News

For those who have passed their driving test in the last 12 months there is a "Get in Gear" course available. It aims to give youngsters the skills to cope with driving independently and reduce the chances of being involved in a crash. Sadly the under 25s account for just 9% of licence holders but they get involved in 25% of crashes that cause death and injury.

As an incentive those who take the course can get a reduced insurance premium. Contact Netta Glover on if you want more information.

For a limited period the Council will pay the £150 fee so get in fast.

Further information is available here:

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/sites/bcc/transport/get_in_gear.page

When I was but a lad I lived in London and when I was 9 my parents changed my primary school. This meant that I used to travel on my own 3 stops on the tube and 2 stops on the bus to get to school. London buses at the time were renowned for their ‘convoys’. You wouldn’t see one for ages then 3 or 4 would turn up at once, all packed to the rafters so you couldn’t get on!

Over the years I’ve found that troubles are a bit like buses – you’re just enjoying a nice calm period in your life, then WHAM! A whole bunch of troubles turn up at once. Last week it seemed that everything that was fairly new was breaking – cars, tents, roof-lights – it’s not so much the immediate disappointment that’s hard, it’s the fact that it seems to take up so much of our time to get anything fixed (just try to find the Bosch lawnmower man in the middle of Luton!).

The amazing thing is, though, it’s through these times of trouble that God can transform our lives. In fact God seems to depend more on using our circumstances to make us like Jesus than he depends on us reading the bible. Life is a series of problems and God uses problems (he does NOT create them!) to draw us closer to himself. The Psalmist wrote: “The Lord is close to the broken hearted; he rescues those who are crushed in spirit.”
(Psalm 34:18). One of the most intimate times I’ve had with Him was during a time of worship with students on a Christian camp the evening after I had learned that my mother died. This only happens if we allow God into our lives. God is the ultimate in good manners – he’ll never barge in, he’ll always wait to be invited.

Eaten on their own flour, salt, raw eggs, sugar and oil taste pretty disgusting. Bake them mixed together and they become a delicious cake. If you will give God all your troubles, all your unpleasant experiences, he will blend them together for good. If you are facing troubles ‘like buses’ right now, don’t ask, “Why me? Instead ask, “God, come close to me, comfort me, and show me what you want me to learn.”
“For the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.”
(1 Corinthians 4:18)

If you’d like to talk over any of this please get in touch.

Shalom

Revd Derek Witchell
01296 682320

I recently received this curious e-mail:
“I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing. As I start towards the garage, I notice today's post on the porch table that I left there earlier. I decide to go through the post before I wash the car. I lay my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the rubbish bin under the table, and notice that it is full. So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the rubbish first, but then I think, since I'm going to be near the letterbox when I take out the rubbish anyway, I may as well pay the bills first. I take my cheque book off the table, and see that there is only one cheque left. My extra cheques are in my desk in the study, so I go inside the house to my desk where I find the tin of beer I'd been drinking. I'm going to look for my cheques, but first I need to push the beer aside so that I don't accidentally knock it over. The beer is getting warm, and I decide to put it in the fridge to keep it cold. As I head toward the kitchen with the beer, a vase of flowers on the counter catches my eye - they need water. I put the beer on the counter and discover my reading glasses that I've been searching for all morning. I decide I better put them back on my desk, but first I'm going to water the flowers. I set the glasses back down on the counter, fill a container with water and suddenly spot the TV remote. Someone left it on the kitchen table. I realize that tonight when we go to watch TV, I'll be looking for the remote, but I won't remember that it's on the kitchen table, so I decide to put it back in the lounge where it belongs, but first I'll water the flowers. I pour some water in the flowers, but quite a bit of it spills on the floor. So, I set the remote back on the table, get some towels and wipe up the spill. Then, I head down the hall trying to remember what I was planning to do.
At the end of the day:
the car isn't washed
the bills aren't paid
there is a warm tin of beer sitting on the counter
the flowers don't have enough water
there is still only 1 cheque in my cheque book
I can't find the remote
I can't find my glasses
and I don't remember what I did with the car keys

Then, when I try to work out why nothing got done today, I'm really baffled because I know I was busy all day, and I'm really tired. I realise this is a serious problem, and I'll try to get some help for it, but first I'll check my e-mail...

Do me a favour. Forward this message to everyone you know, because I don't remember who the heck I've sent it to.”

Don't laugh -- if this isn't you yet, your day is coming!!

We lead such busy lives. We charge around like bluebottles trying to get things done. It was just the same in Jesus’ day but he had the solution. He followed his Father’s plan and always made sure he had a day off each week, always made sure he took ‘time-out’ during the day, and made sure his pace of life was slower. Companies that follow Christian principles and ensure staff never have to stay late and take a good lunch-break find that more work gets done more efficiently by a happier workforce. We shouldn’t be surprised – it’s simply following the way of the one who created us.

Following God’s way in all things makes for a life where we can be fully human.
Shalom

Revd Derek Witchell
01296 682320

Want to explore the meaning of Life, the Universe & Everything? Why not join our Alpha course – 7.30 Thursdays from 10 September – including a free meal

The L o n g Silence
– a short story for the holidays
At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on a vast plain before God’s throne. Some groups talked heatedly. ‘How can God judge us?’ ‘What does he know about suffering?’ snapped a young woman. She jerked back a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. A black man lowered his collar. ‘What about this?’ he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. ‘Lynched for no crime but being black. We have suffocated in slave ships, been wrenched from loved ones and toiled till only death gave release.’

Many other people recounted stories of suffering. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering he permitted in his world. How lucky he was to live in heaven where all was sweetness and light; where there was no weeping, no fear, no hunger and no hatred. All agreed that God seemed to lead a pretty sheltered life.

So each group sent out a representative. There was a Jew, a black woman, an untouchable from India, an illegitimate child, a victim from Hiroshima, a sweatshop worker, a prisoner from a labour camp. In the centre of the plain they consulted.

At last they were ready to present their case. It was very daring. Before God could qualify to be their judge, he must endure what they had endured. So the decision was made: God should be sentenced to live on earth – as a man! But, because he was God, they set certain safeguards to be sure he could not use his divine powers to help himself:-

Let him be born a Jew.
Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted, so that no one will know who his father really is.
Let him champion a cause so just, but so radical, that it brings down upon him the hatred and condemnation of the establishment.
Let him try to describe what no man has ever seen, tasted, heard or smelled … Let him try to communicate God to men.
Let him be betrayed by his dearest friends.
Let him be indicted on false charges, tried before a prejudiced jury, and convicted by a cowardly judge.
Let him be terribly alone and abandoned.
Let him be tortured.
Then let him die a humiliating death alongside common criminals.

As each leader announced a portion of the sentence, there were shouts of approval from the people. But after the final statement, there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved.

For suddenly all knew … God, in Jesus, had already served his sentence.
(Author unknown)

Shalom

Revd Derek Witchell
01296 682320