she said yes!! October 30, 2008
Posted by rickhill in Thoughts.Tags: benone, binevenagh, engagement, rick & sarah
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so tuesday afternoon was the nerve wrecking time to ask the father’s permission. could hardly hold it from craig and tommy when we went out after training on tuesday night.
then got up yesterday to buy the ring i’d picked last week and then pick up sarah for our wee day together up north. she was completely oblivious to the ridiculously huge box for such a tiny little object that i was carrying in my pocket.
after a stop for lunch and a quick nip into a couple of shops we drove towards the north coast, hitting a snow storm en route!! awful weather but sarah seemed to love it!
my target was to get to the top of Binevenagh – an incredible mountain view near Benone overlooking Co. Donegal and seemingly half of the rest of the north coast. we had to abandon the car halfway up due to the snow and then wrap up warm. we didn’t quite reach the top but stopped at a nice wee viewing point for some photos.
my knee hit the dirt leading to frostbite in the joints as sarah bounced about asking me if i was serious…cos that would have been a lovely prank to play of course!! i’m thankful that the title of this blog is true and we had an amazing rest of the day together. laughing. looking ahead. eating lots. sharing the news with our parents and then friends. and even sneaking an after midnight match of the day at sarah’s friends house.
nerve jangling?? ….yes!! worth it….absolutely!!
a break has arrived… October 27, 2008
Posted by rickhill in Thoughts.Tags: refreshment, relaxation, rest
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so after doing 3 weekends in the past month, recording a cd, working flat out i’m feeling really good about taking a week off work. feels like i was crawling towards it a bit to be honest so this week i’m looking forward to the following:
:: a round of golf
:: a cinema visit with sarah
:: long lie ins 4 out of 5 days!
:: doing lots of reading
:: a couple of lunches to catch up with some folks
:: swell seasons in concert
:: a trip to the gym
:: a wee bit of football manager 08!
:: up to the north coast for the day with sarah
:: day out with some mates on friday
sounds good to me. know it will be refreshing. how do you relax?
great lyrics by the prophet bono… October 26, 2008
Posted by rickhill in Thoughts.Tags: bono, lyrics, sometimes you can't make it on your own, u2
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“Sometimes you can’t make it on your own”
Tough
You think you’ve got the stuff
You’re telling me and anyone
You’re hard enough
You don’t have to put up a fight
You don’t have to always be right
Let me take some of the punches
For you tonight
Listen to me now
I need to let you know
You don’t have to go it alone
Where are we now?
I’ve still got to let you know
A house still doesn’t make a home
Don’t leave me here alone
And it’s you that makes it hard to let go
Sometimes you can’t make it on your own
Best you can do is to fake it
Sometimes you can’t make it on your own
what does your name mean?! October 25, 2008
Posted by rickhill in Thoughts.Tags: meanings, names, richard
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Richard: Means “brave power”, derived from the Germanic elements ric “power, rule” and hard “brave, hardy”.
The Normans introduced this name to Britain. It was borne by three kings of England including Richard the Lionheart, leader of the Third Crusade in the 12th century.
Two German opera composers, Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, have also had this name.
my first love… October 24, 2008
Posted by rickhill in Thoughts.Tags: fans, gary linekar, gazza, spurs, tottenham hotspur
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i need to blog about this to get it out of my system. perhaps i will find some strange healing in the process!!!
i remember it clearly. watching the world cup as a 5 year old i fell in love with 2 english footballers. 1 was the seemingly perfect character of gary linekar and the other was the flair, excitement and passion of gazza. that was me hooked. hooked on football, but also on the club side they played for when they weren’t representing englad…tottenham hotspur.
success quickly followed the very next year as my new found team won the FA Cup, helping to cement my support for them. was it always going to be as good as this?
looking back on the last 17 years with only 2 minor trophies to count, it’s been a long and fairly tough journey supporting the mighty spurs! but then football is all about sticking with your team in the hills and troughs. following a team is for the good times and the bad.
but the past month has been the worst i ever remember as a spurs fan. bottom of the league. the threat of relegation. haven’t won a league match since april. goalkeeping errors. injuries. red cards. penalties conceded. can’t score a goal. just when i think it can’t get any worse, it manages to with every match.
despite it all, i’m stuck with my hapless club and strangely even still proud to call my self a spurs supporter. there are little enough of us anyway…!!
pointing you elsewhere October 17, 2008
Posted by rickhill in Thoughts.Tags: blog silence, jude hill, mel wiggins, other blogs i read
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i’m heading away to lead an SU pupil leadership training weekend so there won’t be any blogging this end. in my silence why not check out this great post by mel or hop over here for news of my sisters cool trip to india
we believe… October 15, 2008
Posted by rickhill in Thoughts.Tags: football, green and white army, northern ireland, windsor park
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epic rollercoaster. officially the best fans in europe. i’m in there somewhere!!
more of the same tonight we hope…
words within words October 12, 2008
Posted by rickhill in Thoughts.Tags: courage, encourage, words, youth
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i love words. maybe it’s because i love communicating but words are important to me.
was sitting in a training session with youth leaders from my church the other night and we were talking about helping young people to have more courage. perhaps i’m stupid but i’d never seen the word ‘courage’ with the word ‘encouragement’ before!!
so obvious when i saw it but isn’t that what encouragement is all about?? providing courage for those people who need it…
and isn’t that what negative words do to people? create fear and set people up to falter. they DIScourage!!
maybe we could all provide more courage to people today through our words…
young people who gave generously October 9, 2008
Posted by rickhill in Thoughts.Tags: ballymena, spark 08, living generously, 24/7 prayer, action, guatemala
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and in light of my previous post, i am so pleased to say that in the midst of it all, young people at Spark 08 responded to reach out to the poverty stricken of our world. as i spoke on joining God in the rubble of our world, i offered some practical responses. to see young people not just reach out to their own community of ballymena, but to those living far off was humbling.
through the amazing Living Generously project sponsored through 24/7 prayer, here’s how they did it:
Guatemala
:: providing 2 street children a safe and comfortable place to stay for a week
:: paying for a loving home to be provided to 3 scared & malnourished street kids
:: provide schooling for 5 of the poorest of the poor
:: sponsor a couple to become houseparents for a family of street children
:: provide medical care for 3 street children
:: pay for the first stage of detox for a street child
:: give a street child the chance to go to school
:: provide meals on a rehab program for street kids
:: help support 3 high risk families to keep it together
Malawi
:: supporting a child in the Maoni Orphanage
Ethiopia
:: providing a child sponsorship package to 2 children for one month
Colombia
:: house a child at risk from Colombia’s terror groups
UK
:: provide a trip to a Theme Park for 3 young people with special needs
India
:: support a building project to home AIDS orphans and provide medical care
humbling…
a bit of perspective perhaps…? October 8, 2008
Posted by rickhill in Thoughts.Tags: credit crunch, economic crisis, petrol, poverty, zimbabwe
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maybe it’s just me but i’m getting a bit sick of hearing about this credit crunch and economic crisis – 2 phrases that are just filling our news headlines every single day. every radio phone in seems to be talking about it and many people i speak to are moaning about it.
yes, the price of petrol has been horrendous and inflation is a bit mad. and, don’t get me wrong, i genuinely symphathise for those who are badly affected by it – like my mates in the building industry who are struggling for work right now and are being laid off.
but amidst it all, i can’t help thinking about those in central america, south east asia and much of africa, whose lives are devastated by poverty and wrecked by homelessness. these are the real credit crunch sufferers and those who need the hand up and hand out. we are so self indulged by our own economic problems that the plight of zimbabwe has gone off the radar. we are only glimpsing in the tiniest part what daily life looks like for these people.
and so because of these people’s constant struggles and situations, i’m just a bit sick of hearing people gurning about the price of fuel and their lack of money. it smacks of ignorance as we still remain among the richest 10% of people in the world.
am i being too harsh here??
for me it’s been a timely reminder that i shouldn’t be storing up treasures here on earth anyway – no matter, how hard i try. jesus warned us that ’moth and rust’ destroy these things and so the challenge remains to “…store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” – jesus (matt 6:20)
