A Long Day

We're back home after a long day at GOSH. We arrived about 11am and left the hospital just after 10pm. One of the first things that needed to be done was a swab of the inside of R's nose and mouth - which totally freaked her out and confirmed that there was no way she was having either of the two tests without a GA. But in order to be able to co-ordinate the GA the MRA and the Echo it meant that R had to be last on the list, so that there wasn't the pressure of another patient coming along in 30 mins. Fortunately with the things we had brought with us, the toys at the hospital and some painting we managed to fill the time, without too many requests for a drink. She finally went down for the tests about 4.45 and was back in the ward shortly after 6pm. It was then just a case of waking up, eating, drinking etc. We will now have to wait for another appointment in order to discuss the results - watch this space. Thank you for your prayers.

Another visit to GOSH

Those of you who were following R's progress after her recent seizure / stroke episode will be interested to know that we are taking her to GOSH tomorrow for an MRA and Echo under GA. It is hoped that these two tests will clarify what it was that happened, and therefore what treatment is appropriate. We have continued to give R aspirin, (treatment for a stroke), disguised within a Petit Filous, although she now knows it's there, and has even helped us prepare it. On at least three occasions she has got out of bed and come to tell us that we have forgotten to give her her medicine.

Since she came out of hospital and went back to school she has been fine - back to her old self. Aspirin, of course, thins the blood, which is the whole point, but it does mean that R bruises really easily and also if she cuts herself it takes a lot longer to stop bleeding - one morning we had a bleeding lip for an hour and a half! Just what you need before school.

Please pray for us all tomorrow, and that the doctors will be able to tell us what happened...

Fire!

One of the things that we are required to do in the church is a fire risk assessment. This involves evaluating fire hazards, evaluating those at risk, seeing whether it is possible to reduce the risk of fire and try to reduce the danger that that fire is likely to cause to people.

For a fire to start you need to have (1) a source of ignition, (2) fuel and (3) oxygen. So not keeping the petrol lawn mower next to the gas oven is a good idea. (Not that we did!)

I wonder how many of us would benefit from conducting a spiritual fire risk assessment?

We know that we do things that let God down, and sometimes it seems that we keep on doing them. But do they just happen, or do they happen because a number of factors come together at the same time?

Let's suppose that (a) there is a certain person in the church who regularly annoys me; (b) I lose my temper easier when I'm tired; and (c) I find it easier to 'say' things I later regret when I use email.

If all these three things were true then it would not be wise to come home after church, having been annoyed (again) by 'that person', to stew on it all day, and then at midnight, when I'm tired, to fire off an angry email (lots of capital letters), highlighting all their failings and wondering how on earth they can think of themselves as a Christian.

Assess the risk and then take steps to minimise the damage.

A Summer of Sport

If you enjoy watching sport on TV then the last few weeks have been great. The football World Cup still has a few days left to go, we've had two weeks of Wimbledon, there has been the cricket between England and Australia. Just a few days ago the Tour de France started. And next year is the London Olympics.

Of course there are those who hate having their regular TV schedules messed around with in order to accommodate '22 grown men kicking a bag of air around!' Maybe you're one of those people. (There are other channels).

If you'd lived in the first century in the world influenced by the Roman or Greek Empires then sport of a different nature would have been a big part of city life. Chariot racing, the Gladiators, the Olympics...all played a big role in life.

And last Sunday we looked at a few verses in the New Testament where the writers pulled out some of the similarities between what is required to be successful in sport and what is required to live the Christian life.

One example is 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. Just as the top athlete goes into strict training - watching what they eat, making sure they get enough sleep, following a carefully worked out training schedule etc - as a Christian I need to realise that growth and maturity will not just happen. There need to be disciplines (such as Bible reading, prayer, coming to church, learning Bible verses) that I need to be developing. This will not come naturally, it will require sacrifice and will at times seem like hard work.

An athlete makes these sacrifices for the hope of an Olympic gold medal. But for the Christian there is a much greater prize.