Book reviews: a must!

If you enjoy reading why don't you explore this website : http://www.apuritansmind.com/.

St Augustine's conversion

St. Augustine, in his classic devotional work "Confessions", writes of his conversion experience and newfound love for God. Augustine had been a vile and wicked man. His life was filled with revelry, drunkenness, and sexual exploits.
But the God of heaven used a most curious providence to draw Augustine to Himself. One day, while in the gardens, he heard some children playing, and singing a song with the words "tolle lege, tolle lege" - "...take and read...take and read..." Under great spiritual compulsion and conviction, he obtained a copy of the Scriptures, and opened it randomly to the book of Romans, chapter 13, verses 13-14.
In this passage he read the inspired words of God penned by the Apostle Paul to the church at Rome some 300 years before he was even born, 
"13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. This was a vivid description of Augustine's life, and the remedy for such a life appeared in the next verse.14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 

Jesus Christ was his only answer. His life was transformed in an instant, in the power of regeneration. 
In his Confessions he writes of his lucid transformation, his salvation through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
He said, "You stir man to take pleasure in praising you, because you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you." 
After his conversion, Augustine wrote voluminously concerning the Lord Jesus Christ; the Confessions, though, are his most famous work.

Team service

What a joy to meet up with our brothers and sisters of all our Mid-trent churches to praise the Lord in the beautiful church of Gayton on Advent Sunday. Here are more photos as promised.

However, I must note that I did not take a photo of our brothers and sisters previously photographed and whose photos are already on this website on older posts! And again, I did not manage to take a photo of everybody in the service.

May you have a blessed week-end.

More photos of our brothers and sisters of Stowe-by-Chartley

I am going to post more photos of all our brothers and sisters in the Mid-trent churches.
May the Lord look after our churches and strengthen us. In Jesus-Christ. Amen

Stowe by Chartley church

Speaking Spanish!

On the 18/11, I spent another enjoyable evening at our Spanish friends.

 I only two photos as I had to go home fairly early as Imogen was on her own,  [Steven being at a conference] revising for her physics and biology modules.

Look at this array of delicious tapas on the table, courtesy of all our friends.

Beautiful nature!

So we are back from Norfolk where we spent a week with dad. We stayed in a lovely campsite and we went three times to the bird reserve in Titchwell. Here are some Brent geese in action!

There was a new hide particularly busy that day! Imogen is not so interested and was engrossed in music and some Spanish.

Steven very happy to bbq!

I did not realise that I took a photo of a lapwing ..until I checked on the RSPB handbook!

A redshank, it appears to be quite timid!
We had a lovely week and rested a lot, going to bed fairly early for a change! Fresh air and long walks!
Praise the Lord!

Every careless word....

Everyday, I receive a daily thought based on the Word from The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources. I must confess that it is so relevant to what I am going through. As in my job, I have to talk all day long, and answer quickly, I must take on seriously the advice given below. Let me know what you think!


Eph 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

Jesus said, "I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken." Mt 12:36

But conversely words can edify. Words are power things, often underestimated. God left us with His Spirit and with His Word. And "the word of God is living and active." Heb 4:12a

God says of His Word, "my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Is 55:11

Likewise with us. Peter writes, "If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God." 1Peter 4:11a

Words influence. Words have impact. So consider carefully what you say. "Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." Col 4:6

And pray, "Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips." Ps 141:3

Let us learn to speak by listening to the Lord and receiving the grace given. Isaiah said, "The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught." Is 50:4

The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources

Mistaken Identity

A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman hit the roof, and the horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and make up.

As she was still in "mid-rant", delayed by the stop light, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer.

The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, she was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, "I'm sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the Choose Life' license plate holder, the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Follow me to Sunday School' bumper sticker, and the chrome plated Christan Fish emblem on the trunk.

.....Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car."

La Camargue

After spending a week in La Côte d'Azur, we moved to La Camargue, in Saintes Maries de la Mer. It's an ideal place to observe all kinds of birds, wild horses, steers, insects, beavers, turtles...One day we went to Arles to visit the arenas. As Steven decided to walk round the arenas and take more photographies, Imogen and I thought a pause in a cafe would be beneficial! 
First she mentioned having a pancake but soon it turned out that the milkshake was more enticing!

Some places in La Camargue were ill-famed for the amount of mosquitoes. Recently dragon-flies were introduced and the result is excellent!

Late afternoon, we visited Tourrettes-sur-Loup, a picturesque village not far from Bar-sur-Loup where my cousin Catherine and my auntie Rolande (my mum's sister) live. If you are not used to mountain roads then take it easy when you drive there. 
The 'native' French driver being fiery, you may just want to keep tightly on your side of the lane, i mean of the road! 

We were just exploring those medieval streets when we heard the thunder and had to rush for shelter. 
As it was not just a shower, we gave up and returned to Bar-sur-Loup.

There are two ways of access to St Raphael, the motorway and the coastal road which is much more scenic but as windy as the one to go to Tourrettes only wider! 
It took us an hour to get there from Cannes, including traffic and avoiding cars badly parked along both sides of the road!

Here we are with my auntie Rolande in the hospital in Nice. A few days before we were due to leave England, she rang me to let me know she had a mini-stroke and was undergoing an EEG, blood tests and various scans..
She is better now and back home still monitored for her sleep apnea. Please pray for her as she is slowly recovering.

On the way to la Côte d'Azur we stopped in a campsite near Beaune, in Savigny, a deligthful place that happened to be surrounded with well-maintained vineyards and caves. 
In the campsite, we talked to other tourists like us on their way south or others who were on their way north, only staying one or two nights. We also stopped there on the way back.

Spanish encounter!

Meet our Spanish club. We try to meet every month over tapas.

In the second photo, in the front, Enrique and his fiancée Laura, second row, from the left, Jenny, Maria, Helga, Clarissa.

Last row, Joanna and Francisca.

This is not the whole group as that evening, quite a few could not make it.

Hopefully, we will all be there for the September meeting. We do have very interesting conversations. For example, our friend native speakers end up discussing accents and diversity of cultures across Spain. As themselves come from different areas, it is so refreshing to hear all their individual stories. However,as they live here in England they are united by this strong feeling of belonging here and there, enjoying it surely but at times missing the good things at home. I do feel the same.

Shout to the Lord

My Jesus, My Savior,Lord, there is none like You;
All of my days I want to praise the wonders of Your mighty love.

My comfort, my shelter,Tower of refuge and strength;
let every breath, all that I am never cease to worship You.

Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing power and majesty, praise to the King;
mountains bow down and the seas will roar at the sound of Your name.

I sing for joy at the work of Your hands,forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand,
nothing compares to the promise I have in You.

Another joke.

Smart Parrot

A guy goes to a pet shop to buy a parrot. There he sees a parrot with a red string tied to its left leg and a green string tied to it's right leg. He asks the owner the significance of the strings.

"Well, this is a highly trained parrot. If you pull the red string he speaks French; if you pull the green string he speaks German," replies the shop keeper.

"And what happens if I pull both the strings?" our curious shopper inquires.

"I fall off my perch you fool!!" screeches the parrot.

By train or by car ? euh, euh, i say train!

Last Wednesday, I drove Camille to Manchester airport for 4 pm as she was off to Cyprus with her best friends, Cheryl and Grace. Not too much traffic and I was in the middle lane at a speed of 70 miles an hour of course. Suddenly, Camille said: What's this noise? - what noise? oh, it's just the road surface. It does happen. Then I heard this hissing noise coming from under the bonnet! Oh oh, not quite right. Now some cling clang were firing under there. There was a sign for services so I went to the inside lane and slowing right down entered the services looking for the petrol station. Stopped the car. What do we do now? There was no water in the cooling tank. We were in Sandbach services. The guy from Egerton car rescue team was pretty pessimistic and suggested I'd leave the car with them or I'd contact the AA. However, my priority was that Camille should get to the airport so we called a first taxi.He said it would take him half an hour to get to us. So we called another one who arrived within 10 min. Relief! Camille left.
I couldn't get hold of Steven and i guessed he was somewhere round Millwich as there is never any signal there! Eventually Steven told me that Trevor, the mecanic who looks after his car, would toll my car! Brill news! My prayers were answered. Camille rang me to tell she arrived safely at the airport! I can't remembered much of the evening apart that I was shattered. The following morning I had to get up at 6 a.m. and I still think that i had not quite recovered.
Now, it always puzzles me to see how a situation can quickly deteriorate. Here we are chatting away in the car when suddenly...The good thing is that I managed to park the car in the services. I thank the Lord for helping us to cope under stress and giving us guidance. Praise the Lord!

My soul finds rest in God alone..

Last week, we learnt with great pleasure that Verity gained a first class degree in Physiotherapy so we were over the moon! Steven will go to her graduation on Wednesday.

Then on Friday, Camille found out that she passed her first year course in English Language and Italian so we celebrated today with a superb bbq, crispy Chinese duck champagne, and chocolate tart. Camille and Imogen managed to sun bathe for a while in the garden.

By 5ish Camille and I watched a french film: Mon meilleur ami, my best friend, with Daniel Auteuil. Very enjoyable. An art dealer goes to a funeral not to mourn but to make sure he gets an item the guy promised him, there were only about 6 people there...soon he realises that he hasn't a best friend. His partner in business makes a deal with him, if by the end of the month, he can show 'evidence' of one best friend, he can keep an antic Greek vase he's just acquired..Steven went for a long walk as he is not keen on French films as he finds them too slow!

I would like to conclude with some lines of Psalm 62.

1 My soul finds rest in God alone;

my salvation comes from him.

He alone is my rock and my salvation;

he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.

...8 Trust in him (God) at all times, O people;

pour out your hearts to him.

for God is our refuge.

Last night, I could not sleep well and I thought about David, writing those amazing psalms, bringing confidence and encouragement to generations of Christians, children of the Holy One. As I read today's Encounter with God reading, Allen Goddard tells us that : the psalms provide us with every kind of answer we could ever express in response to God, the world around us, and the vicissitudes of our own hearts! I agree totally with this.