This week has been so tiring. My lovely wife had a minor operation on Monday and I had a day off with the Kids (it was a training day so not too difficult) but she had a complication after and had to stay in overnight. I was worried but lots of prayer and ringing around friends sorted everything out.

The working week has been relentless. So much to do and so many things that kept pushing their way to the top of my "to do" list. At home, I have had to pick up more jobs too as my wife is still recovering and then on Wednesday it was time for a leaders' meeting. This was fractious and complex (as always it seems) and I was just shattered.

On top of it, our youngest has been having difficulty sleeping again. He has some problems with his tummy that make it difficult for him to sleep. Waking at half 11, half 2, half 4 and then 6 in the morning doesn't make for a good sleep for me.

Now, I am not claiming in any way that I am worse off than anyone else. Please don't think that I am. See, through all of this, there is a constant. When my tiredness hits hard and the grumpiness starts to come out there is always a little thing from God. A reminder of his presence, a smile from the kids, a song on the radio.

Every day He is with me and he never leaves me. He never leaves me and he never forsakes me. I can rest assured that Jesus himself knew what it was to be tired. He had his nights without sleep and he had his stresses. He knows what I need to do.

He told me as much when in Matthew chapter 11 he says

28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I have found another great worship song which I have really enjoyed listening to. It is another Zach Williams song and has an uplifting message. Hope you enjoy

I have been getting my history fixes lately. Recently I reviewed a book by Nick Page which dealt with the history of the Reformation. Another book which I am long overdue a review of is The Popes: A History by John Julius Norwich.

Now, I have to confess, I have not actually read the book yet but rather i have listened to it as an audiobook on multiple occasions. It is over 21 hours long and takes the long path from St. Peter through to Benedict XVI.

It really is a fascinating book. It goes through church history with pace and with great scholarship. It is well written and has a good deal of information. It doesn't shy from the awfulness of some of the Popes and neither does it ignore the greatness of others.

It doesn't delve too much into doctrinal issues (where it has to, such as with the filioque clause, it does so with ease and without getting too technical), rather preferring to take the narrative approach. With such a long period and with so many Popes (and antipopes) of course it necessarily needs to limit detailed examination to those Popes who stuck around long enough and who had an impact on the church. You won't find much on Urban VII (13-day reign) or Boniface VI (16 days) but you will find good and instructive passages on Gregory the Great, Urban II, Adrian VI and Boniface VIII.

It deals with the conflicts with the Holy Roman Emperors, the Crusades (nicely highlighting their barbarism and pointlessness as well as their successes) and the Byzantine Empire. The Renaissance and Reformation are dealt with extremely well and leave the reader (listener?) well informed and entertained.

There are some passages which are heavy going but I think that relates more to my own preferences as a historian. For example, I found the lengthy passage dealing with Pius IX and the creation of Italy to be tedious and overlong.

The author does an excellent job and keeps the narrative going. There are one or two diversions but they are necessary. The sections on Pope Joan and the death of Pope John-Paul I are great diversions and taught me a lot. I was very impressed.

Overall, I learned a lot from this book and I am someone who has studied a good deal of church history. My favourite fact was the name of the Papal Bull sent by Boniface VIII to King Philip the Fair of France. It was sent at a time when the Pope was incredibly angry and is called "Ausculta Fili" which means "Listen, son ..." Made me think of the Papacy as an episode of Eastenders; which I suppose, after reading this book, it has often turned out to be.

I highly recommend this book and would love to hear what others think about it.

I haven't really listened much to Hillsong worship lately. No particular reason, I guess I just forgot about them. However, here is a video of theirs that is a wonderful version fo a wonderful song

Looking for some new worship songs and I came across this one. It is a powerful piece of praise and has some deep truths.

Here is a link to the sermon I gave today. I haven't edited it yet so there's a little bit of fluff at the end but if you can ignore that please enjoy.

Isaiah 25