Starvation Averted Just in Time

December 28th is a red letter day in the history of the Channel Islands. Late on the 27th, 75 years ago, the Red Cross ship the SS Vega docked in Guernsey's St Peter Port harbour. Aboard this rescue ship were parcels of unimaginable food and luxury supplies for the starving islanders. Up to this point, after 4 years of German occupation, the people of the island were in deep trouble. The Allies were 6 months into their liberation of Western Europe since D-Day, and were ensconced just 30 miles away on the French coast. The local occupying forces were cut off from all supply routes except the occasional submarine or aircraft and were in turn reduced to starvation rations. People were falling in the streets. The intense winter cold was claiming as many victims as the lack of food.

Then - wonder of wonders - into the harbour came this vessel of joy! If Guernsey punches above its weight today in terms of giving charitable funds to overseas disasters and relief work, it is, among other things, because in our culture there is a deep sense of gratitude for this international relief mission in 1944. Without these amazing food parcels which came again through the months that followed, the local population might have perished in its entirety.

How appropriate that this rescue mission should have occurred at Christmas. This is the season in which we commemorate God's great intervention in our human condition. In a land that was also then occupied by foreign troops, Jesus came as a sign that God is with us. And that first coming of Christ, and the mercy that he brought into a warring world, was almost certainly at the root of the grace gifts that the SS Vega brought with her. This is how one eye-witness put it: "It was the most marvellous revelation of the Almighty Power of the Living God, but if his dear son had never come and lived and died for us on this earth, that Red Cross ship would never have come to bring us those parcels, and in a very short time we would all have starved to death".

Today, when spiritual starvation marks our communities and blights our relationships, maybe we should celebrate the mercy of the coming of the Son of God like those Channel Islanders did in 1944.

Feeling Down in the Mouth

 A bad tooth can make the mildest of us into a grumpy old croc! At least - that's my excuse. I have had extreme pain in a lower molar for over a week now and it has tested all my fine theories about coping with life's storms! This may only be a severe squall rather than a destructive tornado or howling hurricane, but it has reminded me of how all-consuming serious pain can be. 

So - off to the dentist I went, to be told that I had an abscess under a back tooth and that I would need to suffer on, whilst taking a course of antibiotics until it would be safe enough to take it out. That happened yesterday and was not a fun experience! But I am so grateful to have a caring and experienced dentist who took so much trouble to minimise my distress. Now I'm just nursing a very sore jaw in the hope that it will all settle down by the time Christmas comes.

In all this I feel humbled and grateful that good medical care is on hand and available to us here in the West. There are many places where this is not the case. I have seen macabre scenes of amateur tooth pulling in the developing world and it is no laughing matter. Still, I am glad that yesterday is behind me and look forward to better days ahead. Roll on New Year!

Loading up your Inner Trolley

Christmas shopping can be hard going! It has been said that it's like being in a tumble drier - you go round and round in circles, get very hot, and when you get home you realise you've been taken to the cleaners!

Harrods of London once put these words into their Christmas catalogue: 'Christmas is coming, joyful and triumphant in a blaze of splendour. Harrods is brim full of comfort and joy, overflowing with grandeur. Let the glory of Christmas ring out!'*

I have a feeling that the only ringing being done in most of our High Street stores is the bell on the cash registers! (Yes, I know that dates me!) But there are wonderful gifts available for us this Christmas season. When the angels sang to announce the very first Christmas Day they proclaimed '...and on Earth, peace to those on whom his favour rests'.

Love, joy and peace are the fruit of trusting Jesus and following in his way. Why not load up your inner trolley with really good gifts this year?

* Taken from the booklet 'Christmas in Three Words' by Vaughan Roberts, The Good Book company, www.thegoodbook.co.uk

Help for Hanging in There!

They're here! Hooray! At last my own supply of my latest book has arrived. The publisher, 'Instant Apostle' (just add water? 😂) will make them available from the public date February 20th 2020. You can pre-order them for then on Amazon by clicking here or if you would like one right away, in time for Christmas, then email me at throughthestorms750@gmail.com. I can send it you with bank details or you can pay by PayPal. The books are £8.99 plus £1.75 p+p.

So many folk have been really encouraging me over this book during the two and a half years I have been writing it, and I am grateful. Thanks too for all your prayers and help over the 22 years of my battle with appalling pain and critical, life-threatening illness. My prayer is that this book will give sufferers of long-term 'storms' of all kinds, hope and encouragement too.

I wrote this book for people of all faiths and of none, although it would be impossible to tell my story without giving glory and credit to Jesus. I have been described recently as 'a walking miracle' and if that is the case, it did not come cheaply or easily. I feel immense compassion for folk in chronic pain and who face the dreadful aftermath of trauma. God has been good to me, and I hope this book will help you 'hang in there' a little longer, looking for light at the end of your tunnel too.