About Chris

Welcome to 'Journeys of heart and mind'. I hope you'll enjoy your visit. You'll find contact details and some background information about me here. The rest of the website has a wide variety of links and articles.

My home town is St Neots in Cambridgeshire, UK. It's a typical English market town and has a population of around 30 000.

I'm retired now, but used to work for Unilever on web technologies and before that worked at LARS, a horticultural research station near Bristol. I'm married to Donna with two daughters, two sons-in-law, three granddaughters and a grandson who all live near the beautiful city of York in the north of England.

I follow Jesus and recognise him as my King. I'm in regular contact with other members of his kingdom in this little corner of England and we meet to share our lives and hearts together as often as we can. There's no organisation or structure beyond an open network, we are just one big, happy family.

My interests include life and the way things work including archaeology, astronomy, church, family, history, photography, science, technology, travel, and more...

Contact details

• Email - chris@scilla.org.uk
• Facebook - http://facebook.scilla.org.uk/
• Google+ - http://plus.scilla.org.uk/
• Twitter - http://tweet.scilla.org.uk/

Bibury, a Cotswold Village

Links

• Gospels - Daily readings with comments
• Home page - A starting point for articles and more
• JDMC - Following Jesus, a rethink
• Photos - A selection of my photos
• Quote - Sayings and writings that I really like
• Toast - Places I've been, people I've met, thoughts

The Cotswolds
I was born and brought up in Cirencester, a pretty Cotswold market town with a history back to at least Roman times. I'm one of four children; Dad helped with the family business and Mum was from Northern Ireland. School was followed by four years at Bath University.

Career
For much of my life I worked at Long Ashton Research Station (LARS, now closed). I began there as a biologist working on willow and poplar growth, then moved to work on plum and apple pollen tube growth and fruit development, next via plant hormone research to electron microscopy, then X-ray microanalysis, and eventually computing. Today, the site near Bristol is a housing development. I left LARS in 1998 to work as a web developer for Unilever. I retired in 2010.

Church
Most people think in terms of an old building with a tower, but that's not really what I mean by 'church'. For me, church is a community, people interrelating with and caring for one another. The essence of church is that it is active in society, representing Jesus in daily life. I'm heavily involved and love every minute of it.

Why 'Scilla'?
You might be wondering about the domain name 'Scilla'. This is a Latin term for a kind of bluebell. Donna and I love bluebells and our front garden is full of them, growing as a carpet in the shade of trees and bushes every spring.

When we chose a domain name for this and other websites, we thought 'Scilla' would be just perfect.

RESPONSE: The death of Osama bin Laden

We live in a violent world. Today's news that United States forces have killed Osama bin Laden in a reinforced hideout in Pakistan just emphasises that. What are we to make of it?

Violence seems to be everywhere. A civil war is under way in Libya, pirates are active off the Somali coast, in Iran retribution is quick and severe for those who dare to oppose the authorities, the battle continues in Afghanistan and Iraq is racked by shootings and bombings. Closer to home trouble is stirring again in Northern Ireland and in Bristol there have been clashes between protesters and police over (of all things) the opening of a small, local Tesco shop.

Let's face it, there's nothing new about violence, it's as old as the human race. But it certainly hasn't gone away!

The latest news about Osama bin Laden's death is astonishing and raises many questions. You can read some of the background in an article by the BBC's Mark Mardell. No doubt more detail will emerge over the coming days and weeks. There is also likely to be strong reaction from Pakistan and perhaps from Russia and China too.

The principles - But what about the principles involved? For those with no faith it just comes down to a matter of morality and personal opinion. Is it reasonable to kill someone who has done bad things? Is it acceptable to mount a raid into another country, even if the purpose seems noble? Everyone will have opinions on these matters and we will not always agree.

Many religions teach that violence is wrong or that it is justifiable only in certain circumstances.

Love and forgive - But what for those who follow Jesus? Three things, I think.

First, it's clear that we are to love the Father. We are to be like him, pouring out love on one another and even on our enemies. Yahshua told Peter that those who choose to live by the sword will die by the sword. It is surely better for us to die by love than to die by the sword. As we judge, so will we be judged. 'Be like your Father in heaven', is not a suggestion - it's a command. But be warned, loving may cause us to die. If we truly love we will certainly die to self. But we may also die physically in situations where violence might have 'saved' us. It's better to be saved by grace than to be 'saved' by violent action.

And secondly, we are to forgive as we have been forgiven. If someone murders my wife or my child I am to forgive them. That's hard, isn't it? We are not called to seek revenge or punishment. We are not even called to seek justice. We are called to forgive.

Forgiving a wrong often seems like excusing evil. In fact forgiving and loving our enemies pours fire upon them. Forgiving is harder than lashing out with the tongue or with the fist or a firearm. Grace and patience lead us to love and forgive. Anger leads us into sin.

The actions of others - And the third point is this. Not only are we to forgive our enemy, we are not to judge others who make different choices.

So what about Osama's death? It's not for me to say. All I can say is that it would have been entirely wrong for me to kill him, but others must decide for themselves. My Father gave us freedom of will, freedom to choose. He expects me to extend the same freedom to others. I may not judge, I may only love and forgive.

RESPONSE - Obedience matters!

This is in response to a brief post on the Nomad Blog. By being obedient the team were able to do exactly the right thing without even knowing there was a need. Yahshua is, frankly, awesome!

Here's an extract from the post on Nomad.

We felt God prompting us to go into a local housing estate, but we all felt a bit discouraged at how quiet things were. Two of the team felt God draw their attention to a certain house. They knocked on the door and asked the lady who answered if they could pray for her. She began crying and said that her husband had died a few weeks before. The team spent the rest of the afternoon listening to her story and praying with her.

The next day someone gave the team an undelivered bouquet of flowers to use. As we prayed a number of us felt God saying to give the flowers to the lady we’d met the day before. So two of the team went back to her house and told her that Jesus wanted to give her the bouquet. She began crying and told us that it was the day of her 40th wedding anniversary and her husband’s birthday! Again the team was able to spend the afternoon praying with her. God’s perfect timing!

There are several things to notice about this.

• The team were prompted in a general way - to go into a housing estate. We may not get the guidance all at once. If we begin to follow, more will come as and when it's needed.
• They felt discouraged as nothing much seemed to be happening. It's easy to feel discouraged, but it's important not to give up.
• Two were drawn to a particular house. There's no certainty about these things, but they went prepared to see what would happen. We all need to learn to do this.
• They knocked on the door. We have to take the initiative, we have to go for it! There's no point in wimping out; if there's a door knock on it; if someone comes smile and speak to them. People are unlikely to approach us; we must approach them.
• They asked if they could pray. Bless people, don't discuss the Bible or tell them they are on the path to death or that they need to repent. Bless them! How simple can this be? Pray, listen, care, love - those are the things we are called to do. God is love. If Jesus lives in me love will leak out everywhere I go.
• They listened and prayed with her. Nuff said.
• Someone gave them a bouquet. Expect things like this to happen. Don't take the flowers home and put them into a vase. They were given for a purpose, ask Jesus to reveal it.
• They asked Jesus what to do and he told them. How important to trust him like this. He will not let us down. He is teaching us to trust and expect.
• Two went back and delivered the flowers from Jesus. Not from us - from him. We need to invite him to live and act and speak through us. Christ in us, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27).
• More prayer, more listening, the right time. HalleluYah!

More? You want more? Good! Also read this Nomad item and then ponder a couple of questions.

Yahshua sent out the disciples in pairs and told them to share the good news, cast out demons, and heal the sick. In other words he told them to do what they had seen him do. (Luke 9:1-6)

Q1 - What does he want you to do?

Q2 - Oh, and while you're at it why not listen to some of the truly excellent stuff on the Nomad Podcast?

Eaton Ford - Living in glory

< 3rd March 2011 | Index | 3rd August 2011 >

Jim, Sean and I met this evening and spent some great time together with Yahshua. We spoke to him and he spoke to us. We considered whether we are living in peace or living in glory.

Jim told us that John Wesley, hearing that someone had just died, asked whether they had died in peace or died in glory. People often say that a person 'passed away peacefully', but it's also possible to die in glory, perhaps with a vision of angels or knowing the presence of the Lord in a very real way.

We talked about glory and how Yahshua had told his followers that he was giving them the glory that the Father had given him. What an awesome thought! I read John 17:20-26 and we were blown away by this prayer of Yahshua's immediately before his arrest. It is a prayer for us!

Later I had a prophecy. 'Don't gaze in through the window, come in through the front door. I want you to come into my house and be where I am. You are my children, I love you and you belong with me, always.'

This prompted Jim to share a picture he had of a Georgian house (in fact it was a huge and elaborate mansion). He saw angels there and was reminded that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us there. He knows the stars individually by name and knows the colour of each hair on my head. He is amazing! We can't really appreciate the size of his mansion. Jim went on to mention that if we run things man's way we will produce only man's results. Instead we need to do whatever the Holy Spirit tells us to do.

I had a picture that didn't seem to relate to anything that had gone before. I saw a large bunch of hydrogen balloons. They were brightly coloured and pulling on their strings, bobbing about in the breeze. And I realised that the balloons represented people, and when a person dies it's as though the string has broken.

People sometimes say, 'Oh dear, that bright and cheerful personality that was so full of life has gone. Now there is just the physical remains, like a piece of limp string.' Yet they fail to see that the bright, lively balloon is now floating free and rising into the sky.

Sean than drew our attention to Matthew 28 in which Jesus did the impossible and rose from the dead. Jim shared the thought that we, like Jesus before us, will also be raised to life. We have nothing to fear from death; we don't become a limp piece of string, we become a free-floating balloon.

It's good to die, not in peace, but in glory. But we first need to live, not in peace, but in glory!

< 3rd March 2011 | Index | 3rd August 2011 >

An open letter to Muammar al-Gaddafi

Dear Mr Gaddafi,

Assalamu alaikum,

You are currently the leader of the nation of Libya, but not all the people of Libya support you. Not all of them see you as a brother. Few people have really understood you.

But there is another leader who understands you well. The King of heaven, the Most High, the Creator and Ruler of the Universe understands you because he too does not have the support of all the people in his realm. He knows what it is like to stand alone, to be despised and overlooked, to be thrown down and rejected and opposed.

He has chosen to speak with you, man to man, leader to leader. He wants to hear your answer while there is still time. He says,

I will deal with your personal problems and with your political problems in full, but I can only do this if you willingly and immediately put them into my hands. Give me your loneliness, your fear, and your shame and I will take them away and destroy them. I can see what is in your heart and I will know if you withhold anything from me. You must meet the future with me or without me, the choice is yours.

You must ask Isa to help you, this is most important. Without Isa's help and guidance you will not survive - either in this world or in the next. He is the key to seal your past and unlock your future. He will tell you what to do. He will explain everything you need to know.

I think Isa will call you to draw back your armies and allow supplies and assistance to reach the suffering people in your towns and cities. All good leaders act quickly to help their people. But these are merely my thoughts and he will tell you about these things himself.

Here is one of Isa's sayings, 'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.' (Matthew 11:28)

(See also: Jesus in the prison cell)

ANNOUNCEMENT - Moggerhanger gathering, 10th April

The Moggerhanger meeting on 10th April will be a time for rejoicing in Jesus' presence, giving him all the glory, and listening to what he will tell us. Come in expectation!

We announced this meeting back in February and now, with only twelve days left, this is a final reminder.

We've booked space at Moggerhanger Park between Bedford and Sandy. We plan to meet for lunch, then we'll spend the afternoon in open praise, worship, and sharing. There will be no prepared music and no invited speaker; we'll just meet in a circle (Jesus at the centre) and wait to see what he will do amongst us. We can be sure he will surprise us and delight us just as he always does.

Here are the directions to Moggerhanger Park. The approximate schedule will be...

• 13:30 - Optionally, meet at the front of the house for a walk (if dry).
• 14:00 - Gather in the house for a simple meal.
• 14:45 - Spend time together as the Spirit leads. We will finish when we finish.

Jesus has told us he'll definitely be joining us provided at least two or three turn up.

What we need to know - If you plan to join us please mail me names and contact details (email address and phone number).  If you are replying on behalf of several people please include names for all of them, and for under 16s include ages as well. We will provide some materials to occupy children but you will be responsible for supervision (you may be able to share this by taking turns with other parents).

There will be no charge for the afternoon but we will provide a basket for contributions towards the costs.

You may find notes on previous meetings useful, particularly if you haven't experienced one of these gatherings before. The notes include announcements sent out and a report on each meeting.

• Hinchingbrooke - June 2010
• Moggerhanger - February 2010
• Moggerhanger - November 2008