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! 

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.

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.

Good week/bad week but always blessed

This week has probably been one of the most difficult weeks I have had for a long while and it is only Wednesday!

Monday was probably the most difficult but I am coming through it.  Our children are all great and I love all of them very much but when of them does something daft it effects all of us not just the one who does it.  They then need to realise that it takes time to repair the damage a word or action has caused especially when you have that famous thought 'it won't happen to us' or 'it won't happen to me' and then low and behold it does.

Anyway now the week is getting better and as a family we are well blessed by God.  I have a very good friend who I hadn't seen for a while but we are now in touch on a regular basis.  He and his wife are very godly people and are very supportive of our family.  It is great to have good friends.

Football and we have a cup quarter final tonight against Mure Memorial 6.00pm KO at Blairdardie (Hopefully).  Should be a good game and hopefully a semi final visit for St. Andrew's next month.

College has finished for nearly 3 weeks and in that 3 weeks I have one essay to complete, a few thousand words of my dissertation to do to keep that on track and as the church is open for a couple of hours per day during Holy week a very busy time but at least I should get something of a break.  I am reading numerous books and articles to do with my dissertation and found this quote which has given me a lot to think about and write about - "The church, as the agent of Jesus, should be a community in which pain and suffering can be brought to rest.  An institution cannot do this; Only a community can."  The book goes on to say a lot more with regard to this but I personally think that sums up what church should look like and not something that is a nice place to go a meet with friends have a chat and go home but somewhere you can go and have a cry, scream, moan or even laugh and have fun it is a mixed up place not some nice smooth running place that is emotionless, that you can get blessed where you are at including in sin?!  It should be a place where the exterior is stripped down and you come as you are and do business with God (Not that you can't do that anywhere) amongst fellow believers who can support and go through all these emotions with you.

Now need to make sure we definately have a pitch for tonight as it doesn't appear to have been booked by the council not me!

Some you lose!

At last some time to blog.  I have been really busy over the last few weeks and so haven't had too many quieter moments.

Football, and both St. Andrew's and Manchester United have gone into meltdown.  St. Andrew's can't pull a consistent team together.  So far we have lost 21 goals in 3 games which includes a 6 v 5 loss to Mure Memorial, 8 v1 against Greenock Elim (we only had 9 players due to injuries and work commitments) and 5 nil against Burnside and with the last game they had 6 attacks and scored 5 goals - we hit the bar at least 3 times, the post and their keeper pulled off a few saves - we wouldn't have scored if we were still playing the game now argh!  So now I have had 2 bad weekends all my teams have lost and unfortunately everyone has to suffer as I am like a bear with a sore head.  As a Man U fan I hate all things Liverpool and Chelsea - sorry can't hide it.  It doesn't help that my step father is a Liverpool fan and so it is a struggle to bite my tongue.  Rugby and Wales have lost which is rubbish as well but I did go and watch Nick Cox play for Glasgow Hawks on Saturday and at least they won although first half it looked like they would get hammered but they played really well in the second half so well done Hawks it added a bit of light to my weekend.

I have been listening to some of my ALM CD's from previous conferences and Leon Fontane is the latest one and he talks about thinking big and how the church doesn't think big - to which I have to agree.  We seem to settle for second or even third best which is sad when we have so much to offer the world other than judgement.  I want to be a big thinker and get God out of the box that I keep him in.  I have been offered a number of opportunities recently to do some big things and I am really excited by them.  The other CD I listened to was Paul Scanlon's 'I am not my Father'.  It is a really encouraging message and I can relate my story to Paul Scanlon's story as they are very similar with regard to our fathers.  Not sure what to listen to next, maybe a Heroes CD (last years conference).  I am really looking forward to this years conference it looks really good.

I went to a Methodist conference in England a week ago, which was for Lay people.  The content wasn't that appealing but I took lots away from it and meeting people from anywhere and everywhere was great - I met some really good contacts and some very interesting people.  The family are all well and now the sun is out so is the boy and there is no keeping him in but at least he goes to  bed early problem being he gets up at 6.00 - 6.30 am most mornings now and wants to play.  #1 daughter is off to California for 10 weeks soon to do camp America, which she is excited about she actually leaves the day after she comes back from ALM's Cherish conference.  The other ladies in my life are all doing well, especially the wife.  I am hoping to have some time to blog more regularly now but as usual need to wait and see what develops.

Progress, set backs & life in general

It has been a very busy week so far and it is set to get busier.  Starting Saturday the team lost again with a 6 v 5 loss to Mure Memorial.  In the end this was quite a good result we were losing 5 v 1 at half time.  A great dig in in the second half and a change of tactics.  I tried something different in the first half and it didn't work (don't try that one in a hurry).  We play the same team again in 2 weeks time but this time in the quarter final of the cup.  This Saturday we are playing Greenock Elim down in Greenock so hopefully the game will go ahead (weather permitting) not sure what surface it will be on if the weather is bad. 

The team although losing on Saturday did show some grit and determination in getting back into the game it was a close finish so well don to them all for a good second half performance.

Church is going well and at last I think we are getting a bit of unity back.  Friday I am preaching at the world day of prayer evening which I am looking forward to immensely.  I am currently traveling around the circuit with my mentor and trainer Alan who is an exceptional preacher, teacher and mentor.  I am really enjoying my time with him and learning from him.  Next week I am down South for the week at a Methodist conference - decided to get the train down rather than fly so I will also be able to get some work done both on the way down and back up.

Family are all doing well and so far the boy hasn't broken too much - last week he picked up the cistern lid and dropped it on the floor why?  Because he could and I am pleased he did because he is blessed to have that ability (I will explain further in the blog).  The girls are all fantastic with #1 daughter planning a trip to America for the summer roughly 3 days after she returns from ALM's Cherish 2009 conference.  #2 daughter is turning out to be a very capable chef and has just missed out on winning an inter school masterchef competition.  #3 &4 daughters are doing well and are lots of fun.  My wife is doing well although she has suffered with toothache again but has now praise God had it fixed.  Life in the Darlow family is going well Thank God.

Back to the praise God the boy can destroy the house.  I am currently doing a module on children with additional support needs and it is hard going.  It has not only got me thinking about my own children and thankfully how healthy they are and how much fun they are to be with but also how the 'church' meets these people's needs and welcomes children who are disabled and invites them to meet with Jesus.  I find myself now examining how I say things and express things like 'walking with Jesus' or 'hearing Christ', talking to God??  I also find myself examining the churches motivation for doing stuff for disabled people i.e. ramps, toilets etc how would it be if 20 kids come in that couldn't walk/talk but could make lots of noise would they still be welcome?  Do we make the building easier because it eases our conscience or because it is legislation?  Are our hearts open to these people who are still part of Gods creation and still welcomed by him.  Come as you are - this has been given a whole new meaning to me.  I am not sure how things can change but I do know that if our buildings are open but our hearts are not then we need to radically rethink why we make our buildings available to disabled people.  Salvation is another area I am having to think about.  How are people received into the kingdom when they cannot speak or communicate in anyway?  As someone who can't stand the theology of  'say the prayer and you are in', I know what I beleive but it really concerns me to hear glib comments about salvation that automatically exclude children or anyone who has a mental impairment.  These are some of the issues that I am having to wrestle with.  More to follow I'm sure as I work through the module.

Who said it would be easy?  Life must continue and I must continually rethink my theology and how I reach people for Christ - Children's ministry modules have probably had the most affect on me while studying theology.  I have not done one of them yet that hasn't made me think about how I live my faith on a day to day basis.

Progress

I have not blogged since last weekend and a lot has happened.  I have taken my 2 exams and done ok I think!?  I still have one more essay to be in by Saturday but that really means Friday and I have another 3000 words to find.

I preached for the first time yesterday at Partick Methodist Church on Jonah and Ninevah.  I really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it my mentor/trainer Alan is very good and always gives me some good tips afterwards and a lot of Methodist history beforehand.  I have decided there is not many he people he does not know involved in Methodism.

Football and the game was off on Saturday after moving pitches the opposition decided that they weren't playing on either pitch which meant an early finish for me and I got to catch a wee bit of a first division game in East Kilbride.  Next week we are playing EK Claremont which if memory serves me right the last time we played them was a cup final and we lost 2 v 1 which was also the last time I saw big Tam alive.  The game will be in EK on grass with a 10.00am KO.

Barack Obama is the 44th President very interesting.  I listened to the inaugaral speech and noted that he used scripture throughout it.  Very good but I am still not convinced that he will be a good one.  He strikes me as wanting to appeal  hence to appeal to the Evangelicals he uses scripture and some well know American Evangelicals.  On the war he starts pulling troops out etc. etc.  I hope he does a good job but will he be allowed to?  Do all of the states of America recognise him as their president I doubt it as rascism still exists in some states.  My prayer would be for America that they recognise Obama not as their last 'hope' but as a man who has changed their history and can bring about some unresolved issues for their country.  He may even bring them to remember that as with us for their country God is their only hope.  

BBC are not showing an appeal for the Gaza.  Maybe their refusal to gives the appeal deserved publicity and people will give to this cause.  I have to say that for me personally I am glad they are not showing it.  One of the main reasons is that I don't agree with the Hamas cause.  History has taught us that if you go against Israel they will respond dispraportionatly and to continue to do that is sheer stupidity.  The tension had to break at some point.  I hope that the two factors can get around the table and use diplomacy at least then there may be a chance that this won't happen again and many inncoent children will not have to suffer because of grown up stupidity.  I know life in Gaza is not great and that in Israel it is much better.  Constant missile attacks make life hard but Hamas didn't kill that many people with them as opposed to 1400 people killed by an all out attack justifiable?  Not really but that is and has always been the way of a country that lives in constant fear.  Not a very good way to live.  Lets hope diplomacy can sort this one out and that Israel allows the Palestinians a better way of life and that both sides share the resources that they have.

All children in our household are well and the wife had a great time with HRH last Tuesday.  She is continuing to work on her training manual plus her day job with St. Silas.  As for me I have a church council meeting tonight which will be good fun as well as being a challenge.  I now have to prepare half the service for next Sunday in what I hope is preperation for preparing and doing a whole service in the near future.                      

College life

Yesterday at college worship the principal shared some of his thoughts on vision for not only the church but also for us as people.  He spoke about a couple of quotes, one of which is so embedded in my brain but another one which he shared from George Bernard Shaw was this - "You see things and you say, 'why?'  But I dream things that never were, and I say, "why not?"  The college anthem is Be Now My Vision and in both my times at college vision is something that has been promoted to everyone.

This quotation amongst other things that have happened over the past few days got me to thinking about what my vision is and how I can bring it to fruition.  I am afraid to say that when I have a dream to do something I never quite get to the stage of "why not?"  I tend to rarely get past the stage of 'why'.  Personally I don't feel alone in this as I think a lot of people only get to this stage or, is it a church thing?  There are many people in churches that have vision and dream dreams of what they could, would or even should be doing but do they eventually fall foul of the people they surround themselves with who make comments about how it won't, can't or they don't have the ability to do it?  I don't know but this is a question that I need to ask myself , 'Do I listen to other people or do I listen to God?' (who I hope these things come to me via).  'Do I worry about what other people think or do I feel more concerned about standing before God and having to give an account of what I did/didn't do?'

I was listening to the radio this morning and heared of the sad death of an aid worker in Afghanistan who was killed by the Taliban for proselytizing.  Christian aid had a spokesperson on and so I am assuming that she worked for them.  They insisted that she wasn't doing what she was accused of and that they had many people of different religions working for them??  Callers came on and said it wasn't right that the west went to these countries with the only purpose of converting countries to what they thought was the right 'religion' and someone else came on who wasn't religious and said why should/do we allow people of ther faiths into our country and let them do whatever they want?  My thoughts went back to the proselytizing issue - is that a biblical way of doing things any where in the world?  I don't think it was what Jesus asked us to do.  Rather than make converts, did he not ask us to make disciples of all nations?  Feed the sick? Free the prisoner?  Cloth the naked?  Possibly, could it be that if we followed his instruction that we may actually get somewhere and have a truer reflection of church as God would want it?

After that little rant back to football, Celtic play Man Utd tonight at the Theatre of Dreams, should be good.  Saturday St. Andrew's lost 2 nil in the Churches League equivalent of the FA Cup in which we never do well historically and again this year we didn't.  Maybe next year?!  Saturday we are playing Greenock Elim which is normally a reasonable game last year we got an absolute gubbing in the first game and then a 2 all draw in the second.  So it should be a good game.  We are playing in Shettleston on a revamped playing field which GCC have spent a fair bit of money on since the last time we played on it.

Update

I think update sounds better than catch up!  With the busyness of life I haven't had time to update the blog apart from the sad news with regard to Ted the VP of ICC.  He was the man that taught me 800 years of Israelite history in a whirlwind 8 weeks and added at each lecture, 'If I am going too fast just stop me'!

Football - we didn't have a game this weekend.  St. Andrew's got to the second round without playing a game and I was away on holiday with the family.  The last game we played was against Trinity Possil which we won 6 v 2.  Wee John scored a hat trick and I-Mac played at centre half and did very well.  They all buzzed about like 'busy little bees' - only Russell will understand this as he made the comment - To give him the benefit of the doubt I, in his defense, will say he was having 'one of those days'.  This weekend we play Kilsyth COG at Castlemilk sports centre and so the game will definitely be on although finding a referee was a bit of a struggle but finally got one tonight.  Looking forward to the game it should be good.

Work is going really well although I have had to hone my diplomacy skills.  I am having a great time with work although it can be a challenge at times but they are great people that I am working with, and the minister I am associated with is brilliant - very wise and very spiritual.  There is a lot of work to be done but in the end it will be worth it.  I am now on note and hopefully within the next 3 months will go on trial.  The programme to preach at the methodist circuit is very complex and thorough.  They have a very good training programme set up.  I need to complete 18 modules to become a licenced preacher and I hope to use this as part of my independent study for my honours year along with another 4 modules.

College is very exciting although I expect it to be quite subdued next week when I actually go in for lectures with the passing of Ted.  I have plenty of reading to do but this can only be good for me!

Holiday was absolutely fantastic.  Never went near a mobile phone and only checked e mails once whilst away.  Spent loads of time with the kids swimming and bike riding.  Most importantly got real quality time to be with the wife, drinking coffee and the odd glass of wine.  Just walking about and reflecting on what we have achieved together over the past 20 years.  So I really enjoyed it we had fun and I actually ate healthily well, at least once.  I thoroughly recommend Centre Parcs to anyone who is looking for a holiday with a difference.

I am away again in 7 weeks off to Bradford for the weekend on my annual pilgrimage to Abundant Life Church and this year there are 8 of us going, 6 from the football team and two other friends so that should be a fun filled weekend.  The theme is 'Heroes'.  I will be able to get some refreshing in a year that ministry has at times been very painful but thankfully God has lead me through and shown me a new side of ministry.  Paul Scanlon will be doing a few sessions, which is always good and an American guy who on paper appears to be a good speaker.  I always find going to Bradford a refreshing and relaxing time.  I do tend to phone home to make sure everyone is doing ok and also to let them hear the great praise music that happens at ALC.  It's all good stuff! 

Family, study and work

In the midst of yet another busy week with lots of family stuff going on (including much reorganising and DIY that's been on the cards for a while) I finally get a chance to blog! 

Last week was a busy week between getting all the kids ready for school and nursery, which meant lots of shopping and reorganisng the kids bedrooms, and having my interview at ICC on Wednesday for entry to the BA Hons programme.  I received my letter of acceptance on Friday with my schedule for the year so it's great to be able to plan my weeks so well in advance.  I start on 23rd Sept then, after a wee weekend away with the family, lectures begin on 1st Oct.  I haven't decided what my major piece of research will be on as there are so many things I'd like to study but I'm thinking that I would like to link it with something relevant to my new post, which starts 1st Sept so that will give me several weeks to think it through and come up with some more solid ideas.  I already have loads of topic ideas so I need to slim them down a bit. 

My new post is based in a church not far from the college and I'll have an office there so I think it will work out very well.  I'm excited about starting and after meeting with my new colleague tomorrow hope to get some firm ideas and proposals on paper. 

We're trying to make sure the house and kids are organised and settled before schools starts next week and before I start my new job and college.  There's lots of changes going on but everyone is excited and keen to muck in and help. 

I'm going to a church leaders lunch in Glasgow on Thursday with another pastor friend while the wife meets a close friend for lunch - it's a hard life!  The wife is having some time off from work at the moment and we managed to spend most of yesterday just the two of us with the boy.  We took him to church in the evening and I wanted to hear my friend preach but even although our boy's singing was wonderful I had to take him out in case he got done for heckling the preacher after the music had stopped!  Oh well, I suppose I have more of that to look forward to.

No 1 daughter had a job interview today and No 2 daughter had the opticians so now that's all done it's back to building some new bedroom furniture for No 2 daughter and reorganising our bedroom (now he has moved into another room), which makes room for the wife and I to have matching desks!  I'm really looking forward to having more flexible time to spend with my wife and kids as well as studying and working. 

After a friendly match against Westwoodhill at Castlemilk on Saturday morning, the football team are having an afternoon boat trip and lunch on Loch Lomond.  Guests are also welcome as we'll present this year's cups for Top Goal Scorer, Players Player of the Season, Achievement Award and Top Man of the Match Award.  First game of the season is away to Irvine on 23rd Aug - oh how I love that journey but at least it gets it over with!!