Game on for God!

Update

It has been a while since my last blog - reason none!  In all seriousness I have been reflecting on a number of things such as the football, work and the future.

Football and we lost our last 2 games both 3 v 2 and it looks like we will finish either 5th or 6th oh how things could have been different.  Houston won the league today so congratulations to them the only team to beat us twice.  As for the team well done to them they did well and improved throughout the season I am very proud of each of them and really pleased that they play for us and not another team.  They really are a great bunch and Iam enjoying the time that we spend as a team.  The new layers such as James Connelly, James Gheraghty(?), Gary Morton and Scott Brand not forgetting Kevin ?  It hasn't been that long since I saw them and can't remember surnames argh!!  The boys who have been at the core for the second season - Mark Boyce, Colin Crichton, Derek Patterson, Keith Boyle, Hugh Dullaghan, Derek Auld, James Ghattas, Graeme McKee, Graham Cuthbert, Jason Jackson and last but certainly not least our captain Chris Malone - wordsare not enough to describe his committment and drive as well as what he brings to the team.  He has had another awesomeseason with us and to be fair so have the rest of the team.  Derek Patterson zero yellow cards in 8 games (one strop though) 2 goals target for next season 5.  Keith 2 goals - target 5 next season. I hope we can keep this team together and go on to win trophies next season we will be losing Ghattasfor most if not all the season and so we need to replace him but the rest are hopefully all staying.

Next season we will be better disciplined and score even more goals and hopefully this will lead to success on the park and off.  So well done guys looking forward to getting back together and getting some football played.

My wife's birthday and our 21st anniversary all in the one week and we have been truly blessed this week with various things and I went and watched sex and the city 2 tonight with my wife now that is love.  The family is all great and doing well.

Church and it has been a busy time recently leading worship in the C of S last weekend and then 2 services over the next 2 weeks starting with Anniesland tomorrow and Pollokshaws the foollowing week then a break for 2 weeks and then preaching in Motherwell on the 20th June.  I am away for two days on the 18th & 19th June and my wife is away this weekend at Cherish with #1 daughter and 2 friends hopefully and prayerfully she will come back refreshed, empowered, encouraged and blessed during the weekend.  ALM Bradford is my favourite church and I am looking forward to going in November again.

Blessings to all who read.

hopefully this will

Awesome 2!

What a fantastic weekend - Man U win 1 nil, Chelsea and Arsenal both lose it does not get much better than that except if it was the final game of the season and Man U had won the league.

On another note St. Andrew's had their biggest win not only of the season but of their history we won 11 v 1 yesterday against Westwoodhill Evangelical church.  We have mproved immensely and if we had started the season this way we would be 24 points clear and would have won the league by now.  Yesterday Derek Paterson scored his first goal of the season and so did Keith Boyle, Colin Crichton & James Ghattas both scored hat tricks, Graeme McKee scored 2 and James Connelly scored.  Boycey was dissappointed to let in the one goal but to be fair it was not his fault.  He was rather annoyed because he has forgotten what it feels like to have a goal scored against him or the team.  The team once again was well disciplined and Chris Malone was exceptional with his attitude and leadership.  As a team we are truly blessed to have Chris as our captain and also the team/squad that we have this season and hopefully next season we will continue on this vain.

Church was interesting this morning, 3 sermons, 3 different churches - churched out now.  Synod yesterday which was my first experience of Synod and one which I enjoyed again it is not so much what is said but the people you connect up with.  Dr. Martin Atkins was very good and made some very interesting points with regard to the Methodist society.

The debate that is going on at the moment is with regard to Mark Driscoll and Rob Bell and who is right and who is wrong, who is evangelical and who is liberal.  There are more important things to do than talk about 2 pastors doing what they believe to be true to scripture as THEY interpret it.  I grew up in a church that preached the gospel every Sunday and in the end it bored me to tears because I wanted substance to feed me and help me grow.  I now look for teaching  that I can use to further the kingdom in my everyday walk and with the ordinary folk I work with and meet on the streets.  Yesterday I received a text from someone who is not a Christian but asked me to pray for a sick relative, this happened  through playing football not through preaching at him.  We worship an awesome God and we are Awesome people of the living God who makes the impossible possible and loves us unconditionally.

Bless all those who read this

Great Weekend!

A catch up on another great weekend and also a good week off.

2 weeks ago St. Andrew's played Kings Park Baptist Church and won 9 nil, this weekend we played EK Claremont and won 7 nil.  A hatrick from Chris Malone, 2 from Colin Crichton and 1 each from James Ghattas and Gary Morton.  The team were sublime yet again and totally played EK off the park in the second half first half was a different story only going in with a 1 nil lead and EK very much in it and for the first time in a number of weeks Boycey was called into action on a number of occasions.  Colin Crichton was MOM and deservedly so.  Well done boys lets keep it going from now on.

Family are all well and the wife is preaching tonight in Claremont.  I was preaching this morning in Partick Methodist church and had a great time it was a really good srvice which went totally to plan.

On another note if those who read this pray could they please pray for Chris Malone's father in law as he has to have an operation.

Blessings to all who read this.

Today's game

Today's game and what a game it was everyone of the team performed exceptionally and it would have been hard for the opposition to pick an MOM.  We beat Kirkintilloch Riverside 2 nil.  It was a game which could have gone either way in the first half although I would dare to suggest that we shaded it with 11 men and in the second half we played 43 minutes with 10 men having Del boy sent off for the second time this season and it made a big difference to us.  The good Dr. scored his first game for the club and Colin Crichton scored the second and got the MOM.  Colin was a thorn in the side of the opposition defence the whole game.  Everybody contributed to what was an excellent game.

Well done to Chris, Boycey, Gary, Scott, Graham, Graeme, The good Dr., Del, Des, Colin, Jay, & Ghattas.  As a team we are becoming more disciplined and more of a team.  The second goal was a counter attack created by a strong midfield tackle from Del which broke to Ghattas who then fed Colin who rounded the keeper and scored from a tight angle.

Next week we play Motherwell Ebenezer who just beat us 2 v 1 last time out with Del boy getting sent off in that one as well and again we played the whole of the second half with 10 men.  This time around we will play with 11 and give the opposition a better and tougher game.  As a matter of interest St. Andrew's are joint top of the second division but to put that into perspective we have played more games than the majority of teams in the league.

It has been another good weekend for football however, please pray for us as a family as we have to make some serious decisions over the next few weeks.

Blessings to all who read this.

PS Man Utd win 5 nil and go top all we need now is Arsenal to either beat Chelsea or at least draw with them.

Update

Once again I have not blogged for a while - Life has just been soooo busy.  What have I been up to well that is a good question.

The family are well and growing the boy is up to his usual tricks and still a real handful.  #1 daughter has met all of her flatmates and is getting on really great having started Uni today.  #2 daughter still moans with regard to school but was on work experience last week and so she had something different to moan about. #'s 3 & 4 are doing brilliantly and are loving being back at school and nursery respectively.

Football team is going through some difficulties but growing and hopefully learning from them all the time.  Our discipline is not as good as it should be but we are aiming higher and adding more self control to our game and our behaviour.  Lost again at the weekend 5 v 2 against KCC I won't be saying too much about that other than we chucked it away in the second half.  We really do need to improve our own self belief.  They really are a great bunch of guys who are also terrrific  footballers I just pray that the day comes when they realise that!

As chairman of the league I was invited to Ruchill's presentation service for their football team not to do anything but just to be there and it was great to see a church where the football team is well loved and supported by the congregation.  Our next league meeting is on the 1st October which should be an interesting one as we have a number of things to deal with.  This position is really good but it does take a lot of work thank God I only work part time.

The wife has been really busy over the past 4 weeks and is doing very well both spiritually and physically.  She is helping to run St. Andrew's womens meeting once per month amongst all the other things she is involved in the first one being this Wednesday up in St. Andrew's I am really looking forward to what God will do through these meetings.

I have another busy week ahead with a couple of meetings plus catching up with some friends that I have not seen for ages.  Really looking forward to that.  This weekend the football team are playing Kings Park Baptist church in the Fraser Trophy prelimenary round at Toryglen which will hopefully be a good game.  I just l;ove playing at Toryglen.

Only 6 weeks or so before I go off to Bradford for the weekend and see Paul Scanlon at the Excel conference it is the highlight of my Christian calender.  I have a few more preaching engagements through October and November and now one on the 27th December in Girvan.

Blessings to all who read this.

Once again I have not blogged for ages.  It is really difficult to keep up with blogging and everything else that is happening so here goes -

#1 daughter is back from America and moved into her new flat.  She has also got accepted for Glasgow Cali and starts in 2 weeks.  It was great to have her home for a week although due to being busy I have not had a proper chance to catch up with her.  I will make a point of doing that early next week maybe take her for a coffee and lunch now she is a rent paying poor student.  #2 daughter has taken over her room and #'s 3 & 4 are sharing with their wee brother at the moment (Our house is far too small) #1 Son is fun, a nightmare and cute all in the space of seconds he absolutely adores motorbikes and football as well as golf clubs and floor brushes??  The wife is fantastic and has been really busy with church stuff and family stuff i.e. moving #1 daughter out and sorting out the house for the rest of us.  I cannot compliment her enough she is fantstic and I love her more than I can ever say.

Football the team got off to a great start on Saturday with a 3 v 1 win over Burnside for the most part the game was played very well although there were a couple of instances that were somewhat distasteful but they were dealt with there and then.  This Saturday we are playing Houston and some old rivalry can be resumed.  Houston were the team we won the league out right against when we won Div 3 as St. Silas.  They are a nice bunch of guys and we have had some really good games against them.

Football league is fantastic really enjoying the challenge of being chairman and all the issues that go with that.  It has been a tough start but hopefully through prayer and discernment we can overcome these challenges.  Thursday night was my first league meeting as chairman and i thoroughly enjoyed it.  Friday night we had the league dedication service which was held at St. Silas with the minister speaking at it Gadget vicar alias Rev. David McCarthy and he did a fantastic talk and prayer.  The SAFA prsident and secretary were also there and they did a 10/20/30 minute question and answer session which went down very well.  Hopefully this will be the first of many such nights and a big thankyou to all those that attended approx 150 - 200 men in one episcopal church!  Great night oh! plus 3 women #1 daughter , the fantastic wife and our friend Jennifer.  Thank you to all 3 for all the help they gave to me and the band.

This week there is a Fischy concert on at St. Silas for all children it will be great fun so come along to St. Silas and bring the children they will have a ball (Tickets are available on the door).  Next Friday St. Andrew's has a praise night on and all are welcome I will be speaking at it and this Sunday I am preaching in St. Andrew's methodist church in East Kilbride I need to get the hymn list to the church in order for them to be able to sing them.  I also need to prepare the sermon for it as well.  A very busy and exciting week ahead.  All in the challenges of church & life.

Updated again and hopefully this time I will keep it updated so all those that read this can see what is happening.

Blessings to everyone who reads this.

Sporting Weekend

I have just had a busy sporting weekend with Football, Cricket and both Rugby league and Union all of course watched on TV exceppt for St. Andrew's first pre season game against Anniesland which we won 4 nil.

The Anniesland game is becoming a regular pre season fixture and so far over the past 3 years we have done very well.  This time though both teams were slightly under strength to what they will be when the season proper begins although we still had a very good team out as half of it come from Drumchapel United the team our captain runs on a Sunday.  The result was 4 nil to us and so we go on to play Motherwell Kings II on Saturday in our first ever home game in Milton should be interesting as they will be very disciplined and organised.  We should also start to look like we will when the season proper starts.

Manchester United lost on penalties against Chelsea and the referee was awful some of his decisions for both teams were strange to say the least especially for Chelseas goal.  Ballack in  a league game will be sent of as he had no intention of playing the ball.  It was a good game though with Man U the better team in the first half and Chelsea the second.  It should be a tight season and I would not want to put money on who will win or even be in the top 4!

Rugby both forms that I watched were good games with Australia getting humped by South Africa and Huddersfield beating St. Helens in the challenge cup semi final a very entertaining game.  Finally I watched Australia dominate and humiliate England in the 4th test fantastic result for Australia and they thoroughly deserve to be level if not 2 v 1 ahead.  What made me think was that during the final moments the commentators were talking about how much money would have to be returned due to England getting thumped in 2 1/2 days rather than the 5 and also how much food was not going to be used Monday 1800 hospitality meals were not going to be used today.  Michael Holding said why not open up a room and feed those who are hungry to which David Lloyd stumbled through an answer like yes that would be good - The reply he got was 'you had to think about that one' and his repoly to that was ' In an ideal world' Very profound I wander what happened to the food?

I watched church on the TV yesterday as well - Paul Scanlon preaching on what we don't have as opposed to what we have fantastic sermon and provoked numerous thoughts for me.  He is a very good speaker and I find him very honest and down to earth as well as passionate about the Kingdom of God.  I had a very restful day yesterday.

This week hopefully I will play golf, watch St. Andrew's gain another win in pre season.  Design some posters for our once a month Praise service and women's meeting that is hopefully being introduced, prepare an end of year report for the management team and have somne family time with wife and children before they go back to school and #1 daughter returns from America 2 weeks today having spent yesterday in Boston where none other than David Beckham was.

Blessings to all who read

It has been 4 weeks since my last blog and I have to say it has been a busy 4 weeks.  The last time I attended St. Andrew's Milton was the 12th July to preach since then I have been preaching in several C of S Churches which include High Carntyne, Cranhill x 2 and this morning at Mearns Kirk.  I have met some fantastic people and shared what God has put on my heart from Ephesians.  I have enjoyed it immensely.  One of the main things I have enjoyed is the fact that my wife has been with me for the past 3 weeks.  She is my greatest critic and even more important my source of encouragement and strength.  Next weekend we are both back at respective churches until the next time we get a holiday and can spend time at either the same church or one of us is preaching.  I am looking forward to hearing her preach on the 14th August at St. Silas which I will go to before heading off to Milton.

#1 daughter is still having a ball in America and she is getting on really well but is definately looking forward to coming home although home is changing for her as she is moving into student accomodation a week after arriving back in Scotland.  All the family are looking forward to seeing her as they are all missing her.  #2 daughter now has her room and I must say she keeps it tidier than #1 daughter.  #'s 3, 4 & 5 are sharing a much bigger room and they to are keeping it relatively tidy.  The family are all well and the wife and I have just enjoyed 2 weeks holiday in which we did very little except some work on the house which included clearing out our loft in order to get it insulated why is it that we put all the junk in the most difficult room to get to and the furthest away from the bin?  Really need to rethink that one.

Football starts back again next Saturday with 3 pre season friendlies and then our fist league game on the 29th against Burnside.  I am looking forward to getting back to football but dread the early mornings.  I am looking forward to a very exciting season combined with a succesful one.  We have new strips arriving this week which will have St. Andrew's on them as opposed to old St. Silas ones.  Our home park has moved to a 3g park in Milton which again should mean we can play all of our home games on time without them being effected by the weather. 

Bradford is looming with our annual attendance at the Xcel conference I am really looking forward to it.  Only 4 months to go which seems a long time but hopefully it will go by quickly.

It is good to be back blogging again and a special hello to my friend Brian who is somewhere in Asia or somewhere on the other side of the world.  I hope he is safe and I look forward to speaking to him and meeting him for a coffee in the not too distant future.

Long time no blog!

It has been a while and a load of stuff has happened since the last time I blogged.  Most recently I have written my dissertation 10,000 words and handed in.  All I have left to do is 1 exam 4/6 and an essay to be in 09/06 oh!  Presentation 02/06 @9.15am and finallt a reflective paper to be in by the 12th June.  The next 2 weeks are going to be very busy.

Football team and we have been doing very well over the last 2 weeks and have 1 final game left and if we win we can finish as high as 3rd depending on results.  We have lost 1 player for next season Davey S has decided to call time on the team for various reasons.  He will be a sad loss.  As a team we have secured a home pitch in Milton plus we can use it as a training ground as well.  It is a new 3g astro pitch which hopefully we will be able to benefit from being able to always have a park to play on.

Man Utd. were rubbish last night but 3 out of 5 ain't bad maybe next season?  Ronaldo is once again undecided on if he is going to stay!  I hope he makes up his mind soon.

Church is going well and once I have finished college I will be able to concentrate all of my efforts on work or more of my time on organising stuff in order to move forward.  I have had my trial service and so hopefully I will move on to 'trial' at the next local preachers meeting which is on Wednesday.  I have the leagues AGM on Thursday and our last game is on Tuesday.  Although not taking services in the Methodist Church at the moment I am doing some in the C of S which is great and I am really enjoying the time spent preaching and leading the services and also the preperation.

I am looking forward to having a break soon as it is/has been a busy time.  The family are all great #1 daughter should be going to America soon, #2 daughter is doing well and being a great help this weekend looking after #3 & # 4 daughter plus the boy who has just fallen asleep on my arm.  The wife and I have celebrated 20 years of marriage this week wow! it went quick and is still as good as day 1.  The wife & # 1 daughter are in Bradford at the Cherish conference this weekend I hope they have a great time as I am sure they will.  So far this week the wifes computer has broken and when they arrived in Bradford the engine on the car is not very well and it sounds like it could be terminal which is not good news as money is non existent at the moment.  I am praying that it is going to be ok but have to be realistic and expect a miracle.

I am now going to try and blog more regularly (Have I heard that or said that before?) especially as my work load is going to be less I hope! 

Catch up....

It has been a while since my last blog and a lot has happened.

Football firstly St. Andrew's need another 3 wins out of 3 to remain in the division they are in.  This is due to league restructuring!  We have a game tomorrow night against EK Claremont at Toryglen which I have to say is one if not the best facility we have played at for a while.  Recent results have been a 4 v 3 win against KCC and also a 4 v 1 win against KCC (we hadn't played them at all this season so this was the rearranged fixtures).  We still have Trinity Possil and Mure Memorial to play over the next 2 weeks.  No game Saturday as our opponents are in the cup semi final and I am at a friends daughters wedding.

Family are all well #1 daughter has her visa for America and leaves in 3 weeks.  #2 daughter is very excited as she gets her room while she is away.  #3 & #4 don't care and the boy well that is another story and one that will take a seperate blog.  The sun is out and trying to keep the son in is a nightmare and so far this week he has wrecked the barbecue and the wall in the garden, destroyed 2 plants and climbed the fence at least 5 times and that is in 2 days.  There is a lot to be said about rain.  The wife is doing well and has been asked to write some material  for the expositary times.  I am really proud of her she is awesome and a real b lessing to me and our children.

Work is going ok.  I am preaching on Sunday which I am looking forward to and then 2 weeks after that I am preaching again.  Exciting times are coming.  Anyway that is probably all I need to say just now?  Oh!  My dissertation is due in in 15 days time argh!!!  Better get on with it again.  St. Andrew's had another Praise night which went well and I am looking forward to the next one already.  Oh and I drove an Audi RS 4 amazing! fast,  awesome what else can I say 4.2 ltr engine 0 -60 in 5 secs.