climbing hiking camping

Officially it’s called the Bryniau Glo Walk. I call it the Hidden Valley Walk. You climb up a long way on a well-defined trail, through a forest, over the hills and into a hidden valley. It’s protected on three sides by higher hills, with a view out to the rest of Snowdonia. I guess it’s because of that protection that it’s so silent. I stopped in the valley and listened. Nothing. No bird song. No wind. Just silence. The most perfect silence. For a moment in time, I was part of that silence. Transfixed by it. Such a perfect moment. Listening and hearing nothing. Looking out onto such stillness and beauty. Worshipping. Silence is not always welcomed. One of my favourite songs is The Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel (check out the version by Disturbed – amazing!) But the lyrics are slightly depressive: ‘Hello darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again, because a vision softly creeping, left its seeds while I was sleeping.’ Too often we shut out silence. We su...

Did you know there is such a thing as ‘philosophical walking’? You do now. There’s even a group in Yorkshire who arrange such walks, complete with a friendly walking philosopher. But if we think for a moment, all walks can be philosophical – especially those away from our daily routines. We see new things, we plan to get somewhere, we consider routes, we observe the new things around us. All that adds to a philosophical walk. I’m just back from one of my favourite places – Dolgellau, just south of Snowdonia. Walking in the foothills there is invigorating, uplifting, challenging, tiring…. all these things and more. One day I went out on my own on what is called the ‘bird sanctuary walk’- basically climbing half way up a hill and walking through a nature reserve. The only bird I saw was a crow! But there was plenty to enjoy, consider – even meditate on. Those that know me will know that for me there is a ‘God connection’ too. To appreciate the creation made by God is special. There’s a f...

I live in a beautiful place. On the edge of a village, our house looks over open fields with an ever changing landscape of sun, sky and clouds. The photo’s illustrate – but don’t do justice – to God’s creative grandeur. For me, such beauty always points me to the Creator behind it. I find it incredulous that someone can say for a moment that all we see, from the snowflake to Everest, from the flower to the flowering of the Grand Nebula are simply the chance encounters of atoms. No. There is a Creator. And He is to be worshiped . We only worship Him in an incomplete way. As C S Lewis put it: ‘We are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendours we see. But all the leaves of the New Testament are rustling with the rumour that it will not always be so. Some day, God willing, we shall get in.’ So, we don’t fully understand or see. But what we do see is su...

THIS BLOG IS THE FIFTH MOST READ POST ON MY SITE WITH OVER 500 VIEWS. IT'S ONE OF MY FAVOURITES AND A REMINDER OF THE GREATNESS OF GOD. Look carefully at the image. The pale blue dot is the Earth, captured in a picture from the Voyager 1 spacecraft at a distance of 4 billion miles on February 14, 1990. Carl Sagan was the one who pushed for the Voyager craft to take the shot, and it’s his quote that follows: “Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "su...

I love history and geography more than I do science. So that’s reflected in what I watch on TV. Having said that, I found a Professor Brain Cox programme fascinating the other day. With a touch of scientific theory, Cox investigated how complex our bodies are. Quite amazing. What our blood does, what our lungs accomplish. How we respond to the energy of a meal. I wont begin to try and explain it as Cox did, but I’m left in awe of an amazing God who created us to work perfectly and in an intricate and detailed way. One of my most popular blogs on this site is the Laminin one. I repeat it again here, by way of example of the miracles God has performed: I’d never heard of Laminin until the other day, but it’s been with me all of my life. Laminin, according to Wikipedia, is a protien molecule that ‘is capable of binding to cells, which helps anchor the actual organs to the membrane. Laminin is vital to making sure overall body structures hold together.’ In other words, Laminin is the vit...

This is where you live. This is Earth. This is the Solar System. This is the Milky Way. This is the universe. And God is bigger........  

This is a stunning graphical illustration of the growth of the human population. It took 200,000 years for the population to reach 1 billion. It took just 200 years for it to reach 7 billion. 'And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”' (Genesis 1: 28) Let's be careful how we interpret that command.  

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:  

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...

A few musings from my daily diary today..... 'It's a beautifully sunny Sunday morning and I'm sitting in the back garden, looking over the rolling fields. The sheep are on the far side today and I can see the cattle in the distance. The bird feeder is doing good business. A flock of sparrows come and go. They do great damage to the two containers with normal seed, spilling the contents onto the floor in a flurry of wings. Having seemingly spilled a lot and eaten little, they contentedly sit as a flock in the nearby rosebush, observing their destructive handiwork. There's two starlings in attendance too. They don't balance too well as they try and eat the fat cubes. One seems to be the baby of the other and even in this extended summer, it's still calling for attention. A robin stands contentedly on the floor below the feeders, picking up a King's breakfast from what the sparrows drop. A blue tit flits in and out from the peanuts, startled by the noise from t...

Just back from my monthly Businessman’s Life Group and I was really struck by a small phrase my friend Jarek used. He talked about the times when God says ‘hello’. In fact if you think about it, those times are frequent. He is a God who loves us and wants to say ‘hello’, even if we choose to say ‘goodbye’. He says ‘hello’ every time the sun rises. Every time you smell the fragrance of a rose. Each time your children or grandchildren give you a hug. He says ‘hello’ through a friend’s prayer when you are struggling to stay sane. Through the gift at the door when there is nothing left in the kitchen. Through the unexpected addition to the bank balance, the bonus and the promotion. He says ‘hello’ through an act of kindness, the squeeze of a friends hand, the arm around the shoulder. And he says ‘hello’ through you. Every time you reach out, pray out, show you care, send a card or give a gift. We have a God who loves to say hello. From the beauty of the sunrise to the grandeur of its...

When I consider your heavens, The work of your fingers, The moon and the stars, What is man that you are mindful of him? Psalm 8:3-4 The Crab Nebula was first seen in 1054. The Hubble Telescope has improved the image. The Nebula puts out 10 quadrillion volts of electricity. That’s thirty times the power of a lightning bolt. The Rose Galaxies, also viewed from the Hubble Telescope, are 300 million light years away in the constellation of Andromeda. In the beginning, God created.

A new survey out today highlights the happiest and most unhappy places in the UK. It seems that contentment does not come with riches but with simplicity. The Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland are the places to live for a happy and worthwhile life. Such out-of-the-way places point to the simple enjoyment of the outdoors, amazing scenery and a lifestyle unencumbered by over reliance on modern appliances, supermarkets, television and speed of travel. In the same article, my own city of Peterborough sadly topped the poll for being the most anxious. Not all of the city is like that though. Come along to KingsGate Church where on an average Sunday you will find around 1,800 people who would not in the least fit into that ‘anxious’ image. With 58 different nations represented and a number of different church services to choose from, this is Positive Peterborough. And the reason for the lack of anxiety? We know where to ‘cast our cares’!

This week, astronomers discovered another galaxy. This one is big enough to accommodate five of our Milky Way galaxies inside it. Back in 2004, scientist discovered that new-born galaxies are still being produced and that the universe is still growing. The bible says ‘ I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewellery, Moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way?.... God , brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world.’ To which I would add ‘God, brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the universe.’

Look carefully at the image. The pale blue dot is the Earth, captured in a picture from the Voyager 1 spacecraft at a distance of 4 billion miles on February 14, 1990. Carl Sagan was the one who pushed for the Voyager craft to take the shot, and it’s his quote that follows: “Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspe...

The village of Ruddington has been busy over the last few years. They undertook a project to convert land used in the Second World War as a bomb making factory, turning it into a country park. The project was called ‘Bombs to Butterflies’. The release of secret papers from the Foreign Office indicates that there was also a ‘Butterflies to Bombs’ project! There was a concern in 1938, before the outbreak of war that a number of German military personnel were posing in East Africa as butterfly enthusiasts, whilst their real intent was to spy prior to potential invasion. From butterflies to bombs and back again. The butterflies win!

James Cameron, the filmmaker and explorer has just reached the bottom of the deepest ocean in the world- the bottom of the Mariana trench in the Pacific. That’s seven miles deep, in an environment that is likely to be more alien than the moon. Only the third to descend this far and the first in this part of the sea since 1960, he will be collecting data and imagery that will be entirely new to us. The ‘Deepsea Challenger’ is a purpose built capsule and is protecting Cameron from the 8 tons of pressure outside the cabin. The world we live in is amazing. There is always something new, whether it be the smallest creature or the deepest sea.