Old dog learns a new trick (or Why men don't read instructions)

You would think that changing a bulb would be easy. After all I recently bought a couple of daylight bulbs, and installed one of them in seconds. The lounge is much brighter and the power consumption only a quarter of the previous incandescent bulb. So when Jo said the offside headlight had stopped working I was expecting few minutes work. How hard can it be? First find the book. OK, I lie! First open the bonnet and look at the connection, try to take it apart, and fail miserably.
There are three lights in the set, a side light, a dipped light, and a full beam light, each with its own enclosure. They are not visible, or at least not properly visible. I put the lights on to check that I was trying to disconnect the correct one - I was. The book says that disassembly is a three stage process.

• Unclip the power supply by depressing the plastic clip and separating the connection. 
• Turn the cover counter-clockwise and remove the cover.
• Remove the connection to the bulb, if it is stiff wiggle it.
• Unclip the bulb clip and remove the bulb.

(Count the steps carefully did you get three?) This process failed at the cover removal, until I realised that counter-clockwise meant clockwise the picture was from the back of the unit, I was working from the front. Once it was all removed I connected the circuit and the bulb lit. So I put it all back together properly, and the bulb failed to light.
Having no idea what the problem was, and having been working on it for an hour, I decided to go to Halfords to get a spare bulb. This served as a very good reminder of why I don't go shopping on a Saturdays. Queueing to get into the car park, and out of it is a big disincentive especially in March.
Once again I made a fatal error and looked in the book. I need a 472, but the 472s have three prongs and two filaments, the bulb I want has two prongs and one filament. I stood there pondering, and an assistant asked if she could help. I told her what I was looking for. "You need a 477." She found one and gave it to me, it was indeed what I was looking for.
Back at home I fitted it in 20 minutes and it worked. I had learnt just where to apply pressure, when and how far to turn the cover, the alignment of the prongs and a host of other things without ever seeing inside the bulb housing at all. I will probably remember 477 long after they've changed all the numbers too. I have also learn something about interpreting manuscripts, sometimes you can make sense of them sometimes you can't.

Sausage Saturday

On my only 'lie in' day I was up earlier than usual. I had to be at church for 7.45 for the 30 minute drive to Woodhatch Farm, Tawney Common. 5 men from Christ Church were going to the men's breakfast run by the Nationwide Christian Trust at Mulberry House. There are about 65 men there and no women or children.  The speaker for today is Neil Harvey. On arrival I am directed to a car parking space. The driver of the car in front is a friend from years ago, who I haven't seen in ages. We have a lot of catching up to do. There is plenty of time to talk before the morning gets started.
About 9 o'clock breakfast is served. A traditional English breakfast, and I'm really hungry now, having succeeded in my first 'breakfast only Friday'.  I have started these in Lent, but that is really just a means of getting started.  The purpose is to loose weight, but after Friday I'm sure I'll have other things to report on later. Anyway, the full English is served - Bacon, scrambled egg, sausage, tomato, backed beans, hash browns.  I'd been OK with the tea, coffee and orange juice, but the smell of bacon makes me really hungry.  I eat the lot, none of my careful removal of fat and avoidance of sausages.  It is my first sausage since my cholesterol shock 5 year ago.
There is good chat over breakfast about food, the redefinition of marriage and other assorted topics.  After that we worship (3 songs only - nothing else) and then it's the main event.
The room is quiet as Neil starts his story.  Some jokes about Wales to get us in the mood are followed by the real story.  A boy born to young parents, who split up, brought up by grand parents, never fitting in anywhere and turning to a life of crime.  It's a classic story.  This one is different though.  This one has smatterings of Sunday School and contact with Christians.  This one has the power of God.  I will not ruin the story for you, in case you get the chance to hear him.  Ultimately he becomes a pastor, the details of that are in the link above.  It shows God's redemptive power.  It shows we can all be saved.
There is little talk about the story on the way home.  The drama of it will take time to sink in.  Time was a major element of Neil's story.  Without time to spend with God there is no hope of building the relationship and trust required to follow Jesus properly.

Possibly the best Parade Service we've had ...

The visiting speaker was from Kids Alive.  It was not the person we were expecting - he is in Haiti - helping the country to recover.  The message was simple - if heaven starts on earth then so does hell.  Some people live there.  Its a place where there is not enough love, food, education, etc to go round.  What do we Christians do about it?  or more directly what do you as Christ's representative from heaven do to try to rescue people from their hell?  Kids Alive run orphanages where otherwise abandoned children are looked after - given food, education and love.  Our speaker is one of the results.  He was from Lebanon originally, and spoke very good English. He spoke at both the 8am and the 10am service.  The talk was basically the same, but very well adapted to the different congregations.  He also showed a couple of videos of two children in different locations. They showed us just what a difference can be made.  As to his name - when I get the right spelling I'll add it.

The 10am was our occasional parade service - when the uniform groups arrive we often get swamped, and things don't run smoothly.  Some of the leaders joined us for breakfast (served in the hall between the services).  This service is something we have been trying to improve.  This time it went well.  All the children knew where to go and which seat they should be in. Enough seats had been reserved.  Three additional flags and a mascot were presented this time.  Its good to see the uniform groups growing - they had seemed to be in decline.  There were also plenty of mothers at the service. As it all ran smoothly it was easier to engage with the service.  The talk at this service was very interactive, and the children took a good active role in the discussion.

It is interesting to note that one of the young men I spoke to at the Men's Curry night was also involved with the Scouts.  The Curry night was well attended, but there were fewer guests than we have had on previous occasions.  Still, it was good to talk to different people and enjoy Indian food (from the local take away).

Lee Abbey - Last Day, Easter

The final part of our trip to Lee Abbey is @ At the Cabin - Thursday.
Easter Saturday
Unusually for me, we went shopping - to a couple of garden centres. There is a credit crunch / depression / hard economic times, or whatever, so how do these two garden centres respond? They are almost empty of product, and also of people. So those (few?) of us who want to buy things have nothing to buy.
Very disappointing.
Easter Sunday
I lead the Easter Sunday service with raging stomach ache, a reaction to the drugs I am taking I think. It seemed to go very well. Afterwards I had a brief chat with the wife of the very first Reader at Christ Church, I'm hoping that she will provide me with some more information on the history of our church. After that a much longer chat with a couple of other church members during which my home group leader brought me a coffee - a great blessing.

Secular England
If you didn't already know it the persecution is coming. This story of a Christian being suspended for explaining his Christian beliefs, is an indication of the form it will take (at the start anyway).

Pete's Notes and Reviews: Why men hate going to church
Sadly I didn't get as many responses as Pastor Bob, but the responses he got are very interesting. Check out his 'top ten', and let ME know what you think. Please!

Why men hate going to Church

On Wesley Owen.

"It's Sunday morning. Where are all the men? Golfing? Playing softball? Watching the tube? Mowing the lawn? Sleeping? One place you won't find them is in church."

To read my review of this book follow the link on the title of this blog entry.

Monday, November 20, 8pm at St. Peters

I went to the Men's evening. The speaker was unwell so it was cancelled. This was to have been the last meeting of the men's group. I'm sad to have missed it, I would like to have seen how it works.

"The world is changed" ?

The parents and children were today doing their road safety instruction. They are learning to cross roads, by first crossing the slopes across the pavement. I watched as the instructors explained what to do. The small children not paying much attention. The adults probably less, but it was harder to see. They went for a practice, one of them spotted next doors car in the drive and stopped his parent from walking across the slope - something had gone in. He was learning. Then back to the far corner to be de-briefed.
Nothing unusual there you may say - and you'd probably be right, this sort of thing has gone on for years, minus the fluorescent jackets, of course. So...

So, there were two groups of 6 parent-child pairs. Roughly equal number of girls and boys in the groups. This wasn't a Mother and child event though. At 9:30 on a Tuesday morning one of the groups had a Dad! Not to be out done, the other group had two Dads. Not that I can proved that the carers (minders?) were related to the children of course. It is unusual to see men in that role, certainly at that time of day.

Perhaps the world really has changed. Perhaps there are a number of men doing child care, and it is no longer just a theoretical possibility. Perhaps the roles of men and women are now divided up more pragmatically, and less along traditional gender role lines.

I'm hoping to do a project for my training that is specifically about men reaching men, so I'm watching things carefully.