Slumdog Marley and Salmon in the Yemen

I’ve been travelling a lot recently. Both in the UK and to India, the States and the Netherlands. It’s a bit tiring and not as glamorous as it might sound. Airports and hotels begin to look much the same after a while!

But one of the advantages of travel is time to catch up on music, films and books. Slumdog Millionaire is a wonderful film. Its portrayal of the poor parts of India is very accurate. But most of all it’s simply a triumph of one poor boy against the system. And a great love story too.

‘Marley and me’ is a film we went to see as a family. I was a bit fearful that it would turn out to be a ‘Disney puppy story’ but the producer has been true to the original book (excellent too- by John Grogan) and it’s well acted. A bit near to the bone (excuse the pun!) as we lost our own Labrador just before Christmas.

You can see why Kate Winslet won the Oscar for ‘The Reader’. Beautifully acted. A fair bit of nudity though- you have been warned!

John Waller is a singer that my friends Holli and Andy introduced me to. Great lyrics. Sometimes you feel you are not where God would have you be. But what do you do with that time? Waller’s song ‘While I’m Waiting’ is a great response to such times:

I’m waiting on you Lord
And I’m hopeful
I’m waiting on you Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait
I will move ahead bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I’m waiting
I will serve you
While I’m waiting
I will worship
While I’m waiting
I will not faint
I’ll be running the race
Even while I wait.

John Maxwell writes great business books. His latest, ‘Leadership Gold – Lessons I’ve Learned from a Lifetime of Leadership’ is the best yet. He refused to write it until he reached age 60. Great wisdom.

And a wonderful first novel from Paul Torday. If you think Salmon in the Yemen are an impossibility, you have to read the book!

Mountain Mover

I was privileged to witness an amazing story yesterday. Stuart Bell was the guest speaker at KingsGate church. His wife and son were there too. Together they told to story of David, Stuart and Irene’s son. Of how he was diagnosed with cancer behind the eye at age 16 and how together as a family and a church, they fought and prayed through the chemotherapy and radiotherapy, to the point that they felt God say the chemo had worked and David was clear.

Sure enough, later that week, they got the all-clear.

Seeing David there, hearing his side of the story, seeing the ‘before’ and ‘after’ photo’s and knowing that in front of us was someone who medically speaking could be either dead or blind, was very moving.

As Stuart said on Sunday, we have a God who moves mountains.

‘If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’
Matthew 17:20

God's amazing creation

I’ve just finished reading Bill Bryson’s ‘Down Under’. As always, an excellent read.

What captured me most was the amazing creation to be found in Australia. If these things were anywhere else in the world, they would be considered as ‘wonders of the world’. But because they are tucked away in the western outback and part of the country at the end of the world, they get overlooked.

Consider for example, the banded beehive rocks of the Bungle Bungles. A range of strangely shaped rocks, only discovered in the 1980s and thought to be 350 million years old. They look incredible.

That 50 square miles of a rocky mountain range was discovered after we brought back rocks from the moon and shows how little we really know of the world we live in.



Then there’s the Pinnacle Desert, thousands of limestone pillars - believed to be at least 6,000 years old - rising up to 12 feet tall from the shifting yellow sands.

And the Karri Trees, third tallest in the world, with their 50 foot girth, giant trees from an earlier age.

We live in a remarkable world.