above all, they just love the game.

“Cricket is a simple game; sure it has room and a place for scientific research and current technology, which can help [you] learn about an opponent, but not instead of using your cricket brain – they can work hand in hand. Technology can help in recovery, but so can sleep and a common sense approach to recovery.”

Warne was also in favour of sticking to the same team across all three formats, with the occasional changes here and there, and he noted that only if injuries were deemed to be serious do players get to sit on the sidelines.

“A simple criteria is pick your best team and stick with it in all forms, then the players get used playing together and being with one another on tour, you get to know the person,” Warne wrote. “Too much chopping and changing leads to insecurity, players then start to look out for themselves and over their shoulder, this breeds selfishness.

“It’s also why rotation and resting players will never work. I believe the players should be united, take ownership of this, it’s a very powerful and strong message to send to CA if the players’ message is ‘I do not want to be rested or rotated; I want to play every game, if I don’t perform drop me’. If this decision comes from the players then CA have to respect that and follow suit on selection accordingly, this will then mean someone is accountable.

“We have the best batsmen/captain in world cricket at the moment in Michael Clarke and the spine of a good team with [David] Warner, [Shane] Watson, [Matthew] Wade, [Peter] Siddle and [Nathan] Lyon, the rest of the spots are up for grabs in my opinion. Opportunities for players now are there for the taking.”

The former leg-spinner intends to meet Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland and discuss his ideas with the hope of seeing some change sooner rather than later.

Lehmann would be the assistant coach in Warne’s dream team

Almost all people associate the word dream team with a star group of players that would be invincible against any opposition, but former Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne has taken the term to a whole new level after revealing his candidates for Cricket Australia’s dream team.

Warne’s dream team includes Mark Taylor as the high performance chief, while former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming would be the coach of the national side and ex-Australian skipper Ian Chappell would be that fatherly figure who would mentor and give advice to all players both young and experienced.

The rotation policy does not exist, captains are not chosen way ahead of time and sleep is the remedy for all players suffering from fatigue and exhaustion.

Warne believes that captain Michael Clarke should be getting a lot more support from the team management and added that this would be possible if his dream team line-up was put into effect.

Taylor would replace former rugby star Pat Howard, while Rod Marsh would be chairman of the selection committee, which would also include Mark Waugh, Damien Martyn and Glenn McGrath.

Fleming was chosen to be the national team’s coach, with Darren Lehmann being his assistant and Warne believes that neither of them should be a selector.

Former veterans like Michael Bevan or Michael Hussey would be potential candidates for the role of batting coach, while Merv Hughes or Bruce Reid are likely candidates for the bowling coach position.

“All the above people are cricket people, not rugby, tennis or from any other sporting code,” Warne wrote on his website. “They all understand the game of cricket, they have lived and breathed the game for a long time and most importantly have the best interests of Australian cricket at heart, along with being super passionate and above all, they just love the game.

“Cricket is a simple game; sure it has room and a place for scientific research and current technology, which can help [you] learn about an opponent, but not instead of using your cricket brain – they can work hand in hand. Technology can help in recovery, but so can sleep and a common sense approach to recovery.”

Warne was also in favour of sticking to the same team across all three formats, with the occasional changes here and there, and he noted that only if injuries were deemed to be serious do players get to sit on the sidelines.

“A simple criteria is pick your best team and stick with it in all forms, then the players get used playing together and being with one another on tour, you get to know the person,” Warne wrote. “Too much chopping and changing leads to insecurity, players then start to look out for themselves and over their shoulder, this breeds selfishness.

“It’s also why rotation and resting players will never work. I believe the players should be united, take ownership of this, it’s a very powerful and strong message to send to CA if the players’ message is ‘I do not want to be rested or rotated; I want to play every game, if I don’t perform drop me’. If this decision comes from the players then CA have to respect that and follow suit on selection accordingly, this will then mean someone is accountable.

“We have the best batsmen/captain in world cricket at the moment in Michael Clarke and the spine of a good team with [David] Warner, [Shane] Watson, [Matthew] Wade, [Peter] Siddle and [Nathan] Lyon, the rest of the spots are up for grabs in my opinion. Opportunities for players now are there for the taking.”

The former leg-spinner intends to meet Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland and discuss his ideas with the hope of seeing some change sooner rather than later.

Lloyd was extremely disappointed with the WICB’s attitude towards the GCB elections

Former Guyana and West Indies batsmen Clive Lloyd and Roger Harper have deemed the recent Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) elections, which were held on January 27, “illegal” and lashed out at the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) for standing idly by and failing to take any responsibility.

On January 27, the GCB adopted a new constitution and their former assistant secretary Drubahadur was named as the new president.

Having protested the move strongly, both Lloyd and Harper stated that the GCB had violated the orders that were passed by two separate Guyana judges, whereby they have effectively banned any elections from taking place in the future.

Both players also noted that the elections could not have been legitimate since not all members of the GCB had voted, thus meaning that there was no ”quorum”.

“There is an injunction in place so they [GCB] cannot operate,” Lloyd told ESPNcricinfo. “The judges made a ruling and you cannot flout the laws of the country.

“To me any time you have elections, everybody should take part. [But] Berbice wasn’t there, a great part of Demerara wasn’t there, so the elections could not be legal as such.”

The GCB is made up of three counties, Demerara Cricket Board (DCB), Berbice and Essequibo Cricket Board.

Lloyd noted that there should be a level-playing field when elections are being held, but this was clearly missing during the GCB’s elections.

“What happened is the true reflection of the people who are trying to grab power in Guyana cricket,” Georgetown Cricket Association president Harper said. “It was illegal.

Georgetown Cricket Association is just one of the four constituents of the DCB, with East Bank Demerara Cricket Association, West Demerara Cricket Association and East Coast Cricket Board being the other three.

In 2011, the West Demerara Cricket Association and East Bank Demerara Cricket Association filed a complaint against the Georgetown Cricket Association and East Coast Cricket Board, stating that the East Coast Cricket Board should no longer be a part of the DCB.

However, Justice Bovel-Drakes stated that the case should be taken to the normal courts and temporarily ordered that all four constituents should not be a part of the DCB.

After the GCB set up a special committee for the elections, the Georgetown-East Coast faction went to the courts to protest the move.

“The same guys who were setting up the committee and calling for elections were involved in the earlier case directly,” Harper said.

Judge Diane Insanally passed an injunction, which stated that East Bank-West Demerara faction could not act as the sole representatives of the DCB during the GCB elections.

“And therefore GCB elections should not have a quorum because only Essequibo attended with Berbice refusing to come,” Harper added.

Harper also slammed the WICB for doing nothing about the elections.

“Knowing the problems in Guyana it was the responsibility of the WICB, as a parent body, to ensure that the people attending the elections as delegates were entitled to be there,” Harper said. “It was the WICB’s responsibility to make sure the elections were free and fair and above board.”

In an effort to resolve the situation in 2011, the GCB created an interim management committee (IMC), where Lloyd was appointed as chairman.

Lloyd’s job was to draw up a new constitution that would help settle all the disputes plaguing Guyana cricket.

However, the WICB rejected the IMC, stating that it was following the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) advice on not supporting any government interference.

Lloyd noted that he was disappointed by the WICB’s stance on the matter.

“The WICB cannot condone such a situation,” Lloyd said. “You are in charge of cricket and you should see that such a thing did not happen.

“The point is everybody must take part if you want a true cricket board. We want accountability.”

Last year, Lloyd also stepped down as the non-member director of the WICB, revealing that his role with the board was clashing with his loyalty towards Guyana.

Lloyd also mentioned that he had already drawn up a constitution, along with a development plan, but the only thing missing is a forensic audit.

This report is set to be carefully studied by a government-appointed Select Committee, the members of which will be decided upon soon, according to Lloyd.

“Once the committee has covered all the ground, it will be forwarded to the parliament and once it is passed as a law, we will have fresh elections where everybody should take part,” Lloyd said. “That to me is free and fair.”

Lloyd was extremely disappointed with the WICB’s attitude towards the GCB elections

Former Guyana and West Indies batsmen Clive Lloyd and Roger Harper have deemed the recent Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) elections, which were held on January 27, “illegal” and lashed out at the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) for standing idly by and failing to take any responsibility.

On January 27, the GCB adopted a new constitution and their former assistant secretary Drubahadur was named as the new president.

Having protested the move strongly, both Lloyd and Harper stated that the GCB had violated the orders that were passed by two separate Guyana judges, whereby they have effectively banned any elections from taking place in the future.

Both players also noted that the elections could not have been legitimate since not all members of the GCB had voted, thus meaning that there was no ”quorum”.

“There is an injunction in place so they [GCB] cannot operate,” Lloyd told ESPNcricinfo. “The judges made a ruling and you cannot flout the laws of the country.

“To me any time you have elections, everybody should take part. [But] Berbice wasn’t there, a great part of Demerara wasn’t there, so the elections could not be legal as such.”

The GCB is made up of three counties, Demerara Cricket Board (DCB), Berbice and Essequibo Cricket Board.

Lloyd noted that there should be a level-playing field when elections are being held, but this was clearly missing during the GCB’s elections.

“What happened is the true reflection of the people who are trying to grab power in Guyana cricket,” Georgetown Cricket Association president Harper said. “It was illegal.

Georgetown Cricket Association is just one of the four constituents of the DCB, with East Bank Demerara Cricket Association, West Demerara Cricket Association and East Coast Cricket Board being the other three.

In 2011, the West Demerara Cricket Association and East Bank Demerara Cricket Association filed a complaint against the Georgetown Cricket Association and East Coast Cricket Board, stating that the East Coast Cricket Board should no longer be a part of the DCB.

However, Justice Bovel-Drakes stated that the case should be taken to the normal courts and temporarily ordered that all four constituents should not be a part of the DCB.

After the GCB set up a special committee for the elections, the Georgetown-East Coast faction went to the courts to protest the move.

“The same guys who were setting up the committee and calling for elections were involved in the earlier case directly,” Harper said.

Judge Diane Insanally passed an injunction, which stated that East Bank-West Demerara faction could not act as the sole representatives of the DCB during the GCB elections.

“And therefore GCB elections should not have a quorum because only Essequibo attended with Berbice refusing to come,” Harper added.

Harper also slammed the WICB for doing nothing about the elections.

“Knowing the problems in Guyana it was the responsibility of the WICB, as a parent body, to ensure that the people attending the elections as delegates were entitled to be there,” Harper said. “It was the WICB’s responsibility to make sure the elections were free and fair and above board.”

In an effort to resolve the situation in 2011, the GCB created an interim management committee (IMC), where Lloyd was appointed as chairman.

Lloyd’s job was to draw up a new constitution that would help settle all the disputes plaguing Guyana cricket.

However, the WICB rejected the IMC, stating that it was following the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) advice on not supporting any government interference.

Lloyd noted that he was disappointed by the WICB’s stance on the matter.

“The WICB cannot condone such a situation,” Lloyd said. “You are in charge of cricket and you should see that such a thing did not happen.

“The point is everybody must take part if you want a true cricket board. We want accountability.”

Last year, Lloyd also stepped down as the non-member director of the WICB, revealing that his role with the board was clashing with his loyalty towards Guyana.

Lloyd also mentioned that he had already drawn up a constitution, along with a development plan, but the only thing missing is a forensic audit.

This report is set to be carefully studied by a government-appointed Select Committee, the members of which will be decided upon soon, according to Lloyd.

“Once the committee has covered all the ground, it will be forwarded to the parliament and once it is passed as a law, we will have fresh elections where everybody should take part,” Lloyd said. “That to me is free and fair.”

1. I have the ability to see, hear, taste, smell, and feel things that other humans in the room with me most often cannot. In the beginning of my life, this made me “evil” so I denied it and, therefore the Gifts went away. When my daughter was born, they came back on, startling me into remembering that I am actually the “witch” I always wanted to be. Funny, that. I was what I wanted to be in the beginning, but I relied on others to tell me whether that was good or not – it wasn’t – and I let it go. Common theme to my earlier years.
2. I LOVE music. Most music delights me. Everything from classic full symphony music to jazz to pop to country to hard rock and everything in between. I really love bluegrass! I do not like screamo, acid rock, or vulgar rap. I believe that every life should have a soundtrack so I have a few songs that are “mine” and this belief also makes me profoundly grateful to the makers of the iPod and streaming audio. My music is now easily portable. While I love the sound of pianos, I do not like plinkety-plink songs. While I love jazz, I despise skat. For me, both skat and plinkety-plink pianos are like someone running their fingernails on the chalkboard. Ugh! *shuddering*
3. I have trusted others above and before myself for most of my life. This has often led to heartache and devastation. Mostly because I have left myself out of the equation of my own life. I am learning to believe in me and trust myself first these days. It’s a delightful change. And, I’ve found the answer to my own question… yes, you CAN teach someone to trust.
4. I believe in faeries, unicorns, and all things mystical and mythological. This belief has led me into some incredible experiences where I’ve been able to experience the mystical and mythological. Which, in turn, has removed the mythology and has made it real.
5. I am a romantic at heart. I swoon and love to be wooed. Those movies where the “boy” makes a grand gesture of love for the “girl”… yes, well, while they are entirely over-the-top sappy, I totally love them.
6. I laugh loudly. When I was in junior high, I was friends with a group of girls who also laughed loudly. We were “inappropriately” loud, according to others. I loved it and, at the same time, I curbed it because I wanted those idiots to like me. So I stopped laughing loudly. It didn’t work. They didn’t like me any more than they did when I laughed loudly and all I accomplished was losing my laugh. When I got older, I realized I missed that. Now I laugh loudly. And, wonderfully enough, I attract friends who also laugh loudly. And I laugh from my belly.
7. I have a worldwide emotional sensory system. I learned that the day they killed Bin Laden and the world went into emotional upheaval. I thought I was having a nervous breakdown.
8. I love chocolate.
9. I really love movies. If the movie is good, I can watch it over and over and over without tiring of it. I am able to hear messages and training in movies that others often miss. I know if the movie is going to be training for me by how I respond to the previews. I do not like movies about demonic possession… other than Constantine… for some reason, that movie ranks among my top ten.
10. I am able to feel your pain. Especially if it is pain you are hiding or unwilling to face. I’m able to feel that. It doesn’t stick with me. I don’t take it on. But I can help you release it if you have the courage to do so.
11. People are sometimes frightened by me because I can see into them. I have a strict code that I do not look until they have asked and have expressed permission for me to do so. Even then, when they’ve requested and I look, especially when I’m not in session with them, I am dead on with my knowing in less than 30 seconds and it freaks people out. I’ve had people turn away from me and leave rooms because they don’t want me to see them. They forget that, when I break the connection of seeing, then I no longer see them. I stop looking. Their inner world is theirs and is not mine to be spying on.
12. I have gone paragliding. It was one of the most liberating experiences I’ve had… to fly like that… wow!
13. I love creating art in any form. I love being able to sit down and allow inspiration to flow and create the art that needs to come forth. People often say to me that they find healing in my art, they see things that I did not consciously put in there, and they are often drawn to a specific piece of art for reasons they cannot understand until later, after looking at it for awhile.
14. I used to be a shopaholic. I could drop hundreds of dollars in under 20 minutes and not give it a second thought. Thing is, I didn’t have the money to support it on an ongoing basis so it became a detriment. I eventually curbed the manic desire to shop like that. And now I’ve swung in the opposite direction and never shop unless I absolutely need to shop. I am willing to swing the pendulum to center and balance, now.
15. I still believe in “Happily Ever After” and that there IS the “right person” for me somewhere. I believe there are many right people for each of us. I also believe that there is one person with whom I will feel deliciously matched and mated. Additionally, I believe that the “one person” can change as time rolls on… that the “one person” doesn’t necessarily mean that the “one person” will be there forever.
16. I like to lay on the grass and gaze up at the sky.
17. For over a decade now, I have had visions of living in a bungalow cottage with hard wood floors and flowing white curtains. There have been a couple times over those years that it nearly manifested, but I was relying on someone else to provide it for me. I get, now, that this bungalow is mine to manifest. It feels really close.
18. Sometimes, when I “should” shut up, I don’t. I have yet to master the art of holding my tongue when I see, feel, hear, or know something that other humans are refusing to experience. I’ve gotten better at asking if they want to hear what it is that I’m experiencing, but there are times that I still blurt it out. When I don’t blurt it out and reveal myself, it is an interesting experience to be in the space and just be witness to it all.
19. I question everything. As a curious person, I generate questions quickly. I believe that, if I want to know something, then I need simply ask directly about what I want to know. At times, I forget that society believes in “personal space filters” and I forget to buffer my questions. When I’m ravenously curious about a topic, person, object, or place… I start watching and absorbing so I don’t have to ask as many questions. When I’m working on a team, I’ve been told I am invaluable in the brainstorming process and that I come up with questions that others don’t even think about.
20. When I love, I love wholly and unendingly. That has been an interesting thing to learn about myself because, for a very long time, I didn’t understand that loving someone can mean letting them go and freeing myself.
21. There are still times when I receive a private message, email, or response to something I have written or created and I find myself stunned to know that there are people listening to and watching me.
22. I have mastered the art of forgiveness with everyone but myself. I am my harshest critic and, in the past, I have held on to my “wrongs” for a long time. I have began to love myself enough to forgive myself too.
23. I love caramelized onions.
24. I am just now realizing how powerful of a manifestor I am. I’ve given the credit to other people, recognizing in them their ability to speak into being practically anything they want. My aunt is a master at this! For me, in the past, I used my power to destroy myself, rather than support my life. It has only been within the last year that I have begun to manifest – and recognize that I am – for my own good. It is delicious!
25. I believe that we are all in this together. We will all get out together or none of us will. Therefore, I believe that helping humankind to raise its collective vibration is of importance to me. I choose to hold out a helping hand where I feel inspired to do so. I look for the opportunities to spread Love and I hold Hope in my heart that we will come together as One, war will cease, all will be fed, and abuses of all kinds will end. I believe in the good in every person. And I believe that Love heals everything.

The following section got me thinking: ‘My problem now is with new friends. When we talk about family with people I just met, I carefully make sure I don’t mention her in the present tense, but I omit the fact of her absence for as long as possible. And when I do finally mention it, I say it in haste, in a small voice. I’m almost ashamed to declare out loud that my mother is dead. I guess I still feel weird about being motherless at this age. To this day I still haven’t met anyone my age in real life whose mother is dead. By pretending it isn’t true, I can pretend I’m normal.’ I found this comment very touching and my heart went out to ‘thefiercestcalm’.

Some of what she says I can utterly relate to, such as: ‘carefully mak(ing) sure I don’t mention her in present tense’. This is something I struggle with too and I didn’t even realise I was doing the opposite, until my bereavement counselor pointed out that I was using present tense when referring to my mother in our earlier sessions. Since then, I too have made a conscious effort to stick to past tense when talking about her. I even go so far as to correct my grammar mid-sentence much as she used to encourage me to do in everyday life e.g.: “Me and my husband – sorry I mean – My husband and I!” now: “My mum is a great debater – sorry, she was great at debater”.

Other aspects of thefiercestcalm’s comment, while I really feel for her, as is often the way with grief, I can’t quite relate to.

[As a side-note, as time goes on I am increasingly discovering that bereavement has the contradictory capacity to be simultaneously: clichéd, whilst remaining ever individual. I feel like I share so many experiences with other bereft people and yet my grief and their’s is so personal. When I write these posts I naturally write from my own experience of grief, which is why I find comments like that of thefiercestcalm so fascinating in their own idiosyncrasies].

Contrary to thefiercestcalm’s experience of finding it hard to almost ‘admit’ to her mother’s death, I can’t seem to shut-up about my mother’s. Perhaps this will change with time as the reality of my situation sinks in, but currently, this is where I’m at:

Having only been without my mother for nearly 6 months now, the opportunities to make new acquaintances have been minimal. What I have met are strangers, poor defenseless strangers who don’t know what they’re in for…

The question of my family make-up holds little relevance in the encounters I have had with strangers since my mother’s passing. They are fleeting and usually formal affairs, even the more relaxed occasions are not the appropriate forums to divulge our family tragedy. Not that, that stops me, whether it’s: mingling with a friend’s parents’ friends (work that one out!) at their father’s 60th birthday party; getting a valuation on our flat or booking honeymoon hotels through our travel agent. None of these innocent bystanders need (or indeed want) to be the recipients of my sorry tale.

A typical example of such an episode happened during a re-focus session at my gym on Monday morning. I was working with a new instructor and during my 12 mins on the treadmill we had the following exchange:

Him: ‘So why are you looking to lose weight?’

Me (spluttering after a high intensity minute at 15kph): “Well I’ve never tried to lose weight before, but I’ve managed to put on 2 stone in the couple of years. The first year, I had just met my husband so I put on a ‘love’ stone.” at this point my instructor delivers the expected smiling chuckle, I continued: “Then my mother died last year, so I ended up putting on a ‘death’ stone as well”. Silence.

Oh dear. What was I thinking right? Poor guy, his face dropped instantly, he mumbled a barely audible ‘I’m sorry’ and looked away with an awkward respect.

This isn’t the first time I have done this either. I’m pretty sure I’ve even repeated these very same words to other innocents over the past 5 months. But why? Where does this impulse come from?

All I know, is that this need to provide context to the ‘me’, these new people are encountering for the first time seems essential right now. After all, I may reason, how can they possibly create an accurate picture of me if they don’t know what I’ve so recently been (and am still going) through? I feel like a fraud otherwise, like I am pulling the wool over their eyes, not presenting the true ‘me’ but some intruder.

If I dig deeper and am honest about my motives, perhaps I also crave the pity and admiration that can come from such a revelation. Imagined conversations along the lines of:

“Oh that poor girl, how sad that she lost her mother so young, but doesn’t she seem to be coping remarkably well in spite of it”.

Maybe this desire for affirmation from strangers comes from an emotional gap my mother once filled. But as far as seeking pity is concerned, I find that part of myself uncomfortable and self-indulgent. I have never agreed with pitying others, It feels like a twisted version of compassion that insults the recipient’s ability and inner strength to tackle adversity. It is also a rather patronising emotion to dish out, whereas to actively seek it, presents an air of whiny: “please feel ever so sorry for me”.

Then again, perhaps I am being to hard on myself. Perhaps a lack of self control regarding impulsively revealing my mother’s death to any unsuspecting stranger that crosses my path, is just all part and parcel of the grieving process – or at least my individual grieving process anyway.

As I have become more aware of this habit in recent weeks, I have attempted to swallow the words back down. I tell myself that they are not interested, it will make them feel uncomfortable, it is personal information to be shared with a precious few. This evening when relaying my thoughts behind this post to my step-father he added another perspective:

“Maybe they just have to deal with it”. Funny, I hadn’t considered this, there may be something in this line of thought, after all what I am going through is far worse than the uneasiness of hearing it. Maybe moving forward I will worry less about the effect this disclosure will have on others and just allow myself to roll with the grief however it may manifests itself.

Before I end this post I would like to refer back to thefiercestcalm’s comment one last time and acknowledge (as mentioned in my previous post ‘Griefing Styles’), her absolute entitlement to a different form of grief from me. Similarly, I have heard and experienced many different scenarios of bereft people choosing to (or, choosing not to as the case may be) relay this sensitive information to others. Some come right out with it, cool as cucumber in a chilled gin and tonic and one wonder’s what they feel behind those words, while others hint at or (as in the fiercestcalm’s case) omit this information for sometimes a lengthy period, leaving others – in some cases – unsure of whether they are bereft or not.

Whatever the individual’s decision to: share or not to share, this key piece of their identity, it is as private and valid a decision as anyone has the right to make about revealing any information about themselves. It is everyone’s prerogative, bereft or otherwise, to tackle this emotional hurdle however they wish and more power to them I say!