We’ve all failed at times. David failed big time – he had defeated the Philistines, he was the rightful king, yet that wasn’t enough. He wanted someone else’s wife, and he was prepared to do anything, even murder to get her. He thought he had got away with it, but just as any good thriller…

Mark 6 v 48.He saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them. Shortly before dawn he went out to them, walking on the lake. He was about to pass by them When a helicopter crashed in a cold mountainous wilderness, the pilots survived but were seriously injured. The frozen afternoon…

The Reverend Rob Frost introduced an initiative a number of years ago centred on Pentecost called “On Fire” and the idea was for churches to reach beyond their buildings, go out into the streets and parks and celebrate the Pentecost experience when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples and equipped them to witness to…

Psalm 139: 13-16“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well…  My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.  When I was woven together…

Psalm 16 v 1. “Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.” Some people touring a mint where coins are made came to the smelting area. As they stood before the cauldrons filled with molten metal, the tour guide explained that if a person were to dip his hand into water and…

In the third chapter of the book that bears his name, Jonah, having learned his lesson about running from God, is recommissioned and returns to Nineveh to preach. The simplicity of the message is stark: ‘forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown’. Nineveh was a great city. There is some uncertainty about the dating…

We have two very, very, large, beautiful oak trees the other side of our fence. The leaves are now forming; we will have acorns and plenty of autumn leaves later in the year. The problems are the acorns drop on our side path, which makes it dangerous to walk down and the leaves drop all…

We are all under pressure at times – deadlines to meet, demands made by others, time pressure, financial pressure, losing car keys, health scares. Pressure comes in many forms, and like London buses pressures often come one after another. We might cry out “what else can happen!?” David was a man who knew pressure. He…

Bible reading: Numbers 11:1Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp Two boys were eating some grapes. One of them remarked, “Aren’t they sweet!” “I guess so,” the other replied, “But they’re…

My mum wrote in her diary on Monday 15th March 1976 “Derek passed his driving test today” the words are underlined and even a whole forty five years later, I remember that day well.  I put my success down to the fact that  I had been warned by some of the lads at work to…