Author Archives: Rob Wykes

Exhausted I decide to press on to the farm gate 100 yards ahead and I’ll dismount and live with the defeat of not finishing the trip. Just as my front wheel reaches the determined give-in point, that gate, an inner voice says go on, just a bit more! So I pick the next small achievable pointContinue reading “A tyre in two oceans”

For muscle to become stronger it first needs to be weakened, or at least that is the resultant feeling from exercise. The idea is that as the torn muscle structure repairs it does so with added strength. A gym instructor says, ‘Push through the pain and become stronger,’ just as you suspect you may notContinue reading “Getting to the ‘being stronger’ part”

My cousin Mark studied well at school and made many attempts to encourage me to learn. Setting his sights on a couple of A levels he developed what he described as retrieval calls. He trained his mind to use the barest of information to draw from the files stored in his mind. An illustration ofContinue reading “Retrieval Calls”

Opposite my old office window on the corner was a beautiful old brick building, sadly torn down now. It was impressive to see the giant machine crushing the bricks and concrete, rendering it all back to dust and hard-core – then the space was cleared. It was a bit disturbing; I thought that building wouldContinue reading “The house on the corner”

Moving beyond this first six months with Covid19 and the extra time spent at home for millions of us I see a real danger. At first we tidied and many of us decluttered, improving the space we have, making it feel and look bigger, more useful space.  We had many discussions about why we storedContinue reading “Treasure in the loft”

I’ve known a number of people in my life who being very ill decided not to walk the path of invasive treatment. One man in particular said in an uncomplicated way to let the cancer take its course and help me with my pain at home. It was my privilege to hold his hand inContinue reading “Are we yet to be convinced?”

Last Friday my wife Cheryl completed her time at St Paul’s Centre, 23 years of service with much joy and a few challenges. Kind words were offered and received along with flowers and cards to read. One friend brought a beautiful copper wall plaque with the words ‘Bidden or not bidden God is present’ inscribedContinue reading “God is present”

A friend dropped in and we shared our thoughts of the future. We are of similar age and pondering what the next iteration of life will be for us. Such conversations inevitably lead to discussion on work or career and in the midst of this my friend said an interesting thing, ‘I never tell anyoneContinue reading “I have called you friends…”

It was 2019 when my wife and I paused for a short while in the square over looking El Camino De Santiago in Northern Spain. Pilgrims with pain and delight written in their last few steps on a long journey filed past us. In this special moment I wrote two thoughts. Firstly a small poem,Continue reading “Open the eyes of my heart…”

Recently my wife and I have been preparing to sell our house as part of our leap towards a new exciting unknown future. More of that another day. Part of this process is to clear out what we have not used for years, and are unlikely to use in the future. This has led toContinue reading “I’ll know when I see it”

It was the strangest feeling to be moving to a town we had not heard of until a few months before. In point of fact, we had only visited Crewe as a family once before moving into our home there. Our first visit was to place post cards in shop windows asking for help inContinue reading “God in all things”

Until the age of 28 the cause of my inability to spell or read well had been identified as either lack of intellect or laziness. Sadly the word thick was used all too commonly during the years of my early education. Nonetheless like millions of others I learned to navigate the world and all thatContinue reading “Is my individuality understood?”

There is a scene in the film Independence Day in which Jeff Goldblum has to get in to a space ship with Will Smith, who doesn’t know how to fly it! Playing the character David Levinson who is the only person on the planet with the knowledge of how to deliver a virus, Goldblum actsContinue reading “For the benefit of others”

Earlier today I had the privilege of supporting a group of talented people perform a dance in our local park. Not a protest or demonstration, no demands, even no dialogue or explanation. As they performed the dance I joined a lady I have never met holding a simple banner made from a sheet which readContinue reading “…being left alone to follow our biased views”

Recently I read a sentence which took under 5 seconds to read. I spent the best part of 8 hours reflecting on it. Slowly I am reading through Wonders of Spiritual Unfoldment by John Butler a biographical meander through the life John has lived – well worth the effort. So to the sentence – ‘ ForContinue reading “We can’t see it with the eyes of the body or think our way in!”

Appreciating an oak – tall, wide and strong looking – one has to wonder how it stands. Generally the trunk is narrow in comparison to the boughs. The tree in my mind, you will have one too, has one particular branch reaching horizontally 5 times the width of the trunk.  Roots. Roots are the answerContinue reading “Taproot”

Walking in the North American Adirondacks my wife and I paused. The day was hot and the miles walked long, our thirst needed quenching. Our eyes fell on a drinks dispenser which was sadly flashing ‘empty’. A van pulled up and the driver walked around to the passenger door and proceeded to guide the passenger,Continue reading “Gifted, but not in isolation”

In the summer of 2019 I stood outside the entrance to Auschwitz next to columns of shiny granite engraved with the faces and stories of Holocaust survivors. Every story I read that day brought in me a desire to have coffee with these people. An intimacy with their life came through the words used toContinue reading “Our quarrel is not with God”

30 odd years ago I lived in India – New Delhi to be precise. In many ways I was quite isolated and far from home. Occasionally I would get one of those blue airmail letters. Thin and flimsy yet they brought a real sense of connection, hope and much appreciated news. I remember sitting onContinue reading “A sense of connection”

“My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less” is a Christian hymn written by Edward Mote who drew his inspiration from a wonderful and well-illustrated parable of Jesus in Matthew 7:24-25.  “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.Continue reading “Spinning World”

Ephesians 3: 8 Although I am less than the least of all the Lord’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, As 10 year olds my friends and I dared each other to swim to the bottom of our local Olympic diving pool. I remember fightingContinue reading “Seek the depths”

We had an old tree in the garden offering no shade to my friend Ben and I as we sat chatting. It was leaning into the property behind us and slowly dying. So I took it down with a bow saw, dug up the root and have used a section to make a 2 meterContinue reading “The cross in my garden”

Hebrews 12:3 “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so entangles, and let us run”  Walking on a beach a man stopped and asked if we had a knife. He and his wife had found a crab entangled in fishing wire. At first glance no crab but a bundle of wireContinue reading “A tangled mess”

Luke 10:41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” The sports world was captivated in 2003 when Jonny Wilkinson, an English rugby player, scored a winning dropContinue reading “A rugby player and Jesus comes to tea”

Matthew 1:19 Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. Fearful of making the wrong decision a young manager was told by his boss the story of his son’s death years earlier when undergoing correctiveContinue reading “A surgeon’s mistake”

Nehemiah 6:3 ” I am carrying out a great project…” On a regular basis I have ideas. As they arrive in my mind they are all treated as newcomers to the human race, no one could have thought of this before! Like a child with no capacity to keep a secret I get jittery –Continue reading “What great project are we on?”

Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. Realising however much his naked eye strained at it, the moon only appeared flat and featureless. Galileo built his first telescope in 1609 helping to magnify his sight twenty times. Along with allContinue reading “Brought near”

Some time ago I attended the opening of and archive in Chicago for the works of Oswald Chambers, a Scotish preacher who died in 1917. Until then the name Chicago meant nothing more to me than Al Capone, Jazz, Windy City, Lake Michigan the list could go on. Having never been there I could beContinue reading “Not Sure What to Expect Next”

Have you ever had a sense of privilege as you watched a modern craftsman at work. I watched and listened once as skilfully the crafts person took an intricately assembled piece of kit apart and manipulated it so it would do what it was designed for. There was a time when I would never haveContinue reading “A Craftsman at Work”

Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God…”  A capable and good friend once sat with her head in his hands and said “I can’t see the wood for the trees”  This is an old saying which is believed to have originated from an English proverb in 1546. The thinking is that inContinue reading “Seeing the wood of the trees”

John 14:2 “…I am going there to prepare a place for you; I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”  One warm September afternoon thousands craned their necks up to the La Salve Bridge near the Bilbao Guggenheim museum Spain. 27 meters above competitorsContinue reading “The high diver”

In the book of Revelation John writes a forward looking message to a world yet to come. He hears Jesus tell him to: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.” What John saw was a vision of the futureContinue reading “Pilgrims Travels”

  Colossians 1:13 “For God has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves…” Holding the hand of a really good friend of mine whilst he was and did die I was challenged by how his life influenced others to judge less and trust more.Continue reading “Contentment”