"Prayer should be backed up with work, not backing up our work with prayer"

"Prayer should be backed up with work, not backing up our work with prayer"
Backing up our work with prayer is a common misconception among Christians and it can become very confusing among Christians especially when things don't go to plan for them. Because they think "Yes"- I have prayed, "Yes"- I have faith and "Yes"- I have worked hard. If prayer is your back-up plan then all it is ever going to be is your back-up plan. We must put God first.
Many people think when we say put God first it means it means that when we wake-up in the morning we should pray to God even I sometimes think this. But if we think about it, it doesn't mean putting God first in the day. It means putting God first throughout the day.
And if you are backing up your work with prayer you are not putting God first.
The Bible says in James 2 vs 26- "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (New Kings James Bible)
It doesn't say that work without faith is dead. Even though that is partly true, we must have the faith and then work before we can work with faith.
Having faith and praying before you work to me is like fuel that carries you and it will carry you so much further than if you are working and then whenever something goes wrong you pray. I call these kind of prayers survival prayers or panic prayers.
Even if something does go wrong when you pray beforehand, you will have the confidence or the faith that God will help, just simply because you have prayed.
In Church we were looking at the importance of planning.
Most successful people plan before they work which is great. But as Christians we should learn to pray, plan and then work. The PPW- I like to call.
In fact we can even think of it as the PPP- Prayer, Plan and Progress. If we pray and plan we will progress.
Prayer doesn't substitute for planning and planning doesn't substitute prayer.
Jeremiah 29 vs 11 "I alone know the plans I have you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to to bring about the future you hope for" (good news)
It clearly states that God has plans for us. So as we pray to God he will reveal he has for us and then we can plan how we are going to fulfil God's plan for us. In fact, God is so great that he will help us plan and he will also help us when it comes to doing the work. So when you come to think of it since God is with us every step of the way there isn't really a problem.
Again as I said earlier if prayer is your back-up plan it will always continue to be your back-up plan. And like all back-up plans it only works once everything else has failed. I think the best thing we can do is to think of it as a sandwich and back-up our prayer with work and back-up our work with prayer.

Fitness routine for the month of August

I know I am completely guilty I have not blogged in a long time.  I am too ashamed to say how long that is. And no, I do not have any excuse. So being the 1st August and being on my Summer vacation- YES!! No school for a month!! I just thought I will share my plans for the month August before I go back to school. And part of my plans for August is to definitely blog more. So this is my fitness routine for August and yes I know I have already uploaded lots of routines in the past that I try to follow. I am not too sure if I will make this a page or not, it depends I know I already have a couple of pages. I may reshuffle them. And also one last thing to end this long introduction I will be editing my pages so beware...

And this is great if you don't want to go to the gym

Fitness Routine
I do pretty much everything in this order.

Flexibility

• Sit on knees (hold for 1 min)
• Sit cross-legged similar to yoga pose and lean forward (1 minute)
• Straddle stretch ( I call them V legs)  (1 min)
• Butterfly stretch (I call these ones diamond legs) (1 min)

Core

• Plank (1-2 min)
• Side plank (1 min)
• Side plank- other side (1 min)
• Superman plank (there are different versions of these I do the easy one- in which you lie down on your front and you lift your legs and arms off the ground) (1 min)
• Flutter kicks (50 in total. 25 each leg)
• Russian twists without the medicine ball (50 in total 25 each side)
• Leg lifts (50 in total- I tend to do 10 reps 5 times)
• Bicycle kicks (50 in total. 25 each kick?)

Cardio

• Running up and down the stairs-- (we have a lot of stairs where I live- so as you can see I barely leave the house, and I do these until I am really tired which is after 1 minute- that was not a sarcastic comment)
• Optional: Jump rope/ Skipping rope- whatever you want to call it. (100 reps in total. 50 take a break then another 50.)

I just thought I would do this to inspire people if they want to get fit and healthy over the summer. As you can probably tell I am trying to work on my cardio, abs and flexibility. I am definitely not an athletic person- I am not any sports teams or anything and I am also that kind of person that dreads P.E

Note: No, I am not trying to lose weight. I actually want to join the cross country club at my school- and in order to do that I need to prepare.

My view on: Gun laws in America

Most of us know that Obama is trying to change American gun laws. For now, we don't know much about how he is going to do it, but many people say that he is going to ban laws altogether. Considering the enormous debate with Piers Morgan against Alex Jones and another previous interview; banning guns is going to be the hardest thing ever for any president to do. And what if another president comes after Obama and says that he wants to give America back their guns, that would be such a waste on Obama's part, and with the health care battle as well, is it safe to say that Obama has bitten off more than he can chew?
This is just what I think that Obama should do, or better still, what I would do if I were president.
I wouldn't ban guns. Banning guns is kind of an impossible task, many people in America love their guns and there is a possibility that there are more guns than people and what is the government going to do with those guns? Send them to the military? Recycle them?
 I think it is the bullet that we should be looking out for. Gun-lovers tend to say that it is 'Guns don't kill people its people that kill people', but in the gun it is the bullet that kills people, the gun just produces the force. So once you separate the gun from the bullet your problem is half solved. I think that it is about time that America takes a page from one of the world's most war-infested country's book- Israel. In Israel, the Israelis are only allowed around 15 bullets for a life-time so you can have all the guns you like, but their  useless if you don't have the bullets. The gun-lovers in America claim that they need their gun for defence and that is fine, if everyone in America is limited to 15 bullets or less, people will think twice before shooting someone. So we won't exactly be taking away your guns we are just limiting the usage.
I wouldn't stop there; America needs to filter the amount of people with guns. Obama has said that he wants to ban magazines that are promoting guns, which is definitely a step in the right direction. I think the process that one needs to take to get a gun needs to be longer and more strenuous, by doing this some people will be discouraged and realise that it is not worth it. This can include really strict shooting classes, where you have to be punctual and alert and examined, maybe you even have to serve your country for a while before you get the gun. The age in which one can possess any gun should be raised, and should not vary according to state. And of course there should be thorough health checks, to see if one is mentally capable of possessing a gun- including how the person reacts when they are angry or frightened.
Back to the bullets, my mother also suggested and I think is a good idea is that people should only be allowed to have rubber bullets or a tranquilliser gun or any other kind of gun that is 'safe', so they won't kill, just harm. I was also thinking but this could be a little extreme that microchips should also be installed or just some sort of thing that can be used to monitor the gun. There should be a device installed inside the gun-owner's house so you can't take the gun outside the house- it would be like putting the gun under house arrest, and if it does the gun should make a really annoying, loud beeping sound that can't be stopped and the person's local authorities will be notified. So if indeed you are in possession of a gun to protect yourself than you would only keep the gun at home.
My last point is that you actually need a gun to protect yourself, people in America are allowed to use tear gas/pepper spray on attackers, some women carry rape whistles, self-defence methods can all be used. There are many things that one can use to defend themselves without actually killing the person
For now that is all. Please read and comment even if you disagree. I would love to hear your response.

The History Boys analysis/insight on Hector (zooming in on Hector)

I have literally just seen the televised  play of  The History boys. I know ‘literally’ is considered to be a 21st Century youthful urban slang. But as a matter of fact I can apply it in this context without the hint of sarcasm. I must warn you that this is my first review/analysis that I have published, others have been for school projects.

The history boys is a play written and directed by Alan Bennett it focuses on the dreams of 8 star pupils and their dream of getting into Oxbridge. Their teachers Mr. Hector of General Studies is book-loving creature, although I think book-loving is a quite a generic term for Mr. Hector. Mr. Irwin is also a teacher he is new and is brought in to help get the boys into Oxbridge, and he introduces a new teaching style that differs immensely from Mr. Hector’s general knowledge, calm and relaxing way of teaching. The Headmaster also known as Felix is really determined to make sure that the boys get admissions to the top universities.

Without the fancy introduction I am just going to jump straight into it with Mr. Hector

In the play on page 22 when Mr. Hector says “Dakin’s a good-looking boy, though somehow sad” Mrs. Lintott replies“You always think they’re sad, Hector, every time. Actually I wouldn’t have said he was sad…” I think the fact that Mrs Lintott says “you always think they’re sad” represents Mr. Hector’s character in someway, from the play we can extract the fact that Mr. Hector is ‘sad’ in general. But what makes this even more meaningful is the fact that he ‘always’ think they’re sad. It is sad on its own or heart-breaking (I know the word sad now has officially been made redundant) that Mr. Hector thinks that everyone is sad like him.  He doesn’t seem to realise that there is another side to life, and that is it possible for people to be happier.

Also we can note the fact that Posner is a ‘special character’ he is not like the other boys and seems to have his own view on things. He is the outlier out of all the 8 boys. But personally I find it a bit odd, but yet still note-worthy the fact that Irwin asks Posner about Hector and so does Mrs Lintott, the teachers do know that Posner is a lot like Mr.Hector, this character behaviour similarities is not a secret. Not that there should be any reason for it to be a secret. I know that this is a minuscule point to make, it is just something that I never realised.

There is a lot to say about this Mr. Hector’s character. Since Mr. Hector can’t live his own life he lives it through his students in some way, he inspires them to love what he loves.

Mr Hector and the groping of the boys’ genitals- (sorry for the graphic picture). I honestly believe that this is a two-way street. The audience is meant to think one of two things. Now, is it the fact that Mr. Hector is this literature-loving, book-reading guy that makes the disturbing act of groping young boys seem more innocent? Or is it completely the other way round, is it because Mr. Hector is this literature-loving, book-reading guy that makes the groping more disturbing? Because he should have known better. When you first read or watch the play the first scene shows the boys having fun, and they are undressing Mr.Hector (appropriately just the gloves, scarf and jacket) and when you are looking at it, it seems fine just some people having fun. The clever thing that Bennett does he doesn’t start with the molesting he allows you to get to know Hector in the classroom and then tells you about the molesting on the motorbike, so once you think you know Hector and are ready to pass a judgement all of a sudden you  are aware about this other side of him. But then when you later un-suspend your disbelief and think what if it was you in that situation allowing yourself to be groped like that. Mr. Hector would probably be in jail by now, no matter how kind he is. If it was me personally I would think it was really inappropriate, but that may just have to do with the fact that, that is how our teachers are. Honestly the way you look at the sexual abuse tied in with Mr.Hector really depends on how you view things generally, are you going to look at the technical side of things like Mrs Lintott ‘a grope is a grope’ and the Headmaster or show more compassion based on who is doing it? Is it also possible to say that Mr.Hector is so absorbed into this world of literature that he cannot tell the diference between right and wrong (?)

When the Headmaster accuses Mr. Hector of molesting the boys. Mr. Hector replies “The transmission of knowledge is in itself an erotic act. In the Renaissance…” here, I am not entirely sure if Mr.Hector is saying this to defend himself or if that is what he actually thinks. But in the play it is noted that Hector locks the doors when teaching in his lessons. This may be a new thing he does now because of when Mr.Irwin walked in on their lesson to find Dakin in his underwear and he wanted to prevent another awkward event from happening again. The Headmaster tries to snap Hector out of this fantasy by saying “F*ck the Renaissance. And f*ck literature and Plato and Michelangelo and Oscar Wilde and all the shrunken violets you people line up. This is a school and it isn’t normal”

Afterwards when Mr. Hector goes back to his classroom to find that Posner is there waiting for him to teach him. Posner reads a poem by Hardy called Drummer Hodge after Posner reads this Hector uses some compound adjectives to describe how Hardy uses compound adjectives in his works “un-kissed, un-rejoicing, un-confessed, un-embraced, un-spent, un-fingermarked” Here we can see that this is how Hector feels, but the fact he uses compound adjectives to describe his feelings does make the feeling deeper, it is like the kiss, the rejoicing, the embracement has been taken away from him. It’s more than it has not happened to him yet, it is more like the idea of him feeling that is so far away, or something even worse has happened to him that it canceles out that good feeling so it is like he has never been kissed (even though he may have).

To expand that point even further, in some way it is safe to say that Hector needs the fondling on the motorbike scenario. He is married, but we get a strong impression that he is not in love. So the only and closest form of easement that he can get is the sexual pleasure from the boys, but deep down he knows that there is no love attached.

Hector also says “Whether because of diffidence or shyness, but a holding back. Not being in the swim…” This also tells us that Hector feels alone and the reason that he can’t progress is because there is something holding him back. “not being in the swim”- not being part of the crowd and being able to socailise freely. He seems unsure because he doesn’t know what is holding him back. Hector asks Posner if he understand what he means “Can you understand that?” Posner agrees this is a sign to show the audience how similar Posner and Hector are. They can understand each other.

New point. I think Mr. Hector is a hypocrite when he says “Pass the parcel. That’s sometimes all you can do. Take it, feel it and pass it on. Not for me, not for you, but for someone, somewhere, one day. Pass it on, boys. That’s the game I wanted you to learn. Pass it on.”  I know that is a long quote but in some ways Mr. Hector did not pass the parcel. He lived in it and shared bits of it, he didn’t completely move on. If you are confused the parcel it  is what I believe is the literature, culture artistic realms that Mr. Hector loved and fancied. Unless that was his ‘beyond the grave’ monologue then he is not entirely a hypocrite it could be what he has learned after looking back on his life and his mistakes: was that he lived in the parcel instead stepping out of that zone and passing on that knowledge fully.

Another theme of the play is the subjunctive and how it links to real-life. If you do French or another language. The subjunctive is the ‘if’ factor that changes the mood of a sentence to make it more doubtful. Hector is living in the subjunctive (we all are), but he is living in the negative side of it. He could do a lot more, but he doesn’t.

This is a little bit off topic here, but when I watched the play- the original version. The characters were nothing like I pictured. I pictured Mrs Lintott to be a lot younger. Mr Hector and Mr. Irwin were meant to look pretty much the same in my mind they represented Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde except none of them were evil. They looked the same in my mind to represent the fact that people that look so similar could be so different (in teaching styles) But I think it was a good thing that Mr.Hector was viewed to be an abnormally large man in the play. Just because it answered my question of how and why did Mr.Hector turn out to be like this. If indeed Alan Bennett had this image in his mind when writing the play, not just because it happened to be a coincidence that the best actor for that role was abnormally-large man. Hector is meant to be on the heavier side I would say it was because maybe, Mr. Hector as a child suffered from childhood-obesity or another traumatic thing happened to him as a child and he found comfort in both food and  in the books and poems he read them and he was able to find comfort and relate to it and he just sunk deeper and deeper into it, to a point he almost or practically lost touch of reality. Leading on from that point Dakin does confess that he believes that literature is consolation. “All literature is consolation” arguably you can say this is true from the point of Mr. Hector, literature is consoling him, another world that he can escape to. Again leading on from that point this could be the reason why Mr.Hector gets really upset and defensive when Irwin calls Mr.Hector’s quotes- gobbets. Mr Hector responds by saying “What did you call them? Gobbets? Is that what you think they are, gobbets? Handy little quotes that can be trotted out to make a point? Gobbets? Codes, spells, runes-call them what you like, but do not call them gobbets” As it is obviously spelt out here Mr. Hector does not see his quotes from books and films as gobbets, he sees them as a code- maybe a disguised form of how he really feels, spells- something magical that can not be described but makes him feel better.

I think another problem that Mr.Hector has is that he looks to far forward (talks about the meaning of life) whereas Mr. Irwin is living in the present.-(wants the boys to get into Oxbridge). And the problem with this is that being too far forward causes someone to lose sight of the present. And that is the problem with Mr.Hector. Hector even says “Poetry is the trailer! Forthcoming attractions” Maybe that is why Hector is not ‘living his life’ and allowing himself to be trapped into this world, it is or is it because he is just waiting for the poetry experiences to happen to him. But luckily for the boys they have a balance both from Mr. Irwin and Mr.Hector. Timms even says “Mr. Hector’s stuff’s not meant for the exam, sir. It’s to make us more rounded human beings.”

One last thing about Mr. Hector even though *spoiler alert* he died in the motor cycle accident. I don’t think his character actually died. You see, Mr Hector was meant to retire anyway and with the sexual abuse allegations that came up , the retirement was to be brought forward. The only thing we know is that Mr.Hector said or joked about what he will do when he retires. That is what he has to live for, from his point of view there is nothing else he can do. But he died we cannot know for certain what he was going to do when after he retires and how he is going to feel. But what we do know is that Posner is practically a mini carbon-copy of Mr. Hector so by his ending we can predict what Mr.Hector would have ended up as. Again *spoiler alert* Posner does end up in therapy so from this we can give an educated guess and say that Mr. Hector would have ended up in therapy or be in a state where therapy was needed.

For now that is all. Bye!