This time of year because the trees are bare of leaves the exposed bark and branches are revealed showing some interesting forms. I have been stretching my knowledge and looking at this phenomena commonly known as lichens. Lichens are composite organisms made up of a fungus and one or more…
Serendipity v non-serendipity(!)
Went for a walk yesterday morning with Ethan, to get myself air and to deliver him from the screen! I took my binoculars just in case as you never know! It was a fresh and bright morning, dry but icy especially in the shade. We were staying over at the…
A December Ramble
Now, I thought it was about time for a new post. The title reflects more of my thinking than of an actual ramble – that would be fine too. Saying that, I am missing going outside at present and have a real longing to have a winter walk. I can…
School nature
Took a group of kids out today at school and saw a number of creatures. Don’t know who was more excited, me or them! A heron flew in low towards us as we walked near the pond. It landed stately like upon the end apex above the resource room. Watching…
A good read
(This is somewhat misleading as it was actually a good listen!) Debbie bought a set of books by Gill Lewis. I’d never heard of her before. One of her books is called The Moon Bear. The local library has an ebook and audio book loan service and I managed to…
Who Jesus is to me.
As we come to this Christmas time I want to share who Jesus is to me, making it personal and hopefully encouraging you and maybe enticing you in further to knowing him more. When I was 8 I read a lot, reading the Bible was one of the many books…
Seeing and knowing
I wanted to share a bit of where I am at. Both yesterday’s post and today’s share a similar theme. There is so much I would like to read and watch like the books by my bed, on my devices and stuff to watch on internet and YouTube but I…
I will be found by you
It had been a busy day and I was positively buzzing in my head. I was glad to get into bed. As I did I managed to quieten down. I just laid back on my pillow and I wasn’t even trying to hear, or straining that is, to hear God’s…
Messy church +
You may remember in a previous article mention of Forest Church. Well, whilst researching this topic I came across the newest version of the same, called Mossy Church. This subset of Forest Church is aimed at more junior members. I discovered what I thought was a big Mossy Church event…
Free Eagle
From time to time I read The Mirror – no not the popular tabloid but a paraphrase of some of the New Testament. There is a lot of commentary in it which gets mixed in with the verses but it’s there to help explain how the author, Francois du Toit…
Simple Pleasures
It was one of those mornings. I was coming too (waking up) and I was besieged by dark irrational thoughts, we all get them from time to time. I don’t think they come from a good place or from the Holy Spirit. It was difficult to break through but I…
Summer School report 2014
You may remember last year I reported on the summer school sessions regarding faith and ecology. Well this year the subject for all the sessions related to peace. I had a flip through the brochure and was disappointed that nothing really appealed to me apart from one session which set…
Lesson from a tree
I was walking down to church the other Sunday evening. I noticed a tree in the corner of the grounds belonging to the flats by the long alley way on the Worplesdon road. I recalled not seeing one for quite some time (since the event I’ve seen two in a…
The walk that became something else
“Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only he who sees, takes off his shoes”. Elizabeth Scott Browning On an early morning walk recently I headed towards Whitmoor Common. The sky was clear blue, the light was bright and the dew was glinting in the sunshine. Noisy young…
Tanzanian Safari
The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it; Psalm 24:1 Our trip to Ruaha Game Park was amazing. We had a rough drive there. At the road-side we enjoyed lunch of home-made chipatis and crisps. Some of us saw a mask spider; all of us admired…
Tanzanian Wildlife moments (Psalms 150:1-2,6)
As Team Tanzania we had an amazing trip for other reasons apart from achieving what we set out to do, meeting brothers and sisters in Christ, being blessed and being a blessing. We had the opportunity virtually every day, to drink in the sights and sounds of that beautiful country.…
Naming nature
Last month I looked at trees and how Debbie and I made our email address – we created our own name using Gingertree. This month I thought I’d look at names and particularly naming the nature around us. As human’s we like to know someone’s name. It’s the beginning…
Trees
Some of you may know quite well by now our email address. The prefix of that address is Gingertree72. There is a little story behind that. Debbie and I both have an affinity with trees, particularly in reference to: Jeremiah 17:7-8 (Ps 1:3): Blessed is the person who trusts Yahweh…
Saving souls or the planet
Should we as Christians really be bothered about looking after the planet? After all it’s going to be burnt up (or is it?) – should our job not be about saving souls? I was musing on these things recently after a few comments I read on a social network site.…
Water works
Recently I bought a book to help me at work called Wow! Our Amazing Planet – A cross- curricular conservation resource for RE teachers (ideal for KS1 and 2) written by a friend of mine. I was reading it to improve my knowledge and in it I read about pigeons! Pigeons are…
Christmas and creation
This is the time of year when we start looking towards Christmas and what that entails. It is a time when we are surrounded by so many demands on our time and finances. For us as Christians we look towards Christ’s first coming but what does that mean for us…
God who provides through nature
As the Tanzania team are preparing to go and being one of them I have been challenged in regards to how we will pay for it! When I say pay for it I mean financially and not figuratively, although we could do that too – observe us when we come…
Becoming an eco-congregation and the Cost of creation
In July I attended the Diocesan summer school sessions on ‘Becoming an Eco-congregation; a local response’ and ‘The Cost of Creation’. There were a few others from Emmanuel there apart from myself and a small representation from different churches. In the first session we learnt about being an Eco-congregation through…
Introducing A Rocha
A Rocha is probably my favourite charity as it combines all of my interests into one! If you don’t know of A Rocha I would like to introduce and commend it to you in this short piece. I first came across A Rocha back in the mid 90’s through reading…
God’s mission; our mission
After a sermon by Bishop Scriven and a suggestion about explaining what creation care is, I thought I might share some thoughts on the matter. He (Jesus) said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. – Mark 16:15 NIV. When it comes to…
Rainbows
Do you still get excited about seeing a rainbow? It’s something we may not get so excited about now that we are older as science has explained it away but I think there is still wonder at seeing a rainbow. I was reminded of something by looking at one a…
Ghana March 1999
An Elephantine Experience It all began on a hot morning in March, when various members of the Ring tribe and I were bundled into a heavily laden 4wd, packed with the necessities for life: telescope, camera, binoculars, water filters, etc. The journey was uneventful except for experiencing “washboard” for the…