A BUSY SUNDAY - AGAIN!

Mr. HCB and I were on steward duty this morning so got to Church fairly early, ready to do all the “little jobs” that stewards do before the service.  Fortunately, Jonny, the Duty Deacon for today, had done quite a lot of the jobs, so then I was able to go and be “sound-checked” for when I would be singing later.  Of course, lots of people were still at the Church Weekend, but during the service, we had a live link with them, which was great.

The service this morning was different - with several members taking part - one chose an old song, "If You Know the Lord..." which I happened to know from Billy Graham days in the 1970s and sung then by George Beverly Shea - guess that proves I’m old!  I read one of my poems entitled ”How Do You Come into God’s Presence?” and another chose the reading from Ecclesiastes 3 “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens....”.

Mark’s sermon was fantastic - and you may remember that every good Baptist Minister/Speaker has 3 points to his sermon!  Mark may not be a Minister, but he is a Minister’s son!  His 3 points were : (1) Submit to God - (2) Resist the devil, and (3) Come Near to God - from James chapter 4 - three points for us all to ponder over the coming week. 

We stopped for coffee after the service and then went out on the Oxford road to find this derelict farm building at Home Farm, near the large Sainsbury’s supermarket.  I blipped this sometime ago before it was destroyed by the blaze on 20th June 2025, but having seen it when we came back from the Church weekend yesterday, decided to go and take some photographs today.  

I originally blipped this on 22nd September 2024 but it has obviously deteriorated further following the large fire.  I have to tell you that we took our life in our hands trying to find a suitable spot from which to take a photograph and there was so much traffic zooming by.  However, I was rather disappointed, because having taken my Canon camera, to capture a close-up shot from across the road, I found that the battery was empty!  Not sure how that happened, because I definitely charged it only recently.  The large mound at the bottom left on the top photograph is where the ivy has come away from the wall, obviously in the extreme heat.

Underneath, you will see two “eyes” which are actually on two trees opposite where branches have been cut off.  We saw them last year and I have always wanted to go back and take photographs, and today was the day.  Even though I say it myself, I think they look rather good!

Hope you all have a great week - I promise I will try and get back to commenting but it has been a busy few days.  However, I am very grateful for all your lovely comments, stars and hearts.  Mr. HCB is off to cricket from Tuesday to Friday, so perhaps I will have more time then.  M xx