Seven

1) Driving to the airport Monday to pick up the little sister. It was nice to go to RDU without having to leave or being left for a change. And i had a whole week with Catherine to look forward to. Plus a new episode of House!

2) Tuesday was lunch at Blackbeards, very good, then driving to Kinston to have lunch where Rachel's student teaching, and then in the evening, my/our first baseball game. I love college sports, the collision of the amateur and the professional, knowing that the kids scoring touchdowns and home runs one day are learning about economics and history the next. Thats cool to me. And East Carolina won 15-4. And it wasn't too cold.

3) Wednesday it rained. It seems that spring in North Carolina involves some days in the seventies and eighties and some days where it rains like the end of the world. But we went to a civil war fort, Fort Macon, and learn about the war between the states. And i had blueberry pancakes for breakfast. Excellent stuff.

4) Thursday it was time to rest...we did very little. I actually don't remember anything about thursday...but i'm sure we had a nice time!

5) And then Friday...boo, back to the airport. We had a good meeting with the wedding caterer in the morning and then spent about an hour learning about the Estuary that flows through Washington...which was more exciting than it sounds!

6) I've also been reading Judges, a difficult book. It's probably the one i struggle the most with in the Old Testament, it's my Deuteronomy. My new ESV Study Bible has been very useful though, and i'm seeing in the four part cycle (sin, oppression, crying out, saviour) more and more of myself as well. Which is humbling and instructive. And how amazing to have a Judge that will never die and is good!

7) Sunday. Lunch with a family from church, a great time in Childrens church and going out to eat with the junior school kids after the PM meeting. I <3 church!

A weekend seven

1) Saturday was only my second full day off since the end of August...i love my job and the work, but it was nice to lie in bed for a few minutes and enjoy not having to get up right away and work out which clothes on the floor could still be worn.

2) This led to a delicious time of praying and reading the Bible. Decided to dip into Isaiah for the morning, richly rewarded.

3) Wycombe go back top of League 2, East Carolina won their division and a place in the Conference Championship game, and i managed to get two tickets to see their last home game of the season on Friday. Lovely scenes.

4) A very full sunday. After the 11am service we went to talk pictures for the staff and family Christmas card. There's something pleasingly silly about eighteen people trying to co-ordinate what they're wearing and where they're standing on a sunny afternoon by the water. Even sillier was despite the dozen or so pictures taken i don't think there's one where everyones looking in the same direction at once. Then different rehearsals for the two Christmas plays, then the Teen Discipleship service in the evening. So cool to see young people desiring to seek God's will for their life.

5) Thanksgiving shopping, including a 19lb turkey!

6) 24 Redemption. I think thats the first full episode of 24 i've ever watched. It was flipping excellent. Now we have to wait for the middle of January for the actualy start of the series though!

7) 'it's every girls dream, you get to walk round a shop choosing all the cool stuff and getting other people to pay for it'

Seven

1) Church. Lovely church. Especially with baptisms, and 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. We even sung a song that rhymed saint and ain't. Welcome to the south.

2) Family Missions day in Suffolk, Virginia. Two hours north up Highway 17. Go very much north from Washington, NC, and there is just nothing there. Mile after mile of cotton fields and woods. Suffolk in beautiful though, surrounded by lakes on almost every side. Great to spend the day knocking doors in support of a church that has only been going for eight weeks and is already averaging 70 odd on sunday.

3) Romans. Slowly. Good to be just me and the Bible, good to go slow, good to have six weeks to bathe in it's truth. Also finally starting 'Keep in step with the Spirit'. And about time.

4) High School football. On friday nights small southern towns seem to exist for high school football. The Washington Pam Pack won 41-14 to secure a place in the State play-offs. It was pretty cool.

5) Good times with younger men. I love the doors that the Lord is opening up for me with the teens in church.

6) 'so, why do you think i'm becoming more of a Calvinist?'
'um...because you're reading the Bible a lot?'

7) The impending staff retreat in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. 'Retreats' to me have always conjured the image of prayer labyrinths and worship painting, but we're playing golf and going to a steak buffet...excellent.

Seven

1) I loved...loved meeting at church every night this week. It was just wonderful to be there, using the building for what it was built for monday thru wednesday, and then at Five Points on Thursday and friday. I can't remember the last day i didn't go to the building either for work or worship, but that's a really good thing.

2) Special music is when a person or group sing during the offering. I really like it, as long as i'm worshipping rather than just listening. On thursday night two older ladies stood up to play and sing (and i mean older...they may have been around when the dead sea had chest pains) a country gospel song on a tinny piano was too cool for words. I hope i'm singing about the cross when i'm that old

3) Pirate Facebook. I just watched a Bewitched Portrait of Carson, Piper and Keller.

4) The aforementioned Bewitched Portrait

5) Arranging to have lunch with a junior high guy on wednesday. 'I'm gunna bust in there and teach the Bible'. Galatians 1 here we come.

6) 'You Can Change' by Tim Chester. I can not fathom the cover for the life of me, but you must read that book.

7) 'i believe i'd cheer for Russia before i cheered for Notre Dame.'

'well i'd cheer for France before i cheered for UNC'

Seven

1) My Dads been here all weekend which has been great. We've not done a great deal, but it's just nice to be on the same continent. And he bought British newsprint with him. No sign of broadcasting house sadly though.

2) Ceryn has started blogging again (some time ago by the look of it) Ring the bells and rejoice. She's on the money as ever as well. She makes me want to go and read the Bible.

3) Despite my positive comments about America earlier yesterday i came across a book called 'the south was right', which claimed that the Confederacy was a legal, sovereign state, the north was an aggressive occupier, and that the south has as much right to it's own land as the Baltic states in the USSR and Kosovo in Serbia. I've made arrangements to flee to Maine at the earliest possible opportunity.

4) Sitting on Bonner Point with Rachel listening to the gentle slosh and slap of the water. A perfect afternoon

5) 'You, Ed Goode, have been called to preach the Gospel'

6) Washington DC at night. The way the Lincoln Memorial lights up so his statue is the brightest part of the building, the statue platoon at the Korea Memorial, the changing of the guard at Arlington. Brilliant.

7) Finishing 'Joshua and the flow of Biblical history' by Shaeffer. Not because i've finished it but because of what a great book it was. He's so human, so engaged, he showed me so clearly the Gospel, the great Divine, humanity realizing Gospel from Joshua. There'll be at least a couple of posts about that during the week.

Seven Firsts

1) First time i've seen how important and full of grace the book of Joshua is, thanks to Francis Shaeffer. I love the way he writes, so full of life and...well grace!

2) First time i've been properly sick for a while. Missing half a day of work was rubbish, but here's the thing: the world spins without me, the Gospel didn't fall in North Carolina because i needed a few extra hours in bed, and Christ is still on His throne. And hey, even Edwards was sick once!

3) First day of the football season back home. As it ever was as far as we're concerned. 'looks like you've picked a good season to miss son'

4) First opportunity to have a chuckle at Oxford United. Imagine being told you start your season away to Barrow...on a friday night...and then get turned over 3-0. Lovely.

5) First time i've been exposed to American Olympic coverage. We move from American gymnasts to American volleyball types to American rowers. Other teams are just a rumour it seems. (to be fair NBC are showing a lot of non Americans rowing right now, but one channel sells itself on just showing Americans who are likely to win)

6) First 'working' funeral. What hope is there for people outside Christ? Heartbreaking.

7) (thankfully not the) First time we've sung Christ exalting, Gospel centered songs in church this morning. I loved it!

Monday Seven

There are a lot of reasons why i like Mondays...here are seven of them.

1) Slow, unhurried time with the Lord.
A while ago i decided to get up earlier so i could spend more time praying. It seems that no matter how early i start, i only just feel like i've got going when it's time to leap in the car and hotfoot it to London Street. Monday mornings aren't like that.

2) Reading time.
Not tired end of the day reading, but slow considered time with a book. I've not had much today mind.

3) Domesticity.
The washing and hanging out of clothes is not an exciting venture, yet there's something so simple and almost comforting about it. Likewise food shopping. I get to do that on Mondays.

4) Lots of time with Rachel.
On the way to work, at lunchtime and in her way home. Normall i'm worn out by the time she's done with working. Not on Mondays!

5) It's a long time till Sunday.
We've so far encountered no crises leading up to sunday, no ones loosing sleep over run orders or dvd lengths, sermon prep time isn't yet slipping though our fingers. Lovely.

6) Sunday was only yesterday.
Time to sit and reflect, to enjoy what was preached, to hum the songs still in your head. Time to rest and consider.

7) Last night's Top Gear on the iPlayer.
'i can only assume at some point there's going to be a horrible accident.

Seven

1) Starbucks with Tim for the last time. Great to end with the challenge to 'not waste our minas'. Great that Jesus made it unflinchingly to Jerusalem. Great that his revolution wasn't an earthly one.

2) 'Through the gates of splendour' by Elisabeth Elliot. Probably impossible to read that book and not be moved by it.

3) The last student bar-b-q of the year at Scotts house. As it began so it ends. Probably a good thing the water pistols didn't work in the end!

4) Euro 2008 comes alive. 'we are going to have to readjust our parameters of whats possible in a game of football'

5) Thank yous and goodbyes

6) 'yet i tell you, the least in the Kingdom of Heaven will be greater than him'. Desiring spirutual greatness with all my heart more than worldly greatness.

7) Great, long hearty and helpful conversations with my helper. 362 days to go...

Seven

1) The unity and togetherness of the whole church this morning after The News was unleashed... It's a joy to be part of this local church

2) Preaching the Gospel at St Georges on thursday evening. When the nerves turn to a buzzing in my stomach as i stand up. Can i do this forver?

3) Goodbyes. 'thanks for always inspiring me to preach the Gospel Ed'

4) What Tommy thinks. It's nice to know, sometimes, that your quiet thoughts aren't lonely ones

5) Eric and Josh on the Bible, along with, well, more or less all of 'when i don't desire God on the marriage of the Bible and prayer

6) Creation to Noah with Josh. 'I never do it like this, normally we do 20 verses and i have questions in front of me, so this might be a total disaster' It wasn't though. And why are they naked at the end?

7) Acts 14 on Calvinism and Arminianism. I can never tell how it's going when i'm talking, but i thought this went pretty badly. At one point i nearly left, nevermind anyone else! I was overwhelmingly wrong judging by the feedback i had though.

United States of Seven

1) Just everything. From the eight hour bus ride just to eat lunch in Ashboro' because the zoo was closed to spending the afternoon with Rachel's Dad, to hanging out at the beach, everything.

2) It's an odd sensation feeling as much at home on one side of the Atlantic as on the other, but one i can only account for because of the Lord. It's neat.



3) Edwards at 37000 feet. The world always seems more real when i've spent some time with him.

4) Hot dogs with preacher Paramore. Any man who preaches as a church grows from the teens to nearly four figures in a decade and is still hungry for more in his eighties i will happily travel half the world to learn from.

5) Atlantic Beach and Beaufort City, North Carolina. It was great to find these seaside treasures hidden away in the midst of places like Havelock, which, with respect, is nothing more than a bunch of fast food outlets by the side of a highway, was a real treat.

6) 'so are you excited about tonight?'
'you know you should be the excited one...some have compared me to a young Martin Lloyd-Jones'
*blank look*
'....DL Moody?'
'Oh i know who he is'

7) Sun set by the water front in Washington, NC. And knowing that however painful the goodbyes are, they're not forever.

Seven

1) Seven non Christians at Alpha on tuesday. The partnership that God has given me and Chigbo in just a couple of weeks. The feeling of brotherhood we have already.



2) Spending time in Hebrews 12. It making me want to drag my heart and eyes towards Jesus more and more.

3) Freedom in Christ. A hard course, but such a worthwhile one.

4) Lunch outside with the parentels

5) Team life. Not just in the office but on Sunday as SUPA team, AV/PA team and musicians come together for one intense hour.

6) Spending time with my Grandad. Looking round his garden, talking about his walks, and then going into his house and seeing, glory of glories, an open and well thumbed Bible on the table. God answers prayers.

7) By the end of the week, i'll be going to bed in North Carolina.

Seven

1) The drive though the mountains to get to Hafan Y Mor for new Word Alive. It was a long drive, and the Bala - Porthmadog leg was long, but ever so worth it.

2) My fellowship group. Nothing turns me on more than wrestling with an open Bible so it can be applied to our lives.

3) John Piper. That fella does not mess around.

4) 'he's still a Relay, he's just no on active service any more'

5) Matts home. We can have conversations that compare Biblical books to girls again. 'Galatians is like a girl you really like and want to get to know, but the more time you spend with her the less you get her'

6) Being back at church on sunday. Challies and Adrian Warnock have both written about it recently, and there's something very special about being with your local church.

7) Having a job i want to do on my day off. Sat in an empty office trying to break 1 John 1:1-4 for wednesday night at RUCU.

Seven

1. And, brethren, there will be no uncertain sound from us as to the doctrine of atonement. We cannot leave the blood out of our ministry, or the life of it will be gone; for we may say of our ministry, "The blood is the life thereof." The proper substitution of Christ, the vicarious sacrifice of Christ, on the behalf of his people, that they might live through him. This we must publish till we die. (Spurgeon)



2. Dads birthday at an Italian in Marlow. Great to have the family all together.

3. Kids Church this morning. Telling 9-11 year olds about the Gospel and seeing them get excited makes me excited!

4. The Reason for God. Review coming soon.

5. The Sermon on the Mount. Four verses in and i'm already blown away by it. The Lord is in the detail.

6. This text: 'Just finished dwyl - read most of it since tuesday - couldn't put it down, such a good book!! So glad i read it. Everyone should read this book'

7. Facebook Bible talk. 'for the newsfeed'. Seriously though, just spending ages and ages labouring over a few verses is such a treat. Still not overly sure i'm really through it! Then speaking about Sodom and Gomorrah with Rachel. Conflicting over the details...she was right!

Seven

1. Ethopian food with Neil. Good food and good conversation on a cold and wet thursday afternoon.

2. Newfrontiers regional meeting at High Wycombe on thursday morning. Great to hear what God has been doing in my home town. And nice to wow the team with my wycombe knowledge



3. Painting the office. Particularly at one point when i was peeling taope of the wall, karen was standing on the desk sorting out the ceiling, rachel was holding the desk, while nicola was trying to some work at her misplaced desk.

4. Stefan Oakes goal on saturday. Thirty yards out, no danger, up steps Oakes to place a twirling, whirling, swirling ball past the Morcambe keeper.

5. Seeing two people get baptised and two people respond to the Gospel at sundays guest meeting. I love seeing people get dunked. And not just because it was outdoors and snowing,

6. The life of God in the soul of man. Seriously. You've got to buy that book!

7. Mike Reeves on Martin Luther. 'Luther called the Pope the antichrist...and things started to move quickly after that'.

Seven

1) Matthew with John Macarthur. I've never read the Bible slowly and with a commentary before. There are many many treasures in the first chapter of Matthew that i'd never really considered before.

2) Speaking of which, i was struck by the grace of Christ in Matthew 1. Look at the people included in his ancestry. Adulterers, liers, prostitutes and even a moabite! If such sinners precede Him, there's no reason to suspect sinners won't be (spiritually) descended from Him

3) Andrew Wilson at Acts14. Spending two hours in Isaiah 6:1-4 was certainly mind expanding fun.

4) Knowing that God is Holy and sovereign in all my decision making

5) Three generatiosn of Goode men on going to football on satruday afternoon. Driving through Monmouth in the heaving rain on tiny roads was quite something. Sure we lost the game, but family time is great

6) Wedding planning. I really am getting married!

7) Count your surprises. I hope i'm as spritely as Packer when i'm that age.

Seven

Mission week: Realising the Gospel is the best news ever. Seriously. It's so good we almost daren't believe it. I want to stand with Edwards who said 'if anyone ever disproves this Gospel, he should sit and weep, because all hope is gone.



Church: Jonah 4. The grace of God towards Gentiles, the grace of God towards Jonah. Jonah does not come off well in this book...which only serves to paint a bigger picture of God's glory being in His grace.

Family: great to spend the day with my Dad and Grandad yesterday going to football. Even better because we won, but apart from that it's just a great thing to have three generations together for a day.

Facebook: Groups like this reminding me that people still hate/are scared of the Gospel. Shows we're doing something right though. We must preach on.

John: One day i will love the Son with the love that the Father has for Him. Pure, undefiled, white hot love that will never fade, only grow.

Rachel: here in five days!