I I will never forget the first time I came to Bourke and visited the sisters. we went to the outskirts of Bourke.  There was a big reserve where all the Aborigines we’re living in those little small shacks made of tin and old Cardboard and so on.  Then I entered one of those little rooms.  I called it a house but it’s only one room and inside the room everything.  So, I told the man living, there ‘please allow me to make your bed, to wash your clothes, to clean your room.’  And he kept on saying, ‘I’m alright, I’m alright.’  And I said to him, ‘but you will be more alright if you allow me to do it.’  Then at the end he allowed me.  He allowed in such a way that at the end, he pulled out of his pocket an old envelope, and one more envelope, and one more envelope. He started opening one after the other, and right inside there was a little photograph of his father and he gave it me to look at.  I looked at the photo and I looked at him and I said, ‘you, you are so like your father.’  He was so overjoyed that I could see the resemblance of his father on his face.  I blessed the picture and I gave it back to him, and again one envelope, second envelope, third envelope, and the photo went back again in the pocket near his heart.  After I cleaned the room I found in the corner of the room a big lamp full of dirt and I said, ‘don’t you like this lamp such a beautiful lamp. Don’t you light it?’  He replied ‘for whom? Months and months and months nobody has ever come to me. For whom will I light it?’  So I said ‘Won’t you light it if the sisters come to you?’ And he said ‘Yes.’  So, the sisters started going to him for only about 5 to 10 minutes a day, but they started lighting the lamp. After some time he got into the habit of lighting.  Slowly, slowly, slowly, the sister stopped going to him. But they used to go in the morning to see him. Then I forgot completely about that and then after two years he sent word – ‘Tell mother, my friend, the light she lit in my life is still burning.’

Are you/I lighting any lights?

I am back at the start in regards to Rituximab treatment, back in the hospital, same place same treatment, but that little further along. I also know that in 4 weeks time it will start all over again from the same place doing the same things, maybe a little differently but the starting point will still be the same, for me the hospital, for Tom it was getting off a bus.

When wondering around I did notice a few things have changed The first thing, the car for Chemotherapy patients was moved (which thrown me), I was on time until I could find the new car park. Well I did in the end but not until I had parked into the multistory car park, which is now back being chargeable (£7.10 for up-to 4 hours). Some consolation, is that it was empty, so looks like no-one else could find.

Other changes, the big bus in the car park, gone. The waiting room is now set-up with single chairs per table and spaced out with 2 meter gaps. Still no relatives are allowed into the waiting room. However, it was very quiet, only a few people were there waiting to be seen. Looks like all appointments are still being done via telephone calls.

This rounds treatment was straight forward, there did notice that my blood pressure was on the low side, 96 over 60. I must admit I have no idea what these figure mean. So this is were Google comes into play.

Yes according to Google, who we all believe and trust, my blood pressure is in the “Ideal Range”. So all is good. Well the site Google sent he to is

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/high-blood-pressure-hypertension/

So I survived another visit to the Beacon Day Unit and I must say all the stuff there are great and very welcoming. But I would say I wouldn’t recommend going unless you really have too……

Until next time “arrivederci“.

COVID-19 is still here and life is slowly returning to pre-COVID, but very slowly.

Do we wear masks, where do we wear masks, which masks are best to wear, should they be worn in schools? Who knows…..

Cheap meals Monday thru Wednesday, for those allowed out into public..

We have had some summer weather followed by rain, more rain and you guessed it, more rain. Good old British summer time.

But back to treatment, yes all is going well. Liz and I have been out to a few peoples houses to meet up and catch-up, which has been great. I have been taking my 4 tablets a day, like clock work, with my breakfast and a drink of flavoured water, is it me or does plain water not taste of anything….

This week I had my bloods taken again. This time I managed to get through the security guards at the door and was able to sit inside the surgery. It was, twenty questions on why I was theey then face masks on hands washed ,temperature taken and if you past you was frog matched to a sit.

So fast forward a day……

Thursday was the Consultants appointment till over the phone, which is great no 45 minutes drive to Taunton and 45 minute drive back. This time we got the “R” word. REMISSION. Hipppeeeeee. Yes, it is official, I am now in remission, all my blood counts are in the normal range, so time for a big party. OH! ……. Maybe be not, I will have a Coke and watch a film. All joking apart, this is great news, the treatment has gone really well, I do not think it could have gone smoother, So a great big hug to the NHS and all there staff.

Rowan Romania:- https://www.gofundme.com/f/rowan-romania-support-adults-with-special-needs?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet.

S.U.R.E. (Somerset Unit for Radiotherapy Equipment):- https://www.gofundme.com/f/surebeacon-centerdue-to-treatment-i-recieved?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet.

Even a small donation could help me reach my fundraising goal and if you could split any donation across the two that would be great and Thank You.

It would be great if you could share this fundraiser to help spread the word.

²⁶ Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. ²⁷ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

How do you get Worship from the above text.

Well that is a good question, but when you consider the word that is translated ‘Religion’ in verse 27, ‘ threskeia’, is not so much religion as worship. Therefore, we can read the start of verse 27 “Worship that God our Father accepts…”. Now we can understand what James is saying, that is “the finest offerings and the finest service we can offer to God is service to the poor, outcasts, widows and undesirables”. To him (James) worship wasn’t about the church building, how polished the service is, if the worship band sang in key or the name and standing of the preacher. No, too James, worship lay in the practical service of loving others and caring for them.

James wasn’t on is own here he was picking up the cry from the old testament “God is a father of the fatherless, and protector of widows” (Psalms 68:5). Check out Zechariah 7:6-10, where he highlights the people have harden there hearts at the demand to execute true justice, to show mercy and compassion and not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the stranger and the poor, and not to entertain evil throughs against others. In Micah 6:6-8, we hear complaints about ritual sacrifices were useless if man did not do justice and love kindness and walk humbly before God.

We professing Christians have built great Cathedrals, Churches and Monuments and although there is nothing wrong with these. I what to put it out there, is the greater worship of God not – Street Pastors, Nurses, aid workers, food banks, Mother Treresa, community volunteers and all those caring for the widows, poor, homeless and downtrodden?

Now read Matthew 25:31-46.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James isn’t a book that a lot of people pick-up and read. It is probably classed has one of the books on the fringe of the New Testament and it very nearly didn’t make it in. However, I was hit by the opening few verses, they just hit me right between the eyes.

Can we honestly say that when we face our daily trails that it is a joy. What about these bigger trails we have, redundancy, serious illness, CONID-19 or death of a family member, do we consider these a joy. I know I do not. Here we see James saying that life will throw up all sorts of trails and disappointments, some that will really test our faith but they are not meant to make us fall; they are meant to make us stand tall, They are not meant to defeat us; they are meant for us to be victorious, they are not there to make us weaker; they are to give us strength to continue forward in faith This will produce perseverance.

Perseverance, “we must let perseverance finish its work”. If like me you are not an athlete so thinking of doing the couch to 5K seams like a lot of hard work. You have to decide to set aside 30-40 minutes 3 times a week, now that is hard enough. Once you have committed to doing it, the whole process starts off on day 1 with light periods of running between larger periods of walking. Has the weeks go on you finally end up running for a full 30 minutes or 5K. You do not one day decide to do a 5K run and then the following day go out buy a pair of trainers and POW you go out and run the full 5K. Between your first tentative stepping out, until being able to complete the full 5K run in takes 9 weeks of hard work, trails, set backs, disappointments. If you wish to see it through to the end you need to persevere and this process builds character, resilience and strength.

“Welcome each rebuff that turns earth’s smoothness rough”

Robert Browning

So for every bump on the road, every up hill stretch, every fence or wall we come across, these are the trails that are making us the person that God whats us to be. In the face of the big uphill slog, we are safe in the knowledge that Jesus is with us every step of the way and moulding us into the best version of ourselves for His glory.

So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.  They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead  us, such as all the other nations have.”

1 Samuel 8:4–5

Kish had a son named Saul, as handsome a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than anyone else.

1 Samuel 9:2

They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among all the people.”

Then the people shouted, “Long live the king!”

1 Samuel 10:23-24

The above passages are a few snapshots taken from the time when the people of Israel where after a king. Up-until this point God had been appointing Judges over them and He was their King. But now the people could see that Samuel sons were corrupt and were not God fearing men. The people looked around and could see that all the other nations had kings to rule over them. Israel was rejecting God their King and was looking too man for answers. What a person they found, an handsome young man who stood a foot taller than anyone else. Israel must have looked at him and through we are onto a winner here.

Not so.

Later Saul disobeyed God and God turned is face away from Saul. He then spoke to Samuel; go and anoint the next king. A king that God would choose, a king who would be after God’s own heart.

But what type of king would God anoint?

We read that Samuel was told to visit Jesse in Bethlehem as God had chosen one of his sons to do King. Samuel followed God and went to Jesse and saw how big, strong and handsome he sons was. He was sure that God would have him anoint one of them, but God turn them all down. Then we read the following.

So he asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”

“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.”

Samuel said, “Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.”

1 Samuel 16:11

David was so lowly that he wasn’t invited to the sacrifice. He was the youngest and was left to do the work that no one else wished to do, he was small and slight in stature. Most likely you wouldn’t have given him a second glance when it came down to kingly grander. But, God warned Samuel prior to the verse above.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

1 Samuel 16:7

So what do we consider when we see people?

We jump to conclusions and makes assumptions. They say that we sum someone up within the first 5 seconds of meeting them. Boy that is quick.

Sometimes we miss the David’s of this world, the person at the back, the person standing to the side not giving anyone eye contact. It could be someone you have seen around for years or someone who has just walked in off the street. However, the Saul ‘s of this world we cannot help but see or hear them. They are people who stand out, make waves and attract people to them and may be even have people follow them. But, the David’s of this world, those after God’s own heart, we sometimes miss them.

So, back to the question what do we look for in a king/leader?

Are there David’s we are missing?

This is a passage that I would have like to have seen and quoted some 20 years ago now. Actually, with teenagers and grandchildren around now, I may be able to scare a few of them now with it.

See what you think.

²³ From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” ²⁴ He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.

2 Kings 2:23-24

Now, was Elisha having a bad day, did he get out of bed the wrong side. Well if you read back a bit you will see that is mentor Elijah was just been taken up to heaven (which heaven? there are 3, an investigation for another day maybe). The people did not listen to him, they wished to go looking for Elijah, so he caved in and allowed them to go looking for him. We can hear a “I told you so” tone at the end of verse 18, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”

I feel with Elijah moving on, the people not respecting him or listening to him and wishing for Elijah’s return. He must not have felt too good about himself. I know I would be down cast and despondent.

Elisha moves on from Jericho, head down and wondering what to do now, with Elijah gone and the people are not really listening to him. Has he left the city folk complained about their water supply. Elisha intercedes for the city’s people and God provides new fresh water where once there was bad. Surely, having preformed such a great miracle, that would have lifted is spirits.

He walks on to Bethel and that is where we pick up the above passage.

Wouldn’t you have loved God stepping in for you when those kids at school use to call you names, picked on you, bulling you or maybe when you were a little older and folliclely challenged (like me) a bunch of kids started calling you “baldly” or “baldlylocks and the three hairs”. A helping hand from God would have been nice. But here, the response does seem a bit over the top – “Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys”. Wow,

Question: Why was Gods action so so great? (I must say I do not know)

Footnote: Notice that it doesn’t say if the boys were killed or not. A mailing from a bear, Hmmm. I wouldn’t image that was much fun, but you will have a story to tell your grandchildren..

Please do not take anything to heart, this is just a bit of lite relief and if something takes your interest please investigate and let me know your findings.

Was there 10 commandments or 20? Well you could say both. There was the first 10 commandments which Moses then smashed up when he returned from Mount Sinai to find the Children of Israel worshipping a golden calf. Then Moses went up Mount Sinai again and received the second instalment of the 10 commandments. Therefore, there were 20 commandments. However, both were the same, therefore we only have 10 commandments.

Did Moses really go 80 days without food and drink? Well look for yourself, Deuteronomy 9:11 Moses goes up Mount Sinai for 40 days and nights without eating bread or drinking water and receives the first set of tablets. Now read Deuteronomy 9:18, here he goes up for a second time for another 40 days and nights without bread and water. I agree there may have been a small gap (1-2 days) between these but still 80 days out of 82 (possibly) is still a long time.

Do you like your bacon and pork sausages? Have you never asked yourself should I be digging into that pork chop? Well there is a whole section in Leviticus 9:3-19 that tells us which animals are clean and which animals are unclean. You may be surprised to know that pigs are unclean and full into the same category has dogs, horses, monkeys, squirrels, worms and skunks, to name but a few (Leviticus 11:3-8). There is also rules around sea animals and birds, you can look to see where you stand (Leviticus 11:9-12 and Leviticus 11:13-19)

How many brothers and Sister did Jesus have? I probably should say half-bothers and half-sisters? Have a guess? I didn’t know and still do not fully but the Bible does tell us something. Mark 6:3 tells he ad 4 brothers (James, Joseph, Judas and Simon) and a least 2 sisters. I didn’t know that until now…..

An answer to prayer. – TABLETS – Yes. I have become accustomed to the tablets. I am taking them daily without any major issues or concerns. This is good news because I am on them for the next 23 months… (but who is counting)

Earlier this week I had my bloods taken again. This, then was follow-up consultation. I am pleased to report that my white blood count is down to a impressive 2.5. I am now at a stage that this could fall to low……

Wow, down from the starting point of 76 to 2.5. The consultant is very pleased with my progress and has given me the green light for the next blast of Rituximab, to be administered next week.

When speaking to the consultant about how I should manage interaction with other people now that the Government are trying to open up the economy, I found out that I have been a bit of a naughty boy. I must admit I have not been in any major supermarkets, thanks to Shane my son-in-law, who does our weekly shopping for us. I have been into a few smaller shops but I have been told to refrain (as much as possible) from doing this – especially at the moment when there is a lot of uncertainty about the possibility of a second wave. This must persist until around Christmas, in line with my last round of Rituximab. So who is looking forward to Christmas already…??

In general we are having to step back a bit from where we were to ensure that I am not put in harms – way. A small amount of pain around not being sociable (small for me, maybe not so small for others) will hopefully see so out of the main COVID situation so that we can look forward to a bright and fully engaged (if not so busy), 2021.

So here’s to a HAPPY NEW YEAR.