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Showing posts from 2012

ORAMA, I.N.S. AND GETTING A SUN TAN OR NOT.

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Orama means 'vision' and it is the name given to the centre we have been staying at for the last three weeks on Great Barrier Island, New Zealand.  The reason we are here is to teach at the three month long school run by Fatherheart Ministries called Inheriting The Nations School, INS for short.  For three months the students have been sharing in an experience together of studying, resting, enjoying the natural environment and drinking deeply of the amazing love of God as their Father. Great Barrier Island is about 90 kilometres off the east coast of New Zealand and acts as a barrier from the storms of the South Pacific Ocean that batter Auckland and the Gulf of Hauraki from time to time.  This is the third such school we have been part of.  About 65 students have come from 16 different countries to invest three months of their lives in going deeper into the revelation of the Father's love. The major focus of the school is to explore the Father's love for the nati

BEN AND JERRY'S, A VON TRAPP AND A REAL HUNGER AT HUNGER MOUNTAIN CHRISTIAN ASSEMBLY

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Vermont is full of surprises. This was our first visit to the state. It turned out to be too brief and we are looking forward to going back again next year.  We had been there a week for a Fatherheart School and each day brought new surprises.  First there were the autumn colours disappearing fast as the week progressed and as the wind blew them away. We did get to drive up to the hills on the first Sunday afternoon for a tantalising glimpse of the beautiful surroundings.  Then there were the many tourist attractions that were on offer which will have to wait for next time. Ben and Jerry's Ice cream was founded and created just down the road from where we were staying. Alas we didn't get to take the tour and the obligatory tasting that is involved. There was also the famous Cabot cheese factory and store, Green Mountain Coffee, maple syrup, cider apple donuts, the list goes on and on.  This is the perfect place for a foodie like me. We visited the von Trapp family lodge, th

NEW ENGLAND IN GLORIOUS FALL COLOURS

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I was not expecting the drive to State College from Newark, New Jersey to be so memorable. It was in fact spectacular.  The Fall colours which are legendary, were in just about the height of their glory. I was completely taken by surprise. I have seen autumn colours in the UK and New Zealand and they are very beautiful.  However this was something else.   It was mile after mile of fabulous breath taking magnificence.   Hyperbole is inadequate here.  For mile after mile every hillside, valley and river bank, was covered in masses of colour. Each turn of the road revealed another amazing view of golden tones and hues.  There were almost every variation of the pallet from yellow to purple, there were golds and russets, reds and browns and colours I have no name for. The colours demanded description but they also defied it. Each tree, normally subsumed and lost in the vastness of wilderness and forest, seemed to be displaying itself individually in its final shout of joy before withdra

MORNING GLORY

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One of the signs of getting older is shorter nights I've decided.  I find I am increasingly waking up earlier in the mornings such as today, 5.30 am and I'm up. Ive been on Facebook, answered overnight emails and now I'm writing a post on the blog.  Added to that it's my birthday and its a big one!  I should be really laying in bed and just enjoying.  But I'm actually enjoying being up.  I like the quiet of the early morning.  I occasionally get to see a lovely sunrise as a result.   This one was taken in August from the beach in Zanzibar where we were having a a couple of days break before starting a Fatherheart A School on the main land in Tanzania.   These early mornings are so often times of reflection for me. I know that doesn't work for everyone but they do for me!   I'm finding that there is great benefit in just sitting and being. After I've done the emails and things and made a cup of tea, there is time in the early morning to sit with my Fath

MTO MOYONI UGANDA - RIVER IN THE HEART

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On the banks of the River Nile, about 2 kilometres from the source of the Nile as it flows out of Lake Victoria, in Uganda, is Mto Moyoni.  It is a retreat centre literally on the banks of the river. The beautiful gardens stretch down from the collection of bandas, that make up the accommodation, right to the waters edge.  It is a haven of peace.   To get here involves a rather challenging journey from Entebbe International Airport through the sprawling jumble of modern Kampala which has no understanding of town planning or roads suitable for modern Africa. On a good day it takes about three hours. The senses are assaulted in every way on the journey. Noise, traffic, pollution, crowds of people, animals tethered by the road, women carrying every conceivable bundle on their heads, bicycles loaded with produce and firewood. Bodas (motorcycles taxis) carry whole families, trucks billowing out filthy exhaust,  pot holes that you could lose a bus in, police road checks, convoys of

Floating on a glassy sea.

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The Waddenzee wasn't exactly on my radar to be honest.  Actually I had never heard of it before January this year.  Now I am a seasoned seafarer on that particular sea, too many seas but never mind. It all began last January when Linda and I were walking along the lake shore of Lake Taupo one glorious summers afternoon.  As we walked and talked a two masted sailing ship full of tourist glided past.  I gazed at it and said to Linda, "I'd love to go on a proper sailing ship one day."  We joked about putting it on our bucket list - that list of things you would like to do before you die.  The problem with a bucket list is that as you tick them off as having done them you have to think of more things to do.  I am a great believer in living life to the full and I think we stop growing when we stop having adventures and challenges. Anyway, about two weeks later we got an email from some dear friends in The Netherlands asking us if we would like to join them on a Fatherh

La Dolce Vita - parading in the Piazza Ducale.

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Sitting in the Piazza Ducale, in Vigevano, Italy can be extremely self indulgent. The whole experience is an assault on the senses. It is a veritable feast of Italian life and culture. For the antipasti, (starters), there is the richness of the architecture. The Piazza is said to be the most beautiful and aesthetically pleasing in all of Italy after San Marco, Venice. It's proportions are 1:3 apparently, which is difficult to see unless you are an architect. However it is undoubtedly pleasing to the eye and balanced in its aspect with the Duomo at one end and its colonnaded walkways, providing shade and protection from the weather, on the other three sides. Next in the feast comes il primo piatto (the first course) which undoubtedly must be the cafes and gelateria, that jostle for attention and offer invitations to share the delights of fabulous ice cream, aromatic coffee and if, like me, you love the distinctive combination of the two that the Italians have created, an affogat

Birtill and Baxter (Kruger) hanging out together.

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A couple of weeks ago we dropped into a Partners in Harvest event in Hemel Hempstead, UK. We met loads of friends but in literally, the last five minutes we ran into Willie and Mandy, great friends from Brockton.  We share lots with them but recently I introduced them to C Baxter Kruger. Now they are hooked too. In our brief chat they asked if we had heard Godfrey Birtill's latest Album "The Wine is Alive". Willie dashed to the car and ran back and thrust a very well played CD into my hands.  His said to me, "You will love Track 3!"  I have been playing it ever since. It's excellent.  It's like Birtill and Baxter have been hanging out together and inspiring each other. The whole album sings truth and lifts us above so much of our miserable pleading that we call Christian worship, begging God to show up as if he isn't with us already.   It is a mixture of styles and may not appeal to everyone but the words, oh the words are great.  The track that Ma

Bed number 34 and still enjoying it.

We are at the end of another memorable visit to the US. We packed for wintery - spring like weather especially as we were going to be in Pennsylvania in March and Minnesota in April, but in the end we have not had one day below 70F (that's about 21c). We have dragged a load of cold weather clothes with us and not needed them.  It's been wonderful! We have seen Father pour his loving heart out all over the place and it has been fabulous to behold.  All sorts of surprises along the way too. We are continually asked how we cope with the traveling and the continual change of place, pace and beds, we were in number 34 last night since January.  Sometimes we are asked in such a way and in a tone of voice that suggests that the expectation is for us to respond with a sigh and a sagging of the shoulders that implies "We are suffering for the Lord"!  My response is always, "We love it! We are having the time of our lives!" In the past I have had the belief that s

T G I Friday indeed!

We have stopped en route from Minneapolis to Florida at Atlanta Int Airport. This airport is absolutely huge! We have a three hour lay over and it is time for something to eat. As we sit and watch the world go by we are being entertained by a really good small jazz quartet. It is all very civilized and makes for a restful wait. There are lots of places to choose from and we settle on T G I Friday's. As good as anywhere. The food is great and we are just about to leave when the irony of it all strikes me. Today is Good Friday. This is the day when the beloved Son of God bought us back with the price of his life and brought us home to the Father who never stopped loving us and waiting for us. Thank God it's Friday indeed.

A special day. Feb 29th 2012

Today is a very special day for Linda and me, but also especially for Linda.  Today she is 60 years old and also celebrating her 15th birthday as she is a leap year baby being born on February 29th. We also celebrate the day 40 years ago when we got engaged. It was at an old church on the marshy coast of Essex in England called St Peter's on the Wall. It stands in the ruined enclosure of the Roman coastal fort known as Orthona built in the fourth century to defend the failing Roman empire from Saxon pirates. Then in about 650 AD the Saxons built this church.  In 1972 Linda and I stood in that church and I asked her to marry me. We exchanged engagement rings that we both still wear 40 years later.  Now we have been married for 38 years this year.  We have walked together all these years and faced many challenges like most people.  We have grown together over the years. Linda is the love of my life and my best friend, beyond any doubt. Like many we have struggled to come to term

An evening or two with the author of The Shack

It had been in my diary for some time that William P Young or Paul as he is known, was going to be speaking at a Church in Taupo this week. Paul is the author of the world best seller The Shack. Something like 17 million copies sold to date. What I hadn't realized was that he would be coming to dinner at the Eden Centre, where we live, for a couple of evenings.  So there we were sitting around the table chatting with the man.  What a privilege. I have read the reviews on the internet. I have read what some very eminent and influential theologians have said about the Shack. I have wondered why some members of the faith community can become so filled with vitriolic and why they love to strain at gnats.  But that is not new and sadly blights the Christian church and the way we are perceived by the wider world.  But, I have read The Shack. I read it on a plane flying to the UK from New Zealand a few years ago.  It was difficult because I kept getting odd looks from th