Flowers & Donations

People have been asking about flowers for the funeral . Allison , Paul's wife, has requested that instead of flowers , money be donated to the Treetops Trust . An organisation that was an enormous help to the family during the last few days of Paul's life .

Collection plates will be at the Woodlands Church during the thanksgiving service on Monday for this purpose .

Funeral Arrangements ....Paul

For those of you who are planning on attending Paul's funeral then the details are as follows ...

On Monday 5th November ....

First of all there will be a service of committal at Markeaton Crematorium ( click here for address and directions). This will begin at 2:40pm .

Secondly following on from this there will be a service of thanksgiving at Woodlands Evangelical Church Allestree ( click Here for Address). This service is scheduled to start at @3:40pm and will be followed by tea/coffee and some cake ( my mate , like myself , loved cake ! )

If you want any further details then please email me ...my address can be found by clicking profiles in the right hand column of this blog .

I'll see you again mate :-)

My best mate went to be with the Lord today . I will miss him .It hurts .

Had one of those dreaded calls..

Yesterday we had a call from Dads hospice advising us to come in as Dad was very unwell. We feared the worst . However upon arrival he had picked up and was sat up in bed eating his spare ribs and mashed potato :-)

I was glad to be able to have an hour with my dad on my own . Told him that I loved him .

We were meant to be going over to see Paul today but we have just had another phone call to say that Paul is also very unwell ...we await the next call ...

"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." Isaiah 26:3

Had a break ....SHOPPING !!!

When you have three teenage daughters and you ask them.. "What would you like to do this afternoon girls " the answer invariably will be .."Oh lets go to the shops dad" . Not "Oh lets go for a walk" or "lets go to the park and play football" or "lets go and do something remotely interesting" ...No SHOPPING .

Now don't get the wrong idea , sometimes I like to shop but these girls of mine LOVE to shop . Poor things , they are victims you know , as I keep on reminding them , victims of our shallow must have the latest thing culture . And they agree , "Yes Dad we know we are victims and one day we will get over it but in the meantime lend me 20 quid for this nice pair of boots Ive seen !!"

Cant win ...so I rolled over and did the dad thing yesterday afternoon ..on a bright note though we did treat ourselves to dinner at " Frankie And Benny's" ..so the day didn't finish up too bad :-)

Lot's of miles ...

Doing lots of travelling at the moment between Derby , Wem & Liverpool . The car, poor thing ,doesn't know whats hit it !!

The girls ( Anna , Katie & Laura) went to a concert in Wrexham on Friday with the church , "Lou Fellingham and Phatfish ". They thought it was superb and would recommend you go an download some of their music .

Sunday was a bit of a rush ..preaching in the morning at Wem and then Hospital visits in Liverpool ... I fell asleep at Gill's mums house whilst Lewis Hamilton was losing the Brazillian Grand Prix !! I must have been tired :-)

Dreading the phone call

Sometimes you can become a little perplexed by the situations and the challenges that this life presents you with .One of those challenges is death and how to deal with it . Or as in the circumstances that myself and friends and family now find themselves in , how to deal with the impending death of people you love .This is every bit as challenging as the event itself ...
Jesus though , has a solution for every problem ...we just need to trust Him a little more ...

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 1Peter 5:7

Good news ...Bad news

The good news yesterday was that Paul ( my best mate) was fit enough to go home from hospital . The bad news is that my Dad who is also suffering from cancer was taken in to the Marie Curie Hospice in Liverpool .

Dad has suffered with his lungs for many years having contracted emphsema about 20 years ago and now in recent months this has developed into cancer .

Amidst his suffering my dad always manages to crack a few jokes . I really admire his sense of humour even though his days are pretty dark at the moment . If you get a chance pray for my dad . He needs to fully comprehend in his heart that The Lord Can be his Shepherd and that he can lead him through the valley of the shadow of death if only he would let him .

Please pray ...thanks

Sleeplessness....

Gill & I went without sleep last night because we were at the hospital bedside of a friend we love dearly . Our friend is feeling a bit better today but I am suffering because I have had no sleep.

It's an interesting phenomena sleep , our bodies built in self replenishment system and when we don't get any boy do we feel it ... Or maybe it's just me and the fact that I am getting older and need much much more beauty sleep than I used to ...

Anyway must go ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzz

Return of the Old Scouter..

Yesterday I was privileged to lead and preach at my old Sea Scouts annual re-affirmation of promises service , held in my old scout headquarters.

It was a great occasion and the nostalgia was almost overwhelming . David Hope my troop leader over 30 years ago is still troop leader . Both he and Brenda his sister between them have clocked up nearly 80 years service to the cause of Scouting . Wonderful dedication and stickability .

I was glad to give a little of what Iam able to do back to the Scout Movement . It was a good night and I was allowed the opportunity to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ .

Many thanks to all involved and I look forward to seeing you all again .

Happiness / Joy whats all that about

Listen & Watch this .... From Mark Driscoll ...From Here

Indifference ...To Jesus Christ

... Are you indifferent to Jesus Christ ..... maybe it's time you started to be bothered ..

Answering The Big Questions ...

I started another eight week course tonight . Lots of folk turned up all with faith related questions .... Great stuff . It always amazes me how each of these courses turn out to be different mainly because of the different personalities that turn up .I am looking forward to the debates that we will inevitably have over the coming weeks . If you live in or around Wem and are over 18 then you are more than welcome to join us ...click here for more details

Last weekend...

The Whiteway clan were all over the place last weekend .... Anna was in Liverpool with Ben , Katie was at a camp reunion . Laura & I were on our YPF weekend and Gill was pounding the roads of Newcastle taking part in the great North Run .

The YPf Camp was brilliant at Cefyn Lea....our guest speaker Lazlo ( from Romania ..in case your wondering about the name ) was superb and all were challenged and encouraged .

Gill managed a time of 2hrs and 32 minutes which is brilliant considering it was her first half marathon. She also managed to raise over £5oo for a cancer support charity . In total four of our

folk from Church competed :- Gill, Helen , Sarah and Richard ( dressed as a duck ..which does suit his personality :-) ) Well done to them all .

40th celebrations

A couple of weekends ago we spent a happy time with our bessy mates celebarating Ali's 4oth ..bought her a years supply of "Oil of Olay" !!!

I am still around

Sorry for not blogging for so long ...sometimes you can get out of the blogging habit .

Lots has happened over this last month ...when Iget a chance either tonight or tomorrow I will post a few photo's ...