Game on for God!

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! 

Church, Football, Family & Study

Preaching went well on Sunday and I have had an email to say they will be inviting me again.  That was a surprise.  The service went well and thanks to some very helpful people it went smoothly.  The organist was really helpful, the clerk had a great ability to put everyone at ease and the beadle was brilliant especially as I had to ask him a few times where I stood and moved to.  He had three points set up with water in case I wanted to speak from them.  I opted to speak from the pulpit which was a great position to speak from.

Saturdays game against Kings Park was fantastic we won 5 v 1 not only was the score impressive but the way in which we played was fantastic.  This Saturday we are playing Hope all and hopefully we will have a full team to select from although I suspect this won't be the case as a couple have already pulled out because of work committments and golf.  10.00am in Easterhouse Lochend Community High School.  A great facility although not the best astro carpet in the world.  We are still awaiting the opening of the 3g pitch in Milton but as with everything else to do with Glasgow City Council it has been delayed.

Finally I have finished and handed my church history essay in with 4 minutes to spare.  Now I can work on my dissertation which will be my focus between now and the middle of May.  Once that is completed back to another essay and an exam and then I can graduate.  After that who knows what is the next thin on the agenda?  

PS I have had someone in Milton contact me to set up a prayer meeting for the area which is really exciting and something that I feel led to developp for the area.  We are also having another Friday night at which Jane our treasurer will be speaking with regard to what she is going to Malawi for and what they hope to achieve it will be on May 8th and she is also having a coffee morning on the 9th to raise funds to help her on her way.

Meetings and Mission

I have had one meeting today, which involved a couple of ministers from the local area.  It went well and we have more to talk about and set things up for the future.  We discussed sports ministry in detail and meeting people where they are at and not where we want them to be.  I have several meetings tomorrow - 10.00am, 2.00pm d then 7.15pm is the final one.  In all a very busy day ahead. 

I have been checking out the conference at ALC in November and who is involved.  The title of it is 'heroes'.  It promises to be very good and as there are a number of us going it should be a good chance to have some fellowship as brothers in Christ.  For a couple of the guys it is their first time but they are open minded and should enjoy it.  Rick Godwin has been down to ALC and I forgot as I was planning to go down to listen to him as I enjoy his preaching and the way he delivers it.

My wife blogged earlier with regard to the title of my blog from Saturday 'Friends, Football & Faith'.  She is right, we do think differently and that is probably why I ordered it and named it differently.  What is important to remember though is my faith cannot be separated from any of the above activities nor in anything in my life.  With my friends my faith grows, at the football on a Saturday morning my faith gets to be exercised more so than at any church I have been to and it also gets tested & challenged. 

As I don't work in a secular job my mission field has changed and so has the emphasis on how and what I share with people.  I don't miss my job as my new one has many challenges in it.  My plea to churches would be to recognise that the ordinary people in the seats are actually serving missionaries.  It may not be in Africa or some other far off place but it is a mission field that they serve in.  Next time churches are praying for there 'missionaries' perhaps they should start with those who work locally in those high flying jobs or even the dead end ones, where they share their faith and witness for Christ at the front line.  So please spare a thought and a prayer for people in your congregation who work in any kind of job - the worplace is a mission field.