Curate’s Chronicles

Our daughter Hannah has an operation on Friday at the John Radcliffe in Oxford.  For those who don’t know, she was born basically without fingers on her right hand, and about 18 months ago had an operation to transplant two toes onto her hand to give her digits.  This next operation should be much shorter (a few hours instead of 11!) and is to increase the functional use of these new fingers.  She is 3 1/2 years old.

We’d value your prayers on Friday and for recovery afterwards.

UPDATE:

Thanks for the prayers. She waited happily and patiently until 11.45am to go down to
theatre, and was a real star as she was given the anaesthetic.  Two and a half hours later we collected her from recovery room.  She was a little sad to begin with but after a 3 hour sleep she woke up full of smiles and a very big appetite!

We came home last night.  Since then she’s been happy and not at all bothered about the bandage.  The surgeon seemed pleased with the op and we go back on 9th September to have this bandage removed and see how the hand is progressing.

I arrived home yesterday after two weeks holiday.  First week we had a few days in Devon with my parents and seeing old friends who currently live in Tasmania.  Second week was spent in the village of Beeley, very close to Chatsworth House.  What a site!  The gardens are fantastic, and we had some very  happy times paddling in the Cascade and playing with Hannah in the farmyard playground.

Back home and only 80 new e-mails.  Not bad.  Quite a few blog posts to read though…

I’m normally at a loss about what I’d like for Christmas. A good mp3 player would be nice, as long as it works with Linux. Maybe some of the books on my Amazon Wish List. A new computer to replace my ageing laptop. More book shelves to create room for the books on my Amazon Wish List. A bicycle for touring (so I can get in training to do Land’s End to John O’Groats sometime in the next 10 years).

But now I’ve found my dream present. Not only lots of fun, it would be an excellent aid for men’s ministry and youth work. A combination of physics and history. I present to you…

The FAT3000.

That’s right. I would like a trebuchet. I want to throw things a long distance, and break other things in the process. Here’s a picture of the beauty:

This is a modern day version of the ultimate in medieval war machines. For a cheaper and more ‘authentic’ model visit here. And here’s some video, although not of these models (much bigger ones!).

P.S. Did I mention my Wish List?

Earlier this month I preached on Remembrance Day (which was a Sunday). My text was Amos 5:24 “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

It was part of a series on Amos, otherwise the passage isn’t the most obvious choice!

You can find it here courtesy of Google Docs.

In moments of vanity, I’m sure we have all googled our name at some point. Searching mine found an article and photo of me hanging around inside a church bell tower in Galmpton, South Devon. It’s taken from sometime in my first year at University, judging from the bad glasses and bad hair…

Read the original article (and why I’m doing it!) here (you’ll need to scroll down a little bit).

N.B. It talks about going up and down the rope in safety. Well, I managed to forget all my knot tying methods as I was setting the gear up, so I did an unsuitable knot lots of times. I’m sure it was safe. Honest.

I’m back! I started working here in Stone, Oulton & Moddershall (we need a snappy title for the Benefice…) on Sunday - and a very big thank you for the warm welcome we have received.

Highlights of the last few weeks:

• Moving in dry weather (the rain arrived an hour after the movers left)
• Riding a steam train in a local back garden…
• Digging on Bantham beach (Devon) AND staying dry
• Tim Keller’s fantastic talks at the Evangelical Ministry Assembly
• Eating lunch at the top of the Gherkin

I have just started reading the Doctor (i.e. D Martin Lloyd-Jones, not the time travelling one) on preaching and hope to post some thoughts soon.

Today was our commissioning service here at Wycliffe Hall - which means it’s all over! Three years, countless essays, far too many hours online, exhilerating conversations, etc etc etc. Time to move on.

And we move on Wednesday, to Stone in Staffordshire. I won’t be near broadband until July, probably, so don’t expect much here. But from July I hope to be posting regularly.

Coming up (hopefully):
- A series on preaching (and why Tim Keller is great)
- Life as a curate
- The joy (and maybe some woes) of Ubuntu Linux
- Why Jesus is the only Vicar
- A 365-day walk through the Law of Moses
- Why evangelicals need to do some work on their anthropology
and, as they say, much much more!

The Bachelor of Theology results are in, and I’ve got enough points to get a 2.1 overall, assuming my last essay doesn’t fail (and nothing ever fails on the BTh).

God taught me (rather painfully) in my first year not to base my identity on my exam results, so I can honestly say: thank you Lord!

As for the last essay, it was printed and bound last Friday night so simply awaits being handed in to examiners in time for the end of September. So my Wycliffe work is now finally all over!