Football,family & friends

Good day on Saturday ...England got off to a win , not a brilliant performance but a win never the less. We had about 60 folk in from the town and church to watch the game on the big screen and I'm hoping that Thursday nights game will bring in even more .

Saturday evening was spent over at the Cliff residence in Sandbach .Chris the man of the house has reached the grand old age of 60 . It was good to celebrate this monumental event with a number of friends from our old church at Wheelock Heath .

On Sunday we celebrated another birthday , Gramps this time . A barbecue on a very hot June day .

I preached on Sunday Night ( Galatians 1:10-24) . It was very hot ...Not the sermon unfortunately but the temperature :-)

The big Question in the ABQ course tonight is "What is God Like?" ...So that's what I am preparing today .

Psalm 145

Read it and feel it as David did ...Click here

We shared this Psalm at our Sat Morn Prayer meeting this morning.

If you have a chance ...in between the football, then meditate on it today.

" The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. "

Glorious Sunshine

Well ...I think it is four days of sunshine on the run now ...temperatures souring ..hosepipe bans looming ..fantastic

Englands first game today hoping to draw a big crowd down at the church ...Pics to follow later

Billy Bob's on the net

My nephew Rob is now live on the internet . He is a great bloke and I love him to bits . You can read about him on his Myspace site here

Now I have to say Rob ...That photo on his site is very flattering ...Taken by a professional photographer who obviously applied liberal doses of make up and has a good photo editor software :-)

Here is the real deal for all the lovers of truth ..


.

Poster is done ..Come on England

How do we know God exists?

Last night at the ABQ course we attempted to answer the Question " How do we know God exists?" A question that most of us will ask at some point in our lives .

In the time I had I looked at some of the evidence .

1. In the beauty & complexity of our universe.
Is it really the result of a random explosion of atoms ? Or could it have been designed and made by a God whose intellect is beyond our comprehension.

( Check out this web site designed to give you an alternative to evolutionary theory)

2. In the Human race .
Why do we worship? Now we may not worship God but we do have a need to worship something . It might be money , fame ,football. Anthropologists ( those who study human nature) conclude that within humans there is a desire to worship something greater than themselves . That desire to worship I believe is from God .
Why do we have an acute sense of right and wrong ? Surely if we were just a random collection of atoms & molecules then rape, murder, lies wouldn't matter . But they do matter . Why ? Because God has written his law on our hearts and because of that we know the difference between right and wrong.

3. Evidence in changed lives.
Why is it that countless millions of people down the centuries have testified to the fact that they have had an encounter with God . A God who has literally transformed their lives . Men , women , children ,who tell of the transforming power of a living active God .

A supernatural God is very much alive and he moves amongst us calling us . Is he calling you ?

4. The evidence of the Bible .
If you believe that the Bible is God's written word to mankind then you will also believe that God exists . If you don't believe in the Bible as the word of God then I would ask you to do some research . Check out its authenticity , it's historicity with an open mind and be prepared for life changing revelation .

This web site might help you explore some of the facts about the Bible.

Thats the rough guide to the question " Does God exist?" We discussed these issues and many others for an hour and a half last night . If you have questions then e-mail me I will be glad to send you some of the course notes ..

Preparing some advertising for the England world cup games today and then distributing it around the local shops . We are showing all of England's games on the big screen . Come on England :-)

Weekend Report..all about Anger Management.

I forgot to mention that Katie ( middle Cherub) returned home from a triumphant netball tour in Italy ..staying near lake Garda . She was well impressed with Italy , particularly the city of Verona . Nothing to do with the good looking Italian boys of course ;




Anger is an emotion that often transforms us into something we would rather not be.

Saturday for me was all about preparation for Sunday . I preached on "Anger management" using Ephesians 4:17-32 as a basis for God's instruction on an emotion that if uncontrolled can cause much heartache and suffering .

I was grateful to Stuart Olyott for his three R's

REDIRECT your anger ...Pray first , look for a solution to your problem that is glorifying to God. A solution that is motivated by kindness and love and not bitterness and rage .
be RECONCILED to those who anger you or who are angered by you ...Don't let the sun set on your anger ...Don't let is fester ....Sort it out before your head hits the pillow .
REPLACE your anger with forgiveness ...."Just as God forgave you through Christ"...Swallow pride ...Be prepared to say I'm sorry and forgive me .


Today is about about preparing for tonights ABQ session ( Answering the Big Questions)

Tonights Big Question is " How do we know that God exists ? " ..I'll let you ponder that one for a day and I'll give you a couple of pointers in tomorrows posting

Blowing away the Cobwebs

Phil & T ( the Pastor and his wife) have part ownership in a narrowboat called "Cobwebs" and yesterday we went along to spend the afternoon with them .

It was very relaxing , the tranquility of the British canal ways is something that you should experience from time to time ... some pics of the afternoon ..

What a catch :-)

Back from a successful days fishing ...I caught the first rainbow trout and then Paul eventually caught his ( my fish I have to say was a much better specimen ..even though his was slightly bigger!!)

It was a great day ...nice to chill out every now and then

Gone fishin ....

We are all going away for a couple of days to stay with our best mates over in Derbyshire

Paul & I will be going fishing tomorrow ...hoping to catch a couple of tiddlers like the one above

I'm shattered ..photo's from the YPF2006 camp

Listen2Luke.......L2L 2006

For all you guys who went ....the three D's

1. Determined
2. Disciplined
3. Different ..

It starts now....

L2L more pics

Youth weekend away

It's the YPF ( Young peoples Fellowship ) weekend this weekend ..starting tonight and running through to Monday evening...

I have prepared the messages , 5 of them under the umbrella called L2L ( Listen to Luke) ..so goodbye sleep ...hello fatigue ;-)

photo's to follow next week ...if I survive that is

The hare and the tortoise

Do you remember the Aesop's fable "The hare & the tortoise"

Well I went for a 4 mile run with Gill last night ( yes I did say 4 miles) ...She was the hare and I was the tortoise ..except for one thing though ...this time the hare won ... a full four minutes before the tortoise crawled home !

Studious Look

Some of you have been wondering what mystudy den is like ....You have been watching too much Big Brother..

Anyway this is me at my desk trying to look as if I am concentrating ...the grey hairs are just for effect of course :-)

Rainy days

Don't you just love the rain !!! Poured incessant from above ...

But if you live down south ..Despite the deluge ... You must still share your bathwater :-)

Today I have an assembly at Newtown primary , a quick cup of coffee and a chat at the mums & toddlers group and then many hours spent in the study preparing five messages for our youth weekend away which starts this Friday .

I have thought of the catchy acronym ... L2L

Now the challenge for you is to guess what that means .... the winning entrant will be invited to a free weight training session with my wife ( see photo in previous post)

I told her to stop but she wouldn't listen

I told Gill that all of this exercise would do her no good ...but would she listen
:-)

I'm feeling tired today

Feel a bit like the bear ...just want to slob ...but too much to do

Do You Believe or Don't you ?

Last night went well ...8 people have signed up for the ABQ course . The topic for discussion last night was "Can I trust the Bible?".

The Bible , I believe answers all of life's big questions, so it is important at the outset of this course that we establish it as the word of God .

We had some very interesting discussion last night ...

If the Bible was written by 40 different men then how can you say that it is God's word ?
The Bible is so old, surely over the years it has moved away from its original ?
What is the relevance of a book that is more than 2000 years old in our modern 21st century culture ?

All good stuff to debate

As I said though in concluding last nights session ...We can debate until we are all blue in the face ...Ultimately it will always boil down to "Do you believe it or don't you ?"

Answering the Big Questions ?

Tonight is the second installment of the " ABQ course" ( answering the big questions)

A 10 week course aimed at people who want to know more about the big issues in life and how the bible deals with those issues ..

Tonight's Big Question is " Can I trust the Bible ? "

Next week its " How do we know there is a God ? "

If you are interested in the course are over 18 and live relatively near then come and join us at the church 7:30 pm -8:45pm or if you prefer contact me by email.

Getting Fit :-)

Gill and I have been doing a little excercise over the last few weeks ...they say its good for you ..

I have warned her not to go too far with it though ....

Roast lamb... mmmm

Gill did a joint of Lamb for Sunday roast today ...just had to take a photo and it tasted as good as it looks .

Preached this morning on this text . The sermon was entitled " The cost of true love"

The Lord told Peter that following Him would mean all the way to Peter being crucified in his old age .

If we love Him then we obey Him and if we obey Him he sometimes takes us to places we would rather not be ....but still He says "Follow Me" .... who are we to say no Lord .

Race for Life ...

Wet Spectators !
3000 women took part in the Telford race
The Dynamic Duo
Katie , Helen, Liz, Georgie,Rachel & Gill




Gill & Katie represented our Family in the womens "Race for Life" today in Telford .. 5km ( 3 miles )

It was very wet and muddy . A few of our church women took part raising money for cancer research ..well done ladies .

Cinderella went to the Ball

Anna ( my 16 yr old) went to her school prom on Friday night ...she brushed up quite well ..obviously a chip off the old block :-)

Was that the European Cup in Wem !!!

Ssssh don't tell anyone but the European cup turned up in Wem yesterday and with the Liverpool FC Community team we did school assemblies for over 1000 kids ...brilliant day ...

Thanks to all the team who were involved it was special .

Hopefully after this Saturday we can bring the FA cup next year..

God's Provision ...A true story from last night

Listen to this true story from last night and ask yourself the question ...Just coincidence or the gracious gift of God .

6:15pm last Night Laura comes in from the Garage ( where we have our freezer) . "Dad the freezer door has been left open all night and everything has melted "

6:20 Gill empties the freezer of its defrosted contents ..approx £120 worth

Money is not that easy to come by in our house at the moment so this is a big blow to the Whiteway economy ...

We tell no one ...Gill goes off to a Netball presentation and I go off to a church meeting .

9:15pm Anna /Katie & Laura are at home when the doorbell rings .... Anna answers .There is nobody there ..She looks down and sees 3 very large bags full of Iceland Frozen foods and they promptly restock the Freezer ..

Wow ... Gill and I come home a little later and with the Girls we all give thanks for God's provision to us ..

Remember ..We told no one about this mini disaster ... Coincidence ...No ...God's provision yes

Will over for the Day

Also on Saturday my mate Will came over for the day ...Will is a Man utd supporter... so what did I make him watch with me in the afternoon ...yes last years European Cup Final ...you remember it the one where Liverpool triumphantly defeated the AC Milan pretenders to take the most coveted trophy in Europe . Will loved every minute of it :-)

A future Wayne Rooney

My nephew Ben scored ALL four goals in the final of the Wirral peninsula cup on Saturday morning . A brilliant achievement given that his side won the game 4-3

Well done Ben ...a future star of England

Sweet 16

Anna ( the one in the pink ) was 16 years young yesterday..

And how did she want to spend the day ...yep ..You guessed it ..Shopping in Chester ...Forget the historical significance of the City , the Roman walls , the civil war stories , the beautiful Cathedral and the wonderful promenade by the river Dee that flows through it

No ...none of that ...Lets get to the shops....All four of them ganged up on me ..

museums and monuments are for old people dad :-(

And then to top it all she had a load of other teenagers over in the evening for a make-over party ...

Its official then ...she's 16 and I'm feeling ancient ..

Sowing the seeds

Laura ...my youngest daughter planted some seeds in our desolate garden on Saturday ... I'll keep you posted on their progress over the summer

Reminds me of the parable of the sower ..

How many will fall along the path ...and be snatched away by the evil one
How many will fall amongst the rocks ...and with the first sign of trouble wither away
How many will be strangled by the weeds of temptation and materialism
And how many will bear fruit ...and flower ...and make it all the way to heaven

Path ...Rocks ...Weeds .....Or Fruitful ..... If you had to choose a type of soil to describe your faith which would you choose ??