climbing hiking camping

As you take time out over the summer, always remember to take a good book on holiday with you. And as you travel yourself, here are a few travel books to keep you company: 1.        A Time of Gifts – Patrick Leigh Fermor A young man walks from London to Constantinople between the two world wars, discovering a land and people that were soon to be lost as Nazi Germany began to take control. Beautifully written and fascinating history. 2.        Solomon Time – Will Randall A teacher takes the opportunity to travel to the Solomon Islands. Totally out of his comfort zone, he falls in love with an entirely different way of life. Lots of humour and some great descriptions of a beautiful, hidden paradise. 3.         News From Tartary – Peter Fleming The older brother of James Bond writer Ian travels with a companion through some of the hardest and least travelled lands, from Peking to Kashmir, back...

I love stuff like this. Did you know that there are ten sextillion stars (that's 10 with 21 noughts after it!)? Did you know the tiniest quark is so small it's hard to describe? Imagine Wembley Stadium represents the size of one atom (and one hundred million atoms make up one inch). Now go to the centre circle of the football pitch (the atom) and pick up one grain of soil. That's the nucleus of the atom. Then divide the nucleus by 1000. And that's the size of a quark. (More on this in  'God-Life', chapter 4). The Bible says 'what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?' (Psalm 8:4, NLT). What indeed. But He does. And when you see how small we are in the video, that's even more amazing. Enjoy the video:  

‘Should I? I mean, really, should I?’ It’s early in 2011 and I’m considering a radical step. Leaving my job as Pensions Director for the Mars Group- and starting a Masters in Theology at Mattersey Bible College. Roh, my wife, looks on as I pontificate. She knows she doesn’t need to say anything. I’ve made my mind up. I’m just trying to rationalise it! It was a bold step, but out of it came much more than a Masters. My final dissertation was on the house church movement. It was 57 years since Arthur Wallis wrote his ground-breaking In the Day of Thy Power. My dissertation title seemed quite clever at the time: 57 Years of Restorationism in the UK: Ongoing Legacy or 57 Varieties? The dissertation gave me access to a number of the house church pioneers- Peter Lyne, Terry Virgo, David Matthew…. And Gerald Coates. I was grateful for the day spent with Gerald. I left him a copy of my last biography, Cheating Death, Living Life – Linda’s Story, a story of God’s miracles in what could have so...

If the Bible has a throwaway line, it has to be this: 'He also made the stars.' It's in Genesis chapter one, amidst verses that describe God's creation. There's a lot about light and sun and sea and land and trees and birds... and in the middle, in verse sixteen.... he also made the stars. What does this actually mean? When I travel to New York from London, it takes me seven hours at 500 miles per hour. If I travelled at the same speed to the moon, it would take me three weeks. At the same speed to the sun? Twenty-one years. The edge of the Solar System? 900 years. The furthest reaches of space.... That would take me, travelling at 500 miles per hour, around twenty quadrillion years. (That's a 20 with 15 noughts after it!) How amazing that a God that does 'big', also does 'small' and cares for me! Here's a video that gives you some idea of the immensity of space- and how small we are in comparison. He also made the stars. (There's more on...

‘I’m here between the bookends of everything that was and what will be’ It’s a quote from an Amy Grant song. Every one of us is on a journey. We have no idea of where we are in the journey between those two bookends. In a sense, there is little or nothing we can do about that. But what we can do is ensure that where we are right now is as effective and life affirming as it’s possible to be. To give our all. To live to the full. The Apostle Paul said ‘God’s Spirit beckons. There are things to do and places to go!’ That’s true for every one of us. There’s a life worth living, a life worth giving. If I’m between the bookends with no idea at what particular point, I want to make my life count. So for me, with apologies to Amy Grant for changing the lyrics, it’s not ‘what will be’ but what, with God’s help, CAN be.   All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are...

Tony Benn (1925-2014) died this week. An amazing man. Someone who stuck by his beliefs throughout his life. Even if you disagreed with him, you had to admire his courage, persistence and lack of compromise. I n 2002 he came to Peterborough for his ‘An Audience With’ tour. A packed theatre sat for two hours with him chatting and answering questions, accompanied only by his beloved flask of tea. (Earlier tours also included his pipe, but health and safety regulations put paid to that!) It was one of my political highlights. I was glad to be there. As Benn put it, the tour ‘ reignites the public meeting, uninterrupted by Jeremy Paxman or John Humphrys’! His autobiography is called ‘Dare to be a Daniel’. It’s a reference to a Salvation Army hymn of the same name, sung to him by his father. His parents appeared to have had a stronger Christian faith than he, but in amongst the ‘honest doubts’ of his first chapter in the book, there is a clear belief too.   Not a traditional Christian on...

God made. Adam bit. Noah arked. Abraham split. Joseph ruled. Jacob fooled. Bush talked. Moses balked. Pharaoh plagued, people walked. Sea divided, tablets guided. Promise landed. Saul freaked, David peaked. Prophets warned. Jesus born. God walked. Love talked. Anger crucified. Hope died. Love rose. Spirit flamed. Word spread. God remained.

Again, to misquote C S Lewis, the pages are once more rustling with adventure. I will be writing my daily journal in a different country and continent for the next two weeks as I take a team out to Kolkata for a week, and then another team to Hyderabad for a week. Working with local churches, there will be much to do- children's fun days, visiting sponsored children, teaching pastors, reaching out to communities. Lot's to do. Lot's to write. Lot's of life to celebrate. The Bible says 'I can do all things through Him who strengthens me'. (Philippians 4: 13).

That my latest book is fully launched. Now on Amazon , the book is out there. It is the heart-rending story of Linda and her journey through abuse, drink, drugs, drug trafficking, prostitution, prison…. and into a new life, a hope and a future. It is the story of life overcoming death, prayer overcoming cancer, love overcoming abuse. Written in the style if a thriller, it is a roller-coaster emotional ride, a story of a present day miracle-finder, a story of the power of transformation. Here are a few of the comments from readers: ‘This really is an amazing book. You will probably read it in about 2 or 3 sittings and your heart will descend into the depths and feel some of the pain - only then for it to soar as you read of this real life tragedy come miracle.’ From an Amazon review. ‘This is a real story, not a work of fiction, but it is as every bit as gripping as a thriller.’ From an Amazon review. ‘The story draws you in and I found myself still reading at 4am...the only reason I st...

My friend met a Rabbi at the airport recently. They got talking and as a result, he sent this: ‘There must have been a time when you entered a room and met someone and after a while you understood that unknown to either of you there was a reason you had met. You had changed the other or he had changed you. By word or deed or just by your presence, the errand had been completed. Then perhaps, you were a little bewildered or humbled and grateful. And it was over. ‘Each life is the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. For some there are more pieces. For others the puzzle is more difficult to assemble. Some seem to be born with a nearly completed puzzle. And so it goes. Souls going this way and that, trying to assemble the myriad parts. But know this. No one has within themselves all the pieces of their puzzle. Like before the day when they used to seal jigsaw puzzles in cellophane. Ensuring that all the pieces were there. Everyone carries with them at lest one and probably many pieces to someone el...

One of my favourite programmes is The Book Show on Sky Arts . I know, a bit pretentious isn’t it? Guests are invited to talk about their latest book and to discuss other favourites. It was a surprise to see such a heated discussion on a slow moving programme, but Richard Dawkins decided that he had been slighted by the host Mariella Frostrup when she moved the discussion on from his railing against Christianity. His attitude was so far removed from the regular show, it became almost amusing. This isn’t the first time Richard Dawkins has got angry- but the more he does it, the more he is helping the church. Here is Mary Ann Sieghart of The Independent , as quoted in The Week .: The Church of England is lucky. It couldn’t have asked for a better enemy. The contrast between the ‘puffed up, self regarding, vain, prickly and militant’ Dawkins and the ‘charitable, open, welcoming, tolerant, undogmatic’ church is practically an advertisement for anti-atheism. Thank you Richard Dawkins.