I am somewhat jealous.

This is the reason why:

Ever since we returned from Porjus I have become an avid watcher of the Nature of Jokkmokk webcams, see: http://uk.jokkmokk.jp/detail_nr4.shtml 

Last night was the first night of real activity and as I looked could see the lights beginning to do their spectacular dance across the sky. I slept with pictures of wonderment and could not wait to see the archives this morning. The result is un-ashamed jealousy. I just wanted to be there.

But what is t all about? 

It is sheer beauty to us down here but when we start to begin to understand what is going on then the wonder of it all is just fantastic. It all seems to begin with storms on our sun sending out high speed winds of scorching radiation. That great nuclear reactor in the sky is throwing serious danger to us. If it hit us even though from so far away it would frazzle us in nano-seconds but it does not! The wonder of it all is that our little planet has got an amazing radiation shield that protects us from harmful radiation but lets in the all important heat and light that makes life on earth what it is.

When we see the Aurora we are privy to the radiation shield doing its job. It is destroying the harmful stuff and the excess radiation comes to earth ad dancing lights. The earth is rejoicing at yet another success and we are being amazed by the result. All are happy. It is amazing to think that it is simply magnetism that does the job! What a wonderful world we live in.

To some this is simply the result of a coming together of miniscule particles that grow at a rapid rate of knots until marble size and then expand into what we have toda y and continuing on into infinity and beyond. Observances have been made that can be fitted into the expectations of clever scientists all over the world. We have at last they claim found the origin of the universe. I cannot deny that they have observed all that they document but where they put things into the fate of accident file I can only see the hand of an Almighty Creator who has left no stone unturned for the development of life on earth and for the protection of all that this planet is!

As I see the wonder of all of this and am jealous I am fully content that our God has put is into this beautiful universe for His good pleasure and for our benefit.

We may not have the spectacle of an aurora in Looe but I woke up to a magnificent sunrise over the sea this morning and at this moment I cannot think of anywhere that I would rather be!

A week in Llandudno.

It is amazing how at times something crops up just at the right time. Our week in Beth Eden Christian Hotel was one of those times. It was August last year when our good friends David & Margaret invited me to speak sometime in 2014. We chose mid March as a good date for fitting in with our then proposed commitments and I selected my subject for the week to be "Moses' example of leading God's people." All at that point seemed to be fairly mundane.

But

Who can work out the future? I am glad that I do not have a crystal ball that tells me months in advance what is going to be happening today. Even though we may have reasonable estimations, we are never too sure of what might happen even in the next few moments. It does not take too much to turn our world upside down. I suppose that is how we feel at this moment. For the first time in  my life I find myself out of work.

A new experience

 I have finished my work at the Old Rusty, it became obvious to me more and more that the coffee shop was becoming more successful than I would have predicted and due to that it needed a fully qualified full time manager. My heart is the gospel and like the Psalmist says the Word of God is like a burning in the heart, I cannot but let it out. I also if I dare say it have the heart of a Pastor and am desperately missing helping God's people to know more about Him. I relinquished my contract with the charity at the end of February. They have employed a lovely Christian young lady to manage. She has all of the necessary skills and I am sure she will move it into its next phase. All of this leaves me in a very nervous situation;

But

 
I know who holds the future
And He'll guide me with his hand
With God things don't just happen,
Everything by him is planned.
So as I face tomorrow,
With its problems large and small,
I'll trust the God of miracles,
Give to Him my all.
 
I do not know how many days
Of life are mine to spend,
But one who knows and cares for me
Will keep me to the end.
 
I do not know the course ahead,
What joys and griefs are there.
But one stands near who fully knows,
I'll trust His loving care.

This is where North Wales and Beth Eden come in. One of the principles of the bible for people in confused or difficult situations is that the Lord often instructs us to come aside and rest a while. When God tells us to rest it is not necessarily lying on a beach in Sunny Spain but for us to put ourselves in a situation where He can speak. God's normal way of speaking to His people is through His declared word which of course is the bible. As I started studying the life and times of Moses all that I was learning became so relevant for me that it seemed to be unnecessary for me to go up to Wales (350 miles by the scenic route!) but Llandudno was my destination and so off we went.

The Severn Bridge; gateway to Wales.

Snowdon:magnificent.

Not exactly flowing with milk and honey but water beyond compare.

A place of reflection!

The camera cannot do justice to the beauty of the land but a photo is a great trigger to remind the brain of the feast of glory seen by the eye. If you want to experience just what it is like you really must go yourself. I suppose Wales is my favourite country on this planet. there are so many happy memories there! Add to the memories a countryside so beautiful then there is no real surprise that some might believe it to be the "land of promise!"

Our destination was right on the North coast, the little seaside town of Llandudno:

Sorry I just had to get the car in!

Upon arrival Margaret apologised that it was only a small group attending that week. That suited me fine because I fully believed that the ministry was for my benefit anyway. We met the other guests and I can honestly say that we were truly "fed up for the rest of the week.

We were:

• Well fed with good food.
• Well fed by the Lord, through  His word.
• Well fed with good fellowship.
• Well fed through the beauty of this lovely land. I covered more than 500 miles of Wales in day trips!

We were mightily blessed by the whole experience and so I am grateful to God and all involved for a time to reflect on the real issues of life. I do not have any answers but this I do know is that God has a purpose and I just need to rest a while and see what He is doing. I am a good meddler and am learning that with God the "hands off" approach  is always best. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching the bible again and would love to be about that business again.

Please pray that God will lead us into the next phase in the near future.

Where have you been?

For the benefit of anybody who might follow my regular musings I would like to take some time to tell where I have been. My little grandson loves to take to school something to show and tell. He must be one of life's great enthusiasts because teacher has to tell him from time to time to let others share in their life's experiences. His father is after all a preacher of the gospel and so that might go some way to explaining his desire to tell people about his own exploits!

But what has that got to do with his silly old Grandpa?

  Well you see I have much to show and tell, they say that a picture tells the story so much better, so here is my explanation in picture form.

We have a lovely holiday in Sweden courtesy of daughter number 2. For our Christmas present and Ma's significant birthday we had a holiday we could only dream of before.
Stockholm this year is experiencing one of its rare snow-less winters. That was something of a shock to us due to the large amount of cold weather clothes packed.

 Home of the Nobel science awards.

Sweden's narrowest pathway, maybe Britain can better this?

Birthplace of the quirky Swedish artist Carl Larsson.

(Do you like the quirky style of the photograph?)

Not one of Larsson's but a giraffe crane shows the delightfully quirky artistry of the Swedish people!

Nothing can be normal here in this amazing country, Larsson has left his influence all over the place.

After spending 2 or 3 days in and around Stockholm we went on expedition. we took an plane to:

Where we were met by Lars a lovely and respectfully quirky Swedish man who is married to an equally quirky British lady called Patricia. they run the Porjus Northern Lights Complex.

 www.google.co.uk/#q=porjus+northern+lights+apartments

 Lars drove us the 50 kilometers to the complex where we arrived at close to Midnight.

After a little star gazing in the cold we went to bed the happiest old codgers on the face of this glorious planet. A childhood dream was being played out for Pam and never having been a dreamer I was equally in awa of what might be over the next 5 days and nights. All I could say was "I am in the Arctic circle!"

We woke up to this:

Words cannot say how we felt, we were just grateful to a very generous daughter and to our creator for the stunning world that we live in.


The significant birthday that Pam had recently celebrated was marked by something that she could only ever dream about. Again the pictures te;ll the story better than I ever could:

 We went by bus from Porjus to Jokkmokk where a Finnish lady called Karin took us to her home where she and her husband run the Arctic Husky Adventure Centre:

http://www.arctichuskyadventures.com

And this is what happened:

These must be the best behaved dogs in the world.

Adopted by Gubba and loving it.

Halfway house and much appreciated refreshments.

A fire in the forest which produced coffee and cinnamon buns.

Here we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Does it get better than that?

I was amazed at these dogs, no barking except when they left the complex and re-entered. They loved to be hitched to the sled. They loved to run but more importantly they loved their owners and also people. The Husky Arctic Adventure Centre specialises in working with disabled children and so their dogs are not only clearly loved that are also immaculately well trained. Not one of them jumped up at me or even attempted to lick me! At last I have found some dogs that even I like.

But of course that was not all, a display of God's glory in creation capped the whole time:

What more can I say other than what a Christmas present, happy birthday Pam,a massive thank you Elaine and Jesus we love you!