Before defeating the Philistines, King David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands?” The Lord answered him, “Go, for I will surely deliver the Philistines into your hands.” After successfully defeating them at Baal Perazim, they came up again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim. Once more David inquired of the Lord, and again the Lord gave him instruction for the battle. David did as the he’d been commanded, and the Philistines were defeated all the way from Gibeon to Gezer (2 Sam 5:19-25).
Not that long ago it would have been experts, experience or formal instruction we turned to when preparing for life’s challenges, I guess today it’s more likely to be the internet or social media.
It might be that we’re undertaking a new DIY task, getting ready for a significant sporting feat, helping children with their homework, or maybe just struggling with some new technology. The list could go on, as can the sources of advice. But as soldiers facing a battle, would we head for Google to prepare?
When I joined the RAF, in fact even when I’d left over 9 years later, the internet and social media weren’t options! Yet, I’m sure that even if they had been, we still would’ve been running around in full kit, carrying SLRs (rifles) and being bellowed at by an NCO as we undertook basic battle training. There is arguably no substitute for rolling up our sleeves and getting on with things! Which, by the way, is probably why most of us blokes never bother to read instructions!
So, if we acknowledge that tendency to ignore instruction and get stuck in when a task is unfamiliar, how much more likely are we to ignore it when we’ve faced a situation many times before?
Despite my maturity (in terms of days on the planet) it’s only in recent years that I’ve properly understood that every day we go into battle. Quite often it’s the same stuff, some days it will be new stuff, other times we won’t even recognise it as stuff that we need to deal with.
Jesus broke the power of sin by his death and resurrection. He disarmed and triumphed over the enemy Satan, yet there remains guerrilla warfare all around us. Warfare designed to damage, discredit, deceive, divide and discourage us. But in whatever way these battles confront us, we have the most comprehensive instruction manual ever written, the Bible.
As ‘soldiers’ for Jesus, we can ask some questions about our ‘battle readiness’:

• What sort of shape are we in physically, emotionally and most importantly spiritually? What’s our relationship like with God?
• Do we recognise that whilst there will be the familiar battles, the battlefield itself will change? We need to train and equip ourselves for every possible scenario. Gather as much information as possible about the ‘terrain’ (context), the people involved and the origins of these battles.
• Have we got all the kit we need and do we know how to use it?
• Are our combat skills up to scratch?

In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul talks about the ‘Whole armour of God’ (Eph. 6:10-18). We get this picture of a mighty General calling the troops to assemble in front of him, laying at their feet all the equipment they will need for the battle and instructing them to take it up immediately. The General of course is Jesus. As followers of Him we have a spiritual inheritance; we have forgiveness and peace and are encouraged to walk in His way, to stand firm, to hold on to what we possess. The battles will rage: the lies, the circumstances that convince us we’re not worthy, that we don’t have peace, that God doesn’t love us, or that we don’t need to forgive. Standing firm means claiming the ground, holding on to it, conceding nothing back so that we are remain in a constant state of readiness.
Maybe it’s a bust up with a mate, an occasion when money is tight, or when someone close becomes seriously ill. Perhaps it’s following a period of prayer about something significant and circumstances turn out completely opposite to what we’d prayed for. Each of us will experience things that threaten the territory we possess, each of us will risk compromising who we are in Christ by the ways we think, talk and act.
In that story from 2 Samuel, David fought his battles the way God instructed him:

• He asked if he should fight.
• He carefully followed what God told him to do, and
• He gave God the glory

As we prepare for battle, let’s be praying for that trust and obedience that David demonstrated. Let’s be standing shoulder-to-shoulder, clothed in the whole armour, and always ready. Secure in the knowledge that God is with us and because, as a mate reminded me just the other day, for every battle fought will come blessings.

Image Credit: Christian Allard

In the course of our conversations with guys we come into contact with a lot of guys who have problems with addictions, normally alcohol or porn, but also drugs and other stuff too … including gambling. These things have an effect on a bloke of course, but not only on the individual also they have a massive knock on effect to family and friends. What you put into your life / body has an effect …
The ship had been deployed to the South Atlantic, and had come back via South America, the Panama canal and America, Boston to be precise … tough ay? As usual we took on fuel before we left to head back across the Atlantic to Plymouth. We were a couple of days out of America enjoying a reasonably calm crossing, just tidying up the final bits and pieces ready for the return to the UK and leave after a 7 month deployment. Thoughts were turning to home … when there was a loud bang and the ship stopped in the water. I was actually on the upper deck when this happened, and it had all the indications of a blown engine. Now, that was not a common occurrence but it did happen, at least we would not have to conduct an engine change in a foreign port, we had three other main engines to get us back to the UK. The normal routine was to start another then look at what had happened. The second engine flashed up .. then very quickly there was a second bang … the engineers started a third and … yup, another bang. By this time the Senior Engineer had reached the Machinery Control Room and ‘suggested’ (reasonably forcibly) not starting the fourth engine …
So, here we were in the middle of the Atlantic with three knackered engines and no desire to risk the fourth! The engineers started their investigations and quickly realised that the common denominator was fuel, and when tested it came up as contaminated. Contaminated with water, thus the engines would not run. The fuel system consisted of several tanks that could be cross connected to feed part or all of the system… as we were in cruising state, and not at action stations, most of the valves were open, thus all the system was contaminated with the exception of one tank which was able to supply a diesel generator so we could maintain electrical supplies. So began the very laborious and time consuming task of ‘cleaning’ the fuel. The engineers were able to ‘strip’ the water from the fuel and produce enough to get the engine back up and running and get us to the Azores where the contaminated fuel was pumped out and replaced with clean fuel to get us back to the UK. The engines were actually OK and suffered no lasting damage.
So what’s that all about I hear you ask? Have a think about what you are putting into your life .. into your body … does your drinking effect the family …do you have a hangover and grumble at the kids? Do you watch porn and then have expectations / desires that your wife / husband or partner does not like ?? Maybe it’s a quick flutter at the bookies or a few spins on a Fixed Odds Betting Terminal … Sometimes this stuff creeps up on us … we thought the fuel was OK until the full effect became apparent .. and we ended up adrift for about 12 hours before we began to get the situation back under control. Thankfully we just caught it al before we were in real difficulties, it could have been a very different story if the whole system had been contaminated .. we could have needed a tug … if you are concerned that what you are putting in is having an effect on those around you, or your health etc do think about getting it sorted before its too late … make sure you are only putting ‘clean fuel’ in … there are lots of passages in the bible about looking after your body, dangers of alcohol, etc etc but I’m gonna give you this one about what we look at … it’s often said that the eye is the window of the soul … what you put in does have an effect … don’t leave it too late to make changes!
 “Your eyes are windows into your body. If you open your eyes wide in wonder and belief, your body fills up with light. If you live squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, your body is a dank cellar. If you pull the blinds on your windows, what a dark life you will have!”
(for those who are interested that is from what is called the Sermon on the Mount … Matthew Chapter 6 v 22/23).
To read more about keeping you body fit and free from any addictions, check out Code VI from The Code.

Image Credit: Christian Allard

Why is it so difficult to get men involved with the church?
We don’t have to spend long in many of our churches up and down the country to realise that, in many congregations, there are a lot more women than there are men. Why is this, and is there anything that we can do about it?
Perhaps standing in rows and singing is OK at a football or rugby stadium on a Saturday afternoon, but not at 11 o’clock on a Sunday morning? Or is to do with the fact that guys may feel uncomfortable in situations where they are expected to be open or vulnerable? The reasons are no doubt many and complex- the question for the church is: how do we address this imbalance?
As Stephen McGuire, the Scotland Director for Christian Vision for Men (CVM) explained, the latest findings from a YouGov survey* in 2014 highlighted what we can all see evident in our churches. The main summary of the analysis reported the following:

• 8 million fewer men than women in Britain say they are practising Christians
• Un-partnered men, especially the working class, are least likely to attend a place of worship and attend less frequently.
• Men with no dependent children present in the household continue to say they are practising Christians but attend less often.
• Middle class single men in the minority – Double the number of middle class un-partnered women attend than un-partnered middle class men.
• ½ million – The number to bring men up to the same percentage of regular attendance (once a month) as women.

CVM have come together with the Society, Religion and Technology (SRT) Project of the Church of Scotland, to organise the first ever “Quickfire” event in Scotland. As Murdo Macdonald, Policy Officer with the SRT explained: “Our lives are often shaped by technology- especially digital technologies. In many areas- such as online gambling- men are more directly affected.”
“Science and technology bring us all great benefits- but often present us with challenges. We are very excited about the opportunity that the Quickfire event will give us to explore a number of issues relevant to our Christian faith, in a more relaxed and informal setting than you might find in church”
Stephen McGuire continued: “This is where Christian Vision for Men (CVM) come in. We have a clear vision to introduce 1 million men in the UK to the life transforming message of Jesus. Our strap line or mission statement is simply “Introducing men to Jesus and the Church to men.” We work and partner with all denominations of church in the UK, providing evangelism and discipleship training, the latest thinking and a whole suite of ever expanding resources to equip those on the front line. Our flagship event The Gathering in June 2016 attracted over 2000 men for a weekend of camping, bible teaching, music, comedy and more. Over 150 men made first time commitments to Jesus during the course of the weekend and 200 more recommitted their lives to his service.
We could fill the remaining space that this article allows with stories of men whose lives have been transformed by an encounter with Jesus, but we realise that we are still just scratching the surface of what still needs to be done. We see men in church struggling in isolation, not knowing who to turn to for advice or help when the going gets tough. Issues such as pornography, debt, online gambling and mental health are crippling men and they are embarrassed to seek help even amongst their peers within church. I know from first-hand experience that this is true and the damage that it is causing to men up and down the country.
Christian men are struggling to deal with the issues in their life, let alone have the confidence to actively proclaim their faith to their family, friends and work colleagues. We need to put the confidence and grit back into men so that they can actively and effectively evangelise and disciple the men within their spheres of influence.
This is why we are excited to be partnering with the Church of Scotland Society, Religion and Technology Project to bring Quickfire Scotland to Barclay Viewforth Church, Edinburgh on Saturday 4^th March 17.
“Quickfire Scotland” is a unique event, and a first for Scotland, that brings seven of the top speakers in their field together for a day of fast paced, mini ‘TED Talk’ style 15-minute klaxon (and NERF gun) controlled talks. Whilst dealing with some serious topics there will be plenty of fun as the speakers avoid running over time and being fired upon by NERF guns. Throw in a hog roast for lunch and we have a great day in store for all who come along.
“Thoroughly enjoyed it! Fun, fast paced, no boring talks here, short, sharp and literally to the point and food a perfect men’s event – loved it.”
Colin Campbell – previous Quickfire attendee
 
We have lined up some great speakers to speak into a whole variety of topics some of which we don’t hear too much about in church.
Ian Black – Social Media an effective tool for evangelism
Ian will bring his many years of experience of developing some of social medias most followed platforms to help us understand the potential that it has as an effective tool for evangelism.
Paul and Nicola Reed – Internet Pornography. What’s the harm?
Paul and Nicola will share from their own personal experience with the added unique perspective from a wife’s point of view of the damage that internet pornography can bring and what steps can be taken to combat this dangerous addiction.
Justyn Rees Larcombe – Internet Gambling. A few quid won’t matter!
Online gambling is a massive industry that is growing rapidly. Justyn will share his own amazing story. He had wealth, a big house, a Porsche, a Mercedes. He had a beautiful wife and three sons. He lost it all through an addiction to online gambling, blowing three quarters of a million pounds in three years. Realising he could fall no further, he turned back to Christ and, in the space of two years, found incredible restoration.
Neil MacLennan – Bridging the Digital Divide. What can the Church do?
Neil is the director of Sanctus Media which exists to serve and resource the local, national and international church in providing specialist video and internet services. He will be sharing the best advice on how the church can make better use of the digital world to actively reach people.
Steven Turnbull – Men and Their Sheds. Do we all need a cave to retreat into?
Steven is a psychologist who has a strong track record working with elite sports professionals, business leaders, companies and individuals to help them fulfil their full God-given potential. He will be sharing his latest thinking on the need for men to have that quiet place to retreat into when the going gets tough.
Richard Johnston – Battle For The Mind
Mental health is a huge area and a growing problem for men in the church. Richard is Director of Christian Mindfulness, His main passion is to help people connect with God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) through contemplative and meditative practices. This includes mindfulness which can be hugely beneficial in the areas of stress, handling emotions, low mood, anxiety and depression.
Bill Sharp – Sports Chaplaincy Evangelism
Bill is a director and chaplain of East Stirlingshire Football Club. He will talk about his role as a football Chaplain and will cover these topics: name for the nameless, answer for the doubting and a place for the excluded.
We have lined up the top speakers in their field for what is sure to be a day not to be missed. For more information and booking details head over to www.cvm.org.uk/quickfire
“I found the Quickfire event in Chesterfield to be a really engaging day. I was personally challenged by the guys speaking. More speakers presenting for a short time meant that we were challenged on different aspects of faith from a man’s perspective. I would recommend this event to other Christian men as well as those who have not yet found faith and believe all would benefit.”
Gordon Mackie – previous Quickfire attendee

New Year. Another one. 2017. Already. Any hopes? Dreams? Challenges? Resolutions? Plans?
Of course we have no idea what lies ahead, we can make plans we can prepare for stuff but no-one actually knows for sure whether any of it will actually happen ..
I am not sure how far ahead you all make plans, but one of the strong points in the Navy was planning (I know that will sound contradictory to any of you who served in the forces!). Now, I’m not talking about day to day planning really, more mid to long term planning. We always knew the ship’s outline programme for the next couple of years, and then increasing amounts of details down to the next day … and then there would be specific instructions detailing the actual exercise or visit or whatever it was. Generally the very long term plan stayed the same … ie when we would be deployed or on a certain exercise, but it was that actual day or the next that kept changing … the old saying ‘A plan is simply a basis for change’ springs to mind … we also used another saying as well … the 6 ‘P’s – Prior Planning Prevents ‘Pretty’ Poor Performance. There is nothing wrong with planning, but how tight do we hold onto our plans? How does it affect us when something changes and we have to alter or shelve our plans? How flexible are we?
I remember once we had been on an anti-submarine patrol and had been away from our base port for about 6 weeks, and every weekend the Captain had planned in a flight deck BBQ but we were either engaged on operations, or the helo was flying, weather was bad and the BBQ had been cancelled every weekend. The lads were getting a bit fed up of this change in plan every week! So on the final Saturday before we got back to our base port of Plymouth the Captain insisted that we have the BBQ whatever was going on. It was raining, it was blowing a gale and the ship was pitching and rolling. But would the Captain change his mind? No. We had the BBQ .. and it was .. er … interesting (had to lash the BBQ drums down to prevent them flying around, and the guys cooking were all in full foul weather clothing, and the lads basically ate in the hanger and just went straight back to their messes. It was a disaster). So sometimes we can stick to a plan when really we shouldn’t!
New Year is often when we start thinking about plans or resolutions, things that are going to happen or we are going to do (who has ever taken a gym membership out and not lasted beyond March???). The thing with being a Christian and what I would call ‘Gods plan’ is that it does not revolve around tomorrow … it is basically focussed on today! You can’t change what happened yesterday, and you don’t now what will happen tomorrow .. so it’s all about today .. there is a verse in the Bible that says this :

Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.
(Matthew 6 v 34 – the Message version).

I love that … I’m not saying that we shouldn’t think about stuff that we are planning, but how tight do we hold onto that plan? If we are journeying with God the second part of that quote is great … God will help you deal with the hard things that come up … the changes, the curved balls.
So, at the start of the New Year why not make a resolution to make plans, but hold them lightly … and when things happen that throws our plans out the window, allow God to help us through …
Until next time …. Cheers and blessings … and a very happy 2017!

So that’s Christmas done … it’s the time for resolutions now … so easy to make, but so hard to keep for many of us! The decision to keep going with it can be hard, but we all have hard decisions to make don’t we? Which reminds me of a decision making meeting on a warship in the Caribbean in the mid 90s ….…
The WIGS deployment as it was known (West Indies Guard Ship) had been, up till this point, a complete ‘jolly’. Swanning around the West Indies for 6 months showing the flag and visiting idyllic islands every weekend, enjoying hands to bathe (stop the ship and jump off the side for a swim), Flight Deck BBQs and getting a ridiculous sun tan … but things were changing. Drug smuggling in the region was on the increase and we were getting more and more involved with other Navies and coastguards working together to combat the smuggling as best we could. But we were making the rules up as we went really, they were using what we called ‘go fasts’ very small boats with ridiculous outboard motors on which could do over 40 knots .. which was faster than we could go … but not faster than a Lynx helicopter!
We had come across one of these ‘go fasts’ and had been tracking it for a while, but it was just keeping itself out of range of the ship, so we could not stop and board. Our ‘Rules of Engagement’ at that time were very strict, and we were not allowed to engage it to force it to stop (later on we used to carry Royal Marine snipers who could put a bullet in the engines, then we could board, but that was a while away yet…). So there were a few of us sat in the operations room with the Captain having an informal chat about ways to stop this thing without shooting at it! The helicopter had been flying over it trying to get it to stop but they weren’t having any of it! So we decided that we needed to drop something on it … that wasn’t shooting was it? The first idea was drop a beer barrel on it from the helo and that would go straight through the boat and sink it … hmm (and anyway we didn’t want to waste a full barrel) . Then someone suggested dropping a cargo net (or scrambling net) in front of it in the hope that it would go over it and would snag its propellers thus forcing it to stop …. Did we go for it? Difficult decision for the Captain … there was this boat with visible bags of drugs (probably cocaine) and we were powerless .. we did actually drop a net, but it didn’t work and that go fast got away … thankfully the rules of engagement changed, and since then the RN has been part of many major drug busts in the area …
For me prayer is a major part of decision making … (before you ask, no I did not actually ask the Captain if we could ask God to help us stop the go fast … but i’m sure I sent up a quick personal prayer for him to help us all). And that’s the key, prayer is simply talking to God, thanking him for who is, what he has done for us (you can start with food / shelter / family / friends etc etc … whatever you are thankful for !!) and then asking for his help. In Church services we use written prayers, which help many people, but prayer is a conversation with God, involving him in your life on a daily basis. We all too often just give him a list of what we want, without listening to what he is actually saying to us – conversation is two way (my wife told me to say that …. ) (joke)! God gives us replies to our prayers in so many ways, normally it’s not through hearing an actual voice, it’s through circumstance, or its just blatantly obvious but its often via other people. People often say to folk in Church ‘speak to the big man for me’ .. that’s great and its brilliant to be able to pray for other people and ask God to help etc but he actually wants you and me to talk to him direct …
So at the start of this New Year, when you are facing difficult decisions why not ask someone at the mens group or church to pray, … but don’t forget you can talk to God yourself .. give it a go…..
Image Credit: Simon Paps

I heard this story the other day and I really like it, (I hope it is what actually happened!!), it goes like this:

In 1910, William Booth the founder of the Salvation Army, was coming towards the end of his earthly life. It was Christmas Eve, and it was to be Booths last.
General Booth was set to give an address at the opening of the Salvation Armies’ annual convention. As it turned out he was not well enough to do it in person, so a suggestion was made that he could write a message to be sent via telegram and that could be read out aloud to the people gathering at the convention.
The message was written by General Booth, and given to the moderator to stand and read to the thousands of expectant delegates. The telegram was opened, and inside was just one word, one message:
Others!
Signed General Booth.

Now I don’t know about you, but I think that is amazing. The Gospel message we have is made up of this incredible DNA, ‘others’. Jesus modeled this, taught this and lived it and then put the icing on the cake by instructing us to all go and do likewise.
‘Share the good news, tell the world about me’ says Jesus, because this is the way, this is it!
This Christmas we should take time to reflect on this, because it is a massive challenge. Refugees, the sick, the hungry, the tired, the outcast, the lonely, they are all there; many on our doorsteps and in our towns. Of course they have been there all year not just suddenly appeared at Christmas. But sometimes we need to stop, look around us and actually see others, and very often Christmas is one of the best times to remind us to do that.
Why? Because perhaps we remember Jesus more than ever at this time of year, the time when Gods plan which had been laid in the foundations of time was finally revealed to the world. A baby upon whose shoulders the salvation of all mankind would rest. Jesus accomplished the greatest work of all and set in motion the greatest command of all, ‘love one another’. Love one another.
‘Others’ was General Booths final message to the world, ‘others’.
Have a fantastic Christmas, see you in 2017!
Image Credit: Aaron Burden

Christmas. Not long to go now, how are your preps going? It all seems to start earlier and earlier each year, doesn’t it?
Christmas is for many a time to spend with family, but for many folk it can be a very difficult period when that can’t happen for a whole lot of reasons. Whilst in the Navy I spent quite a few Christmasses away from home … the first one was way back and we were down in the Falkland Islands. We were at anchor and I remember it was freezing cold, and my mate had to go up the main mast on Christmas morning to fix a radar aerial. So, in the true caring spirit of Christmas, the entire mess (50 odd of us) wanted him to share in the celebrations, so we all came out onto the Flight Deck, pints in hand and raised our glasses to him working away … thankfully his response was carried away by the wind. Another memorable Christmas away we were alongside in Dubai, and most of us had taken our presents from family with us when we deployed in October. I opened mine in the morning then decided to go for a run (as you do when alongside in Dubai on Christmas day). In one box from my wife I had noticed a kit-kat … now, we hadn’t seen them on board for a while … so after my run I settled down to a nice cuppa and a kit -kat … took the wrapper off and it was made of rubber … (as Helen said, do you really think I would have sent you a chocolate bar when its so hot in the Gulf?).
But the most vivid memory of a Christmas away has to be Christmas at the end of 1994. The Bosnian crisis was at its height really, and we were deployed as part of the NATO forces, spending many hours sat 12 miles off the coast enforcing the no fly zones and looking out for small boats etc carrying arms and fighters. We spent a lot of time at Defence watches (heightened readiness) and went to action stations on several occasions. But we had 3 days standoff over Christmas. There was a simple choice, go to anchor in a safe area nearby for 72 hours or sail full speed up the Adriatic and go alongside in Trieste for 24 hours. We did the latter. The thought process being at least we can get into a bar, have a meal ashore and make the all important phone calls home (this was before mobiles and satellite phones!). So off we went.
When we arrived in Trieste it was shut. Completely. Not a bar or restaurant was open. Anywhere. And there were two public phone boxes in the dockyard. Great. So, there were huge queues for the phones, BUT everyone did manage to call home at some point during the visit. What it did do was make us all very aware that actually all we really wanted to do was be in touch with family and friends, and if that meant queuing with 280 other guys for ten minutes on the phone it was worth it! Of course we then had to make our own entertainment, had a carol service, a few beers on board etc etc. Some may have thought we would have been better off going to anchor and having more ‘down time’ … but those phone calls were a real morale boost at that time of year. (Although a pizza in a nice little bar would have been a lovely bonus).
What is important about Christmas to you? What are you looking forward to? Beer? Wine? Presents? Re runs of “It’s a wonderful life’? Or is it about those closest to you? For me, as a Christian, yes it is about family and friends (although this year most of our family will be elsewhere) (and the odd beer) but its also about the ‘traditional’ reason for Christmas … to remember the story of Jesus coming to earth for us. Now, don’t get me wrong I love the story of angels, sheep, donkeys, kings and shepherds but actually if we are not careful that can distract us from the central truth of Christmas, which is this … God sent his son to sort us out! As humankind we had moved so far away from Gods plan for us that there was only one option left … Jesus had to come and die in our place so that we could be made right with God. That process started at Christmas, and ended at Easter about 33 years later when Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead.
So this year in amongst everything else that is going on, maybe spend some time focussing on family and friends (even if it is just a 10 minute phone call or text to the family member you haven’t spoken to for years). Also why not have a think about how it all started in the first place … (Clues in the name … CHRIST mas). Have a look at what is going on in Church .. and maybe, just maybe pause and reflect on the bigger picture!
Image Credit: Annie Spratt

Ever feel like you are going round and round in circles? Re-inventing the wheel? (I know we always used to dread a new Captain joining the ship because very often we would have to go through the ‘lets try this new idea’ stage … something that we had tried and binned several times under the previous boss … but hey ho …). But it can be so frustrating when you just keep going round and round not making any progress …
We were alongside in Piraeus, the port for Athens of course, a great visit and a great run shore, with lots of ‘culture’ alongside the more traditional sailors haunts of course … (not that I would ever frequent those places) (too often). Anyway, we were alongside, so as usual at secure I went for a run … I had looked at the local tourist maps which had been dropped off in the mess, and sorted a rough route in my head. It wasn’t that hard really, as the Port is on a sort of spit of land on the outskirts of Athens itself. So, in theory, off the ship, out the dockyard, follow the main road, cut across inland, pick up the coast and follow it all the way back round to the port. What is difficult about that? I estimated it at about 6 miles … no problem, back in time for scran and ashore before the gangway closed for the Officers Cocktail party (CTP) … normal first day alongside routine for me!
So off I went. It was quite warm, but not too bad, so not taken any water, after all it was only 6 miles. After about half an hour I had not reached the coast, and beginning to think I had gone wrong. So I asked at a small café how to get back to the port via the coast road. What seemed like some fairly simple directions followed, so off I went. After about another half hour … still no coast … and …. yup, back at the same café. Ah. Not going well, this time someone else gave me directions, and off I went … honestly, 20 mins later .. same café. Much hilarity amongst the locals … while I was starting to feel A. Knackered, B. Embarrased and C. Annoyed. Try again … this time it slotted into place and I found the coast … when I eventually found the ship in the yard I had been out for well over 2 hours … and of course not used to that distance at that stage in the deployment! BUT to add to my misery the important guests were now arriving for the CTP and the gangway was closed … thankfully the 2nd in command saw me sitting alongside a container on the jetty waiting and felt sorry for me (out of character) and let me back on board …
Life can often seem like we are just going round the same thing, same daily routine, same drudgery at work, or at home, a bit like the film ‘Groundhog day’ really … even as a Christian life can seem like that. Church is the same every week, sing a few hymns, say a few prayers, listen to a boring talk that bears no relevance to anything at all and then drink lukewarm tea out of a green china mug whilst pretending you want to be there when actually you would rather be in the pub talking with your mates. But I don’t reckon life or Christianity is meant to be like that is it? In the Bible it records Jesus as saying this … ‘I came so you can have real and eternal life, more and better life than you’ve ever dreamed of’. Now that’s a pretty bold statement … but for me it’s been true … it doesn’t mean that God is going to give you loads of ‘stuff’, but that life will take on a new meaning, there will be a point to it, a new hope and purpose … you won’t spend quite so much time going round and round in circles asking for directions from the same café like some complete plonker much to the hilarity of the locals …
So if you wouldn’t call yourself a Christian and feel that you are just treading the same old path day in day out with no real purpose or motivation, never seem to be getting anywhere why not investigate the claims of Jesus for yourself? Have a chat with a Christian mate, or drop us an E mail at the CVM office. If you are a Christian and you feel that it’s just the same old thing day after day, there doesn’t seem to be any ‘joy’ in your relationship with God ie you are not experiencing ‘more and better life than you’ve ever dreamed of’ .. try spending a bit of time alone with God, praying and reading the Bible and ask him to show you where you are going wrong … why you end up back at the same café time aftertime after time … if you listen to the directions properly you will find the right route!!!
Image Credit: Bhavyesh Acharya

You may be aware that it was recently ‘International men’s day’, and this year the focus was on raising awareness of the high levels of suicide amongst men – CVM fully supported this initiative and wrote a few articles and and even conducted a radio interview or two! I was sitting in bed the other night reading the news and noticed that we now have a record number of prison suicides in the UK since records of this began in 1978.
I started to read into this stuff a bit more and got in touch with the Howard League for Penal Reform, (who conducted the research) because I wanted to know how many of these suicides were men.
Obviously we’ve got more men in prison so we are going to expect to see more men than women in this equation but it still hits hard when you look at the numbers.

In 2015 there were 89 self-inflicted deaths in Prison, 84 of those were men, and in 2016 of the 102 self-inflicted deaths in 2016, 92 were men.

One of the fundamental things my Christian faith has instilled in me is,I think, core to understanding some of this. Hope. In the prisons I have been in (visiting of course), both in the UK and in Latin America there has been an overwhelming sense of hopelessness. Now of course I am not currently working in prisons, and this is based on what I have experienced in the past, but one of the counter moves I think we have as a Christian community is hope. We speak it, live it and even when we need a large portion of it ourselves we embrace it.
It is so easy for us to talk about hope in a Christian sense without the hopeless situation where it is forged and honed. I was reminded of King David’s hope as he found himself in some deep and desperate valleys of despair.
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Psalm 23
Hope is part of the plan, it’s an anchor that bites in deep when everything else seems to be pulling away. Letters of hope, words of encouragements, visits and intentionality. Imagine a men’s group that decide to visit men in prison with the chaplaincy team, just intentional about being a source of hope, writing and not forgetting. As a church we can think outside of what we know and do at the moment, and as agents of hope, we can see lives rescued and men discover Jesus, the true meaning of hope.
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Image Credit: Kalle K

It was three days before one of my marathons … I was ‘tapering’ (ie reducing mileage and upping carb intake) .. two gentle miles … a mile from home and I pinged a muscle in my leg. No marathon. ahhhgghhh … all that training, all that prep, all those miles .. literally 3 days before. Disappointed doesn’t cover it! No more comments on this …
We all look forward to stuff, and sometimes we get disappointed when it doesn’t quite pan out as we planned, but I reckon we also have to look beyond our personal disappointments and see the bigger picture … I was serving on HMS Chatham as the Executive Warrant Officer (effectively the RSM on the ship). We were deployed to the Gulf, on a routine 6 month deployment looking out for UK shipping interests etc. We left Plymouth in Oct 2004, due back in March 2005. Our long-term programme had us at sea for Christmas, but alongside in Dubai for New Year. Not too bad (someone had to do it!). We headed through the Straits of Hormuz, looking forward to New Year … when news started to come in about the tsunami that hit the region on Boxing Day.
We were the nearest UK unit to the effected area, down at the other end of the Indian Ocean …. so we waited to be re-tasked. But no orders were forthcoming from the MoD. So we continued with our programme, heading to Dubai. The guys were ready for a bit of a stand-down, let off a bit of steam, so were all looking forward to the run ashore, and would have been very disappointed had it been cancelled. But as we began to see pictures coming in of the devastation we all began to look beyond our run ashore and thinking that we should be getting down there. We went into Dubai, but rather than have a run ashore we stored ship. Big style! Also taking on some extra stores that would be helpful in a disaster relief scenario (we regularly trained for these things). We sailed on New Years Eve, and headed out to sea and back into the Indian Ocean, and when the order to sail to Sri Lanka finally came from the MoD we were already very nearly there! (Gutsy call from the Captain, but it worked!).
On our high speed passage down we saw more and more images of the scale of the disaster. When within range our helo did a recce and the reports and films brought home to us the reality of what we were facing. Having overcome the disappointment of losing the run ashore, there was a growing sense of disappointment and frustration … actually what could we do? The scale was massive, we were one relatively small warship with limited stores and supplies. So in the best traditions of the RN in all these situations we held a Church service the night before we arrived on task off Sri Lanka! In times like these most military men will attend Church services, and the Flight Deck was full as our Chaplain Tommy led the service and prayed for us all … in his talk he said this:
‘I know many of you are wondering what we can do. There is so much that needs doing. Where do we start? I know that all of us will get stuck in, and we will do what we can, where we are, with what we have’.
And that’s exactly what we did, in a small Sri Lankan coastal community called Batticaloa. We cleaned the mud out of the hospital, and had our doctor holding a clinic for mums and kids as that was happening. We put a fence up around an orphanage, we pumped salt water out of wells and provided manpower to shift debris. We also patched up a couple of fishing boats and shifted them back into the water. Our Royal Marine detachment recovered bodies. We worked on electrical power supplies and we played football with the kids! We stayed there for two weeks until other agencies arrived and took over. 280 sailors made a difference.
An incredibly worthwhile and rewarding time, that came out of disappointment and frustration. But it was those words of the chaplains that stuck with me .. when you feel so overwhelmed looking around at the needs in the world or in our local community … all we are called to do is do ‘What we can, where we are, with what we have’ … that may end up in effecting massive global change or it may end up with you knocking on the door of your elderly neighbour to see if they are OK… but surely we should be doing something?
In the Bible we read that when Jesus was murdered, his mates (called the disciples) were confused, disappointed and scared. They had lost sight of the bigger picture that Jesus had spoken about (just as we did to start with on board – more worried about the run ashore!). But once they became aware that the story wasn’t finished, and as Christians believe, Jesus had risen from the dead, that disappointment and fear vanished and they got on with telling others about Jesus. And that continues today, the Church exists to tell this story.
Image Credit: Greg Rakozy