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Viewpoint from Rev Steve Deall 11/08/2023
 Rev Steve Deall
Rector of Bradwell Benefice
Summer occasional thoughts
How are you sleeping? Well, if I’m honest I’m not brilliantly, things are NOT as they should be! Look around us, we’ve left the pandemic behind us, but we’ve had an energy crisis, now it is the climate coming crashing down around us surely someone is to blame?
When I was working night shifts as a policeman in the early nineties one of the things I remember being taught was something called the ‘nine o’clock shudders’. I was thinking of some strange illness perhaps after a particularly long night shift, and in a way it was. You see the bosses turned up at nine o’clock in the morning and the first thing that was out of their mouths was…you should have done this, or you should of done that...you get the picture, the nine o’clock shudders
 What always upset me was that when they made those comments, they were not the ones who had been on shift for 12 hours, dealing with fighting, domestics, missing people, or even worse; when the decisions had to be made
Before writing this I watched the 10 o’clock news and it reminded me very much of those sorts of people. The way that the reporters were questioning those being interviewed, not because they wanted to know the answer, but because they simply wanted to make a point, or dare I say score a point?
I almost wanted to shout at the TV, of course with hindsight things could have been done differently, but let’s get out of this culture of blame and move forward, not backward. Well friends it made me cross. How on earth could I go to bed and get peaceful night’s sleep still feeling cross, perhaps the sherry?
 But that’s not the way, the Bible tells us a very long time ago King David was talking to God just before he was going to bed, and he had some serious issues running round in his head. His people were disobeying him and more importantly disobeying God, they were worshipping false idols again
What does he do? no not the sherry, he calls out to God and asks God to hear his petitions, he gives a warning about the sin of anger, then he sings God’s praises and settles down to sleep. David gives his thoughts, his anger, his whole self to God, and gets the rest he is craving
When struggling to sleep can I commend rather than counting sheep take your worries, thoughts, hopes and fears to God in the words of Psalm 4:
1 Answer me when I call to you, my righteous God. Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer
And finish with
8 In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety
God bless, Steve
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