History in Your Hands Have you ever been in a place that you felt oozed history? Maybe you visited the Tower of London or Auschwicz or the site of the Twin Towers in New York. Maybe you have visited a very old cathedral or church or monastery and you get a sense of all the prayers that […]
A marathon rather than a sprint Last Sunday morning I was invited to preach at a harvest service in a neighbouring parish. As I made my way along the Knock dual carriageway I passed some runners who were involved in the Belfast marathon. It was great to see them as this was one of the biggest outdoor events staged […]
Searching for the Sweet Spot If you have ever played cricket or golf you will know that there is a point on the bat or the club where you can generate maximum power if you connect with the ball. The best players are those who don’t have to swing the bat or the club as […]
Life through a Lens About a month ago, I received a letter from my optician inviting me to come for an eye test. He stated that, from the records, I hadn’t been to visit for some years and it would be a good idea to have one. I duly made an appointment and went for […]
Playing without Fear I don’t know if we have many tennis fans who read this blog, but it was thrilling to see Emma Raducanu become the first ever qualifier to win a major tennis tournament after her victory at the US Open at the weekend. The 18 year old became the first British woman to win a […]
The passion to keep doing it You know you are officially middle aged when your radio station of choice is BBC Radio 2. It’s the station that is on during the school run, churning out the hits from across the years, bringing on the celebrities who are interested in selling their new book or promote […]
Showing people what’s important to you To celebrate our first wedding anniversary back in 2004, I had the opportunity to take Vicky to New York for 5 days as a surprise. I had been a few years earlier on my own and kind of fell in love with this city that never seems to sleep. The trip […]
The challenge of getting people in the room On the last day of our holidays we made a special trip to Mountmellick in Co. Laois to see my mum. Although I had been on a few occasions when the restrictions eased during lockdown, it was the first time the whole family had got to see […]
Making it Real Sometimes when I think about faith and church I wonder why it is that some people instinctively gravitate towards faith while others seem to have a problem with it. It’s surprising how, even within the same family, some can embrace their church membership and seek to put their faith into action while […]
The Power of Encouragement Our son Conor is 10 and he loves to climb. One of his favourite places in the world is his climbing club, BoulderWorld, in Belfast. The coaches are fantastic and throughout lockdown they used to meet the kids over Zoom and do workouts with them. It was a great way to […]