JC's helper: July 2018

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Photos of our trip to Edinburgh...

We have been on a five week trip to Edinburgh. We left on May 21st, and arrived home on June 24th. We stopped over, going there and back, for one night in Singapore. Both times we arrived early in the morning and left during the night hours of the next day, so we had time to do some exploring of Singapore.
We spent most of the time with our son and family in Edinburgh. A lot of that time playing and mucking around with our two grandsons, joining in their family life, and incorporating doing some DIY with my son.
While I posted in Edinburgh, I could not master the technology so that I could include photos. So today's post is just some of the photos from our trip.

On the trip to London, enjoying the high walkway between the giant "trees" in the Singapore Gardens.

This garden dome in Singapore Gardens was fantastic... so big, so many different plants from everywhere.

My better half checking out some details.

We had to take several photos.. these two Edinburgh grandsons are perpetual motion.

Second attempt. Notice the proud NZ word on the lounge wall. "Aroha" is Maori for "Love".

Pretending we are rich, swimming in the pool in the hotel in Singapore.

I was thrilled to be able to climb up Arthurs Seat in Edinburgh. This is looking toward Carlton Hill.

The summit of Arthurs Seat. 36 minutes from the bottom to the top with a diversion to Anthony's chapel and a toilet break. It felt good after having my back problems and I still have a numb foot.

Tollgate in Edinburgh - Now a pub, but here many who fought for freedoms we take for granted were imprisoned and roughly treated. It is my "symbol" of the many reminders throughout the UK of the road to the civilisation and society we enjoy today.

Daniel, (our son) Magda (his wife) and Leon and Xavier our grandsons. The reason for our visit to Edinburgh.

War memorial in George Square, Glasgow.

Jean on the high walk way in Singapore.

Inside the garden Dome.

The highest indoor waterfall in the world.

Xavier, the youngest of our two Edinburgh grandsons.

Cairnmillar Castle an easy walk from where we were staying.

Edinburgh museum - on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Perth Bridge built in the 1700's - quite impressive.

St John's Church in the middle of Perth, Scotland. It was once Catholic, but John Knox preached a sermon against Idolatry, and a riot broke out against the Catholics. Now it is Church of Scotland.

Anthony's chapel part way up Arthur's seat in Edinburgh.

The summit of Arthurs seat.

The Blog's title

I am a Workplace Chaplain to the NZ fireservice.

At the firestation every time one man sees me he yells, "Here comes JC's helper!". I guess I am happy to be called just that... "Jesus' helper". I am a follower of Jesus.
A a quote from Dave Andrews in his book, "Not Religion but Love".
"Being a devotee of Jesus is not a matter of subscribing to a certain set of dogmas, obeying rules and regulations, and getting others to subordinate themselves to them.

The essence of being a devotee of Jesus is to live in sympathy with God as Jesus did; feeling the throb of God's heartbeat, and teaching our hearts to learn to beat in sync with the love that sustains the universe.

It means developing our capacity to sense intuitively what causes love pleasure, and what causes love pain, and doing everything we can to enhance the pleasure, and diminish the pain."

I love this charter.

The Charter for Compassion

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.