Whatever
A little over four years ago a team from British Youth for Christ (YFC) visited Hereford with a cage. They …
Category Archives: church
The Fine Detail
The last six weeks have been hectic with visits to five other countries, although thankfully one of those visits was …
World Traveller Plus
Ever since I left school and joined my first ship in October 1973 I have been travelling, but what was once …
Looking into Beach Huts
I photographed quite a few beach huts in Devon a couple of weeks ago. A row of immaculate, equally proportioned, …
Put a Tiger in Your Tank
Back in the sixties Esso ran a promotion with the slogan ‘Put a Tiger in Your Tank’ to encourage drivers …
What Kind of Church?
I’m struggling with church at the moment. Not the church I belong to as such. Just church. I honestly believe …
Learning to Speak Welsh
I have a confession to make. I want to learn to speak Welsh. Dw i’n moyn siarad Cymraeg! I can’t …
Advanced Driving
Several years ago my children clubbed together to buy me a voucher for advanced driver training. It wasn’t that they …
(Some) Things Change
It is so easy to become overly engrossed in your own small and largely insignificant life. To my shame I …
The L Factor
Keeping the Sabbath Holy When I was growing up there were many restrictions on what we could do on Sundays. …
Unveiling the Bride
When I went walkabout one evening during a recent business trip to Moscow I came across a rather stunning building. …
Perception Filters
I spent an afternoon out in the sticks this week. Our friends have a farm that is approached via narrow …
Psalm B?
Below are the lyrics to a song called ‘Lost My Way’ by Plan B. It’s quite long but stick with …
Aunty Beryl
My Aunty Beryl is eighty-five years old. She has Alzheimer’s Disease and has to be cared for in a home. …
Dry Docked
Today we have a new writer but a familiar face. Anyone who has followed the blog from the start may remember …
The Hairdresser
My hairdresser is a special young woman. I do not have to tell her how to cut my hair. She …
Celebrating Youth
At 07.30 hours on 14 July 2012 various youth pastors/leaders and young people from across Herefordshire were loading vehicles in …
Everyone Matters
In March 2000 I spent ten days in hospital when surgeons removed half of my colon. I came round from …
Communication Issues?
When I was a child very few people had telephones. By the time I got married in 1979 it was …
Hebrews 12:14-29
God led me to the following passage and I understood it more fully than ever before. I went home and …
Redundant Faith?
As I have reflected on these events lots of thoughts have come to mind, but this morning I was reminded of the growing gap between society and church. How does the church help people who are going through these very difficult times and is this gap present in our churches, where most of the congregation work in a very different world to the one of the paid church staff.
Start with me
In 1904 revival transformed Wales. In the space of one year more than 100,000 people surrendered their lives to Jesus …
Hubris
So I sat there, not sure about the content, not sure about the approach I was going to take, feeling a bit embarrassed about my oversight and concerned that I was failing in responsibilities to God and everyone who had showed up on a cold night in January. Then before the sermon we sang ‘When I Survey the Wondrous Cross’ – a classic and well loved hymn that I have been singing since I’ve been able to read. All of a sudden all my insecurities, worries and hopelessness were put into perspective,
‘Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were an offering far too small;
love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.’
Lazy Birds
A few days ago I looked out in the garden to see three pigeons and two doves sunning themselves in …
Vision Express
Later I wondered what God would identify as the most important thing about the church Futures document?
Man the Brooms
The mate tipped me out of my bunk and onto the deck of my cabin. “The crew are on strike. Get your backside down into number five hold and get sweeping. The old man (captain) is down there. If the old man is sweeping, then so are you.” (Polite version.)
Underdog
How ever did we get to this point? If we believe what we say we believe then we are in no way the underdog! No matter what our current status, no matter how the church is viewed in society the truth of the matter is that God has won! Do we believe that? That why aren’t we staking more on it? Why do we treat the gospel as though it has the power of a soggy paper bag rather than the power to destroy death?
Give us clean hands…
Having just finished a two-week business trip to New Zealand and Australia in December 2000 I had one day free …
Defining Church
I am not sure how you measure friendship, but the best friend I have ever had is a man I …
Nobby Clarke
My Father-in-law was possibly the nicest man I ever met. He was patient, gentle, kind, compassionate. I never ever saw …
A Critical Delivery
He didn’t wait to obey the polite rules of society because he lives for the kingdom rules of God, he helped a brother see more clearly. Make no mistake Luke was criticising my brothers initial statement. I am privileged to be developing some links with this church and I’m thrilled to say this attitude seems to be present in more than one of the members.
