A challenge to this years Relay at New Word Alive

'beat that'

About to Graduate

Thought about you might want to do next year? Something to do with your degree? Somethings with enough money to keep you in clothes you like. Something enough money to keep you comfortable though at least...
Why?

How about, instead you embark upon what could be the most important year of your life, and do Relay? Relay is a sulf funded, disciplship in a student context ten month programme. Grace saturated and Christ centered.

Rosemary has some questions for you...

Blogs

Mark Dever, on the 9 Marks blog asks, 'where did all these Calvinists come from?

If Spurgeon was the underground aquifer bringing down the nutrients of earlier generations to those after him, then it was this generation of preachers--many of them anti-Calvinists--who, ironically, were the aquifers who brought us all Spurgeon. And friends, if you keep being told to buy Spurgeon, eventually you'll probably read Spurgeon. And if you read Spurgeon, you'll never be able to believe the charge that all Calvinists are Hyper-Calvinists, and that Calvinists can't do missions and evangelism.

Adrian Warnock continues with Terry Virgo:

Some people say now we have Epistles we don't need apostles. Although we firmly embrace the authority of the Scriptures, we believe that a local church is built on people and on relationships. We need not only pastors and teachers, but also properly functioning apostles, prophets and evangelists, all rooted in local churches and serving translocally.

Tech Monkey wants us to read about Edwards:

I relearned a truth from the life of Jonathan Edwards. That the Christian life is one of emotion, of joy, of getting to know God better each day. It is neither a life of dead formalism or excessive emotionalism that removes the focus from God and to the personal, subjective, experience.

And, about the same time that i had finally given up on her and deleted her from my blogroll, Anna Hopkins was writing this:

Firstly, let me state that a CU is NOT a church, it is a mission team. Churches can’t get onto campus, so the only way to spread the Gospel there is through the students who already attend the university. Christian unions are not a church, in fact it is crucial that all the Christians who attend the CU meetings are firmly rooted in a local church, where they receive sound biblical teaching and can grow in their faith.

The Gospel chain

There are many reasons i am encouraged by this photo, of, right to left, me and Annie (RUCU Chairman/Woman 2005), Tom and Kat (RUCU Chairman/Woman 2006) and Matt and Katie (RUCU Chairman/Woman 2007).

These are five of the most wise and gracious brothers and sisters i know. It's been is great to serve them, whether from the front or not. I consider it a real priviledge to be part of the 'chain of chairs' at RUCU.

I'm encouraged by it because of what it teaches me about the Gospel. That God continues to work though His Word even when i'm not around to see it. I love how Tom and Kat and Matt and Katie have picked up the baton in Reading, stayed faithful to the Gospel, and have kept RUCU going from strength to strength (with a little help of course!). I love that i got to be part of it, and that people have been gracious enough to have me back around since i left Reading.

But right now, as i come to the end of Relay, it encourages me because it reminds me that i'm not the be all and end all. That after me will come someone else who loves the Gospel and will do a better job, then again, then again. One of the many things i've learnt on Relay this year is the security and the joy of knowing that God is there, and that He is bigger, more powerful and more important than i am. And that He is faithful. This photo reminds me of that, and it makes me glad.

Jesus is better

One of sin's greatest weapons against believers is how good it looks, how good it feels, how good it tastes. No one would choose anything that look or feel or taste good, whether in the soul or in the body. The reason this is such a big weapon against us is that we were made to feel pleasure. Made to feel happy, made to feel good, made to be delighted. We were made to find our purpose and our meaning and our pleasure outside of ourselves.

And this can take such a wide range of expressions. From the obvious like sexual immorality, to the less obvious like the clothes we wear or the compliments we fish for, to the individual things that cause us to stumble, like what we do in our spare time, what we watch on tv or see at the cinema. And that's different for everyone in the details, but the basic facts are the same for everyone. It looks good, so we do it.

So the battle we need to fight against sin is the battle to prefer something else. Something better. To teach ourselves and believe that there is something better out there. And praise the Lord there is. His name is Jesus. The greatest and most ultimate relaity there is. People, pretty much from the day He started to minister wanted to put Jesus in a box. But it was for Him and through Him that the world was made. How do you out Him into a box? How do you sanitise Jesus? You can't. But anyway, back to the point of this, how do we choose Jesus over sin? How do we convince ourselves and remember that Jesus is better and that sin is awful?

The answer from Proverbs 5 seems to be look at the long game. Proverbs 5 was the last talk that Mo gave at Relay 3, and this is all from his handout (except anything thats wrong, which is me) It looks good, but it isn't seems to be the message from verses 1-6. It looks like fun, it might feel like fun at the time, but it's bitter in the end. Sin always leads towards death, it calls us and tempts us to do what we want without pondering the path of life, without paying any regard to the Lord. Sin makes us all gods in our own little worlds. Here the father is pleading with his son not to chase after the forbidden woman, She looks good, but she'll kill you. And God pleads with us, choose life, choose my Son...choose Jesus.

In verses 7-14 the father tells the son to not eveb nearly do it. Don't even go near her door. Don't bring shame and dishonour on yourself by going to her door. Stay well away. How often after we have consciously sinned do we think to ourselves ro tell God that 'i only meant to go so far'...don't even go that far. How east it is to waste our labours on sin. It's a thin tightrope over the fires of hell. And how close we come to that tightrope, how often i dance on that toghtrope every day. How blase to get about sin...our consciences's get cut off, our fire for the Gospel gets dulled, our neccesary burden for the lost eased, but not in a good way. Sin is stupid. Stupid to let all that we've learnt of God, and all that we know of God and waste it. Adultery, whether spiritual or physical is cruel and merciless. Sin is a harsh master. Come to Jesus whose yoke is easy, and burden light.

The father finishes by exorting the son to enjoy the wife that God has given him. Enjoy what God has given you. If it's singleness, enjoy being single and don't waste it, use your singleness to glorify God. If it's marriage, then be married to the glory of God. Be satisfied in God, be satisfied in what God has given you. Don't be chronically ungreatful, drink deeply from your own well, because what Jesus has given you is enough. How do we do this though? When that rush of adrenaline goes through your blood and you visit that website, buy too much, say too much, don't say enough, when you try and elevate yourself abouve your peers, when you fail to trust in God for everything? What do you do then?

Fear the Lord. Thats the way to life. His paths are best.
Guard your heart. Don't entertain sin in your heart, go to the cross, tell yourself that God has given you enough to drink. Isn't God a gracious God in doing that?
Trust God. God is trustworthy. There is none like Him. He is good, and He is soveriegn. His promises are staggering. His commitment to His own glory is the best news in the world. Ask Him and trust Him to satisfy your heart for His name's sake.

This is pure Christian hedonism. Choose whats better. Follow Jesus' commands. Don't listen to the world. That way is death. Jesus is life. Glorify God with your body, with your soul and with your life, because that is the way to life, and peace and satisfaction. Prepare yourself for an eternity enjoying Jesus in Heaven. Get ready for that, and shine brightly in the world.

Relay 3 (65)

'woulDn't it be fun if we all lived in some sort of cult?' 'um...we kinda do'... 'have a cd'... 'i was in a nighclub, and i saw someone i knew from uni'... 'i'm not even sure if it's appropriate'... 'we'll use it if we ever want to shut the scheme down'...'you always pretend yOu don't know what i'm saying' what?... 'i spent the week in eds bed'...'let me plead with you'
fellowship group 11
thuRsday night...the dancing...the fire...the singing...the sheet of paper and everything on it...fEaring the LORD...landing parties...the garden centre...the 3 minutes...Mo...the keyboard...the songs...the sunshine...prayer ceLl...'he's getting married tomorrow'...sin is worse that God...God is bigger and better than Ed...Paul Huxley is bad...group therapy...wanting to bleed the Bible...UCCF...Emma Brewster...Quinta...sold out...homestarters...being a wAcko...being a relay worker...having relay worker chums...peter's song...chris's song...matt's song...crooksY's song...lets keep lighting the light...see you on staff in a couple of years...

my kingdom for a horse

punk rock saved my life
I spoke to a JW in Princes Risboro' yesterday. And he pretty much explained the gospel to me perfectly, even making the glory and enjoyment of God the end and centre of it, rather than me. Which got me to thinking how important it is to get to the bottom of what people say and think. It was only when we talked about what we meant by 'Son of God' that we got to disagreeing. He said that talking to me was 'encouraging' which is pretty much the opposite of what i was after for once. But it did at least make me think about how important it is to find out what people mean when they use words, and to make sure we know what we mean, and other people know what we mean when we explain the Gospel.

teenage angst has paid off well
Nearly a week after the end of my 365 i can happily report that it has had a positive affect on me. nearly every day this week i've seen something or been somewhere and thought 'that could be today's 365'. which is nice. To have a mind trained to look out for the good, the pleasant, the cool in life is definately a good thing. So whether its been flowers in the field, or fit lunches, or good chats, or plans that involve eggs, i'm glad that the little owl project is continuing mentally, f not actually.

the grande finale
I'm back off to Quinta tomorrow for Relay 3. Time has gone very quickly since the last time i was there for Relay 1 and Forum. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again and hearing stories of God's work and grace in everyone else. see you next week!

how to say goodbye

I always feel slightly voyeuristic reading the end of 2 Timothy. Like i'm standing in the doorway of a hospital room as a father and son share their last moments together. It feels like we're on emotional ground, like if Paul and Timothy turned around and saw us, we wouldn't be welcome at all. Of course, thats not how scripture works at all, but thats the air i feel surround the end of this letter.

Of course the reason for that, is that's whats happening. Paul, who loves Timothy like a son (1:2) knows he's about to die. He's been abandoned in prison by a lot of those who supported and looked after him, and things look bleak. This is it, this is goodbye, this is i'll see you in glory. You can almost feel Timothy cradling the paper in his hand, weeping over the last message he'll ever receive from his mentor and dear friend, reading it over and over again to make sure he's got every last ounce of that Paul wants to say to him before he dies.

And what does Paul say? Paul is man, if ever there was one, who did not waste his life. Paul is a man that knew the way to inexpressible joy, and being able to be 'rejoicing yet sorrowful' was to show Jesus Christ as supremely valuable in all he did. And he faced death in the same way. Paul fought the good fight, he finished the race, he kept the faith (4:7). He had done all that was asked of him in his life, he had done all that he could do in every situation for the Lord. he had been obeidiant to the Lord in Corinth when he had to wait for people to be saved, he had wept real tears over his jewish brothers who didn't see that Jesus was the Christ. He planted churches more or less all over the known world. He'd fought the fight and kept the faith. Ans he finished the race. He did not decide near the end to give it all up. To get out of prison and enjoy his last years in the sun, to take the easy way out. He stayed faithful to the end no matter the cost.

And what's the result of that? The crown of righteousness. The very great reward. The fullness of joy in the presence of the Lord. Joy inexpressible forever and ever and ever. And thats not only for Paul, but all those who love Jesus and His appearing (4:8) What encouraging and inspiring words from Paul. How helpful Timothy must have found them, as Paul was not shaken or worried by being in prison or his impending execution, this would be what kept him going.

And what was Paul's last message to Timothy? What does he want Timothy to remember near the end of his letter? What is Paul's last request of Timothy? To preach the word (4:2). In season, and out of season, being patient and passionate, using the word to reprove, rebuke, exhort and teach. This is the Gospel that bound them together and to Jesus. This is their common bond, their common faith, their common life. Preaching the Gospel. And what an audience Paul calls upon to witness this charge. God and Christ Jesus (4:1). Thats how important this message is, that the Lord of the universe Himself is called to witness to whats being asked. Surely there is no greater audience and no greater charge. Preach the word.

Paul doesn't pretend it will be easy. What a present word this is as Paul tells us that 'the time is coming when people will not endure sound doctrine' (4:3). Timothy will face opposition. Tragically people will turn their backs on the Gospel to something else, something more palatable, more respectable, more believeable. Horribly they will build faith systems that pervert the Gospel to meet their own felt needs, thus turning their backs on what would meet all their needs all the time. Paul could have written this yesterday. Here's my point. As my students leave Guildford, as the week just gone marks more or less my last contact with most of them before i leave Relay, this is the charge i want to leave with them, these are the words i want them to remember me by.

Preach the Word.

In season and out of season, when you're buying Christmas cards and tinsel, when you're stocking up on sun cream, whether you feel ready or not; preach the Word. Mission weeks, freshers' weeks, carol services, teas and coffees', thursday night. Preach the Word. Please. People aren't always going to like it, people mostly won't like it. You'll be called arrogant and stupid and sexist and wooden and old fashioned. Preach the Word. People from within and without will tell you to do things differently, that times have changed, that we need to do this new thing. Preach the Word.

This Gospel is all we've got. If we change it, we lose it. If we water it down in the name of tolerance or love, we risk sending people to hell. And that is very unloving. Show the University of Surrey that Jesus Christ is the way and the truth and the life. That He the fountain of delights, and at His right hand are pleasures for evermore. Thats love, in demonstrating faithfully clearly and passionately who Jesus Christ is, that people might be saved.

Preach the Word.

How does the Holy Sprit enable and empower me to live as a Christian?

[I don't always enjoy writing my relay study responses. I alwaus enjoy the study, but taking what Wayne put into my head and getting it onto a screen is often not easy. which is why i often enjoy the personal responses the most. and here's my latest one]

I think it was CS Lewis who said that if it wasn’t for the Trinity he would still be an atheist. Slightly changing that for my own purposes I think it’s fair to say that if it wasn’t for the real and active work of the Holy Spirit in my life and on my heart, I wouldn’t be a Christian. I wouldn’t have been saved in the first place, and I certainly wouldn’t be here five years later writing this!

I believe that the Bible teaches that from birth we are all sinful, we are all born with Adam as our federal head and counted to have sinned with him because of that. Even if that’s not totally how it works it’s clear pretty early on that we’re not good people who sometimes do bad things, we are just bad people. The same is obviously true of me. I spent seventeen years actively and passively rejecting God, and then I became a Christian, not quite ‘over night’ because my salvation was, from my point of view, the result of six months and discussion and argument with my then girlfriend, but more or less. I remember about a week or so before I was saved thinking about Christians that they were a dangerous bunch, and should be locked up. So how come so quickly I believed the Gospel.

The Holy Spirit.

It was the Holy Spirit that convicted me and convinced me that all the arguments in favour of the Gospel were real and true. It was the Holy Spirit that convicted and convinced me that I wasn’t a good person but that I was a bad person, and that apart from Jesus I was going to Hell. It was the Holy Spirit that made my heart feel and know it was alive for the first time in the days and weeks after I asked Jesus to come into my life. The Holy Spirit working to show me the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). The absoluteness of His glory and the horror of my sin. That’s how the Holy Spirit enabled me as Christian…He convinced me I needed to be one!

And now He empowers me as a Christian. Probably my absolute favourite single verse in the Bible is 2 Corinthians 3:18. It is the Holy Spirit who helps me to see the Lord, and it’s seeing the Lord that empowers me as a Christian. That keeps me as a Christian. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit alone that convinces me that reading the Bible first thing in the morning is a more urgent concern than checking my facebook. It’s the Holy Spirit that gets my heart excited when I see things about Jesus in the Bible that I hadn’t seen before. It’s the Holy Spirit alone who makes me want to read good books about church, or theology, or good biographies. It’s the Holy Spirit alone who gives me that sick feeling in my stomach when I’ve sinned, that feeling of disquiet when I’m sinning and the Holy Spirit alone who makes me want to do good to and for the people around me.

How can I be so sure? The Bible leaves me with little alternative. Genesis 6:5 says that the only desire of man’s heart is only evil continually. That’s pretty damning. So damning in fact that God is moved to wipe man about, except Noah, and start again after the flood. Even in the middle of explaining a parable, Jesus almost incidentally describes man as ‘evil’ in Luke 11:12. When Nicodemas comes to meet Jesus in John 3, he is told that the only answer is for man to be ‘born again’ And Nicodemas very fairly points out that man can not enter for a second time into his mother’s womb. But this is not the birth that Jesus is talking about, He is talking about being born of the Spirit. That it is by the Spirit that we are born into the new life that we need to be saved. The way the Holy Spirit worked in my salvation, in salvation itself to secure that, and now work’s in my life to make me hate sin and desire God is evidence of His work in my life and fruit of His mercy. Praise the Lord!

Things i learnt

Mission week was a while ago now, but here are some things i learnt during the week.

• I am very thankful for Red Bull, creme eggs and bananas, which to a varying degree kept me going through the week.
  
• People are willing to talk about things if you give them a chance. God has written eternity on our hearts, and yet most of the time we waste talking about daytime tv and other things we do to out off boredom...thus trapping us in a circle. It's no wonder people are bored. So when we ask people to talk about things of eternity, they are normally ready to talk. Not that we need to chase after them, but they were created for relationship with God, so it's not all that surprising they are ready to talk about it.
• It's ok to be ill. Dave, who does Relay in Cardiff spent a large part of the week asleep in my room. And if that had been me i would have been tearing my hair out and trying to come back onto campus long before i was ready. But it's far better to wait until you get better, because you'll be more effective in the end that way.
• It's ok to rest. A good thing about Dave being ill was that i could come home every afternoon. I didn't have to be treading campus every hour of every day to be using my time well, and that was a cool thing to realise. On friday morning i hid in the Chaplaincy with Mark Driscoll, and that was cool too. And pretty much neccesary.
• Mission weeks can be great catalysts, and that's kind of their point i guess. Just because the whole of campus didn't get saved doesn't mean that there was no poin in doing it. The fact that Arran got saved meant that there was every point in doing it. But it's helped us to see how important evangelism is, how it's not that actually scary, and how the Gospel really really is good news, and sharing it with people really really does work. So CU mission weeks don't minimise mission for the rest of the year, they spark it.
• I am greatful for the example of other Godly men in my life. When i was at RUCU i was always jealous of the AMs who came to help us out because they could do it full time and not worry about work. Not that i ever worried about work that much anyway but anyway. Spending time with AMs during those weeks was a really valuable time. Some of them convinced me to do Relay, some of them showed me how to do good conversational evangelism. All of them impacted me in a good way.
• If you put on good lunchtime events people will come.We had on average about 80 people at each lunchtime. They didn't all come for the food! People want to know why we go on about Jesus so much...so lets tell them!
  

Gospel foolishness

I don't think i'll ever come away from sharing the Gospel feeling it went well. There's always an objection that i haven't seen and an argument i can't deal with...even in my own head, let alone theirs. And thats hard because it hurts my pride, which i don't like.

One thing that i've really realised over the last couple of weeks is when Paul says the Gospel is a foolish message, he wasn't lying. I mean obviously he wasn't, but it's really really true. Just like everything in the Bible...anyway. Jews demanded a sign, Greeks demanded wisdom, Muslims seem to demand a God who didn't hang out with prostitutes, and if this morning at multi faith week was anything to go by, Pagans (i mean actual pagans) demand a God who didn't kill His Son and doesn't send people to Hell. And if we've got any integrity we can't give them that. We tell them a message that they actually laugh at...again, not good for the pride.

But thats ok. And it's ok for two reasons. I'm glad that my pride gets hurt. Because it's not about my pride. It's about the glory of God. It's about trusting in the power of the Word and the Gospel. Not in my clever arguments. And i'm not the world's greatest apologist, but even if i was, that wouldn't make any difference. I'll be humbled as much as i need to be in evangelism, because God wants the glory Himself, He doesn't want me to have any. And thats really ok.

Which leads me to thinking about the wisdom of God. Why isn't His wisdom more like mine? Why didn't He make the Gospel...y'know...make more sense. Because Him, even in His foolishness, is much much much wiser than me. He knows what people need to be saved. He knows that our biggest problem is not intellectualism, or the lack of it...but sin, and seperation from God. And it's the cross that deals with that. Dealing with our biggest problem, once for all, is pretty wise. I couldn't have done that, i couldn't have thought of that. When i was drawing our creation, i wouldn't have based it all around a Godman on a cross. I don't know what people need. But God does, so all i've got to do is tell people that Jesus dieing for them meets their greatest. deepest, most serious need.

But what do i do about feeling like a failure after sharing the Gospel? Well, first of all i guess i just plain get over it and repent of my pride: 'but i'm a Relay worker...how can he not listen to me', and trust God. And i remember what, yeh you guessed it, 2 Corinthians 4 says. I present the Gospel without change or deviation, and pray that God would open blind eyes, and soften dead hearts by His Spirit, so that people can see the glory of God in Christ, and be saved.

So it's ok that the Gospel is foolish, because it's only foolish to our dark, futile minds...and it's wise to the only wise God, to the great God. It's ok to feel bad when you walk away, because it's about God's glory, not mine. And it's ok for my pride to get hurt, because it grives the Holy Spirit...

space ships...they won't understand

It's not all fun and games doing Relay....

UCCF:thespecialforces

In my post Relay 2 glow, here are some reasons i really like UCCF:thechristianunions.

Commitment to the Gospel.
The first thing we heard 'from the front' was 'the Gospel is still true, Grace is still real'. It was like coming up from under a swimming pool and having fresh air hit the back of your lungs once more. Funny how you don't realise you've been ill until your better again. I have concluded that most/all my problems come from the fact that sometimes i just don't believe these two truths. And whats more it was the Gospel that we focussed on all week. It would have been easy to spend an hour on the first night reminding ourselves of it, and then spend the rest of the week learning how to be Relay workers. But we didn't. And here's the thing, if we don't love the Gospel, if we don't love Jesus then you can give us all the 1-2-1 tips in the world, and it won't make any difference. But show us Jesus clothed in His Gospel, and you're showing us life.

Commitment to the Bible.
I love the Bible, and i try to love all of it equally, but there are some books that just seem more helpful than others, no matter how untrue that is. And whcih book did we study this week? Zephaniah. You'd have to go a long way to get further off the beaten track than that. Two and half terrifying chapters on God's fierce judgement and half a chapter on His grace to His remnant. It was brilliant. And so easily missed. There's more to the Bible than Romans, there's more to the Old Testament than Genesis and the Psalms, it was great to remember that this week. There was a Bible open in every talk. This just seems like common sense to me but i know that it is getting rarer. But i'd rather have someone sit and expose the Bible to me, and help me to apply it well than pretty much anything else. I was at the Biblical Evangelism Conference two months ago, a whole weekend dedicated to handling the Bible better. Invaluable.

Commitment to Worldwide Mission
Wednesday evening was spent praying for IFES movements around the world, praying for the top 50 countries in the Open Doors persecution list, praying for China and praying for last years Relays who are away on Homestart at the moment. IFES is the third largest worldwide organisation after FIFA and the UN. I think thats pretty cool. This term about 50 missions will take place in the UK and Ireland, and in one week in February (12th-16th) there will be 13 missions on the go at once. It's great to be caught up in something so big, so eternal.

Commitment to students and Relays
Things like the BEC and the whole Relay programme illustrate this. Student led mission teams resourced and supported by Relays, staff and training conferences. Giving students the chance to handle and teach the Bible.

Commitment to Universities
'Change universities and you will change the world' said a wise sounding man. Universities will always be where the next generation of leaders will come from, so lets get amongst them. Lets change people's lives and eternities at university, so they can do it in the work place. Universities are increasingly closed to outside intervention, espeically that of a religious bent, so it's great to able to equip the students who have the right to be on campus where others don't.

Commitment to Church
I can honestly say that if it wasn't for Bish i wouldn't love the church as much as i do. Christ is building His church, the church is the bride of Christ, the church is what will be presented to Christ spotless at the end of time. CUs are there to gather people in the local church. They couldn't do what they do without the support of the local and sending churches. CUs are not churches, neither should they be treated as such. Go to CU sure, but get yourself involved in a good Bible teaching church, thats so important.

Relay 2: Karaoke

Mo (plus wig) kicked us off

The 'mighty' Midlands

Guess which musical number they did!

The North East
they just lacked 'a little bit'

The North West
i like them because they made sure we didn't come last!

Ireland
They sung about a horse.

a sympathetic picture of Team London

The South East.
world class

The. Scotlandteam.
Winners two years in a row.

Wales.
'They're gunna live forever!'

South West/East Central.
Two very small teams combining to make one small team. They nearly won though.

it's better if you do

Much much more to come from Relay 2 when i've processed and looked over my notes and sat and thought and rejoiced a bit more. But for a start i wanted to write something short. In fellowship group this morning we were studying Zepheniah 3:12-20, the book that we spent the week looking at. We broke up into pairs and looked at a part of the passage each. Me and helen looked at 14-17 to see what it said about God.

• He is gracious
• Powerful
• Relational
• the King of Israel
• mighty and saving
• loving
• expressive
• happy
• delighting in His own work
• compassionate.

All that about God hidden in three verses in a minor prophet book that most people won't even read. If i've learnt one thing from Relay 2, and i haven't, i've learnt heaps, it's that the minor prophets are totally worth spending time with. And that God's amazing...i mean, just look at that list!

stop it and tidy up

i'm off to Relay 2 for a week... please pray for me and everyone involved!

*laters*

no way jose

It would seem somehow remiss of me not to say something about wednesday night at some point. Even if, as i told the Bucks Free Press when they asked me 'its hard to talk about it without slipping into cliches', but here goes.

What a ridiculous, unbelievable night it was. We've been so poor in the league recently losing two and drawing two of our last four games before playing Chelsea, and suddebly, somehow we manage to draw with one of the best teams in Europe. Yes i know it wasn't their strongest line-up, but it was their strongest possible line up, and at the end they had Lampard and Ballack in the middle, thats nothing to be sniffed at. Our side cost £80,000 to put together, there's £104,000,000 if you can believe such a number!


The best goals are the ones you know are going to go in before they do, so this one was perfect...i can remember Tommy winning the flick on and Jermaine going after it, and then seeing the ball slowly trickle in front of Hilario and thinking 'hang on, we're actually about to score here' and then we did. And then...pandemonium. I genuinly can't think of how that evening could have been better. Chelsea were outfought if not totally outplayed for ninety minutes, we deserved our draw, we go to the second leg with a chance. Thats all you could have asked.

It seems i'm coming more or less full circle when it comes to football. There was a 15 month period in 02,03 and 04 where i went something like 16 months without missing and away game, and only missed a home game (Brighton, we drew one all) because of the cell leaders weekend away (where Ceryn came and made sure i was ok because i was so quiet. ha!) but now i'm missing our next four away games due to a variety of reasons. Including the second leg at Chelsea because of Relay 2. So relayers if you see me on wednesday evening in Ledbury wondering around as if i don't really know what my name is, it's because we're just beaten Chelsea and we're going to Cardiff. It won't happen...it might happen.

highlights on youtube. They've got the attendance wrong, it was 9771. Massive!

Why history is important

It's possible fairly ironic that i seem to have more affection for history now than at any time during my degree. Thats not quite true, bits of year 3 term 2 were pretty cool, and three or four of my history teachers are among some of my favourite people, but this afternoon i've spent time looking at history in two different ways, two important ways.

We'll do the last one first. I spent a couple of hours this afternoon in the company of King Josiah and King Hezekiah off of Israel, trying to get some sort of handle on Zephaniah (yeh, i actually love being a Relay Worker). Josiah has to be about on of my favourite people in the Old Testament. Whilst some of his men were try to refurbish the Temple, they found the covenant books of God, which i'm guessing are the first five books of the Bible in the Temple treasury. Now, quite how these were lost in the first place i don't know, but Josiah reads them and tears his clothes and repents. And then, and this is about my favourite bit, he goes around Judah on a destruction spree, trashing all the temples, high places and altars of the foriegn gods that his father and grandfather had caused Judah to sin by worshipping. Isn't that great. This is theology being lived lived out...and smashed out. Josiah had already been described as 'one who did right in the eyes of the LORD', which was increasingly rare those days, so he probably knew that things had gone wrong since the days of David and Soloman. He looked at history and saw that things needed to change, and man, did he change them. Perhaps not totally as Zephaniah suggests that there was still idol worship going on, but definately for the better.

And then what happens? His son becomes king, does evil in the sight of the LORD, and thats pretty much that for Judah, before being taken off into exile and captivity. Within about 11 years Jerusalem had fallen. Jehoiakim and Johoiachin both doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD. If only they'd paid attention to King Josiah, to a bit more history, maybe they would have learnt.

Hezekiah was king three generations earlier, and made the same kind of sweeping reforms that Josiah later would. He also fought off the Assyrians from more or less inside Judah. Good work. But then what happened? He died, and Manasseh and Amon both did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, leading Israel to sin. They didn't look back to David, or even just back to Hezekiah, and they sinned, Josiah did, and the Lord let him die before the exile. So history is important.

Here's the other, less important thing. I spent an hour at lunchtime at Wycombe printing off microfilm of Wycombe match reports from 1957 (yep i'm that cool) for something else i'm helping out with. Man, it was great, i could have done it all day. It was cool to look back at the games we played then, how good we were on the amatuer scene, how people got to games, all that jazz. History is important for small clubs like Wycombe. If we forget about people like Len Worley, Paul Bates and Geoff Truett, we'll forget where we come from, we'll forget why we exist. Recently Wycombe Wanderers have converted to being a PLC, and sold the name of the ground (fortunately now we've got it back) all in the name of progress, all in the name of playing in the 'Championship'. Well, frankly, i'd much rather still be a company limited by gaurentee, playing at a ground not shared with a rugby club, even if it meant we were a couple of divisions lower. Wycombe Wanderers should be a community club, looking backwards and looking forwards, not selling the family silver to chase a dream. I want Wycombe to be playing at the highest level they can sustain, and if thats only League One, or League Two, or the Conference, then fair enough.

Thats why history is important. Remember the lessons of the past, whether they are taught by David or Josiah or Len Worley, and apply them to now. Smash the idols, protect the football club.

2006- in review

In 2006 i:

• stopped being on RUCU committee
• turned 21
• delighted to see people saved
  
• graduated
• spent spring and summer wresting with God, before entering winter delighted that He'd won (as if He ever wouldn't)
• started Relay
• moved to Guildford
  
• was kept faithful by a wonderful God
• spent more on books than cds for the first time
• read more than i ever have done, the pick of the bunch being 'Living the Cross Centred Life' by CJ Mahaney, 'A Call To Spiritual Reformation' by Don Carson, 'Future Grace', by John Piper and 'The Mortification Of Sin' by John Owen
• spent a couple of weeks in Scotland, and enjoyed days in Rushden and Fulham, as well as various adventures with other Relay workers.
• looked forward to the future...
  

Glory Days

I've said it once and i'll say it again...man, i do like Team Days. These last ones were made even better by the fact that they were joint 'days' with the South West Team, which gave us a great oppotunity to catch up with the Relays down there that we hadn't seen since Forum, as well as meet all the (not quite as cool as south-east) staff. Was good times.

It started on wednesday with something of an epic trip down to Exeter (it took us an hour to clear Reading), and then Marcus Honeysett, took us through three sessions on how to respond, interact and defend our faith in a post modern society (those weren't the actual titles, thats just what i picked up from it!). It was very cool, and great to be taken through such a relevant topic by someone who so clearly and passionately knows his stuff. I'll post some thoughts on here soonish if i ever get the time...unlikely then!

Then thursday was all about praying for ourselves, our CU's, praising God for what He's doing all over the south. Particular high lights for me was hearing of the potential starting of four new CUs in Cornwall, and the success of Exeter's Mission week. Great times. Then...we all went to the beach together which was amazing, and very needed! It's a shame me Bish and Carolina don't have a 'beach patch', but i guess it helps us to appreciate days like yesterday all the more...Also, if you were on the end of a very smug text from me on thursday afternoon you'll be pleased to hear my phone died soon after. I'm currently using my sisters 4 year old nokia. *retro*. Then we watched 'The Game' which was an good film...could have had a better ending mind.

Friday started with Team times, which essentially meant the SE people all got together round a table and spent half an hour sorting our our diaries and persuading Kath to let me, Jess and Carolina do our elective responses together (we're only thinking of you dude)...then Gareth took us through 1 Corinthians 1:1-7, reminding us of how our ministry and our indentity must be rooted in Christ...nothing else will do. Then we ended with an extended time of prayer for our Regions.

If you're thinking about doing Relay next year, you really got to have an amazing reason no to do it. Even if just for times like these where the fellowship, support, prayer, praise and understanding was just off the map.

Just 365 style things since this is going to be a crossover post;

'we've waited too long for a staffworker in Cantab to lose him in the first term'
Gareth watching as Olly waded a stream and then made as if to climb a sheer rock face.

'i'll tell you what i've told all my other Relays...buy. some. shoes'
Bish upon seeing the hole in my red high tops.

'it's such an honour to meet Dave Bish from The Blue Fish Project'
Jim got very excited (not for the first time) meeting Bish.

'the thing that worries me most about the SW team is their low view of Neighbours'
Me on the differences between the two teams...

Also, it was just amazing to be away with every one for a while, a chance to wallow in the glory of the Gospel, and charge up for the next three weeks, which between housepartys, conferances, court appearances, prep, supervisions, birthday partys and study responses promise to be manic.

Cool.