Author: Carol Purves

2,500 pink ladies ran, jogged or walked 5 or 10 km in memory of loved ones who had died of cancer.  The same scene has taken place this summer in many towns throughout Great Britain. This year I joined our local race in memory of many friends and to give thanks to being a cancer survivor and having a leg by-pass operation.

Dog walkers and pram pushers also joined the group. It was an emotional morning just seeing the people there.  Many teenagers were remembering grand parents which was not surprising. Others were running in memory of a father or mother. That was upsetting.

The most emotional sight was a young man clutching the hand of a young child as they jogged. I imagined they were there in memory of a wife and mother. I can only trust that large amounts of money have been raised to help wipe out this dreadful disease.

Carol, a survivor

For those of you who live in the north of England, the Keswick Convention commences today.  Do visit if you can.  For those of you who live in other parts of the world, please pray. Many people attend and many lives are affected for good.

Carol, a conventioner

I posed the question the other day, do we dream in colour? Last night I did. The concert hall was full of people waiting to hear a prize winner play the drums (I, of course, was that prize winner, how egotistical) Can you imagine crowds of people gathering to hear a middle aged woman, just playing drums? (Which incidentally I have never played in real life) In my dream I knew that I was the prize winner, but I also didn’t know and it was going to be a surprise.

Now the colour bit. I was dressed in a beautiful Elizabethan lime green velvet dress and looked wonderful!! The colour was so clear I can see it now and feel the texture. I really don’t think this dream has any meaning, except that I think too highly of myself

Carol, the non musician

A neighbour told me the other day that she thought Christians were serious people who didn’t know how to enjoy themselves. She should have come to one of our meetings. We have many laughs, write amusing things  and leave with our worries lifted a little bit. All Christians should be joyful, we have such good news which we want everyone to know about. Maybe in our enthusiasm we get over serious, but inside we should be singing all the time.

Some of our writings about ‘Dreams’ was hilarious. One person wrote about Biblical dreamers – David, Samuel, Joshua. One wrote a poem from his own anthology of poems. One visited New Zealand which was a dream come true. Another questioned whether we dream in colour and whether we can smell in dreams. One wrote about a dream (or was it) in the style of Lewis Carroll, Tolkin and C.S.Lewis.  That had us crying with laughter on every page.

One gem that someone quoted was ‘The worst kind of church split is where no-one leaves.’ Think about that for a moment.’

Carol, the joyous writer

It is great to have hits from all over the world. So greetings to Africa – Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lithuania, Morocco, Mozambique, and South Africa.

The world is getting smaller and smaller.

Carol, from England

On Sunday 12th July I shall be taking part in the 5k Race for Life. This is in aid of Cancer Research. I am doing this to celebrate my recovery from cancer and the successful outcome of my leg by-pass operation. If you would like to sponsor this good cause go to www.justgiving.com/carolpurves.

Thank you very much

Carol, the cancer survivor.

What a grand name for a holiday and one that lived up to it’s name. To begin with the weather became good on the first day and remained so until the end. The persistant cold wind disappeared. Then the scenery of Scotland was second to none.

We visited various lochs – Katrine, Lomond, Long, Fyne,Eck, And famous Holy Loch, and sailed on the first two. Every peak in sight we climbed ; well the coach did the climbing actually. I don’t do Monroes now. We travelled along the Clyde and sailed on the Forth.  The Falkirk Wheel was visited and experienced.

As I wrote on my postcards home, weather – excellent, company – good, food – to much and scenery – Scottish.

Carol, the Scottish traveller

What a great time we had at this meeting of Christian writers.  It is supportive to share our faith and the writing we have been doing. We started by praying for our members who were not with us; some of whom have family and health problems.

The subject ‘An Early Memory’, sparked many ideas. Mephibosheth and his infant fall which caused him to be crippled in both feet was remember, a number of war memories were relived (that shows the age of some of us), one five year old arranged a birthday party which her mother knew nothing about, with disastrous results and one member as a young lad for the first time was presented with a plate which had a place for a sandwich and an indent to one side for the cup. He announced in a loud voice ‘In our house we have the indent in the centre of the plate!’

Carol, a C.C.W. member

It is lovely to receive ‘hits’ from all over the world. Although I don’t know who you are, I can still say ‘thank you’ and ‘welcome.’

So welcome to so many ‘hitters’ from Brazil, United States, Germany, China, Ireland, South Korea and of course United Kingdom.

More welcomes next time.

Carol, the global ‘hit’ receiver.

We have just been blessed in Carlisle with a couple of days teaching from Tim Chester, of the Crowded House, Sheffield, who is also the author of 20 books. His teaching was from Exodus 32, 33, and 34. when we learned of God’s dealings with Moses.

On the Saturday there were also activities for four groups of young people of all ages. Although some people managed to attend all four meetings, in total there were 500 people. A great encouragement to the organiszers. On the Sunday morning Tim preached at our church of God’s patience with a fallen people.

All we have to do now is apply it.

Carol.