Of recent years I have watched the Annual National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast, and this year it was held, as usual, in Westminster Hall, 7on July 7th. 650 parliamentarians and church leaders gathered for worship, prayer and to listen to the speaker, Clare Williams- Sarpong, from the Oxford centre for Christian Apologetics. She spoke on the…

During a short break in Cheshire, my wife and I decided to visit the North Wales coastline and encountered the notorious 20 mph speed limit. For the tourists, there were many opportunities to look closely at the surroundings but after a while, even that became a challenge. I thought there were two types of drivers:…

This is a series of TFTDs inspired over the months of July and August – the hottest on record! East Anglia seems to have been particularly affected by the long hot and dry summer, with brown lawns, trees and shrubs shedding appearing to wither before our eyes and devastating wildfires on Dunwich Heath that required…

You’re unlikely to see Gordon in your pulpit but is any of his wisdom transferrable to life in your church?  In a previous thought I reflected upon the encounter between Joseph and an unnamed man in Genesis 37. Although the man is not identified as a man of God in any way, God uses the…

My auntie and uncle ran the Moor Grocer’s shop in Killinghall Road, Undercliffe, Bradford for many years. Their day started early with the bacon being delivered to be boned and rolled, they had two big lumps of lard and butter that would be weighed out and it was a typical grocer’s shop of the day…

I love scones. However, they must be the most controversial treats available. People can’t even decide how to pronounce them – is it scone to rhyme with ‘gone’ (favoured in Northern England, Scotland, Southern England, Home Counties and East Anglia) or scone to rhyme with ‘tone’ (Eastern Midlands, Ireland, Essex, Cornwall)? The source of the…

Isaiah 40:31 But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint. (NIV) Thinking I expect that you, like me, have from time to time used the expression, “Give me strength.” Perhaps you…

In 2003 a series of 4 TV programmes was recorded entitled “Grumpy Old Men”. The title was taken from the 1997 film which starred Jack Lemmon. In the TV programme, narrated by Geoffrey Palmer, a number of famous men between the ages of 35 and 54 aired their grievances about various aspects of modern life…