Your energies

I came across this thought whilst preparing for a prayer meeting ....I thought it was challenging ...See what you think ..

" What do you expend your energies on ? Note I didn't say what is important to you ? If you ask that question you typically get a very pious sounding set of answers. What I asked was what do you spend your energies on because what you spend your energies on are the things that are really important to you , whatever else you wish to believe ."

Good weekend

On Saturday the church had a family day , games, quizes , sports and food . Enjoyed by all . I have to admit though, I think my football playing days are sadly drawing to an end . For many years I have been waiting for Liverpool FC to come along and snap me up ....maybe if I lost about four stone they would be interested !!! ..I'll start the diet today :-)

Sunday was a blessing. The church had a visit from the North Carolina Boys Choir , approx 70 young Americans with teachers and parents in tow. I preached and then they sang . Many of them listened really well , perhaps hearing the Gospel for the first time . Please pray that the seed that was sown would be fruitful .

I'm off to my home town today Liverpool ...The only city in the UK that can display the European Cup on a permanent stand . ( Owen ...please take note :-))

Health check for Elders

Studied parts of Titus with Gill this morning (my wife) ...felt like I failed the medical ....I need to take a few pills ...ones called discipline , the others self -control ....see how you fare .....
Titus 1:5-9(esv)

5 This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— 6 if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. 7 For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, 8 but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. 9 He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

Proud Dad

My eldest daughter Anna featured in the school prize giving tonight , picking up four awards ...obviously a chip off the old block don't you think

Well done Anna x x x

My mate and John Blanchard :-)

Recommended reading !!

I was wrong

You know I said approx 2-3hrs sleep ...well the reality was 1-2hrs ( for the first night anyway). The joys of YP camps ..anyway what really matters is how the Word was preached /listened to and applied and on all three counts I am able to give a big thumbs up . Well done to Ben Carswell, the preacher , well done to all the YP who listened well ( especially given the lack of sleep) and well done to all the YP who were asking questions about how they could apply the Truth in their lives ....all that remains now is James 1:22 ' Do not merely listen to the word of God and so deceive yourselves , do what it says'


Its been a good day so far ;had a meeting with a WemTown councilor this morning regarding an evangelistic event we are holding on Sunday morning . Then I had a bible study and prayer time with a friend from my last church ....Colossians 2 :13 " and you who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him,having forgiven us all our trespasses "

The clause ' God made alive together with him ' became the primary focus of our study. It is relatively easy to understand the theology.... but then you have to move on to the application .

How should being alive in Christ works itself out in the daily routine of life . We had lots of thoughts on that ...I'll let you ponder and post your own comments .

Off to be the token Elder on the deacons meeting tonight ...should be a short one tonight.. approx 3hrs :-)

Sleepless Nights Ahead

I am off on a Young Peoples camp tonight . Sixty of the most well behaved teenagers on the planet !! Based on past jaunts into the YP camping realm, I can almost guarantee at best 2 maybe 3 hrs sleep .

What is unusual about this camp is that I am not speaking ....the powers that be ( because they are wise) have decided to get a decent speaker , Ben Carswell ( son of Roger) ..I really wont know what to do with myself ....it might mean that I have to get involved with the washing up ...

I'll keep you posted :-(

Pastoral trail

I was back in the land of the living today and on the trainee pastoral trail .... Our church is located in the town centre of Wem ( where I hear you cry)and every Thursday we open up for a coffee morning ...40p for coffee and a free slice of cake ..bargain

Anyway it is a really good opportunity to talk to folk and in the 6 years or so it has been running a good number of folk have come along to church and subsequently given their lives to the King of Kings . Coffee/cake and the Gospel what a fantastic combination .

This afternoon I did a couple of visits , one to an elderley member who is very poorly ..I gave her Jude vs1&2 ...she is being Kept by God .....what a wonderful truth that is . My second visit was a cup of coffee with the teasurer ..its always good to stay on the right side of the treasurer !! the brilliant thing is though is that he is a Liverpool fan ...so I have a friend for life ..

Elders meeting tonight ....I think it might be a 3hour job ....who said Pastors only work on Sundays :-)

Tried to set this as my Blog Photo ...but failed ..help

me

Back to the land of the Living

Well , all done ...the exams that is . Sat two of them yesterday 'the Theology of Mission' in the morning and 'Romans' in the afternoon .
The Romans exam was particulary tough , I just hope that I managed to scribble down enough to make sense to the examiner

So now I have my life back ...what next ..i'll keep you posted !

Oh it was good to see you Steve ( of doggiesbreafast ) ...I hope your exams didnt hurt that much ......and yes Jon , I now have the official blogger badge .

me again 

Diner with The King

I was challenged by my reading of Revelation chapter 3 , the part about the lukewarm church at Laodicea . What struck me was the infamous verse 20 " Behold , I stand at the door and knock . If anyone hears my voice and opens the door , I will come in to him and eat with him , and he with me. "(esv)

A verse I had read and heard many times ...but today it spoke to me afresh . Here was a church that had been called to repent for their halfhearted Christianity and here was Christ offering forgiveness and fellowship to those he loved , particularly those who were zealous in their repentance ...v19 " Those whom I love , I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent "

There were two things that struck me ...the context ..i.e it would appear that verse 20 is aimed at the repentant Christian ....but more importantly for me today was the whole issue of the metaphor " I will come in to him and eat with him "......I had the hypothetical thought ..If I knew that Christ was to be a guest in my house for diner every night next week ..If I knew he was actually going to be there ....How different would my behavior be and not just my behavior but that of the rest of my family ...What would our prayer life be like , what would our bible study be like if we had the author there with us , what would our motivation to serve others be like ...how fervently would we plead for the lost with Him there ????

One for you to ponder as well.........................you see the fact is He will be a guest next week !

Bad Tempered

I find that as i get nearer to exam day so my fuse gets shorter and shorter . Normally people would and have described me as 'laid back'. If only they could see me now . I dont have any time for the family ...so much for the family man then . I must sort myself out and put into practice some of the marvelous truths that my study has yielded in Romans , particulary at the moment Romans 14 and 15 with regard to my middle daughters stance on the church's youth fellowship. Basically she dislikes it and I think it would be good for her ...Romans 14 & 15 tells me that I shouldn't force the isssue and cause her faith to be harmed in any way , but I should love her and focus more on the essentials of faith ..i.e Christ and his Glory and his kingdom rather than petty disputes that do nothing for the cause of Christ ..............so todayI will try harder to apply this to my daughter ....I'll keep you posted on my progress .

Very tired

the last four days have been hard work . dawn till dusk cramming it in before the exams , and now I am tired ...very tired .mid afternoon is the worst time for me . My energy levels are running on low . The study has been enlightening , particularly the book of Romans ..i would even go as far as to say that I have been thrilled with some of its passages . I alos managed to fit in a sermon by john Piper today whilst walking Chester ( the dog) . It was his summary of Romans chpt1-8 ...highly recommended

anway ...I've got to keep plodding on ...forgetten what my family look like

Onwards

Still hard at work , cramming it in before the exams . I wonder if I will ever learn to pace myselk i.e not leave it until the last minute etc . Gill ( my wife) came home at lunch today informing me that the school she works at ( as a teaching assistant ) is dropping her hours in July due to a long term sickness employee returning ..I guess its good news bad news ..good news that she will be around a little more ...bad news financially ....The even greater news is that God knows and he will provide as he always has .

Anyway ...back to work ...one bonus today is that the weather is fantastic ..so plenty of reading in the Garden .

Facing the day

You know what its like , a new week and a huge mountain of work to climb. In my case its study , then study and then more study . Exam day is looming ...next Tuesday to be precise and the Sands of time are sinking . Better get on with it .
Rang mum last night , Dad is not too well so it is off to the Doctors for Him today ...Anway just got to take my wife to work and then Romans chpts 6 and 7 here we come .
I prayed this morning that The Lord would really open my eyes and enrich my experience of him as I ponder the words in the Chapters ...

Sunday lunch with Dick and Doris

Had a couple of older friends around for lunch today . Dick and I spent some time chatting about his exploits during ww2 . He was involved in the Normandy landings being a crewmember on one of the landing craft ferrying the infantry into battle . We also spent some time on the internet together and managed to track down a reference to his ship LCI291 . Dick, I know ,has many awful memories of those days , ones that he is understandably reluctant to share . At 18 years old he was plunged into a living nightmare, as were many his age . It is difficult for me to imagine what he must have experienced .

Games

In our televisual mutltimedia society we have forgotten how to enjoy ourselves by partaking in family games . Tonight we all, as a family, went for tea at the house some older friends of ours . The girls loved playing crown green bowls , croquet , table tennis and some indoor boardgames . Three hours of enjoyment without an electrical gizmo in sight . Its called quality time with your family ...Something that is sadly lost to many a household these days ....I wonder how the nation would cope if we had a National No Television Day ....I think I'll give Sir Bob Geldoff a ring and get him on the case ....Now there's a thought .

Shopping

My wife and three daughters have just walked through the door , heavily laden with bags ...which in turn means that the bank balance is heavily laden ...oh the joys of Fatherdom ...back to Romans chapter 5 ...maybe I'll forget about the bank balance ...i'll let you know ...........

Joy

Dont you think that as a Christian , I should be one of the most positive people in the world ...being able to rejoice no matter what the circumstance . So I am really going to try hard to rejoice as I face a huge mountain called revision over the next few days . I am being helped by the fact that I am studying Romans as part of my Degree ... a book written by one on the greatest converts to Christianity that ever lived ...a guy who thought Jesus was a fraud, until he met him that is . In fact ever since the apostle Paul's day , not a single person has ever physically met with Jesus, but billions have met him through the eyes of faith . I had that experience at the age of 21 ..and if you are reading this and thinking ' What is it all about' life that is , then Check out Jesus for yourself ...get hold of a bible and start reading Johns Gospel ...read it with an open mind and with a willingness to accept whatever you are hit with ....maybe you too will see Jesus through the eyes of faith and come to realise that life is much more than work , sex, money , things , relationships ....there is much much more to it than that .......get in touch with the God who put you here and see for yourself

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Gadgets

I'm a bloke and as such I have a natural affinity to Gadgets , at the moment its MP3 players and in particular my I-river player . Its superb ....Especially for a trainee preacher man like me . I walk the Dog listening to the hottest sermons on the web ...Exercise and spiritual food ..what more does a man need ...this gadget also allows me to revise whilst driving the car ...I simply record all of my course notes onto the player and hey presto portable revision ...all mankind should have access to this Gadget .

Canvas paintings

My wife and her friend are about to set out on the entrepreneurial ocean . They ( with a little encouragement from my friend and I ) have decided to sell some of their artwork . They are both quite arty you see so to my mind it makes sense to launch them on to the outside world ...They have come upon with an name GilTy .....so watch out for some of their canvas paintings

More procrastination

Have you ever grappled with self discipline ....like be able to stop yourself eating ...like having the determination to get and then stay fit ..like actually spending 6 or 7 hours of solid work without allowing yourself to be distracted ...well if you know the sectret then let me know ..

A little about me . I live in England . I am happily married and have been for nearly 18 years now . I have three lovely daughters all of which are growing up too fast . I used to be a senior exec in a medium sized company and now I study theology whilst working part time for my local church ......so there you go ...I wonder , now you have some snipets of my life history what you imagine me to be like ???

First edition

Well here I go a blogging ...who knows were this will lead to . I do hope to protect my anonimity on this site using it primarily for dumping my thoughts onto the world .

this morning I should have started doing some work for my exams ,but as usual I find myself procrastinating ...this blog is one of my procrastinations !!!