Tony Blair has received 22 000 emails asking him to make poverty history. That’s a lot, but it is less than the number of children that will die today due to poverty.

The G7 meeting of finance ministers happens a week today. We have a unique and timely opportunity now to remind Gordon Brown that he is in a position to start to influence others. He will be even more likely to if he receives a lot of emails from us.

Today – go make a difference here and spend just a few seconds to email Gordon Brown.

I met Richard, my line manager, in London yesterday to chat about how things are going. Thankfully he thinks things are going well.

I really must learn to keep my mouth shut – I said I thought I did not have enough things to get my teeth into – coming home on the train I made a list of 14 tasks I now need to work on in response to that comment!

There must be a moral there somewhere!

Seriously, though, I am a lot happier with that as it fits in with one of my personality strengths. According to Strength Builders, which we have done as YFC, I am a strong achiever, which means I like to work hard and get lots of things done, have a high capacity for work and need little sleep!!!

Maybe I will blog more about all this stuff at a later date.

This should be read over at Simons Blog.

It’s not nice reading – but the fact that young people are forced into sex industry in our country is real and we need to encourge the government to attempt to do something about it.

This quote from Simon says it all:

The reality is that tonight, one girl, Sofia who has under the guise of being ushered into this ‘better world’ over and against the oppression she experienced in her village in Albania, went through the dehumanising ‘breaking process’ where she was repeatedly and violently raped until her spirit broke making her the commodity she needed to be for her pimps in Soho as we sit here tonight. As a child brought up in the violence of Northern Ireland, I had, at a young age, the dictum ‘Do unto others as you would have done unto yourself’ drummed into me. Can I ask, if you were in one of the breaking camps in Belgrade, Nis or Tirana, and found yourself being tortured to the point when your life lost all meaning, what would you want someone to do for you? If you were in Soho tonight and had to perform sex acts against your will under the threat of death to you or your family, what would you want someone to do for you? Human-trafficking is a global trade in rape for profit. I am culpable because, as a man, I share my masculinity with the perpetrators of these crimes and the victims are crying out for someone, anyone, to do something to help them.

I have been watching the series on BBC2 over the last few weeks Auschwitz – the Nazis and the final solution’. It has been a chilling experience to watch, but I am glad I did.

Some questions have been answered, but many more still remain. The Holocaust has always filled me with dread. I have coped with that horror and pushed it aside thinking that this was just mad and evil German’s who did this, and that nothing like it could possibly happen again.

But of course we have seen Bosnia and Rwanda to name just two.

This program has shown me that this was done by normal people just being asked to do a little more each time. It was a well planned strategy with the aim of destroying a whole race of people. The ‘final solution’ started by soldiers shooting people but this policy was changed to gas chambers as the commander of Auschwitz saw that his soldiers were cracking up under the strain of killing men, women and children. He decided it was necessary to make the job easier for them.

I found myself wondering what I would have done if I was a German soldier. If I really believed my Jewish brothers were sub-human and deserved to die. WE say ‘evil prospers when good men do nothing’ – would I have done nothing? Would I have followed orders and killed children?

First they came

First they came for the communists,

and I did not speak out

because I was not a communist.

Then they came for the socialists,

and I did not speak out

because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I did not speak out

because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I did not speak out

because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me,

and there was no one left

to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemoeller, victim of the Nazis

Some of the stories have left me in tears. As a father thinking of myself being dragged away and leaving my children or turning around and seeing my child carried off into the distance screaming for me. Both unbearable experiences, yet real and experienced by thousands.

I remember visiting the Imperial War Museum last year and I spent over an hour in the Holocaust exhibition. Towards the end of the exhibition I came across a scale model of Auschwitz which showed the process of healthy people taken off to work and the rest taken to the gas chambers straight from the train.

As I turned the corner I was met with a floor to ceiling, or so it seemed, glass case just full of shoes that people had removed, along with theirother clothes, beofre being moved on into the gas chambers. I don’t know how long I stood and stared in disbelief; and as I write, I feel the emotion and tears returning.

Today it is important to remember and pray. I heard on the news today that only 50% of those interviewed on the street new the name ‘Auschwitz’. Of the 50% who did know the name, only half of them had an accurate account of what it was all about.

If we forget it could happen again – best we remind ourselves.

I have been thinking of a facelift on this blog. I wish to be creative with some black and white pictures I have taken and put them in the banner and have been meaning to sit down and work out (trial and error style) how to do just that.

Tom has had a facelift here and I feel a little jealous of my 11 year old son!

I went to Nottingham and back on Tuesday to meet with some YFC friends to look at a new mission initiative of YFC.

I asked God to show himself to me during the day and on reflection when I got home I realised he had but that I had not really noticed – how often does that happen?

On the way to Nottingham it slowly got light as I round the M25 and up the M1. As features and landscape came into view it was evident (or should have been) that God was speaking through this wonderful creation of his.

Then there was the warm welcome from the church in Nottingham, and the smile and ‘have a safe journey’ from the nice old lady in the service station who sold me my tin of Red Bull (just in case – actually never needed it so its in the glove box for the future!). The fun of the meeting itself where we argued, learned, challenged, listened and laughed. The snow that spoke to me of God’s purity when everything around was dark was the best part of God showing himself – and I never missed that!

I have got out of the practice of reflecting at the end of the day to see where I had seen God, or missed God. I must start to do it again so that I miss him less often.

Landmark tonight was cool – don’t know why I ever got worried! It reminded me that working with young people is a real privilege, as is any form of ministry.

The event was lively as you would expect but quiet at relevant moments. Sarah ended the session with a reflective time and I was amazed at how many young people stayed in the room after the session had closed. There was no question that this group of people, a totally mixed bunch from different schools, different parts of town, different aspirations, different ways of doing things all had one desire – to know more of God and to let God have more of them.

The potential in the group was outstanding. I ws struck with a both exciting and scary thought – the power these young people hold to change their community is immense, and I guess our task is to help them realise that so they can choose to use it, or not.

I feel again that it is great to be a youth worker! I was also proud – I think the group and how they relate to each other has something to do with the structures and support Sarah has put in place.

Well … I’m off to bed now as the reality of needing to be in Nottingham by 10 tomorrow hits me with that reminder that the alarm will be sounding at 530.

I had a couple of emails today wishing me well and assuring me of your prayers – thanks guys and girls, it was really very much appreciated!

I’ve had a crap morning! I’ve not been able to get anything important done. I took the children to school this morning (sorry – that is important!)and then took my car to the garage as it looked like the gearbox was leaking. I’m off to Nottingham tomorrow so I thought I should get it looked at as it is under warranty. Thankfully the gearbox is fine but the oil is coming from a leaking rocker gasket (whatever that is!) and, of course, that is not covered by the warranty! At the moment I don’t have the money to pay for that so prayer for the car is in order, but I don’t think its vital!(the rocker not prayer!)

I then got home to see that I had just missed the I Link delivery of Sarah’s wireless card for her laptop by 2 minutes! She will now have to wait till Wednesday as we are both out tomorrow.

I’ve spent ages looking for a file on my computer only to realise that the mind map I needed was actually one of those odd ones I did on my sketch pad while in front of the TV!!!

I’ve just had lunch and heard on the news that today is officially the most depressing day of the year! How do they work these things out? It’s good to know that my down feelings after such a poor morning are nothing actually to do with me and my disorganised performance. It’s all due to the fact that today is 24th Jan! That makes me feel a lot better!

Today I am worried!

I have not been this unsure of what, or if, I can do something in such a long time.

It’s weird.

It’s scary!

I can hear you ask what am I doing that could be so unsettling?

So scary?

Tonight I join the leadership team of Landmark, which is the 14-18 group in church run by Sarah.

I am to do a ‘teachy bit’ on Jesus living in us.

I have not done ‘church’ youth work for quite a while and I must admit that it scares me loads! I am not sure if its the teaching of young people that I am worried about, whether it is being accountable to Sarah, or whether I am having an age crisis in wondering what do I have to offer these young people.

IF something said that to me I would laugh at them, and have done in the past, and said something along the lines of; age is unimportant to young people, they look for people who are interested in them, listen to them, accept them and will just be themselves with them.

I think I still believe that. No … I know that I still believe that but there is a niggling question in the back of my head which keeps saying ‘hee hee hee, what if you are wrong!’

In a few hours time I guess I shall find out – and if I live to tell the tale, and I am not eaten alive by 30 or so teenagers – maybe I will come back tomorrow and blog more!

Must admit – I have not felt like this for a while!

I was sitting in the study, feeling a bit peeved due to the bad back and not being able to get as much done as I wanted when I had a little encouragement on my mobile phone.

How could I be anything other than all smiles after receiving such a nice pic from my friends at Solent YFC on my mobile (never received one before so this was a first for me!) – thanks Martin, Ed and Carly! It’s good to have friends to make you laugh!