PJBelfast

Last year I watched the thanksgiving services of three 'Generals of the Christian faith' online, namely, Billy Graham, Dick Iverson and Rick Seaward. They all had a zeal and a heartfelt passion in proclaiming the Gospel of Christ and His Kingdom. Like it says of King David, " they served their generation well by the will of God." This morning I watched another thanksgiving service online. It was one of my favourite Bible teachers, a most prolific theologian called Kevin Conner*. He has written more than 60 books on various important topics many of which are available on Amazon. I was only 19 when I went to study theology in Portland Bible College. It was worth every minute though. I worked as a church janitor in order to pay my way through college (1976-1979), in exchange for the rich Word deposit that I and many other students received from Brother Conner's teachings. Not only did he have a wry sense of humour but he was also very approachable. As a

Well I had some time on my hands today and I started clearing up my man drawers. Oh yes , I have more than one – I have four man drawers! It’s a form of spring clean when nothing much gets thrown out, as I spend most of the time reminiscing, and wondering where and when did I gather such a load of old undervalued trinkets! Marie Kondo fans will balk at the thought of what I'm about to reveal. Be t MK fans don’t have two Nokia 3310’s in immaculate nick though? Its nice to have a semblance of order though, but you can be modicum too fussy – it could even stress you if you let it. But not me.  No, instead I have neatly filed my five unused wallets, sectioned my four empty spec cases. Bet you also don’t have a ‘cool melt wax gun’ for putting wax seals on letters-eh!  I’ve counted three, yes three paper punches – does that make me materialistic I wonder? Two unused sweat bands from a past life when I was fit. Then the leads – yes lots of leads and an ipod – remember those – pro

Up until Christmas 2018 I was just an average run-of-the-mill regular coffee and tea drinking guy. With the gift of a coffee bean grinder from my three sons, I have become somewhat of a coffee connoisseur, reading all things coffee related. Here are some interesting facts about my new fangled interest in coffee. Firstly, did you know coffee is good for you?  Here are seven reason why coffee may actually be one of the healthiest beverages in the world: 1. Coffee can make you smarter. The active ingredient in coffee is caffeine, the most commonly consumed psychoactive substance in the world. Caffeine works on the brain by blocking the effects of an inhibitory  neurotransmitter called adenosine. Stay with me now, I don't want you glazing over on me. This caffeine actually increases neuronal firing in the brain and helps the release of other neurotransmitters like dopamine and norepinephrine. Studies on the effects of caffeine on the brain demonstrates that

I woke up this morning feeling extremely thankful. The 'Green Book' movie that Mrs B. and I watched last night had a redemptive quality. It demonstrated the impact friends, colleagues and family have on influencing our choices and helping us being more appreciative. There is nothing more I love than a night out to watch a feel-good movie. Half the world - over three billion people - live on less than $2.50 a day.  At least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day. 844 million people lack even a basic drinking water service.  1.1 billion people across the world still lack any electric supply.  900 million people globally live in slums lacking sanitation or adequate housing. This is set to rise to 1.6billion - a fifths of the world's population - will lack access to secure, adequate and affordable housing. These statistics makes me realise that my particular frustrations and gripes are often first world problems! So what in the world am I thankful for? 

I was thinking this morning about- how our whole of life policy would have paid out a quarter of a million pounds on the death of either my wife or myself. It's really not good to incentivise death like this!:) With our sons all being happily married now, we decided to stop paying the ever increasing  premiums for this type of  life cover. However, we do both have the ultimate in full cover. This is a no premiums life assurance, which we find really essential. We had someone pay it forward for us. Watch the "Pay it forward" movie trailer https://youtu.be/X3ld9_p2bS0 It's always great to have what you can't pay for, paid for by someone who can afford it. If you had life assurance with no premiums I'm sure you'd want to share it with friends and family too. So, on this annual day of love feel free to send me your email address. I'll then send you details of how to apply for this free life assurance offer with full covera

Date #2 of 12 in 2019 for Mrs B. I have the Martin Lewis Saving Expert website to thank for the well received "12 dates of Christmas" Christmas prezzie idea. The girls in the office also helped me with a range of great (some cheap) date suggestions that almost every woman would like. A great date night is always a great way to protect what is already good about your marriage. My goodness, sure you wouldn't run a car without checking it in for a service. I like to think of these date nights as a tune up, MOT or an evening at "marriage enhancement."  So after a romantic meal for two we arrived at the Belfast Waterfront Hall. We had great seats with an open stage view to witness the 'Flatley Lord of the Dance, Dangerous Games'. Having previously seen the Riverdance prequel, I remembered that this unique reinvented form of Irish dancing was a favourite with my wife. It started with Michael Flatley briefly on screen, stating how he'd overcome

Saturday morning, I arrived at my work computer and guess what? Yes, I forgot my specs and I couldn't see my computer screen clearly. I can still see clearly enough to drive safely, (yeh right nuff) but reading or looking at my computer, an arm's length away, everything smaller than font 12 and my  vision is blurred. This condition is called being long-sighted. Long-sightedness affects the ability to see nearby objects. I'm  able to see distant objects clearly, but closer objects are usually out of focus. Apparently it primarily affects adults over 40. If on the other hand, you are short-sighted you will have trouble seeing objects at a distance. Technically, short-sightedness occurs " when the eye is too long from front to back or your cornea's curve is too steep. As a result, light focuses in front of the retina, making objects in the distance appear blurred." Thankfully I live within 15 minutes drive of my work and was able to swing by and

My chum Tim and I were in Bangor the other day and visited North Down Museum. We had planned to walk from Bangor along the coast road to Helens Bay, but got way-led due to our Northern Irish mizzle. We did get warmed up though with a cup of breakfast tea and an Ulster Fry instead! North Down Museum gives a great historical overview of the region, particularly in the era when Ireland was known as "the land of saints and scholars." As a theologian, I was impressed by the way abbots and monks from Northern Ireland had such a missional influence, whilst educating many of the princes and princesses of Europe.  I had actually considered studying one of these saints, Columbanus, for my masters thesis.  I had come up with the rather cool title "the abbot with the missional habit." However, after reading Tomas O Fiaich's book entitled 'Columbanus - In His own words', I reckoned I couldn't top this excellent biography of our missional saint.

With the change of seasons most people change all their clocks and watches to the new time. Typically, regions that use daylight saving time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring and adjust them backward in the autumn to standard time. However, unlike the majority, in autumn ( Fall in USA), I usually neglect to change the clock on both our cooker and the clock in my car. So if you were to look at these now, they both appear as if they are one hour ahead of the actual time.  They'll obviously then automatically correct themselves when the clocks move forward an hour for spring on 31 March 2019. One Sunday morning recently, not remembering this important fact, my wife set the cooker-timer to come on while we were out at church. This was done in order that the oven would have automatically heated up to cook and roast a chicken while we were away. Therefore, when my wife realised the cooker had come on an hour early, she rapidly adjusted her initial pla

3 Takeaways from Vineyard National Conference 2019 My main "takeaways" from the recent Vineyard National conference are: 1) Putty Putman - Putty unpacked what the believers "Grace Identity" is. He articulates how it is wrapped up in who it is that God says I am. "Our journey is a journey of allowing the Lord to renew our mind, through the Holy Spirit, so we can live in the freedom we’re already been given." (Also check out a refreshing talk on 'Moving in the Prophetic' by Putty Putman) https://www.vineyardchurches.org.uk/conferences/identity-putty-putman/ https://www.vineyardchurches.org.uk/resources/why-do-i-keep-on-sinning/ 2) Jay Pathek - Jay, with his unique blend of humour and humility, demonstrated how “God often chooses to call us into things he knows we’re not adequate for so we’ll learn to always depend on him.” https://www.vineyardchurches.org.uk/resources/entirely-inad