How our current voting system works

The Lord's Table

The season of Lent, the traditional time of Christian fasting is approaching, and you may be considering what you will do to mark this time of year.  Perhaps you plan to give up a luxury that you normally enjoy, such as chocolate or coffee.  Those of us who are overweight due to overeating may be considering a more serious diet to help us tackle our health issues.  I have often used Lent as a time to bring my own body weight back to a more acceptable level after the excesses of the winter feasting season.  Recently I have seen this approach to fasting as being somewhat flawed; if I deny myself in order to improve my health and my looks then I am doing it for myself and not as a sacrifice to God.  I have already received my reward, as Jesus says in Matthew chapter 6 .  Should not true fasting require a sacrifice from which we do not derive a direct benefit?  But then how can an overweight person fast and not receive the direct benefit of losing weight?

 

One answer to this question is provided by a course called The Lord’s Table , (which I would really recommend as a Lenten discipline).  The course, run by a non-denominational Christian ministry called Setting Captives Free , calls itself a “biblically based weight-loss programme”.  Setting Captives Free work with people who suffer from addictive behaviours, such as substance abuse, self harm and eating disorders.  Their objective is to bring Jesus into people’s lives and allow Him to heal them and set them free.  “He has sent me to tell the captives they are free” said Jesus in Luke 4:18 .  So being set free from captivity to addiction or overeating is a way of drawing closer to Jesus – the very point of Lent.

The Lord’s Table course is formed of a series 60 daily online bible study sessions backed up with an eating plan.  I started the course in the New Year, and by coincidence I will be taking the final lesson on Ash Wednesday, just in time for Lent.  The content of the teaching is perhaps a bit predictable and I was ready to dismiss it after the first couple of days; but wishing to give it a reasonable go, I persevered and found that it did contain more depth than my first impression.  The general outline of the teaching is as follows:
1.    Accept that your eating habits are sinful
2.    Accept that your sin has made you a slave and a captive
3.    Accept that you are powerless to change this without the help of Jesus Christ, but that with His help, anything is possible.
4.    Understand the true meaning of repentance in that it involves turning away from sin and turning to Christ
5.    Discover how to “feast at the Lord’s table” instead of indulging in sinful eating.
6.    Continue to study the Word of God daily and follow more healthy eating habits until this becomes part of your life.

The study plan
The study course consists of reading a few verses of scripture each day, which are accompanied by a commentary and some questions.  You answer the questions by typing into a web form, and submit your answers to Setting Captives Free via the internet.  They will assign a mentor who will read your responses, send you encouragement and pray for you.  The questions are sometimes straightforward multiple choice, and sometimes more open, asking for your opinions or your reflections on a passage of scripture.  The teaching is very much protestant evangelical, with much emphasis on salvation by grace through faith and a very literal view of scripture .  They do, in spite of this, also work with biblical texts on a highly metaphorical level which I find quite fascinating, and there are occasional references to non-biblical texts, such as John Bunyan’s Pilgrim's Progress and Mathew Henry’s commentaries .

The eating plan
At first glance, the eating plan seems quite radical and extremely challenging.  When I first looked at it I dismissed it and tried to follow the bible studies without modifying my eating.  It only took a week to realise that I was hoping for a miracle if I wanted to lose weight without cutting back my eating.  Of course miracles are possible with God, but reducing your food intake is perhaps a way to help Him perform this particular change.

{mosimage}The good news is that the plan allows you to eat anything you want.  Sugar, carbohydrates, fat – nothing is forbidden.  You even get two days each week on which you can eat “normally”.  The challenge comes with the rest of the week: two days you are instructed to eat only half portions at all your meals and two days each week you can have only one solid meal, but are allowed to drink as much as you want of any drinks.  On the final day each week you are to fast completely, drinking only water and eating nothing.  The fasting sounds the hardest part, but I have found the fast days to be the best days.  You cannot get through a fast day without reference to God – praying for strength to continue the fast and not to cave in.  (This eating plan comes with a warning that you should check with your doctor before you commit to it; but if you have no health issues then they assert that there is no reason why you should not choose to follow the plan.)

Once I started to take the eating seriously, the whole course made a lot more sense.  At the time of writing I have been following the plan for nearly 5 weeks and God has blessed me with a weight reduction which takes me half way to my target weight.  I have also found that the impulse to eat when I’m bored, stressed or watching television has completely gone.  I’m also starting to get back to some regular exercise and feel a little more alert and alive.

Now I can see the answer to the question I posed at the start of this article.  How can we benefit directly from a sacrifice we make to God?  The answer is that if the sacrifice is to give your life to God, and not just give up your food for a short period, then God will return your sacrifice to you as a blessing (see Genesis 22:15-18 for example).  In this instance, if you are a captive to sinful eating habits then God will set you free from captivity and bless you with a healthier, more attractive body.  The same principle can apply to any sacrifice made in Jesus’ name.

If anyone is interested in following the Lord’s Table course during Lent or at any other time, please get in touch.  I’ll be only too willing to discuss it with you and to encourage you right through the course.  You will find it much easier if you have someone to share your thoughts with during these 60 days.

Green Street Cottage, Cam Green, Dursley, Gloucestershire

That’s the address of the house where I grew up.  In fact I was born there, at home in 1963 and lived in that house until I left home to go to university.  After I graduated I got a job elsewhere in the country and never went back.

My parents bought the house the year I was born and sold it in 1988 (at a 15,000% profit, but let’s not dwell on that!).  This year, almost 30 years after I last lived there, I was in the area and went to see if the house is still there.  It is, and the family who own it now were kind enough to invite me in and show me round.  A lot has changed from how I remember it and they asked if I had any photos of how it used to be.  I didn't think that I had, but when I sifted through my teenage photography projects I found two interesting albums.  One is from February 1982, when there was heavy snow in Gloucestershire, and the road was completely blocked.  The pictures are not that good as they were black and white developed by me and a couple of mates who didn’t have a lot of experience.  I’ve only got the negatives so I got a negative scanner and copied them.  The other is, I think, summer of 1983 when I was home for my first long university holidays.  These were mostly shot on colour slides and scanned with the same scanner.  I've also included some older b/w pictures in that album which may date back to 1981.  Follow these links to my albums:

Summer 1983 (and others)

February Snow 1982

Bridgestone Surface Cracks

Does this look right to you?

This is the front tyre on my Honda ST1100AY - that's the ABS version from 2000.  The bike had Bridgestone Battlax BT020 tyres on it when I bought it and I've kept to those tyres.  It must be on the 4th pair since I've owned the bike.  They do the job - a bit twitchy on white lines in the wet, but what isn't?  I got a bit of weave when I was riding too fast in the snow last winter, but I won't blame the tyres for that!  Except for the first pair,  I've bought the tyres from Essential Rubber as they're cheap and they seem to know what they're talking about.  They get lots of recommendations on London Biker forums, and they've been recommended by several of my colleagues who ride to work too.

But when the front tyre developed these cracks, I thought there must be something wrong.

It's only on one side of the tyre, but every single grove has a crack at the bottom of it.

So I took it back to Essential Rubber, and they had a look at it and said "Oh, Bridgestone surface cracks".  That's all it is.  Just surface cracks.  Won't get any worse they tell me.  Nothing to worry about.
I've had the tyre 10 months, and it's covered about 17,000 km, so it still owes me another 4-5,000 before I need a new one.  That'll be a few more weeks.  So if you see a white ST1100 chucked up the M11 one morning between now and the middle of November, you'll know never to trust when they tell you in the tyre shop - or Bridgestone tyres either.

Metpost Repair Stud

About 7 or 8 years ago I had a garden fence replaced.  Being short on cash, I had wooden posts set in concrete straight in the wet, wet ground.  Great for 7 or 8 years, but now they’ve rotted off, and one of them has broken off at ground level.

So how do you fix this?  Options include digging out the rotten stump and putting a new post in the concrete socket; digging out the concrete and doing the job again (with concrete posts this time!), or using a metal repair stud.  I bought one from Metpost for a few quid.  You also need something to put down inside that you can hit hard, but that’s the right size to not get stuck – Metpost can sell you one of those too – the black thing with a bit of metal round the top.

I was sceptical at first, and as I couldn’t find much on the internet about these studs I thought perhaps this might help someone.

First job is to detach the fence panels.  This is probably the trickiest part.

The post was completely rotted off at ground level.

Slip the repair stud in amongst the rotten wood that’s left in the ground

Give it a good smack with a big lump hammer until it won’t go in any further.  I was surprised how easily it went in – the metal is actually wider than the wood, and therefore shouldn’t fit in the concrete socket; but it went home easily.

Then the post goes back in the new socket

Give it a few taps to seat it.

And re-attach the fence panels.

Job done in less than an hour.  Those panels are going to need replacing too in a couple of years, but with those sheds and greenhouses on the other side there’s no risk of the neighbour’s dog getting through, so no great urgency for that one.

If you’ve got the same problem – good luck.  And if you’re putting up a new fence; do yourself a favour and use concrete posts.

Grohe Dump Valve - Epilogue

It's been a couple of years now and that cistern has been gradually leaking more and more. Eventually I took it apart to check for any more of those bubbles in the washers. And sure enough there were no less than three new bubbles. I pricked each one and squeezed out the water, but this time it didn't help. In fact it leaked even more than before.

What to do at times like this? Turn to Google! And it didn't take long to find that the replacement part is called a GROHE 43544 DISCHARGE PISTON and is available from Showers and Bathrooms Direct for the princely sum of £3.58. That would be cheap were it not for the exorbitant postage charge, but it still cost only about £10 delivered.So I took off the old one; put on the new; perfect seal first time. £10 every 5 years - why not just use a syphon like they used to in the olden days?

Clear Blue Sky

Living in Bishop's Stortford, right next to Stansted Airport, it's rare to see a fully clear blue sky.  In fact it never happens.  There are always vapour trails from the jets streaked across the sky.

But today the airport has been closed for the third day due to the volcanic dust from Iceland, and there is not a cloud in the sky.  It's a beautiful spring day, and for a change there is no noise from the aircraft and no evidence of their existence.  Just blue sky as far as the eye can see.  I took some photos, as it's probably the only time this will happen in my lifetime.  So enjoy it while it lasts.  Scheduled to open again at 01:00 tomorrow morning, and they'll more than likely allow night flying so we'll have no more peace after we go to bed tonight.

North West - clear blue sky.

Facing North.  Clear blue sky.

This is towards the west.  There would normally be a mess of vapour trails in this part of the sky.

Facing East right across the flight-path.

This view of to the South East would normally have a plane it it at any time except very early morning or after dark.  Today, just one bird!