Merry Christmas

Rudolf, last seen in Gateshead...


Merry Christmas...

Faith

Something to think about from Oswald Chambers...

Faith based on experience is not faith;
faith based on God’s revealed truth is the only faith there is.

This is just wrong

Mint choc chip white stilton - that can't be right!

Think mint choc chip ice cream made with 3 week old cream, and you won't be far wrong...

Available now from a Morrison's near you.

Oh the shame of it

I popped out to the sorting office at lunchtime today with two bags of parcels and 63 Christmas cards to post. Too late for second class - note to self - must be better prepared next year and save myself 30% on the postage...

I had just about come to terms with the additional cost, when the Royal Mail employee uttered the unforgettable words... 'we've no sticky stamps left - just the licky ones.' The full horror of what was about to befall me was just starting to sink in (having to lick and stick almost 90 stamps), when it got worse. The stamps he gave me were those huge square ones, with a surface area of approximately two and half times that of normal stamps - and they all needed to be licked.

I thought this was as bad as it could get - but no. I looked at the stamps with disbelief. The shame of it. Not Christmas stamps. Oh no. These were 'let's celebrate England being in the world cup and let's remember they won in 1966' stamps.

So, shamefully, I must admit that I licked, looked at, and stuck every one of those stamps onto the corner of the envelopes containing our Christmas cards.

I apologise now to all of my Scottish friends and family who may be offended receiving such a stamp through the post. But I can assure you that the indignity of having such a stamp fall onto your hall carpet is nothing compared to the pain of having to stick each and every one of them to the envelopes.

Doglet is ready for Christmas

Proper ladgeful, that!

I learnt a new word last night.

Walking the kids home after Kidz Klub, we were discussing the lack of confectionary available at the close of the party, meaning that a couple of kids didn't get a box (although I think Shelagh had an extra secret stash so everyone got one in the end)... Anyway, I suggested that perhaps maybe the lack was caused by some children taking two boxes (I don't believe this for a minute - just simply more kids than boxes!)... well, this was greeted by a shriek of 'eee, that's proper ladgeful, that!'

Us leaders looked at each other, looked at the girl in question, looked at each other again, and then enquired as to the meaning of the word just uttered... And so, the definition...

ladgeful (a): disgraceful, really bad, shameful

I believe it is a geordie word, probably most use by the chav population... but I think I like it.
So - task for the day: to correctly use the word 'ladgeful' in normal conversation.

Cheesy wotsits

It's amazing what you can do with cheesy wotsits - apart from the obvious eating them...

We came up with a new thing to do with them at the Kidz Klub Christmas Party last night. Mrs D boldly (foolishly?) volunteered (was volunteered?) to be one of the recipients of said cheesy wotsits...

The kids loved it, and I think the results speak for themselves...



As my lil sis said when she saw the photo... 'properly rank'!

Water water everywhere....

It seems that it's been raining hard almost everywhere in the country apart from Geordie-land... rivers have overtopped their banks, lakes are brim-full and water is standing in fields everywhere (apart from here)... it seems to be particularly bad in Scotland and the north-west of England

The BBC website has some brilliant photos sent in by the discerning public...
Cumbria
Tayside

Details of flood warnings abound - such as those in...
Perthshire
Dumfries & Galloway
The Midlands

Unfortunately I am unable to post any photos as it hasn't been raining enough here - plenty of wind, mind you... but not much rain...

I'll just have to make do with the photos posted by my roving camera-man...

Hope for the Ozdemirs

Some renewed hope for Hatin, Susan and Denis - their solicitor is preparing an application to get them released from Yarl's Wood, and hopefully returned to Newcastle... This should be submitted on Monday. We must keep praying...

Edinburgh again...

The Salisbury Crags were looking particularly lovely this afternoon...

The Ozdemirs

Good news of sorts.

Hatin, Susan and Denis were not deported yesterday, but returned to Yarls Wood - apparently Hatin was taken ill and so they wouldn't let her go. She's also making an asylum application on her own behalf. But they're still at the detension centre - I just hope the authorities will let them come home to Newcastle while things are sorted out...

But Hidayet was sent back to Turkey - how can it be right to separate the family like that? It all just seems so unfair.

The Ozdemirs

At 1145 this morning, Susan (11) and Denis (7) and their mum and dad, Hatin and Hidayet, were forced onto a plane at Heathrow, deported to Turkey. They were taken from their house before school on Monday morning. No warning. No time to pack properly. No time for Denis and Susan to say goodbye to their friends. They'd been here for 5 years. Denis speaks Turkish with a geordie accent. How can sending him back to a place he has no recollection of be right?

Mrs D and I visited the family every week for the past 2 years - Susan and Denis were two of the most regular Kidz Klub members. They are lovely kids from a lovely family.



Memories will include...

• Denis always starting his sentences with 'do you know what...'
• Susan gaining so much confidence after her surgery...
• Denis' 6th birthday party - we were invited - what an honour - dancing to Kurdish music in their dining room, complete with hanky in hand...!
• Eating home-made baclava on one of our visits...
• Praying with Hatin when she was having nightmares...
• The trip to Cragside last year with Hub International...
• Seeing them run up the path to Kidz Klub every week - usually the last ones there - but full of anticipation of the fun they would have...

and so much more...

We'll miss them - but we can only hope (and know) that God will keep them safe, protect them from harm and guide their steps. Psalm 121 seems an appropriate prayer for them...

I lift up my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip - he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you - the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm - he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Winter is here

but doglet loves the fire...

Everything's gone pink

This year, the powers that be at Newcastle and Gateshead decided to celebrate winter (yes, that's right, winter - not Christmas, as that would presumably offend non-Christians...) by lighting up some of the city's buildings in pink. And so Glow was born.



To go along with the pink winter theme, they have also set up a vampire rabbit trail, where the kids can look out for pink vampire rabbits projected on to walls around the city. Just a wee bit surreal for my liking... what do you think?



Anyway, after a coffee and muffin in Costa Coffee, and a visit to Fenwick's window (Gulliver this year - why?), Mrs D and I decided to go and have a look at all the pink buildings...

Bonus day for doglet

I took the afternoon off work, much to doglet's delight, and headed for Druridge Bay, one of our favourite places - miles of golden sand and crashing waves... and lots of bunnies for doglet to chase!

Celestial painting...

How big is your God?

Housegroup tonight -

discussing how sometimes we limit what God can do in our lives by limiting how big we make Him... and how difficult it is to make the jump from knowing what we read in the Bible, to outworking that in our lives... we know God is big, but somehow we don't live our lives as if that were true...

and thinking about times when God appears not to answer us - when what He is asking us to do is to wait... and trust in Him...

These are some of the verses and promises of Scripture we read and meditated on...

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. (Ephesians 3 v16-18)

So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ ...but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6 v31-33)

But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength.
They will soar high on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not faint.
(Isaiah 40 v31)

Then Job replied to the Lord:
“I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you..."
(Job 42 v1-2)

At the foot of the cross...

Some song words which had new meaning for me yesterday...

I exchange all my sin
for the promise of salvation
and your name across my brow...

My name is graven on His hands
my name is written on His heart
I know that while in heaven He stands
no tongue can bid me thence depart!

To think that my name is tattooed on God's hands - what a truly amazing picture - but it's not just a picture... it's true! God will never let us go!

"Behold, I have indelibly imprinted (tattooed a picture of) you on the palm of each of My hands" (Isaiah 49 v16)

Sunday afternoon perambulations with doglet

Jesmond Dene on a damp but bright November afternoon...

Number 3 godson is 1

isn't he gorgeous...!

Jelly Night at Kidz Klub

Captain Hook got jellied tonight...



...but I think we managed to wipe most of it off the walls!
Glad it wasn't me this time!

Grace is like water

Housegroup tonight - we're working our way through John Ortberg's 'If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat'...



Tonight we were thinking about failure and how we deal with it, considering David's cry to God in the cave (Psalm 142) - and it struck me that it's OK to fail - as long as we have the right attitude to it - that we should learn from our failures and mistakes - ask God what He wants us to learn, and how He wants us to change... rather than retreating into a cave and feeling sorry for ourselves...

And isn't it true that when we are at our lowest point, feeling inadequate and 'a failure', that we are able to hear God speaking His truth. Somebody said 'grace is like water - it flows to the lowest point' - I like that...

When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then You knew my path. (Psalm 142 v3)

Rainy in Edinburgh...

...but the Christmas fair is coming!

Double rainbow at Hartside

on the way to Penrith...

Mrs D is home - Hurrah!

Hurrah!

Mrs D returned home this evening after a mammoth weekend away with her year 6s at High Borrans near Windermere. It would appear that much fun was had by all, with highlights including walking around caves in the dark, dangling from ropes in the trees, paddling round a tarn in a canoe, and sitting on top of a mountain under a parachute drinking hot chocolate! Mostly in the pouring rain!

Doglet is also muchly pleased at Mrs D's return - she has spent all evening lying as close as doggedly possible to Mrs D on the sofa!

Upheld by the everlasting arms

Something from Spurgeon I found again today...

"When we stand in the midst of Jordan, we shall be able to say with David, "I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me." We shall descend into the grave, but we shall go no lower, for the eternal arms prevent our further fall. All through life, and at its close, we shall be upheld by the "everlasting arms" - arms that neither flag nor lose their strength, for "the everlasting God fainteth not, neither is weary."

Who are you?

Who were you? Who was He? What happened? Where were you? Who are you? Who is He now?

The Lord of hosts is with us...

... and the God of Jacob is our refuge - think of that!

Psalm 46 this morning - a difficult service for many, for loads of reasons... but what struck me from what Paul was saying, was just how awesome and powerful God is. No matter what life throws at us; no matter that what we thought was solid and secure may be crumbling beneath our feet; no matter that the waves are washing us off the boat - the God of Jacob is our refuge, our strength, our safety - The Lord who made the heavens keeps us safe - truly amazing when you really think about it!

Paul explained that not only is a fortress a place of safety and of strength - but it also is a place of life - I'd never thought about it before, but every castle has a well or supply of water - to sustain those inside during times of trouble - and it is God, our fortress, who sustains us and gives us life - Revelation 21 says: 'To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life'.

I was also reminded this morning of what we learned on Wednesday at re:fuel - Paul was talking then about trials and suffering, based around James 1 - that trials are universal, trials are useful (producing perseverence and maturity), and trials are to be understood from God's persepective (His ways and thoughts are not ours). The peom Paul read out at the end sums it all up brilliantly I think:

God gives us...
enought tears to keep us tender,
enought hurts to keep us human,
enough of failure to keep our hands clenched tightly in His,
and enough of success to make us sure we walk with Him.

Dusk in Edinburgh

Princes Street at dusk... waiting for the green man, with 2 minutes left before my train leaves!

Deacon Blue

and I'm thinking about faith...


I've got a love that Ill cling on to...


What an excellent evening... dinner with Mrs D and two friends and then off to the City Hall to see Deacon Blue - and what a performance! I've regretted not going to see them more than 10 years ago when they played the Caird Hall in Dundee - it was definitely worth the wait!

The highlight for me must have been Lorraine singing 'Cover from the Sky' - but Dignity and Loaded were fab too, as always! And a brilliant intro to Fergus from Ricky... Can't wait for the next time!

Living stones

1 Peter 2 this evening...

Paul was talking about how we are all being built together into a spiritual family - of priests and servants... and why? - so we can declare His praises as we serve each other.

God particularly reminded me again (I seem to easily forget!) that we are all called to behave in life, as Jesus behaved in death (v21-23). Not an easy call, but so much better to be seeking that way of life, than going along with the world. With Christ as our shepherd, looking after us, guiding us, keeping us safe, we can't fail!

New church website launched

Our new church website is now live! After many months of hard work by many people, it's finally there. And it looks fabulous, if I do say so myself!

Special thanks must go to Chris Juby, without whose patience and expertise, we wouldn't even have started

Fenham hedgehog massacre averted

Well, for now, anyway!

Last night, just as we were going to bed, doglet metamorphosed from her normal cute cuddly adorable self into a ferocious mawling beast... the subject of her attack? - a poor wee tim'rous beastie... well - a prickly hedgehog to be precise...

After saving the poor thing from doglet's teeth, there was little I could do as it was pitch dark... But the evidence of the attack was plain to see inside - fleas jumping all over doglet and the carpet, and numerous hedgehog spikes caught in doglet's coat... so out with the flea spray (NOTICE ON CAN - 'do not spray directly on animals'!) to disinfect the carpet and cushions, and out with doglet's flea medicine to disinfect her...

In the morning, the battlefield scars were clear - grass ripped up in the fight, flowerbeds trampled... but no sign of the hedgehog. I can only hope that it managed to stay rolled up during the attack, and was able to crawl away to safety overnight.

Perhaps I need to erect signs around the garden to ward off unsuspecting hedgehogs
'Beware of the ferocious doglet'

Hedgehogs - you have been warned!

Cold in Edinburgh

It was cold in Edinburgh yesterday - very very cold - and windy to boot...

That was once I got there - my train was cancelled, so I ended up on the delayed earlier train - eventually arriving at Waverley an hour late thanks to 'signal problems at Berwick'. The free coffee provided by GNER helped pass the boredom, although I suspect the young student who had been waiting on the train in Newcastle for two hours had little good to say about them - she left the train briefly to sit on the platform, and the train left without her - no announcements or warning - the doors closed and away we went - leaving her with her head in her hands... I just hope she was reunited with her luggage and a suitable apology!

On the way back from the post box

I saw this amazing sky on the way back from the post box this evening - beautiful herring bone patterns in orange, with really menacing deep black (can you have deep black?) clouds closing in behind... awesome!

Problems

Christian was preaching tonight on 1 Peter 1 - the start of a new series in the evenings...

What struck me afresh was what Peter says in verses 6 and 7 - that although I may ask God to remove my problems, God may let them remain... and in praising Him in the midst of my problems (because He is God, not because of how I feel), I grow and understand Him better. And so I learn to rely on Him, and as gold is refined in the fire, so I am refined and become ever closer to how He intended me to be.

I love the way the NLT puts it...
So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

A Good Year

I went to see this film last night with Mrs D - it must rank as one of my favourites - straight into the top ten... it made me think - what is important in my life - career and progression - or doing what God wants me to do... I know he's challenging me to go deeper with him, and perhaps I need to re-think my priorities...

Druridge Bay

A crisp autumnal Sunday afternoon - what better place to be than Druridge Bay...

I love this place - walking with Mrs D and doglet, searching for sea-glass, listening to the waves crashing on the beach... somehow I always feel closer to God here.

God so loved this whole world

We sang this Godfrey Birtill song at church this morning - I just love the words...

God so loved this whole world
That He gave his only Son
And if we will cleave to Him
We'll not perish
But we'll have eternal Life
And we'll never be condemned
For God’s promises are Yes and Amen!

Yeah yeah yeah!...Yeah yeah yeah!
Yeah yeah yeah!...Yeah yeah yeah!
Yeah yeah yeah!...Yeah yeah yeah!
and Amen!.

Though we walk through dark days
Where the earth and heavens shake
Through the valley of despair
He is with us
Never giving up on us
Faithful and forever friend
For God’s promises are Yes and Amen!

Through the cross we are saved
In the blood we put our faith
For there is no other way
In to heaven
Jesus conquered death and hell
Promised to return again
And God’s promises are Yes and Amen!

The words of verse 2 spoke particularly powerfully to me again this morning - no matter what we're going through, no matter how far from God we feel - he never gives up on us... For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does (Psalm 33v4)

Back from The Lakes

Mrs D, doglet and I are just back from a wonderful week in the Lake District with 5 friends-of-old from Swindon days... lots of great walks (Tarn Hows and Rydal Water were particularly photogenic), laughs and coffee shops... and evenings of Cranium (crazy golf!), scrabble and trivial pursuit (Gandhi and his spinning wheel)...

And so this blog is born - inspired by TheWeeScottie and a long-standing feeling that I should start to record some of my journey with God... as well as some of the more mundane things I get up to!