Everest update


A belated Thank you, to all those who supported the trip financially and in prayer.

It was such a humbling and exhilarating experience that I would recommend it to everyone.
Day one we arrived in Kathmandu and the following morning we flew out to Lukla at the bottom of the Himalayan region from where we commenced our trek. Flying in between some of the foothills was quite amazing, and landing a twin prop on a hill top was quite something too! An Uphill landing strip, just 400-500 metres long!

Acts 2: 42-47

So, where are we in the story? Well, it’s as if Jesus has handed over the baton to the disciples in Acts. The stories about Jesus living on the earth in the flesh are over – apart from when they are retold by the Apostles – and the work has been handed over the to disciples and apostles of the day.
In the little passage, we will get a brief snippet of the Early Church, and the believers, how they acted and what the church was and meant to them.

So sang Baz Luhrmann (1999):

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '97... wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be IT.

The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.

Folks! Its less than three months away until we jet out to Kathmandu to begin an ascent of Everest up to Base Camp. Why? Im asking myself that in and amongst the training and special food plans too. But then I remember, we are raising a fantastic £10,000 for a charity that deserves our support - Advantage Africa. It is also in long lasting memory of a friend of the team that died whilst being involved in a car crash in Durham (where I was at uni). Please would you support me in my quest. The team going up are all christians too which is such a great comfort, we would really appreciate your prayers to take away our fears for the trip and any injuries up until then. In real focus is the fact that the Nepalese in general are not too welcoming to Christians, in fact they were all but banned from practising in the city of Kathmandu, so your prayers are very welcomed there as they were only given the freedom to express their faith in 2006, so still pretty new. 

Disclaimer: Dont try this at home.

1. Find an attractive prisoner of war, bring her home, shave her head, trim her nails, and give her new clothes. Then she's yours. - (Deuteronomy 21:11-13)
   
2. Find a prostitute and marry her. - (Hosea 1:1-3)

So, those of us that have the privilege have made it home to our families and are no doubt busy helping our folks/ brothers/ sisters to prepare for the christmas parties, the guests are soon to arrive, the christmas tree is decked with tinsel and glistening lights and outside its... well... pretty cold (even if there isnt any snow).

I was up on Oxford and Regent street the other day trying desperately to find something worth spending some money on, and its quite hard to find. You end up coming home frustrated at not having achieved your goal and then you sit and think...

The letter of James, chapter 5, is the setting for the final section in this series. By way of introduction, for those who haven’t had the privilege to have studied the book from beginning to end. Firstly the issue of authorship: whilst I recognise that this authorship is disputed, the author identifies himself as James (1:1), and he was probably the brother of Jesus and leader of the Jerusalem council (Ac 15). Four men in the New Testament have this name of James, but the author of this letter could not have been the apostle James, who died too early (A.D. 44) to have written it. The other two men named James had neither the stature nor the influence that the writer of this letter had. So it is most likely that James was one of several brothers of Christ and was probably the oldest since he heads the list in Mt 13:55. At first he did not believe in Jesus and even challenged him and misunderstood his mission (Jn 7:2-5). Later he became very prominent in the church in fact so prominent that he was one of the select individuals Christ appeared to after his resurrection (1Co 15:7;  Paul called him a "pillar" of the church (Gal 2:9; Paul, on his first post-conversion visit to Jerusalem, saw James (Gal 1:19) and again on his last visit (Ac 21:18; when Peter was rescued from prison, he told his friends to tell James (Ac 12:17; James was a leader in the important council of Jerusalem (Ac 15:13; Jude could identify himself simply as "a brother of James" (Jude 1:1), so well known was James)

The following are the lyrics from U2's song Grace, from their " All that you can't leave behind" album:

Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name

Grace
It's a name for a girl

(Acts 26, Acts 8, and Isaiah 53)

Acts 26: 25 -29: "I am not insane, most excellent Festus," Paul replied. "What I am saying is true and reasonable. The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do." Then Agrippa said to Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?" Paul replied, "Short time or long—I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains."

As I was trimming my evergreen organic friends and preparing the rest of the withering garden for the frosty winter this very sunny afternoon, I suddenly felt heaven’s inspiration come to me… Trimming a bush is like writing a sermon. No, really! Think about it…