A blast from the past

Yesterday we had dinner with "The Fraser" family who live on the Wirral . It turns out that Andrew ( the dad) went to school with me , or rather he was a year below me . Our conversation was very nostalgic. He knew some of my first girlfriends !!! you see your past does come back to haunt you sometimes :-) We had a great time with the family and have pledged a reunion at Starbucks in the near future .

I have exams looming , which is why posts have been a little less frequent and this trend is set to continue for at least a couple of weeks .... I'm too old to be doing exams !!

Tight Spot ...

Sometimes in life you find yourself really up against it ( Like the seal in the photo) .

Driven by fear, anxiety , burdens, overcome by hopelessness . Then in those times it's vital that you turn as a Christian to the One who is in control and on Him cast all your cares ...Read this written by the Apostle Peter to Christian men and women who were suffering at the hands of their persecutors ( The sharks )...

My Head Hurts!!

Phil and I spent 6hrs planning for next year today ...strategy for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom ....We have started the first draft of a battle plan. One that I am sure will have a couple of Dunkirks in it but one that will ultimately always win because with Christ you cannot lose .

I love being on the winning team .....

A Better Bond

A few of us went to See " Casino Royale " on Saturday night . Good ,rugged bloke film... :-) .
For the ladies there was the inevitable love interest and the sight of James in his Boxer shorts !!!

Anyway go and see it , lots of twists and turns and very different from your regular Bond movie ..Its a shame that they apparently wrote off three perfectly good Aston Martin DBS's in the making of the movie ..Shocking

Riding with Giants ....

Over tha last two Friday mornings we have hosted at the church a big RE lesson called "Riding with Giants" ...telling the story of the Giants of the Bible

Over three hundred primary school kids ( yrs 3& 4) attended from 6 local schools ..

It was great fun and the Gospel was preached loud and clear...

Brave Boy meets His match !!!

Thought this was very funny

Getting Old

Twas my Birthday yesterday ...1963 was a vintage year ...My mum says I was 10lb 3 oz when I was born so I have always been overweight for may age ;-)

Anyway we celebrated with a curry and a packet of Midget Gems ..Two of my favourite things ..

So my time is moving on.... into the 44th year .... the grave is fast approaching and still much to do . Like two sermons before Sunday ..

Should I get a tatoo?

I sometimes get asked this question .......listen to this sermon(click here) by Mark Driscoll from the States ...best I have heard on what the Bible says we should and shouldn't do ...this one is two cups of coffee worth ..60 minutes long ...but worth it

The Dreaded Common Cold!!!

Well it's the annual season of the common cold and yet again I am a victim ...so you all have to feel sympathy for me ...after all I am a bloke ..and blokes don't do colds very well :-)

Where is the Lemsip ........

Visitors .....Lots of them

It was great to have friends old and new round for a meal today ....

Here goes the list fromthe bottom up ...1st stair ...Josh , Naomi& Laura

Second stair ..Libby, Luke ( after having eaten a green egg!) &Katie

Third stair.. Tia & Anna

Fourth stair..Liz & Hannah

Fifth Stair .. Ben & Kathryn.

Six stair... Simon

Seventh Stair ..Stephen , Lou & Ben ....

The aftermath ...Frisky our wooden cat found a new home in our bed & Below Laura's room resembled a nuclear blast :-)

It was a great afternoon folks ... Despite Ben wearing his Arsenal top ..

How would you answer his questions?

John Humphry's of Radio 4 fame is currently broadcasting a series of programmes entitled " In Search of God"

Over a three week period he is interviewing the Archbishop of Canterbury , a senior Muslim cleric and then a Rabbi. You can check it out by clicking here ... Take a listen and if you are a Christian ask yourself the question ; "How would I answer him? " and if you are not a Christian and you have the same questions as John that remain unanswered, then send me an e-mail and I will have a go at helping you in your search for God .

Busy Days

In between a School assembly and the Answering the Big Questions course yesterday I was trying to write an essay for a Friday deadline ....the title I have been given is " Discuss the claim that the sinlessness of Christ's human nature renders him a less than sympathetic High Priest "

So go on have a go and send me your answers before Friday :-)

Pyrotechnic mania

Well it's that time of year again.The air is thick with the smell of gunpowder. Fireworks everywhere . Personally I love them , probably a throw back to my early days in Liverpool when as lads we used to buy "bangers" by the bucketful and make our neighbours lives a misery ... I don't think you are allowed to buy bangers nowadays . Sensible decision because in the wrong hands they can be lethal.

Anyway over the last couple of nights we have celebrated bonfire night with a YPF ( Young Peoples Fellowship ) bonfire courtesy of the Dakin family and £35 worth of Lidl fireworks ( which were a very good buy ). Then last night we had our family gathering . A small box of fireworks, a few sparklers , some marsh mallows to roast on the chimenea along with some toasted tea cakes ...fantastic . We have a lot to thank Guy Fawkes for :-)

Day In Bangor Wales

Bangor Bay ...view from the car whilst I was writing an essay ... This fella was keeping an eye on me

I spent the day in Bangor yesterday as a guest of the Christian Union . It was a great day. The weather was much better than last year although it was a little cold . It was good to renew fellowship with folk there and to be given the opportunity to preach the gospel .

I also managed to spend some time in the library at Bangor finishing off one of my essays ...the deadline is 1pm today so I better get cracking ....

She made a mask

Laura spent a good few hours making this mask over the half term break ... It's for her art project in school ...I think it's brilliant ..but I suppose I am biased :-)

A couple of days in the lakes ..

Had a week off last week with the highlight being one night at this bed and breakfast in Hawkshead . The lake district is a wonderful place especially at this time of year . However it does like to rain there :-)

Also visited Rob ( my nephew) who lives as a student in Blackpool . He hates the place and can't wait to finish his course this year so that he can escape . I must admit I do share his dislike for the place ..Blackpool does nothing for me ... anyway here are some pics..

Singing in the Bowness Rain !!

The Seagulls of windermere ..

Laura studies Wordworth's Grave

The Hills are alive with colour in Grasmere

Billy Bob & the Crew

It brought back memories ....

Last night Gill and I were treated to a trip to the Birmingham Hippodrome to see Willie Russells Blood Brothers .

A play set in 1970's Liverpool about twin brothers growing up, separated in different families and different cultural classes .

It brought back many childhood memories of dirty knees and games of "Cowboys and Indians" . I thoroughly enjoyed the evening, particularly the memories that it evoked . If you get a chance go and see it .

Coffee morning on tour

Yesterday some of the Coffee morning punters went on tour to see Doris ( the Lady in the blue top)

Doris left Wem in July to go and live nearer to her Son in Brampton near Cambridge . It was a great day out ...the food and cakes were especially good :-)

Visit from old friends ... or is that Ancient friends :-)

Chris & Brenda

Yesterday it was our great honour as a family to dine with the Cliff's . Chris & Brenda are good friends from our days at Wheelock Heath . They joined us for morning worship at Wem , which again was greatly blessd with numbers ...extra seats having to be put out for the fourth week running ...

Busy week ahead ....essays to write on top of the usual stuff ..

Not quite sure what they were getting up to here !!! Captions anyone :-)

A successful days conker hunting

We did well. Here is the evidence ............

Conker Hunting

Going on a conker hunt with Laura today ...I love conkers , there is something about the horse chestnut that compels you to go looking for them

Fascinating fact .....Ever wondered why they call it 'Horse Chestnut ' ? Apparently its because the empty shell often looks like a horseshoe ....So now you can sleep well at night having solved the mystery that I am sure has troubled you for years :-)

Danny returns

Dan the man is back
Danny ..Pastor of this church ...has made a welcome return to the blogosphere ...but will it last??Those who know him can leave a comment ...Do you think he will go the distance ???

Great night tonight at Senior YPF .... between Junior and Senior we had just under 80 young people ...Praying that all of them would have a faith that yields much fruit

Be Careful ..............

Joshua , the God fearing man who took over from Moses and led the children of God over the Jordan and into the promised land said this on his deathbed....

Joshua 23:11 ( ESV)

"Be very careful , therefore to love the Lord your God"

He tells us in that chapter to keep God's covenant , He tells us to cling to the Lord , he tells us not to step out of line by breaking God's Law ...

We all need to be very careful ....The dictionary definition of careful is

"Attentive to potential danger, error, or harm; cautious: was careful when crossing the busy street; gave a careful answer."

How attentive are we to the potential dangers that will harm our faith in Jesus Christ ???

Read and meditate on the last two chapters of Joshua click here God has spoken to me through them today and I trust he will do the same for you

Did you walk to work today ?

And I thought I had a problem with lazyness....

Shan't be having beef on Sunday then....

These cows need a spell -checker :-)

Hungry?

This morning I have been asked to do a school assembly called "Mind the Gap" .It's all about world starvation and how young people can make a difference by trying to bridge the gap between ourselves and third world countries .

Today 16,000 children around the world will die from starvation , thats one child every five seconds ....

Do we care ?. We should . Jesus said that we should " Love our neighbour as ourselves " . God instructs us to help the poor . As Christians we are challenged to be "Lights" in a dark world that is very self centred . With little sense of community

The problem is so big that often we shrug our shoulders and say there is nothing I can do . but there is , the smallest contribution can save one life .

Little things make a huge difference . There are lots of good organisations that are set up to help you help ..... click here for instance ..... why not buy a goat for a village for Christmas ...

Do it...... And save a life

Wheelock Re-visited

We all went back over to our old church at Wheelock heath last night . It was great to have fellowship with some old friends . Ben Griffin preached . Ben is a top bloke with a real heart for the gospel .

It's been two years since we left the church and to my shame this was the first time we have been back on a Sunday . Hopefully, if time and preaching engagements allow, we will not leave it another two years. Thanks to all who made us feel so welcome last night .

When You go to worship

When you worship God ( if you do worship him ) . How do you prepare ? Do you pray ? I read a prayer of Charles Haddon Spurgeon today ...That man knew all about worship .... Read an extract from this book with me

" Glorious God , it is the flower of our being to worship you;this is the crown and glory of life , to adore and worship the Life-giver from whom all good things come. Worship has often been to us as a bath in heavenly pleasure, and we have come out of it refreshed and comforted , blessed and filled with heavenly delight . Oh for the Holy Spirit's power to help us in worship now!. Breathe upon us , O Divine Spirit, and let that breath cause us to forget the world , but bring us into the fullest life in the contemplation of God and heaven ."

Now that is a prayer and a half from a man who had experienced the delights of true worship

Elder on the Run

One our church elders has escaped to China with his wife for a month ( a long way to go for chicken fried rice )

Steve is keeping us all up to date with his escapades via e-mail . This photo is one he took of the "Great Wall" on Monday ...














I am amazed by this wall ...thousands of miles long ...built to keep people out . It started me thinking about the walls we build to keep God out and the names we call them .

The great wall of health wealth and prosperity .... don't need God if you build this one ( or at least you don't think you need God )

The suffering wall .... the one that says there is no God because we suffer ( those who build this wall don't recognise that God knows all about suffering ...look at the cross of Jesus)

The religious wall .... the one that says I'm a good person I obey the rules ( most of the time ) I go to church now and then ...thats enough ( no it's not listen to what the Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."
Faith first ...belief and trust first .....doing good works must always flow from that ..

Anyway I'm off to Go and knock down any walls that I have built that keep me from a life of faith and trust ...

If you can suggest any other walls that we build then give us all the benefit of your wisdom in the comments ..........

The Legacy of John Bunyan

I have been reading again some of the works of John Bunyan over the last couple of days ( for those that don't know he is most famous for having written " The Pilgrims progress".)

I love his writings , they may well be full of thee's and thou's ,written in the langauge of the 17th century but they are very compelling and applicable to our day and age .

If you get a chance pick up a copy of anything by Bunyan . He may be long dead but his written legacy lives on . A man who "Walked the talk" .