Proverbs 17 v 22.A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones In a Better Homes and Gardens article titled “Laugh Your Way To Good Health,” Nick Gallo made an observation that echoes what Solomon wrote thousands of years ago: “A merry heart does good, like medicine” (Proverbs 17 v 22).…

I played snakes and ladders at church with some children a couple of years ago and was reminded of my own childhood when we played the game at home as a family and am impressed that this simple game has stood the test of time for over fifty years.  I decided to look at how…

An America’s Cup yacht has a crew of 16 people, including the navigator, the helmsman and the mast men. But the boat could not compete without the relentless work of the five “grinders”—-the men who turn the heavy cranks that control the sails. In a USA Today article, a grinder described his role this way;…

Today let’s consider another verse of St. Patrick’s Breastplate.  This time a prayer for God to be with us everywhere and in every part of our lives.  It focuses particularly on Jesus, making us aware of how God became at one with our humanity and thus is ever longing to draw closer to us. “Christ…

Psalm 37 v 3. Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture My elder son, James, was born eight and a half weeks prematurely. He weighed 3 pounds and 6 ounces. He spent the first 3 weeks of his life in the Special Care Baby Unit as he needed help with…

In 1991 the United Reformed Church published a new hymn book; Rejoice and Sing was welcomed by many and criticised by many too for all the hymns that had been ‘left out’. I soon found that there was new hymnody there, or new to me anyway, that broadened my mind. Early on I came across…

One of the greatest prayers ever written is St. Patrick’s Breastplate.   It is an old prayer which we used translated from the original Irish.  We used to sing it regularly during the season of Trinity but somehow, it’s been forgotten, perhaps because it is quite long and the musical setting is quite complicated.  It’s…

I am waiting for an appointment at the Eye Clinic. Having already had cataracts removed from both eyes, I find that one has clouded over and as the weeks and months have gone by it has got much worse and now I can only see vague images with that eye.  Thankfully the other eye is…

On holiday recently, we travelled to Scotland and back with my brother and sister in law to visit their two sons, one who lives in Cowdenbeath and the other in South Shields on the way back to York, where we were staying for our holiday.  The journey to Scotland involved crossing the recently opened Queensferry…

On Tuesday the 6th July our reading was Exodus 2 v 1-10 and this passage encouraged me to read Exodus 1 v 15-21 as well. I’m sure the names of these two women may be unfamiliar or forgotten by many. You may ask, “Who are they?”  They were midwives who saved the lives of many newborn boys,…