D Day Landing June 6th

June 6^th was a very special day for the veterans of the D Day landing in Normandy.  The veterans were there to commemorate the invasion of France to defeat the Nazi enemy and to liberate the people of France. Seventy five years ago thousands of young men died on the five beaches where the allied forces landed and today's veterans went back to Sword Beach, Normandy to remember the sacrifice of their comrades on that day.  Two of those veterans, one aged 95 years old, the other 94 years old, who had parachuted into Normandy on D Day jumped again this year (in tandem with an instructor) from the Dakota aircraft to the same area. What memories that would bring back!  

Are you affected by the weather?

What was the first thing you noticed this morning when you got up? Maybe I should reword that. I am not thinking about your beautiful spouse or children. My question really is – did you notice if it was sunny or rainy? Did the weather annoy you or concern you?

Passed By

Some summers are really a bit of a non-event. I’ll not go into the precise statistics but it seems that often summers come and go with little evidence that we actually had one.

Life is like that for a lot of us. Some people feel that it has passed them by. The dreams of yesterday never quite became the reality of today. The wish list remained just that – a wish list. If only.  Life need not be like that. I believe that God’s desire for humanity is to lift our gaze from the mundane things of life and to give us hope; but more of that in a moment.

Prime Minister’s Questions

PRIME MINISTER’S QUESTIONS  

P.M.Q’S or Prime Ministers Questions are heard at midday each Wednesday for half an hour when Parliament is sitting.  The leader of the opposition can ask six questions, sometimes a red herring is slipped in to mislead or misdirect the Prime Minister.  Most questions are direct, some rhetorical and others take the shape of “W.H” questions.  The latter is frequently used by journalists when a question is prefixed by What, Who, Where, When, Why and How.  The newsmen borrowed this structure from Rudyard Kipling’s poem “Six honest serving men”.  If only in politics honesty was the motive and driving force, questions might get answered more positively and outcomes more beneficial. 

What is your most valued possession?

What is Your Most Valuable Possession?

It’s a good question; I wonder how you would answer it? If we are being honest our answer will depend, to some extent, on our circumstances. For instance, if I was terminally ill what I thought was important would be completely different to my choice in sunnier days. Car, homes, holidays and technology might be important to me now, but they have little value if life is slipping from my grasp. I hope that family, relationships and my spiritual condition will be my focus if I get time to contemplate my departure from this life to the next.

Is Your Most Valuable Possession a Bucket List?

So be honest with me – if you were facing the dying moments of your life on Earth what would your checklist look like? I often hear people talk about a bucket list of things they would like to do before they die. It might be to climb this mountain, fly to this destination or enjoy this particular experience. Please don’t get me wrong, I understand that you would be creating memories for those who will be left behind. I appreciate that you may be seeking to ensure that the final moments of life are full of genuine rich and familial experience.