Author: Chris Jefferies

I live in the west of England, worked in IT, and previously in biological science.

The Marine Lake

The Marine Lake was built in the 1920s and has just been dredged and refurbished. It’s free to use, and within the lake the tide never goes out, but on every high tide some of the water is replaced to keep it clean.

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Image 135 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Click to enlarge

This is one of the jewels of Weston-super-Mare – The Marine Lake. One feature of the coastline here is that it has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world (14.5 m), second only to the Bay of Fundy in Canada, I believe. The beach is very gently shelving as well, so at low tide the sea retreats between two and a half and 3 kilometres!

The Marine Lake was built in the 1920s and has just been dredged and refurbished. It’s free to use, and within the lake the tide never goes out, but on every high tide some of the water is replaced to keep it clean. It’s also large enough for a lot of people to use it at the same time, and it includes a large, sandy beach above the waterline. It’s also right in the heart of busy part of town, with plenty of cafes and restaurants, shops, the big wheel, the pier and much more just a stroll away.

My photo was taken late in the evening after sunset in September so there are few people using the Marine Lake. But believe me, in the middle of the afternoon on a sunny day in July it would be quite crowded. There’s a very long and wide sandy beach stretching north and south of Weston pier, and many people use that for sunbathing or making sandcastles regardless of the state of the tide.

The Marine lake is a marvellous feature. Without it, Weston would not seem like Weston at all!

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Meeting old friends

We all make new friends right through our lives, don’t we? And that’s good. But our old friends, even if we hardly keep in touch, always have a special place in our hearts and minds.

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Image 134 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Donna and I are on the right in this selfie, our friends Tony and Faith are there on the left. Donna and I have been married nearly 27 years now and Tony was my best man, but he and I go back a lot further than that.

I moved to Yatton way back in 1975 with my first wife, Judy. Yatton is a large village between Bristol and Weston-super-Mare, and two of the first local people we got to know were Tony and Faith. They became great friends and we were deeply involved in exciting times of rapid and informal church growth in and around the village. Two other local friends, Paul and Jenny, were part of that too and the six of us became close. Later, things moved on and we drifted apart a bit, but we began meeting very frequently again when Judy became ill with cancer. She died at the and of 1995.

We all make new friends right through our lives, don’t we? And that’s good. But our old friends, even if we hardly keep in touch, always have a special place in our hearts and minds. Shared experiences are never forgotten and can always be re-lived in our minds. The gratitude and joy are permanent, the bond remains, those things don’t depend on seeing a person recently or regularly.

I have precious friends all over the globe. I’m really bad at keeping in touch, but I’ll name a few places – Cirencester, Florida, Germany, New Zealand, Nottingham, Stamford, St Neots, Sweden, Texas, and many other places in the UK, of course. And I have other good friends I have yet to meet! Electronic forms of conversation make that entirely possible.

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Wall art in Weston

Some of the other street art includes a giant chicken peering at shoppers around a street corner, and a turtle flying over what looks like a hilly landscape; or is it swimming over an underwater coral reef?

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Image 133 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Street art

This painted building is in Weston-super-Mare, near the sea front. There’s a lot of great street art in Weston, some of the best I’ve seen anywhere, and this is just one example of many.

I love the way the sealions’ eyes are also the centres of flowers, and how the blue background is clearly sky in the left of the picture but then becomes water with the goldfish swimming through it on the right, yet the horizon from the left continues on the right. There are so many subtle clues and miscues, it’s a delightful, yet confusing image. What kind of mind can come up with art like this? Although the picture’s on the wall, it’s also off the wall so to speak! And is that a banana I see there? Or is it a yellow eel?

Some of the other street art includes a giant chicken peering at shoppers around a street corner, and a turtle flying over what looks like a hilly landscape; or is it swimming over an underwater coral reef? These are the sorts of paintings that stop you in your tracks because of the enigmas and optical illusions they create.

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If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!

John 16:16-24 – Sadness and joy

Questions and enigmas make us think harder, and discuss the possibilities amongst ourselves, while the observing teacher gets a clear sense of whether the students are understanding the important principles.

Greek commentary on John’s gospel dated 1190-1200 (Bodleian Library)

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Bible text – Read it yourself (opens in a new tab)

Not seeing, then seeing
A fragment of John’s gospel
(Wikimedia)

What Jesus says next is a complete riddle for his followers. ‘Soon you won’t see me, but soon after that you will see me.’ They discussed this amongst themselves, over and over it seems; but they didn’t ask the Master to explain what he meant. Perhaps they were embarrassed because they couldn’t work it out. In verse 10, Jesus had mentioned he would be ‘going to the Father’ and they were puzzled about that as well. And what did ‘soon’ imply?

Jesus understood perfectly what was going on in their minds and that they’d like to ask him about it, but were not going to. And this is typical of him in his dealings with all his followers, not just then, but now as well. He asks questions and he makes enigmatic remarks. The reactions of his followers inform him more than a straightforward conversation would and, more to the point, they help his followers learn.

How we learn

Any teacher knows how to use this method whether the subject is art, maths, science, history – whatever. Questions and enigmas make us think harder, and discuss the possibilities amongst ourselves, while the observing teacher gets a clear sense of whether the students are understanding the important principles. It’s likely this was a method used by any Jewish rabbi. Ask a tricky question, then let the learners wrestle with it and observe their level of understanding.

So remember, when Jesus gives you a question or a problem to resolve, it’s most likely just a way of helping you go deeper or further. And if necessary, don’t be afraid to ask him! He knows your difficulties but he wants you to make the effort and, if necessary, he will help you out. Even if he needs to explain, the fact that you wrestled with it first will help his explanation stick.

So what did he mean?

First he lets them know that he understands their struggles and need to ask, and then he adds a little more information – that they will cry in deep sadness while the world rejoices. And here comes another standard teaching idea, use an illustration, something quite different, something familiar, but something with important similarities. Jesus tells them it will be like a woman giving birth – lots of pain and anguish but with relief and great joy when accomplished.

And now they understand the principle, he adds more detail for them. Their time of grief is now, but he’ll see them again and they’ll rejoice. Nobody will be able to steal that joy from them and they won’t need to ask him any more questions. In fact, they’ll be able to ask his Father (in Jesus’ name) for anything. So far they have not done this – ask, receive, and rejoice!

And what about us?

Can we expect the same? Should we, too, expect to ask in Jesus’ name, receive, and rejoice? Yes! Indeed we should! Does Jesus say to us, ‘So far you have not done this’? Perhaps he does for some of his people and for some of the time. Often we think in terms of faith – ‘Do I have too little faith?’. Frankly, it’s a bad question.

Faith is important, of course. Faith is one of the three things that Paul tells us will remain. The other two are hope and love. And Paul is very, very clear about it, the greatest of the three is not faith, but love! (1 Corinthians 13:1-2) Do you love Jesus? Does he love you? Do you have the Father’s love?

Let me remind you, that yes you do! And this love is greater than faith. Faith is required, but it’s not the measure of the answer. Father’s love is always the measure of the answer.

When you ask for something in Jesus’ name, you may or may not see the answer you expect. Anyone moved a mountain recently? Faith expects that you will trust the answer to Father’s wisdom and love. We don’t always see what we expect. We don’t always immediately receive what we ask. We need to be wise, recognise his love, remain patient and not give up.

And another thing to remember, sometimes we ask in hope, not faith. That’s OK too. There’s nothing wrong with the prayer of hope; there’s no shame in it. Sometimes there is a gift of faith, received in the moment, and we feel certain that what we ask will be done. If so, go ahead and use it! If not, pray anyway, Father listens, he does not turn away. He loves you! We all know what that’s like, we have all been children and some of us have been parents.

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Knightstone Causeway

The largest boat you can see is the Steep Holm Ferry. It makes return trips out to Steep Holm island with a stay of ten to twelve hours, and basically it’s the only way to get there unless you have your own seaworthy vessel.

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Image 132 – What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye. I’m posting an image every day or so.

Click to enlarge

The beach in the photo is at Weston-super-Mare. Beyond it is Knightstone Harbour with boats high and dry because the tide is partly out. And beyond the harbour and the causeway you can see the buildings including Dr Fox’s Tearoom, Knightstone baths, Stones Cafe, and Knightstone Opera House. When we’re in Weston, Donna and I sometimes enjoy breakfast at Stones.

Originally it must have been a sandbank jutting out towards the Severn Estuary, perhaps with a backbone of exposed rock. Today it’s been built up and would barely be recognisable to the local people of two hundred years ago.

The largest boat you can see is the Steep Holm Ferry. It makes return trips out to Steep Holm island with a stay of ten to twelve hours, and basically it’s the only way to get there unless you have your own seaworthy vessel. The water here can’t make up its mind whether it’s the River Severn estuary or the North Somerset coast. It’s sixteen or so kilometres wide, in terms of weather and water conditions it can be treacherous.

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If you enjoyed this or found it useful, please like, comment, and share below. (If you don’t see those links, click the article’s title above the main photo and they will appear.) Send a link to friends who might enjoy the article or benefit from it – Thanks! My material is free to reuse (see conditions), but a coffee is always welcome and encourages me to write more often!