Florida Days Three to Six!

Well I have to begin by saying - HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

2011 has been a year of change for me in good ways and bad ways and it feels very nice to start a new year where I can leave the bad behind and take the good with me into 2012 :) I hope everyone else feels the same and is able to do that. I think we dwell too much on the past and what has happened when I think God often wants us to concentrate on the now, how much He loves us NOW, how lots of our bad stuff is behind us NOW and how we can trust Him for the future NOW. That's my mini rant! :)

I must apologise for the lack of post the last few days, we have been away for most of it and I've had no opportunity to write.

So here goes!! The night after my last post we went to a restaurant by a beautiful big lake in Sebring. Me & Caitlin got some photos on the dock there. The food was really nice, I opted for home comforts with fish & chips and I can count it among the best fish & chips I have ever had! Caitlin's Dad tried the Fish Sandwich challenge and made an admirable effort but ultimately fell short. I think the challenge was designed to be pretty much impossible unless you wanted to die so we're all glad he fell short! For the first time, I tried a 'Gator Tail'. It was slightly concerning to eat alligator tail but it was very nice. It was breadcrumbed like a chicken nugget and tasted like a chicken nugget too. I give it a thumbs up! We watched American Football with Caitlin's Grandad and his wife and step grand-daughter (who was mega cute and fun!) who also came to the meal with us and it was relaxing despite me having to go to bed early due to tiredness!

The next day Caitlin showed me around the town of Lake Placid, which didn't take long! Her Mom wanted her to show me the murals there but apparently it's a horrific travelling experience so she didn't haha.

We (Me, Caitlin, her parents and her younger brother) then went up to Orlando and checked in at this beautiful hotel at Orange Lake. It is surely a four star place, maybe even five. It has a big swimming pool like the ones we used to go to as a family at France. We went and saw this beautiful beach and then went into Downtown Disney, looked around the shops, met Goofy and had our photo and ate at the Rainforest Cafe!! It's apparently a famous place and the prices confirmed that! It is set up like a rainforest even to the tune of it being really cold (suited me fine as a Welshman!). Randomly the lights would go out and a storm sound would roar across the restaurant!! It was a lot of fun!

The next day was DISNEY! We spent the day in the Magic Kingdom and it was a child's dream! The child inside of me was awakened in a big way and I absolutely loved the whole experience. It is like another Universe there, a big happy all-singing, all-dancing Universe and you can't help but smile there. In the night the big castle changed colours which was spectacular! I thought if Disney can make a world like this, imagine how great a world God has in store for us when we leave the earth?

My favourite rides were, firstly, the Splash Mountain, which sent you hurtling down a water shoot and get wet. None of the rides were as fast or exciting as even the big ones at Oakwood but at Disney it's about the story and experience of the rides. It also has to be useful for young children too, as they are what it's ultimately for!

Secondly I loved the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. It was a boat trip through a town that had been invaded by Pirates and apparently inspired the film as it was there before it (although they have now added Jack Sparrow to the ride!) but the best bit was the sea. It really felt like you were in the middle of an Ocean, it was incredible!! Plus the boats around you were firing at each other, water was coming up and everything!

We managed to catch the Parade and go on 90% of the attractions and it was a day I'll never forget!

The next day we wandered around Orlando after watching the Man Utd/Blackburn game at 8 am with Caitlin's Dad (great match!!) and enjoyed a more slowly placed day. On the way home we went to Spook Hill, a mountain which apparently created an illusion you were going downhill when you were going uphill which I didn't quite feel haha. We also, in tribute to my country, went to Lake Wales..another beautiful Lake where we had fun taking pictures.

We saw in the New Year with Caitlin's Mom, Dad, Grandad and his wife and step grand-daughter (Caitlin's brother, Ian, had gone to Bahamas with some friends) with a fire, fireworks and fun family time.

Today we've been to Church which was really encouraging. I really loved the welcome feel, the Soul Survivor style worship and a great message on loving your brothers and sisters who are serve God. Spending time getting closer to God, feeling His Presence and knowing the reality of His Love and Promises is always time well spent!

It will be a slower placed day today, we are about to go swimming in the back garden! It is over 30 degrees C here, I imagine that is a contrast to Britain right now!

Having as wonderful, wonderful time, it's been absolutely amazing and more than I ever imagined. I have really enjoyed her family's company and I feel a part of the family already!

Going to miss this a lot the next few months!

Grace, Peace and Blessings to you all!

Love Michael :)

Jeremiah 29:11-13
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. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Picture of the Day!

This is my 100th post!! Hoooraaayyy!!

I love this picture! I took it yesterday when visiting my cousin Simon in Swindon. This is one crazy roundabout, and is just as confusing in reality as it is on the sign. It looked like a dodgem thing at the fair!

In reality, our lives are also very confusing and we have times where we have no idea where we are going and why we have to go that way once we go in a confusing direction.

One thing I do know is that God knows the future and Has Great Plans for us...

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.


If you are fed up of that verse now...maybe it's because God sees you haven't truly believed it and experienced the freedom and joy it brings.


He is Good. He Loves You. He wants the best for you. Trust Him :-)

Video of the Day!

I want to write today about celebration! I am currently watching the Carling Cup Final between Birmingham City & Arsenal, where the winners shall celebrate a victory very joyously. Earlier, we went for a meal with some of my family for my Mum's birthday. Different types of celebrations but good fun all the same.

God has called us to celebrate (Phil 4:4) and as Christians we do have a lot to celebrate!

I was chilling out online this week and found a video of one of my favourite ever Cardiff City players, Robert Earnshaw. He definitely knew how to celebrate!

As Christians we know that:-

• We are saved (Romans 10:9)
• God Loves us so much (John 15:13, John 3:16)
• God works our good in all things (Romans 8:28)
• God has a great plan for us (Jeremiah 29:11)
• God will never leave us (Hebrews 13:5)

If that isn't worth celebrating, NOTHING IS!

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

 ¹ Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
 ² Worship the LORD with gladness;
   come before him with joyful songs.
³ Know that the LORD is God.
   It is he who made us, and we are his;
   we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

 ⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving
   and his courts with praise;
   give thanks to him and praise his name.
⁵ For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
   his faithfulness continues through all generations.

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.

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.

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 :)