I (Ruth) have, for as long as I can remember, had a real fear of heights. I can become shakes, dizzy and at times practically frozen, when put in a position where I feel out of my comfort zone. I remember taking our children to the Natural History Museum in London when they were in primary school and going on the really long/tall escalator into the sun (not sure if it's still there - I hope not!). For anyone who's not experienced it, it just rises up in the centre of the room, with nothing either side of it. I knew the minute that I stepped on, that I'd made a mistake, but by then, it's too late!
As many of you will know, we left our jobs in Bewdley nearly two years to embark on a new life working at ngm (New Generation Music) in Thornbury. As such, were both part of the core team who help plan and prepare for the Nancy Goudie Spiritual Health Weekends each year - these are 2 ladies conferences we hold each year, one in Bristol and one in Preston. On average we have about 600 ladies attending the weekends each year, for a time of teaching, worship, ministry and just being pampered! We aim to make the ladies feel special and loved from the moment they arrive to the moment they leave. The weekends are held in Marriott hotels and involve a gala dinner and first class entertainment from members of the NGM team, but this all obviously means that the weekends are beyond the reach of some of the ladies who would benefit most from them!
A few years ago, Nancy felt a clear calling to follow the example from scripture, where in Luke 14, Jesus is telling the parable of the great banquet, where the master sends his servants out to invite in the poor, the lame, the blind etc. So she set up a bursary fund to enable us to do this. Over the years we have built up great relationships with organisations working with families/ladies in the areas of
debt, human trafficking, prostitution, post abortion counselling, abusive relationships etc. Over the
last couple of years we've had sufficient funds to be able to offer free places to over 100 ladies each
year. We have been supported by a number of charitable trusts over the years, who have made sizeable donations and also by shw ladies, who know the life changing impact the weekends can make, who have either donated money or who have undertaken fund raising efforts on our behalf.
The core organising team have always undertaken fund raising challenges over the years, ranging from Nancy swimming 400 lengths, to various sponsored runs, through to Kat shaving her head. When we were sitting down earlier this year to plan what we were going to do to raise funds for the 2016 weekends, I felt really challenged to do something that would really stretch me and push me to face my fears. I felt that by doing this, I could identify with the ladies who we are trying to help, who have to overcome so many fears to get to the weekends, whether by actually reaching out to someone and asking for help, admitting that things are out of control, or by trying to change their situation. So the thought of pushing through my fear of heights was born.
As many of you will know, Derek and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary in March of this
year. We have for as long as we can remember wanted to do a trip to Canada and go on a train through the Rockies and had always promised ourselves that one day we would do it. Following the loss of Derek's mum, we were left some money and having thought long and hard, we decided to use the money for the trip of a lifetime, so we depart for Vancouver on Saturday 23rd May. Having spent time investigating what else we could do while in Canada, we seemed to keep getting drawn to things involving height, glass floors and things hanging off the side of a cliff face! So, I thought why not see if people will sponsor me to attempt to do some of these "unnatural" and down right "stupid"
challenges - Derek will be taking photos and videos of me attempting the challenges and we'll be
posting updates via Facebook and will also post some on this blog. So if you want to see me looking terrified, crying, shaking, please do support me.
We'll be starting with a nice "easy" trip up a tower in Vancouver. Followed by a visit to the Capilano
Suspension Bridge Park, Capilano Suspension Bridge Park where as well as a terrifying looking suspension bridge, their is also a treetops adventure and a cliff walk (a walkway suspended on the
side of a cliff face). Then there is the Glacier Sky Walk, a glass walkway suspended on the side of a glacier. If I haven't by this stage, had to see how good our holiday insurance is, there is the small matter of theLake Louise Gondola a cable car to the top of Mount Whithorn.
So please do support a really worthwhile and amazing charity, while forcing me to challenge my fears. You can give via my VirginMoney Giving page. Thank you for reading this and watch out for the updates.
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