28th January

It's the end of another day, the family are starting to make their way to bed and I am left to reflect on what has hapened over the last 15 hours or so. Highlight of the day was having Stephen Matthew and his wife Kay from the Abundant Life Church, Bradford come to speak in our church. As you would expect he was excellent but having them back for lunch afterwards was the icing on the cake for me. Such really nice, positive and constructive people, with no airs and graces, very down to earth but who have accomplished so much. Quite a unique gift to have done so much with your life but to still be so approachable and available. Mary made a great lunch, Owen's Kim joined us (Owen having to work elsewhere), Lucy was working in the shop at Ripley and we just had a really good time. Positive feedback from Steve re the development of our own church since he was with us two years ago.
Later in the afternoon we paid a visit to the offices to say goodbye to Neil Prem, followed by a quick walk around the Stray. When we came home I spent some time preparing for Bible Study tomorrow evening and then watched Top Gear where the return of Richard Hammond was celebrated. What a lovey guy he is and what a brilliant, but crazy show. I can't help but wonder how he can keep playing with fast cars after the near death experience he had in the jet car. Even more interesting is whether or not he has any concept of or belief in God after his close shave. He will know that you don't crash a car at 280mph and survive, normally. So why did he survive when others die in accidents that occur at a fraction of that speed? Does he put it down to pure luck, the softness of the grass, the structure of his crash helmet - or could the fact that some of his friends and family may have been praying for him before the crash and a lot more people were praying for him after the crash, have anything to do with it? I would love to know and maybe one day I or someone else will manage to find out.
It's strange how some people can have a near death experience in a car or on a motorbike or through sickness and disease and they start to see God involved in their escape or recovery, rescuing them in some way, and others are completley spirually unmoved and unconvinced. There's great material for someone's doctoral thesis there - maybe, one day.
I have come across some people who could have a vision and explain it away as a trick of light but others could just feel the breeze blow in a different direction and interpret it as guidance from God. I wonder how many different factors go towards creating the different response?
I wonder what God thinks of it all?
Started reading a brilliant book over the weekend called "Learning to Breathe" by Andy Cave. He comes from the mining village of Grimethorpe and went down the pits as soon as he left school. Whilst mining he discovered mountains and rock climbing through a friend and was hooked. He goes on to write about the 1983 miners strike and the devastation the Tory Gmnt wrecked on the mining communities, but how towards the end of that time he developed a love for English literature and eventually applied to do "A" level english which led to him going to University to study at graduate level, followed by doing his doctorate. All of this also meant he had more time to pursue his love of climbing which eventually led to him climbing some of the highest and greatest mountains in the Himalya and the Alps. All that talent that was only released because the mining industry was finished off. How many hundreds of thousands of men and women never realise their full potential that was within them because their path was marked out for them through the community in which they lived, where you weren't expected to excel at anything other than earning an acceptable living and following in your father's footsteps. How many doctors, lecturers, university proffessors, scientists, musicians, artists and poets have been lost to the world because they were born into a certain community. But then again, whose to say that a good miner is any less valuable than a good surgeon?
It must be getting late - I'm rambling.

Friday 26th Jan

Friday lunchtime prayer meeting went well again. That was only our second one at the new mid-day time and it seems to be going really well. Even more people turned up this morning, about 16 in total, that is 4 or 5 more than last week which is brilliant. When a lot of people turn up the hour seems to go faster than ever.
Mary's at work this afternoon and Lucy is working at home, which leaves me at the office wondering which bit of work to attack first.
We haven't been to see Dominic (new grandson) for a week or so and I fear that if we leave it too long he will have changed a lot and we will have missed out on a stage of his development. Must arrange a visit next week.

An interesting thought occurred to me; if it is true that you can tell what a person is like by looking at the books on their bookshelf then how much more accurate an appreciation would you get of someone by looking at their "Favorites" on the browser of their computer? After all there are probably more people surfing the net now than there are reading books. On the office computer my favorites contain Amazon; E-bay; some book purchasing websites; bank sites; the BBC homepage; the Western Mail and the Times online; a few photography, motorbike and cycling sites; an online Bible site; the Met Office; LDC Website; the AA routefinder; some general Christian and specific church sites and a few other bits and pieces. The computer at home has so many favorites on it that last night I had to start deleting them to make it quicker to get to the ones we use most often. And which do we use most often? Probably the banking sites, followed by the Western Mail for the rugby. When working I tend to use the Bible site - great site by the way - BibleGateway.com - loads of different versions of the Bible, study guide's,commetaries and so on. Use Amazon a lot for books; but have found Green Metropolis very cheap (£3.75 per book inc P&P) although choice is a little limited. So now you know what's on my favorites list, what does that say about me?
Talking of computers, I went into the Library the other day full of apologies for late returns. The librarian told me that in future I could not only renew my books online but even check where the books that I want to borrow are at any given time in all the libraries across North Yorkshire, fantastic I thought, but now realise that you all probably knew that years ago!! So now N.Yorks.Libraries sits as the newest entry at the bottom of my list of favorites. One thing that I have never done is read an online book, there's something more satisfying about holding a book and turning the pages.

James Family Picture

A bit on the "dark side" this one but you can just about make out all the members of the family, assembled together on New Year's Day 2007

Introducing Us

Hi, for those who don't know us a brief introduction; and for those who do know us, an update. There's a lot going on in our family at present. Daniel and Kim produced their first son, Dominic, our first grandson six weeks ago on Dec 11th. On New Year's Day Owen and Kim got engaged watching the sunrise at Brimham Rocks and in May Bethan and David expect to give birth to their first ?? We've just come to that stage in the life of our family where a lot seems to be happening without our input - quite nice really. Lucy is growing up faster than we ever imagined possible and enjoying being a student. Mary works most days in Bethan and David's shop in Ripley - a completley new experience for her, but one she is enjoying, after having done supply teaching, on and off, for at least thirty years. I still work full time in Life Destiny Church along with my son-in -law David, and am pleased to say that I enjoy the work more than ever. The church has a really healthy feel to it and is beginning to see some growth. We often reach between 90 -100 people on a Sunday morning and rarely dip below 85 these days. Still a long way to go and a lot of work to do but there appears to be a real sense of unity, purpose and focus in the church at present.
Back to the family for a moment. Mary and I spend our days off on Wednesdays walking in the Yorkshire Dales or Moors. Walking is something we both enjoy for slightly different reasons. Mary enjoys working out routes, reading maps etc and I enjoy the hard exercise of climbing hills and mountains and taking photos of the surrounding countryside. During the last month I have reverted to film photography, buying an old 35mm cameral off E-bay. I just wanted to try something different with a variety of lenses you can buy cheaply off the internet now that digital has caused the 35mm market to crash. In addition to the walking and photography I bought a brand new Kawasaki ER6F 650cc of pure exhilaration which has been thrashed across the country roads of the Yorks Dales on a few occasions over recent months. Unfortunately I have had to take it off the road for the winter due to the salt on the roads which ruins bikes. Then over the last five months I have got into cycling - bought a mountain bike with town slicks - partly to keep fit and partly to save wear and tear on the bike and car - but I've got to really enjoy it and am gobbling up any books, magazines, route guides I can lay my hands on. The great thing about cycling the 2 or 3 miles to work is that you can keep fit whilst going to work and save money on fuel etc. etc. Planning to do some longer motorbike and cycle rides when the weather improves in the spring.
In the longer term we have a wedding this summer, a new grandchild in May, Summer holidays to Cornwall (if Mary gets her way) to France or Spain (if I get my way); I will probably be travelling to India again in Oct / Nov and who knows what else may be fittted in between now and Dec 31st?