Holy Place

I liked this, might adopt it for ENC...

Why so popular?

Grove Road
Originally uploaded by SimonKirby.

Just checking out my popular photos and discovered this one had been viewed 479 times. Now I was baffled why on earth was it so popular then I noticed that I hadn't given it a name (a lazy habit I have) it just had the number created by the camera. Just try guessing what the number was...all I can say is that there must have been a huge amount of disappointment when they found a street in a Dorset village!

If you want to increase the hit rate on your blog a carefully placed number is likely to help!

I have now given it a name...

The Holy Lands

I've just returned from an amazing week in the Holy Lands. The Bishop of Edmonton took about 20 recently ordained clergy (4th years snuck in by a whisker) for a week's pilgrimmage visiting sites around Israel. I feel I've learnt huge amounts and am quite embarrassed about my ignorance of the geography and the political situation before I left. While I'm not now claiming to be an expert, having met a number of Palestinian Christians some in the occupied territories, I feel that I have a more balanced perspective than before I left.

We visited some beautiful places and highlights included an open air communion on the shores of the sea of Galilee, a football game in an orphanage in Bethany and a visit to a recreated 1st century Nazareth village in Nazareth. The weather was great so much so that a couple of us even had a very quick dip in the sea of Galilee.

A couple of photos here and more at the side.

Happy New Year

I hope you had a good Christmas and are all set for a fulfiling new year. What does 2007 hold? For us 2006 was an exciting year as Emmanuel Network Church was launched. It's been a bit of a rollercoaster with many more highs than lows but loads of new challenges not least what do we do next? The year finished well with carols by candlelight and a party. We then had a great family Christmas culminating in a few days in Dorset experiencing some weather extremes that made for great seas and a river down the road outside the cottage.

And now to 2007, hopefully a significant year not just because I hit 40! Enjoy.