Secret Women's Business

Just in case you missed "Missing Missy"

Just tried the new coffee - Osama Bin Latte. It has a fluffy white head with two shots in it. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says 'Dam!' Then there was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did. Atheism is a non-prophet organization. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian. Did you know that 6 of the 7 dwarfs aren't Happy? Two antennas fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.' Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again th...

Scientists can tell us about space and energy and atoms and enzymes and DNA… which is all fascinating. And the deeper into the science you go, the more it draws you into wonder. That anything exists at all is fantastical; miraculous! But human beings make sense of their lives not via disconnected facts but via stories and rituals. Small children thrive on routine and rituals: mealtimes, playtimes, bathtimes, storytimes, bedtimes. Their minds and hearts expand via stories. Stories help children to make sense of chaos, clarify a sense of morality, give names and metaphors to human experience, gain insight into relationships, expand their imagination. At Easter time we retell an extraordinary story of a victim of injustice, misguided religious zeal and corrupt power. A story of the brutal murder of an innocent man. A story of sacrifice. Stories about sacrifice are repeated across the ages and in contemporary culture. Carton dying in the place of Darnay in A Tale of Two Cities ; Jac...

Back when studying teaching in the murky depths of the last millennium, when introducing a new concept we were advised to: • Name it • Define it • Identify and discuss its qualities • Show examples • Show non-examples This idea is explained here , and some examples of this in practice are here and here and here . I’ll admit I was rather taken by the idea of non-examples . They clarify boundaries, and eliminate fuzziness. They are a powerful way to learn. I’ve been wondering lately whether this is also true for some leadership competencies? Might it be easier to learn from non-examples… or bad examples… than from good examples? To illustrate: Have you ever had a manager who avoided making decisions? Decisions that NEEDED to be made? It's painful! It’s a non-example of good leadership. This kind of experience strengthens my resolve not to be like that, but to make decisions in a timely fashion. At the other extreme, have you ever known a leader who rushed to ...

On a Facebook conversation recently l pointed out a factually incorrect claim, and posted a reputable link pointing out the error. OK, you don’t expect applause when you correct such things, but I was interested in this response: "You believe what you want to, just as I do." This was my exasperated reply: "Believe what you want to? I trained as a scientist. I believe where facts lead me. And l seem to spend half my life fact checking with so much bogus information circulating. It's exhausting. Welcome to the post truth world." I’ve had another intelligent friend sending me links lately with completely false information. I’ve kept replying in statements like this: “That’s from Brietbart News, famous for promoting blatantly fake stories such as ‘Hillary runs a paedophile ring’. It’s not a reputable source. No, that one is from Joseph Farah, who keeps claiming Obama was born in Kenya when this has been proven false. No that one is from RT, Russia Toda...

It’s possible to drift in coaching relationships. They can become a pleasant catch up, but be relatively ineffective in helping another grow personally, spiritually, and vocationally. Indeed, they can become frustrating sessions, where old issues are re-hashed with little evidence of increasing maturity or responsibility in the coachee. One of the most important steps in keeping coaching relationships effective is contracting well. Expectations need to be crystal clear, with key goals / growth areas identified at the outset. Some of the expectations that should be built in to a powerful coaching agreement/contract include: * preparation for sessions . The coachee should agree to bring an issue to every session. * commitment to action steps. The coachee is clear s/he desires to grow, and commits to implementing any actions arising from each session. * regular meetings . If meetings are only very occasional or are made on an ad-hoc basis, the coachee may feel little pressure t...

Last week I had two friends independently tell me I should be writing more. I've had the impression this just might be a Divine hint. In reality, I write all the time! Emails, Facebook, messages, reports, articles... so I thought I might start recording some of my incidental writing in this severely neglected blog. My most interesting email today expressed concern about this resource on baptism, because it refers to Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. It claimed this reference was evidence of witchcraft infiltrating Churches of Christ. How would you respond to such a claim? This was my reply: Dear Worried About Witchcraft, Thanks for expressing your concerns and the respectful tone of your email. I formerly taught at a Christian school. Once staff there intervened to rescue C.S. Lewis' classic allegory "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" from a group of parents' bonfire purge of all "witchcraft" references from the library. My perso...