Danny & Julie & a £32,000 bottle of whisky

Danny and Julie popped over last night with some of their tribe ..for some strange reason the conversation turned to whisky and Danny and I discovered this story ..posted on the BBC news web site about a businessman who bought a rare bottle of whisky for £32,000 and then drank it that same night with his friends .....£32k on a bottle of whisky ...we live in a mad and often sad world ...

More Christmas Photo's from Paul &Al's

Check out the wellies.....
One of Paul's most valued Christmas presents was a range of products from this company ...click the link and look at his photo ....he is a man in desperate need of their rejuvenating power ;-)
It was a very snowy couple of days
Its a good job I haven't added the sound file ..I thought I would spare you that ....
Dan one of their Alsatians ...

Boxing Day

We have been away for a few days ...well actually we got a little snowed in at Paul and Ali's house in Derbyshire .....Photo's of that to follow later on ..

But for now I thought you could see the Boxing Day crowd who descended on us ...My sister Jane , Nick and their children ..Naomi & Ben ....As well as my mum and Gill's mum and dad

A traditional day .....excess food ...children exited , Nanna catching 40 winks on the sofa .... I wonder how many homes up and down the land had a similar experience :-)

I bet you didn't have Darth Vader though ...

I still had my pinny on !!

This was taken from Katies new camera .... I still had my apron on ....next year I really must explore a little more of my masculine side :-)

Hope you all had a good Christmas day ....

Poor Santa

These pilots must be blind ...poor santa !!

Visit from the Wrights

We felt sorry for this lot ...so we took them in ..gave them a cup of coffee and a mince pie and sent them on their way ....oh by the way the one with the silver streaks in his hair is Pastor Phil .... he has shares in this company :-)

The Delightful Dakin's

Ron , Lorna , Martha and Matt called in last night for a takeaway and a wee dram around the chimenea ....Ron being slightly deranged thought it would be a good idea to roast some mince pies over the open flame .... and strangely enough they tasted rather nice ...so forget about roasting chestnuts , roast your mince pies instead

Incidentally I thought you ought to know that Lorna is now in her 40th year :-)

Thought for the day

This one is taken from Jonah Chpt 2

"Those who cling to worthless idols

forfeit the grace that could be theirs"

Odd one out

Ever felt like your the odd one out :-)

Carols on the Corner

On Tuesday night I was asked to lead a group of 50 or so neighbours who wanted to gather together to sing carols , organised by a couple of folk who live at the end of our street . It was good to see people willing to step out of the hectic Christmas shedule and take time to reflect on the message of Christmas through the singing of Carols ..

Yesterday I started reading Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones' book "Studies on the sermon on the mount" ...Highly recommended ...60 sermons that expound Christ's blueprint for Christian living found in Matthew Chapters 5-7

Today I am off to one of the local residential homes with a few folk from the church , carols , mince pies and a christmas message from me ... I think I will be speaking on Simeon ...read his story here ....an old man who was able to die in peace because he was able to say "for my eyes have seen your salvation"......

What does the Lord require of you ?

Bin thinking about this text this morning ....thought you might like to as well ...(Micah 6:8)

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

Aim at the fly

A touch of toilet Humour .....To think that someone actually sat down and pondered the problem of urinal spillage ... crazy world .....My wife has ordered one for our house !!

Carol Service

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Taken from Luke's Gospel ...Good news of great Joy ...the prevalent theme of our Carol Service last night . 330 folk came to join us . The singing was great and the gospel preached very clearly by Phil was even greater...

Spellings

If like me you are not particularly good at spelling ...then be consoled..... you are not alone
:-)

In The Bleak Mid Winter

Over the last couple of days I have been attending various Christmas performances put on by the children ... Laura ( my youngest ) had a starring role in one of them, singing a solo part of that popular carol " In the bleak mid winter" ....the last verse in this Carol is always a challenge to me at this time of year ....

What can I give him,Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherdI would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise manI would do my part;
Yet what I can I give him-Give my heart.

Jesus when asked what is the greatest commandment of all replied ' To love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength' ( mark 12 :30)

Today, why dont you spend a few moments thinking about the verse from the Carol and the command from Christ and ask yourself honestly am I giving Him all that I am ....

Psalm 51

Read this psalm ....think about it , pray about it and then go to this page ...scroll down to the sermon on Psalm 51 , sit back and listen ..or better still download it to your mp3 player , go for a walk and listen ...its approx 60 minutes ..but a valuable 60 minutes ...far more beneficial to your life than the time it takes to watch a couple of your favourite soaps ...

Chess

Laura ( my 10 yr old) is learning chess via an online tutorial at Chesskids.com . The site is excellent , she has picked up all the moves in just a few lessons ...so it won't be long before she has dad in checkmate :-(

Dentist

Reminds me, I must make a dental appointment :-)

Quiet weekend

Ever had one of those weekends whereby you are not racing here there and everywhere , fetching kids, going shopping ...etc ...yes I know they are a rarity ...but this weekend I was able to relax ...a word not used by 40 something men very often ..

On Saturday I purchased the Daily Telegraph, managing to read more than a couple of pages . In the evening we had a meal at my sisters house followed by a visit to Borders books ...the best shop in the world that stays open late into the evening ..

On Sunday I wasn't preaching ...Phil ( the Pastor ) was back all fired up from his sabbatical and In the afternoon I sat down and watched a movie with the kids " Miracle on 34th Street" ..you wouldn't doubt Santa after watching it ..

So all very relaxing , rare but appreciated

Old Crooners

At this time of year I tend to crave the music of the old crooners ...Bing Crosby , Frank Sinatra , Dean Martin etc ...if you haven't heard of these guys then you haven't lived ...I remember my mum playing them all the time as a kid so I guess I am harping back to my childhood :-)

Off to the Panto tonight with forty teenagers ...should be fun ...look out if you live in Crewe ... Wem are hitting town tonight ....

Opportunities

Keron Fletcher spoke really well last night at the church Christmas meal .... A very clear gospel message for Christmas ..

Today I have been involved in a mother and toddler Christmas party and an assembly at Prees Primary school ..... both wonderful opportunities to share the good news .

Phil's ( the pastor )officially back from his sabbatical today ... I have managed to survive 3and a half months without him ...I have missed him though and I'm glad he is back ...Perhaps will be able to do some studying for college now !!

Katie would like me to inform you that she went to the "Clothes show live" in Birmingham today ..she recommends it ..so you all have to go next year ...

Who was Jesus ?

I had an hour long conversation with a man last week who was struggling to understand just who Jesus was and why all the fuss is made of him . He had a problem with the historicity of the bible, particularly its authenticity .

If you have the same problems can I recommend this book by John Blanchard ,in it he explores the historical evidence for Jesus and then goes on to look at the mans message and its impact ... order it as a stocking filler for Christmas ...it might turn out to be the best investment you ever made ...

Too Many Mince Pies :-(

Got on the scales today ....my first failure in four weeks ....Didn't make the target , I didn't however put any weight on . So its a 2lb target this week ... so I better go and prepare the lettuce leaves ;-)

Tonight we have a Christmas meal with some of the folk from the church . 108 people are going, 50% of which are people who don't normally go to church . After the turkey and mince pies ( which I wont be having of course) we will be hearing a gospel message from our guest speaker Dr Keron Fletcher a consultant psychiatrist from Shrewsbury ....looking forward to it , I will keep you posted ;-)

Festive fervor

Spent the weekend with the family doing Christmassy things ...like buying and decorating the tree ... I get involved in the buying but not involved in the decorating ( its a man thing !!).... all the girls have their own opinion on how the tree should look so I just let them get on with it :-).

The week ahead involves a number of speaking engagements mainly in schools , with the run in to Christmas the kids will be hyper exited .... as are most of the adults .....

Have you done any shopping yet ..... us blokes are so thankful for this new phenomenon called "Internet Shopping" ..no longer having to spend hours looking for a parking space in a packed shopping centre desperately searching for that present that will put a smile on her face and guarantee a large slice of turkey on the day

I thought this was hilarious ...

Dont forget the carrots

1st day of December .....only 25 days to go ...dont forget to order the carrots , you know how Santa's reindeer love them :-)

Vegetarians and God

I did another RE lesson with year 7's at church today ...great opportunity , particularly because the 6th formers who accompanied them wanted to stay behind and debate some issues . One young lady , who was a vegetarian wanted to know how Christians who are against murder can justify the slaughtering of innocent animals ..... How would you answer that ?

I took her back to Genesis 1 and showed her that originally it wasn't meant to be that way ..man lived in harmony with all animals ...then I showed her what went wrong Genesis 3 ...when sin entered this world ...the whole creative order was turned upside down ... I went on to say that God, after our fall, decreed that we were to eat animals ....but emphasizing that this was as a result of our disobedience ... "Don't blame God" I said ..."blame mankinds sin"....it made her think and she took a book away with her explaining the basics of the Christian faith ..