A Big Price!

Today is a very crazy day in European football. Transfer Deadline Day! The final day in which major football clubs can sign players this season. You can have really boring Deadline Days where nothing happens. But occasionally you get a real gem of a day where clubs keep you guessing right up until the final hour.

Today is one of those days. The main players are Liverpool's Fernando Torres, one of my favourite players (left), and Newcastle United's Andrew Carroll (right). At the time of writing they appear to be leaving for Chelsea & Liverpool (Carroll to replace Torres!) for £50,000,000 and £35,000,000 respectively.

I have read much concern over the amount of money being spent by football clubs. One work colleague suggested that those kind of sums could help feed some of Africa and that is certainly something to think about when we see such frivolity in our world on seemingly needless expenditure.

Many others have suggested that these players are not good enough to warrant those sums being spent on them, and this is what I am going to make a point about in this post.

In Football you are worth what somebody is willing to spend on you. Carroll could be one of the top strikers in the world in the next ten years and every penny spent would be worth it. Torres is one of the best strikers in the world already and if his goals fire Chelsea into the Champions League next season and to victory in it this year, he will have paid back the price already (especially as prize money is equally as exorbitant in football!).

Let's turn this around, if we are worth how much someone is willing to spend on us then how much are we worth?

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

God considers us so valuable to Him that He was prepared to sacrifice 'his one and ONLY Son' to ensure we have the chance to have our sins forgiven and thus go to Heaven to be with Him.

The price paid for us was God Himself. This is how Jesus is described by the prophet Isaiah:-

Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a child is born,
   to us a son is given,
   and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
   Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
   Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace
   there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
   and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
   with justice and righteousness
   from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
   will accomplish this.

I have been down on myself a lot recently but knowing God's Great Love for me has helped me through it. If you are feeling down about yourself don't forget HOW VALUABLE YOU ARE TO HIM.

Thank you Jesus!

Picture of the Day

This is a picture of our campsite in Pembrey Park where PCY has Camp every year. It is one of the best weeks of the year where we all grow with God. have tonnes of fun and make lifelong memories. Today we had a meeting to plan the 2011 Camp and I am as excited as ever for what God is going to do this year. Book quickly to avoid disappointment as we have to limit numbers this year!

A Blessing

Some bad feelings resurfaced within me today but God is Good and this is how He Blessed me through it:-

Firstly my wonderful and beautiful friend Kathryn sent me an amazing blessing through e-mail, reminding me that unless I love myself, how can I love others as I love myself? It also reminded me of how Jesus is not about condemining us or waiting for us to mess up so He can cry 'Sinner!'. Actually Jesus takes great joy in everything we do for Him, no matter how small, and that we want to be in relationship with Him.

John 3:17 ^- For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Then my daily devotional book reminded me that God can use our suffering to remove the things in us that are not of God. I have a lot of things in me that are not of God so it was a great encouragement to think that there was a purpose in my sufferings. It also called me to not try and get rid of my suffering or battle it but to graciously accept it and see what God does!

I would say lastly but God never stops working, In prayer God reminded me of who I am. I am so hard on myself and don't see a lot about myself that is loveable so for God to tell me that I was His Servant, His Boy was very precious to me.

I hope everyone reading knows how precious they are to God and how God finds lots to love about them that they cannot see.

God Bless you all

Cardboard Testimonies

I'll be honest, I'm outta testimonies! If you want to contribute yours for testimony friday please do so asap!

I love cardboard testimonies, how they simply tell a big story of someone's life. Give this video a check to see what I mean. What would you put on your cardboard testimony?

What is Heaven like?

Today I saw an article with an opinion I seem to hear quite often these days. Star of Biutiful and husband of Penelope Cruz, Javier Bardem, said this:-

"Heaven must be nice, but is it too boring? Maybe you can get an apartment there and then go to hell for the weekends."

It is a shame how little the vast majority of the world know about Christianity in this age.

Revelation 21:4 - ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

There will be no sadness in Heaven! The worst thing about this world, which has a lot of beautiful and wonderful things, is the sadness that seems to be all around us. Every day on the News I see people dying too young, people without basic needs, countries at war and injustice. Heaven will have NONE of that.

Revelation 22 goes on to describe Heaven as like a wedding, where Jesus is the groom and the Church as His bride. I think the happiest event you could go to is a wedding. All your friends are there, there is food and there is dancing & partying. I can see Heaven being like that!

Hell is described as a place of pain and mourning, the worst bit must be knowing it was so easy to go to Heaven and you missed out. A lack of God in people's lifes causes the sadness on earth today so I can't imagine how bad it is there.

Jesus described Heaven as paradise:-

Luke 23:43
Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
The very word paradise must come from there and to me it means a place of perfection and awe inspiring wonder. I am excited for Heaven!

Of course, that verse is Jesus answer to the thief who was being crucified by His side when the thief put his trust in Jesus and asked if He would remember him in His Kingdom. If you trust in Jesus and ask if He will remember you, you will get the same answer TONIGHT.

Running the Race

I have agreed to do a half marathon for charity in September. It will be an experience for sure, I will explain more about it in a future post, but what a half marathon forces you to do is RUN!

So tonight I went for a jog around my local park. I thought I had done two couple of mile runs recently but according to Mum my idea of a mile is slightly out so I hadn't really done as much as I'd thought. I had also not long had dinner, and my shoes are not really running shoes so my feet really ache.

So here I am running and struggling. I want to give up, the excuses are on a plate. I could say I want to protect my feet, I could point to a back pain I've had recently. I could say I'll try again once my stomach isn't full of beans on toast and WeightWatchers chocolate.

I lifted my eyes up to the sky and asked God for the strength and help I needed to achieve my target for the night. 12 laps of the local park which equals about two miles. It used to be nothing to me but Christmas and the bad weather has taken its toll on my fitness. If you had told me I would do 12 laps at that point I would have laughed. When I started running again after the quick prayer session I passed the gate and was tempted to just run straight on out of there. But I didn't, completed my aim and felt so enthused.

Here is the point, running is a wonderful analogy for life as a Christian. There are many verses that use running as the analogy in the Bible and here are a few I've picked out:-

1 Corinthians 9:24
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. (ETERNITY!!)

Hebrews 12:1
[ God Disciplines His Sons ] Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
 (GOD HAS A PLAN - JEREMIAH 29:11)

In our lives we face lots of obstacles to our faith. The enemy feeds us plenty of excuses. The enemy wants us to fail, he wants us to give up so God's Will is not done in our lives. I want to urge you to keep going, God WILL give you the strength. He never gives you anything you can't handle, why would he? He loves you.

God has great things in store for you and you can do them (Luke 18:27) and one day we will stand before God knowing the same as Paul did:-

 Timothy 4:7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Birds In A Bush

'A bird in the hand is worth two birds in a bush'

I never knew what this statement meant...until today!
In my third lecture at University, Financial Management, the tutor explained it in the sense of business dividends. Some businessmen feel it is better to have a cash inflow every year in the form of dividends rather than wait on the company growing and getting a better price for their shares when they sell them.

The idea is it is better to have money in your hand than to wait on something happening that will make your investment even more worthwhile in the future.

You are probably losing interest now but I will try and win you back with a thought I had.

Heaven is a bird in the hand. God GUARANTEES Salvation for all of those who confess Christ and believe in what He has done, asking for forgiveness of sins. (Christianity is the only faith to know they are going to Heaven)

Acts 10:43
All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Romans 10:9

That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

I think there are lots people counting on the birds in the bush, maybe thinking that if they wait something better will happen than what will happen if they do it the Jesus way.

Jesus dispels this by saying that HE is the only way to the Father in John 14:6:-

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

I encourage everyone to stop waiting  for something else to happen and do something about it now. God Loves you no matter what you have done or where you are at and He is delighted to receive all who come to Him.

Ironically, in this case, the bird in the hand can't actually be bettered. I can testify to it. If you have any questions or want to talk about this, don't hesitate to facebook me, formspring me (the link is below) or comment on here, you can be anonymous if you want.

Giving It Our All

The Salvation Army is a Church group whose stated mission is to perform evangelical, social and charitable work and bring the Christian message to the poor, destitute and hungry by meeting both their physical and spiritual needs. They helped 320 million people in the US alone in 2004.

When asked about the secret of his spiritual success, founder William Booth stated 'The secret of my success is that God has all there was of William Booth'.

Don't we just try and keep things from God? Our money, our time and our decisions in areas such as relationships are often things that are sealed off from Him.

The things is, don't we trust Him? Or is it we are scared God will take us in directions we are scared to go in? I think it is the latter in most cases..well it is in mine.

I think this verse is fast becoming the verse of 2011 for me -

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

God isn't a supernatural party pooper, He wants the BEST for us and sometimes the best means we have to give up things that might be important to us.

So how much of us is He going to get? I'm fed up of sitting on the fence in areas of my life, it's time to go all or nothing and I'm going ALL.

Picture of the Day!

Today's picture is a tribute to the pastor of my Church, Mr Phil Lewis!

Phil has been a wonderful inspiration to me ever since I began coming to my parents Church in Talbot Green. He is someone whose passion for the things of God has rubbed off on me over the years and his Bible knowledge and belief that it is truly the Word of God (which I share!) has encouraged me to get to grip with scriptures more. I have taken so much from him, having been a part of the Church, Genesis Youth Group & the Boys Bible Study for many years.

As you can see from the picture above, he is also a lot of fun and he is one of the few I know to share an interest in Football & Formula One racing.

Thanks for everything Phil!

The Prodigal Son

I was really excited to read yesterday that my football team Cardiff City had signed Aaron Ramsey for one month from Arsenal. Ramsey is only 20 years old and started his career at Cardiff before signing for Arsenal for £5million in 2008. His career was progressing wonderfully, and he looked like becoming one of the top world players, before being dealt a severe blow last February sustaining a horrific broken leg.

He has had a long roads to recovery and has already had a loan spell at another club. However, Arsenal feel he needs more match experience before he can play for them again so have sent him to Cardiff, who happily receive one of their most talented youngsters ever.

When transfers like this happen with players going to their old club the English Press often call refer to the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

The Lost Son is one of my favourite passages in the Bible and Jesus told it in Luke 15.

Basically a son decides that he is fed up of waiting for his father to die, asks for his inheritance (a HUGE insult even now let alone back then) and wastes it on 'living life to the full'. When his money runs out and his 'friends' desert him he is feeding pigs and wishing he had what the pigs had for food. He then realises that his fathers servants have better than this and decides to go and ask if he could come back as a servant.

His father sees him far off and runs (an undignified thing to do in Jewish culture) to greet him and hug him and forgives him and throws a big party for him, restoring him to his old position.

The word parable sounds like the word parallel and just like parallel mean a double lines, a parable means a story with a double meaning. The first meaning is above, a nice story about the forgiveness of a father to his wayward son.

The second meaning is this. We are like the son. God is the Father. God has given us our lives and we have thrown His gift back into His face by our sin. Going our way, we can never be truly happy and always wish we could have what other people have. But when we return to God and ask for forgiveness, He embraces us! He runs to us and restores back to perfection before Him and we will have one big celebration in Heaven.

Please message me if you want to know more about this or have any questions about God.

Testimony

This is from a facebook group where I advertised for testimonies, short but very sweet and full of truth :)

Shield Farrah Jansen

Hi friends Shield here. A few days ago I was really going through a rough patch. I was very suicidal because felt like my only way out, then ill have peace. Death seemed better than life.but all that changed miraculously when all of a sudden I met this wonderful person out of nowhere whom I bonded almost immediately, who made me feel like living again and taking life's challenges on. Than I realised it was God who has answered my prayers. Prayers I have been praying for so long. God I wonderful he is great I SURRENDER ALL!!!!! Thank you Jesus.

Pray

Had never heard of this song before today but it certainly means I see Justin Bieber in a new light and it raises an important point. If we want to see change in our world and our lives we need to realise that if we don't ask we don't get!

The Parable of the Persistent Widow - Luke 18:1-8

 ¹ Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. ² He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. ³ And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
   ⁴ “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’”
 ⁶ And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷ And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? ⁸ I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Dark times

Yesterday I received some tragic news. I didn't really know the family that well, but the nature of the news was the most shocking part. A local family had been involved in a car crash and the husband, son and son's fiancee all had died. The mother and the son's baby survived.

The son was two years younger than me, he was in my brothers year at school.

Events like this always lead me to remember how short life can be and how we can never know what will happen tomorrow.

That's why it is so important to have a sure hope for the future. This is the verse that has really helped me as I have dwelt on this.

John 11:25-26 - Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

Because I believe in Jesus I know that even if I die tomorrow, I will live forever in Eternity (this knowledge is emphasised through the title of the blog). Jesus said I will never die. He isn't wrong, my body will pass away but my soul that occupies my body will indeed never die.

Do you have this comfort? Please talk to me if you don't and you want to know more/have any questions.

Living out great stories...

I have absolutely loved the advert that Sky are showing for their new channel at the moment. The advert is Dustin Hoffman talking about great stories and although I really love the backing track I have also been thinking about the idea of great stories.

I had a late Christmas present about two weeks ago from a very dear and much missed friend and part of it was a book by a Christian author Donald Miller called 'A Millions Miles In A Thousand Years'. In brief Miller speaks about how he realised he was living a boring life and was only writing stories and not living them. The book (haven't finished it yet so can only go so far!) then goes into some of his efforts to live 'great stories'. I think this is a challenge for all of us because God put us all on this earth to achieve something. He put us here to tell the story of a beautiful relationship with Him, with us realising our sin and humbling ourselves before Him and God being faithful through it all and forgiving us, ultimately seeing us rejoice with Him. God also has wonderful plans for us in our relationships, our career and in our dreams. He isn't a party pooper, He wants us to live out the great story He has written for us. What great stories do you think you are waiting to write?

^{JEREMIAH 29:11} For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

A bit of a laugh

January is apparently the most depressing month of the year so I thought I'd give you all a good laugh tonight. I actually cried from laughter reading some of these!

FUNNY CHURCH BULLETIN ERRORS

For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.


Remember in prayer the many who are sick of our church and community. Smile at someone who is hard to love. Say "hell" to someone who doesn't care much about you.


Thursday at 5:00 pm there will be a meeting of the Little Mothers Club. All ladies wishing to be "Little Mothers" will meet with the Pastor in his study.

This being Easter Sunday, we will ask Mrs. Lewis to come forward and lay an egg on the altar.


The service will close with "Little Drops of Water." One of the ladies will start quietly and the rest of the congregation will join in.

At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be "What is Hell?" Come early and listen to our choir practice.

Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. Please use the back door.

The pastor will preach his farewell message, after which the choir will sing, "Break Forth Into Joy."


Weight Watchers will meet at 7 pm at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.


Mrs. Johnson will be entering the hospital this week for testes.



The Lutheran Men's group will meet at 6 PM. Steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, bread and dessert will be served for a nominal feel.

 The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new tithing campaign slogan last Sunday: "I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours."



The senior choir invites any member of the congregation who enjoys sinning to join the choir.


The audience is asked to remain seated until the end of the recession.


The third verse of Blessed Assurance will be sung without musical accomplishment.


The Rev. Merriwether spoke briefly, much to the delight of the audience.


During the absence of our pastor, we enjoyed the rare privilege of hearing a good sermon when J.F. Stubbs supplied our pulpit.



Next Sunday Mrs. Vinson will be soloist for the morning service. The pastor will then speak on "It's a Terrible Experience."


The concert held in Fellowship Hall was a great success. Special thanks are due to the minister's daughter, who labored the whole evening at the piano, which as usual fell upon her.

 22 members were present at the church meeting held at the home of Mrs. Marsha Crutchfield last evening. Mrs. Crutchfield and Mrs. Rankin sang a duet, The Lord Knows Why.



Hymn 43: "Great God, what do I see here?"
Preacher: The Rev. Horace Blodgett
Hymn 47: "Hark! an awful voice is sounding"


The peacemaking meeting scheduled for today has been canceled due to a conflict.


Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.


Miss Charlene Mason sang "I Will Not Pass This Way Again," giving obvious pleasure to the congregation.


The sermon this morning: "Jesus Walks on the Water."
The sermon tonight: "Searching for Jesus."


Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered.



The church will host an evening of fine dining, superb entertainment, and gracious hostility.


This evening at 7 pm there will be a hymn sing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.



The senior choir invites any member of the congregation who enjoys sinning to join the choir

Picture of the Day

This week there has been some exciting talk of a trip for the guys in PCYA to go to Uganda. I would only want to go back if it involved helping the people rather than visiting stuff and this time I have heard it will be for evangelism and painting a hospital. So I have posted one of the most memorable pics from last time. This man is looking for food on a big pile of rubbish. An example of some of the misery some have to endure in this world. This misery is a result of the Fall, when sin came into the world and the subsequent sinful actions of selfish human beings in power in parts of Africa and all over the world.

We must pray that all are provided for, give them their daily bread Lord.

Happy Birthday!

Today I am going to a birthday party but not a person's birthday party. We are celebrating an cause, an effort, a work, a series of events put on by faithful adults and attended by many different generations of many different young people over.....15 YEARS!

Happy Birthday to PCY! (Pontypridd Christian Youth)

God has been doing great things through PCY, is currently doing great things in PCY and will do many more great things through PCY. PCY's sunday night spin-off Bible study 'Coffee Shop' helped lead me to faith and many others will point to PCY as a big part of their testimony of faith.

Thank you to all of the wonderful people who have given time, money, resources and themselves to PCY over the years and Praise God for all of what He has done :D

Acts 5:38-39

"Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.”

Please comment your biggest memories from PCY over the years if you have been a part of it:-

I have so many myself and one that does come to mind as special is the end of Camp 2006 when we all held hands in a circle and sang 'Awesome God'. I still remember how powerful that was.

Let me know yours!!

TV Testimony!

Something a little different for this week's testimony. A friend of mine also called Mike from my Church did a video for the youth group about his testimony the other week and it was brilliant and he kindly offered me the chance to use it on here so here it is.....

I don't know

I think as a human being there are a lot of things we all don't understand. Why Cardiff can't have a quiet, peaceful, consistent season (Probably would rather they didn't to be honest, so fun to support them!), why certain things happen, why people cannot see the obvious, Women! (It isn't the great mystery people make it out to be. I don't understand because I am not one and vice versa. Simples Personally we could both learn a lot from each other as well.) Anyway I am rambling just like a dear friend of mine does so wonderfully.

I had a tough day today, lots of stuff going through my head and bringing me down and this is the point of this post. How do people manage in these times without God?

I felt so terrible but the only thing keeping me from losing it completely was God. When I was weak He was strong. (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

And now after a great time of prayer I am feeling good again. Things don't fix themselves right away, but it is in God's Hands and He always Delivers!

Romans 8:28
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

GOD MAKES GOOD FROM ALL OF THE THINGS THAT HAPPEN.

Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

GOD HAS A GREAT PLAN FOR US. WE DON'T KNOW IT YET BUT KNOWING GOD IS TRUSTING HIM. WE'LL BE THANKING HIM ONEDAY!

Keep the faith, it'll work out :)

Which life to do you want?

Most of my days contain a look at the sports section of the BBC Website. As an avid Football & Formula One fan I like to keep up with all the latest news and particularly enjoy reading the blogs and articles on there.

Today a certain blog lept out at me. It was Jake Humphries' blog. I have a soft spot for Jake and not just because he presents the Formula One on BBC but also because he used to present Children's BBC in his younger days and I remember him from that. I think anything that brings you back to your childhood, before you fully understand this fascinating but dark world, is something we treasure.

There was a quote on his blog that I really liked. It was from one of the commentators who had recently been replaced and whom Jake was saying farewell too. He said this when Jake confided in him about his worry about being the new presenter when the BBC started showing the F1 two years ago.

"We can both either have an easy life or an exciting life and I know which one I want!"

Jonathan Legard

This totally related to how I had been feeling today. My life is not perfect because I am a Christian. Yes, it is much better than it was before but bad things still happen and I am just as susceptible to sin as any other human.

God was Speaking to me about stuff I had been doing wrong and also about something that happened a few years ago which I still haven't fully dealt with.

I realised that in a lot of my mistakes it is down to me thinking I know better than God. Me choosing my own path and thinking that because I feel good about it and it feels right that it is therefore the right thing to do.

The problem with that is this:-

Jeremiah 17:9
 The heart is deceitful above all things
 and beyond cure.
 Who can understand it?

Because of the sin that is in us all because we are imperfect people, our hearts are selfish and want what is best for us. God thinks differently than us because He is totally unselfish and wants what is truly best for us. You see, selfishness blinds our hearts to the long term consequences of our actions. We want what is best now but thankfully we can be sure that when we trust God with our lives He gives what is the best in every way.


Matthew 7:11
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

This post has dragged on but my final point goes back to the quote. Often our selfish choices are simply us choosing the easy way. But the exciting way is so much better! I believe it is totally worth it to sacrifice a bit of comfort & security to go into the unknown and maybe be blessed from it.

We have this choice when it comes to Salvation. The easy way is to do nothing and just hope you will go to Heaven. The exciting way is to trust God and give our lives to Him, accepting our way is wrong.

And we can be sure it is worth it because as Jesus says in John 10:10

'The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.'

Matthew 6:33

I was speaking to a dear friend last night and I read Matthew 6:26-34. Here in Matthew 6 Jesus makes a wonderful challenge to us to not worry in our lives. He cites how God provides for the birds of the air and the flowers on the ground and says this:-

^{Matthew 6:33}
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

I am such an idiot sometimes. No exaggerating, I genuinely am stupid. When trouble comes I try and solve it myself and often fail. God comes into my mind way too late or not at all. The times where I do put Him first He delivers and yet I still forget.

I just want to say to everybody:

If something bad has happened in your life and you are hurting and/or struggling - SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM & HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

If you are worried about something that is going to happen - SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM & HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

If you are having doubts about yourself or God or anything - SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM & RIGHTEOSNESS.

If you are happy and enjoying your life right now - SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM & HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS.

If you are seeking His Kingdom & His Righteousness but are like me and forget - SEEK FIRST HIS KINGDOM & RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Because as the prophet Jeremiah says ^'You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.' (29:13)

and as Paul says 'If God is for us, who can be against us?' (Romans 8:31b)

Style!

This is something people would say I don't have a lot of!

Christmas time brings a lot of great things best of all a timely reminder of what God has done for us. It also brings us presents, and lots of them!

This year I mainly got clothes, chocolate and a couple of computer games.

It's the clothes I want to talk about. Christmas and birthdays are a rare time for me. I don't buy clothes during the year and Christmas. I just get them on these occassions!

So I'm in fashion only a short period of time during the year. The problem I always find is that when I feel fashionable, I get very vain. I'll walk past shops and stare in the windows to make sure my hair is okay. It is stupid and I want to stop. Vanity is when we are wanting to be seen well in the eyes of the world and whilst we have to keep some sort of fashion to avoid giving a bad witness to others it shouldn't be as important as I make it in these kind of times.

I want to live for Him and know His Love and Grace however I look!

Colossians 3:2
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

Picture of the Day Wedding Special!

We didn't take many pictures so this is the best I could gather but I just want to send my congratulations again to the blissful couple Matthew & Naomi!

Matt is a friend of mine from Church and a real encouragement & strength to me and it was such a privilege to be there on his big day.

All the best mate!

Testimony Friday

This is a wonderful testimony I found online by a woman called Victoria. It moved me and I hope it blesses you as well :)

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Jesus Always Loved Me” I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me. “

[Galatians 2:20 CEV]

I wanted to share with you my story I was born again 19 years ago, you may use my story how you wish or just read and delete.

Adopted at 12 months old, to parents who were more dysfunctional then most. My father was a career drug addict and my mom would tell me how much she didn’t like me. My father did love me till I was about 7 then he delved more and more into his drug cocoon to escape the wife he did not love. There was a lot of emotional, mental and physical abuse. They adopted another child a boy and a year later she gave birth to a son. I ran away the first time when I was 11 years old.

At 12 I was taken away and put in a foster home, at 13 I ran away and lived on the streets of Oceanside California, where at 13 I was raped by 7 men, became a drug addict and drank whenever possible. At 16 I tried to commit suicide, at 17 I got married to get off the streets we moved to Maine. Unfortunately he was an abusive madman, so again I ran away. I joined a traveling carnival to escape certain death.

At 19 I was strangled and left for dead, at 20 I was locked up in the house of a drug dealer who striped me of any self esteem I ever had……I wanted to die………..at 22 I ran off with a man and found myself in Washington where again I was surrounded by drugs. The mother of my boyfriend at that time invited me to go to church with her, I agreed to go, I can’t tell you what the singers sang nor what the sermon was about but I remember as soon as the preacher started preaching I started uncontrollably crying and I didn’t know why. In my life I had tried everything from white Magic, Buddhism, and Jehovah Witness. In Washington I met a man named John, who like me was just as lost, but boy was he the most handsome man I ever met.

At the age of 23 I hated the life I was living and I knew there had to be more to this life then what I was living! So John and I set out with nothing but the clothes on our backs…We bid farewell to the lies, the drugs, the pit of emptiness that we lived in, and we had a plan we were going to hitch hike to California then to New York and start a new life…………Well we made our way to a lil town in Northern California by Redding, and while waiting for our next ride we noticed an elderly couple sitting in a car marked “Caution Wide Load” we thought nothing of it.

The old man got out of the car came over to us and asked us if we knew Jesus. I told him “I’m cool with Jesus” and John said “I’m mad at God for letting my father die in my arms.” He told us God loves us and cares about us, the old man introduced himself as Russell Mc Connell and his wife he told us was named Carol. We told him our story and our plans, he asked us to come to his house for a home cooked meal before we left town (John wanted to visit his Grandpa that lived not to far from where we were at) We told him we may do that. Russell gave us some money to eat so we went to the dinner near by ate then caught our next ride.

Things did not go well with John’s grandpa, so we left and slept under a bridge and the next day decided to call Russell and Carole, they took us in and fed us, they shared the gospel with us and that night we went to church with them. I was so into what I heard, like my heart was drinking in all that was said, but John was not comfortable he walked out and I noticed that 3 or 4 of the young men about our age followed John out of the church, later I found out they talked to John and prayed with him and ministered to him. The next thing I knew both John and I were kneeling and asking God to forgive us of our sins and to accept us as His own. I totally believed that Jesus was who they said He was.

Two days later John and I were married and then we were baptized. We were like little sponges soaking up Gods word. Three months later Johns’ bronchiolar tube clasped and he went into cardiac arrest, John was 23 years old. He was rushed to the hospital were he was D.O.A., but they revived him and he was on life support where he laid for 3 days. On the third day they stopped the machine and I watched him die for the last time, as he breathed his last breath, a peace flooded me and I knew he was in the arms of the Savior.

Later I spoke to Russell and as we looked back on everything we could see God’s hand everywhere, Russell told me that the day he met us he was called out for a job that’s why he was there, but the load never showed at the meeting area, and the night before he met us he was at church where he heard the Pastor preach on reaching out to strangers…….I am a child of the Living God washed and cleaned by the shed blood of Jesus and set apart. God is so amazing and He loved me before I ever knew Him. I am now part of a family that will never let me go or turn their back on me. I am so thankful to be part of God’s amazing saving grace.

Hard times

Today was one of those days where I just feel really down about myself. Wasn't sure what exactly caused it but I had a few ideas and was hoping it wasn't a mix of all of them as that would be a mess to sort out!

My only hope was God, and it's a wonderful thing that all I have is Him as He is all I need. He blessed me with the most wonderful verse, softly spoken to my heart in a time of reflection in His Presence.

James 1:2-4 

Trials and Temptations

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

 

Sometimes I fill my life up with so much sin that I need to be emptied and to be built up again and I realised that is what God was doing today. Perfect timing too, as my ministries begin tonight with Football training and an extra long PCY tomorrow!

 

I think if I died and got to choose what my gravestone would say I would have, 'He rocked my world'...because of the way God has changed my life, keeps changing my life and helps me when I am in need :)

Love is Faithful!

Since starting this blog I haven't been able to write about football much but in today's post I will at last but there is a much deeper point so keep reading!

Dave Jones has been the manager of Cardiff City, my favourite team, since May 2005. He has done an admirable job keeping the club competitive in one of the top leagues in the world during times of extreme financial difficulty, which has left him having to sell his best players and constantly have to scrape around for bargains in the transfer market. He also got the club to the FA Cup Final for the first time in 81 years in 2008. Many fans regard him as the best manager the club has ever had.

However recently fans have been calling for him to be sacked from his position. Strange eh?
There were changes at the club before this seasons. New billionaire owners came in and have eased the financial constraints and enabled the signing Welsh superstar Craig Bellamy. Expectations have risen and a recent bad run of form (which the club has never dropped lower than 5th and is currently 2nd, on course for automatic promotion) has seen previous unconvinced supporters and newly unconvinced fans call for his head.

I'm constantly amazed at the fickleness & lack of loyalty by people. Not just in sport but in life. Divorce rates are higher than ever before in Britain, for example.

The description of what love is in 1 Corinthians 13 starts with 'Love is patient' and ends with 'It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.'

Whilst many supporters of Cardiff City, husbands & wives are not faithful, God is perfectly faithful.

I amazed by His faithfulness. I mess up so often every day and He could just end my life right now and doesn't. He could have ended Creation right when Adam & Eve messed it all up but didn't. He could have wiped out the moaning & groaning Israelites time & time in the desert for their lack of faithfulness and affront to Him with their golden calve...but led them to the Promised Land eventually. What about the Pharisees, the people Jesus described as 'vipers' and 'sons of hell'. Why didn't God just give up?

I realise it is because God believes in us...even when we don't believe in Him.

2 Timothy 2:13 - if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

How cool is that? Even we really mess up & really lose track of our faith, God never stops believing in us.

1 John 2:1 - My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

Just as cool, Jesus stands up for us before God when we mess up. The conclusion from this is that God doesn't want to condemn us, He wants to know us and for us to be with Him forever.

John 3:16 is a very well known verse, John 3:17 I find just as amazing and it says this:-

'For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.'

My closing question is....are you saved? I want to say that nothing is really stopping you from making that choice :)

Thought of the Day

This morning saw me back at work after a lovely break for Christmas. My main concern was tiredness having had a few late nights such as Christmas Eve & New Years Eve and I was pretty tired on Monday.

I prayed the night before work and in the morning and despite failing to go to bed early enough again along with not getting a great sleep. I felt great all day!

I felt God speaking to me throughout the day 'Prayer is such an under-utilised tool'.

Tonight we had some friends come around and time for prayer has eroded. I want to make prayer a priority in my life. Anyone want to join me?

Crazy Love!

"Love makes you do crazy things, insane things, things in a million years you wouldn't see yourself doing, but there you are doing them."


 Wicker Park

I would imagine we are all well acquainted with the though that love makes you do crazy things. As my challenge for the Church for 2011 was to love more, it would be great to see if loving people crazily has Biblical basis.

Sometimes our problem is that we love, but we give people only a certain percentage of our love, and it involves so many conditions!

- I will do many things for you but not this, this and definitely not that!
- I will love you when I can be bothered
- I love you but I don't like showing it
- I will love you more when you do nice things to me.

Our problem is that our love is selfish and lazy and we need to kick ourselves hard to put this right in 2011!


- I will do many things for you but not this, this and definitely not that!

Acts 2:44-47

All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Do you have any possessions, time, rituals that you just won't give up to or for anyone? The example of Jesus' disciples is that they shared and gave everything to each other and to others. They put others above themselves. This highlights the Biblical teaching of serving others -

Mark 9:35
Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

- I will love you when I can be bothered

Luke 10:30-35

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.

So helping this man was clearly an inconvenience, because the Priest & Levite couldn't be bothered. These were people who should have helped the man. Not the Samaritan, enemies of the Jews! But this Samaritan went to a great expense to help someone with no promise of repayment or anything in return. Jesus used this as an example of loving a neighbour. To love like Jesus did, we should be making crazy efforts for those who may never repay us or even care about what we have done.

- I love you but I don't like showing it
Mark 10:21
Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
John 11:35
Jesus wept. (at Lazarus' death and seeing the grief of his friends, he then went and brought him back to life!)

Don't believe the lie that it is soppy or sad to show people how you feel. Sometimes it is just what people need to be shown that someone cares and that they are loved. Some people have never felt such things. It is very hard sometimes and it isn't always wise to declare your feelings but keep on the lookout for any opportunity you get to bless someone :)

- I will love you more when you do nice things to me.

Romans 5:8
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Need I say more?

Pictures of the Day 2010 review special!

The last few days has given me some time for reflection and thought and I have thought about what the five things are that I will always remember happened in 2010 so here are the pictures to show my five choices, which are in no particular order (edit!)!

Cardiff v Leicester, May 12. This was my birthday and as a present I had tickets to go and see Cardiff play in their big play-off game. If they won overall they got to go to Wembley Stadium to play for a place in the Premier League. They were 1-0 up from the game in Leicester and an incredible topsy turvy game saw us lose 3-2 and go to a penalty shoot out. By this point, I had enjoyed the game so much I didn't care who won and didn't have much faith it would be Cardiff as Cardiff usually let everyone down (which they did a few weeks later at Wembley!). But when the goalkeeper saved the penalty for us to win the shoot-out everyone went nuts and that feeling of elation, shock and emotion was very powerful and beautiful. My best birthday yet!

Next is seeing my friend Kathryn in South Carolina last June! She is one of my sweetest friends and it was such a memorable week. She is one of the most godliest girls I know and I have been blessed to have had her struggle, love, fight, pray and be faithful with me over the last few years.

Next is PCY Camp in August. Just because it is always amazing spending a fun week with some of my favourite teenagers in the world and that I saw God move so much in their lives and I saw how He had moved in mine too. The effects of Camp are still working now and I am looking forward to Camp 2011!

In October we had a weekend away with PCY and that is next on my list. I had never been to Woodcroft Christian Centre before, even though PCY had been many times before. I found it such a beautiful place and I was truly able to relax there. Better still, we had a wonderful weekend of teaching, fellowship and worship and it was wonderful to see real progress in peoples lives.

My last one is developing a great friendship with the girl whose glasses I am sporting above. Her name is Caitlin and she rocks. I can't think of many people who love God more than her and we share so many passions, ideals & lifestysle choices. She is going to do mission work in Spain this year and I hope one of 2011's highlights will be visiting her!

I felt, making this list, that I had almost left out spiritual events but what I realised is that actually God was working through all of this. He isn't just a God who does crazy things in your life on occasions but He is a God who is always there and always working for our good. I am proud above anything that in 2010 I was in relationship with Him, and despite the bad times, it is stronger than ever before.

My hope for 2011 is to know Him more, to love Him more & to serve Him more.

So what are your highlights of 2010?? Let me know in the comments section or on facebook!

New Years Resolutions

Happy New Year to everyone! 2011 feels good!

I'd like to start by saying that I don't believe in making New Years Resolutions. I believe that if something is important enough then you should do it straight away rather than delay and give yourself excuses for not doing it.

However, I'd like to issue a challenge to everyone for 2011. Let's make 2011 the year of Love.

Love is very important in the Bible. The Bible actually goes very far in declaring its importance:-

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

This is a feeling I have, and feel free to disagree or agree in the comments section, that Britain is neglecting loving each other so much these days. I even feel it is missing in the Church as a whole to an extent.

The greatest commandments in the Bible concern love:-

Luke 10:27

He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

After saying this Jesus was asked who the neighbor was and Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan. I love this parable because the Israelites & Samaritans were enemies. Yet when the Israelites was hurt, the Samaritan was the only who would help him. Love in Great Britain is so selfish. People help others for their own gain, or just help those who love them and they might not help them at all (in the parable, people just walked past the Samaritan).

Let's be unselfish with our love this year. Let's help and bless the people who have hurt us, who don't care about us. If we need an example to look too let's look at Jesus. We hurt God so much with our sin, yet He gave His life so we could live.

Let's be liberal with the love in 2011!