Twinky

Oh hey! I see I am now an Apprentice and have a leaf symbol. No doubt that means I shouldn't "leaf" this place just yet.

Oh, crikey, I knew a girl years ago, due to sit her end of school exams at age 18 or thereabouts. Hadn't done much study or preparing for the exam, too busy attending fellowships and helping her father "move the word." She said she was believing to pass and God would give her the answers, because what she was doing was Godly and more important than studying. Talk about taking the lord's name in vain...! I don't know what her results were, have never been in touch with her since.

Yeah, we have the Chief cook & Bottle washer expression here too. It's come to mean, sort of: a general dogsbody. Dogsbody itself being a weird expression. Though I suppose a CCBW (does a bit of everything) would be of a little higher status that a dogsbody (does menial [or even mean-ial] tasks). And a Man/Girl Friday would be a step up from a CCBW. Here's lookin' at ya, T-Bone

Thank you. I asked in this way, because I'm sure it'll be affecting other people too, sooner or later.

And I don 't want to delete all the attachments, either. Only some of them.

Okay guys, you've just modified the board. I don't seem to have capacity to attach a new photo. Nor do I have ability to remove old photos to free up space, despite there being a link to Manage Your Attachments. Did something get overlooked, or am I missing some instruction somewhere?

You mean you're not, T-Bone? You know, the cafe should have celebrated this upgrade with a new array of cakes and coffee. Or maybe I should just get something to eat. Just got in at the end of my working day. Chicken fillets, Jersey Royal baby potatoes, carrots, cauliflower and broccoli await my attention. Then rhubarb and yoghurt. Yum. Then maybe my GSC cake. Yum yum.

Oakie! Well, your own life has certainly taken a different turn from what it might have done in TWI. Likely to have been a lot more enjoyable than if you'd still been in. So glad you're participating in the real world. Not the box they tried to force you into.

I love trees, forests, being on mountains above the bushline/treeline looking down on forests, creatures that live in forests... I only have a small garden and I have planted several small trees in it. This city is full of mature and younger trees. The fringe of the city, where I live, has lots of wooded areas. Nice to walk in. My fave verse: Is 55:12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Nah. It was the little leaf symbol on the 3/14 badge. Note, however, the 2/14 symbol is clapping hands. Yay!

I've just finished this (historical fiction): I'm pretty eclectic in my tastes. Lots of what's already been mentioned. I also like Jodi Picoult, who writes about social issues. Ken Follett's books are interesting, nobody's mentioned him yet. What I read depends on whether I want to learn something (so, perhaps, a bit of historical, or social, fiction), enjoy an escape (thriller/crime), veg out (any kind of rubbish) Before that, I recently read a cartoon book (also historical fiction). Sounds silly, it's only slender, but actually, there is a lot in it.

I see the symbol for an Apprentice with 3/14 (3 out of 14 what??) is a leaf. Haven't we had enough of leaves, twigs, Way trees, and the like? How about - um... err... em - an axe? To chop down the Way tree?

Something fishy (and rank) going on, perhaps? I dunno. Makes us all look like newbies. Weird. Apparently I'm a "Rookie" (with >5K posts!) and you, Bolshy, are an Apprentice, with slightly more posts. But we're both still on the Leaderboard.

Did you get booted, Allan? Your thread about LCM doesn't seem to be here now.

By the way, Mike, if you're ever in the UK you are welcome to come to my church or any of the associated churches, see what we do, spend time with any one of our ministers or staff, ask any questions you want about the work we carry out. I'm sure your practical help would also be welcome in cooking meals, distributing food parcels, StACCtion days (service within the community), sitting with the lonely and dispossessed and chatting to them. Hey, you could even pray with people from time to time. The church financial accounts are also easily accessible and any questions you want can be asked of our Treasurer about those. We've found our good works very effective. But come and see !

I have no idea what this post means. "The intensely tone"? "Mighty Fighter of the Evil Forces"? "Any good counterfeit is going to be camouflaged with lots of good." That sounds straight from the PFAL playbook. Without you even reasoning that actually, that's what TWI attempted. Except that the "lots of good" appears to have evaporated very, very early in the piece.

Mike, I have shared a number of great positives in my life, that generate great joy - including on this thread. Have you acknowledged even one of them? No. And no surprise there. Do you look at other threads on this site? There are active threads in Open and in the Music one. Do you follow any of those? You said you wanted to engage in different ways. Well, go ahead. Engage.

Oh no, Bolshy one. For adults at least: "Drink a little wine for thy stomach's sake."

That's FoS "realistico" or maybe "cold-waterio."

Wow, I looked away for a few days, and come back to same-old same-old. I was intrigued by Mike's claim that he has encountered thousands of PFAL grads who want to know more. He must live in a football stadium, or similar. I wonder how many of these enlightened (?) people he has actually met, actually encountered - in person, in the flesh, as human beings - and not as online whoevers? Might a dozen be a good estimate? Or would that too be an over-estimate? My city has a population of about 80,000. I doubt whether I have met even a tenth of them, even fleetingly, and certainly not enough to have deep conversations about theological issues. I really had no idea that Mike had such a huge circle of friends - nay, deep conversational companions, with whom he can freely discuss PFAL. And that's without the casuals that he get into conversation with, and the people at the dance place he attends (if you're dancing, you're not talking). I got the idea he was a little reclusive. Well done, Mike! You've really taken on the boldness that PFAL has imbued you with.

Not just eating plenty of calories - drinking them too. Lots of cheap alcohol, also giving temporary oblivious from their many problems. But then, that's not so different from other fatties. The drinking of alcohol contributes a lot to obesity. We are all familiar with the "beer belly" of overweight men. The obesity to which this thread refers is a lot more than beer bellies. It's the soft padding all over some people.

Interesting articles you post, Bolshy one. So US homeless people are fat/obese, and Brit ones aren't (in general). (I'm sure there are lots of each, in both countries.) In my city, there are lots of places homeless people can get free or very cheap food, including proper hot meals. Some are places run by shelter/refuges, some by churches, there's the "soup run" (soup and sandwiches), there's giveaways by some retailers of use-before sandwiches and fruit, some food is distributed by goody-goodies (for a while). Some is purchased specifically, by random passers-by with kind hearts. Lots of carb-heavy stuff. In my 10+ years working with street homeless, in a city where free food is abundant, I can honesty say there are no obese people among them here; and there are few merely fat people. Can't speak for the rest of the UK, but I suspect it's similar. I found this article, which you might find of interest: HOMELESSNESS IS A HEALTH ISSUE, which looks at the national picture. An extract: "Our audit data highlighted the poor diets many homeless people have. Almost a third of clients regularly eat less than two meals a day. In addition, only 1 in 4 homeless people said they usually eat 3 or more pieces of fruit or veg per day. Only 7% usually consume the recommended 5 per day, compared to 27% of the general population6 – a third do not eat any at all."

Or drought, heavy rain/floods at the wrong time of year, fire, pestilence (locust or insect attack), blight, and many other things. War, too. And climate change. Government policies can certainly exacerbate a bad situation and make a famine out of a bad situation. It is also well known that greed is not necessary in this world, either. Greed. Hoarding food to oneself, to one's nation or cultural group, whatever. Perhaps some fatties could be considered as "food hoarders" in the same way that people hoard all sorts of stuff, useful and not, in their homes. Physical hoarding is considered a sort of mental illness. Maybe we should think of food hoarders in the same way.

And if you had "volunteered" as a healer, and there was no obvious sign of having healed anyone at this event, your self-condemnation likely would have been even greater. Not to mention condemnation and abuse from VPW, and everyone lower down the "Way tree." Bum remaining on seat was probably the best thing to do, IMO.

Was anybody actually healed, Skyrider? I mean, actually, as opposed to saying they were at the time.

Interesting, Bolshy one. Divorce consultations are also often higher in January, after people have been at home with their spouses for longer than usual periods.