Austrian Adventures 2010

Some pics from our Radstadt snowboarding holiday.

Flickr pictures page

I Will Seek You

I will seek you

I will seek your face

I will seek you when life leads me on paths that I fear

I will seek you when I'm tempted to hide from jeers

I will seek you when I feel unable

To withstand a life of a different label

I will seek your face when exhaustion draws me away

I will search for you when not inclined to pray

I will seek you

I will seek your face

I will seek you when victory and ecstacy reign in my heart

I will wander searching for you when my rambling pulls us apart

I will lie in your presence within the summer heat

I will shelter between your wing when storms upon the earth beat

I will seek you

I will seek your face

But finally when my journey in this place is complete

And my breath becomes scarce, all suggesting my body will suffer defeat

Then I will truly find you and forever rest in your presence true

And as I rewatch my life I can be happy, knowing that I honestly sought You.

Being

I love to think,

But sometimes it's important just to be.

Like sitting in my bed listening to the rain,

Or enjoying the cessation of pain as I lay down my head.

Its in these moments of being that my life grows and shapes,

That I can focus on The Eternal,

The beginning and the end;

On becoming more of a friend to Him that made me for just that.

Geocaching

Lorna and I have discovered a great new hobby called Geocaching. Basically you look at the website http://www.geocaching.com/ and get some co-ordinates for a cache, which you then plug into your GPS (or Nokia N95) and start wandering!

The caches are usually a tuppaware, hidden very carefully in the countryside some where. They contain a logbook so you can prove you found it, and various other little prizes which can be traded for something you want to leave. I imagine kids would love it, and its great fun for adult kids too! It also takes you to places you never would have thought to go, and there's usually plenty of scope for good photos in many of the locations.

Another way to get out and about and enjoy creation!

Schmap

I've been absent in my posting for a while due to job change related stress and general work related low moodness (see below), but now am up and about a bit more creatively. Since last posting, I've updated my myspace with some new electronic music, and I'm working on more. I've started worship leading at Intention, ABC's youth group which is turning out to be really exciting, and I'm taking photos again. Whilst exploring various bits of Manchester with Lorna, we visited Castlefield (was up and coming a few years ago, now fairly firmly arrived). I took a few photos, posted them to my flickr website and one of them has been selected for use on a website guide to Manchester, called Schmap. This looks a great guide to the city and is growing all the time, so definitely worth taking a look (see my sidebar to the right on this very blog). It also has guides to numerous other cities around the world, and can be accessed on your I-phone for trendy types.

Reading my previous post, I'm slightly embarrased to admit that despite all my wordly wealth, beautiful wife, wonderful family and friends I've been very low in mood for the last couple of months. Whilst my own recent stress has not been in the league of Brother Yun and friends (see below), I can similarly testify that during this low patch I've had a great sense of God walking with me (probably carrying me really!) I had not really known whether the path I've been following has been right, or whether I had the emotional reserves to follow it, but I've known that he has a plan and would be with me through all of it no matter how steep it seemed. Through times talking with friends, studying The Bible, in prayer and in church, I've heard Him assure me I am doing what He wants, where He wants me to do it, and this has given me strength to re-emerge from "just coping" to "truly living".

I'm writing this having spent the weekend in the sun, in Manchester and Altrincham (food festival and our little garden). Like the rainbow after the flood in Noah's story, the beautiful weather this weekend feels like a seal to the promise He has made to me. In times when I'm feeling sorry for myself, finding life hard or generally going through a low patch in the cycle of life I must try and think back to these glimpses of beauty, and focus on the gifts that God gives me day-to-day.

The power of prayer!

Bizzarely, this is a really heartwarming story about a gent who had a little accident in his car, but thanks to prayer and some friends ended up none the worse for wear...

New Camera Phone - my lovely wife

New Camera Phone - my lovely wife, originally uploaded by petersandbach.

Another year, another gadget! I've now upgraded my Treo (sob and whimper) to an all singing all dancing Nokia N95. One of the main reasons for this was the opportunity to take more pics - the Nokia has a 5MP camera! I'm still trying to work it all out but seems to have lots of multimedia stuff to play with. I'll continue to let you know how I'm doing!

MX5

Check out this review of MX5s to see why I'm going to be so sad when our one finally gives up the ghost!

Feb Update

Apologies for that little December rant - not very seasonal!

Well, we've been through lots of stress over the last couple of months. Once again I have been revising for an exam (which, thank God, I passed!), but the strain its put on Lorna and me has made me realise that there is more to life. I think that God has taught me that my career has become too central to my self identity, and He and some of my new friends here up north helped me come to terms with the prospect of failing this one (probably the hardest I've done so far). I also had a lot of doubts about my career choice but I do feel called to be an anaesthetist and much more excited by it now I've lept this most recent hurdle!

Having been enmeshed in a rather negative couple of months, where the most I could manage was to get up, go to work, come home and sleep, I'm now noticing my creativity returning - once again I'm feeling the urge to write music! I'll be uploading them soon at Myspace.

I'm also in the process of putting some of my better photos online at Flickr, so please feel free to look at those and I'd love to hear you comments.

Lorna is doing well, starting her new job next week. I think at the moment she feels that strange combination of trepidatious and excited! I know she'll do brilliantly though.

We've also managed to complete on our house, which is very exciting! We picked up the keys yesterday, and while I am at work typing this (very busy today you know!), the furniture is busy arriving in our 3 bed semi in Timperley. I'm not quite sure how its all going to fit in at the moment, so keep watching ebay for some Sandbach Seconds!

Thanks for all your support and prayers, God bless...

Brown set to oppose MP pay rise

Too bloody right after the panning he's given the rest of the public sector. I wander if they'll delay the MPs' pay rise to give a below-inflation award?

Doubt it though...

Merry Christmas everybody - all God's blessings!

Lost Data (again!)

Yet more data seems to have been lost recently, and apparently private firms (in addition to government departments) are coming forward admitting to losing customers data! Of course this can't all be a coincidence that we are hearing all about these loses at the same time - my interpretation is that loses of personl data happen all the time, and we are hearing about so many because the press are baying about it all! I have to say I'm not encouraged to apply for an ID card!

What's even more galling is that recently a doctor was struck off by the GMC for amongst other things taking patient details around with him - at least he didn't lose them! I wonder if the government will suffer such consequences?

Up North

Hello all,

Well, we're finally settling in up in Manchester, so I thought I'd better at least try and get back in to updating the ol' blog.

It's only been 4 months since I moved up (3 since Lorna joined me) but it feels like we've been here for ever. We've settled into a town called Altrincham, just south of Manchester city centre, which has trams into the city but it's own little town centre which is very well serviced for restaurants and bars. That might explain why we were so attracted to it!

We've joined a church, Altrincham Baptist Church, which is a large, vibrant family church with lots going on. We're slowly getting into going to house group and getting to know lots of new people who all seem very nice. I think I'll hold off getting involved with doing too much for the moment, until we get more settled, but we have already helped decorate a new community centre which the church is taking over.

Work is busy as ever! I'm based at Wigan hospital, working in the theatres and intensive care unit. I'm also sitting postgraduate exams (the Fellow of the Royal College of Anaesthetists this time) - I recently passed one, quite miraculously, and I'm sitting another at the end of January which I don't have high hopes for (as always!)

Lorna is currently locumming as a GP, so spends lots of time trying to navigate around greater Manchester finding GP surgeries, which are usually in really obscure places! She starts a permanent job in February in Warrington in a lovely practice, so that's a real answer to prayer.

On a sadder note, my Grandad fell recently and broke his hip. Fortunately, Broomfield patched him up and he's on the mend now, but we're not really very sure about the future, whether he'll cope living with mum and dad, etc. That happening really made me miss Essex and being close to everyone.

We often wander how all is in Bicknacre and St Andrew's, and we continue to pray for everyone. In many ways we miss being so close, but we're so blessed in lots of other ways and joining another exciting and vibrant community and absence definitely makes us realise how much we love everyone down in Essex. Life really suits us up here and we can't wait to get involved in more stuff (and try out Altrincham's Michelin starred restaurant, Juniper). We've already had some visitors from Essex and we're looking forward to loads more, we've made an offer on a house near where we're renting a flat, and we're starting to make some friends here. The next step is to start to explore some of the amazing scenery up here, like the Peak District and the Lakes!

Thanks for all your prayers through what has been a busy and emotional time - I'll try and update a bit more regularly from now on! God bless...

Manchester

Following on from last month's post, I have accepted my job in Manchester after lots of hard praying and thinking. It has been a very hard decision to make, but both Lorna and I felt that God was pushing us in this direction, and many of our friends have confirmed this with their advice. Obviously we are sad to leave Bicknacre, but we can't wait to see what's in store for us up north. I'll be using this blog to keep you updated, but due to the obscene amount of stuff we have to do in such a short time, there may be even fewer posts than normal!

Sometimes it rains

Well, regarding the job thing - the government have delayed telling us whether we have a job or not, to try and rejig the computer applications system so it's fairer. Actually what they're ending up doing is changing it so that it's equally unfair for everyone! Therefore, we now have to wait until June for a final answer. Whether they'll fill the posts in time for the 1st Augsut when every junior doctor's contract runs out at the same time remains to be seen!

In life, we find that sometimes it really does rain - burdens seem to pour onto our already soaked backs, weighing us down and dampening our spirits. I want to share our last couple of weeks with you (if you don't mind being shared with!)

It started when our Nissan Micra boot clamped shut - it wouldn't open no matter what we did! Lorna had some important documents in there so we had to weasle our way past the back seats. Then I found out that the Mazda's coolant was still leaking despite having paid for a new radiator to supposedly sort out this problem at the beginning of the year. Then the shower broke...

We've just had a new kitchen fitted. Two days after it was put in the brand-new tap busted and wouldn't turn off. In the process of purchasing a new one at B&Q, I got a punctured tyre on the way home and in the process of fitting it, I put my neck into spasm which took me out of work for three days and was agonisingly painful. To finish off last week, Lorna got one of her worst migraines for years, which laid her out for Friday and half of today.

Whilst none of these things really are particularly disastrous, they add up to generate a pretty horrible time, especially when you're trying to revise for exams, worry about job security and work full time! Without the support of our family, friends and most of all God, we'd be in even worse states than we are. Jesus says "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest"  (Matthew 11:28)  The Bible also said of Jesus: "And he will be called...Wonderful Counselor..." (Isaiah 9:6)

He wants to help us with our problems, to be there with us in our pain, and to hold us when we're going through turmoil. We just have to let Him, and to learn to let Him in...

Interested?  Have a look at Rob Bell's short films at Nooma.com particularly at his title "Rain".

Various pics of Ireland people (mostly Lorna!)

 

New Pictures

Happy new year everyone! I hope yours was as enjoyable as mine (in a pub in Donegal, Ireland!). I've tried out the new digital camera and have posted a few landscapes on pixmania.co.uk's site, so please check them out and let me know what you think...

Ireland

Around Essex

Just click on "Diaporama" for a slide show.

It's Christmas!

Christmas, and those who have none...

At this time, with all the festivities and excess, my mind seems to subconsciously switch itself to thinking about those less fortunate. Maybe God is using my blessings to help me focus on others. It's a good time to review my charity donations. One I recently have started to support is Compassion, which enables me to sponsor a child. Mine is called Mateo and he lives in Equador. For anyone who is not involved in this kind of thing, I can't express how much of a blessing it is. When I first received my information pack about Mateo, about where he lives, what he enjoys doing and so on, I was moved to tears - it's such a privilige to be involved even in such a small way in this little chap's life. Hopefully, by supporting him, I can show Godly Christian love to someone who has so much less than myself. I'm not sharing this to blow my own trumpet - indeed I am so very blessed and so very hopeless at sharing it around - but in the hope that others may read it and consider doing the same (if they don't already do so). We are called to support the poor as Christians, and this really is one of the ways we can do so. Let's not forget (however cliched it sounds) that celebrating Christmas is about the birth of Jesus who has given us the gift of life.

Best man

Well, the best manning went ok - the speech was short but amusing enough to keep people entertained, and Jon and Suzanne seemed to have a lovely time. In fact everyone seemed to. There's something about a Christian weddding that just blows me away - I think the fact that the couple are binding themselves not only with legal and emotional contracts but also with a commitment in front of God, asking Him to be centre of their relationship is a very powerful thing, making these occasions an excellent witness of our faith.  I pray that the non Christians at Jon and Suzanne's wedding will begin to notice God's presence in their lives.

I have glasses

The official announcement - I now have glasses - here is an
updated pic of me in my specs (not that you probably care!).