Played football again, on a rather muddy pitch! Fortunately I’d purchased some football boots for the princely sum of £14, so I didn’t slip and slide on the pitch. We divided ourselves up into, what appeared to be, evenly matched teams. As the game progressed, it became apparent this wasn’t the case, as we relentlessly marched to a 8-2 outcome. What was interesting was that random people kept walking up to us playing and wanting to join in, which we duly obliged. A hitherto unfamiliar way to get to know people and maybe share the gospel with them! Hopefully, our conduct on the pitch will be fair and exercise good sportsmanship, and maybe cause those joining us to see the effects of the gospel.

The evening was spent celebrating Myrtle’s 60th birthday, a remarkable lady who tirelessly thinks of God and others above herself. It was nice to be able to put her above others for a change.

We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no-one will be justified.If, while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a law-breaker. For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! Gal 2:15-21

This is what makes Christianity unique. We cannot make justify ourselves with God by doing good things, for we are sinners by nature, but God by his grace can make us righteous through faith in Jesus Christ. Hallelujah!

Whilst shopping for lunch, I spotted the Bovril and thought some beef extract might be nice to have during the colder months. I dropped it into my basket, finished my shopping and wandered back to the office. By mid-afternoon, I felt like a beverage, so thought I’d break open the Bovril. As I was fiddling with the strange shrink-wrap thing they have on the lid, I noticed a vegetarian sign. Now I may not be the brightest spark in the building, but beef extract suitable for vegetarians seems a little odd! I investigated a little closer, and found, to my horror, the beef extract had been replaced with yeast extract! What I had in my hands was, in effect, Marmite! Now don’t get me wrong, I like Marmite, but if I’d wanted Marmite, I’d have bought Marmite instead of Bovril! How can you still call it Bovril without the bov?! Ah well….

I managed to snap the E string tuning my violin yesterday. No problem I thought to myself, I’ll pop into Egham on Monday and get a new string from the string shop there. Of course, I didn’t check the web site or anything, so rolled up to the shop to find…it doesn’t open on Monday! Oh well, so much for fitting the string today and getting some practice in. Tomorrow’s another day I guess.

Spent the evening playing five-a-side football with work colleagues, followed by snooker with Robin. Whilst my team lost at football by one goal, most likely due to my lack of fitness, I managed to win at snooker with 2-1 frames. Not a bad day.

Even though Jesus was very busy doing his Father’s will, he always prayed to his Father. He made time for prayer, and deliberately went out to find somewhere quiet to pray.

If this is true for God the Son, how much more is it important for us as Christians to pray with our Father? Elsewhere, in Mt 6, Jesus doesn’t provide guidelines for us if we pray but for when we pray – prayer isn’t optional, but the duty of a Christian!

We should also have a desire to pray. For if we have faith is Jesus Christ, we are a new creation by the Holy Spirit and the Spirit is working in us and making us more and more like Christ. This is not to say it’ll be easy, as our old sinful nature still haunts us and causes an internal tussle. The old nature can bring up doubts and fears, reminding us of our guilt, and causing us to conclude that we cannot approach God because of our sin. Our new nature, by the Spirit, reminds us Christ has blotted out our sin and has dealt with it, and it is through Christ that we can approach God.

We need to devote time to prayer, just as Jesus did, to get away from the cares of this world and to bring everything to God in prayer. Jesus purposefully got up very early in the morning to go about communicating with his Father. In so doing, he would not be distracted nor would he be easily spotted and bring attention to himself. After praying, Jesus doesn’t sit back and wait for God to work, but sets about his task, that God might work through him.

Whilst Jesus was holy and able to approach his Father, we are sinners and must remember that we cannot approach God with our own effort. We must always remember what it cost God the Son, his suffering and death, that all who believe in him would be justified and sanctified and so have access to God.

Another Saturday, another football match against Cranford Baptist church. A slightly better result for HWEC this time, resulting in a 7-2 victory, mostly as we had a more cohesive team. I must admit, I’m completely shattered now – not withstanding pain acquired from the various antics during the game. Possibly the most impressive one was where I was defending, chasing down an attacker in to the goal area, suddenly realising the goalkeeper was in front of me, jumping clear of him and landing front first on the grass. I might regret doing that when I wake up tomorrow morning – however I think the goalie would prefer the action I took!

Spent the afternoon teaching Sam the rudiments of cooking and finished the day with a most frustrating round of ten-pin bowling. I must definitely either improve my fitness levels, or not do anything strenuous after playing football.

Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!
It isn’t fit for humans now,
There isn’t grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!

Come, bombs and blow to smithereens
Those air-conditioned, bright canteens,
Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans,
Tinned minds, tinned breath.

Mess up the mess they call a town-
A house for ninety-seven down
And once a week a half a crown
For twenty years.

And get that man with double chin
Who’ll always cheat and always win,
Who washes his repulsive skin
In women’s tears:

And smash his desk of polished oak
And smash his hands so used to stroke
And stop his boring dirty joke
And make him yell.

But spare the bald young clerks who add
The profits of the stinking cad;
It’s not their fault that they are mad,
They’ve tasted Hell.

It’s not their fault they do not know
The birdsong from the radio,
It’s not their fault they often go
To Maidenhead

And talk of sport and makes of cars
In various bogus-Tudor bars
And daren’t look up and see the stars
But belch instead.

In labour-saving homes, with care
Their wives frizz out peroxide hair
And dry it in synthetic air
And paint their nails.

Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough
To get it ready for the plough.
The cabbages are coming now;
The earth exhales.

Sir John Betjeman

I’m not sure what I’m being taught in my violin lessons is actually sinking in anymore. I seem to spend more of my time practicing stuff I should’ve practiced, rather than practicing the stuff I’ve been set to practice from the last lesson! I guess it doesn’t help that I don’t get much time to practice . I need to try and find more time to practice – make better use of spare moments. 🙂

“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Is 6:3

The bible tells us God is holy. He is holy in that he is pure and set apart from his creation. He cannot look upon sin. Even the sinless seraphim cover their faces and cry out “Holy, holy, holy”. How much more as sinful beings should God’s holiness be apparent to us?

If we are Christians, we should also be holy.

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” 1 Pe 1:15-16

Whilst we may not be perfect in this life, we should strive to be. Not that we could in any way justify ourselves, but because God’s Holy Spirit lives in us and works in us, making us holy.

I am extremely tired! After a nice long lie-in, a few of us from HWEC sauntered along to Cranford to meet up with Robin and his lot from Cranford Baptist Church for a kick-around (a game of football, rather than anything else which pops into your mind!). Despite my regular footballing antics on a Monday night, I’m definitely unfit! Manged to stop loads of goals, but by the end of it all, I was shattered!

Despite this, I wandered along to Sarah’s for the evening, for pancakes, perudo and poker. I think I possibly ate too many, as I was feeling slightly bloated come mid-evening! Anyway, after losing perudo to Ally and Beth, we had a go at “Texas Hold ’em”. The result clearly showing why you should never play for money – Sam H came out top after going all in, and spawning a win with nothing.

A good evening. 🙂 Time for bed I think!

Courtesy of Esther…

Mary Poppins was on her way to her next family (to be their nanny) and she had to stop in a hotel overnight.
They asked her what she’d like for dinner, so she asked for some cauliflower cheese, which she had and she thought it was really nice.
The next morning she had some eggs for breakfast, but she really didnt like them, she thought they were a bit off.
Anyway, as she was checking out the hotel manager asked her if she had any comments to make… and she said… supercauliflowercheesebuteggswerequiteatrocious!

You can blame Esther for that one. 🙂

I do wonder sometimes if my violin lessons are all going a little bit too fast. Now, I don’t mean this as a bad thing, but I do wonder if my brain needs more time to allow things to sink in. Usually, most people would be learning how to read music and have to cope with that as well as learning the practicalities of the instrument. Seeing as I play the piano fairly competently, I don’t need to learn the rudiments of music theory, so half of what I would’ve learnt in my lessons is not required. Saying that, I guess seeing as I don’t need to learn the theory again, I might as well learn more about the practical aspects. More time to practice my three octave arpeggios I guess. 🙂

What a very interesting film! I went to see Munich with some friends, not really knowing what to expect. I’d got the odd comment from one or two people, but nothing substantial enough on which to form an opinion.

I must admit, my knowledge of the subject matter extended as far as knowing 11 Israeli athletes were killed in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games by Palestinian terrorists, and that Mossad had undertaken to seek retribution through “Operation Wrath of God”. As such I guess, as an event, the terrorists had succeeded in their goal – to highlight their cause.

The film itself dealt not so much with the rights and wrongs of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but with the human beings involved. From the humanity of the terrorists, the hierarchy of their network, through to the humanity of the (non)Mossad agents and the chain of command through to the Israeli Prime Minister, we had people who had friends, children, mothers and fathers.

It was interesting to see how these events, carried out by these people, affected these people and those connected with them. How these events were seen from various angles was presented, along with the drive behind these men and women, from a belief in justice, through to a desire to make money and feed ones family. As we followed the Mossad agents, we saw them fighting with the morality instilled in their minds, with the consequences of their actions and the politics of it all.

I walked away none the wiser as to the answer to the conflict, but possibly came away with a little more understanding into the motivation behind these events. My thoughts on the complexity of the matter were crystallised that tiny bit more, with plenty of “what if?”‘s bubbling around my head.

A great film to get the mind thinking, from its opening scenes of seeming innocence, to its closing scene with the inevitability of the events to come sitting centre stage. Whilst I realised the story was based on real events and so contained artistic licence, the story was believable such that it wouldn’t surprise me if it really was a blow-by-blow account. The characters were real and the acting gave a very concrete sense of reality. Whilst not a piece of light entertainment, the film is definitely well worth seeing.

While Jesus was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum, a man with an evil spirit shrieks out, “What do you want with us?”, or in a more literal sense, “What have we in common?”

Even with the evil spirit, the man knew the truth. He readily admitted Jesus to be of God, and to have power over him. Yet, he by his spirit did not submit readily to Jesus, but challenged him.

Jesus being the Truth incarnate, knew the truth and spoke the truth of God in the synagogue. He submitted to his Father’s will.

Whilst this man is more than just a man – he is a man with an evil spirit, and Jesus is more than just a man – he is man and God. The effect of having two spirits is markedly different on each person.

The man has to contend with the evil spirit within him. He is made in the image of God, and so this evil spirit is not compatible with him. Even though the man has original sin, this evil is not working with him. It causes him to do things he would not want to do, it crushes him, it works against him. The evil spirit causes the man to shriek and convulse, it causes him to lack control of himself.

Jesus’ humanity and deity however work in perfect harmony. As with all humanity, his manhood is in the image of God. As he is perfect, he shows how it is possible for a man to live in accordance with God’s Spirit. God’s Spirit doesn’t crush the man, but rather enhances it and works with it. The Spirit of God works in such harmony, that Jesus is calm and collected. He has complete self-control.

The major difference was that Jesus had power over the evil spirit, and was able to command the spirit to leave the man. This was the Son of God showing his authority and power over all things.

Most of us will not have an evil spirit in us, but we all have original sin. As we are made in the image of God, we also find this sinful nature contends with us. This sinful nature causes us to do things we wouldn’t necessarily want to do, although sometimes it causes us to want to do things which are not good for us – We don’t have self-control.

Jesus is not only able to change us, but he will put his Holy Spirit in us. For this to happen, we must put aside our sinful nature, we must die to self and submit to him. We must trust him with our lives and worship him as our saviour and king. With the Holy Spirit working in us, there will be a growth in self-control, a growth in joy and a gradual death of sin.

To trust Jesus is not just to believe the truth, but to believe in the truth. To believe in Jesus Christ, to put our faith in him, to trust him to forgive our sins through what he has done on the cross.

Only through losing our lives will we save it.

Not a bad Saturday, as far as Saturdays go. 🙂 The day started well, with a successful install of Fedora Core 4 on an old 400MHz Intel Celeron machine, and yum happily burbling along in the background updating everything. The machine should be ready for giving away in a usable state soon.

A further few hours were spent on the green baize, with a 5-0 frame outcome. Whilst the last four frames were fairly close, the first frame was very strange with a rather decisive win.

The rest of the day was spent at Heidi’s, with some of the usual suspects, for an evening of food and games. I had initially gone expecting pizza, but the host had decided to cook a full blown meal of spaghetti bolognese and chocolate dessert – very impressive! After dinner, we chilled, chatted, took turns playing the piano and finished off with a game of Scattergories! A few curious attempts at related words, including trying to define ‘kit’ as cosmetics/toiletries! A fun evening!