WAR CRY
The Salvation Army?
The Salvation Army is a Christian church and registered charity seeking to share the good news of Jesus and nurture committed followers of him. We also serve people without discrimination, care for creation and seek justice and reconciliation. We offer practical support and services in more than 700 centres throughout the UK. Go to salvationarmy.org.uk/find-a-church to find your nearest centre.
What is the War Cry?
The Salvation Army first published a newspaper called the War Cry in London in December 1879, and we have continued to appear every week since then. Our name refers to our battle for people’s hearts and souls as we promote the positive impact of the Christian faith and The Salvation Army’s fight for greater social justice.
WAR CRY
Editor: Andrew Stone, Major
Deputy Editor: Philip Halcrow
Assistant Editor: Sarah Olowofoyeku
Staff Writer: Emily Bright
Staff Writer: Claire Brine
Editorial Assistant: Linda McTurk
Graphic Designer: Mark Knight
Graphic Designer: Natalie Adkins
Email: warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk
The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory 1 Champion Park London SE5 8FJ
Tel: 0845 634 0101
Subscriptions: 01933 445445 (option 1, option 1) or email: subscriptions@satcol.org
Founder: William Booth
General: Lyndon Buckingham
Territorial leaders: Commissioners Jenine and Paul Main
Editor-in-Chief: Major Julian Watchorn
Published weekly by The Salvation Army © The Salvation Army United Kingdom and Ireland Territory ISSN 0043-0226
The rousing performances of the Last Night of the Proms are an opportunity ‘to honour classical music, a great country and all the performers who have sung there before’.
That’s the view of American opera singer Angel Blue, who is taking centre stage at what is probably the Royal Albert Hall’s most famous annual event. ‘It’s such a great joy to be able to say: I’m singing at the Last Night of the Proms,’ she explains.
In an interview in this week’s issue, we discover that joy plays a big part in Angel’s life. As well as talking about the joy that music brings her, it is clear that she feels joy from the love and support of her family – for which she is thankful. Another source of her joy is her belief that her ability to sing doesn’t come just from the hard work she has done to reach such high professional standards.
‘I’m thankful that God has given me the gift to sing – and I hope the way that I share my music-making brings honour to him,’ she says.
Christians believe that God gives people various talents and abilities. In another article this week we speak with Suzy Stokes and Daniel Sedgewick, who are Thames Valley Air Ambulance doctors.
The work they do can be difficult and emotionally draining, but they both believe they are strengthened by their faith.
‘I feel like God has put me in this role,’ Daniel tells us. ‘This work is an opportunity to use my faith practically. Faith is not something that’s trapped in a church. We’re able to go out and help people, and have a positive effect on their lives.’
Christians can be found working in many areas of life. Some entertain through music. Some save people in critical situations. But, whatever their work may be, they have the certainty that God is with them, helping them use the gifts he has given them for good.
The Salvation Army Trust is a registered charity. The charity number in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 214779, in Scotland SC009359 and in the Republic of Ireland CHY6399. Printed by CKN Print, Northampton, on sustainably sourced paper
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Rooms with a view
Quarry hotel’s amazing storeys uncovered
TV feature: Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby, Thursdays BBC2 and iPlayer
By Claire Brine
Welcome to Wonderland, a luxury hotel in Shanghai that’s full of surprises on every level. But what’s it like to work there? Finding out in the opening episode of Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby are presenters Rob Rinder and Monica Galetti.
As soon as the duo arrive at the InterContinental Shanghai Wonderland, in the Songjiang district of China, general manager Richard announces: ‘I’d like to show you something that will blow your mind.’ He then directs Monica and Rob to the back of the hotel, where they can appreciate the amazing view before them.
Forget skyscrapers, says Rob, this hotel is best described as ‘an earthscraper’. Built downwards into the side of an abandoned quarry, it’s an architectural masterpiece.
As Monica and Rob explore their new surroundings, they realise that getting to grips with a topsy-turvy hotel is going to take time. They learn that there are only two floors situated above ground level, yet there are 14 storeys below it. There are also two storeys positioned below the hotel’s lake, guaranteeing guests an
authentic water world experience.
‘From the bottom of the quarry, your perception of what is up and what is down gets distorted,’ explains Monica, feeling bemused as she takes the lift down to the 14th floor. ‘The horizon disappears and ground level is 88 metres above you.’
After enjoying a colourful light show projected on to the 19,000 square metres of quarry wall, Monica and Rob are put to work to see how the hotel operates.
Monica is given the job of serving drinks to new guests, while Rob learns how to place pillows on their beds correctly.
Later, Monica meets British architect Martin Jochman, who designed the hotel and oversaw its construction. He reflects on seeing the quarry for the first time and how the view inspired him.
‘When I saw this in 2006, it was just a hole in the ground, overgrown, with derelict industrial buildings surrounding it,’ he says. ‘It was quite raw. But you could see the potential. You could see that it was special.’
Despite facing many challenges,
Martin explained that he held tight to his vision and spent 12 years making it a reality. He never stopped believing that transformation was possible.
Looking at life beyond the hotel lobby, perhaps we can all learn something from his belief.
When we look at our lives and assess who we are, it may be easy to think that our character is stuck in its ways and unchangeable. If we have always behaved a certain way – being quick to fly off the handle or acting selfishly – we may doubt that we can ever be different. But the Bible says that, with faith, we can become better people. God will help us.
One Bible writer, who used to persecute Christians before becoming one himself, described God’s ability to transform us like this: ‘His power at work in us can do far more than we dare ask or imagine’ (Ephesians 3:20 Contemporary English Version).
No matter how impossible things might seem to us, everything is possible for God. And when we put our faith in him, he can help to build us up so that we reach our full potential.
Lie-in of duty
Emily Bright gives her take on a story that has caught the attention of War Cry reporters
‘Don’t get up: lie-ins are healthy’ declared a Times headline, which my editor pinged over as a gentle prompting to write Team Talk. I pondered whether he’d let me test that theory on a weekday – for journalistic purposes, of course.
Back to the research. Using data from more than 90,000 UK adults, China’s National Centre for Cardiovascular Disease in Beijing discovered a correlation between weekend lie-ins and reduced health risks.
Researchers found that those who spent extra hours in bed on the weekend over a 14-year period were 19 per cent less likely to develop heart disease than those who didn’t.
Weekend rest is nothing new
WAR talk talk Team talk Team talk ‘ ’ j TEA M TALK
Kevin Morgan, emeritus professor of psychology at Loughborough University’s Clinical Sleep Research Unit, summarised the study’s findings for The Times. He said that weekend lie-ins were a way of catching up on a weekday sleep shortfall.
‘You can compensate for some of that lost sleep with a lie-in,’ he said. ‘And the big message is that we shouldn’t feel bad about an extra hour or two of sleep at the weekends, but instead capitalise on the benefits it can bring of making us feel better and become healthier.’
As a lover of weekend lie-ins, I’m totally on board. But as I was reading the article, it struck me that the idea of weekend rest is nothing new – it dates back to biblical times. One of the Ten Commandments that God gave was to observe the Sabbath. He declared: ‘You have six days in which to do your work, but the seventh day is a day of rest dedicated to me’ (Exodus 20:9 and 10 Good News Bible).
Sometimes I wrongly believe that my value is dependent on productivity. However, I’m reminded that rest is actively encouraged by God.
I find that setting aside a day to relax with family and friends not only is healthy and restorative, but also generates a sense of thankfulness to God for all that I have. And the Sabbath-style break provides me with a better headspace to connect with God too.
Perhaps it’s time to snooze our internal alarm clocks and restore a day of rest.
nArt college students have created colourful paintings for a Salvation Army church in Canvey Island.
Eight paintings – including images of an octopus and a giraffe – have been hung throughout the building. Captions on the paintings, such as ‘Root for each other and watch each other grow’ and ‘We build fellowship every day’, highlight Salvation Army values.
Hilary Johnston, The Salvation Army’s leader at the Canvey Island church, explained that the project came about after she visited USP College in South Benfleet.
‘I spoke to the tutors,’ she said, ‘and they asked me if I was able to offer any work experience. I knew the hall needed a bit of work, so we came up with an assignment for some of the art students. I told them I was looking for paintings to reflect our values of community, faith and fellowship.’
Thirty-eight first-year art diploma students – aged between 16 and 18 – submitted designs drafted in sketchbooks. People who use the hall had the final say on which eight artworks would be created and put on display.
WAR CRY
Joy for Linford
Linford Christie told The Times that his days are ‘full of joy’ because of his family, good health and faith in God.
The 100m sprinter – who won an Olympic gold medal for Team GB at the Barcelona Games in 1992 – explained why his Christian beliefs were important to him, saying: ‘I pray every night... For me the Bible is about right and wrong, good and bad. It was faith and the fear of God that kept me on the straight and narrow. Doesn’t work for everyone but it worked for me.’
Toy Story Tim is buzzing
Tim Allen, the voice of Buzz Lightyear, is amazed by the Bible. The Toy Story actor, who has long been open about his Christian faith, took to social media site X to share his thoughts on the holy book with his one million followers.
Chickens spice up the life of residents
A Salvation Army centre for people experiencing homelessness has a feather in its cap with the addition of new arrivals.
Five chickens – named after members of the ’90s pop band the Spice Girls – are settling in at Booth Lifehouse in Grimsby, which provides supported accommodation for up to 35 people.
Sporty, Ginger, Scary, Baby and Posh now have the run of their own chicken coop in the garden. As well as spicing up the life of residents, the poultry are producing five eggs a day.
Service manager Shaun Stainton said: ‘Our residents come from all walks of life. Many had not seen a chicken before this, so it’s giving them a different experience. It gets people out in the garden and provides a routine. They can feed them, pick them up, help with cleaning them out or bring them in at night.
‘Salvation Army Lifehouses don’t just provide a room for somebody to sleep in. They’re about engaging people in different activities and support services to help them move on from homelessness. This is all part of helping with wellbeing.’
‘Never took the time in all my years to ever read and really read the Bible,’ he wrote. ‘Currently almost through the Jerusalem Bible Old Testament and almost done with the prophets. Next up to New Testament. So far amazing and not at all what I was expecting.’
Other X users replied to his post, sharing similarly positive experiences about reading the Bible.
FLYING IN SUPPORT
Air Ambulance Week, which runs until Sunday (15 September), is raising awareness for the life-saving services that provide hospital-level care to patients who may not otherwise make it to a hospital. Drs SUZY STOKES and DANIEL SEDGEWICK, doctors for Thames Valley Air Ambulance, talk about the difference they make to people on the worst days of their lives – and about the faith that makes a difference to their lives
Interview by Sarah Olowofoyeku
Every year thousands of people unexpectedly face the worst day of their lives. It’s a day when they have been in an accident or fallen seriously ill and are in need of urgent critical care but are far from a hospital.
In such times air ambulance services are life-saving. They can fly out to incidents where time is of the essence, giving patients the best chance of survival.
This week is Air Ambulance Week, dedicated to raising funds and awareness of the vital work carried out by people such as Suzy Stokes and Daniel Sedgewick. They are doctors for the Thames Valley Air Ambulance, a service which can reach patients within 15 minutes.
The service has paramedics who sit in the control room where the normal ambulance service takes its calls. They filter the information and, if there are any incidents for which the air ambulance may be able to offer added benefit, a team is dispatched.
‘Sometimes that’s hardly at all, once
or twice in a day, and sometimes it’s nonstop,’ Suzy explains. ‘There are some immediate dispatch criteria: shootings, stabbings, falls from more than a certain height, cardiac arrest or a person trapped in a car. Those are the kinds of jobs where every second matters.’
Once on the scene doctors work with critical care paramedics to provide various kinds of medical assistance, even opening a patient’s chest and performing roadside surgery. The work is physically demanding and emotionally exhausting.
‘We train ourselves a little bit to detach from what we see, because it can be very distressing,’ Suzy says. ‘You can go through several shifts and never see someone who’s still alive. You get physical fatigue, and there are things you can do to mitigate that, like making sure you’re well rested, eating well and exercising, and all shifts come to an end eventually.
‘But the emotional recovery takes its toll a bit more, because you carry
those things around. Some of those memories will make you a better doctor, team worker and person, but some of the stuff we see is just very sad. Terrible things do happen, and we’re part of many people’s worst day of their lives.’
While there are times when they feel there is nothing they can do, Suzy explains that she also finds joy in her work because she knows that she does make a difference.
‘When we are there, relatives can come away from an incident knowing that everything was done to help the patient. They don’t have to live the rest of their lives thinking “if only we were closer to the hospital” or “if only they’d had some blood available for a transfusion” or “if only someone had done good CPR” – because we’ve done it. The impact we can have on the family is quite significant.’
Some cases end with what Suzy says could be considered ‘miraculous outcomes’.
She recalls: ‘Last year one patient’s heart stopped beating for 40 minutes,
which would typically mean a 0.0001 per cent chance of survival, with brain damage. But they walked out of hospital three weeks later completely normal.’
makes a difference to Suzy and Daniel is their Christian faith.
‘Faith means I don’t worry too much about why certain things happen,’ says Daniel. ‘There are higher powers than me that are in charge.’
me to facilitate people having the death experience that they want, which might be praying with them.’
Over the years, Daniel’s sense of God-given purpose has enabled him to survive tough calls.
I pray I can use the skills I have
Daniel adds that, in cases where patients don’t recover, small mercies matter too. ‘In a recent job I went to, the outcome wasn’t a good one eventually. But because we were able to get the patient stable enough to travel to hospital, she could have her family round her to say goodbye, instead of dying in the street in a town centre.’ In such difficult situations, what
Suzy reflects: ‘God is with us all the time, but in those really dark moments, he’s there in particular. I’ve been to some really awful jobs, and sometimes I wonder if he sent me because he knew that he’d then be there to support me afterwards.
‘When I’m on a job, I silently pray that I can use the skills I have in the right way and that I’m making the right decisions. I often offer to pray with people too, and I’ve never had someone who’s seemed taken aback.
‘Knowing God myself has empowered
‘I feel like God has put me in this role,’ he says. ‘I feel like I’ve prepared for it my whole life, from what toys I was playing with as a child to what voluntary work I did to what part-time roles I did as a 16-year-old. And my faith just brings a general peace and ability to take stuff to God.
‘This work is an opportunity to use my faith practically. Faith is not something that’s trapped in a church. We’re able to go out and help people, and have a positive effect on their lives, even on their darkest day.’
Dr Suzy Stokes
Dr Daniel Sedgewick
Angel Blue will be singing at the finale of this year’s BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall
ODE TO JOY
As US soprano ANGEL BLUE looks ahead to taking the stage as a soloist at the Last Night of the Proms (Saturday 14 September), she talks of how she has always found happiness and excitement in music
Interview by Philip Halcrow
Trying to find the right word to describe how she feels about the moment when she will stand on stage as a soloist at the Last Night of the Proms, soprano Angel Blue finds herself ‘going back to “joy”’. It’s a word that she often repeats when talking about music.
‘I’m from the United States and we have festivals that happen in the summer, but nothing like the Proms,’ says Angel, who first attended the season of concerts as one of the BBC’s team of presenters back in the mid-2010s. ‘The feeling in the Royal Albert Hall makes my heart beat faster. It’s such a great joy to be able to say: I’m singing at the Last Night of the Proms, and I get to honour classical music, a great country and all the performers who have sung there before.’
Joy is a recurring theme during our video call conversation, the day after Angel has returned to her home in New Jersey after singing in Mumbai. She first uses the word when recalling her early memories.
‘Music has always been present in my life,’ she says. ‘My grandfather was part
of a barbershop quartet, and his favourite singer was Enrico Caruso. My father liked all genres of music, but he was classically trained. He had these old recordings on albums. I was probably five and six years old and was listening to Lily Pons and Luisa Tetrazzini. He had Renata Tebaldi singing Tosca, and he played it all the time.
‘I didn’t know what anyone was singing. I didn’t know anything about the languages. I didn’t know the synopses of the stories. I just saw the excitement that it brought my dad.
‘I’m a daddy’s girl. I always aspired to be like him. Those old recordings brought him joy. Thankfully they brought me joy too – and they do now.’
Angel says that she has sometimes drawn on her childhood response to the music when singing today.
‘When I heard Tosca as a child, it was just loud and exciting – I didn’t realise that it was a woman trying to get away from an overbearing man,’ she says. ‘But when I’m singing, there are still times when I go back to how I felt as a child and I don’t let
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From page 9
what is happening in the story overwhelm my feeling for the music. I find I can get a certain emotion out of singing it if I keep hold of how I felt about it when I was younger.’
Angel has, however, also used her memories to make a connection between a storyline and her experiences. She mentions the opera Aida, in which she has played the title role in the US and at the Royal Opera House in London.
‘In the opera, which is about a woman whose people are enslaved and who falls in love with one of the enemy. Aida has a very strained relationship with her father, which – thank God – I did not have. She desperately wants his approval and his love, but he is not excited that she is in love with this man.
‘Her father comes to her at one point and says that she has the ability to use the fact that the enemy is in love with her to set her people free and make life better for them all. She’s completely torn. And her father scolds her very harshly and says: You are not my daughter.
‘She screams out loud and says: I’m not a slave, I’m your daughter. Don’t speak to me this way. Don’t do this to me.
Music can bring us all together
‘Thank God I never had a conversation with my dad like that. But I know what it felt like when my dad was upset with me for something, and I can remember the feeling of wanting his approval.
‘I had three older sisters who are all quite smart, and they were really good at school. They would get perfect grades, and then I came along and messed all of that up a bit. But there was one year when I had straight As, and my parents were so happy with me. I was thrilled that they were happy with me, but my dad told me: “Angel, if you try your hardest and the best you can get is a C, then that would be OK. As long as you try.”
‘I remember those times with my dad. And those moments inform me on how to sing music today. They’re special to me because he’s not here any more, so I can’t go and ask him what he thinks about what is happening in Aida.
‘I do live by those memories, and it’s great because it keeps his memory alive for me.’
Angel’s music-making road to the Last
Night of the Proms – via the Royal Opera House, playing the female lead in Porgy and Bess at New York’s Metropolitan Opera and appearances in Vienna and Paris – began when she was growing up in the small town of Apple Valley, southern California.
‘I played a bass guitar, the alto saxophone and the piano – I’m not good on the bass or on the saxophone and I’m proficient enough on the piano so that I can learn my music on my own,’ she says. ‘I also grew up singing gospel music. Hearing my dad sing gospel and hearing him sing opera, I came to have such
an understanding of genres that were different but all meant the same thing –which was to bring joy and happiness.
‘My sisters and I would sing, my brother would sing, we’d be around the piano, my mum would be playing something, and we would harmonise together. And wow…’ Angel pauses, as the musical memory suddenly seems to tug on her heartstrings.
‘Those times have brought me to the Last Night of the Proms. The music played at the Proms represents a broad spectrum – there is sometimes a jazz presentation or a musical theatre presentation as well
DARIO ACOSTA
Performimg the role of Aida with Ludovic Tézier as her father Amonasro in a Royal Opera House production last year
as classical presentations – and it can bring us all together. I close my eyes to remember those moments that I had with my family, because that’s what music did: it brought us together.
‘I’m one of five, so we were not a small family, and there was always some argument going on – “This person took my Walkman” or “She’s still on the phone and I want to call my friend”. But we had –and we still have – music, each other and faith. And those three things have always brought us so close together.’
Echoing Angel’s appreciation of various genres, her performances at the Last Night will include not only ‘the famous “Rule, Britannia”’, ‘O Mio Babbino Caro’ from Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi and Chapí’s ‘Carceleras’ but also a piece by pianist Sir Stephen Hough. ‘He has arranged two spirituals for us to perform together,’ says Angel, ‘so I’ll be singing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” and “In His Hands”.’
And, underlining the importance of faith to her, she says that she feels her ability to sing – and her ‘yearning to sing’ – has been given to her by God.
‘I definitely feel that I’m called to do what I’m doing. And I feel more than called; I feel chosen. I don’t say that arrogantly or lightly, because it’s a
very serious thing to be chosen to do something. Without God, I can’t do it.
‘I know it puzzles my friends sometimes when we’re talking. They’ll say: “But, Angel, you’re the one working hard, the one sitting at the piano, the one standing on stage.” Yes, of course I have to sit at the piano and learn the music. Of course I have to go to my coachings and have voice lessons, and I have to think about the synopses and the translations and try to understand when I breathe. It’s all work, and I’m willing to do it. But when it comes to music-making and what happens on stage, that’s all up to the Lord.’
My faith has always informed my singing
Inaccompanying her music-making with faith, Angel is again taking a lead from her father, who had a ministry in singing gospel and was told by a preacher on the TBN Network that the strength of his ministry lay not in his voice but in his prayer life.
‘My faith has always informed my singing, my ability to sing, to learn music and to be heard – one voice over an 80, 90-piece orchestra,’ she says. ‘I’m
thankful to be part of that, but I can’t take any credit for it.
‘I know there is a higher power at work within me, and that higher power is the creator of the universe.’
Now, when she contemplates singing at the Last Night of the Proms, it feels like ‘the total summation of everything I’ve worked for’.
She says: ‘It makes me go back to when I was 15 years old and waking up at 4.30 every morning to be out of the house by 5, so my parents could drive me to a station and so I could spend an hour on a train to get to high school to study opera. It takes me back to when I was in college and was trying to find words in an Italian dictionary.
‘I’m thankful I will get to be on the stage where so many great opera singers and other performers have stood to close such a fun event.
‘I’m thankful that God has given me the gift to sing – and I hope the way that I share my music-making brings honour to him.
‘The beat inside me that keeps me going is so strong. It’s my responsibility to maintain the work that goes with it – but I do believe that the joy and excitement that comes with it was placed in my heart by God.’
The War Cry invites readers to send in requests for prayer, including the first names of individuals and details of their circumstances, for publication. Send your Prayerlink requests to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk or to War Cry, 1 Champion Park, London SE5 8FJ. Mark your correspondence ‘Confidential’.
jBecoming a Christian
There is no set formula to becoming a Christian, but many people have found saying this prayer to be a helpful first step to a relationship with God
Lord Jesus Christ,
I am truly sorry for the things I have done wrong in my life. Please forgive me. I now turn from everything that I know is wrong.
Thank you that you died on the cross for me so that I could be forgiven and set free.
Thank you that you offer me forgiveness and the gift of your Holy Spirit.
Please come into my life by your Holy Spirit to be with me for ever.
Thank you, Lord Jesus. Amen
This week: Hereford
with Major Pamela Johnson
Kids love coming to church here. One boy calls it his ‘happy place’. In every Sunday meeting, we have a children’s song, often with actions. It’s nice to see the older folks joining in. We also host a children’s worship session in our community hall once a fortnight.
What happens in our meetings depends on which week you turn up! We try to do things differently each week, because not everybody learns by listening. Some people learn by doing or watching. There’s traditional Salvation Army music, but also a lot of newer worship songs.
People who come into our building say it’s friendly and open.
A transgender lady attended our lunch club, and has now also joined our Sunday worship. She said that she felt so welcomed.
A lot of different groups use our building, such as a cancer support group and one for children leaving care. The Salvation Army runs a photography club, which meets once a month, and what we call elder care, which is a lunch club. On a Wednesday we open as a warm space. Lots of people come to that, from the homeless to older folk that like to be here and chat. Plus, they can get egg and chips! On Thursdays we have band practice and a toddler group.
We’ve formed links with a new charity called the Living Hope, which is working with the homeless. Some of the people from the church have also volunteered to work at a winter night shelter this year.
Our symbol at Hereford is the bee. We wanted a mission statement that could speak to children as well as adults. We chose the bee, because theoretically it shouldn’t fly. Aerodynamically, it’s not possible. But it believes it can. For us, the bee stands for a believing, encouraging and empowering church.
Pamela was speaking to Emily Bright
To receive basic reading about Christianity and information about The Salvation Army, complete this coupon and send it to
War Cry 1 Champion Park London SE5 8FJ
Or email your name and postal address to warcry@salvationarmy.org.uk
Extract from Why Jesus? by Nicky Gumbel published by Alpha International, 2011. Used by kind permission of Alpha International
QUICK QUIZ
1 2 3 4 5 6
Lemurs are native to which island country in Africa?
Which actor and comedian starred as Mr Bean?
Teddy bears derive their name from which US president?
Who was the first Briton to win the Tour de France?
Who is the author of the bestselling history book Emperor of Rome?
What is the rapper Eminem’s real first name?
A DANGEROUS DEPARTURE
Train
By Emily Bright
Fans of thrilling drama could well be planning to get on board with the new series Nightsleeper. If they do, they’ll see that off-duty cop Joe Roag (Joe Cole) is about to catch the Heart of Britain train –travelling overnight from Glasgow Central to London Euston – when he witnesses a mugging.
Pursuing the thief, he rescues the bag and returns it to its owner. But all is not as it seems.
Shortly afterwards a train official approaches the police officer, confidentially revealing that a hacking device has been plugged into the train’s wiring. It quickly becomes clear that all phone signals and communication lines are down too.
Meanwhile, at Gatwick airport, Abby Aysgarth (Alexandra Roach) is heading to Marrakesh on a much-needed holiday from her job at the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre. But, on hearing that the software protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure has a virus, she rushes back to headquarters. She is horrified to hear that the UK rail network is at risk from hackers.
Joe is patched through to her via a passenger’s satellite phone, and he gives vital updates on the Heart of Britain. When she discovers more about Joe’s identity, she’s left wondering if she can trust him. Yet the pair have no choice but to rely on each other to avert a catastrophe.
Knowing who to trust in times of crisis can be tricky. But there is one source on which we can fully rely: God. Time and again, he has come through for people who have asked for his help.
Understanding this, the ancient prophet Isaiah, who feared the imminent destruction of his nation, declared in faith that God – the Lord – would come to their aid.
‘You, Lord, give perfect peace to those who … put their trust in you,’ he said, urging people: ‘Trust in the Lord for ever; he will always protect us’ (Isaiah 26:3 and 4 Good News Bible).
Generations of people since have put their faith in God, experiencing his peace and guidance throughout times of crisis – and we can too. Life events may derail our hope of feeling secure and free from anxiety. But if we trust in God, he’ll help us get our lives back on track. Off-duty cop Joe tries to avert a train disaster
Madagascar. 2. Rowan Atkinson. 3. Theodore Roosevelt.
Bradley Wiggins. 5. Mary Beard.
Marshall.
PUZZLES
8. Piloted (9) 11. Large fruit (5) 12. Saunter (5) 13. Match (5)
14. Impair (3)
Consumed (5)
Sag (5)
Display (4)
Behind (4)
Batter (4)
Obligation (4)
HONEYCOMB
QUICK CROSSWORD ACROSS: 1. Lust. 3. Job. 5. Kiln. 7. Condition. 9. Fool. 10. Wave. 11. Meant. 14. Mouse. 15. Axiom. 17. Libel. 18. Rodeo. 19. Least. 20. Needy. 23. Sour. 25. Bend. 27. Mentioned. 28. Weir. 29. Nip. 30. Tidy. DOWN: 1. Loaf. 2. Tool. 3. Judge. 4. Baton. 5. Know. 6. Name. 7. Conundrum. 8. Navigated. 11. Melon. 12. Amble. 13. Tally. 14. Mar. 16. Mat. 21. Eaten. 22. Droop. 23. Show. 24. Rear. 25. Beat. 26. Duty. HONEYCOMB 1. Puzzle. 2. Honest. 3. Goblet. 4. Twenty. 5. Locker. 6. Muscle.
Jalapeño cornbread with poached eggs, avocado and chipotle mayo
INGREDIENTS
125g plain flour
140g polenta
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp fine sea salt
175ml buttermilk
1 large British Lion egg
60g unsalted butter, melted
60ml water
50g jar jalapeños, rinsed, patted dry and chopped
8 medium British Lion eggs
2 avocados, peeled and stoned
½ lime, juice
Ground black pepper
60g mayonnaise
½ tbsp chipotle paste
1 small handful coriander, roughly chopped
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 220C/Gas Mark 7. Line a 20cm square baking dish with parchment.
To make the cornbread, combine the flour, polenta, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
In a jug, whisk together the buttermilk, large egg, melted butter and water.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients along with the jalapeños and stir to mix until just combined. Pour the mixture into the baking dish and bake for 20 minutes, until the cornbread is pale golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Meanwhile bring a large pan of water to just below a simmer. Stir the water to create a whirlpool effect. Crack an egg into a small bowl and, as the whirlpool is dying down, carefully drop the egg into the water. Leave to poach for about 3 minutes, until the white is set and the yolk is still runny, then remove with a slotted spoon. Set aside on a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain. Repeat for all the eggs.
Mash the avocado with the lime juice in a small bowl. Season with pepper, to taste. Mix the mayonnaise with the chipotle paste in a bowl and add most of the coriander.
Cut the cornbread into 4 squares and divide between plates. Top each portion with 2 poached eggs and season lightly. Add some of the mashed avocado, chipotle mayonnaise and the remaining coriander to the plates, to serve.
Be devoted to one another in Honour one another above
Romans 12:10 (New International Version)