The Final Countdown…

Well my last post was a little cheesy, so thought I’d write something more sombre next and what could be more appropriate than a list I recently wrote of things I want to achieve before I die?!  They are in no particular order and as you can see, some are perhaps more easily attainable than others!

• Go to Egypt –go inside a pyramid, see the Great Sphinx, the Nile River, etc.
• Go to the Holy Land –Israel, The Golgotha, Bethlehem, Nazareth, River Jordan, The Dead Sea, etc.
• Sleep under the stars…I don’t care where, just outside without a tent
• Camp in a forest away from civilisation (apart from anyone else camping with me..I’m not crazy enough to do it totally alone!), catch my own fish and cook it on a camp fire I made
• Cook a roast dinner
• Grow something myself and eat it
• Meet Jonathon Davis the lead singer of KoRn (I've already met the singers from my other 2 favourite bands; Marilyn Manson and Corey Taylor from Slipknot)
• Meet the Queen
• Write a kind of autobiography (even if I’m the only one who reads it!). I already have a title and everything!
• Have an article about myself on Wikipedia
• Get married, or equivalent
• Have children, not necessarily biologically, I’m quite taken by the idea of adoption
• Go in a hot air balloon
• Ride an elephant
• Play with a lion cub
• Go into space! Walk on the moon or another planet!
• Plan my own funeral

I created the Sound of Madness, wrote the book on pain, somehow I'm still here to explain...

Most people will think this is a joke. It’s not. The second caption is literally me the last 12 months.

Let’s rewind –12 months ago my life began to change and it’s an understatement to say I didn’t find it easy! I spent from then til now being dragged, from and through what felt like hell, dragged by God, dragged by my friends, dragged by my family, dragged by the Christian community I live and work in. I didn’t see it at the time, I didn’t see anything other than a constant battle to survive, but I was a nightmare and a disaster. I honestly don’t know how I can be standing here now so well, healthy and happy, considering where I was several months back.

 

How did I do it? I didn’t. God did.

It really is a miracle that I’m here in this position now. God really has dragged me along, whether I wanted to be or not, and placed me down, after walking full circle, back to near where I began. And when I say placed me down, I mean to walk along side me again, until the time I need carrying, or even dragging, again.

God also did it by sending me angels in the form of my friends to drag me through it all.

I don’t really know how or why they did it, but I’ve been simply amazed and I appreciate it more than words can say, that they stuck along all that time continuing to drag me through life, to get me to the point I am today.
There’s only so long your friends can drag a dead weight though and so you’ve got to help yourself too somewhere along the line. I would say, to help get yourself back to where you were, but there’s no way I can honestly say that. I can’t deny that the last 12 months hasn’t affected me personally or changed me in any way. I would be a fool and a liar to say it hasn’t. In some ways I am back where I was, I’m re-committed to being the best person I can be in all aspects of my life. I’m reaffirmed stronger than ever in the beliefs and values I hold and will strive to uphold them in every walk of my life. I’m stronger than I was. I’m more myself than I was. I am, quite frankly, amazing!!–joke!!!

Question: Will I always be the best person I can be and the person I should be? If I’m honest, sadly not. I’ve a whole lifetime left in front of me (scary thought!) and I know I’ll make more mistakes yet, as much as I hope and pray that I don’t.

So what really am I blabbing on about? It’s time to stop looking back. It’s time to look around where I am now and to see that the people who are with me now are the real people that matter. And it’s time to start walking for myself, and with the friends I've got, I'll not only be walking, but running, dancing and laughing alongside them all quicker than you can say 'life's for living', and, as we say in Church, ‘with the help of God, I will’...



Look At Me Now

It's hard to know what to put in a first post, or rather, what not to put in it! It would be impossible to list every moment and everything that has happened in my life to make me who I am today and where I am today, in an attempt to explain who on earth I am! It would also probably be a futile exercise since I assume the vast majority, if not all, of people reading this know me anyway and you probably all have a slightly different idea in your head and heart of who 'George' is anyway.

So, to keep it short....like me!!!...I'll simply say that as I type this moment, I'm a relatively recently ordained Anglican Priest, working as a Curate in a Team Ministry in a Parish that serves 3 churches and a population of about 20,000 people in the East Midlands of England (though I've lived, studied and/or worked in a few places, this is where I currently am).  I have a huge love of various shapes and shades of rock and metal music (indeed the more musically-minded amongst you will soon notice that all my post titles are song titles or lyrics, and mainly rock or metal songs).  And since God, music and my life are all so completely and totally entwined, many posts will probably mention one or the other, or more invariably, both, But there is much more to me than this, so there will still be several posts that mention neither my faith or my music -indeed, my mind is currently processing thoughts on cats, chocolate, conspiracy theories, politics, mental illness, equality issues, jokes, Coronation Street, past relationships, new relationships, contradictions, tea, travel, friends, family, pain, social networking, films, university days, and hair dye, and that's just an average Tuesday night in the life of George...

So the only thing left to say at this stage is that the frequency I post on this blog will probably be a bit erratic.  I might post 3 times one week and then nothing for a fortnight, will just see how it goes really!

And finally, so there really is no confusion of who is writing this (and clearly not because I'm overly vain!), here's a couple of photo of me!lol