Once upon a time you could tell when the tourist season started by the queue of Wallace Arnold busses that blocked Nassau Street! Nowadays its different tourist’s fly and motor in at a great rate. Thanks to the allure of our advertisers many come bound for the “Wild Atlantic Way”.

Ireland has been slow to get off the ground with walkways and is only trotting behind the European walking trails with Switzerland’s ‘Wanderwegs’ being some of the best established.

However none of them can boast of a walk covering 2,000kms of coastline! Some have no coastline at all. Part of the Wild Atlantic Way – called the Great Western Greenway – runs from Galway to Westport from whence it takes the line of the old railway track to Achill Island. On it weary hikers can hire bicycles and even trailers for those too young to pedal. Fortunately the sleepers have been removed from the line and the absence of gradient makes it easy cycling.

Of course for those who disdain the idea of bikes they can hike off to the Camino De Santiago and step it out on the path of St James in North West Spain. There they meet a sort of metropolis of walkers converging on Santiago from a number of well defined routes across Europe. It is a moot point whether or not St James was ever there but recent films and feature articles have provided the walk with the oxygen of publicity to establish it on the map. The local tourist board must be wondering what happened as their numbers have grown from 25,000 to 250,000 over the last 20 years.

Nearer home, in West Cork, David Ross along with members of his extended family developed some walking trails around Drimoleague.

The longest of these starts there at the ‘Top of the Rock’ and makes its way to Gougane Barra. The walk follows the route taken by St Finbarr in the 6^th century. There is a contemplative aspect build into this walk where walkers stop along the route at places frequented by the Saint and reflect on his message of saving grace.

One can only imagine the impact Finbarr would have had as he spoke of a God who made all things and, in a world gone astray, sent his son to redeem the lost. Did they respond to the Saviour’s invitation (St Matthew Chapter 11 verse 28). Did they hang back or did they grasp by faith the call to walk in the Jesus’s footsteps? Will you?

Hullo, this is supposed to be a blog not a session on the psychiatrist couch! But the papers are full of this stuff. The gender-benders are out in force.

“Your identity”, they say, “is a social construct”! By which they mean you can choose to be male or female.

It’s not as if we hadn’t enough problems already. Growing up is a life-long process! It’s just that we are in the middle of a campaign to change the Constitution to permit same-sex ‘marriage’ and the media is feeding us with mind bending material to condition us for a Yes vote.

Long ago our identity was wrapped up in family. The question was who do you ‘belonged’ to and who are you related to? The answers gave you your roots. This provision of ancestry anchored you in an ever changing world. You knew who you were and you knew where you came from.

Later on secondary things were added. One was your job another, if you were good at exams, was your career. These became part of you. “What’s your name, what do you do?” These starter questions help others to identify you.

Changing social conditions, Celtic Tiger (long since dead) may bring materialism and you become known by what you possess. These sadly often end up by possessing you and clothing, food and drink take on an ever increasing role in who you have become.

Conversion to Christ disrupts the natural order by introducing a primary allegiance which overarches all others. St Paul argues that in “a dead man’s cross and a live man’s empty tomb” which the world sees as utter foolishness, is a gospel of the wisest of wisdom (1Corinthians Chapter 1 verses 18/25). It is the only lens through which you can see life accurately.

It is a wisdom which can satisfactorily answer the fundamental questions of life, enabling us to see our identity in terms of eternity and belonging to a new family with Christ as its head (Ephesians Chapter 5 verse 23).

At the centre of this message of wisdom is not a set of ideas but the person of Jesus Christ who offers not only answers but every grace you need to be what you were created to be and to do what you have been called to do.

This week the milk quotas were finally lifted. To mark the event the Dairy Board coined a new name – Ornua – new gold. At least that’s what the dairymen hope!

Taking a leaf out of the successful marketing of our butter as Kerry Gold and giving it a bit of mystique by dipping into the Irish language the marketing men have done their best. Pity the product is white but when shoppers in a supermarket in Singapore are looking for powdered milk, the hope is that Ornua will trip off the tongue like they came from Killarney!!

There is also the small problem of competition from our friends in New Zealand who have been milking it over the last 20 years while we were stuck in our quotas. Their production is around four times ours so the dairy cows have some catching up to do.

Its launch in Ireland on the 1^st of April had news-readers interviewing suited men from the Ministry of Agriculture while standing in the feed passage of a cow shed. Their audience of Friesian cows, chewing their cud, provided a background of disinterested spectators. It was one of those interviews that I suspect the news-reader would like to forget!

Modern milking parlours are high tech affairs. Gone are the days of the three legged stool with the milkmaid’s hands coaxing the milk into the bucket. Her replacement has to be computer savvy to control the programs that allocate the quantities of food each cow gets and, crucially, record its performance in terms of litres of output. Factory farming is now a reality.

The Bible has a healthy association with milk. Such was the fertility of the Promised Land which God’s people inhabited in Joshua’s day that it was described as a land flowing with milk and honey (Joshua Chapter 5 verse 6).

In the settled church situation at the time of St Peter’s writing his first letter he compares believers to newborn babies whose desire for milk is like newborn believers desire for God’s word (chapter 2 verse 2). Both are nourished. The baby is satisfied with milk the believer is satisfied with the milk of the Word.

He concludes the chapter by referring to the unique substitutionary sinbearing death of Jesus where by his wounds we have been healed from the scars of sin (verse 24).

We have gone from new gold of Ornua to the new life in Christ. May it be the milk of the Word that feeds you this Easter.

This has been a bad week for anyone nervous of flying. The downing of the Airbus A320 in a remote valley of the French Alps by a deranged co-pilot points to the impossibility of having absolute safety in the air. The likelihood is that there will always be something that no one imagined could possibly happen – until it happens!

The horror of Andreas Lubitz the co-pilot locking the security door preventing his Captain returning to the flight deck, after a visit to the loo, was reproduced by the retrieval of the ‘Black Box’ recorder. This was the recorder which captured speech and sounds and proved invaluable in unravelling the mystery of this crash. There is a second recorder which obtains technical data of how the plane was performing which, at the time of writing, has not been found.

So we have the bizarre scene of the Captain wielding an axe to try to smash a way through the security door as the plane journeyed on its 8 minute descent. He had tried to gain access by entering the normal code into the door’s lock which his number 2 prevented from working. Then he tried the special code which, with the co-operation of the person inside the flight deck gave him a 5 seconds emergency release of the lock, but there was no co-operation forthcoming from Andreas.

The irony is that these doors, which were intended to prevent persons of evil intent getting in, now became the stumbling block to security when the evil person was already inside.

The armoured doors facilitated Andreas in his kamikaze mindset to destroy Flight 4U9525. Could it have been that the realisation that he was in sole control of the destiny of 150 people that played into his disturbed mind? We may never know.

Msgr. Jean-Philippe Nault the local bishop was asked, when he visited the site, how could he explain 150 lives snuffed out in an instant? He replied,

“One mustn’t seek explanation. There are no appropriate words.”

It’s easy to identify with the bishop’s sense of helplessness – especially if we listen to the world telling us that we are simply a random collection of particles that has evolved by chance. If that were true these sorts of random acts should be happening all the time. The Bible tells us that Jesus holds it all together (Hebrews Chapter 1 verse 3).

But we are part of God’s creation where not even a sparrow falls to the ground without his knowledge (St Matthew Chapter 10 verse 29). How much more when 159 people die by the reckless action of one man.

Could God have stopped it – certainly. So why didn’t he? Why didn’t he stop it at the cross?

Again the Bible speaks to us in language we can understand. It points to one man, Adam, through whom sin came into the world and how this brought death with it. It tells us of God’s free gift of grace which came by that one man – Jesus Christ. All are in Adam by physical birth while those who have been born again are in Christ (Romans Chapter 5 verses 12-21).

It may just be that life on earth is not top of God’s agenda for us. Eternity beckons!

Not any old icing but one that is highly provocative for those who hold the contrary view. The caption to be written on the icing was “Support Gay Marriage”. Gareth Lee a Gay activist from the local organisation called ‘queer space’, who ordered the cake, cannot be accused of being subtle!

The bakery was founded in 1992 by the McArthur family who chose the name ‘Ashers’ after one of the 12 tribes of Israel. When the Patriarch Jacob was blessing his sons prior to his death his blessing for Asher was ‘Asher’s food shall be rich bread and royal delicacies’ (Genesis Chapter 49 verse 20). What an excellent name for a Christian bakery!

In refusing to produce a cake with a caption affirming a lifestyle which they disagreed with the bakers were simply exercising their rights. Previously they had declined to produce cakes with lewd images or foul language written on them so in refusing the Gay Cake they were being consistent with their normal practice. However the Equality Commission appear to believe that they were discriminating against Gareth Lee. The bakery has said repeatedly that they have no problem with this man but their problem lies with the message he was asking them to promote.

The case comes before the Court on Thursday, March 26^th, when we will see if the meaning of such words as ‘equality’, ‘discrimination, tolerance and ‘conscience’ have changed. Much hangs on the outcome of this case. If it goes against the bakery the award of punitive damages could put the firm out of business. It would also send a strong message to all Christian businesses that the outworking of their faith may result in conflict with the law and result in penalties or imprisonment.

There are echoes of St Peter who by exercising his right to free speech fell foul of the Sanhedrin and was ordered never to preach in the name of Jesus again (Acts Chapter 4 verse 17). Those early disciples would not have been taken by surprise at this as they would have remembered Christ’s warning “If they persecute me, they will also persecute you” (St John Chapter 15 verse 20). Their reaction was clear and instant, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Act Chapter 4 verses 19/20).

A conscience tutored by God’s word in a person who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit will never support non-Christian practices. The Equality Commission needs to interpret the law giving equal rights to those who follow God’s word. Thursday will be an interesting day.

I know the expression is a bit dated, usually referring to a flawed idea, but in this case I mean it to be taken literally! There was a lull in the wintry weather this week so the bird-boxes went up onto the Scotch Pines in front of the house.

Both boxes had been cleaned out from last year’s hatch and are ready for (hopefully) this year’s tenants. What is different this year is the installation of a camera into one of the boxes. “Is nothing sacred any more” you cry! “Isn’t it enough that you spy on the poor blue tits with high powered binoculars?” This is surely taking your love for heterosexual unions a bit too far!

Interest has been shown in the accommodation but, alas, it has been in the other bird-box! The CCTV is ready. The camera is tiny. The wiring is discreet. The led lighting is invisible being ultra-violet. Only a “To Let” sign is missing! Perhaps I need an Estate Agent!

The picture of the empty box shows up well on the TV. I expect if and when the tenants arrive they will have no difficulty in competing with the other telly programmes for an audience!

OK, Ok I know I have way too much time on my hands but the TV is so dreadful action is required! And I have Biblical precedent – Jesus taught us to, “Look at the birds of the air they do not sow or reap or store away in barns yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable that they?” (St Matthew Chapter 6 verse 26)

We are not more valuable because we are better than birds but because God has made us in His image and given us dominion over all creatures (Genesis Chapter 1 verse 27/8).

But God has shown special love for one creature – humankind. It was not because we were more worthy, quite the reverse, but out of sheer grace He gave His only Son to die for our sins (St John Chapter 3 verse 16) that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

This is not “for the birds” but a stark reality while these days of grace last.

Take Jesus at his word and follow him all the days of your life on earth.

This week we saw another implication of the widespread ‘gay’ movement. We had noted the incredible fuss created when Asher’s Bakers refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex marriage on the basis of their Christian profession. But that was not us. That was in the North of Ireland. They, to a certain extent, being bound to UK law, were further down the track in the legislative race to the bottom.

It all came neared home when, this week, the Christian firm Beulah Print of Drogheda refused to print wedding stationary for a same-sex marriage. The event is planned for August by which time the Referendum on ‘Marriage Equality’ will have taken place and the couple will be counting on a Yes vote to give their big day the tag of Marriage instead of Civil Partnership.

All the government parties subscribe to the falsifying of the name of the Referendum. The inclusion of the word ‘Equality’ in the name for something which is most definitely not equal is quite counterfeit. Other jurisdictions called it Gay Marriage in contrast to Marriage but our leaders are more duplicitous.

Throughout Scripture marriage has been attacked, highjacked and polluted but remains the God intended foundation of his new society – the church.

It is a creation ordinance; ‘male and female he created them’ – equal status but different roles – and ‘be fruitful and multiply’ Genesis Chapters 1 verses 27/28.

Among the consequences of our rebellion recorded in Genesis Chapter 3 is the breakdown of the original marital harmony.

This led to the provision of divorce where adultery had broken the marriage bond.

Israel’s laws were constructed to preserve the purity of the race/religion. They were not to take foreign wives and when they did they found their wives introduced foreign gods and idolatry ensued (1Kings Chapter 11 verse 2).

The Christian Church, the new Israel, continues to take a high view of marriage and seeks to protect it 1Corinthians Chapter 7.

Christ’s relationship to the Church is that of a Bridegroom to his Bride – holy and without blemish. (Ephesians Chapter 5 verse 27). And in Revelation Chapter 19 we have the marriage supper of the Lamb in perfect unity and purity with his redeemed Church.

Christians are only too aware of the imperfections of heterosexual marriage. It was their sins that first led them to Christ for his forgiveness and acceptance into his family.

Ancient Corinth was similar to Ireland today and we read of the Gospel of God’s redeeming love bringing sinners to himself. “Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” Chapter 6 verses 9/11.

We are all there! Thank God his grace is big enough to bring repentant sinners home.

It is 8 years since I wrote the Blog “Daddy is a Donor” where a middle-aged man living in a caravan with 4 dogs was about to discover he had spawned six kids! Of course it was in California so we did not pay much attention! Fast forward to today when, with great haste, we are about to enact the Children and Family Relationships Bill with its 172 sections.

So what does it do for sperm donors? It decrees that a donor is not the parent of the child born as a result of that procedure and therefore has no parental rights and duties. So he takes his money and walks away.

What of the child born to him? The Bill says that he or she can only access information about Dad after their 18^th birthday and then only if it does not affect the ‘wellbeing or safety’ of the donor!

So much for Dad but what about Mum? It also permits surrogacy allowing someone in the Third World (or elsewhere) to be sourced as a carrier for the appropriate fee but is prevented from having any ongoing input into the life she bore. Thus having dealt with the provision of children with no strings attached the ground is being cleared for the introduction of the next Bill – the Same-sex marriage – which, of course needs these laws to provide the ‘same-sexers’ with kids.

It really is an adult’s world where kids are commodities.

If you want to see what it looks like tune into ‘The Kids of Donor 5114’ on Utube where Nathan learns that he has 18 other – siblings meeting some of them first on Facebook. The kids take the lead in tracing their roots. Also they have a yearning to know the donor who, if our current legislation goes through, can thwart their desires.

Like some adults in modern Ireland Jesus’s Disciples saw children as a distraction. In the Gospel passage dealing with family affairs where he reminded them that marriage is between male and female in an enduring covenant relationship, he took them to task over their attitude to children(St Mark Chapter 10 verses 6/9 & 13/15).

The children in question had been brought to Jesus by their Mothers for a blessing on their lives. The Disciples thought they were not important enough to bother their Master and tried to get rid of them.

Jesus turned the incident into a teaching opportunity and in the same Gospel passage in which he commends celibacy he indicated the primacy of coming to him for salvation, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (St Matthew Chapter 19 verses 11 & 12 & 14).

The government are going hell-bent to create a new breed of Irish families. They may achieve this but they need to consider well before enacting laws which run counter to God’s word.

The tobacco industry has ganged up against the Irish Government’s draft Bill to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes. A smoking gun has been metaphorically put to the Taoiseach’s head. So far he has not blinked!

It was appropriate that the last debate in the Dial took place on Ash Wednesday! The tobacco industry has enlisted the support of the US Chamber of Commerce and the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (IBEC) to lobby on their behalf. In addition we have had various representations from US Politicians and those involved in the tobacco industry here in Ireland, all raising their voices in support.

The deadline given to the government to withdraw the Bill was yesterday so we can expect it to be legally challenged.

In fact the tobacco industry have already engaged one of our top legal firm’s who have got themselves into hot water as they also represent the Health Board and many hospitals!

The Industry argues that the government would lose tax revenue as the sales of cigarettes fall. This can be countered by the savings in treating fewer lung cancer victims. Another argument was the name on the packet helped to prevent smuggling but no-one buys into that one.

It seems that Ireland has become the test case for many other countries who wish to introduce plain packaging but have hesitated to take on such a powerful industry.

Ever since David and Goliath we have enjoyed a contest where the odds are stacked against the underdog. In David the shepherd boy’s case he was but a youth facing a mighty fighting machine of a giant. However he was the Lord’s anointed who came out of obscurity, was scorned by his brothers, refused to put on the king’s armour – the trappings of worldly power, but relied on God’s protection and putting his life on the line defeated the evil one and inherited the Kingdom (1Samuel Chapter 17).

You might say that David was a type of Christ who not only put his life on the line but laid it down in order to destroy the works of the devil (1John Chapter 3 verse 8).

In the fight with the tobacco industry we need to hear St Paul’s advice to Timothy and pray for those in authority (1Timothy Chapter 2 verse 1) that the cancer of sin and the cancer of the lungs may be defeated.

The postman was never more popular than on St Valentine’s Day! There was a macho air of indifference abroad but the reality was more like suppressed expectation. Alas these expectations went largely unfulfilled although I seem to remember a card with “guess who” written in a disguised hand. I never did guess who!

Electronic gadgets and the advent of social networks have knocked the bottom out of the card market. I think we have lost that innocent attraction created by the mystery of the unknown admirer. An attraction which cannot be replicated in the traceable communications of today!

It is a far cry from the Valentine’s Day of yesterday to the launching of the film “The 50 Shades of Grey” today. It seems to pander to female fantasies – it was reported that there were only three men spotted in the capacity first night audience!

From the comments in the media the film has little or nothing to do with love but deals with selfish gratification at the expense of others. Sadly the “others” are sufficiently deluded to enter voluntarily into the degrading arrangements.

There is not much new in all this except that it has moved out of the ‘red light’ areas and been brought into the house and given its own room. It is really sad that the ‘sexual revolution’ of last century which promised empowerment for women has resulted increasingly in bondage.

There are a number of words used in the Bible to express love. Philia was used for family love and friendships of a non-sexual nature and eros for the latter. In order to describe the self-giving love of God the writers of scripture used agape. It took on the meaning of sacrificial love which is demonstrated in the life of Christ. This is unselfish love which loved without much of a reciprocal response.

It is nothing like the self-seeking stuff of today which cares little for others and much for self-gratification. This underlying attitude is so widespread that it affects us all. None can claim immunity. We are made that way.

So do we listen to the word when it says “Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body” (1 Corinthians Chapter 6 verse 18). It is a process of self destruction. It robs a person of peace of mind and wrecks relationships as people regard each other ‘after the flesh’ 2 Corinthians Chapter 5 verse 16).

The writer goes on to say a change has taken place in the lives of Jesus followers. They have looked for and found forgiveness from the Man who took their guilt. He has put His Spirit within them so that they now have a new allegiance. And out of this new allegiance they know that they are loved with an everlasting love – one which enables them to live for Jesus and share His life with others.

Now wouldn’t it be good if this St Valentine’s Day you got a card with “guess who” and a great big cross and the agape that it stands for filled your life!