One funeral, no weddings and a Communion

The day now past had many encounters and was full of blessings, challenges and battles today and found me return home so cold that I snuggled up to get warm and woke a couple of hours later - which is a rather rather interesting phenomenon I usually reserve for care homes in the Winter!

Today's encounters were interesting as many are taken up with what is a rather average loss of celebrities and yet to them appears to be something out of the ordinary - a portent of things to come and the indication of a year to be forgotten. Oddly I would have said Brexit, Trump, Johnson (Chump) and many other things made 2016 a year to forget - but hey ho!

Personally I'm looking at a year of blessing in the lives of those with whom we have engaged and the ways in which I have seen God work around me. Not been an easy year but it has been a year - and there are many things to reflect upon.

But the many people I have engaged with today for that I am grateful - and moderately happy with the person I was and the person I was working with and for. For the blessings, I thank God and for the increased workload: Well that's a bonus, innit? The devil makes work for idle hands - hopefully it appears that  I might never get to work for him then ;-)

The opportunity (and ability) to stand with those who mourn is so a blessing - may tomorrow as we bring the other partner of a marriage a the final service just weeks after their other half be a blessing and bring some healing and comfort. Lord use me to shine your light in that dark place.

So onto sleep and the new day beyond.

Aberfan - 50 years on

And the pain will not have subsided;

not for those who lost children;

not for those who lost family members;

not for those who lost schoolmates and contemporaries and survived that day;

not for those who feel the resonance for themselves in the loss of a child.

not for a community that was irreparably and awfully changed in that moment in time marked today fifty years on.

Today at 9:15 - please stop and spare a moment to think, and pray, over those who are gone and those who remain.

As we enter our season of remembrance just a little earlier than usual with this - make time to pray for the repose of those gone and the presence of God's healing power in those who remain.

On dying

I found myself reminded of this scribble and thought it might be useful to share it at this time considering how many people I know and care about are struggling with death in all its forms:


You can forget me slipping gently away or,
assisted down the pathway to oblivion,
dying without a bloody good fight!

I'm not going to 'pass' because
at the end of it all,
death feels more like a bit of an epic fail to me!

So, if the rest of you don't mind
I'll leave this world the way I entered it -
well almost - I might not be naked!

But believe me when I say I will leave it kicking and screaming
and when I go people will be pleased to see the back of me;
grateful that at last they can have a bit of peace and quiet
as they try to fill the scratch marks my fingernails have left.

For as much as I don't fear death it is - like Bognor Regis - not a place I've ever wanted to go!
For as much as I want to spend eternity with Jesus
a few years more would look like nothing in the light of eternity.

So put aside your dona eis requiem moment for now
I'd rather have a doughnut and a nice cuppa
And celebrate the 'now' - for the 'then' will look after itself!

© 2015 Vic VDB

We will remember them - L/Cpl James Brynin

A Sad day as another British Soldier gives his life in the service of his nation and in pursuit of peace in a foreign land.

Lance Corporal James Brynin

Intelligence Corps

KIA Helmand Tuesday 15 October 2013.

dona eis requiem

Please pray for family, friends, comrades

and for those who still have loved ones serving in Afghan and elsewhere

Armed Forces Day

As I prepare to set off for the National Memorial Arboretum I thought I'd take a second to remind you that today is Armed Forces Day!

There's a full programme of events at the NMA and I'm sure that, wherever you live, there is an event near to you too.

Please get involved and thank those who have served or continue to serve and spare a moment for those who have left this life through conflict or, having served, old age.

Honour our veterans and give thanks for the freedom we enjoy as a result of the service of others.