I've Moved

Hi,

My blog has moved!

I now have my own website at http://thedistinctdot.com/ and that includes my blog (http://thedistinctdot.com/blog/), so I will no longer be updating this Blogger blog anymore.

Please join me in my new website where I will continue to blog daily, as well as providing other resources you my find useful.

I'd appreciate it it if you could change any links you have to this blog, to my new website http://thedistinctdot.com/

I look forward to your comments on my new website.

Thanks,
Dot :)

Just As I Am

One of my favourite hymns, Just As I Am, is a song I turn to often when I simply need to remind myself that God loves me just the way I am.

God loves each one of us just as we are, with all our faults and failings, all our joys and all our fears. God will always love us just as we are.

I personally find verses 3 and 5 of Just As I Am, are those I turn to for reassurance:

Just as I am, though tossed about

With many a conflict, many a doubt,

Fightings within and fears without,

O Lamb of God, I come!

Just as I am, thou wilt receive,

Wilt welcome , pardon, cleanse, relieve,

Because thy promise I believe,

O Lamb of God, I come!

Come to Jesus today, He has promised to welcome you with open arms.

Love is With You

Love's Been Following You (by Twila Paris)

I know sometimes it's hard to believe it

But Love's been following you

From where I stand I'm able to see it

And Love's been following you

All through the stormy night

Didn't you see the light

Goodness and mercy right there behind you

Love's been following you

Some days your heart just couldn't be colder

But Love's been following you

All you have learned just makes you feel older

But Love's been following you

You think that no one cares

Still Love is always there

He would go anywhere just to find you

Love's been following you

Love has been following you

Love's been following you

Love has been following you

Following you

Following you

Somehow the road just seems to get longer

But Love's been following you

Wait for the One who will make you stronger

`Cause Love's been following you

Wherever you go from here

Run far away from fear

Keep one thing near and believe it's true

Love's been following you

Love's been following you

Love's been following you

Love is always with you, in front of you, behind you, and beside you...God is always with you!

Salvation Army International Facts

Matthew 28:18-20
Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."

Having provided you with some details on Tuesday this week about the Salvation Army and it's work in the UK (Salvation Army Facts), I thought today I'd share with you some more information about the Salvation Army's work internationally:

• The Salvation Army is currently working in 115 countries workldwide
• There are 175 languages used in SA work, including some tribal languages
• There are 15,175 corps, outposts, societies, new plants and recovery churches
• 1,155 goodwill centres exist
• There are 25,974 officers/ministers of which 16,945 are active and 9,029 are retired
• 107,902 people are employed by the Salvation Army
• There are 1,082,166 senior soldiers
• 190,215 adherents of the Salvation Army
• 360,222 commissioned junior soldiers
• There are 25,653 senior band musicians and 94,921 senior songsters
• In addition there are 45,753 other senior musical group members
• There are 128,854 senior and young people’s local officers (leaders)
• 564,566 people are members of women’s ministries (all groups)
• 359,230 people attend the Over-60 clubs
• There are 74,072 men’s fellowships members
• There are 10,652 poung people’s band members and 79,665 young people’s singing company members
• In addition there are 55,776 other young people’s music groups members
• 612,533 Sunday schools members
• Junior youth groups (scouts, guides, etc, and clubs) have 236,067 members
• Senior youth groups have 79,912 members
• There are 23,035 corps-based community development programmes
• 1,603 thrift stores/charity shops
• 26 recycling centres

Statistics included in this post have been taken from the Salvation Army's International Headquarters website.

My Love of Music

I think my love of music started at a very early age as both my Mum and Dad were always very musically minded.

My Dad is a big fan of jazz/big band music and as a keen musician has played in many bands over the years. He also spends a lot of time arranging/composing music for some of the bands/soloists he knows.

On the other hand, my Mum's side of the family grew up attending the Salvation Army and as such were heavily involved in both the singing groups and the bands - My grandfather having been the leader of the first singing group (Songsters) at Rutherglen corps!

I remember when I was very young, climbing up on the piano stool beside my Dad while he "tried out" some of his arrangements/compositions - Apparently I was a "great help"!

As soon as I turned seven I started piano lessons and continued this for a number of years, going through the exams up to Grade 8. It wasn't always easy but thankfully I stuck at it.

Although having been taken along to the Salvation Army at Rutherglen from a very early age, and giving my heart to Jesus at age seven, I never joined the junior band (Young People's Band) until I was about 11 or 12 as my piano lessons were the same night as the learners class! Even when I did initially join it was to play percussion!!!

After a short while I was given a trombone, a short lesson on how to hold it, blow into it and the various slide positions for the notes and the rest is history as they say! That was my one and only trombone lesson (and yes I know that explains a lot!) - My Dad and one of my cousins both being trombone players, then became the source of the rest of my trombone training.

Between learning the piano and trombone, I also learned to play clarinet, although I did continue to play my clarinet for a number of years, I'm afraid it's now been a while since I last played it.

After all this while I was still at Rutherglen Salvation Army, age 18, I became a uniform wearing Salvationist - during this time still in the Singing Company (junior choir) and  YP Band (junior band), but also joined the Songsters (senior choir) and Senior Band. Not long after becoming a Salvationist I became pianist for the Singing Company (junior choir), and then also for the Songsters (senior choir). A little later I took on the roll of Deputy Songster Leader and a little later again followed in my grandfather's footsteps by taking on the roll of Songster Leader for about two and a half years. After a short break from the Songsters I took on roll of Songster pianist for the second time. I also following in my Dad's footsteps, by composing several songs for the songsters and arranging music for several soloist.

In 2002 I transferred to Bellshill Salvation Army where I'm a member of the Senior Band.

So there you go, that's my musical background! Having had a grounding in music from an early age, I've also found music to be a very important part of my life and especially my Christian life. I've found over the years in so many situations that a piece of music or a song can say more to me than anything another person can say. Music seems to be able to touch my heart and emotions to a greater extent than anything else, so I do treasure the times when I get to just sit and listen to music.

So what's my favourite music?

That's very hard to say, because I often find it depends greatly on how I feel at the time I'm asked! I love a very wide variety of music and style, however it may not surprise you when I list several Christian or Salvation Army songs/pieces of music as my favourites:

- Lord I Come To You (The Power of Your Love)

- The Light of the World

- Just As I Am

- Milestone


I've used it before but here's an video of Lord I come To You which I find inspiring and emotional from the start of the video:

Salvation Army Facts

Following on from yesterday's blog post, Language and Uniform, I realised that talked about the Salvation Army as if all of you know a lot about it - this was very remise of me, so to put it right I thought today I'd share some facts with you about the Salvation Army:

• The Salvation Army came into existence in 1878 - This was when the then Christian Mission changed its name to The Salvation Army.
• The founder of the Salvation Army was William Booth who was born in Nottingham in 1829.
• The Salvation Army is a registered charity
• Many of the terms used in the Salvation Army have army associations:
• Our ministers are called Officers (Captain, Major, ..., General etc)
• Our local churches are called Corps
• Many corps have junior and senior bands and/or choirs
• Junior band is known as the Young People's Band or YP Band
• Junior choir is known as the Singing Company
• Senior choir is known as the Songsters
• Senior band is known as....the Senior Band!
• Within the UK, there are currently approximately:
• 50,000 members (adult, junior and adherent members)
• 4,000 employees
• 1,500 Salvation Army officers (full-time ministers)
• And within the UK the Salvation Army provides a range of services, including:
• 3,000,000 meals served every year at community and residential centres
• 79,000 prisoners visited each year in 134 prisons
• 3,200 homeless people given food and shelter every night in 57 centres
• 709 local church and community centres
• 636 elderly people accommodated every night in 17 residential centres
• 300 youth clubs providing a caring environment for young people
• 120 drop-in centres offering support and help for people in need
• 70 day centres for elderly and disabled people
• 50 nurseries and playgroups
• 30 Red Shield support centres for military personnel in the UK, Germany and the Falkland Islands
• 10 people reunited every working day with their families through the Family Tracing Service
• 6 residential centres for victims of alcohol and drug abuse
• 6 centres for families and one community home for children
• 2 centres for people with special needs
• 2 employment training centres
• 1 centre for women escaping from domestic violence

 
So there you go, I hope you've learned something from this information about the Salvation Army. You can find out more about the Salvation Army and it's work in the UK at http://www1.salvationarmy.org.uk/uki/www_uki.nsf
 
The statistics used above were taken from the Salvation Army's UK website: http://www1.salvationarmy.org.uk/uki/www_uki.nsf

Language and Uniform

When I was in my office on Friday last week, during a general conversation that was based around the closure of Borders and specificly the one at the Glasgow Fort, the word "hoaching" was used to describe the Borders during it's final days before closure.

I knew exactly what was meant, but one of the other folk who is not Scottish did not understand what was "hoaching" meant, despite having lived in the West of Scotland for quite a number of years now.

So, now I've given you a clue that "hoaching" is a Scottish word, do you know what it means?

Hoaching means:
- To have a plentyful supply of
- To teem with

- Busy

While those definitions explain what "hoaching" means I personally still think "hoaching" is a far better descriptive word of just how very busy Borders was.

Isn't funny how everyday we use words which we assume those around us understand. But do we as Christians use words to explain our beliefs and our faith, in a way non believers can understand?

My Thoughts...

I have no answer to this question for you, this is a question we must each answer based on our own experiences. Don't be surprised if you find your answer is "no" because, personally I think that we as Christians, can often seem a different breed to non Christians because of the words/phases we use when talking about our our faith and the Bible.

Although I've attended the Salvation Army all my life, and have been a uniform wearing Salvationist for a number of years now, it doesn't stop me from feeling that maybe the Salvation Army isn't as welcoming and open to everyone as it likes to think it is.

So what do I mean by that? Well going back on my previous comments about how the way Christians talk may put non believers off finding out more, I think that sometimes the Salvation Army can be seen as an exclusive club, only accessible to those who wear their specific uniform.

Just a few thoughts today to get you all thinking at the start of another week!

I'd be interested to hear your views on what I've said today, so please comment on my blog.