Gordon Brown: from the ridiculous to the sublime

What a couple of weeks it has been for Gordon Brown! Whatever one's political opinions, one has to feel some sympathy for the man. Probably the lowest point of the election campaign for Mr Brown came in the hours following his meeting with a member of the public in Rochdale: 65 year-old Gillian Duffy, a lifelong Labour supporter.

Following the public conversation with Mrs Duffy, Gordon Brown returned to his official car, not realising that his lapel microphone was still live. During his subsequent conversation with one of his aides, Mr Brown called Mrs Duffy a "bigoted woman". It was a PR disaster.

Whatever we thought of the incident, I guess that many of us were thinking about times when we have let words slip from our lips only to instantly regret them. But as we all know, once the words are out, we can never get them back. Certainly Mr Brown seems to have regretted his words, and he even had to visit Mrs Duffy personally to apologise.

I couldn't help but feel sorry for Gordon Brown over the past few weeks. The weight of Prime Ministerial responsibility seemed to weigh very heavily on his shoulders; he seemed to be tired, and almost ageing before our eyes. What a contrast, however, with his demeanour once he relinquished office; it was almost as if we could literally see the weight being lifted from him (at least David Cameron has Nick Clegg to help him shoulder the burden!)

I've never really been a big Gordon Brown fan, but I was tremendously impressed by something he said in Downing Street before he made his was to see the Queen to hand in his "resignation." In saying what a privilege it had been to serve the country as Prime Minister, he made the point that being Prime Minister had been his second most important job. The first? It was, he said, that of being a husband and father. Brilliant! Let's hope that the nation gets the message (not least David Cameron and Nick Clegg).

Time is precious, people are precious

A few months ago our future son-in-law, Matt, was surprised to see a magazine called "New Wine" lying on our coffee table. He said to Steph, "I though that your parents were teetotal?" In fact New Wine has nothing to do with alcohol, rather it is a network of churches and believers across all denominations who share similar values of Holy Spirit empowered worship, teaching and ministry.

For the past few years, Sue and I have attended the New Wine Leaders Conference in Harrogate, and will be doing so again later this month. At last year's conference, we were asked to pray particularly for a situation which had arisen in the family of one of the New Wine leaders, Mark Melluish. Mark's young son had fallen 20 feet off a balcony, and his life hung in the balance. In the latest New Wine magazine, Mark writes the following:

The refrain that went through my mind as I stood over his limp little body was: "Why didn't I play football with him when he asked for a kick around this morning?" I had responded with "Not now son I'm really busy." Everything within me wished that I had kicked a ball around with him for 15 minutes. We're so thankful that he's now almost fully recovered."

Then I read the following in a recent Care For The Family e-mail: You have fewer than 1,000 weekends between your children being born and them turning 18. If your child is 9 years old, you have less than half of those weekends left. So, make the most of [every] opportunity to build an even better relationship with your child.

Sadly, I can remember occasions, when our children were young, when they wanted to talk and I preferred them to be quiet so I could watch a favourite TV programme! How sad it is when we neglect precious opportunities to spend quality time with those closest to us - our family and friends. The sobering thing is, we can never get that time back. As for me, I am determined to redouble my efforts to make the most of every opportunity. Some things in life really are important!