Monthly Archives: April 2020


20
Apr 2020
Monday 20th April Daily Message

Dear Reader I always chuckle at the little ditty, ‘shake the bed, make the bed and into bed we go’. It reminds me of the three friends from the book of Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego. (Try saying these names quickly). King Nebuchadnezzar threatened the three friends with their lives and told them that unless they bowed down and worshipped the golden statue at certain daily intervals, they would be thrown into the, hotter than usual, fiery furnace. Faced with this threat to their lives, and after much consideration, Sharach, Meshach and......

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19
Apr 2020
Sunday 18th April Daily Message

Dear Reader All this ‘play’ and ‘no work’ is making Jim a dull boy. Well, working from home has its limitations and I think we’d all like to get back to our normality as soon as its safe to do so. I am enjoying writing my daily ‘column’ and as I do so I can imagine you all at home reading my ‘thoughts’. It has been very interesting to hear from some of you from your own particular situations and hearing how you are coping with the necessary restrictions. I enjoy your......

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18
Apr 2020
Thought for the day - Saturday 18 April

Dear Reader There are many annoying things in life, and we are all well acquainted with them, particularly when they’re within our own households. One of these things is called housework. Not the housework itself really, but the need to get it done while others don’t share the same enthusiasm for doing it. ‘Shift, lift you feet, have you not got something better to do.? Do you think you could put that back where it belongs……. ‘. There are other mutterings to be heard. You know the scene. I know of a......

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17
Apr 2020
Friday 17th April Message

Dear Reader Thank you for your continuing messages and phone calls etc. It is good to hear from you. It’s just coming up for 6.00am and I have you and your loved ones in mind as I write my ‘thought for the day’. I am enjoying the challenge of choosing and sharing with you a different bible passage each day and it is heartening that we can all learn something together. Later this morning I will be taking a funeral and be with a family I have never met. All the arrangements......

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16
Apr 2020
ITV's NHS Day

ITV is dedicating Thursday 16 April to NHS staff fighting coronavirus, celebrating the unsung heroes in our health service across the channel’s programmes. See more hereĀ ...

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16
Apr 2020
Thursday 16th April Message

Dear Reader I don’t where it originated but clapping has become, and is, a universal means of showing our appreciation and enjoyment following a performance of one kind or another. It’s a very happy sound. This evening we will again clap in appreciation for all who work hard in caring for others in the NHS. We applaud too other workers in other occupations who serve our communities throughout our entire country. Perhaps, and I hope so, one deserved outcome from all the disruption and tragedy from the Coronavirus pandemic will be an......

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15
Apr 2020
Wednesday 15th April Daily Message

Dear Reader Most of us at some time or other will have said or thought, ‘I don’t like the look of him/her’, or on some other occasion said the opposite, ‘I like him/her, they are so nice, I think I can trust them….’, and how wrong we have been, sometimes anyway. You and I know from raw experience that our so called ‘better judgements’ are flawed or skewed by all manner of things. For example, we have been known to ask an opinion from those who will say what we want to......

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14
Apr 2020
Tuesday 14th April Daily Message

Dear Reader, This current crisis has made us all think on the importance of keeping in touch. Prolonged isolation is no fun. I have been heartened in my isolation, in receiving your messages. I look forward to the little exchanges in my daily routine and your comments are truly valued. Many thanks! Over twenty years ago now I remember my drama group in St. Paul’s, Johnstone, where I was minister for ten years, performing the most excellent musical ‘Fiddler on the Roof’. The one and only time I have seen the musical.......

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13
Apr 2020
Easter Monday 13th April Message

Dear Reader It was a case of mistaken identity that first Easter morning. Mary Magdalene thought Jesus was the gardener. After a short discourse, the ‘penny dropped’. It wasn’t the gardener at all but the risen Jesus. It was in the mention of her name, ‘Mary’, that she became aware of who Jesus was. That familiar sound. It is a fact that when we feel alone and out of sorts, perhaps in strange and unfamiliar surroundings, first day at high school in a new class, starting a new job or alone in......

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12
Apr 2020
Easter Sunday Message 12th April

Dear Reader As we continue with the necessary restrictions which have, and still, continue to affect just about every aspect of our lives we ‘join’ in celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. For me, today feels just like every other day in these unfamiliar times. It doesn’t feel like Sunday, it doesn’t feel like Easter it doesn’t feel like any day. That said, it is Sunday and it is Easter. When you consider many of the great events in the bible, for example, Jesus’ birth, his death and resurrection, before there is any......

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