Famously Free n Almost Always Radically Ridiculous

2008-11-12T15:33:00.005Z

Mark Driscoll

Tomorrow I will be giving a short (8min) presentation as part of a class. The class is particularly aimed at students who don't speak English natively to give them an opportunity to improve their communication skills, which suits me perfect as no-one understands me when I speak Scots!! The title I've chosen is: "What do Christians Believe", a subject which I should know well, allowing me to focus on my presentation skills, especially how quickly I speak and most importantly allows me to share with them the gospel.

For the past few months I've been watching a well known preacher called Mark Driscoll. He is a great communicator and has a great love for God and the bible. I would really recommend watching some of his sermons at www.marshillchurch.org. When I was preparing I came across some of his stuff on the Gospel and others. Here are two Clips one is "The Gospel" and the second is "Why I hate Religion" (There is one thing he says in the second which I don't agree with, just one comment, see if you can spot it)

2008-11-05T15:03:00.005Z

Prague

Over the past months I've resisted deleting my blog, mainly because I have every intention to write a little about what I've been doing and my thoughts, even if it's just a log of what I've been doing to remind myself! I am sure, though, that the big events of the last 2 months won't be forgotten because since I last blogged things have been rather busy. The biggest change has been moving to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, to study for a year.

I've been for just over 6/7 weeks and so far things have been excellent. The City is very impressive, extremely beautiful! If you have facebook then there are quite alot of photos of my first few weeks here, with loads of pictures of the stunning buildings, some banter and some of my trip to the south of Prague.

There are 15 people from the UK here at the University (ČVUT). Two girls from England who study at Heriot-Watt Edinburgh (Civil Engineering) who are lovely. Also my friend Rachel from Northern Ireland, who I know from Strathclyde CU (Christian Union), is here. She studies Mechanical Engineering as do 5 guys and a girl, who are all from Scotland. And there are 5 of us Civils guys from Strathclyde, 4 boys and 1 girl, who I obviously knew before but its great to get to know them better! Twelve of us live in, the magnificent Strahov Block 8, next to (according to wikipedia) the 2nd largest stadium in the world! I'm sharing a room with the legend that is Keiran, a fellow Civil from Strathclyde, and the other room in my domitory there is (King) Seb, one the Strathclyde Mech Eng guys and (The man himself) Gabriel who is a frenchy and a top guy. He has quickly learned to understand our Scots slang and has prefected some typical scottish chat up lines ;) All in all the flat and the flat mates are great! A special mention must go out to our shower, I would be lying if I said it was anything less than an immense showering device!!! The only issue is sometimes you have to wait for the water to be heated before jumping in, but this only add to the excitement and anticipation of the event..... I love you shower.

We live one floor above the gym, 3mins from the swimming pool and across from us are 4/5 5-a-side pitches, a basketball pitch and some tennis courts! It is excellent and so far I've been able to get fitter and a little stronger :) Also, by playing fotsal against Spanish, Portugies and Italians 2-3 times a week I can feel some improvement in my play, but I've still got my scottish style. I.E. Get the ball and try to put it in the net ASAP. Cheesy as it is, sport, especially football, is a universal language, sometimes I play with Czech's who can't understand me and I can't understand them, but we all know what we are doing when we get on the pitch. I'm hoping to get into a routine, and come back to the UK a better player, we will see how it goes!

The University work has been ok, trying to sort out the classes to fit with the ones we should be doing at Strath has been difficult but we think we have got it under control. At one point I was doing nearly 2x what a Czech student would do, thankfully it has calmed down. The work is a little more applied and I'm already really seeing the benifit of working over summer at a Civil Engineering Company (Mott MacDonald), maybe more on my summer in another blog post..... The course's this year are a more applied to realistic engineering problems and solutions as we begin use the theory which we have been learning up until now. It's interesting because next year I will be doing my disertation and could possibley graduate, so I feel this year I need to be working out which feild of Civil Engineering I would prefer to specialise in. Thus far, in my short career, I've been trying to keep my mind open and become a broad and well-rounded engineer. My aim is very much to take advantage of university and leave as equiped as I possibley can (everyone's aim I guess). I really enjoy doing this but acutally learning a subject, rather than learning to pass the exam requires a lot more work and I worry this year that I could just go down the road of trying to get the grade rather than doing the work and taking as much of the knowledge as I could. I am though very much enjoying Water Engineering, at the moment it seems the field I would most likely want to go to into.

Life away from home thus far as been...uneventful? (in the sense of missing it)..... while I haven't missed home much neither have I gone crazy like many people do when they leave. (I feel bad writing that I don't miss home, but I know the guys at home know how much I love them). Something I've noticed about myself is that I never really seem to be aware too much of how my heart is feeling so maybe I have not noticed? I did though notice in the first few weeks after arriving I missed having people around who I knew well which led to me being a bit lonely and thus not really being myself. Thankfully, this had the effect of bring me closer to God and I'm feeling much better now. My Parents and sister came out to visit me a few weeks ago which was great. I think they had fun! They where here for arguabley the best weekend, weather-wise, of my time here. Their hotel was excellent and I got to stay because they had a free bed, sadly though the shower wasn't as good as our one at our flat. Once they left I was a little scunnered for a day or so. But other than that I've been feeling good. I guess the fact I had so long to get used to leaving (3-9months) has helped a fair bit.

I'm heading back to the UK in a couple of weeks but only flying back to Bradford. There I'll be meeting up with some good friends and going to a large church (The Abundant Life Church) for their annual Men's Conference. For me the best thing will be meeting up with some of my closest Christian friends, who I all are very much my brothers in Christ. Infact my younger, but taller, brother Alan will be meeting me down there. It will be great to see him, sadly due to his immence cleverness and therefore a busy schedule, he was unable to to out with the rest of the family to vist. I very much enough his company and I am very proud of the young man has become, especially over the last year or so. It shall be great to hang out with him.

Back to the conference: The last two years I have gone its been great, opening my eyes, challenging me, making me ask more questions of myself, God and the Church. Infact last year after the conference was when I decided I needed to take a risk and come out of my comfort zone in Glasgow by studying abroad. So it should be good, being around the guys I feel at ease being myself we have a laugh, discuss and sometimes/all the time argue. It is always refreshing and enjoyable hanging out with them. I'm looking forward to learning! More on this in another post I hope.

Since arriving here I've visited a only a couple of churches. This is largely because getting across town for 10-11 starts on a Sunday is difficult, but this is no excuse, sadly there are very few churches which meet in the afternoon/evening. The first one I visited I won't be heading back to as I disagreed on a number of theological issues in the sermon and there didn't seem to be much masuculinity (whatever that mean) which is an issue for me. The other one I've gone to a few times now and I'm still not sure what I think. To be honest I need to get my finger out and get along to things. I think before I arrive I was looking forward to getting involved in a theologically strong, moving church with strong men but never really considered that their might not be such a church in Prague and if there was God might not want me to go to it? Anyway, it's something which needs to be sorted. I'll keep praying. I was reading in the first 8 chapters of 1 Corinthians and found how Paul says when people refuse to turn away from sin but call themselfs Christians (possible over simplification of the passage) they should be left to Satan, which from my reading seems to suggest kicking them out of the church from a time, to let them learn. I am very aware that without a regular fellowship and accountability I am an easy target. With God's grace so far he has kept me close to him, praise be to God.

Finally, (blooming massive post, if you have got this far well done), I have to mention the ISC (International Students Club) here at the University. It is an amazing organisation where Czech speakers volinteer to give International Students the time of their life here. They arrange massive parties and trips, games, languages classes etc. etc. For me the best part of the whole thing is the Buddies. Each International is given a Czech buddy who is their freind when they arrive. Gabriela adopted all the Scots and basically saved us! She sorted our accomidation, transport, food, showed us how to get around, was a friendly face, took us to the zoo and spent days helping us all settle in, thank God for her cos Czech is flipping impossible!! Basically we love her. Then I had the honour of meeting my real buddy Zdeni who was away in Finland when I arrived. She is awesome too and has helped me sort loads of problems out including my classes as she is also a Civil Engineer, one year ahead of me. As well as speaking Czech and fluent Spanish her English is superb and her scots is greatly improving :) To be honest I've been put to shame. Though I have learned how to speak "International English. My family met Zdeni when they came and she took my sister to the Ballet (I went with my mum as well, was rather good!). Obviously we didn't scare her off and she's planning to come to Glasgow after Christmas for a vist! I highly doubt either of them will ever read this post but they are brilliant!

Anyway, I better go, I have too much work to do to spend it writing anymore. I hope to blog again soon, maybe about the amazing Czech beer which costs like 80-90p in a pub and is about 10x better than any beer in the UK. Honestly I have no idea how I'll drink the rubbish we have in the UK when I get back!

(Spelling is bad, sorry, my spell check isn't working, I hope to tidy it up soon)

2008-04-20T22:00:00.004Z

I took these figures from a BBC article:

ZIMBABWE'S PLIGHT

Inflation: 100,000%

Unemployment: 80%

Life expectancy: 37 years

Malnutrition: 45% of the population

Sources: Reuters, WHO, World Food Programme

The article was about the state of the economy in the country, you can find it here. What an evil world we live in, a world that allows such things to happen. A world where the west live in luxury and spend more on a pint of beer than people have to live on. Oh how easily we are seduced by the enemy to forget the evil others are exposed to, we spend so much time worried with our self and self indulgence, even in Christianity, blinded to our own selfishness. It's unbelievable. I took this quote from another BBC article.

"On Sunday the 53-member African Union urged Zimbabwe to release the election results "without any further delay", and called for restraint from all parties.

Earlier, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he would discuss "how to get developments there back to normal" with a number of African leaders on the sidelines of a UN summit in Ghana.

Kofi Annan, his predecessor, has also urged African leaders to do more to address the crisis.

The alarm bells are getting louder but so far they show little sign of making any difference in Zimbabwe, our correspondent says.

Few African heads of state are attending the UN summit in Ghana and it will not be a priority at a conference of the 14-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC), currently taking place in Mauritius."

I find it unbelievable.... shockingly unbelievable.... how is this not a priority? This world is full of evil, it can be seen anywhere, just talk to anyone and they will talk of a time when they have been at the receiving end of the consequences of sin but here the depravity of humanity and the need to re-align ourselves with God is so apparent. This shows how humans cannot be our own gods, we cannot escape our selfishness.

Someone said to me recently: "Its amazing how just one man can do this, such an evil thing". But it's not just one man, it's a catalog of people. He rose to power of the back of much evil by various sides; without getting into the deep racial issues, which I have not got enough information to make an informed comment on, the evil of men for many years has led to this man in power. The people in his party who have not opposed him, the people who have elected him in the past, those whom have taken bribes and put themselves and their families in front of others. Those who have stolen from others out of selfishness. Those in the countries around Zimbabwe whom have not opposed him. An international community who have not intervened, who talk the talk but never back it up. A press which report on news which we aren't bored of. A culture in the west of excess, enjoyment and self gratification. People wrapped up in their own issues rather than seeing the big picture.... the list goes on and on.

We, I, need to take responsibly for our actions or lack of. We elect a government. We decide what we read and write about, what we argue and discus, how we spend our time and money. How we deserve judgment.

It starts with me changing and that's only possible through God.

Jesus said:

"The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10 (New International Version)

That's what he came to do, that's what I should be here to do. God help us....

2008-03-30T21:11:00.005Z

Various Musings

(My 20th Birthday, Prague, Job, Football and God thoughts)

Usually when I'm asked "What's the chat Graham" (What is your news) I don't really have a great answer, most my things are small every day things, thoughts or friendships which I probably don't have much to say about. This week though has been very different:

I was involved in a ridiculous football match; 1 sending off, 3 penalties, 5 different players playing in goals (from both sides), 12 goals all in, 2 goals scored by players from their own half, one which went through the keepers legs and the other was scored from just outside his own box (ME!!), an amazing free kick goal (something you would see on TV from Ronaldino), a fantastic goal scored with a volley and to cap it off I wasn't man of the match, Alan got it, well done to him, he was brill! Sadly we lost to KingsPark 7-5 despite leading 3-1 at half time. It was a brilliant match for the neutral and, even though we lost, I had great fun, played well, really honoured God and was kept safe, which was my prayer :)

Also, this week I also got offered a job at a Civil Engineering Company in Glasgow for the summer! It's a rather large company with great prospects. It's real God send, after the interview I was very strangely conviced that God would have sorted it out for me. With me going to Prague and the fact I don't have a job money was a little worrying, praise God he had it sorted.

I also got an e-mail this week saying I had been accepted to the University in Prague for my 3rd year, result! I have a strange feeling at the back of my mind that it might fall through but I suspect that isn't from God.

Finally, I am turning 20 tomorrow, the 31st! No longer a teenager! 6 months ago the idea of being 20 scared me. I guess it's always been the same. I remember being in Primary 1 at the age of 5 and seeing the Primary 7s (11ish) and thinking they were really big, they looked like teenagers, who 'had it sorted'. It was the same at secondary school all the S3-4s (14-15) looked massive, especially those 5th and 6th years (17ish) they MUST have it together! And it seems the same with people who are over 20, I guess, it appears that people when they get to that age have to be adults and, in some way, have it sorted! Yet now I get here I'm not so scared. I think that in part it is because I realized that people who are older haven't really got it more together, it is that they are just better at hiding it! But also I have realized that I am now in fact a man, where as 6 months ago I felt like a boy. My confidence in who I am, what I stand for and live for, what I am aiming for and where I am going have increased just so much. Also a confidence that with God I can do anything has grown.

The next year is going to have to be filled with loads of ups and downs. This last year has been rather difficult but without it I wouldn't be who I am now. I've prayed every year for the last few years that God would grow my faith in him x2 (the first year), x10 (the next year), and x100 last year and every time it's happened.

This year is no different, I am sure that God will grow my faith in him 1000x times over the next year and that will stretch me further than so far. Living abroad seems a good place to do that. I'm sure there will be times of loneliness and desperation but that's often the times when we learn the most. My hope is not only will I change but people I meet will be changed through me and that this year will be a year I can make a difference! With God's all things are possible :) So with that here comes 20! I'm off to enjoy the last 11mins of being a teenager!

2008-03-06T17:56:00.011Z

Aberdeen

This last weekend (2-4th) I was up in Aberdeen seeing my friends Olly and Rachel. I had shamefully never been up to the Granite city and was surprised and impressed by the place. Being a Weegie (from Glasgow) I have for years been unkind and dismissive to the City of Aberdeen (can one be unkind to a city?) but I was proved wrong: the Architecture was good, with many good bridges and buildings around, spot the Civil Engineer eh? Also the size of the place was nice, good people, friendly and helpful!

Some guys from Glasgow who I hang about with where also up seeing Rachel and with both Olly and Rache stay in the same halls (Hillhead) it made the thing rather convenient! As always with such things the company makes the weekend and the company was fantastic. We went for some football in the park, walking along the beach, generally hanging about, played the PlayStation, gent to church with Olly and a night out, superb. Personally my highlight was stealing things from Olly's room which he had left unlocked :)

Olly and I went to "Hebron" Church(?!) in the evening! The sermon was from 1 Samuel 20. The spoke passionately and well and I most enjoyed the Worship. We were sadly late :( but it was refreshingly short, only 45-50mins! :D The group went to the "Rave Night" at a club called Tiger Tiger and it was great fun, only £3.50 to get in, people smiling and saying thanks. They gave out free glow sticks and then two ladies put face paints on you if you desired. Music was good and the bar staff where very kool. All in all very impressive and I look forward to going back! Quite a difference from Glasgow: going out here you are at the bouncers mercy, they seem to take pleasure in being rude and obviously enjoy the power!!! If guys don't have a girl with them then you are unlikely to get in and once your in the bar staff and bouncers inside are generally very unfriendly.

A special mention has to be made to all the ladies and men from Hillhead halls who made us all feel extremely welcome, what a pleasure :) Its rare to find people who are so willing to include you into things effortlessly. Thanks much! A few pictures below :)

2008-02-28T00:32:00.002Z

Prague

Its been a while since my last post. Just a quick updates on a couple of things with me. The main one is that the plans seem to be in place for me to study at the Czech Technical University in Prague next year, for a full year. The forms are being faxed tomorrow and if its God's will I shall be there next year for 3rd year. I have a few fears and such but that is for another blog post.

Also exams for Uni so far have gone well. With 3 out of 4 results back from semester one I have an average of 90% which is superb :D Praise god! Semester two seems to be tough, with a lot of hand ins, labs and studying to be done. Also I need to get a summer work placement sorted out and am in the process to applying to places. I hate writing CVs/cover letters!

Finally, back at football, we won 3-2. Also was a superb wedding over the weekend. I only got to play the first half as I had to run off to the wedding. Busy few weeks ahead. I hope to blog with some interesting things. I have a superb youtube video, please use your discretion as it has a slightly vulgar moment where someone makes a gesture, its not the joke though. Sorry for those who deem it inappropriate! Enjoy :D

2008-02-01T15:08:00.000Z

New Fone

I finally have a new mobile fone, with the old number. Please text me as I have lost all my numbers, if you don't have my number email me at gjcuthbert@aol.com.

2008-02-01T15:07:00.001Z

CU Missions Week

This is taken from an email sent to CU people:

"This February, all the Christian Unions in Glasgow are joining up for a dedicated week of outreach.

It is aimed at students around all of the University campuses in the city. The week will start on Monday 4th and will involve various daytime events in each of the universities, and with evening events on the Tues to Thurs evenings.

Each of these evenings will run with the same format. The early event is called The Lounge: it will be chat-show format and will include elements of music, video, testimony, Q & A’s, and talks from Mr John MacKinnon. Later in the evening we are holding Acoustic Musings: a chance to relax and chat over the talk to a background of music from local Christian songwriters.

The overall theme of this week is Satisfaction. We’re going to be looking at understanding and challenging the ways that people find satisfaction in life, and taking the opportunity to tell people about the true satisfaction that can be found through Jesus Christ."

As far as I am aware the Uni CU's taking part are: Strathclyde (Both Campus'), Glasgow, Caledonian University, University of Stirling, Glasgow Art School and RSAMD. The Website dedicated to it is: www.areyousatisfied.co.uk.

It would be kool if you are the praying type to pray. There will be free lunch given out on main campus at Strathclyde near the halls from 12-1 on Tues-Thurs which people can come and get! So come along, student or not and get free things.

We are having a 24/5 pray thing this week and Wednesday was Strathclyde's day. Was good to go along and spend time in dedicated prayer to one thing with no distractions, thing is I don't like being quiet when I pray so I ended up pacing around the room, must have been rather annoying to the others around!

Anyway, come along, I should be at a few things with friends so if you want a beer and a chill then email me!

2008-01-30T01:09:00.000Z

Exams are over and time to relax, or so I thought

I find it amazing that when life calms down so does my walk with God. It's hard to explain to most non-Christians (and some Christians), you would think that when life is going well then it is a good thing but quite often it's not. This weekend has been a laugh with mates, staying out late, having some beer and even having some good conversations about God. The problem is I don't really need God to do that, or at least it doesn't really push me and cause me to think about it loads. This is when the Devil sees his chance and finds it easy to slip under the radar. Just in the little ways e.g. I stop talking to God so much, or reading the bible isn't quite so important cos, well, I've got all day.

You will have heard this quote before:

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn’t exist.” — Baudelaire.

Sometimes fighting on the front line is unbelievable tiring, in the quiet times it is so easy to fall asleep, or decide you need a rest, then the enemy can slip in undetected. I love this verse...

"A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity." Proverbs 17:17

I guess the only way to rest is if you have your fellow soldiers watching the line for you, when danger is so close yet one can get a little shut eye before the next assault. We all need to find people who will do that for us, and us for them, sooner rather than later, hope you have yours.

PS. I need to mention in my blog someone, they know who they are.

2008-01-26T00:29:00.000Z

Exams are over which gives me a chance to look at amazing videos like this on youtube:

2008-01-16T17:12:00.000Z

This is a song from one of my favorite artists, Damien Rice. Blowers Daughter from his first and, in my opinion, best album 0:

2008-01-14T03:15:00.000Z

Risk Taking

One of my major annoyances of society is that everyone so scared of dying. Now I guess that's not a bad thing, but the thing is government and media try to force everyone else to be so scared. All over the place are people telling us the best way to be healthy or even by law forcing you not to do things because they endanger us. I mean people haven't got much of a choice when it comes to smoking; wearing a seat belt, going off camping in the hills in winter; having a fight with some people etc.etc.

Now these things are not all good but I don't want to live life with no fear or excitement. If I had been born 1,000 years ago I would have to fend for myself. I'd have a real job making and doing real things like: Hunting, building, chopping wood. Even 100 years ago things would have been very different. I would most probably be able to defend myself properly and know how to use a weapon. I'm sorry to say I've never been in a proper fight. Never known what it is like to get beaten up, never had to find out out what I'm made of.

It seems now that in the west with our "skilled" work force most people learn skills like typing, accounts or law which really wouldn't help you much if you were forced to live off the land. People are "Working for the cash machine" (Song line from Hard-Fi). How kool is it when thing we work for actually produce something worth being proud of?

This fear of risk, which most people are scared of, is understandable, life on earth is all they've got. Yet why should they force it on the rest of us. Taking risks is part of being human. Death is inevitable, surely it is better to live life.

Chatting to someone today about this I was reminded of a sermon by a bloke called Rick Godwin about risk. He uses a brilliant quote:

"Author Emma Bombeck wrote ' You can live on bland food in order to avoid an ulcer, drink no tea/coffee or other stimulates in order to avoid ill health, go to bed early, stay away from night life, avoid all controversial subject so as never to give an offense, mind your own business, avoid involvement in other peoples problems, spend money only on necessities, save all you can but you can still break your neck on a bath tub and it will serve you right.'" (The spelling may be wrote I just listened to it and copied it down)

I love listening to this guy preach. He talks about life like it is and speaks honestly. In that sermon he speaks about how faith is the absence of knowledge so is therefore risk and to get anywhere in life you need to take risks. Especially as a Christian I need to take good risks to change things.

The Church like most of society is scared of taking risks, either because we are scared of failure, death or, worse, people not thinking highly of us. Yet if you think about anyone who is worth respecting, who has made a difference in the world, in the bible or not, they have taken leaps into the unknown, taken a bold move and faced fear. I hope I'm the type of man of follow these greats of our world, step out of mediocrity and take a risk.

2008-01-10T16:34:00.000Z

Only an Excuse

Genius:

2007-11-28T17:07:00.000Z

Broken fone

As the title suggests I've broken my mobile fone. It still can receive and make texts/calls but the only problem is I cannot see them. So this is a sort of apology to anyone who has tried to contact me and not got a reply.

The whole experience has been brilliant though, for about a week now I've not even bothered taking the thing out. Means I'm completely un-contactable which defiantly has it's merits!! Much less stressful!

We should just get rid of them all..... only problem is everyone else has one and expects you to have one.

2007-11-26T14:12:00.001Z

Weekends

The last two weekend I've been away on "holiday". Though it will take ages to write about both so ill write about the first now.

The first one 16-18th of November was in Bradford at a Men's Christian Conference called XCEL which is run by Abundant Life Church. We (a group of 6) left on the Friday afternoon for Bradford with me as navigator. Getting to the city was simple but using printed out instructions through the centre was rather difficult. We also had an injury about 100m from the church: our driver kind of missed the turning so didn't slow down, swung the bus around a corner causing one of the guys in the bus (who didn't have a seat belt on) to fly across the bus and smash into the wall. Thankfully, death free, we finally got to the Church just in time to hear Rick Godwin (an American preacher from Texas) give a talk about taking risks (among other things) which i found very challenging.

On the Saturday morning the Pastor of the Church a guy called Paul Scanlon spoke about "I Am Not My Father", something which was obviously very close to his heart. Then we had a short break and one of the younger preachers from the church spoke about Giant Killing using King David's Warriors as an example (1 Chronicles 11), very inspiring.

The there was the afternoon where Scotland lost to Italy in an awful refereeing performance. We bought some beer and watched the game in our hotel room then hurried (in an awfully down hearted mood) to the last session. Again Rick Godwin spoke and again it was very challenging but I'll need to listen to the Cd's to find out exactly what he said in that sermon (not because I've forgotten...).

Sunday we went to the 11:30 service and Delirious led the worship which was kool. Rick Godwin spoke again, this time on Acts 15 and the need for churches/followers of Christ to strip back everything other than the truth. He pointed out a lot of things about church which hold people back from Christ which are man made. Then we headed home.

All in all it was a superb weekend. Abundant Life is a really big church, 2500+ seater, so I found it very encouraging to be around so many other soldiers of God, it was quite a sound to hear us all singing. It was especially encouraging because sometimes I get isolated and annoyed that I/we don't seem to be getting anywhere in my little corner of the battle so seeing that all over the UK (and the world) men are united together in God was great to see. Also the preaching was very good, the guy Rick Godwin was a real straight talker and wasn't worried about treading on peoples toes (to get the message out), but all three showed their real enthusiasm for God.

This was the second year I've gone to XCEL. The first year I was kind of blown away by the size of the place, the way they did things, the asking for money so openly and also the seemingly "prosperity gospel" message they where preaching. So it was hard to take so much of the good, but condensed, teaching in as it took me a while to sort out what i thought of it all. This year though I was able to learn so much more about what it was to be a "Man of God", a question I've been struggling with for a number of years. It also refocused me on what life is about and got me dreaming again. Thank God

Sorry if I've rambled on or not gone into enough depth to explain what actually happened all in all it was a great time, recommend it.

2007-11-19T12:50:00.001Z

Long Time No Blog

Back to blog for the first time in months, sorry to those who have been checking. The lack of blogging has been due to life being hard of late, had a difficult summer with various things which shouldn't be discussed on the Internet. Yet the King has been faithful, despite me not being so much, and has really changed me, made me stronger. Its honestly been a good experience and one which I will face again given the choice. For a long time I'd been praying for God to open my mind, challenge and change me, the only problem was I wasn't aware just how painful it had to be.

A word of warning, be careful what you pray for!

Few weeks ago the Strathclyde University Christian Union (yup, I'm still at uni) went away for the weekend and we studied the book of James. Its a quality book, have a read! One of the bits which especially stood out for me was James 1:2-8

2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

Thank God I pray he brings on the challenges.

2007-08-04T11:41:00.000Z

MyFootballClub

The Internet could change football for ever if Will Brooks - the creator of MyFootballClub - has his way.

Brooks has launched a website with the revolutionary aim of recruiting 50,000 fans to take over a football club.

MyFootballClub wants people to pay £35 in a bid to raise £1.4m to buy a team, with each member an equal partner.

Members will have a vote on transfers as well as player selection and all major decisions affecting the club.

"I've created a vehicle that will pool fans' opinions, passion and wealth and turn fantasy football into reality," creator Will Brooks told BBC Sport.

Brooks is hoping to get 50,000 people to sign up within five months and having barely launched he's already received an encouraging reaction, interestingly from overseas as well.

Supporters Trusts have been an important step in involving supporters more directly with clubs, but Brooks' scheme aims to take things one step forward by using the speed and power of the Internet to get fans an even greater say in the running of a club.

He told me: "I think fan opinion is often proved right and is too frequently dismissed by those 'in the game'.

(this is taken from BBC 606 http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A22246940?s_fromedit=1&s_typedarticle=edit)

Sounds like great fun to me!! I'm planning to sign up, anyone else interested?

2007-07-26T10:52:00.001Z

Harry Potter

Sadly I can no longer deny my obsession with the series so it was a with some sadness I finished the final installment of Harry Potter, less than 48 after starting. Don't worry to those who haven't read there wont be any revealing of the ending. I did find this book gripping but maybe not as much as some of the others (thinks back to the 4th book where younger Graham so engrossed would miss his train stop). I was also quite happy with the ending, not a cheesy "it was a dream". Also most of my predictions where right which was nice :D

Will she continue the series? Maybe even just continuing the magical world she has made. I doubt it but really hope she does. What about a MMORG (massively multi player online role playing game) based in the world?

Finally how will literature and the world remember Harry Potter? As a legendary series? or will it just be a passing fad? Whatever happens it feels like a little era has ended *cries*

2007-06-05T00:39:00.000Z

Half Truths and down right lie

This weeks Crusaders was about the bible. As I was preparing to talk on the subject I was reminded about one of my primary teachers who told the class that we couldn't completely believe the bible to be true. Why? because over the years people would have told the stories differently so what we read probably wasn't true.

WHAT A LOAD OF RUBBISH!!!!

It wasn't until I as about 14/15 that I understood how wrong this is*. Though now all my fellow class mates will most probably believe that the bible can't be trusted, worrying.

Also people think the bible as a load of dos and don't s which is sort of true though the reason the bible is written like that is because God created us and knows the best way to live. So peoples ideas about the bible are marred by a half truth.

Being an adult with Children and other uninformed people is such an awesome responsibility. I pray that anyone who reads this will make sure they tell the truth to impressionable people!!!

* The bible we read today is almost no different from the original manuscripts which date back to around 100AD.

2007-06-02T23:03:00.000Z

The Return

I haven't blogged in so long, apologies to those people who read regularly!

The past months have been interesting and eventful:

I've turn 19 (woooo), the football team won the league and came runner up the the cup, finished the first year of University, been on my first proper camping trip and much more I can't remember. So I hope to start blogging regularly again, giving people entertainment, food for thought and a little about me!!!

Have a look here for some the pics from the camping trip: Fort William - Corrour :D

Also, here is a video of a Christian band called Leeland. My good friend Johnny recommended them and this track "Tears of the Saints" really touched me lyrically:

There are many prodigal sons
On our city streets they run
Searching for shelter
There are homes broken down
People’s hopes have fallen to the ground
From failures

This is an emergency!

There are tears from the saints
For the lost and unsaved
We’re crying for them come back home
We’re crying for them come back home
And all your children will stretch out their hands
And pick up the crippled man
Father, we will lead them home
Father, we will lead them home

There are schools full of hatred
Even churches have forsaken
Love and mercy
May we see this generation
In it’s state of desperation
For Your glory

This is an emergency!

Sinner, reach out your hands!
Children in Christ you stand!
Sinner, reach out your hands!
Children in Christ you stand!

And all Your children will stretch out their hands
And pick up the crippled man
Father, we will lead them home
Father, we will lead them home

2007-03-27T15:59:00.000Z

Unreal....

My friend sent me this link of a beat boxer. Prepare to be dazled!!

2007-03-25T17:57:00.000Z

Football

St Silas football team played Trinity Possil in the Atholl Cup (Division Three) quarter final on Saturday and we came away victorious with a 7-2 win! The first game St Silas played on grass in months wasn't quite as one sided as the scoreline suggests. A long ball through to John from Derick caused the defender to give away a penalty which Frank slotted away twice (he had to take it again). Trinity deservedly pulled back level with a scorching shot from long range. Then Frank worked himself some space right on the touch line to cross perfectly for Ali Morrow's well timed run. Ali headed St Silas into a lead before half time.

The second half goals just merge into one in my mind: The score went 3-1, 3-2 then 7-2 (John got 3, Frank 2 and Ali 2). Trinity's goal came from a corner, the goal scorer headed brilliantly past Derick. St Silas got to grips with the surface in the second half and really started to play well, winning more 50/50 balls. Also Trinity's defence had problems dealing with the pace and skill of John and Frank. It was fantastic to have Big Tam back in the team (if you could pray for him that would be great) he played fantastically and brings so much to our squad!! He's a big guy and very good with both feet, he set up at least one goal directly with a through ball to John. I also was given M.O.M. which was a surprise as I thought i had played poorly!!!

Also Scotland won 2-1!!!! wooohoooo

2007-03-22T11:35:00.000Z

Larsson....

It's sad to see Henrik Larsson finally leave British football for the last time after a loan spell at Manchester United. My friends Darren and I have spent a lot of time discussing his talents as a football player over the last couple of months and he mentioned how it was Larsson's goal against Bulgarian in Euro 2004 which convinced him how good he was:

The striker hailed "King of Kings" by the Celtic fans played his final game at Old Traford last week in a match between Utd and a European 11 which raised money for charity, here are the goals, some a really very good:

He heads back to Sweden now to play for his first club Helsingborgs IF. He's probably the best football player I've ever seen, better than Zidane. He played at my team Celtic for seven years scoring 242 goals in 315 matches and then proved it wasn't just because it was in Scotland when went to Barcelona for two seasons where he basically won them the Champions league final!!

A true footy star, thank god for giving us all talents. I just pray Henrik comes to know god!!! Here is a link to another video which is about 8 mins long of all his goals, good fun to watch!

2007-03-20T19:54:00.000Z

Trust

At Crusaders (a Christian youth group) we, the leaders, take turns at doing “The talk”. I always enjoy it when my father speaks and often we spend along time discuss the issue before had so we are prepared. Over the past few months my father has spoken on very interesting subjects, some which I would have liked to have blogged about (sadly I’m too busy). Last weeks subject was Trust but more specifically “Can God and other people trust you??"

Very often both Christians and Non Christian debate with themselves, and others, whether they can put there trust in some type of God; we get so focused of whether God, the bible, preachers etc. are trust-worthy. And there are so many books and much emphasis is put on this subject that it’s easy to forget that God has entrusted us with so much; he has given us the job of showing other people what God is like! For many people Christians (or those who profess to be Christians) are the only glimpse of God which they get to see, God is relying on Christians, trusting Christians show him to be who he is. His reputation is truly in their hands.

Society also is based on trust. Trusting that the driver won't drive on the path, your food will be cooked properly, the police will protect you and trusting your friends. It is so important that we are trust worthy and that means that we keep our word!

Today's Metro had this (advisable to read!!!) article which is about a site made by Creationist Christians called Conservapedia which, the paper claims, says things like: "...our flat Earth stays still while the Sun revolves around it." After reading the article I was rather annoyed at the Christians who had made the site. It seemed they weren't taking God's reputation very seriously as what they say is rather stupid and in some cases down right lies; Jesus/God's name was being dragged through the mud and laughed at nationally! The way the article is written laughs and ridicules "Christian" views and most probably reinforces the idea that belief in God is crazy in at least some of its readers, more people being pushed away by God. After a look at the site (getting the link) I found it was nothing like as bad as the paper suggests, if you look page which the flat earth comment comes from (http://www.conservapedia.com/Earth) the picture is of the earth as a circle!! The Metro are lying..... (I strongly advise you to have a look yourself and send them an email!!!)

This serves as a warning to us about trust: A. We can't trust the media! but also B. Christians or (who ever you are or are labelled as) need to know what your views are and need to be careful what we say so that people don't get the wrong end of the stick! It's so easy to be misinterpreted, be careful :D

The fact that God would send his son to die and rise again so that the whole human race could be saved is an amazing story. For me though its crazy that he then got humans tell the others, that he would then give you and me, all of humanity the job letting people know about is rather silly. It’s actually really scary and when I think about even how I’ve related to my friends this week since I started writing this blog I cringed at the damage I’ve done to Gods reputation! I pray that this week you'll live up to the trust God has put in you!!!

2007-03-18T13:00:00.000Z

St Silas vs Bridge

This top of the table clash was played in Easterhouse, Glasgow on possibly the MOST windy day EVER!!! After a hard fought match, against the weather, it finished 4-3 to Silas!

Bridge took the lead when they caught Silas on the counter attack, the attacker finished well with a flick past Derick. Alan Dock got one back when a defend and goalkeeper both left his tame shot for the other. Alan then got a second before half time with a free kick, first free kick we've scored in ages!!

In the second half John scored to make it 3-1 before Bridge pulled it back to 3-2 with some great wing play and good finish. Then a Silas defender mis-judged a back pass which let an attack in on goal: 3-3. As the game went on both teams looked for a winner but it was Frank (in typical Frank style) who got it; after some slick play his volley/half volley from the edge of the box went straight into the bottom corner, 4-3 and that's how it stayed!

Alan Dock got MoM which is about time as his play on the left wing is just magnificent. I do feel that some of the players in our team are too good for this level and Alan is definitely one of those! This win now put Silas 12 points ahead of Bridge (if they win there games in hand) and means that just three more wins in the next six games will guarantee we are Champions!

Next week we are playing in the cup, though sadly we have a few key players missing but, hey, its all good!

2007-03-16T14:48:00.000Z

Another Quality Song.....

....from personal favourites Biffy Clyro!!!

The Scottish band have already released "Saturday Superhouse" (above link) from their new album which is on sale in a month or so but I have come across "Living is a problem" on myspace..... If you follow this link, which takes you to my profile, you can hear it. Takes a couple of listens but its fantastic!!!

MOAN THE BIFFY :D

2007-03-15T11:33:00.000Z

St Silas vs CEC2

Saturday saw the first round of the 3rd Division Atholl cup. Last year St Silas, my team, got to the final only to be beaten by Houston (I'm sure some of you will remember that). This years cup started well for Silas with a convincing 5-1 win over the skillful CEC2.

The Silas squad was very depleted with only 13 players available (including the manager) but the team play some very attractive football. The goals came from Frank and John with 2 and 3 respectively!

A special mention to the left and right back (Murdo and Davy) who put in very strong performances and started the passing from the back!!!

Tomorrow we take on Bridge who are fellow table toppers, the team is still missing some players but praise God because he has healed my injury! I was supposed to be out for around 2weeks and I couldn't even walk last Friday night but then we prayed about it and it was almost perfect! Over the week it's steadily improved :D

2007-03-14T18:38:00.000Z

Chris Johnston

My good friend Chris, who plays guitar in my band, The Rock Paper Scissors, has just recorded a solo song and put it on his myspace which can be found at: http://www.myspace.com/chrisjohnstonmusic. It song is particularly beautiful, quite mello and shows his lovely voice!!

Chris recorded the song with my best mate Calum who's studying Sound Engineering and has also promised to record the band later this month..... cant wait!! Please enjoy :P

2007-03-14T18:29:00.000Z

Graham --

[noun]:

A human transformer (Robot in disguise)

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

I quite like that! :P What does your name mean?

2007-03-09T19:38:00.000Z

Pulled muscle

Today was the Strathclyde Civil Engineering 5-a-side footy competition. My team, "The Real Ale Madrid", got stuffed by everyone. Thankfully though we all saw it as quite funny and had a great laugh, despite the rain and the loosing.

Sadly, in the first game, I pulled a muscle in my leg which means I cant play tomorrow. Its a cup game Vs CEC2 and St Silas already have a few players missing. Hope the injury won't cost us, playing with 10 men from the start is no fun!!!!!

2007-03-06T23:53:00.000Z

Model Pictures

As I mentioned in a previous blog post I helped a friend out by being a hair model, It was great fun and all the guys where really cool! Anyway, I got a copy of a few of the photos taken so here they are. We find out this week how they got on and if the hair doooo is through to the next round!!!

Please don't laugh too hard, please!!!

2007-03-04T23:51:00.000Z

St Silas vs Burnside

Good news for all St Silas supporters: The game on Saturday 3rd March finished 3-2 to St Silas and the match report is only a day late!!!

The game was played on a dodgy astro turf pitch in Easterhouse, Glasgow. St Silas took an early lead through John Wood. Quickly afterwards Frank Brodie finished superbly after a trade mark Alan Dock cross, giving Silas a second. Much to Burnside's credit they started to come back into the game more and more with good passing and moving from the defence through to the strikers which St Silas couldn't deal with. Their good pressure should have been rewarded when a header crossed the line but the woeful ref didn't give it.

The second half started like the first ended, with St Silas on the back foot to Burnside's good passing play. Slightly against the run of play John escaped from the ref's strange offside decision to slot the third past the goal keeper. Burnside kept the pressure up forcing MOM Derick to pull off an number of fantastic saves! Frank then got himself sent off for two yellow cards which gave Burnside even more chance to test Derick. Towards the end of the game the ref gave a penalty which was rather ludicrous: 3-1. Then a Burnside cross found the head of an attacker: 3-2, which was no less than Burnside deserved for their performance.

Over all it Silas where lucky to go away with all three points, all credit to Burnside. In the last two weeks we have been shown up defensibly (as a team) when playing against teams who can keep the ball well. Though, to steal an over used football saying, "Its the sign of champions when you win when you don't play well"......Next week Silas take on CEC2 in the first round of the Cup!

2007-03-01T10:04:00.000Z

New hair doooooo

My best friends dad is the owner of "MAKS" hairdressing in Merchant City, Glasgow. Because I've got longish hair (and don't really care how it looks) he asked me to be a hair model for a colour competition:

I should be able to get a copy of the real ones they sent away later on but thats one i just took myself! Looking rather sorry for myself methinks :P

2007-02-26T11:46:00.000Z

St Silas vs Dumbarton

Sorry again for not getting a match report on my blog! For those who don't look regularly: St Silas Church has a football team (soccer if your from the US) and we play in the Churches league (link can be found on the left hand tab) and since I play in the team I like to write reports! Sadly it seems they haven't updated the league etc. for this weeks results! So onto the, short, report!

Top of the league St Silas were put under pressure early in the first half with Dumbarton's ability to keep the ball.
The first three goals though where scored by Silas, slightly against the run of play. More surprising was that they where quite "ugly": two long throw in which where flicked on by Ali Morrow for Gordon Comrie to head home. I cannot for life of me remember who scored the 3rd (sorry to that person).

At 3-0 St Silas started to play a little bit better though Dumbartons quick passing and moving gave them a well earned goal towards the end of the half. The number 10 (who started move) was left in space by the centre midfielders near the edge of the box took full advantage and finished brilliantly into the top corner!

As second half progressed St Silas started to play better football and after a lot of huffing and puffing got a forth. Then came my moment of glory: as my shot from about 20 yards rolled towards the keeper he must have taken his eye off the ball and it went through his legs and across the line, 5-1!!!

2007-02-16T15:33:00.000Z

Athletes....

My weekend, as usual, was one filled with sport and included some athletic people playing!

On Friday night some of the St Silas football team met for dinner and had a chat bout tactics. The food was wonderfully cooked and it was an evening ful-o-banter. Strangely after food the management suggested we went to the pub for a drink! Thankfully this didn't seem to effect our result the next morning when we took on Parkhead: The game finished 6-1! With a slightly depleted side we still won with John Wood and Alan Dock both got two and (if memory serves) Gordon and Ali Morrow getting one each also. Ali also claimed the MOM award which is the least he deserved!

In the afternoon a few of us went to watch the Glasgow Hawks, and more importantly Nick, take on Ayr. They are trialling new rules which are designed to speed the game up. It certainly worked as the game was a lot faster moving! Sadly though it took our lil gang the best part of 70mins to work out how it was different :P With the hawks winning 48-7 and some good company it was all in all a great afternoon.

The other day I was look on Bebo and saw the following video which is just amazing!!! And the loose connection with the rest of the post is they are true athletes

Do watch to the end! My goodness they are skillful, woah!!!

2007-02-16T15:07:00.000Z

The end is nigh

It's in the news all the time and my lectures keep telling me that we are all going to die!! If it's not global warming it's Bird flu or another disease or a lack of water or lack of food or insects or a meteor or the old favourite of nuclear war. Looking at the evidence it's all rather damning: the end is nigh; life as we know it is coming to an end....

The other day I was talking to my mate about a program which was looking at a Religions response (or the lack of it) to global warming. Although I didn't see it he mentioned his surprise, and that of the program makers, that "Religion" hasn't jumped on the Global Warming bandwagon saying " Look the earth is coming to an end, repent and be saved". I agreed with him, it seems strange that the more outspoken people, both Christians and those from other religions, haven't mentioned anything about it; seems to go against the stereotype.

Its a subject which I haven't really thought about before: are all these problems pointing towards Jesus second coming? After thinking about it I have to conclude that, since God controls the weather and is all powerful, then, this must be part of his plan. Therefore, yes, if the world is going to change as dramatically as scientists suggest then all these environmental problems could very much tie into Jesus' return! We do though need to remember that through history people have been claiming Jesus is coming "soon" yet God says that we won't know until it happens! Thankfully it's not something which I worry about :) Anyone got any views?

On a different note, I think the fact people haven't mentioned global warming as a sign of the end is a clear indication that Christianity is now so scared to mention what we believe (that those who don't follow have Jesus as there saviour will live eternity without him, hell). Whereas in past centuries an answer was found from the bible and published for the whole world to see! In the 21st century it's politically incorrect to say such things and it seems religion is too worried to mention "Maybe this is God" let alone "Jesus is coming", it breaks my heart and while of course I don't mean people should go about scare mongering about Global Warming and start breaking the law this is just one example of a general trend not to stand up for things.

When the Life of Brian came out 30-40 years ago there was a massive fuss kicked up. That was over a film (which personally I have no problem with) yet now when it comes to much more important issues; like religious freedoms, gay rights and blasphemy (lyrics in songs, for examples) we seem scared even to use our right of free speech to oppose such things!

I've just started reading Acts (a book from the bible) and the difference between the Church then and now is amazing. While of course there any many fearless men and woman in the Christian Church today people like Stephen, John and Peter (just for starters) really show many of us up. I'm just as bad as anyone else and I think that it's because I'm too worried about what other people think. This feeling, though, isn't something which I alone suffer from; do we worry that that if we annoy people God's message won't get through? or is that just an excuse not to talk about our faith? If we take a look at almost all biblical character then we would see how it should be done: Do what God says and not to worry if what you do annoys people because we are here to please God, not others (That doesn't mean going out of our way to annoy others because we are called to love others as ourselves yet).

Christianity needs people to start standing up and proclaiming God "in the temple" like the early church or else we will fall!

On a lighter note I hope you'll enjoy this clip from Mock The Week (episode 2 series 4). A couple of the things this blog is about are loosely related to some of their jokes. BE WARNED this show is on after the watershed; there is a little bit of none politically correct jokes and language:

Mock The Week is fast becoming one of my favourite shows on TV. Please follow this let alone link to see the rest of the episode

2007-02-13T10:39:00.000Z

Football

My goodness this blog is so behind on St Silas football team news!

St Silas Church football team, on the 3rd of Feb, won 4-1 over EK Baptist. Then last weekend the team won 4-2 against EK Claremont! If you follow the links they will take you to Darren Darlow's (team manager) blogs about the games for a in depth, insightful and all round good match report. Though for those who are a little lazier a brief report: The team did well in both games, scoring 8 goals against some stiff opposition!

On a personally note the last three games have been quite frustrating. Its almost in my families bloody that we are defenders so scoring goals is always something of a challenge for me. Though this seasons though I've only hit the net once and in the last three games my attacking play has been rather poor i.e. my passes not finding my team and missing loads of half chances. Despite this I've still been given MOM in the games?! Oh well what do I know bout footy?!

2007-02-08T16:04:00.000Z

Wii

Tuesday night gave me the opportunity to try out the latest in gaming marvel, the Nintendo Wii.

The console uses wireless controller which are sensitive to movement, in all three dimensions, it's really great fun!

Wii Sports come with all the consoles!! It includes: tennis, bowling, golf, baseball and our favourite boxing!!! All are 2-4 players, very good for gatherings!

Although the controllers aren't fantastically responsive it is very challenging to win. You can duck, punch, hook go for the ribs etc etc. At a price of £180 (for the basic console) it is very reasonable compared to the PS3, I would recommend all to get one or at least have a go!

I'm told games like Zelda are really good for the one player and there is also some stranger games like WarioWare:

"WarioWare: Smooth Moves is a collection of "microgames" based on simple actions which usually last fewer than five seconds each. The microgames are delivered in rapid succession, presenting the player with the game play screen and a short instruction hinting at the action that must be accomplished. If a player makes four mistakes over the course of one set of microgames, they must start over from the beginning of the set"

The comment from my friend was: "It's an elephant on speed man"...... when you play you'll see what that means!!!

Anyway, I do believe that the Uni, Church and my home should all invest in one! It's good for keeping fit and will make us more competitive!!!

2007-02-08T03:34:00.000Z

Luke Johnson Phone Experiment

This dude put his phone number on youtube it's pretty self explanatory!

It's now massive, CNN and Fox News (in the US) did story's on it, just click on the names to see!

2007-02-05T13:09:00.000Z

God said:

What a calm guy!

2007-02-04T22:43:00.000Z

Crusaders

Tomorrow I'm speaking at Crusaders about "How do I become a Christian" (Salvation) which is the final one of four talks which I've done this term. This is a bumper sticker which the teaching guide suggested, rather funny if you ask me:

Joking aside, its a serious point and Salvation is a hard subject to talk about, well I find anyway. Been getting my thoughts together so I don't say something which miss leads people but it's so hard!!!! Also, trying to get the balance of making sure bits are not left out but not labouring it so much that it sounds like rules.

Probably, I just feel such a burden to deliver Jesus' message properly because it's an opportunity to let more people hear about Jesus. Despite God only asking me to be a servant and deliver the message it sometimes feels like it's my job to save people! Need to learn to leave it to the Holy Spirit: Your prayers would be much appreciated!!!

Also, can you praying people pray for the kids. That they would first of all come along and have a good time but the Holy Spirit would prepare their hearts and work in them!

2007-01-31T20:28:00.000Z

Same Jeans

In his new song the dude from the view claims he's had his jeans on for four days!! Maybe he's telling the truth, maybe not?! Either way its a good song (even if they have ripped off "Brimfull of asha on the forty five!")

Whats the longest you've had your jeans on for??? Think my record is nine days.....

2007-01-30T12:51:00.000Z

Weekend

St Silas won 8-4 against CEC2 with five goals from Frankie , two from Ali Morrow with Davy Lawler getting one too!! Although Silas ran away comfortable winners in the end we had to come back from behind twice.

This trend of only starting to play when we are loosing seems to be happening an awful lot since the turn of the year which is a little worrying. At the end of the match the team seemed so discontent about the loss of four goals, its was as if we had lost!!

Two F.A. Cup matches where televised over the weekend: Chelsea vs Nottingham Forest and Man Utd vs Portsmouth; both good games. It was quite a lot of football over load.

On the Saturday afternoon Scottish Crusaders changed their name to Urban Saints with 75% in favor, thank God for a clear majority! Some less urban groups will now be called “Rural Sinners”! (Sadly can’t take credit for that)

Saturday evening I finally went to my best friend Eilidh's flat, staying the night. It's rather strange that despite us being best friends we struggled so much to stay in contact before she came to Uni. Now she lives in Glasgow we see each other a lot more but it was the first time I'd been round to her flat!! Spending time with her is fantastic so it was of course very lovely. We watched Pay It Forward on DVD. It is a book which I started to read a few years ago though gave up as it was rather rubbish; thankfully the film was much better!

Sunday morning was All-Age at Church (all the children stay in the service rather than going to their own activities). We started the new series, faith, with the story of Noah a fantastic example of faith (Genesis 6:9 onwards). What an amazing guy he was. In Genesis when it talks about Noah and his Granddad Enoch it says "they walked with God". I can think of little else which could be such a powerful statement of there lives and I am filled with a desire to be like them. There is also a new theme song for the series called "faith" which Jenny and the band did a particularly good version of. It is lyrically brilliant too; straight out the bible.

All in all a very tiring weekend but it was good.

2007-01-27T00:03:00.000Z

Crusaders/Urban Saints

After 100 years The Crusaders Union felt it was time to change the name to a less offensive one. Here is an article from the Times about it. Due to constitutional rules the name of the organisation will still be "The Crusaders Union" but will just run under the new name. Scottish Crusaders, though, is different! This is because it is a part of the overall Crusaders Union and this means a vote has to be taken to change from "Scottish Crusaders". I apologise if that is all a bit confusing!

Anyway, there is a meeting on Saturday afternoon to discuss and vote on what to do; all "leaders" are able to vote. Some people are really keen about the new name but it seems that there was little or no discussion about the change. This has left some annoyed and others are against the whole name as they think its silly!

There seems to be a huge chance of division and trench lines being dug over this. There is a great need for prayer!!!

2007-01-26T23:44:00.000Z

Bible Study

There is a group of four of us young guys who have been meeting on Friday's for a few months now. It's been fantastic as we all grow closer together and trusting each other more. Tonight was particularly good as we continued opened up and became more accountable. We all are growing in faith and relying on each other. I personally was so encouraging! Praise God

2007-01-26T10:55:00.000Z

Deflated:

I blogged last month (here) about an event which the Crusader group was planning to hold. Earlier this week we (leader) found out that we wouldn't be able to put inflatables ie. sumo wrestling, bounce castle etc inside Pollokshields Church. This came as quite a shock because we have been planning an event for a few months now in which we hoped to encourage young people to come along to our group. The main attraction was the inflatable games and we where all set for February 3rd (a little later than my blog mentioned). We had just got everything in place last monday when the caretaker of the Church mentioned that he wasn't sure if we would be allowed to put the things in the hall like that which we all found quite surprising. When we then phoned up the Church leader and where told that we defiantly wouldn't be allowed.

There seems to be no reasons given to why they have made the rule and the person who we are renting from is sending his risk assessment to the Church to see if they will reconsider so there is hope. It has come as quite a shock and at a very bad time as we need to publicise and look for more volunteers. It seems that the 3rd atleast is out of question.

This is all very disheartening after so much effort has been put in. I find myself becoming angry at my stereotype of the Church we are using despite personally never dealing with them. Also one is left wondering if it is a good idea to continue down this road, doing the old "is this Gods plan??" thing. Maybe God his bringing this season to an end and we are just too stubborn to listen. Yet I wonder if this is just a stumbling block which we will have to overcome, with God's help. Your prayers would be very much appreciated

2007-01-23T00:02:00.000Z

St Silas vs Hope Hall

5-2 was the final score in this hard fought match. Hope Hall (who are high in the table for a reason) lead twice in the second half before Silas fought through for the win.

The teams met at Scotstoun Leisure Centre on the astro turf pitch. Before the game even began Silas where on their hands and knees (not praying, sadly :P) but picking up shards of glass as one of the floodlights had been smashed and not cleaned up. A striker claimed we should just play on without tidying up, much to the disgust of the right back and right midfield who would be playing through it all! That little comment proved to be the most entertaining part of a first half which was ruined by high winds causing most passes, shots and clearances to go over the fence!!

The second half saw the wind die down and the play improve greatly. Hope Hall went a goal up with a header after a little goalkeeping error. Silas got back on level terms before Hope Hall scored another: a shot from outside the box which caused our goalie some problems. Silas then rallied and with an Ali Morrow goal into the top corner from short range made it all square. John Wood then scored a goal after the keeper didn't catch the ball properly. The goalie (who is very good: saved a good header form me anyway) then kicked John as he ran to celebrate. This left the ref (who had a good game) with no option but show the red card. With Hope Hall down to 10 men (and a new keeper in) Silas then scored two more well worked goals. (Appologiese for the lateness, shortness and "without even goal scorers names"ness of this report)

The Silas defence dealt well with the weather problems and can't be blamed for the two goals we let in. The midfield and attack were not firing on all cylinders but still managed to score 5 (which can only be a good thing). Also the two attackers both got an assist or two which is great also. MOM was given to me (Graham Cuthbert), which was really nice to get. I feel bad though that other player don't get as much credit as they deserve though. For example, I thought Murdo, Alan Dock and Richard Olyott played particularly well on Saturday, but everyone in the team makes a real contribution. Without a team we would never win!!!! Thank God for the gift of sport and football!! :D

2007-01-16T01:09:00.000Z

OI, referee!

Saturday evening I helped at out by refereeing! It was the under 11s Scottish Crusaders Indoor Football tournament and what a lovely experience it was!! The kids were so pleasant but also had a lot of passion to win. One of the teams was made up of all 8 year olds including a girl who, in her obsession to get the ball, ran into me, knocking me over (much to the hilarity of the parents and other players). A particular highlight was the fact there were no controversial decisions,Thank God! Being "cheated" is the sort of things which can ruin the whole experience for a team and leave parents shouting at the poor ref!

Lenzie Crusaders (as usual) won the tournament. The reason they win is because they have the best team but the reason they win so often is because they have a massive group. So big, in fact, they have to meet a number of different nights! For years the Pollockshields teams ,which I was part of, used to complain about how unfair it was. Now though, as a leader, its just fantastic to see how strong there group is and I pray that our group will grow again and see people meet God. A man called Gordon has run the Lenzie group for many decades and thank God for him and all the work he has done, still does. His service is something which, again, I only noticed when I was a leader.

Only 15 years ago Scottish Crusaders used to have athletics, swimming, badminton and football competitions annually for all the different groups to compete in. It was a very good way of getting children of all ages to get involved and along to Crusader grups. The need to work as a team helps built up friendships and comradery between younger people and also there leaders; relationships which grow over the years. Sadly, as my friend Darren talks about in his last blog post, a few years ago everyone decided that competitiveness, for children, was bad. As a result Crusaders stopped many of there competitions from happening, what a mistake! Thankfully Gordon, I'm told, fought to keep the football tournament and after seeing the children at the weekend enjoy it so much I see how important it was.

Sport is such a good way to get kids interested, fit and having fun. As a society we need to bring back competitiveness in schools and sports. Not to make people feel they are rubbish, but to encourage them to play hard! Everyone winning leaves children with no reason to push themselves because without a reason to do try why should they? After being and seeing children play (especially boys) its important that winning is something which is emphasised as a good thing, not the only thing, but a good thing!

2007-01-16T00:08:00.000Z

St Silas Vs Trinity Possil

3-2 was the final score in a close game which saw St Silas bounce back against a very strong Trinity Possil. John Wood, Frank Brodie and David Stewart where on the score sheet.

Trinity's number 7 scored a superb goal in the first half where he out positioned me and drilled a shot into the bottom corner. John got one back for Silas before the 7 scored again when he out positioned his marker and volleyed into the bottom corner.

In the second half the game was still even but St Silas seemed to be on the attack more and with some good football, moving the ball from defence to attack, Davy Stewart played the ball past the keeper. The prolific Frank Brodie scored the 3rd and with some strong defending towards the end Silas claim a hard fought win.

M.O.M. was given to me for some reason even though, I felt, it was one of my worst performances this season. We gave the particularly skillful "number 7" their award and after playing him for the university too he is one of the best players I've played against.

Richard Grant got a serious concussion so will have to take at least a month off football.

2007-01-11T17:24:00.000Z

Age

Last Sunday was a great day for me, the day that I became a man!! I shaved on Saturday morning and by Sunday some stubble had grown in, not loads but still enough to shave off again (which was completed with glee).

Yes, I know you are laughing but strange as it might seem most of us 18-19 year old guys still ain't shaving everyday..... It's quite a turn up for the books because when you were 10 did you not think that people at uni where adults, I did anyway. Yet most at 19 are still physically growing, have hormones flowing and many are just as lost as they were at 10.

Even around my peer group the misconceptions of what different ages bring are plain to see. The number of 15 year olds that wish they where 18 because they crave to be an adult: go drinking, earn good money and be treated with respect. Yet most 18 year olds find themselves sometimes wishing to be 21 because they feel that then they will get the respect that comes with being an adult. On the other hand there are those 21 year olds who wish they were back at 15 because life was so much simpler then. I guess it's the human problem of claiming that "the grass is greener on the other side". The same thing applies for people who are older with the statement "I wish I was X years old", if I had a 1p for every time someone said that.....

I'm coming more to the opinion that we should be happy what age we are. Why? Because you are only going to be 48 years and 21days old once in your life (the age isn't aimed at anyone by the way). You are only going to experience that age once so why wish it away? Every age has is perks and flaws; so being grown up is not just freedom as younger people are led to believe. Similarly, people only seem to remember the good things in the past and therefore forget that being younger isn't all good either.

A wise man once said, "you are only as old as you feel" and it's completely true! My Grannie is 80 odds yet she goes around everywhere on her bike, is constantly gardening and still runs her churches youth group. It's so sad to see grandparents in there 50s deciding that they are old and limiting what they will do. If you convince yourself that "your old" then you will be!

So I urge you, what ever age you are not to wish today away because you want to be some other age! Enjoy where you are now because your only going to have that day once!

2007-01-08T20:06:00.000Z

Snowboarding

As a Christmas present my parents got my sister, Rachel, and I skiiing and snowboarding lessons! So last Wednesday we headed off to Xcape to learn! This is an example of the sort of stuff we where doing doing:

Snowboarding is brilliant! It's such a satifying sport and I can't wait till the next lesson (though my bank account won't like it)! I was amazed at how frictionless the boards where! Now that might sound silly but just go try it and you'll know what I mean!

How many professional snowboarders like the guy above have knee ligament damage?? When I started out you could feel them straining as I slide around. What if your doing a trick and catch an edge in the snow??

NOTE: The video's are not in the wrong order!

2007-01-07T20:28:00.000Z

St Silas vs Sherwood-Greenlaw

The league leaders St Silas started 2007 with there first lost of the season in dramatic style with a 5-4 defeat to Sherwood!

FIRST HALF: The league leaders started the first half brightly passing the ball well and John Wood scored from close range. Sherwood then came into the game as St Silas couldn't seem to couple with their high work rate. After a couple of good chances (which where well saved by Martin) Sherwood manged to play it through the Silas defense to a midfielder who passed the ball inside to an attacker who, in this reporters humble opinion, was offside. The attacker then side-footed into the net from close range.

St Silas then got a penalty when Ali Morrow did a trade-mark fall in the box (NOTE: not a dive! but he always looks a little strange when he gets fouled!) which John expertly whacked into the top corner.

SECOND HALF: Seconds into the second half Sherwood scored making it 2-2. They then scored a third after another defensive mix up. St Silas then rallied and made it 4-3 (defender come striker Richard Olliot scoring another goal with his left) but Sherwood then went 4-4 and then 5-4.

Apologies for the lack of second half reporting but I can't remember exactly what happened with the goals! St Silas seemed to gift Sherwood almost all their goals. Both Midfield and Defensive units where all over the place and in attack St Silas missed a number of opportunities in probably the worst performance in the last two years.

The attitude of "we'll win" which most of the team held led to the lack of focus which has got us to the top of the league.Also the team spirit which as been our strongest asset over the last three seasons was missing! But its not all doom and gloom! We are still top of the league and have the same team: skillful, hardworking and most importantly a great bunch of guys! So I see no reason why next week the team shouldn't get back to winning ways!

MOM was John Wood who played well, adding to his high goal tally! My excuse is that I only played the second half cos I was ill :P

St Silas will be back to winning ways next week! I'll put a £10 on it!!

2007-01-03T19:34:00.000Z

Myspace Laughs

Sorry for not blogging much interesting stuff of late, just had no Internet access! I hope you find this funny!!

When I plugged in the LAN to check emails I logged on Myspace and saw this message:

Anyone else just laughed?? Maybe the church should use this picture as a publicity thing? (I'm Semi-serious!!).

Upon further inspection of the site (www.myspace.com/jesus_is_the_real_way) I found that I've been following the wrong God for the last 18 years!! Did you know that Jesus is only 100years old, didn't live in Israel and wasn't a Jew?? According to Jesus he's a Catholic from Italy!!!! Didn't see that one coming did you?

2007-01-03T00:23:00.000Z

Iron Maiden on Friday 16th

I went to see the legendary Iron Maiden but forgot to blog about it so here it is almost a month late!

The gig, In one word: Disappointing!

Don't get me wrong, its was good but they played all these new songs that no one knew :( and the warm up act "Trivium" just swore a lot. It's not cool duuuude!

I WANT MY £32.50 back!!!!

2006-12-26T20:10:00.001Z

Crusader Event!

Tomorrow the leaders of Crusaders are meeting to discuss a couple of things. Firstly to sort out if we are going to follow the national organisation and change our name from "Crusaders" to "Urban Saints". This is obviously quite an important decision to make and it would be brill if you praying types could pray for us.

Our main reason for meeting is to plan for an outreach event in the new year. Over the past years our numbers have fallen to around 4 or 5 older secondary kids each week. This is due to mostly a lack of leaders and therefore a lack of resource. This makes planning an exciting program harder and last year meant that we often had to cancel an evening. With this lack of consistency a lot more of the younger people have stopped coming. Also advertising to younger, primary, kids has been rather non-existent again because of a lack of people.

The idea is to (on a Saturday afternoon) have inflatables and sumo suits etc. in the church hall where we meet. We also want games and other interesting things going on and hope to have lots of 8-12 year old's having fun and getting them interested in coming along on Monday nights. Then on the regular Mondays have a fast moving, engaging program and an atmosphere which they feel comfortable in.

There are a number of problems though:

We will need to publicise the event well

Sadly in the past the primary schools have been very resistant to us coming in and talking probably because Pollockshields has large majority of Muslim and Seekers in the area which are resistant to Christianity.

More support and leaders

The local Churches seem to have little or no youngsters in and there seems little ambition from the churches to improve the situation, they all seem doom and gloom about it! Also one of our female leaders has left. So now the group is run by my dad (John), Louise (19), Craig (19 & non-christian) and myself (18). While of course younger leaders is great, there is much responsibility still placed on John, also Louise (being the only female) needs to turn up every week so that girls can come.

What to do with the existing older primary Kids

We have a small number of older kids whom probably don't want to join in with the younger guys.

These things seem to be limiting us and when planning for the afternoon and the program for the new year there seem so many problems, difficulties and at times it seems impossible. There there is no point moaning though because I completely trust that God has a plan! The victory IS the Lords and he WILL prevail. So could you pray that when we, the leaders, meet tomorrow that we would open ourselves to Gods wonders and not limit him because then we will see miracles.

As I said, we will need one off volunteers for the "Event" but we desperately need more leaders for us to see the group grow again; especially females. Crusaders is a non-denominational Christian youth group for 8-16 year olds. We run on a Moday night from 7-8:30pm at Pollockshields Church and run a games based program. The aim is to teach young people about God in an engaging way! If your interested in being a volunteer then please email me and I'll get back to you!! I have no doubt God WILL provide the children and the volunteers for he is God. He WILL make all these things possible.

2006-12-26T01:41:00.000Z

Christmas

Today has been a really nice day :) It started badly though when my friend text me at 6:34am waking me up; it seems he clearly hadn't remembered Proverbs 27:14

"You might as well curse your friends as wake them up early in the morning with a loud greeting."

Things soon picked and dispite being 18 (I had assumed the big present days where in the past) I received some of the coolest gifts EVER!
Got a guitar amp, 2x Monty Python DVDs, 2GB memory card for my phone and the greatest chocolates ever: Thornton's with "Graham M.O.M." written on a footy boot!

For my brother I bought two Cd's: Snow Patrol and Daemon Rice which are just beautifully made (the Rice album "9" is a definite must buy) which we've enjoying listening too. Also there has been loads of brill food, though we suspect that the Turkey might have food poisoning! As always Church was good fun too (The minister now owes me £10 :P)

The whole day has been generally good laugh :D and I thank God for blessing me so much with friends and family who love me! I really am so fortunate. I really hope your day was as nice. Also most importantly thank Jesus for sending him son to the earth for us, I cannot express how amazing I find that! Amen

2006-12-22T23:13:00.000Z

Rugger

Defined (by Graham): Rugby is probably the coolest game: It's a game of determination and strength with some skill thrown in for good measure!!

I'm an expert on such things even though I've never played the game (big regret). My expertise, in fact, comes from watching it on the T.V. and the occasional banter filled, match! This evening while watching a match, Glasgow Warriors vs Edinburgh Rugby, I have come to the conclusion that Rugby, as well as being a cool game, is also a game for Toffs (By the way, Is it just me or anyone else think they must have run out of original names when they got to Edinburgh??). Anyway, I have some extensive proof to, well, prove it!

When Chris Patterson (Edinburgh player) stepped up to kick a conversion the whole place went silent to let him concentrate!

Now I'm a Football fan and this behaviour is unheard of. Putting the other team off is half the game! It is obvious that only Toffs would let the other team concentrate.

Only the Private School's (and government funded private schools) play rugby

Almost none of the public schools (in Glasgow at least) play the game therefore the only people that play the game are from Private school and clearly ALL people who go to Private school are Toffs! Its science my friends!

Its only played in the West end of Glasgow

This the the final nail in the coffin for those who choose to ignore the obvious! The West End of Glasgow is the posh bit of Glasgow. Everyone knows that and there is no point denying it! Everyone who lives there is rich and clearly very Toffish!

Therefore, after extensive research, it is clear Rugby is for Toffs. Rar Rar! Cucumber Sandwiches anyone?

*One bitter and under educated south-sider signing off*

NOTE: Please don't talk this too seriously

2006-12-18T15:42:00.000Z

Christmas at Crusaders!

Today i got my new laptop! So I quickly explored the box and began to play, even reading the instructions!! To my great surprise the computer connected to the wireless very easily with a "excellent" signal, SUPERB! Sadly though after about 5Min's the connection became "disabled" which meant that I couldn't go on the net. Also I cannot seem to "see" any of the shared folders on my desktop from the laptop. So after a morning and afternoon of battling against the Microsoft evil I finally have had to give up and just plugged the laptop into the router.

Normally I wouldn't give up so soon but today I am planning and talking at crusaders. As one would expect the theme is Christmas. The talk is on the second part of "Why did Jesus come to earth?" in which ill be discussing and explaining Jesus sacrifice and what it means for us *worried face*. Thing are no helped by my computer problems making this already difficult subject harder to think about and plan. This is the last time we meet before the holidays so it's important that we give them a good time so they come back!! haha

So all your prayers would be much appreciated. Could you pray for the kids, that they would arrive safely and that they would enjoy the programme and for me as I talk; asking that the kids who have heard it all before would see something new and for the others that they would just be so interested in what God has to say. Could you also pray for the other leaders and we plan and talk. I Thank God he gives us (all of us) this great job to spread his word, what a privilege!

2006-12-15T12:50:00.000Z

Wrapping!

I recently recieved this email from a friend!

This is the time of year when we think back to the very first Christmas, when the Three Wise Men -- Gaspar, Balthazar, and Herb -- went to see the baby Jesus and, according to the Book of Matthew, "presented unto Him gifts; gold, frankincense, and myrrh."

These are simple words, but if we analyze them carefully, we discover an important, yet often overlooked, theological fact: there is no mention of wrapping paper. If there had been wrapping paper, Matthew would have said so:

"And lo, the gifts were inside 600 square cubits of paper. And the paper was festooned with pictures of Frosty the Snowman. And Joseph was going to throweth it away, but Mary saideth unto him, she saideth, 'Holdeth it! That is nice paper! Saveth it for next year!' And Joseph did rolleth his eyeballs. And the baby Jesus was more interested in the paper than the frankincense."

But these words do not appear in the Bible, which means that the very first Christmas gifts were NOT wrapped. This is because the people giving those gifts had two important characteristics:

1. They were wise.

2. They were men.

Men are not big gift wrappers. Men do not understand the point of putting paper on a gift just so somebody else can tear it off. This is not just my opinion, this is a scientific fact based on a statistical survey of two guys I know! One is Rob, who said the only time he ever wraps a gift is "if it's such a poor gift that I don't want to be there when the person opens it." The other is Gene, who told me he does wrap gifts, but as a matter of principle never takes more than 15 seconds per gift. "No one ever had to wonder which presents daddy wrapped at Christmas," Gene said. "They were the ones that looked like enormous spitballs."

I also wrap gifts, but because of some defect in my motorskills, I can never completely wrap them. I can take a gift the size of a deck of cards and put it the exact center of a piece of wrapping paper the size of a regulation volleyball court, but when I am done folding and taping, you can still see a sector of the gift peeking out. (Sometimes I camouflage this sector with a marking pen.) If I had been an ancient Egyptian in the field of mummies, the lower half of the Pharaoh's body would be covered only by Scotch tape.

On the other hand, if you give my wife a 12-inch square of wrapping paper, she can wrap a C-130 cargo plane. My wife,like many women, actually likes wrapping things. If she gives you a gift that requires batteries, she wraps the batteries separately, which to me is very close to being a symptom of mental illness. If it were possible, my wife would wrap each individual volt.

My point is that gift-wrapping is one of those skills like having babies that come more naturally to women than to men. That is why today I am presenting:Gift Wrapping Tips for Men:

* Whenever possible, buy gifts that are already wrapped. If,when the recipient opens the gift, neither one of you recognizes it, you can claim that it's myrrh.*

The editors of Woman's Day magazine recently ran an item on how to make your own wrapping paper by printing a design on it with an apple sliced in half horizontally and dipped in a mixture of food coloring and liquid starch. They must be smoking crack. If you're giving a hard-to-wrap gift, skip the wrapping paper! Just put it inside a bag and stick one of those little adhesive bows on it. This creates a festive visual effect that is sure to delight the lucky recipient on Christmas morning:

YOUR WIFE: Why is there a Hefty trash bag under the tree?

YOU: It's a gift! See? It has a bow!

YOUR WIFE (peering into the trash bag): It's a leaf blower.

YOU: Gas-powered! Five horsepower!

YOUR WIFE: I want a divorce.

YOU: I also got you some myrrh.

In conclusion, remember that the important thing is not what you give, or how you wrap it. The important thing, during this very special time of year, is that you save the receipt.

Author Unknown (but definitely male)

2006-12-14T00:04:00.000Z

C.S.Lewis

C.S.Lewis is a magnificent writer (as I'm sure many of you know) and he is most famous for the Narnia series (which I read as a child). They are filled with deep metaphors throughout the series. With his characters and plot lines running deep into christian beliefs. It's truly inspired stuff! He's also written a number of other very good books aimed at a more adult audience like "Mere Christianity" which I borrowed from a friend and finished a couple of weeks ago.

In the book he explains in a very simple way many issues which non-Christians and Christians bring up. Yet his points keep the issues complexity and he doesn't make the reader feel small, it's fantastic! Also is analogies and illustrations are god given. I would recommend to anyone who hasn't read it to get yourself a copy. Even if it's just for an adventure in language!

If you follow this link you can read the book online (I think) and I've copied one of many illustrations which I really enjoyed, he's dealing with the idea of God outside of time:

"Almost certainly God is not in Time. His life does not consist of moments following one another. If a million people are praying to Him at ten-thirty tonight, He need not listen to them all in that one little snippet which we call ten-thirty. Ten-thirty-and every other moment from the beginning of the world-is always the Present for Him. If you like to put it that way, He has all eternity in which to listen to the split second of prayer put up by a pilot as his plane crashes in flames.

That is difficult, I know. Let me try to give something, not the same, but a bit like it. Suppose I am writing a novel. I write 'Mary laid down her work; next moment came a knock at the door!' For Mary who has to live in the imaginary time of my story there is no interval between putting down the work and hearing the knock. But I, who am Mary's maker, do not live in that imaginary time at all. Between writing the first half of that sentence and the second, I might sit down for three hours and think steadily about Mary. I could think about Mary as if she were the only character in the book and for as long as I pleased, and the hours I spent in doing so would not appear in Mary's time (the time inside the story) at all.

This is not a perfect illustration, of course. But it may give just a glimpse of what I believe to be the truth. God is not hurried along in the Time-stream of this universe any more than an author is hurried along in the imaginary time of his own novel. He has infinite attention to spare for each one of us. He does not have to deal with us in the mass. You are as much alone with Him as if you were the only being He had ever created. When Christ died, He died for you individually just as much as if you had been the only man in the world.
The way in which my illustration breaks down is this. In it the author gets out of one Time-series (the real one). But God, I believe, does not live in a Time-series at all. His life is not dribbled out moment by moment like ours with Him it is, so to speak, still 1920 and already 1960 For His life is Himself.

If you picture Time as a straight line along which we have to travel, then you must picture God as the whole page on which the line is drawn. We come to the parts of the line one by one: we have to leave A behind before we get to B, and cannot reach C until we leave B behind. God, from above or outside or all round, contains the whole line, and sees it all."

2006-12-10T18:17:00.000Z

10 Things I'll Never Do!

Gadget Vicar claims to have "tagged" me which is clearly ridiculous as, even with his sat naved car, he couldn't catch me ;-). The idea is that I now have to write "10 Things I'll Never Do" then "tag" 10 other blogger's. The thing this is Nick was also tagged now it so I'm kinda running out of things to write about..... OR people to tag! So here goes:

Never wear "skinny" jeans
Drink Coffee
Win the X factor (even though everyone is "voting" for me)
Eat Nuts
Go to Space (how cool would that be!)
Buy an Ipod
Be able to play guitar like Hendrix
Never completely understand the thirteen dimensions of "string theory" (Side note: How can anyone believe that but not God? its mad!)
Go a day without making some rather not funny joke
Never say Never!

2006-12-05T21:33:00.000Z

The Long Silence:Anon (written before Summer 1982)

At the end of time, billions of people were scattered on the vast plain before God's throne. Some shrank back from the brilliant light before them — but many other groups talked heatedly, not cringing with shame, but with belligerence.

"Can God judge us? How can He know about suffering?” snapped a pert brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. "We endured terror ... beating ... torture ... death!"

In another group a Negro boy lowered his collar. "What about this?" he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. "Lynched, for no crime but being black."

In another crowd there was a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes. "Why should I suffer?" she murmured. "It wasn't my fault."

Far out across the plain were thousands of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for all the evil end suffering He had permitted in His world. How lucky God was to live in heaven, where all was sweetness and light, where there was no weeping and fear, no hunger or hatred, no sickness or sorrow. What did God know of all that humankind had been forced to endure in this world? After all, God leads a rather sheltered sort of life, they said.

So each of these groups sent forth a leader, especially chosen because they had suffered the most. A Jew, a Negro, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, a thalidomide child, an AIDS victim. In the centre of the vast plain, these leaders consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case, item-by-item, leader-by-leader, to God. It was rather pertinent.

Before God could be qualified to be their Judge, He must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth as a human being, as a man. Let him be born of the most despised race, a Jew, in poverty-stricken conditions. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. As a child, let him be forced to flee as a refugee, and live several years in a foreign country. Then give him a work to do, and an ideal to uphold that is so difficult that even his own family will think him out of his mind when he tries to do it. Let him be betrayed by his closest colleague, into the hands of those who hate him. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury, and convicted by a cowardly judge.

At the last, let him see what it means to be terribly, terribly alone — forsaken of all his friends. Let him be tortured. Then let him die. Let him die the most excruciating, end humiliating death possible, before a taunting, reviling crowd that not only verified his death but also contributed to it.

As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the whole assembled throng. When the last leader had finished pronouncing his part of God's sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered another word. Nobody moved.

For suddenly, everybody knew that God had already served His sentence.

2006-12-03T20:54:00.000Z

Apologies, to you guys who read my blog, for the lack of interesting or insightful blog posts recently. Of late, I've been extremely busy and just haven't have time to write anything of particular interest. This week is another busy one with three assignments due and a talk on "Why did he come to earth?" to prepare for crusaders tomorrow. Over the last months I've been getting worn down so your prayers are much needed.

This Friday(8th) at 1:30 Callum Radlow's Funeral is being held at Linwood Crematorium. I wrote about it here. If you could pray for, especially, his family and friends. I know three people whom knew him well. My friend Craig (mentioned in link) but also Angus Harrison and
Craig Bradnam. Both Angus and Craig went to school with Callum and, as you would expect, have been very effected by the news.

Edit: I wrote the funeral was on Monday but it is in fact on Friday; sorry for any confusion caused.

2006-11-30T18:02:00.000Z

The Prestige

As some may know I like to blog about films which I have seen. If you are aware of this you will probably also know that I have very little skill when it comes to being a film critic! You may wish to keep this in mind as I tell you about The Prestige which both I and the person I was with said it was: "rubbish", "predictable" and "that's just a pure gay film". While, if you follow the link, it is given 8.1/10 by IMDb.

The story follows two magicians in Victorian times who try to out do each others tricks. One of the men Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) is in jail, charged with the murder of the other Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) and we learn in a variety of ways: through the reading of both men's diaries and the events after the writing of the diary, how he ended up their.By the end of the film the true twistedness of both men, who have sacrificed so much to out do one another, is revealed.

Unlike the trailers suggest though, there was little or no friendship or rivalry between both characters. Instead one see's a deep hatred, which then changes into a passion to beater the others tricks. This desire leads both men to dark places where they are willing to do anything. Although the acting is good, there seems little attempt to get over to the audience either what is going on in each man's mind nor the real horror of their actions. One is left with two men who seem a little strange at the end, that's all! I have enjoyed the film afterwards, thinking about it. Though during the film I just wanted to leave.

2006-11-29T09:55:00.000Z

Delirious?

Alan (brother) bought "Now Is the Time: Live at Willow Creek DVD/CD" on Saturday. After going to see them in Glasgow I wrote this about them but after much more listening (They are on at the moment) I have to say they are starting to grow on me!

There are a number of songs which have good chorus', easy to sing long to and with some good solo's. The singer sounds very Bono from U2ish at times which is slightly irritating though his lyrics are powerful. Thank God for the gifts he's given them!!

Here is a taste of there new music with "Now is the Time": (which they wrote with Matt Redman)

2006-11-27T15:09:00.000Z

Callum:

On Saturday after football I got a call from my best friend Craig. He told me that a guy form his course at Uni, Callum, had been killed by a train early on Friday morning. Craig and Callum had become really close since the start of the year and for the first time in our 6year friendship I heard Craig was crying/sobbing.

It appears Callum, after a night out and saying bye to people, was walking along some tracks was hit by a goods train. Although I only met him several times he was a great guy, full of life and only 18 with his whole life in front of him.

If your the praying type then it would be great if you could ask for Craig, the others who where out with him and Callums parents/family to have time to grieve and that they would feel the peace and comfort that God can give. Also If you could pray for me as I seem to have been quite hit by the whole thing.

2006-11-26T19:06:00.000Z

Kilsyth Vs St Silas

In Cummburnald, 9am Saturday, St Silas football team took on 3rd in the league Kilsyth Congregational. On paper St Silas had a weakened team with three suspended players and Davy Lawler unable to make it due to work commitments though this wasn't shown in the score line; 3-0.

First half: Kilsyth started well and put St Silas under pressure for much of the first 45. This pressure resulted in a few half chances though the St Silas defence and replacement goal keeper (Gordon) stood firm, repelling the attacks.

St Silas could only really counter attack and one of these breaks from defence saw John Wood score a fantastic goal. Ali Morrow picked up the ball in the centre of his own half, moved forward then passed the ball to the right to Frank Brodie. Frank then managed to get some space from the defended before crossing to the edge of the box right onto John's toe. John took full advantage and expertly volley the ball into the net.

Second half: St Silas came out in the second half working a lot harder, pressuring Kilsyth into mistakes also the away team seemed to have much more space with the ball and found passing easier.

St Silas's 2nd was an excellent team goal. The ball was moved from defence to the right wing, then some neat skill and passing between the right mid (Paul McGee) and myself I was able to play the ball inside to Ali Morrow, who did another 1-2 with Frank (I think), the ball then was moved to Alan Dock on the left wing who slipped a perfectly weighted ball into the box which John Wood took, shrugged off a tackle, and placed into the bottom right hand corner.The continued pressure from St Silas and Kilsyth only half clearing it gave Alan Dock time near the edge of the box and his powerful shot sailed past the keeper, 3-0.

St Silas's defence must have a special mention after some superb defending they got a well deserved clean sheet, without which this game could have been a very different story. MOM was John Wood (Gutted :P) who was subbed for Iain McRichie in the 2nd half. Iain aka Bionic man played well after a long term absence due to ligament damage. Gordon in goal was brilliant too!

Team: Gordon Comrie, Al McGeoch, Richard Olyott, Richard Grant, Murdo, Paul McGee, Graham Cuthbert, Ali Morrow, Alan Dock, John Wood, Frank Brodie

2006-11-22T15:30:00.000Z

Excel

The weekend down at Abundant Life Church in Bradford was good! Though it started of in a bit of a mess:

First of all Steve Ford was to be picked up at St Silas Church though due to the awful weather he decided to wait in the Church office. When Russel and the others came to pick him up they couldn't find him anywhere so, after waiting a long time, they left. Darren then went to go get Steve later on. When we got to East Kilbride (the meeting place) we found that the "fixed" minibus was leaking a lot of oil/diesel. After a bit more cuffule we rented another bus which, we discovered just before we left, one of the doors wouldn't close (sigh). So we got another rented bus which worked and left like 6 hours late. Thank God for answered prayer! Got us there despite the enemies best efforts.

The conference was called "Band of Brothers" yet the theme wasn't really use. The speakers, Paul de Jong (a minister of a Christian Life Centre Church in Awkland) and Paul Scalon (the minister at the Abundant Life Church in Bradford), preached on several different points which where aimed at christian men. Now I've read a few books about this but It was really refreshing to have some more practical pointers on how to be a man of god.

It was difficult to take in everything which was said over the four sessions though I feel I've learned a lot and found it very thought provoking too. Getting to know the other guys in the team was a pleasure too as we don't often see each other off the pitch.

2006-11-16T22:37:00.000Z

Weekend

This weekend a large number (12) St Silasers and members of the St Silas Football team are heading to Bradford for a Conference. It is an all men's conference and funnily enough I have little-no idea what I signed up for. We will be leaving on Friday during the day and spending the weekend done there.Please look at my friend Darren Darlows blog for some information!

6 of the 12 are non-Christians so could you pray for them. The Church and conference is large, thousands. Also it is evangelical (that word so doesn't mean what it used to) aka charismatic which they (and I) may find a little intimidating! This is such an amazing opportunity to share with them the gospel and show them Christan love. So please pray that the holy spirit would work in them and us as we witness to them! Also on a personal note I pray that I might learn much from the weekend and god would just blow away all the difficulties I've been struggling with.

Darren says he will keep his blog updated over the weekend so check there in the next couple of days if your interested.

2006-11-15T01:01:00.000Z

The last few weeks I've sadly been to busy to blog bout a lot of things so here is a short little bit of each! (Sorry if there are too many moans and "I", it is witten quickly!)

Are you man enough?

Burger King have launched the "double" and "triple" whopper meals. (see an advert here, for triple) I love to eat and normally I can finish most things and still be hungry but after this monster there wasn't much room left!

The Triple whooper has according to this site 1260 cals, excluding drink and chips! The Recommend Daily Allowance for a fully grown man is around 2200 cals! and today (Wednesday) I had the pleasure of eating one. Now this is a proper meal!!

I also LOVE the double advert (which I cannot find of the Internet anywhere)

DR GOOGLE!

As many of you will know google has been buying everything online! Absolutely everything! (Just follow this link to see the REAMS of thing which the massive company now owns.) There reach now stretches so much that to use the latest version of blogger (the blog site I use) I was forced to sign up for a google account! This a CLEAR sign that google is in fact going to take over the world! Mark my words!

Borat:

Also on Wednesday one went to see Borat. From all the reviews I was expecting the most amazing film ever, I was sadly disappointed!

Although the film had many funny parts I cannot help but suspect large portions where scripted. Also it seemed quite empty I can't make out quite why. It was fantastic to see someone not scared to be non PC though and had a number of things which I thought "you can't get away with that"

Borat is a good film and I advise you to see it!

Football, Glasgow CU vs Strathclyde CU

On Wednesday night the great rivals took to a very wet football pitch to play the glorious game. Glasgow where clearly a stronger team and it took Strathclyde a while to get more organised. I'm told Glasgow train and play regularly which showed in the scoreline, 5-0. St Silas' own Darren Jackson played for Glasgow and put in a good shift for his team!!! Thank god there where no injuries!

The evening didn't improve for me as all the trains where cancelled when I arrived at the station. Praise the Lord because my mum was able to come pick me up at almost midnight. Thanks to her!!!

Mission:

This evening (Thursday) the Strathclyde CU had UCCF people talking about "Short Term Mission". This is basically going for a short time and helping out in a massive variety of different ways around Scotland and the world. My parents recently suggested going to help in the mission which St Silas church is helping to sponsor. (I sadly cannot remember the county and cannot find GadgetVicars Blog on it.) Which got me thinking and after this talk feel I need to spend time prayerfully considering doing something along these lines.

Stressed

The past few weeks I have been extremely stressed with various university essays, exams and tutorials and a number of commitments (almost all christian related) bearing down on me. Much of this is my own fault for taking on too much and also I'm very aware of how much more work others do that I. Yet it is proving very difficult to make time for my non-Christan friends which is such a shame on many levels. Also finding alone time to spend with God is becoming increasingly difficult. This is a problem because its even harder to try to "listen" to where god is guiding me. The above mini blog about the mission is just one of a couple longer term things which need to have decisions made about them.

So if your the praying type could you pray that God would continue to teach me discernment and therefore I could make more time to do the things which matter to me and him. Also that God would give me mind space and concentration for him and studies. And finally that he would give me rest bite from the work load! (and a few others but I feel like I'm saying "I" too much and also moaning too much!)

Radiohead:

As many of you undoubtly know Radiohead are one of the greatest bands on earth! The album "OK Computer" has been voted no.1 ablum on poll after poll and after a 6month break a passion for there music has reimerged from my soul.

The music seems to stike a chord with many people. Oh how I wish I could write music like that!

(wants to write more but needs to go)

2006-11-13T16:53:00.000Z

Horror

This weekend was not as busy as normal but still tiring; the football match was called off and in the afternoon a number of us went to see Nick play rugby (they won convincingly and Nick got a try, well done!!!). For those supporting it was a good humoured affair with a lot of "banter". Sunday involved playing bass at church, spending a lot of money for lunch (tea and bagette...£4.20!) and two very thought provoking sermons. Though the thing that hit me this weekend was something I watched on Saturday night. It was on Channel 4, a repeat of a show called "The Somme".

The documentary type feature length film told the story of a few British/French and German soldiers, using their diaries, letters and military records to give an account of the first day of the battle. The battle of the Somme was fought in the First World War. The Allied forces attempted to break through the Germans lines along a 25-mile front in northern France. One purpose of the battle was to draw German forces away from the Battle of Verdun; however, by its end the losses on the Somme had exceeded those at Verdun. The first day was the bloodiest day in Britain's long military history with 57,470 casualties on the British side alone of which around 20 thousands where dead. By the end of the battle, which lasted 142 days (as far as i know), there where over a million casualties. The allies made around 5miles, FIVE MILES!!!.

These figures are not something I can comprehend One of the people which the film focused on had just turned 17. Out of the 1000 men in his group he was one of only 27 to be alive after just the first days battle, thats means they had a 2.7% chance of living.........Not only that but he was then sent back to the front line a year or so later. As I thought about this I found myself in tears, I'm not sure why. Yet as I think of all the "healthy" men and boys around me; friends, family, work mates, people from Church, all of whom would have been sent to war, I just cannot picture only 2.7% of them living, its just beyond words, beyond belief.

As far as I can make out around 10million people died in the First World War: A war for a little bit of territory Such losses, for something of great importance, maybe just justifiable but for that no. All the Horror.

As I think about it more I saw things from another angle. As a Christan I belive that all those whom don't follow Jesus will have an eternity in hell. The horrors of war will surely be nothing compaired to the day of judgement. Not only for those who have the horror of an eternity without God but also for use who are being saved. Beacause we may watch, our friends, family and a massive proportion of the human race suffer for there sins. It is unimaginable.

Yet just as people being to talk about WW1 as just the historical fact it is the world (Christan's more than most) just talk about Hell as something which will happen. The Horror of WW1 will be so small compaired to Hell, yet we choose to brush hell under the carpet. One can be forgiven for trying not to bring up the past but, unlike that war, all the people around you can be saved, look around. If you stood on the battlefield would you let your closest friend die when you could prevent it

2006-11-11T12:37:00.000Z

Game OVER!!!

Well not really; St Silas' Football match was cancelled due to the bad weather in Glasgow. What a shame because, for me, there is NOTHING BETTER than getting right muddy and having a nice scrappy game. Maybe I'm in the wrong sport?

With that in mind I'm off this afternoon to watch The Glasgow Hawks take on Aberdeen. I'm embarrassed to say that I've only ever been to two other rugby matches before: Scotland at Murrayfield and, the local team, Cambuslang. In both cases "we" where destroyed but I'm sure things will be different as my friend Nick plays for them and I may be joined by Olly and David as well as a few other people from St Silas giving the 16th man support (is that right? there are 15 players in union?). So, yeah, it should be a grand day out!

St Silas have a weekend off next week giving some players a much needed rest! Many of the team are going to Bradford for a Christian Conference which should be interesting! More later

2006-11-08T11:14:00.000Z

Graham's Casino

On Monday the gambling games went just as planned; everyone of the kids, bar one, lost large amounts of "money" and the casino also made a killing! John's (my father) talk was very informative and thought provoking! There was an air of informality as the kids seemed more willing to talk and express there views! Also we had 6 kids, two of whom had come back for the first time in a while, just brilliant! Thank you very much for all your prayers! God is amazing! Next week we have a night out 10Pin Bowling in Finiston which should be good fun!

Crusaders is a non-denominational games based Christian youth group which runs in Pollockshields Church of Scotland on Monday nights normally from 7-8:30 pm. Children/youth people from ages 8-16 are most defiantly welcome. Feel free to email or comment if you would like more information. Similarly we are also always needing leaders so if you feel that's something for you please get in contact

2006-11-07T17:13:00.000Z

Bus Drivers!

Today my friends and I where nearly knocked down by a angry bus driver! Picture this senerio:

Walking towards green man, green man is green so begin our epic journey across.
As we get about 1/4 of the way there the green man becomes a red man!
We continue walking
A bus (which is about 2 metres from where we are walking) starts going on a red light
Using only what I can describe as James Bond like dodging skills we avoid the bus, which had managed to get up to atleast 10miles an hour and weighs more than a house!!!!

This is the second time in around 3months I've nearly been knocked down by a bus, first one was kinda my fault, yet this was not! Do bus drivers get training in hitting members of the public. Or maybe its just a student killing scheme?

2006-11-07T17:04:00.000Z

St Silas vs Dumbarton

Sorry! I've just been too busy to do a match report! St Silas won 4-2 which was brilliant! Please look at Darren Darlows blog for a good match report!!

Next week is a big crunch game was we take on fellow table toppers Erskine Bridge. With three players suspended and a couple of slight injury's (including me) this will definitely be a hard game. Though the St Silas team should be lifted by the prospect of our minister coming to watch. Thank you very much to our loyal support, if you would like to come along please email me and I'll let you know where we are playing!!

2006-11-06T16:59:00.000Z

Crusaders

This evenings teaching at Crusaders is on luck and gambling. I guess: "Why Christian's don't agree with gambling" could be the title. I found this helpful to remind myself of the different Christian points against gambling.

Three months ago when we planned the different nights "Casino Night" seemed a great idea but now we come to actually doing it things are proving more difficult. The idea was we would have a variety of gambling games and then show that its not good. I volunteered to organize the games and after praying and consulting we have decided to go ahead but it would be great if you guys could pray for us. We can easily see things going wrong and the kids to really enjoying the games, going home and continuing.

Also would be great if you could pray for my dad (John) who's is going to be doing the actual teaching!

2006-11-06T16:43:00.000Z

Click

"Click is a comedy/drama/fantasy film directed by Frank Coraci. Click tells the story of overworked Michael Newman (Adam Sandler), an architect so wrapped up in his job because of his boss (David Hasselhoff), that his family is forced to take the backseat. He gets a "universal remote" from an eccentric engineer (Christopher Walken), and finds he can literally control the universe around him." (Taken from here)

I don't wish to ruin the film by telling the plot but its defiantly one to see!

(hoping to see Borat on Friday! :D)

2006-11-03T18:58:00.000Z

St Silas Football team Website!

Davy Stewart (i think) who plays sweeper for St Silas football team has made a website up for the team! The link is http://www.freewebs.com/stsilas/. As far as i know its only been up for a day or so but its just brilliant!

Thank you Davy :P

St Silas play Dumbarton tomorrow morning! We would be looking to win this game though every team still needs to be beaten! Please contact Darren if you would like to come watch, you will be more than welcome! Ill be a sub (slight injury) so come talk to me :D

2006-11-03T17:54:00.000Z

A Good Year

I went to see this film on Wednesday. Russell Crowe stars playing an English stock-broker who inherit his uncles French vineyard and tries to sell it. Over the film his attitude changes partly because he meets the very beautiful Marion Cotillard (who is French :D) and because he falls back in love with the place he spent his childhood summers.

Russell Crowe plays his character well as he changes and with the subtle subplots and a pinch of comedy I recommend this film!

2006-11-01T12:05:00.000Z

Prayer Walk:

Tuesday was Halloween and my friend Johnny felt God was asking him to arranged a prayerwalk. This is basically, as the name suggests, walking around and praying for people and places which we go past. Especially things which we feel god was puttin on our hearts to pray for. Praise the Lord because it was just amazing!

People had pictures/visions/words from god and that was before we even left the flat while we where worshipping him. As we walked around the whole team felt god pushing and telling us where to go and what to pray for. Guiding us on what specifically we needed to do.

Before we began we had a plan of where we would head to but god gave a picture of where we needed to go: There was a large metal bucket which was pouring out this very white water down the hill which the flat is built on. As it flowed down the hill it went into all the streets but apart from one. So we went down that way and someone had a pictures of a wall which was a barrier to the water. The street was also called "White Street"!!! Just amazing! The pictures, words, what to pray for and feels of where to go next came regularly for hours!! (please read Johnnys blog for more) I could spend hours talking about all the different things. If your interested then email me or something! Very importantly this revelations did not only from one of us but there was so much confirmation from the others in the group on almost every situation we where in.

Personally I felt so out of my depth before we started yet it was infact me who got the picture of where to go which was just amazing! It was also the first time I had been in that part of the west end but I knew exactly which road to go down! God gave me a "fair share" of revelations over the evening which is not important or in anyway taking it away from god cos its all him! Yet this was the first time I had ever done anything like this and I am VERY inexperienced with things to do with spiritual gifts etc yet god still used me too, thank god! It really reminds me that god will always prepare us and use us at all times, even though we are being "trained" we are still always ready to complete what god wants us to do at that time! IF we let him, if we just let him use us which is why gods power was so shown yesterday evening!

It was also brilliant to spend time with more experienced people, to see how they operate and how god uses them. Also met three people which is always a good thing! As I look around at the people who surround me I realize how extremely blessed I am that god has put them there, helping me learn more about him! (Though clearly that is not there only purpose for being there!)

Praise the Lord!!!

2006-10-28T12:17:00.000Z

St Silas Vs Burnside

St Silas football team where back to winning ways this Saturday afternoon with a 6-1 win over a good passing Burnside. Although Silas could maybe have scored more (missed a lot of easy goals) the score line does not do Burnside justice. They where always looking to play the ball on the ground and used the wings well.

Today was in total contrast to last week: After a motivating team talk from Iain McRitchy everyone was focused and knew exactly what they where doing. From the start Burnside played some good attacking football putting us under pressure but our defensive dealt with it well.

Having John and Frank up front is always going to cause any team problems on the break and that's exactly how the game played out. Burnside played around our midfield and then when we won the ball we broke. All three of our first half goals came from a break away and corners which where won on the break. Tam, Ali, Richard and Frank we brilliant in the air meaning we are always a threat at Set plays. Silas midfield played well together winning almost every "first ball" (eg. The first header) and "second ball" (eg. Getting control of the ball after the first challenge). Also the understanding and covering of the 4 midfeliders is really coming together. Burnsides eagerness to play football (pass the ball around rather than just kick it high) almost caught them out on several occations as a determined St Silas pressured the player with the ball.

The second half was a similar story as the game opened out a bit allowing St Silas to pass throughout the Burnside defence which had "played the offside" (All stood in a line and walked out just before the ball was played in order the attackers are offside) so well in the first half. St Silas managed to rap the game up with a further 3 goals. Burnside got a well deserved goal in the last 15mins. Burnside Man of the Match (no. 9) managed to trick his way through the St Silas defence and although derrick made a brilliant save to deny his shot when the ball was played back in there was little he could do to stop the ball.

The defence also played well and did a good job against good attackers. Disappointing to loose a goal though in a team which has 4 attacking minded midfielder players the team is set out to score more than we loose.

All in all it was a good performance from a strong St Silas team.

St Silas line up: derrick

Davy Lawler, Richard Ollyt, Davy Stewart, Murdo

Alan Dock, Graham Cuthbert, Ali Morrow, Tam Murray

Frank Brodie, John Wood (Captain)

Goals: Frank (2) Richard (1) Tam (1) John(2) (I think)

On a personal note I shacked off my injury from last well and played well (thank you god), receiving another Man of the Match award yet there is still room for improvement which is great! . Though the whole team is doing superb: top of the league, top goal scorers, Top MoM and Best goal difference. This is very much a team effort!

2006-10-27T16:11:00.000Z

Warm Clothes?!?

I am now making it clear for all that,yes , it is OK to get out the scarfs, jumpers, tammies (hats), gloves and MASSIVE winter jackets because finally Winter is officially upon us (in Scotland anyway)! (If you managed to read that sentence then give yourself a gold star!)

If anyone does not believe me then please look here or please go outside!

I think winter is BRILLIANT!

The world around us looks even more beautiful
We get to laugh at the "EMERGENCIES" all over the country a.k.a. the weather which has been happening for thousands/millions of years does what it does every year and humans don't like it
It rains :D

Yet I find myself ill equipped for the weather and I like millions of other people in the northern hemisphere will look to the highstreet for the clothes to keep warm. When thinking about where to buy from places like Topman, Debenhams, H&M and even ASDA (student) came to mind until I remember that all the products where all made by people in sweat shops. I'm sure you are all very aware of the awful situation. We see in the news and all over the place so much stuff ABOUT sweat shops. Yet nothing about where I can spend my money to buy fairly traded items such as: Jumpers, Jackets, Jeans or Football boots which so far I have not been able to find. These are basic essentials.

So where can people buy clothes? Though fashion isn't extremely important it would be nice if these clothes looking half sensible and were prices reasonably. So has anyone found a place that can supply fairly traded clothes? PLEASE leave a comment and tell us if you have!!

2006-10-25T17:49:00.000Z

Using a mobile phone could damage sperm

This was a headline on AOL news a couple of days ago:

Mobile phones may be causing damage to sperm production in men with potentially devastating consequences for fertility rates, a study suggests.

The Independent reported that a study had found microwaves emitted by the phones reduced the number, mobility and quality of sperm by almost half.

Scientists from the Reproductive Research Centre at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio, tested the sperm of 364 men who were being investigated for infertility with their partners.

They found that men who were the heaviest users of mobile phones - more than four hours a day - had the lowest sperm counts at 50 million per millilitre (ml) and the least healthy sperm. In contrast, sperm counts were highest (86 million per ml), and the sperm healthiest, among those men who reported that they did not use mobile phones.

The study was carried out in Mumbai, India, where mobile phones have not yet penetrated all social groups.

Professor Ashok Agarwal, director of the research centre, told The Independent: "On all four parameters - sperm count, motility, viability and morphology - there were significant differences between the groups.
"The greater the use of cellphones, the greater the decrease in these parameters. That was very clear and very significant."

Could this be the begining of a "Children of Men" like human race? Even though so much technology kills us and our enviroment yet we still use it. Could we deal with a ban of mobile phones? A ban of wireless? A cap on the energy we use?

2006-10-25T09:15:00.000Z

Who is Jesus?

"In his famous book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis makes this statement:

"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic - on the level with a man who says he is a poached egg - or he would be the devil of hell. You must take your choice. Either this was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us."

Two thousand years after he walked the earth, Jesus remains one of the most talked-about and influential people who has ever lived. Some of the greatest minds have wondered at who Jesus is and been left in awe. " (taken from here)

Interesting....

2006-10-25T09:02:00.000Z

Crusaders:

Monday nights talk seemed to go well. Thank you god! Also the Pizza we had was very nice! Dominos is highly recommend, though highly priced. (anyone else have a sudden craving for pizza?)

Five kids came along which was a good size for the talk but slightly disappointing. Its hard to think of games and activities and even more difficult to keep them interesting when there are so few. It looked like they had fun though and they heard the word of god so we (as leaders) can't fall into the numbers game! Thanks for all your prayers

2006-10-23T16:00:00.000Z

Crusaders

Tonight at Crusaders (Christain youth group) I will be doing the teaching. The topic is "Who is Jesus?", looking at a few of his mircles and what that makes him. So if your the praying type It would be great if you could spend a minute praying for god to use me to speak into their hearts! Amen!

2006-10-23T14:01:00.000Z

Sunday

My Gran was up from Hull for the weekend because on Sunday my brother (Alan) was being confirmed (explain later :D). The family went to the morning service at St Silas which this week was an All Age service. These happen month and instead of all the children going out to learn about god they stay in. Sadly due too the wound (injury) I picked up on Satuday I was unable to help lead the dancing but the girls did a superb job. The bands leading in songs was also, I found, very helpful and Nick's Sermon was not only refreshingly short but also very much to the point. Leaving me and I'm sure many others food for thought.

After lunch my Uncle Pete who is also Alan's brothers god father arrived. We spent the afternoon chatting away then headed to St Silas again for the evening service. It was a "special" service as 6 people where being confirmed and 3 people where being baptized and confirmed.

Some children are baptized. This is where the parents and god parents commit to bringing the child up as God wants them to be eg. Teaching the child about god. Confirmation is where that child, now old enough to decide for themselves, says publicly that they believe in god and they wish to follow is ways. (You don't have to do this to be a Christian by the way). Adult Baptisms are a similar idea, saying publicly you follow God as your Lord. They are symbolically fully immersed (put under water) representing that they are cleaned by god and are forgiven.

During the service two people who where being confirmed gave their testimonies (how they became Christians) Fantastic! Also a great guy called Christian was ordained (officially became a minister) and the band sounded really rocky. Leading the congregation in praise which I'm sure god was loving!

One of the two bishop's gave a sermon on Peters Confession of Christ . Though his point, I felt, did not relate to the passage. He also said that one had to have experience with god before they could become a Christian which I don't agree with. I until recently never "experienced" god and not in the same way his examples (Adam, Moses, Paul etc.) did. Maybe I misinterpreted what he was saying but that's the clear message I got. Obviously the guy has many more years of learning about god than me! I must stress these are my thoughts and I in no way which to start an argument about it but what does anyone else think? I would be interested in hearing/learning from what others have to say...

It was loverly having my gran and Uncle up and chatting away, I pray that i will be as mobile as her when im that age!

2006-10-21T22:46:00.000Z

Houston 5 St Silas 2

(Due to tiredness, time constraints and because we lost this report shall be short)

Saturday morning was a sad day. After last weeks brilliant performance it was a real disappointment! No more than 5mins had passed and we where down to 10 players after our goalie got sent off. Gordon then took over in goals, saving the resulting penalty! John scored a brilliant goal to put St Silas ahead but at half time it was like 3-1. The 2nd half saw us loose a few more goals and another player. The game finished 5-2.

Although it was a spirited performance it felt like we had gone back to our first season. Personally I played badly and also got a very painful dead leg. (I know its pathetic sounding but I almost cannot walk) It was a cup game which in some ways is quite sad but its just another game. I hope and pray that the team can put the game behind us and we can be back to our best against Burnside next Saturday!

Thanks to the brilliant people who came along to support us! Just fantastic!

2006-10-21T12:43:00.000Z

delirious?/Tim Hughes

Last night (Friday) Delirious played the Carling academy. They were supported by the very gifted Tim Hughes! I was a little unsure what I thought of Christian Concerts before I went as the bands might perform for them not lead others in worship, thankfully I was pleasantly surprised:

For those that aren't massive on artists Tim Hughes is an American guitar player who god has used to write many well known Christian songs. It was quite funny, infact, because as Tim Hughes and his band walked onto stage all the people around me where asking "Is that him? Or this a warm up band?". Which I think is a great complement to his humbleness.

His band led a large crowd in a very church worship like way, it wasn't like a concert at all. After songs I cannot remember him talking, other than to sing/talk little bits to the next song. He did a lot of well known Christian songs which were easy to sing as the words where projected onto the screen for all to see. As we sang, for me personally, I was very aware of the holy spirit moving which was just fantastic. It was so nice to see a whole crowd of thousands bouncing up and down singing praises to god, especially in a place where so much idol worship happens. Only negative thing was they didn't play for a long time!!

Shortly after they had finished the fire alarm went off..... In all the gigs I've been to this has NEVER happened! It seems typical a thing like this would happen at a Christian event? Or am I reading too much into this? Anyway, thankfully it didn' rain until we where all going back inside.

delirious? then came on and did, I felt, a very long set. After hearing many reports from others I expected a very "idol worship" like "show". Unlike Tim Hughes they were a rock band and did put on a bit of a show (which isn't necessarily a bad thing) though they were worshipping god :D Sadly for me, I didn't know any of the songs they played and since there lyrics are, it seems, written to fit the music it made it hard for me to join in. Many other people around me where really loving it! They also played a style which I don't really enjoy listening to but again other people really really liked them which was really good! Lyrically, though, delirious where good!!

At the end, as we tired to leave, it was ridiculous! You couldn't go 10 paces without dumping into someone you knew! lol This ment I missed the last train but one of the perks of living at home is my fantastic mum was able to come pick me up!

All in All it was a really good evening. The £15 ticket and high drinks prices was a bit steep and although I didn't massively enjoy delirious I'm sure God in heaven would have been enjoyed us singing to his glory! Which, end the day, is what we should be doing it for!

I love the fact that god made music, I thank him almost everyday for it but I also thank god for making us differently. We find different ways to praise god and those that like music: there are so many styles! I pray that I will never forget that people are different and have different tastes!

What did anyone else feel bout the gig?

(Saturdays match report to follow soon)

2006-10-18T14:57:00.000Z

Bad Stuff:

Last night the classic Pretty Woman was on ITV2. Now for many girls this is the greatest film ever! (so I'm told) and since I hadn't seen the film all the way through before I decided I should. (I'm going to get slated for watching this aren't I?)

The film was quite entertaining. Both the main actors played their parts very well and played the fairy tail plot. There is also a sub plot: The high flying business man Edward Lewis (played by Richard Gere) is very similar to the prostitute Vivian Ward (played by Julia Roberts) as they both "Screw people for money". As the film goes on Edward is changed by Vivian and in the end there is a happy ending. This is a rubbish summary of the film so please look on the net for a better description of the plot if you want, try here or here.

There are a few lines in the film which I really liked:

Edward: I've never treated you like a prostitute.

[He walks away.]

Vivian: You just did.

In this scene Edward cuts Vivian deep in just one sentences. This got me thinking of tongues and their damage. Proverbs has got loads to say on the subject and I thought this one was particularly true:

Proverbs 27:15 "A quarrelsome wife is like a constant dripping on a rainy day"

ooops wrong verse :P! (Sorry guys, couldnt resist) The real verse is:

Proverbs 12:18 "Reckless words pierce like a sword......"
(New International Version)

As I look at my own life I can see how the "Reckless Words" of others has "pierce[d me] like a sword" and also how my words have cut people down. This is especially true when it concerns people who look up to others. I do realise the irony of me putting that verse above in but I think it is an example. So often we say things we don't mean for fun. I hope in this case it has not caused anyone offence. The verse goes on to say:

".....But the tongue of the wise brings healing".

Being nice to people can bring them such joy! I try to do this by noticing peoples appearance, their actions or just making it clear your glad to see them. Through god I think I've become a lot better though for me there is much improvement to be made!!!! Another line in the film gave me an new angle on that though. This line is taken just after someone has a had a go at Vivian because of her job, she is feeling very hurt:

Vivian Ward: People put you down enough, you start to believe it.

Edward Lewis: I think you are a very bright, very special woman.

Vivian Ward: The bad stuff is easier to believe. You ever notice that?

I have an amazingly cute dog though the over use of certain words causes him to not respond to them anymore. I wonder if the reason "the bad stuff is easier to believe" could be due to out over use of compliments. This causing them to mean very little? It says in Proverbs 26:28:

"A lying tongue hates those it hurts, and a flattering mouth works ruin."

(New International Version)

Where does one draws the line between nice/flattery? Or when does trying to cheer someone up become a lie? So many of us say things we don't mean. I find myself so challenged not to over do it. A friend said of mine has said to me she often thinks I'm "Just saying that to make her feel better". Which, I guess, in a way, I am. Though as I speak much/all of what I say is true. Maybe I just so use to being "nice" that I don't notice my lies anymore?

Scotland is almost proud of a negative attitude, both to ourselfs and to others. If we as a society changed the way we speak so that we don't put others down yet alot didn't lie with our compliments then maybe people would be more ready to believe words of kindness? And then the "healing" could begin?

And I wondering (Isn't there a verse where Moses or someone says if a man applied all the proverbs he would be the wisest man ever?)

2006-10-16T13:50:00.000Z

St Silas 4- 1 Houston:

(Sorry for the lateness of the report)

Houston, if you remember, where the team which beat St Silas in the cup final last year and over the last 3 seasons we have had some hard fought match. Turning the fixture (for St Silas atleast) into a grudge match. The St Silas's football team played well and deserved to win:

Before the match we all met for breakfast at the church as usual. For probably the first time the whole team met at church instead of some going straight to the pitch and there was a great buzz and an atmosphere of anticipation as we sat and joked. Also for the first time I can remember we really talked tactics. This sounds bad, but often amateur teams don't have the skill or time to sort out "how" we are going to play rather than just the formation. It just shows how far the team has come. After some more tea and toast (oh and wheatabix for valley boy) we headed off to the game.

The team was:

Derrick (Goals)

Davie L, Richard Olliot, Davie Stewart, Murdo (defense, left to right)

Richard Grant, Graham, Ali, Tam (Medfield, left to right)

John, Frank (attack)

Subs: Olly, Paul (Replaced Ali), Sonny, Gordon, Willy

After a good opening spell St Silas managed to break the dead lock after about 20mins with a well worked passing move started by the defense with 3 Medfield making vital passes and a slotted finish from John. 1-0

The second came as an own goal. St Silas's pressure resulted in a corner which Tam whipped in dangerously leaving a defender helpless as he headed the ball into his own net. The goal (I am told) was credited to Frank.

A third goal came before half time. Frank managed to tackle and then beat 3 Houston defenders before he unleashed a superb strike beyond the goal keeper.

At half time it was 3-0.

The second half saw Frank score a 3rd. The move, started from defense again, caught Houston in attack as Ali collected the ball and ran down the pitch, passing the ball to john who was forced to the wing. John did a one two with Ali at the side of the Houston box before guiding a ball into the path of frank who headed expertly past the Houston keeper.

The Houston Keeper made an excellent save as he tipped Tam's long range effort over the bar. Houston's goal came from a throw. The attacker then spun and his shot agonizingly trickled into the bottom corner. Poor goal to loose from St Silas but still a good individual effort by the attacker.

St Silas's Davie Stewart picked up a 2nd yellow card in the last 5mins but thankfully it didn't effect the over all result which keeps St Silas on top of the league, by goal difference and extends the winning streak.

Its very encouraging to see the team grow and grow. Thank god from answered prayer. Also a big well done to the team! Special mention to Tam who played the best I've seen him play since he started last year. Oh and I got MoM (5/5 for me). Thank you god for blessing me with this gift!

Next week the teams will meet again. This time in the first round of the cup!

(Small Print: This is a biased and probably inaccurate report of the actual events. Please comment to correct any mistakes I have made. Please do not be offended by this report. Houston are a very good team!)

2006-10-14T21:39:00.000Z

Gospel Drop (part 2):

Sorry for all that have been waiting for the outcome to my last blog (aka my mum :D), anyway:

Thursday night by all accounts went fantastically. God really worked through us all! Sadly though I wasn't really able to chat to other CU people involved but those that I chatted to seemed positive.

I went with Neil (who for future reference is President of the CU). As we went up to the first flat (8A) I was calm as anything until we prayed, then I was suddenly hit with nerves causing me to go red and smile for the first 20mins! I was given the task of writing their answers to the "questionnaire" (basically a list of suggested conversation starters which gave us a "reason" to be there, ingenious!)

The first couple of flats weren't really too keen to chat but the third flat invited us in and we chatted away for bout 30mins. All 6 of the young ladies seemed interested and up for a discussion which was great. After leaving them with food for thought, some fliers and gospels we moved to a few more flats and chatted to people at the doors.

Then we were invited into the flat of 3 guys, all of whom were so keen to chat away. Was just brilliant. So many "issues" where brought up. They where very open with their views and difficulties with Christianity. Not only that but let Neil and I explain our views! God was working so much: he led the conversations from point to point. In a logical and satisfying order! eg. They starting talking about how the bible is Chinese whispers. God then used me tell them about how accurate the bible actually is and, in turn, the bibles truth. Which intrigued them so we where able to give the gospels without making a deal of it and so on. Most important they showed me this clip of Family Guy which is amazing.

Thank you for your prayers and thank you god your so amazin!

Sadly due to my excitement my account isn't very good , thank god I didn't write the gospels!

2006-10-12T11:26:00.000Z

"Gospel Drop":

Tonight (Thursday) Strathclyde Christian Union (CU) will be doing a Gospel drop. This means the CU go knocking on all the people in halls doors and chat to them about God/Jesus etc. We have been blessed by enough money to buy loads of copies of John's Gospel which we will be looking to give out.

So it would be great if you guys reading could pray for us; specifically for:

Protection (Mental, physical and spiritual) of the volunteers
That God would be working in the hearts and minds of those we will be meeting
His spirit would make us confident and strong for him
And very importantly that we wouldn't water down or not mention the less acceptable parts of our savior's message! If we don't stay true to his word then what is the point in doing this?

Thank you Jesus you died for us all. Thank you God that we can speak freely about you in Scotland and that we have the honor of spreading your good news!

The first copy had some jokes and a nice lil pic but the computer lost it :( Sorry guys!

2006-10-11T18:05:00.000Z

I am a leader of a Crusader Group in Polockshields. Last Monday the group went to The Zone which is basically Lazer Quest! :D My brother is king of the place....Now we all know that all the guys reading this blog are like "ooooh, I like lazer quest! I would be great at that!". So I challenge you all to go! Its in Motherwell (Just outside Glasgow) and only maybe 5-10mins walk from the train station.

We had a great evening. Played two games then went to McDonald's (on the way to the station!). Although we only had 5 kids their everyone concerned seemed to have fun!

The only problem I had with the place was the game is flaw!!! (Here come the excuses for not winning!) Once you kill someone it takes them like 5seconds to respawn (Yes this is Xbox!!!). So say I were to kill person A and person B (who are standing near each other) I have to run away before person A has respawned. Sadly though running is not allowed!!

Normally people walk away if they are killed though on Monday I had 3 girls follow me around (I loved it really)!! So I would shoot them but they would respawn and kill me! Clearly very unfair *sad face*

Anyway, it's a great place to go. It was also nice for the crusader group to finally meet this year. We have been having problems with leaders for a few years and it would appear to have lowered our numbers. We meet on a Monday night at Pollockshields Church from 7:45-9:15. The group caters for 8-16 year olds. Your prays would be appreciated!

2006-10-10T19:49:00.000Z

Search The Scriptures:

As previously mentioned I bought this book ------>>

It is a three year daily devotional book where you read the set passage and then write down your answers to the questions in the book. I have already found it very helpful! After only reading the first chapter of Luke I have found two large (10 or so verses each) which I had never read before. One of these parts was "Mary's song" which I found very interesting:

This passage is taken after Mary is told by an angel she will be the mother to Jesus. Mary then travels to see her relative (called Elizabeth) who says to Mary:

"Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"

Many people find it difficult receiving compliments/people saying nice things (well I do atleast) especially in church circles when it comes to talents (gifts) we often play them down. I find Mary's reaction very interesting! After being told she was going to give birth to God on earth, she then has her older relative saying she is favored by god that Mary had come to see her.....In her shoes many of us might say "Its not me its god! I'm nothings special! Yeh God is amazing! but why me? Its not me, I am rubbish" Marys response is very different from ours:

"[My soul rejoices for]...He has been mindful of the humble state of his servant."

She acknowledge that without her humbleness and willing to serve she wouldn't have been used. Yet doesn't defer any of the glory for god. She also doesn't doubt gods choice. The song continues with:

"From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me - holy is his name."

If we were to say this would we/others think we where pridefully? Or cocky?

Obviously we don't often have meetings with angels and are rarely told we will do amazing wonders yet I believe we must have the same attitude to our gifts and talents as Mary did! Which means acknowledge your part it letting god use you and not being ashamed of how good you are it! Yet at the same time giving the glory to god. This applies to anything! Wether it be someones determination and disire to serve others (getting up early to clean) or more visual gifts.

2006-10-07T20:11:00.000Z

WE LOVE YOU SCOTLAND!!

Scotland 1 France 0 (http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=142068)

BOOYAA :D I love it! Its nice to see Scotland getting a some luck, something which had been lacking for more than I can ever remember. France missed chances and we were saved by the post but hey Scotland are now top of group B! Well done to Walter Smith for turning things round with almost the same players!

I also love how Scotland are now "going to qualify" for Euro 2008. Its ridiculous how people in this country are so over the top. 18months ago we had no chance and everyone was gloom and doom. Even 6months ago we were never going to qualify with Italy, France and the Ukraine in our group then suddenly everyone thinks we are brilliant *Shakes head* why cant we (Scots/Brits) be a little more level headed?

Also I was listening to the radio and was shocked to hear Chick Young (BBC Scotland Footy correspondent) saying that "There was magic in the air" because not only did Scotland win but England drew 0-0. This is disgraceful! My mother is English and was chuffed to see Scotland win and then has "respected" people laughing at her teams misfortune. Why do Scots continue with this racism? Rivalry is fine but this sick! Anyone agree?

2006-10-07T20:07:00.000Z

Church Football: St. Silas Vs EK Claremont

Today the church team won 6-3! :D Continuing our brilliant start to the season, with now 28 goals in 5 games. Today was a good game! Here's my extremely detailed match report:

1-0
2-0 (Goal by your very own Graham Cuthbert :D)
3-0
3-1
4-1 (Half time)
4-2
4-3 (Everyone gets all stressed out! But thank god we managed to keep it together, with little moaning and a good team spirit we stuck on through)
5-3
6-3

It was an exciting game, quite physical with a lot of late tackles. The other team couldn't deal with our strikers pace and passing, claiming that they were offside a lot when they weren't. The referee controlled the game well and even on a bobbly pitch both teams were able to play decent football! Oh and I also got Man of the Match :D! (4/4 for the games i've played!) Which is lovely.

At time of writing they have not updated the website but http://www.churchesleague.com/leaguetables.asp?sid=28&scid=54 is our league if anyone is interested. We play in the 3rd division (this is our season for promotion!!). This is now the teams 3rd season (we start in the 3rd division) and we feel confident that if we keep injury free and sort out problems with moaning we will win the league this year! Come and support us, we had 4 supporters today which was brilliant :) Thanks to them!

2006-10-06T18:57:00.000Z

Surprised by Science! (im not 1/2 stealing the famous title)

Today (Friday) i had a really kool read which has turned my confidence in scientific proof of god/no god up side down. I had a few hours to wasted today and i went back to a site which i had read about the bible and how it's the exact same as it was 2000 years ago and i found this: http://www.allaboutthejourney.org/origin-of-life.htm

Took me bout 45mins to read but i found it really enlightening. Talks about Proof of evolution from a scientific approch, its very non offensive so even if your totally against god etc why not give it a read and test your thoughts?

Today i also met a friend from church, was lovely gettin to know him better and also lovely to meet someone who can eat more than me! This guy is massive, not fast massive though! Pure muscle lol Its now my goal in life to be that powerful! When we where saying bye i nearly got ran down, like seriously was bout 10cm from being hit by a 20mile an hour bus. Thank you god you kept me safe!!!

I then spent the rest of the after with another friend. Spent my time fighting with a frappachino in the coffee shop! Was just ice, like all ice, couldnt drink it at all. Also bought a new book which will take me 3years to read.....(Each day you read a bit of the bible and then answer Qs on it. It should be good though ill be 21 when i finish it ;D so come back and ill give you a review then!) So all in all a great day :D

We've (St Silas) got a game early tomorrow so hopefully we will continue to win and another MoM award would be nice, if your the praying type can u pray that the moaning would be cut out and relationships would really grow!

Have a good weekend all!

2006-10-06T09:51:00.000Z

Homeless World Cup (Football):

"Russia have won the Homeless World Cup for the first time, beating newcomers Kazakhstan in an entertaining final in Cape Town. Russia join Italy (twice) and Austria as Homeless World Cup winners."

The Scotland won the Big Issue Cape Town Cup after being led by (My Church team) St Silas's own prolific striker Frank Brodie who was was captain of the team! I think thats actually amazin! Frankie is a brilliant player. Also Scotlands Lindsay Cooper recieved the award of best female player.

This was the 4th competition which is now becoming a recognised annual event. With 48 nations competing this time (27 last year), professional teams like Man Utd, Real Madrid and sponsors like Nike and U.E.F.A. becoming involoved mabey the goal of the tournament might be acheived: "The Homeless World Cup changes the scenery for the players. It presents the opportunity of working in a team, provides coaching towards a health-oriented attitude towards life, raises self-esteem, fun and brings sense of family to your life. However, this sporting event is also challenging stereotyping and the attitudes of the public. Homeless people who were spat at the week before are cheered by thousands, asked for autographs and treated as heroes. We have proved that this creates real and lasting change.”

According to the figures on the website "over 90% of participants involved with the 2004 tournament stated the event had a positive effect on their lives with 75% of those participating deciding to go on to education, find a home, a job, give up drink or drugs." Also some of the players have even gone on to semi and professional clubs!!! This is the most amazing thing! Just brialliant that things like this are going on!

Sadly because of the Homeless World Cup website http://www.homelessworldcup.org/ not being regularly updated i havn't got all the information. Though hats off to the team! They have done the country proud! and well done to frankie! wat a guy! lol Thank god for things like this and i really hope that when we all see homeless people that we can just give them timee and a smile mabey even buy a Big Issue from them!

2006-10-04T16:12:00.000Z

I Wrote this poem today when i was messing around on msn with a friend lol I doubt ppl will like but here goes:

"When i was young,
when there was little to say,
and little to be done.
We spent all day, indulting in fun.
Until one morning we woke anew to find the years had slipped on through.
Now those memories once coated in joy
have become sorrowed regrets by the age of that young boy"