Alzheimers not being treated (with respect)

Major reports flying through all UK newspapers about the treatment, or lack of, to Alzheimers patients. The NHS feels the cost of drugs such as Donepezil, Rivastigmine, and Galantamine are too much to give to these necessary users for the little effect they seem to achieve.
I know first hand how they can enhance a sufferer's life and give them back a little dignity and little chance of being independant.
If the difference between taking the medication and not taking the medication means complete loss of independence and dignity then surely the medication must account for something in their lives. They may not acknowledge it and the effects may appear to be minimal however they are key drugs if they do the right job. These sufferers may be incapable of working or being thankful for the drugs yet see their smile when they achieve even the smallest things and surely the expense is worth it.
In our cost cutting culture, because these drugs do not appear to make a life change completely around and help a person return back to normal thinking after suffering from alzheimers, those with the power think these people do not need them. Absolute rubbish!
Even the smallest amount of independence they achieve lesson the burden on carers and give them a sense of belonging in life, in their homes and in their communities

Is God younger than you?

We had a guest speaker in our church (an ozzie), and he said something which seems on the outside fascinating.
When the devil caused sin to enter our world the period of aging began and now we take it as normal that we have our allotted time of three score and ten (70 years) or there abouts (on average) to live out our lives.
We know from the bible that people pre-Noah's time lived far longer, i.e. Methuselah lived 969 years.
It was not God's original intention that we grow old so quickly. This is a cause of sin in our lives.
Jesus says let the children come to him.
God wants us to have a simple faith in him. To believe him and trust in him without us complicating things and making provisos or ifs and buts, but just to trust him, like a child simply trusts its parent without question.
My child trusts me even though he has often no clue what I am doing. I say to him, come we are going out in the car, and he tags along because a) he enjoys going out in the car, b) because he enjoys being with me, whereever I go and whatever I do.
This is how God wants us to be.
Could it be that we age to become older than God? That God is an eternal child in simplicity and without complication? He sets down the rules and he never changes. There are no provisos. No ifs and buts with God. He wants us to simply love him and trust him. His rules are there to keep us close to him, like we tell a child not to wander off or stick their grubby fingers in the electrical sockets. Those rules keep them safe and God's rules are designed to keep us safe in him.
That's all he wants folks........

Age of Methuselah

Have you ever wondered what it would have been like to live to the age Methuselah did? In Genesis 5 v 27, the bible states that he lived for 969 years. Longevity in those days was the norm. Imagine if Methuselah had been born 900 years ago in Britain. The year 1107. As he grew up what would he have witnessed? What events would have been key in his memory? Born into medieval Britain, witnessing the change of Kings and wars with scotland, the collapse of the Roman empire, the rise of the protestant church and the beginnings of the methodist movement, Queen Elizabeth 1 and her wars with spain and france, the civil war - would he have been a roundhead?, the conquering of the new worlds of america and the exploration and expansion of the British Empire to boast the Empire is such that the sun never sets upon it, and then man's almost nihilistic destruction beginning at the start of the 20th Century leading through until today.
He'd be saddened by the fact that 800 years had gone by where yeah there were battles and unrest, poverty and decline, power and victory, but never had there been near total destruction as there is nowadays on a almost global scale. The skirmishes he'd witness as a young man would have affected perhaps two villages and their fields, perhaps upto 300 men each; now its two or more countries with 3 million people at stake
How he would now feel the need for the hunger of God. He would know man needs God so much now than ever before. Even the dark days of the civil war do not account for anything like the dangers we see on our streets.
Methuselah did actually live in a similar time. An unlawful and uncivil society, keen on getting their own way and doing what they wanted and wishing to live lavishly against the rules of God and morality. Society was then at breaking point.
What happened?
God intervened and through Noah decided he would save the human race, but at a cost to everyone else who were all drowned in the flood.
The bible says God will intervene again. This time not by flood but by fire. We humans didn't learn from the first lesson and the devil has made God seem totally unimportant in this world of personal freedom, gain, TV and PCs, where all of our attention on God has been directed elsewhere, so that now God is a little less than a picture on a wall, a dusty book hidden under glossy magazines, a gold effigy hung on a chain for good luck; a book from the past hidden in a darkened cupboard long forgotten behind the bright lights of a plasma screen.
Man is causing damage to the world. The boulder rolling down the hill can no longer be stopped. It's momentum gaining speed as it heads down to flatten and destroy.
Only God can now save us.
Jesus Christ is the key. Look to him and believe and you will be saved.
Man cannot be saved by Noah again. His time is gone.
Now the world is the stage for Armageddon. Beware for your time is soon up. In the twinkling of an eye, it will come to pass and you will question yourself as you see the burning flames of hell and wonder where your time is gone and wonder why in the end it was all for nothing. Meaningless.
You have your chance. Take it now before it is too late. Jesus is waiting for you with his arms open wide. Go to him before you sink below the flames.

Is loneliness dangerous?

BBC NEWS Health Loneliness link with Alzheimer's

This article is a real eye opener, by revealing that a study shows that the more lonely a person is the more likely they are to develop Alzheimers.
This is significant in our day of family breakdown and the wider divide of the ages between young and old.
It says loneliness not only increases emotional stresses but can lead to physical conditions.
When people are not stimulated, they do not use their brain as much and therefore lose the links to react to thought and memory and speech.

Great news that companies like ExtraCare promote well being and activities for the elderly so they can continue to function normally for longer and remain part of a social group and status within it.

Official - A Dog eat Dog Society

Check out the link to the Unicef Innocenti Report Card 7 on child poverty throughout Europe and non OECD countries.
It is enlightening to find or even confirm that UK is at the bottom and children in the UK find themselves in the worst situations of poverty and well being in Europe.
The BBC report and the Unicef report (as you can read for yourself in the pdf format) concentrates on children, but what will these children learn.
They learn they have to fend for themselves, the dog eat dog syndrome, and this is taken into adulthood, so the rich become richer, the poor become poorer and guys, we even have to think that history may repeat itself of there being masters and servants, or dare I say it, slaves and masters, or a society where the weak and the powerless are simply 'bumped off', a lesson of saying 'we don't need you, we can't afford you, you have no worth to our society'
I can see euthanasia increasing. What of the elderly. Who is going to care for them? The children of today are found themselves not being cared for, so why should they care for others in the future?
Why should the children love others when they receive no love themselves now?
The family unit is being constantly split and divided. Children are left to their own devices. They don't relate to others or their peers or other adults. They are in a world of mindless games and movies promoting sex and violence and drugs, where rules are there to be broken and when broken it is celebrated.
I feel for the elderly of the future (Me!) whereby advancements in modern science and health promote the lengthening of life into perhaps an era where the average age of death will be 100 and not currently 80. That means 20 years further being contributed to by society, comprising of today's children.
Somewhere society will crash. Terrible things will be done and then and only then will the government wake up. What we need are brave pioneers. The John Peel, the Mr Barnado, the William Booth of tomorrow, who will step up and challenge society, for I fear it will be bogged down in its own dirth and mire.
Where are the heroes? Are you one of them? Are you willing to step up and be counted and pave your way through a moral minefield and win the hearts of those who really need love and compassion?

Laughable!!

4cm of snow falls and England collapses under the strain!
No terrorists, no war, no fallout. Just snow.
England is a mockery and making itself a laughing stock. We lack education. We need to train our drivers to cope in the snow.
When I was a kid at school, there was in 1983 a deep snow fall in Coventry, perhaps 1 metre of snow. It was banked high along the roads and lasted for days. We went to school. Teachers drove into school. Life went on as best it could in the circumstances.
Nowadays its health & safety policy to close schools, in case kids slip on snow or get hurt by a snowball, or even worse if a teacher slips or gets hit by a snowball, (HASWA!!) so, no its best to close the schools, preventing parents from going to work, cancelling appointments, meetings (what if a mother is a top doctor about to do an operation planned for months and then the school closes and she cannot get child care etc for the time she is at work, and she was willing to battle through the elements to reach the hospital so the patient could have the long awaited operation).
It is complete nonsense.
Businesses suffer and traffic snarls to a halt because someone skidded and got stuck, but those around the poor driver dont offer to help because they are all cocooned in their own warm tin can listening to the traffic reports and wishing they could just get on, so they sit their honking their horns or calling for all of the emergency services to help a poor fellow stuck in the snow, when they could simply step out and assist.
we don't know how to carry spades and shuffles, extra clothing and flasks. We don;t want to help our neighbours.
No wonder this country is grinding slowly into its own grave!!

It's downright Criminal

So, according to Speigel Magazine, a poll from people of Europe (35,000) were asked about the state of life and criminality in their country and what has affected them from break ins and car theft to muggings and sexual crimes.
They conclude that the UK and Ireland are the worst countries for crime in Europe (which I can well understand) and that London has 50% more crime than New York or Istanbul.
I think this is down to education and society and in the UK society is more a breakdown point than anywhere else in Europe.
So hold on to your hats and car keys, until you are in Finland, as this is one of the safest.

Is our life our choice or is it God's?

Did we choose to live?
Was it our choice to be born?
When did we realise we were born? During our first memories? More likely,when someone, whether our parents or a teacher made us realise the process of our birth into life and our life for the future and how our life up until that age of realisation is documented either by stories, photos, certificates etc.
Our realisation that somehow we had started living in our world began when it became a fascination of how we could then live in it. Planning for our future through education and relationships; finding out what drives us, whether it be money, love, career, attention, fame or reputation.
If it wasn't our choice to be born, is it really our choice to live, and how we live?
Yes, and no.
Is it our choice whether to continue living or to die? Yes.
Is it our choice when we die? Yes and no.
Obviously we choose our time to die if we want to commit suicide, but then sometimes that may not work, and chances happen that people survive their attempts.
Does this mean God is in ultimate control, even if we think we may take our own life at the time we choose?
Yes.
God allows us to choose our paths in life, who we develop relationships with, where we live, what we do for work, whether we are successful or poor. So as we steer our lives, we may believe we are holding the wheel, yet God is standing behind us navigating and warning us to steer in the right direction, according to his plan and purpose for our lives.
What of those who don't believe in God? God is still in control yet allows people to get into all sorts of scrapes and trouble with the choice of accepting Satan as the one who navigates their lives for them.
Is it God's plan for people to be murdered? Or killed in vehicle and plane accidents? Yes, often God allows disasters to befall man because of man's sin.
What choices do I have to make?
Firstly, believe in God and his love for you.
Believe in Jesus Christ who died to save your sins. Jesus conquered death and rose again victorious. He took away the sting of death.
Believing in God gives God direct control of our lives and our destiny
And he will still allow you choices, yet if you are humble and allow him to control your thinking every day, then that destiny will become as God has originally purposed for you.
God chose you to be born. He chose you to live, lavishing his love upon you, and he will lift you up to sit on the right side of Him when he so fulfills the purpose of your life on earth. Our life is not destined to be the only life we know. It is but a stepping stone to eternal life with God himself in his beautiful heavenly mansion, with streets paved with gold, where we will worship the Lord, forever and beyond even then.
Will you do that?

K. S White
6/12/04

The obligatory shopping trolley

Why is it that shopping trollies are ending up in our streams and rivers?
Do they collectively attempt to commit suicide after years spent burning along supermarket aisles?
It is a sad end to see endless amounts of junk in our streams and rivers from trollies to tyres to old boots and computer monitors.
Its the trollies though which bug me because some people have to cart these miles from the supermarkets and dump them into a stream for really no good reason other than its fun and they cannot be bothered to send them back.
The supermarkets would need to advertise soon, for people who wish to shop there to first go to the local river and fish out their own trolley!

Supanova

Before a star dies it heats up and expands. Its inner particles challenge each other releasing heat and energy, angry and red, burning and vicious. Particles lose heat and are ejected by those stronger and more forceful. Eventually the star collapses as its energy is spent. It cannot withhold its members, its particles, its energy and they float off in all directions.
The once bright star is now a simmering blackened dwarf, an sixteenth of its original size, with no light emission and no energy, it sinks into nothing to become an ugly black hole sucking in light from around it and stealing light which other stars enjoy.