PJBelfast

845am It's Thursday and I'm off work for a wee appointment at the hospital in Belfast at 9am. I'm early as my nearest and dearest has kindly dropped me off at the station in good time. The appointment has a mutual benefit to our marriage as it is alleged that I snore, and I mean SNORE! This has been proven by various recordings, and the playbacks aren't pretty. It's such a regular and noisy environment that my wife has resorted to wearing earplugs to help defend her ears from a variety of guttural sounds. I've been diagnosed with "sleep apnoea." This is the morning to see the consultant at the sleep disorders clinic. The coffee is great at the City Hospital, will check in later after the appointment. 940am Well the nursing staff were brilliant. After a rigourous verbal assessment I have been diagnosed with a mild form of sleep apnoea. An ECG and bloods have been taken and I'll be invited back by letter, in a few weeks time, to pick up my CPAP machi

Morning 27.01.2020 Travelling on the train to work gives me more " me time "! I find this a great time to contemplate the day to come. In the morning rush it easy to get grumpy about the busy traffic and the early hour, so the 20 minutes journey is a great way to pray and bring God's peace and calm into my day. When on board I extract a principle from the pattern of the Lord's prayer...you know" Our Father..." At other times I use the ACTS acronym - Adoration, Confession, Thanks, and Supplication ...or simply find it a good time to blog. Evening 27.01.2020 It's rather more manic as I return home. A fifteen minute walk from work is followed by standing room only on the train, but it's only for nine minutes. Conversations crowd out the tranquility found in the morning journey, so "a thank you for my day" at work is about all I can muster. Have you considered using journey times as "sacred spaces?" Journey prayers can be organic and

I've recently moved from the leafy suburbs of Belfast city to the  country! On my day off I wanted to test how long it would take me to get to the train station in the morning traffic, in order to make the 744am train from Lisburn to work in Belfast.  So I rose early this morning to do a trial run, to see if there would be any free parking spaces at around 730am. I did find just one car parking space within 200 yards on the road behind the station. Leaving at 710am I made it there in exactly 20 minutes.  However, if that one space had been taken I'd be 'in a right pickle',  as parking in car parks near the station could be upwards of £8 per day. I enquired further though, asking if there were any deals for daily train commuters. I was then pleasantly surprised to find all day parking in the city of Lisburn, within a stone's throw of the railway station, for just £2 per day.*  Needless to say I was chuffed and ordered

In our age of social media it is easy to fool ourselves that we have friends." The very technologies designed to link us together end up driving us apart!" Medical researchers and social scientists have highlighted that a strong link exists between friendship and well-being. "Anamcara" is the Gaelic word for "soul friend." A book that I'm reading* suggests we should only " bare our souls" to those we are certain have our best interests at heart, know us better than most and be those who would never betray us." True friendships do not just make us feel better, they are a gift that help us become better. There is something about face-to-face contact that is heartening. It makes social media " become the equivalent of junk food for the soul." Thanks Tim, Adrian, Tom, Peter & Phil for being faithful friends; there for me in the good times and the bad. Pray that God would give you such friends. A good principle to live

We've just moved to temporary accomodation as we wait for our new house to be built. The move reminded me of a less known Bible story, when the Ark of God's presence was moved temporarily to Obededoms house for three months. The backdrop is rather sad. King David, the priests and Israelites attempted to retrieve the Ark from the Philistines on a new cart drawn by oxen. However, whenever the oxen stumbled, " Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the Ark. " The text says " Then the Lord's anger was aroused against Uzzah, and he struck him dead because he had laid his hand on the Ark." It says that not only was David angry but was afraid of God, asking Him how he could ever bring the Ark back into His care.  While he determined how to restore the Ark, it was taken temporarily into the house of Obededom of Gath. The text in 1 Chronicles 13 tells us that " the Lord blessed the household of Obededom and everything he owned.&qu

Today is the end of an era living in the East of the City. Our boys all went to university from this house. They all were married from this here too. Feeling a little nostalgic, remembering some of the great family memories. Our three big sons are helping us move our somewhat culled possessions into a 'Go Box trailer pod. I'm also planning to be a 'white van man driver' tonight, as we're moving every day essentials to our temporary accomodation in Lisburn. Farewell East Belfast, but in the  words of Arnie "we'll be back!"

There are turning points in life, like in the 'Sliding Doors' movie. The film alternates between two storylines, showing two paths the central character's life could take depending on whether or not she catches a train.  Life can be transformed in a moment.  Prior to Christmas I was struck with the thought that the direction and course of Mary's life changed forever, when the angel 'suddenly' appeared and told of her that she would birth to the son of God.  The shepherds too, when 'suddenly' the angel announced the birthplace of Jesus, Saviour of the World. Recently my wife and I have had a 'suddenly' moment.  Our house sale fell through.  The middle of winter is never the best time to promote a house for sale as the nights are dark and cold.   We were somewhat 'gutted' hearing the disappointing news that the sale of our prospective purchasers had fallen through, causing a break in the sales chain. As we have a deposit on a new build we w

Resolutions. Why make them? The fact is only 8% of people keep them! Words Related to 'Resolution' include doggedness, obduracy, obdurateness, obstinacy, obstinateness, perseverance, persistence, persistency, stubbornness, tenaciousness, tenacity. certainty, certitude, confidence, sureness. alacrity, eagerness, gameness, readiness. backbone, fortitude, grit, iron, pluck, sand. Sounds like a lot of effort and there is still a tin of shortbread left over. Lightbulb moment: I "resolve" to eat only one piece of shortbread each day.  Back to Slimming World tomorrow. The scales will probably scream "get off fatso!" As they say "it's not so much about what you eat between Christmas and New Year, rather it's what you eat between New Year and Christmas that really matters." Selah.