Ramblings along the narrow way

Drove to work this morning playing around with the air conditioning to see if I could get any cold air out of it. Just to check my sanity, I got Andy to have a look at it as well, and he confirmed my fears – it really has stopped working – just after the service strangely enough.

Anyway, took the car to back to Heathrow Volkswagen to have a look at, whilst remarking on the remarkable coincidence of the failure with the service. They denied any connection between the service and the air conditioning failing. After inspection, they said the system didn’t have any gas in it at all. (Weird given it was working on Sunday). Given the options, I asked them to recharge the system with the intention of sorting out blame later. Alas, when I returned to collect my car, everyone had disappeared except for the lowest ranked pawn in the set – any chance of negotiation was scuppered. I was left to pay the bill for the recharging, and left the garage feeling rather numb, albeit with cool air blowing around me.

Spent the rest of the evening with some friends, discussing wide ranging subjects from apocalyptic theology to the history of the motor trade. At least the evening ended well. 🙂

Well, at least I have my car back. It’s now had its 80,000 mile service, a V-belt change and a cam belt change. I can’t say I’m particularly happy with the cost, but at least it’s done now. Only another 40,000 miles before the next cam belt change.

Only niggling point is that I’m not sure if the air conditioning is working now…

Took my car, a VW Passat, for its 80,000 mile service and cambelt change this morning at the local VW garage. All seemed to be routine as I handed over the keys to the service desk and got a lift into work with Dave. After a couple of hours, I received a call from the garage saying my car was ready and could be picked up. Great I thought, but then I thought – two hours is a little quick to complete the service, especially as it included a cambelt change. At this I phoned the garage back and asked if the cambelt had been changed – good job I did. It would appear that, even though VW say the cambelt should be changed every 40,000 miles, when you take it in for an 80,000 mile service, you have to specify you want the cambelt changed – it’s not part of the service in any way. Whilst this seemed odd to me, I then asked if the cambelt could be changed as well. After a short check by the mechanic to see if the parts were in stock, he agreed to carry it out. Just out of curiosity I thought I’d see how much it would cost – I almost fell out of my chair when he told me! However, I wasn’t willing to take the risk of a cambelt snapping in the near future and destroying the engine, so I told him to carry on. The story continued to twist, as just before I left work, I received a phone call from the garage saying they’d carried out the cambelt change, but in the process of putting it all back together, the drive belt had snapped, they didn’t have a replacement in stock and that the car was not in any way fit for use(!) All in all, I’m feeling a little non-plussed about the whole thing, and depending on whether I receive the car in a working state tomorrow, I might reveal the cause of the chair instability.

Anyway, had another interesting game of four-a-side football this evening, although I think the sides weren’t quite even as the side I was on won by quite a considerable margin. I’m now without a car until tomorrow, so Eamonn kindly gave me a lift home.

This morning’s sermon was on the Fruit of the Vine. Just as a vine bears grapes, so a Christian should have spritual fruit – love, joy peace, etc. (Galatians 5:22,23). Just as the branches are connected to the vine, all Christians are in communion with Christ. Just as the farmer prunes the branches of the vine to increase fruit yield, so God removes the dead parts of Christians to increase their fruitfulness. It is essential that Christians stay close to Christ in order to be fruitful, just as a branch needs to be connected to the vine to bear fruit. Indeed, Chrstians must rely soley on Christ and not on themselves in order to bear fruit.

(Well, West Wales to be precise. 🙂 )

If anyone out there pays any attention to my ramblings, you may have noticed there hasn’t been an entry for the past week. The reason for this being that I’ve spent the past week in Tywyn, helping Christian Camps in Wales out as a Tent Officer in one of their camps.

The main theme of the week was the life of Moses, from his birth into slavery, his adoption into Pharaoh’s household, his time of realisation in Midian and finally his role as a servant of God, confronting Pharaoh with the promises of God and leading the Israelites out of slavery. From this, Moses could be seen to be a pointer to a greater servant of God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Jesus Christ. O that we might see the Truth, for the Truth will set us free.

As well as being taught about God and the bible, the children had a wide range of games and activities to keep them busy. Looking back, the amount on offer was termendous! From more run of the mill things like football, netball and table tennis; through to mountain biking, dry-slope skiing, horse riding to the slightly more adventurous activities of canoing, orienteering, nighttime bivouacking and gulley bashing. Additionally, the children had day trips to the beach, and visits to the local Honey Ice Cream factory as well as free time to explore the field and relax. Hard to believe that all happened in one week, and I’m sure I missed something out of the lists.

I had a very good and blessed time, learning more about God and of God as well as making lots of new friendships and deepening existing ones, and I trust all the children enjoyed the week and got as much out of it as I did.

I am now knackered and in need of sleep!

Nos da.

Just got back from seeing Spiderman 2 and I have to say it’s a good film! Is it possible that the curse of the sequel has disappeared this summer, with two sequels which are better than the originals? (Shrek and Spiderman) The special effects were very good, they weren’t the only reason this was a good film. The humour was very good, but again not the only reason this was a good film. The clincher was the story which, although the whole thing is set in a comic-book world, contained people with real humanity. Simple things like summoning up enough courage to tell the truth, whether it be admitting to failure or admitting to being who we really are. Indeed, even working out who we are and being truthful with ourselves. A lot of things to think about, whilst at the same time being entertained. Well worth watching.

Q: What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
A: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever.

(Question XIX from the Westminster Shorter Catechism)

Well, played Robin at snooker this evening. After four frames we were level at 2-2, playing down to the final black. I cut the black for the middle pocket, only to have misjudged the weight and it stopped right on the lip of the pocket…

Final score, 3-2 to Robin. A good set of frames.

I had one of my less impressive displays of maturity – or lack thereof – this morning driving to work. An elderly driver consistently remained in the right hand lane of a dual-carriageway, at a speed which was less than the speed-limit. For some reason I started talking to him, as though he could hear me. As I’m sure you’re aware, the highway code states you should always remain in the left hand lane unless overtaking, and I recited this to him in my momentary state of madness. However, after finally passing him at traffic lights, I realised I was acting irrationally and rebuked myself. (I really am going mad…) My sanity didn’t last long though, I started talking to another driver who also blocked the, now national speed limit, dual-carriageway in the right-hand lane doing 60 mph, reciting the relevant part of the highway code…

Ah well, tomorrow is another day.

This morning’s sermon was looking at John 14:25-31. Here Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to all who trust him, with the Holy Spirit bringing peace. Do we trust Jesus at his word, will we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us? Then Jesus explains that, because he loves the Father, he will do as the Father says, even if that means being a sacrifice and a substitution for the sins of others.

In Ephesians 4:13-16, as looked at this evening, the apostle Paul writes how Christians should grow. From the initial placing of faith in Christ, we should not stagnate, remaining spiritually immature, but we should become more like Christ. God, by his grace, has given us the means to grow, in truth and love. These means: His word, his people and his Spirit are all given by him, manifesting themselves in ordinances such as the assembling of his people, the Lord’s supper and baptism. Ultimately Christ should be our motivation.

As Karen and Nigel’s birthdays are within days of each other, they organised a joint celebration day. It started off with a nice leisurely stroll around Gunnersbury Park’s pitch and putt course, and then some time just chilling and having something to eat. We then went to Hayes Town Chapel for a barbeque and more chilling out. Finally, the day was rounded off with a meal at Chiquito’s in Feltham, with plenty of good food and good company. Actually, that finally wasn’t quite true, as a few of us then strolled around Stockley Park industrial park for more chill-out time! A good time was had by all – including the birthday boy and girl, and possibly a lot of food and chilling out!

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, Selah
that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.
May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. Selah
May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.
Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us.
God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

Had my first piece of unsolicited SMS today. Of course, this is not to be confused with the pink spongy spam manufactured(!) by Hormel. Now spam isn’t a new concept to me, I’ve lost count of the number of emails offering me breast enlargement, enlargement of other body parts, effort-free degrees, free porn of every perversion, and the prospect of US$10,000,000 (Ten-million US Dollars)….amongst other things. So, instead of just deleting this unsolicited SMS, I had a trawl around the internet and found a site which collects SMS spam called 07text0spam.com. These guys pass the details of SMS spam onto the appropriate authorities, and who knows, something good might come of it – hopefully my SMS inbox will not become as riddled with spam as my email inbox if action is taken early on. We’ll see.

2-2 at snooker this evening against Robin. Couple of scrappy frames to start with, improved in the last two.

Hmmm, another manic evening playing four-a-side football with work colleagues. I’m not sure my fitness level is improving in any way – after twenty minutes running around, being semi-useful, I ceased to be a useful part of the team! Not only could I not run about anymore, I couldn’t actually think straight! All my brain could think about was “where is my next breath, where is it!?” Many apologies to my teammates, hopefully next week will be five-a-side, at least I get to be able to stand around and still be useful, rather than becoming useless in the manic pace of four-a-side.

Both morning and evening sermons seemed to say the same thing, even though they were from different passages of the Bible, 1 Cor 12:1-16 and Eph 4:7-12, and different churches – Totterdown Baptist Church and Hounslow West Evangelical Church respectively.

A healthy church is comprised of a body of healthy Christians. Each Christian has been given the grace to serve in various ways, through various gifts and talents. A healthy Christian is able to see the gifts they have and use them within the church and in the world. Such a Christian is also able to determine where they do not have a gift, or where someone else is more gifted, and will allow that gifted person to use their gifts instead. Ultimately, in everything that happens, it is God who should be glorified and not ourselves, but through that, we are better off.