Game on for God!

I have been reminded to say what a wonderful time I had preaching in Bellshill recently and how wonderful the people were.  It really was a pleasure to be there and I had a wonderful experience.  I sense God is going to do great things there in the future.  Jan was nice as well!

I am waiting upon the Lord at the moment and renewing my strength in Him.  In itself that is a place of renewal and rest.  This will only be for the next couple of weeks as I am preaching this Sunday in Anniesland and then a wee rest and a chance to go and worship with my wife at St. Silas and then the whole of August I am preaching and I have also been invited to speak at my friends church on the 26th September which I am excited about.  Life is good at the moment  football is abouts to start back and I have been grateful for the rest but I am now keen to get the team back together and start playing again.  We are hoping this will be our most successful season to date.  Lots of potential in the team and now it is time for them to start recognising that and using it hopefully I will be able to assist them in that.

The family are all great and all at home at the moment, friends are for the majority very well but I do have a couple of friends who are ill one has a problem with her eyes but should get better but the other has throat cancer and has been told it is terminal, he is a fantastic guy a real gent and man of God full of wisdom and has been a great help to me in the past I pray that God heals him.

Life is a real adventure at the moment and very exciting especially with the new opportunities that are coming up all the time.

I could not miss the opportunity to blog about the world cup - I have been watching the world cup since 1974 and this has to be the worst one yet, disappointed that Brazil went out early and that Holland did not play the football that they can do.  There is in my mind NO comparison between this team and the 74 & 78 teams who deserved to win the world cup as they played some awesome football.  This Dutch team were dirty, boring and just not that good - Van Bommell should have been sent off at least twice during the tournament for persistent fouling and De Jong should have gone as well for the tackle on Alonso.  The Dutch had the cheek to complain to the referee who got a couple of decisions wrong but not the one on Elia as he threw himself to the ground.  Robben should have gone for the racing up to the referee after he wasn't given a free kick.  Not the best final but some of the pluses were England never won it, Ghana were the best African team by a long shot and Japan have some very good players Germany were the most attacking team and a joy to watch unlike the Dutch.  Will Man Utd buy anyone I hope so but not sure who they should buy?  Fabiano, Ozil or no one of any interest?  I aim to keep blogging on a regular basis or so I like to think but not sure how that will work out.

Blessings to everyone who reads this.

PS Boycey keep running and take Des with you he needs it to lol.

It has been a very busy couple of weeks with football stuff and preaching engagements all over the place,

The football season for me finally finished on the 24th June although there are still a few things to sort out but overall a very good first season as chairman.  Now  I am looking for the possibility of a tour down South for a few days.  So any churches that can put 20 people up for a few days and have a couple of teams we can play against drop me a comment on this blog and I will see what we can arrange.

The new strips have arrived and look absolutely great and now we are ready to start again for what will hopefully be the season where as a teamwe reach or get really close to our full God given potential.  This week I need to start arranging somefriendlies and getting the boys back together in order to see where we are starting from this season.

Church wise I have been travelling about preaching at various venues and I have really enjoyed it this weekend I am back in Milton for the first time in a while and have to say I am really looking forward to it.  The following week I am in Anniesland and then hopefully some preaching to fill in a few weeks along with being able to go to church with my wife and even consider having a break away with the family prayerfully to Centre Parcs before the kids go back to school.

Job wise I am in limbo at the moment my contract could be extended but then again I could be unemployed by the 31st August so we as a family are waiting prayerfully on the next part of the journey will it be in the methodist church or somewhere else only God knows and we trust in him at all times.  Our friends Billy and Rachel are working in Thailand offering R & R to missionaries at the Juniper tree and they are fulfilling a dream that God gave them a number of years ago what they are finding is that when it is a God thing the devil does not like it and attempts to cause mayhem as he is with Rachel's health at the moment  and so we pray for her and Billy as they continue on there exciting journey.

I have been asking myself for sometime now why is it that the mainstream denominations are declining and that churches who have dropped religion are growing and stretching the boundaries.  The thoughts that I have had on this matter are that God is central to what they do and in mainstream denominations the traditions are more important.  Change is difficult because church has become a habit rather than an adventure, it has become stale rather than refreshing, it has become boring rather than exciting almost the exact opposite to the early church and what Jesus wanted it to be like.  It is never going to be easy following Jesus but who wants easy when you can take a risk?  As Christians we have the most exciting fullfilling story to tell and wonderful blessed lifes to live even in times of trouble because we live them with the knowledge that Jesus is with us and we live them in the power of the Spirit.

Blessings to all who read.