Pressing On

This year I am celebrating my silver wedding anniversary ... Just for something to do I have begun to sketch all the houses we have lived in during that time. So here is house number #5 A rather quaint fisherman's cottage, tucked back off the main road coming out of Paignton towards Totnes/Brixham.  This was our first family home, a small two-bedroomed cottage in easy reach of the town centre, which we rented for about eighteen months. Things of significance that happened here: There was no parking, so I arranged to park my car in the car park of a nearby office. Unfortunately this meant that the car had to be removed from said car park by 7:30am every morning except Sunday. No lie-ins, however as we had two children under 2 years these were a long distant memory anyway. For the first time, we became settled in a local Church community, Living Waters AoG Church in Preston, Paignton. This fellowship has seen a lot of changes over the years, but continues to ...

This year I am celebrating my silver wedding anniversary ... Just for something to do I have begun to sketch all the houses we have lived in during that time. So here is house number #4 At the end of our year at Drayton Hall we were faced again with the question ... what next? Should we stay and engage with the ministry of Kerygma? Should we move on to new things? What was God saying?  One thing that was on our hearts at this point was schools work and seeking ways for the Church to engage with education. On top of this an opportunity to take on a role of youth leader with our sending Church in Torbay opened up ... so we moved into this. To support us in this we moved in with Mrs Bs parents for a year at the wonderful Mirador in Preston, Paignton, Devon. Initially staying there between July'94 and Oct'95, though we have returned many times since as it was the base for us whenever we returned from periods overseas right up until 2005 when we made a more permanen...

This year I am celebrating my silver wedding anniversary ... Just for something to do I have begun to sketch all the houses we have lived in during that time. So here is house number #3 On our return to the UK we were faced with the question that faces all people in transition, what next? For us, we were encouraged by our friends to investigate further training and opted to spend a year with Kerygma ministries. We joined with a group of some 20 other people from various different cultures and backgrounds to join the ministry led by Dr Bob Gordon, based at Drayton Hall near Norwich. We spent one year here, between September 1993 and July 1994.   Significant events that took place here included: Suffered reverse culture shock, as I grappled with the transition from life in a mudhut in Africa to life in the UK in a Manor House! (Struggled with the amount of money being spent on a sign that was being placed outside ...

This year I am celebrating my silver wedding anniversary ... Just for something to do I have begun to sketch all the houses we have lived in during that time. So here is house number #2 Upon graduation Mrs B and I immediately moved to Senegal, West Africa for a short-term spell overseas. Our home was the very well appointed ' Flamingo ' at Bourofaye Christian School, Senegal in West Africa where we lived between Sept'91 to July'93.  A rather nice, mud walled house with one bedroom, one kitchen/lounge/dining room, toilet and cold shower. Held together mostly by termite spit, which was evidenced by their occasional bursting out of the wall and constructing of small homes on the inside! Whilst here we were part of the WEC Missionary Kids school team where, amongst other things, Mrs B taught and I did some building and maintenance work! Significant events that took place here included: Meeting some great kids who have grown up into...

Memories ... This year I am celebrating my silver wedding anniversary ... Just for something to do I have begun to sketch all the houses we have lived in over the past 25 years, 17 in total, plus also reflecting on what significant things happened whilst we lived in these homes and things I learnt along the way. Home number #1  In Bishopston, Bristol, just opposite the prison if you know the area. We lived here between Sept'90 to July'91 during our last year at Bristol Polytechnic and our first year of married life! Significant events that took place here? First married home Top floor flat - so carried bike up three flights of stairs each day. Small gas heater so house was freezing in the winter - first person up had to dash into the living room to put the fire on. Cheap food/clothes from Sunday market inc. 10 pairs of socks for 50p (All had holes that needed fixing however, once fixed, I was still wearing some of them over 5 years later) 10 sau...