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Showing posts from 2014

CHRISTMAS - 2000 YEARS AGO, 200 YEARS AGO AND THIS YEAR - IN NEW ZEALAND

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We are spending Christmas in New Zealand again this year.  We are with the Auckland branch of our scattered family in the beautiful seaside town of Pauanui on the Coromandel Peninsula.  Spring was late this year in New Zealand.  As a result we have the joy of being surrounded by a forest of trees that grow beside the sea all around the northern part on New Zealand.  These trees are called pohutukawa and are affectionately referred to as the New Zealand Christmas tree . They are called this because they bear masses of flowers that are bright red with a yellow touch on the end of each bloom.  They make a stunning seasonal display every year but are usually over by mid December.  So this year being late they are beautifully covering the shores and slopes of the hills that drop down to the sea. We all know that Christmas is a time of giving which is almost a cliche now. Yet this year we have really seen this in a number of ways.  Our daughter, doing a big pre Christmas shop in an A

THIS IS AFRICA!

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We have just returned from five weeks in East Africa, that is Uganda and Tanzania. One expression we kept hearing was "This is Africa!"  It is used in all manner of situations and serves to bring a sense of calm and patience in every potential crisis or drama. It works well. It makes you smile when the bus ticket you have been sold turns out to be for the wrong bus. Or the waiter at a restaurant thanks you for finding the piece of metal in the samosa that you have been eating.  Or the police officer, like a child with a new toy, delightedly shows you your picture in the new speed camera they have got and he tells you the fine will be 200,000 shillings.  When the power goes off for the third time in the day or papaya salad appears with no papaya just lettuce, after having been told that everything on the menu is available. This is Africa. We have been working with our friends Ingrid and Winette who run the retreat centre called Mto-Moyoni which we have visited a number of ti

THE NEW BOOK FINALLY! JESUS AND HIS FATHER, also on KINDLE

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I am delighted to announce that my latest book is now published and available. It's been a while in production but is finally here.  I t is also now available in a Kindle version.  I have been greatly helped in getting this book published by Tom Carroll at Fatherheart Ministries in New Zealand and Ellie Carmen in the UK.  Without these two people it would not be here. Thank you so much both of you. I have wanted to write about the revelation of God as Father that Jesus taught for a long time.  I have always been fascinated by the people who encountered Jesus that we read about in the four gospels. When I was a teenager I wrote a play about some of the characters who appear in the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospels. Surprisingly the Baptist Church where I grew up actually put the play on.  I  recently met a friend, who I had not seen for years, who was one of the cast!  We laughed about that memory when we met. My fascination with the people who met Jesus and w

SAINT GOVAN'S HIDING PLACE

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The other weekend we had the opportunity of visiting West Wales. Pembrokeshire to be precise. We had been speaking at a Fatherheart weekend conference and during the time off we had the chance to revisit some of the beautiful scenery of the Pembrokeshire coast. I first went to Pembrokeshire in the late 1960s on a geography field course and enjoyed walking the cliffs and beaches of one of the most amazing stretches of coastline in the UK.  Returning many years later we went to some places that did not feature in the school curriculum. One such place was a tiny celtic chapel literally carved out of the side of a cliff on the south coast near St Govan's head. This chapel is named after the same saint who gives his name to the headland. This particular celtic christian man according to legend sought refuge from a marauding band of pirates on this windswept section of coast. He hid in the cleft of the rock so successfully that the pirates could not find him. In thankfulness he decid

DRESDEN WORTH REBUILDING.

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It's been a while since I have blogged but today I felt one coming on so here it is.   Tonight we are staying in Dresden and have had a great evening walking through the old city and then had a very Saxon dinner, schnitzel, potatoes and asparagus.  Delicious.   It is a very vibrant city and it was a particularly barmy evening for late April.  It was full of tourists and people looking for somewhere to eat. Not so the night of 13th February 1945.  That night thousands of tons of high explosives and incendiaries were dropped on the city by the RAF and the USAAF.  Dresden was the ancient capital of Saxony and was  a leading European centre of art, classical music, culture and  Science. It was not a major military target and it was full of refugees fleeing from the east ahead of the advancing Russian army.  That night a fire storm destroyed the city with 95% of the old historic city centre burnt.  Over 25,000 civilians hiding in cellars and shelters were killed by asphyxiation and

Books and things.

HOT NEWS!! KINDLE My book ' Falling from grace into Grace and being caught by the Fathe r'  is now available on Kindle from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.   The original printed version is still available but the Kindle version is updated and  corrected  as an uncorrected version got sent to printers by mistake!  I'm learning.  If anyone  fancies writing a review that would be good! DUTCH TRANSLATION I'm excited to announce that a Dutch translation has been done and we are looking to see it printed and available in late March.  I'll keep you posted. MY NEW BOOK I'm really excited to say that my latest book,  ' Jesus and his Father, by his family and friend s' is in the final stages of production.  We are hoping that this will also be available in the Spring (N. Hemisphere spring that is.) The book looks at how Jesus reveals his Father through his conversations and encounters with his family and friends.  It 'hears' the stories of Ma