Christmas Meal Number 2 ..and its only the 3rd December

Last night we held our Annual Wem Baptist Christmas meal at the Hawkstone Hotel . 99 guest enjoyed a sumptuous meal followed by an after dinner evangelistic address by Will Loescher of Walsall Independant Evangelical Church .

Great night , especially given the fact that I enjoyed my first mince pie of the season ;-)

Great day yesterday ..

The morning started with " Thought for the Day " at Adams school . Year 11 , always a challenge :-).

In the afternoon I led and spoke at my first Carol service of the season at a nursing home in Ellesmere . A team of 10 folk from the church went along to sing and speak of the Saviour .

I met an old chap who's as blind as a bat and yet he was able to sing all of the carols word for word . Turns out he was a vicars son as well as being a Master at Ellesmere College , having taught and led many choirs in his long life .

It's great to meet these characters. People once so active in society now living often lonely isolated existences in care . If you get a chance to go into your local nursing home this Christmas then go ...it will brighten up their lives .

In the evening Tee, Beth , Laura and myself went along to Anfield to watch the greatest team in the land only manage a 0-0 draw with West Ham . It was Laura's and Beths first experience of a packed Anfield ..and they loved . As did i . You never tire of singing the greatest Anthem in the world . " You'll Never Walk Alone" ..sadly I forgot my camera, so no pics ..

Wem Baptist ..Schools team Christmas bash

Great night on Saturday . Our schools team got together for a festive meal . It was a great night , lots of laughs ..I can't believe how badly behaved some people are ;-)

The schools work in Wem and the surrounding villages is a real blessing to us as a team and as a church . Currently we go into 18 schools within a 15 mile radius of Wem and are hoping to expand even more in the future ... A great team ..All for His glory .

Saturday at the Flicks

On Saturday I went out to the pictures with Will my old mate from Wheelock Heath Baptist Church and with Jacob ( Danny & Julie's lad ) . Madagascar 2 was the film . It was superb. Good clean fun . We treated ourselves to a few Big Mac's afterwards ..which was not so good :-)

Busy week for Katie ...

Katie was fully occupied last week with her starring role in " The Laundry Girls" ...a production put on by the Wem Amateur Dramatic Society ...she was brilliant ..but I don't have any pics because we were not allowed :-(...We also went along to her GCSE certificate night at Thomas Adams ..another proud moment in the Whiteway household .

Jules, Anne , Dylan & Jessica came to visit

Anne was home from Cyprus so she popped in with her two wonderful children ...it was also great to see Jules again ... Thats twice in a month now Jules ..whats goin on :-)

More Photo's here

Visit to the Imperial war museum North ..

Gill treated me to a visit the the imperial war museum last Wednesday ... I'm a bit of a war history geek !! ... funnily enough though we ended up in the Trafford cente afterwards ;-)

A worthy pilot ......

This video was sent to me by a friend ....what a pilot

45 years young ..celebrated with the Family

It was good to have the family around on Saturday night for my birthday.... Chinese takeaway , birthday cake and the X-factor ...really good end to what had been a difficult week ... it was also wonderful to have Anna home for a night ...

Bonfire Night, Toothache , Funerals , A new Baby ,Riding with Giants , Remembrance and the Ainscoughs

Lots going on last week ...

Bonfire Night ....

I lit the chimenea ( I love my Chimenea...cup of tea and a chimenea on a dark cold night ..you cant beat it ) . We played with a few sparklers and toasted a few marshmallows ...great . Missed Anna though .

All Photos Here

Funerals ...

Between Phil & I ( mostly Phil) we officiated at three funerals connected with the church at Wem . We have never known so many to pass away all at similar times . People who we had been speaking to and praying with just days before had all passed into eternity within days of each other .... Funerals always should force you into asking the question ...Am I ready to look Jesus in the face and give an account of my life ?

A new Baby ...

Suzy , the manageress at the gym that Phil and I Chaplain gave birth to little Joel Henry on Thursday Night . It was nice to visit the maternity ward for a change and pray for a new life . Hope it's all going well Suzy & James if you are reading this .

Riding with Giants ..

We had 200 school children in on Friday morning for Bible stories , prayers , the History of the Bible and a question and answer session . This is something we do every year ans every year it seems to get bigger . So much so that we are doing it over three Fridays this year with over 600 children from schools in North Shropshire .. See previous years here ...i will take some photos at the next one

Remembrance Sunday ...

Church was packed on Sunday . We held a special guest service to remember the fallen but most importantly to remember Jesus ... Who paid the ultimate sacrifice at Calvary .

The Ainscoughs ...

It was so good to spend the day with our friends Dave , Debbie , Becky , Abi and John ... We had a great day with them on Sunday .. Thanks guys

Toothache ....

I have never known pain like it !!! for the last five days my wisdom tooth has been giving me too much grief .... I have had to resort to a scarf around my head holding a packet of frozen peas in the vain hope of taking the pain away .... 5 nights without sleep is not good ...The dentist won't take it out until the swelling goes down ...because I look a bit like a hamster at the moment :-)

Reflection

A year ago today Dad died ... and a year ago tomorrow we had Paul's funeral . It was a very sad time ... and still a year on there are many hours spent grieving ... Dad & Paul were both very special men who I will never forget ...

Life is short ... I did an assembly this morning and read out this poem found on the clock tower in Chester Cathedral ..

When as a child I laughed and wept Time crept

When as a youth I waxed more bold Time strolled

When I became a full-grown man Time ran

When older still I daily grew Time flew

Soon I shall find in passing on Time gone


Our time here on earth will one day come to an end .... and underneath the poem in the Cathedral are these words of prayer

O CHRIST WILT THOU HAVE SAVED ME THEN ?

Pies Mushy Peas & the Gospel

Katie , Gill & I travelled up to Yorkshire this weekend to visit the Simms clan . I had been invited as the guest speaker at their church quiz night. It was great ...pies , mushy peas and the Gospel a wonderful combination .

We had a lovely weekend ...thanks to all :-)

A couple of days break ...

Went over to Liverpool to stay for a couple of days with Grannie & Gramps . We visited a stressed out older daughter who was panicking about getting her first assignment in !! We also took the opportunity to spend a day in the Lakes and met up with Phil and the mob . Also met up with Johno for a coffee or two . It was good to see that he is still as ugly as ever :-)

More Photo's HERE

Azbo landed with his beautiful new bride Bea ...

Laszlo & Bea visited tonight ...he is preaching at Wem tomorrow ...Bea is lovely far too good for Laszlo :-)

Prayer Breakfast with a difference ...

Every Saturday morning a number of folk meet to pray for the lost . This Saturday some of the younger mob decided to join us and cook us a bacon & egg butty ....fantastic ...although I was a bit concerned that in this photo ..of a kitchen ...that there where only two ladies present .... :-)

Energy levels ...

I must be getting old ...the things that used to be done easily with much gusto are a bit of a struggle at the moment ...hence a lack of blog posts . It will be good next week to have a couple of days break . Going to see Anna in Liverpool and staying over at Grannie and Gramp's house ...I'm looking forward to walking the dog down by the Mersey ...

For those who believe ...

Visited Nana & Anna ...

Try saying Nana & Anna really quickly ....can't be done :-)

Went to visit them tonight ...Nana in hospital (and still sadly very puddled ) and then on to Anna who has settled down with the flat 19 crew at the halls of residence and is really enjoying the friendship of the girls there ... It was good to go an feed her!! ...even though it was only a slice of orange :-)

Katie came with me and the first thing she did was raid her older sister's wardrobe and quickly sussed out that Anna had obviously spent some of her student loan on new clothes ...within seconds she had identified every new item ...is that a girl thing or what !!!

Trip to Lawshall in Suffolk

Not sure about the camel in the middle ...although he is far better looking than Phil !!

A number of folk including Gill and I took on a 5 hr journey down to Lawshall in Suffolk yesterday to witness the ordination and induction of Steven Jones .Steve left Wem Baptist during the summer with his wife Lou and children Naomi & Ben to embark on his first role as a pastor in the Evangelical church based in the village.

It was a great day ...a blessing to all who went . Praying for you Steve and Lou . Thanks for giving us all such a warm welcome ..



More photo's of the day can be found by clicking HERE

The motley crew

Rachel & Johny & Jules all in the same week !!

You can go years without seeing folk and then like buses they all turn up at once ...it was really great to see Rachel & Johny on Wednesday night and Jules today ...lots of catchin up to do ..loved having them over .

I never knew it was there !!

I went for a walk with Gill today in Shrewsbury and stumbled across a haven of tranquility called " The Dingle " ...I will be definitely be going there again ...good place to read and pray . Sometimes we just don't know what is on our doorstep .

The Great North Run.

Gill took part in the Great North Run this Sunday . Running with her friend Helen . They both completed the 13 miles in 2hrs and 18 minutes . Gill was chuffed with the time . Not bad for an old girl !! oh i'm in so much trouble for writing that :-)

She was running for Marie Curie Cancer Care charity ... remembering Pops and Paul who both lost their battle to cancer around about this time last year. This was the poster she had on her back ..

Well done Gill, I love you and keep on running ........

Chilling ..

Day off today ...Trying to Chill ..polar bear style :-)