1st March

Time to put some photos of our new grandson on display. This is one of the best and the rest you can find on Flickr. Sunday 11th March is Dominic's dedication and the day after Mary and I head off to Kenya. But back to Dominic - he has changed quite dramatically every time we see him and I think is getting to look more like Kim, although it is still early days. He is starting to take more notice of things around him and becoming an interesting little chap. Enjoy the rest of the photos!http://www.flickr.com/photos/13615080@N00/

Yesterday was my day off and because the weather was so awful we spent the morning sitting round at home reading and drinking coffee. I've started reading the first volume of Jeffrey Archer's Prison Diaries and because of my own involvement through church in the local prison I find the book especially captivating (oops! bad terminology). More about Lord Archer and Belmarsh prison later. After lunch Mary and I went to Leeds. Mary went shopping whilst I went back for my final assessment on the climbing wall. The instructors have to be convinced that I can belay another climber proficiently before they will allow me to register, and all went really well and they passed me, which means that I can now use the wall at any time unaccompanied by an instructor. As well as belaying the instructor I had several hard climbs on the wall and this time didn't fall off. I felt both stronger and more confident and feel that some of the strength training I have been doing for my hands and arms is beginning to pay off - although today my hands, arms and shoulders have a dull ache even when I don't move them. I am really enjoying the rediscovery of climbing and will probably go down to the wall at least every other week, interspersing the visits with trips to the gym. Being able to do a hard climb gives such a feeling well being and a sense of accomplishment as well as using a combination of strength and agility in getting up the wall which improves fitness. It is intriguing to watch more experienced climbers working their route out as they go up the climb, it a bit like playing a game of chess but you work out the moves with your body. I can tell that this is something I could get addicted to.

Today I worked most of the day in the Offices. One or two people dropped in to see me but for the most part I concentrated on preparing a talk for church on Sunday morning. I have now got some themes and ideas for a talk and tomorrow will spend a good part of the day getting it written up. Saturday I will spend a few hours fine tuning it - or at least that's the plan!!

I like the challenge of sitting down with a blank sheet of paper and seeing what eventually God gives me to speak on. Some church leaders hardly make any notes or do any written preparation before they speak; they spend most of their time in prayer, jotting down just a couple of notes at the last minute. Personally I begin with prayer, and when I feel ready I turn to my Bible, start reading and writing down notes as they come to me and continue praying until finished. I often end up with far too many notes but it's easy to just cut them back to the required amount. Sometimes I can get inspiration to write a sermon from reading a book, watching a film or even watching a rugby match. God can and does speak to us in all sorts of ways in order to get our attention -