Pressing On

Ambition fulfilled! The summer of '14 included the fulfilment of a long held ambition of mine when I visited the quaint village of Portmeirion in North Wales. It held, and still holds, a fascination for me both as an eccentric work of architecture and as the set of the cult 60's series 'The Prisoner'.  There are a lot of reasons why, as a teenager, this series held my attention - the imagery, the fact that it was on just at the time when I had been given my first TV set so I could watch it after going to bed, the 60's feel to it. On reflection though, it also coincided with that time as a teenager when we rebel against the angst of feeling the increasing pressure to conform to the model of the world and of preparing myself (or of being prepared) to take my place in the rat race. When Number 6 cries out "I am not a number, I am a free man " or " I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own....

The question mark should help you differentiate the blog title from a song title of one of my favourite prog rock bands of the seventies - if you don't know what I am talking about then just let it pass, if you do please read on, though I hope you won't be too disappointed to discover that it has no further connection with music! As is my want I am in the habit of seeking the Lord for a word at the beginning of each new year. Of course it is not the only time in the year when the Lord speaks but I have found it a healthy discipline and have, at the end of the year, been very blessed to look back and see how apt the word has been. (But then this should not surprise in the least as we know that He knows the end from the beginning...) I share these thoughts with you for two reasons: Firstly, anything based on the word of God has to be good for edifying and building people up, and I hope that this is the case for any and all who stumble upon this blog. Secondly, I trust ...