More new images

in the gallery from our holiday.

That time in France seems a lifetime away now. We're both tired, probably feeling the winter blues encroaching. Chris's mum keeps having these mini-strokes at the moment, and was admitted to hospital yesterday for further investigations.

I'm also really struggling to rub 2 thoughts together right now - it could be tiredness, but I took the kids to Drayton manor park yesterday, and some of the rides there rattled my poor old brain round in it's boney pan. There wss one ride that we did where I felt a distinct 'thud' inside and a couple where I came off feeling dizzy (isn't that the idea?). I didn't want to bail too much out of pride, I guess. It rubs in how old you are when you can't keep up with the kids on this stuff, and as I already look older than I am (43, look 53+ with grey hair) I'm battling that in a way I never thought I would. Didn't mind looking old when I was young because I *felt* young. Now I don't and it's suddenly an issue.

Maybe I should be grateful that there are always challenges to living.

Guess Chris's mum knows about that too, although I think she's rather standing on the sideline, watching the combat take place, more than participating actively.

So much for that!

About 10.15 am we got a call from a neighbour of Chris's parents - her mum had collapsed getting out of bed this morning, and had been rushed to the local hospital.One quick phone call later (putting off preaching AND playing) and we're dashing to Northampton.

It turns out that she had been having issue for some time. First pins and needles in her fingertips from time to time, then she collapsed in Tescos on Friday, then Friday night on the way to the loo, then Saturday morning (the one we knew about) and then this morning. The diagnosis is that she's having 'mini-strokes' which more or less resolve after around 30 mins. Asprin (to thin the blood) is the normal treatment. They tested her reasonably thoroughly and then sent her home at about 2.30pm this afternoon.

We arrived at the meeting this afternoon around 4.05, just after they'd started the meeting. I played (acoustic) guitar but didn't preach - I wasn't up for it after all the fuss.

An issue for the future.

Chris's mum had a mild stroke last night, it would appear. She's well enough now, I understand, but couldn't get out of bed this morning, as her legs wouldn't work.

Any available pray gratefully received. Thanks.

Finished, at last.

My first sermon in a very long time.

Hope it makes a difference, and isn't just a bit of theologically sound waffle.

I think there's a balance between preparing too early (so it isn't fresh in your mind any longer) and preparing too late (so it's not in a good order). I've been carrying most of this for a couple of weeks, and I hope I've got it right.

It's about how we're designed for relationship with God.

Beautiful morning.

So good I even took the camera out with me, but unfortunately the sun hadn't risen far enough, and the landscape was just a bit dark to make a decent image.

It's quite odd this year compared with last. All the trees dropped their leaves together at the very end of August. This year it's been so cool and wet that even though we're 2/3 through October most leaves are still green. They're begining to fall now, but it's taken this long for ANY to come down.

I might try a walk in a while, just to see if I can get some nice autumnal pics, maybe pray a bit.

At last!

I've got a couple of galleries of photos up from the holiday. It's taken absolutely ages, but I finally got there.

They're a bit of a mixed bag: some good, some not so good. I really wanted to convey some sense of what the places we visited were really like, so there are lots of pics that might not warrant hanging on a wall. In fact there are some that the locals would probably rather I hadn't taken.

Anyway, the first 2 sets are here and here.

Tonight will be interesting

A new experience.

Sarah has been going out with Dan for a year. They seem very much in love in an adult way, and he seems a nice caring guy, just a couple of years older than her. He's a nonnie, unfortunately, and that's not exactly ideal, but God can fix that.

We're going to celebrate with her by having a meal over at his parents place. Gulp.

If you've ever seen 'Meet the parents' I take comfort in the fact that I'm much more like Robert De Diro than Dan's father, who's a gently rounded accountant and musician ;-)

I don't really feel too bad about it - my brother met his wife when they were 14 and 15, although Chris and I were a little older at 16 and 17. I also heartily approve of marrying young for a multitude of reasons, provided the couple are mature, rather than silly about things. Much better than going through a string of 'boyfriends' who really just want their end away.

But even so, a daughter is precious and especially so at 15.

Well, it's been quiet here

but there's been a storm of debate (I may have exaggerated slightly) over at the Christian musicians forum about trinitarian worship.

Which reminds me of when some friends got married. A little girl there talked about doing things in the name of the father, son and holy goat.

Trinitarian worship

I went to a worship training day in Derby today, where we had an interesting topic of discourse - trinitarian worship.

The speaker was Robin Parry, talking about how our worship and focus as churches has drifted into being specifically about Jesus, and missed out the Father and the Spirit. There were some stats, based on all the vineyard albums produced since 1999, showing that only 1.4% of the songs made specific mention of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Spirit was mentioned around 1% of the time. The greatest proportion of songs were of the 'you Lord' variety (i.e. not mentioning any specific aspect of God).

His point was that the theology people pick up is often much more strongly rooted in the songs they sing than the sermons they forget ;-) Thus there is something of a danger that people lose focus on the trinity, and only retain awareness of Jesus.

This is all very interesting, because over the last year as a group of churches we've been aware that God has called us to review our worship material. Quite a lot of songs in the past have concentrated on us, and we've seen a turning toward God: lifting Him up, declaring His glory, singing truths about Him. Now we seem to be getting reminded that there is more to the Godhead than just Jesus. I think we're experiencing a bit of a God-driven restoration in our worship.

Anyone else hearing similar things?

Feel like poo tonight

So nothing much to post.

Sorry Andrew, I'll reply when my head's come back together.