Who do you say I am ?

Ive been asked to take the "Thomas Adams High school" act of worship this morning ...our Katie is petrified because its her year , year 9..... "Dad please just tell them your name is Rob , don't mention your second name " she begged this morning ;-)

Anyway I have been given the title "Sitting on the Fence"...... so I have decided to tell of the time (recorded in Matthew 16) when Jesus asked some of his disciples "who do you say that I am " . Peters response was the response of a man of faith " You are the Christ , the Son of the living God"

How would you answer the same question today ?

I'll let you know how mortified Katie was later :-)

Train Tracks

Went to the Dentist with Laura yesterday ( my youngest daughter) . She had an X-ray which revealed some congestion in her gums ....All those teeth desperately trying to get through to give her a beaming smile ...... The problem she has is that there is no room for them to get out ....The dentist seems to think a brace might be in order ( train tracks as the kids call them)... As you can imagine Laura isnt too chuffed with the prospect ;-(

Not preaching this weekend ...which feels a little weird so I am trying (unsuccessfully) to get ahead of myself for a busy week next week when I am speaking six times .....

Photos from the weekend ...that wouldn't upload yesterday

Daliah's

Mark and Claire

& Anna's purple rinse !!

Fondue....Purple rinse and Daliah's

Good weekend ...Saturday night we entertained Mark& Claire who brought along their Fondue set . It was the first time I had experienced this French delight . It was very tasty .

Anna my eldest daughter had an eventful weekend ...she decided to dye her hair ...only it turned out a little too purple for her liking and now she is devastated with the thought of school today :-)

The harvest thanksgiving service went well with a packed church and soup and a roll afterwards ...along with the statutory apple pie and cream .... Gill was given the daliahs from the church ..... A wonderful bunch grown by a member of the congregation [ Am I starting to sound old :-) ]

Study day today interspersed with a brief talk at the high school christian union at lunch time

Friday Fun & Fellowship

The "tuck shop" went down well at YP last night ....the principle buyer ..a la me , received rave reviews .

It was a busy evening for me , attending all three of our Friday night youth meetings , numbers have been up since "Holiday Bible Club" particularly at the Dynamites club ( for 3-7 yr olds) ...this is great .. ... They had a question and answer session at junior YPF ...I was on the panel and dealt with ..."How do you know God exists ?" ..."Is it wrong to have sex before marriage".... " Should I go out with someone who doesn't believe what I do " ...along with many other brilliant questions ...we ran out of time so we will be having part 2 in the near future .

Senior Yp went well ...Kirsty led ( and she was excellent) , Claire gave her testimony ( which was very moving) and then I spoke on Mark Chapter 2 .

I met one of the dads afterwards ...a fellow scouser who owns his own marketing business called " Strawberry Fields " ... John , having spoken to him and read a little of his web page , has some interesting theories on the future , and Quantum Physics .......so John , if you are reading this , I'll take you up on that chat over a glass of wine some evening ....... Oh he is a Liverpool supporter so his credentials are exemplary ..

Laura my youngest daughter want me to mention that she really enjoyed her day out with her school yesterday . They traveled all the way down to Bristol to see the SS Great Britain .

Till Death do us part

I've been saddened today by the news of two marriages that have fallen apart , both for very different reasons . It breaks my heart when I hear of such things because I know the pain that it brings . Peoples lives for a time , often for a long time are devastated as they lose all sense of stability .... all that was once safe and secure , all that was once loving and comfortable is shattered .

The pain of a broken marriage can be unbearable and lonely , I'll certainly be praying for the two couples and their children , praying that they will be reconciled despite their differences.

Ultimately Christ is the only solution to the pains of this world .....but unfortunately very few people recognise that . {Luke 19:10}

Cash and Carry

Today has been been a first for me .....a visit to the "cash and carry" superstore ....Bookers in Shewsbury.... You see, one of my newly found responsibilities is to be the principal buyer for the youth club tuck shop ...... the diversity of my role is quite staggering .... anyway I was very impressed with the prices .... and Iam sure the youth will be suitably impressed with there sugar content :-)

Managed to do some of my harvest thanksgiving sermon today ....I've changed my mind about the passage three times now .....but finally I have settled on this text .

Gill has my cold ..... I think its good that we share everything in our marriage :-))

Curly wurlies

I did an assembly this morning at Lower Heath Primary school .....it involve me giving away 5 curly wurlies ......my all time favourite sweet ...... It killed me to give them all away ...

Still struggling with Sundays sermon ....... and the clock is ticking :-))

Wheat ......and harvest and all that ...

Iv'e been thinking a little about wheat today ....{the things that trainee pastors do with their day :-)}

You see this Sunday morning we are having our Harvest thanksgiving service and because Wem is a rural farming community then this service becomes fairly important .....hence the reason I am studying wheat ....

Prior to this morning all I knew was "weetabix " and "shredded wheat" .... but now having looked it up I know a lot more .....

The text Iwill be using on Sunday is taken from Johns Gospel Ch 12

23Jesus replied, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

I'll let you know how the sermon develops ....

Visiting this afternoon and then a "Christianity Explained" meeting tonight for those who want to know more about the Christian faith .

Yesterday

Sunday was a restful day , despite leading worship in the morning and preaching in the evening .

I preached on the subject of "The Last Day" ( see Friday's post) . ...All of us need to be ready

Dave and Deb our good friends from Winterley came over for the day along with two of their children Abi and John . We enjoyed a traditional British Sunday roast together ...roast beef and Yorkshire pud ...fantastic

Dave is becoming more and more involved in street preaching ( you will find him out and about on the streets of Crewe once a month on a Sat morn) . I asked him to speak on the work he was doing at our time of worship last night . He told us about his experience of open air preaching at Speakers Corner earlier this year with an organisation called Christian Answers ....its a very tough ministry ...and I admire those who have the courage to do it ..

Today is all about study , study and more study ......degrees in theology don't come easy :-)

Time to relax a bit

Had some time to relax a bit today and mow the lawn :-( ...was up early to finish Sunday nights sermon and then the rest of the day was dedicated to the aforementioned lawn , a walk around one of the local beauty spots ( Colemere ...where Chester decided to swim after the geese!!) a BBQ ( probably the last this year) and then finally a game of Halma in which I managed to annihilate the rest of the family .....but then again they are only girls :-))

The last Trumpet

I have been spending the last couple of days studying, reflecting and writing on the Subject of my Sunday night sermon ......The Last Day

The bible speaks about the future , it tells us what will happen on that great and awful day . The challenge for you and I is whether or not we believe what its telling us .

The very last book of the bible , the book of Revelation written by the Apostle John whilst exiled on the Isle of Patmos gives us some very clear insights into what will happen ....

Rev 20 11-20

11Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

The apostle Paul in writing to the church in Thessalonica wanted to encourage those who believed in Christ as their Lord and Saviour to look forward to that day ..he said this
( 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18)

16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18Therefore encourage each other with these words.

The challenge for you and I is whether you believe all this will happen ..... I do , as do the millions of Christians who have gone before me and who I will see on that great day as we gather together.

The question is do you believe it ? ....if you want to know more ...if you are challenged or concerned about these texts ... if you once believed and are now struggling... then drop me a line(whiteway@supanet.com) or come along to Wem on Sunday night ( 6:30pm ) and hear a little more ....I would love to have the opportunity to give you a hope in Christ that would assure you of an eternal peace in Him ..both for this life and what lies beyond

Busy

Its been a busy couple of days ....many meetings mixed in with a couple of preaching engagements . One of which was at a residential home this afternoon . We all celebrated harvest together ....Wem being a farming community .... I chatted to some of the residents , one old chap Doug is 92 and still has all his mental faculties ...which is more than you can say for me :-)

Anyway I must dash ...I need to prepare for a Mission 2006 meeting ...which is tonights gathering ...I might get around to looking at Sundays Sermons tomorrow .....Oh by the way the cold is still horrendous and still there is no sympathy :-(((

Anniversary Celebration

Instead of going for a bag of chips we decided to go out for an anniversary celebratory meal at the Dragon King in Shewsbury . It was great and the owners gave us an ice cream with a candle in it whilst playing the wedding march .....nice touch

Its been a while since we have been out for a meal together, something we used to do all the time in our more affluent days and I guess it was made more special because of that fact .

Anyway update on my cold ......its even more horrendous today ....I need sympathy ..

4 meetings planned today ....One for Senior Youth Club , one for " Riding with Giants" ( a schools event we are holding in November with over 200 primary school children) , an Elders meeting and then the church prayer meeting .......plenty of lemsips in between :-(

Return to Wheelock

Yesterday we all went over to Wheelock Heath Baptist Church to witness the baptism of six people who wanted to make a public declaration of their faith . Three of the six where part of the youth group that I used to be involved in ,which made it even more special .

It was a great time of fellowship. It was good to see friends who we had not seen for over a year ..

Today the Christian Union at The Thomas Adams High school starts back and I'm kicking it off with a brief talk on the "Armour of God" ..I also need to prepare for a Harvest service being held in a local residential home on Wednesday ..as wel as putting a few hours of study in for my theology degree ....sometimes I wish the clock would tick a little slower :-)

Oh I forgot to mention its our wedding anniversary today .... 18 years to the day ..and we are both still smiling :-) we are going to buy a bag of chips between us in celebration later on ....

One other bit of news is that I have a horrendous cold and because I am a bloke everybody gets to know how bad I feel ...so now you know as well

Recommended Website

www.searchgodsword.org Is an excellent web site for those who are serious about studying the Word of God. You will find every resource necessary for detailed research ...check it out for yourself .

I survived

My first venture into Radio broadcasting went reasonably well last night . I was a guest on the Radio Shropshire evening news and current affairs programme . We talked about many things ranging from football and cricket to lie detectors and plane spotting !! I did however manage to introduce the bible thanks to Melvyn Braggs new TV series which hit the papers yesterday . He will be reviewing the 12 most influential publications of all time in a TV series due out next April . One of which was the New King James Bible of 1611 ..I was able to talk a little about its history...If you want to learn more about its history and the development of the bible in the English language then click here .

Today I will be visiting a couple of folk in town , both of which have suffered from major illnesses recently and then I will be preparing for tonights youth meeting , The first after the summer hols ..

Radio Star :-))

I have been asked to a guest on a Radio Shropshire current affairs programme tonight . I must admit to being a wee bit nervous as this is my first time ....I'll let you know how it went .

Duff mobile Phone

Katie had her mobile phone stolen a couple of months ago ...we eventually got round to replacing it with a VK phone from the Vodafone shop ...the trouble is that we have been back to the shop to replace it three times now ....every exchange phone that we have been given in return has turned out to be faulty ...

Now in a past life ...when I worked for a mobile phone repair centre ...this would have meant good news as it would generate more income ...but not any more ....I am fast becoming "Mr not so laid back" when I deal with those nice people at the Vodafone store ...anyway the latest is I have to go back next week to pick up yet another replacement phone ..

Come back John Pullen ( ex Quality manager of the aforementioned company now happily relaxed in the heart of France :-) ..all is forgiven ..

Paper Rounds

Katie ( one of my teenage daughters) started a paper round today .....and I finished it off !!!...the poor girl became flustered when she couldn't find the addresses ...so out dad went with his trusty steed at his side ( Chester the dog ) and saved the day ......it takes me back 25 years to when I used to cycle round the streets of Liverpool for £1.50 a week ....Katie is getting a mammoth £12 a week for delivering 15 papers a day .....the youth of today don't know their born :-))

Carnival Capers

Busy weekend , Saturday was all about the carnival ......as you can see from the pics .

Yesterday I preached at Wem in the morning and then in the evening I preached at Bradley Road Baptist Church in Wrexham , where the organist turned out to be an old school teacher of mine ...I think it came as a bit of a shock to him to see me preaching :-)

Onwards and Upwords

Last night we had a lovely BBQ as guests of the Atkins family along with Norman and Edi Jones . Norm and Edi brought along a game called Upwords .....if you like scrabble you will like this . My team were pipped at the post by Normans team who had obviously swallowed a dictionary before playing .

I managed to finish my sermon prep yesterday ...speaking from Luke 18:9-14 . The parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector . I was really struck by the Tax-collectors prayer ...He couldn't even lift his head because he knew he was in the presence of almighty God ...he cried " Have mercy on me , a sinner" ....a prayer we can all learn from

Today is all about the Wem Carnival ....I'll be back in the clown gear later being paraded around town on a float ....hopefully pics to follow ..

Chimenea & Friends ...a recipe for a good time

If you haven't got a chimenea , then can I recommend that you get one . You cannot beat the glow of a good fire in the open air , with a glass of liquid refreshment and the company of good friends ...

As you can see from the photo ...Danny , Julie ....with some of their tribe .. a la Jacob , Chloe and Naomi came for tea and chimenea last night ....along with the little fella Danny ( on the right of your picture )

It was a lovely evening ...Thanks for your company guys ...now the clear up begins :-)

One other bit of news ....Mike my eldest daughters boyfriend passed his driving test yesterday ...another boy racer hits the road ...Well done Mike .

Prayer meeting , stars and Llandudno !!

Tuesday night was a lovely night ....firstly we, as a combined congregations of Wem and Prees had a time of prayer and study in God's word that was truly blessed . We looked together at a passage from the Book of Romans ...and Reminded ourselves of the Priveledge of being "called sons of God" , supported and guided by the Presence of the Holy Spirit and then also the Pain and suffering that are part and parcel of living in a world that is fallen and decaying ....3p's ..for all of you who like alliteration..

Upon arriving home we all ( my family that is ) sat outside on a clear , warm summers night and looked up at the stars . It was brilliant ...I saw four shooting stars and two satellites ...never seen a satellite before ....I got quite exited about it all , maybe I start watching " The sky at night " with Sir Patrick Moore

Yesterday we spent the day in Llandudno with the youth from the church, approx 20 of us trekking up the "Great Orme" in the rain ...yes it was wet ...very wet at times , but we had a laugh . The only problem is when you go on these days out with the younger generation you always end up eating too many Macdonalds :-)