The start of a New Year is always a time for resolutions, even though any day of the year can be a new beginning if we choose it to be! One resolution which lends itself to January 1 is reading the Bible in a year. This sounds like a simple enough task, but in reality it’s very difficult. One reason is that you reach a difficult part of the Bible in February/March time, another reason is that some of the material is duplicated (and told from different perspectives), and the arrangement of the Bible is not chronological. These three difficulties conspire to confound even the most dedicated reader, as I know from experience!

An answer to this problem is to read the Bible in chronological order, and there are a number of Bibles which set out the material in this way. One year I read the Bible through in the New International Version, although I didn’t find the associated commentary helpful as it was written by a very conservative scholar. This year I am using the Bible pictured above, which has minimal notes as you progress through. The translation is the inclusive language New Living Translation. And so to Genesis chapter 1…

Twitter (with its limit of 140 characters) lends itself to a genre of poetry identified by the hashtag #micropoetry – and today I was inspired by someone I follow on Twitter (whose poetry I find fascinating) to have a go. They are written quickly and can be composed anywhere – my first attempt was in the shower this morning:

The warm embrace of the water/the tingle of the shower gel/ready to face the day.

The others were composed while I was out and about, and posted online from my BlackBerry. Here they are (slight changes have been made so they scan better), do let me know what you think. You can use or reproduce them in the terms of my Creative Commons licence. Thanks.

Music blaring/lights flashing/shoppers rushing/tills ringing/people shouting/Jesus hiding.

Reindeer in a straw-filled pen/Skaters in an open rink/Salvation brass in a ring/…it must be Christmas!

Flowerbed of rubbish/discarded cardboard coffee cup/cigarette end in compost/acutely-angled ale can/symptomatic

Frozen penguins/hog roast/gourmet liquorice/mulled wine/Gregg’s pasty/random verse

xfactor/strictly/celebrity/bigbrother/ephemeral

Many of you will know that I recently had to take the awful decision to end my dog’s life. Zoe would have been 15 years old today and for most of her life she’d been in good health, and back in January her annual check-up was very positive. Unfortunately, she deteriorated rapidly a few months ago, although I don’t think she suffered in any real sense. As I walked her to the nearby veterinary surgery, I had a horrible feeling it would be her last walk. It was probably kidney failure, and I could have gone down the road of blood tests and treatment (which would have been covered by insurance), but opted for the hard decision of love. The vet and her assistant handled the situation with great sensitivity and care, and I stayed with Zoe (stroking her head) as she peacefully slipped away.

Zoe was a Welsh rescue dog (Border Collie X) that I adopted from the Dogs Trust when she was about 7 or 8 months old. She’s been a wonderful friend and companion for over 14 years, and I have special memories of her running free on the Welsh mountains in the Rhondda Valley – but more of that later!

To bring her home involved driving over a mountain, so Marta drove and I sat with Zoe on my lap in the back of the car. The first few days at home with the family were interesting, to say the least! Although Zoe was a rescue dog, I don’t think she’d been mistreated, merely not given the attention and exercise she needed. She was so inquisitive as we walked her through the Rhondda Valley streets, wanting see what was round every corner and in every garden! It was also a time when she had to learn the house-rules of not climbing on furniture and beds. She quickly got the hang of them, and after two or three days, she never broke the rules once – even when we were out!

After a few weeks the time came to let Zoe run loose for the first time, so on a Saturday morning I climbed up the mountain on our doorstep with her. We walked up the mountain path through open ground and forest trees, past fast flowing streams and rock formations, finally reaching fairly level ground at the top. Now was the time to let her off the lead, and the minute I did she was off like something possessed! I don’t think she’d ever had her freedom, and so she was going to make the most of it. I’d purposely left plenty of time because I knew it might be difficult to get her back. She’d keep coming to within a few feet of me, just to check I was still there and that everything was alright, but never close enough to put her back on the lead. In the end I had to start making my way back down the mountain, and Zoe followed me but always at a distance. Eventually as I neared the bottom of the mountain, and Zoe was completely wet and covered in mud, I managed to get her back on her lead somehow.

This mountain became well known and loved by Zoe and myself during the next three years until we moved away from the area, and some of my best memories are up there.

To be continued…..

When you turn the steering wheel of a car, you expect that the wheels will respond and move the vehicle accordingly – it’s a basic function of a car. This has always been my experience in forty years of driving, until recently that is! I was driving round a roundabout, but as I turned left to exit, the steering jammed and I only just managed to wrestle the car round. The steering continued to be unbelievably stiff until I managed to bring the car to a safe stop. Incidentally, I managed to stop near a post box and I did have some letters to post, so at least it served a useful purpose! Having switched the engine off, locked the car, unlocked the car, and restarted it – the problem disappeared! Unfortunately, as I drove to my destination, I couldn’t get it out of my head. I was thinking it was going to happen again any minute, such was my loss of confidence.

As soon as I had the opportunity I did what everyone does in situations like this – Google it! It soon became clear that it’s a common problem with the Meriva. I also quickly found several friends on Facebook and Twitter who’d had the same experience as me, and a YouTube clip from the BBC programme Watchdog where it was featured. So why did I have a Meriva with this problem? Why hadn’t Vauxhall recalled the unsafe vehicles? What was the Vauxhall dealer going to do about it?

Well, they repaired the car and told me they had fitted modified parts that don’t have the fault. This begs question, why no recall?

So, for me, the main issue is why hasn’t there been a recall when so many Merivas have this potentially dangerous fault? Imagine I was doing 50 mph on a left-hand bend with oncoming traffic when it happened? The Vauxhall garage was excellent, although they’re clearly well-versed in dealing with Meriva customers with the same problem!

There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance; pray you, love,
remember. And there is pansies, that’s for thoughts.
William Shakespeare – Hamlet, Act 4, Scene 5

Last week my daughter Sarah and I bought some herbs from Bardill’s Garden Centre and planted them in the front garden. Hopefully they will grow well and give me plenty of herbs for cooking. We bought six different herbs, click on each one for more information: Chives, Coriander, Garden Mint, Oregano, Rosemary and Sage.

Many of you know that I was due to get a new Salvation Army posting. Unfortunately this will involve leaving Leicester, a city I love very much. During my two years here I’ve made some great friends, many via social networking sites who I’ve gone on to meet in real life. I’m pleased that those friendships can continue through that medium, and I’m not going to be that far away from Leicester anyway.

I’ve been appointed to Derby Central Corps as Associate Officer and Ilkeston Corps as Support Officer. I’ve also had ecumenical and interfaith responsibilities within the East Midland Division of the Salvation Army, and the Divisional Commander has indicated that he would like me continue those duties under his direction and on his behalf (where appropriate). I’ll be living in Long Eaton, Derbyshire.

It’s been ten days since the appointment was proposed and five days since it became official, but I’ve had to wait until today to make it public. I take up the new appointment on Thursday 28 July 2011. I look forward to this new opportunity for Christian service.

Note: this post follows on from A Difficult Six Months.

This is a guest post from colleague Salvation Army Officer Jason Davies-Kildea from Australia. I’m grateful to Jason for allowing me to reproduce it here.

Today is the International Day Against Homophobia. It might be a good day to reflect on how much simpler my life could be if I would only stay quiet about the ‘issue’ of homosexuality and the church. Yet, I don’t think silence is the vocation that I’ve been called into.

I’m sure people wonder why a heterosexual man would spend the time and energy that I have done campaigning for greater understanding and acceptance of gay and lesbian people within the church and more specifically within The Salvation Army. The answer is pretty simple really – I keep witnessing people being hurt by ignorance and prejudice and I refuse to allow this situation to continue unchallenged.

I’ve lost count of the number of people that have told me how they used to be a part of the church but when they awakened to a differing sexuality, they were excluded – some quickly and cruelly and others slowly frozen out. My heart breaks when I hear of the violence inflicted on gay and lesbian people because they are different. I wonder why followers of Jesus, instead of welcoming these marginalised folk, seem to be the chief proponents of highlighting their difference, legitimising prejudice and ‘othering’. I am deeply saddened when I hear of occurrences of self-hatred, self-harm and suicide amongst LGBT people, many of whose misconceptions of their own self-worth have been driven home by ‘well-meaning’ Christians.

So, while LGBT people continue to be the victims of intimidation, bullying and violence, I’ll fight. While Christians hide their prejudice behind a handful of out-of-context scriptures, I’ll fight. While the church remains closed to my gay and lesbian friends, I’ll fight. While love comes second to man-made rules, I’ll fight to the very end.

Those of you who know me and my personal circumstances will realise that the title of this post is something of an understatement! I can honestly say that the last six months have been the most difficult and challenging of my life. In the middle of November 2010 I had to face up to what can only be described as a life-changing event, which has had a profound effect: with implications for me as a person, for my mental health, and for my work. Consequently, there are implications for my future life and work.

I have previously written about my bipolar condition, and my mental health has not been good during this period – with the first two months being the most difficult, when I was plunged into the absolute depths of darkness and despair. The last four months have been better as I have come to terms with my situation, although there have been ups and downs. Some days I’ve been able to function fairly normally, with others when I’ve been extremely demotivated and depressed. Remember, depression is not just ‘feeling low’ (the sort of thing everyone experiences from time to time), but something that overwhelms you and takes over your whole being.

During this six months I’ve been ‘out of appointment’, meaning that I had to relinquish my responsibility for Leicester Central Corps of the Salvation Army. It wasn’t a period when I was out of work as such, because (when I could) I was able to fulfil some responsibilities as part of the chaplaincy team at the University of Leicester, as well as ecumenical, interfaith and other ‘work-related’ activities within the city. One of the very positive outcomes of the time has been the opportunity to regularly see a psychotherapist. He has helped me become very self-aware – something I can recommend for everyone, as there are so many people going through life without any real sense of who they are and why they react in the ways they do. I’ve been getting myself fit, especially through cycling (partly of necessity as I haven’t had a car for most of this period) and walking. Sometimes it was difficult to motivate myself, but always worth the effort when I did. I’ve also been able to use the time for reading, studying and writing, the latter having been very therapeutic and (at times) cathartic. I’ve also been very grateful for supportive family and friends through this time, with some of the latter only known to me online – but real friends nevertheless.

So, at the end of this six month period, how do I feel now? I feel positive! The Salvation Army has been very good to me, and I’m looking forward to the start of a new and exciting chapter of my life and ministry. Please feel free to get in touch with me – my contact details are readily available, and my mobile number is available on Facebook if we are friends.

Note: This post is continued in New Salvation Army Appointment.

This is my account of the Turkish GP written in real-time as the race unfolded, the first time I’ve tried this. World Champion Sebastian Vettel started on pole position, having qualified 0.4 of a second faster than his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber. This might not seem very much, but a F1 car travels a very long way in 0.4 of a second! A side-by-side display of their qualifying laps on the BBC coverage showed how Vettel was slightly better than Webber in many of the corners, and this made the difference. Vettel is clearly the man to beat!

At the start, Rosberg made a great start from third on the grid to overtake Webber, who then had to defend his position. Schumacher had to come in for an early pit-stop to change his front wing after a coming together with Petrov. Schumacher had done very well in practice, but was disappointed with his qualifying position. Webber made a good move on Rosberg on lap 5, made it stick and moved into second place. There was some great duelling between team-mates Hamilton and Button, but Button retained ahead of Hamilton – maintaining the advantage he gained early on in the race.

Around lap 10 there were a whole raft of pit-stops, during which Hamilton made the jump on Massa, who may have been released dangerously into the path of the McLaren and may get penalised. One of the unwritten rules of F1 is don’t take your team-mate out of the race, but Petrov had a good go at knocking his Renault team-mate Heidfeld into the pit lane – prompting much hand gesticulating! Schumacher’s problems continued with another coming together in the midfield on about lap 16. There was still no sign of a penalty for Massa on lap 20 when he made a classic move on Rosberg, followed by a little later by Button taking Rosberg on the outside of the last corner in an exciting overtake. Massa soon had to make an unplanned pit-stop after locking-up a wheel and flat-spotting the tyre – F1 cars are so finely balanced that a simple mistake like this can mess up race strategy!

Top six after 26 laps: Vettel, Webber, Alonso, Button, Hamilton and Petrov, with Alonso (fastest on the track at that point) closing in on Webber. Indeed, Alonso took Webber on about lap 30 (just over half-distance).

There was a slight lull in the racing, but after a few laps Button passed Alonso. Hamilton had an awful pit-stop when a wheel gun stuck, and they had to hold him back a few seconds for an incoming Massa. Massa later went wide on the awesome turn 8, picked up a lot of tyre debris and it cost him quite a few places. There’s a lot of tyre debris (known as marbles) off the racing line this year, this is because the Pirelli tyres are designed to degrade fairly quickly.

On about lap 46 Paul di Resta came to a halt, but it didn’t require the safety car. Scot Paul di Resta is the third British driver in F1 this year, driving for Force India. As the race moved into the final 10 laps, Webber had the run on Alonso and overtook him. Schumacher has had what the BBC website described as an another ‘underwhelming’ race, languishing in the mid-field. For all his experience, he really should be doing better, as he is continually being out-performed by team-mate Rosberg.

After 58 laps the clear winner is Vettel, followed by team-mate Webber for a 1-2 Red Bull victory, with Alonso third. Hamilton was fourth, Rosberg fifth and Button sixth. A great race, with Vettel supreme again.