Off to Kathmandu

I'm looking forward to my trip to Nepal. I'll be gone for over two weeks.
In various parts of the country, I'll be speaking at seminars for pastors and church leaders. The theme of the seminars is living and ministering in the Holy Spirit. I just want to encourage the people to be a little bolder and believe that God shows up when they step out.
I'm sure it will be a good time.

Blair hit by Lebanon backlash

Blair hit by Lebanon backlash as minister admits ceasefire 'mistake'
The war lasted 34 days. It left 1,393 people dead. Another 5,350 injured. And more than 1,150,000 displaced, of whom 215,413 are still homeless. The damage amounts to more than £2.6bn. Exactly one month after it ended, a Foreign Office minister admits that Tony Blair should have called for a ceasefire.
(From the Independent, 14th September 2006)

Perhaps it's not very popular these days to say this, but I like Tony Blair. Perhaps it's because I don't live in England anymore. European politicians -German politicians- are extremely boring. Tony has charisma. When his back is against the wall, he is a fighter!
Although I like him, I think his foreign policy is too much in line with the USA. I'm not anti-USA but they are way off in their appreciation of the world situation making the threat of terror more acute. It's the USA foreign policy that is the best recruiter for extremists.
And Tony follow this wholeheartedly. I believe that he is sincere, sincerely wrong.
The USA is the strongest ally and basically a guardian of our way of life, but sometimes it's good to criticise our friends.
With a battle for the leadership of the labour party now commencing, opportunists will start distancing themselves from policies - they need to look after their future. At little bit more backbone at the time of events would have been good.
Isarel's attack on Lebanon, while being justified was way out of proportion. My guess is that Hizbollah will determine the next (democratic) government in Lebanon.

The Tiling is all but Finished

Well, we're almost finished!
The tiles have nearly all been stuck to the floor. They aren't all straight but much better than I expected! In the background, you can see the wall that I built too. I must say, I'll glad its finished!
Actually were aren't finished, we have still got to put the grouting in. As I am leaving for Nepal on Friday morning, my sons will finish things off for me. We doing all this because of the new heating system that we are going to have installed. That should be more economic than the one that we have now. It will burn oil much more economically but because we also have the possiblity to burn wood, which we can get at a very low cost, this should make heating quite cheap. We will also have a solar collector put on the roof which, in Summer at least, will provide us with hot water.
With the price of oil being what it is and the liklihood of it not going cheaper, we can't really afford not the change the heating.
Of course we have to pay for the new system.
Good news came for the heating engineer this morning. He can't start until the 25th! That give us another week which will allow the glue to be completly dry before the grouting starts.

Children soldiers

As I am going to Nepal on Friday, everything that is currently in the media about Nepal is an interest to me. Sky News had a special feature today. It was about teenagers who had been aducted by the Maos and forced to be soldiers.
It was a sad story because the boys, some younger than ten years old had been kidnapped and had their childhood stolen. They had learned to use guns, make bombs and kill people.
The report took us to a safe house on the outskirts of Kathmandu and we heard a number of interviews by kids who had managed to get out of the army.
I'm hearing the same things in Sri Lanka, a country that I visit quite often. The Tamil Tigers abduct children and use then as cannon fodder.
On Thursday a German lady who works in Uganda is coming to visit me. She runs a home for kids who have got away from the army. The "Lord's resistance army" is doing the same thing as the Tigers or as the Maos. Sad.
But its no use just sitting around complaining that its dark. Let switch the light on!

Nepal Images

Brain Freeze

Have you ever had the feeling that your brain has frozen over? Incredible. This is my feeling at the moment. I've been able to get myself a few hours free and want to prepare for my trip to Nepal, starting on Friday - alas I can't get any thoughts to paper.
I think I will be speaking at three different venues about "Living and Ministering in the Holy Spirit" - alas not is moving in my mind!
I am looking forward to going to Nepal, but I will look pretty stupid if I don't have anything to say!
I'll go and get something to eat and see how that works out.

It was my birthday, yesterday!

My birthday came and went. We had a very pleasant day. The sun was shining and we were outside in the garden. We started with a barbeque and had coffee and cake in the afternoon.
I don't know how many guests came. We were quite crowded. But as I said the weather was great and we were outside. The children just spread themselves out and they had a good time too.

In the photo on the left, I'm examining a picture that one of my grandchildren had drawn for me. They are sometimes very difficult to decipher.

Anyway, I'll looking forward to my birthday next year.

Today I am putting in some new creramic tiles in the room where our new heating system will be. I've been working on this now for a two months!

I built a new wall - crooked and put in a new floor, people complain about seasickness when they walk across it. Now I'm putting in the tiles - no doubt these will also be crooked. How cares!

Its my birthday tomorrow!

That's actually Joey, one of our grandchildren. His birthday was the last one in the family. He's just gone two years old.
So I'll be 54 tomorrow. I don't think I'm that old, but do have many aches and pains.
There is a lot of movement in the house today as we are having a lot of guests here tomorrow. I think 27 people will be with us for lunch. We managed to get a pig during the week. Sadly the animal was still alive this time last week.
Who knows how many more birthdays we will have? It good to celebrate and look back but its important that we remember the rest of our lives is in front of us. Whatever has happened win the past cannot be changed but we can influence our future. "Don't be a prisoner of your past but be a pioneer of your future."
I hope to make the most of the rest of my life. I am doing that by trying to serve God as best as I can and as best as I know how.