Q: What is the misery of that estate whereinto man fell?
A: All mankind by their fall lost communion with God, are under his wrath and curse, and so made liable to all miseries in this life, to death itself, and to the pains of hell for ever.

(Question XIX from the Westminster Shorter Catechism)

Well, played Robin at snooker this evening. After four frames we were level at 2-2, playing down to the final black. I cut the black for the middle pocket, only to have misjudged the weight and it stopped right on the lip of the pocket…

Final score, 3-2 to Robin. A good set of frames.

I had one of my less impressive displays of maturity – or lack thereof – this morning driving to work. An elderly driver consistently remained in the right hand lane of a dual-carriageway, at a speed which was less than the speed-limit. For some reason I started talking to him, as though he could hear me. As I’m sure you’re aware, the highway code states you should always remain in the left hand lane unless overtaking, and I recited this to him in my momentary state of madness. However, after finally passing him at traffic lights, I realised I was acting irrationally and rebuked myself. (I really am going mad…) My sanity didn’t last long though, I started talking to another driver who also blocked the, now national speed limit, dual-carriageway in the right-hand lane doing 60 mph, reciting the relevant part of the highway code…

Ah well, tomorrow is another day.

This morning’s sermon was looking at John 14:25-31. Here Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to all who trust him, with the Holy Spirit bringing peace. Do we trust Jesus at his word, will we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us? Then Jesus explains that, because he loves the Father, he will do as the Father says, even if that means being a sacrifice and a substitution for the sins of others.

In Ephesians 4:13-16, as looked at this evening, the apostle Paul writes how Christians should grow. From the initial placing of faith in Christ, we should not stagnate, remaining spiritually immature, but we should become more like Christ. God, by his grace, has given us the means to grow, in truth and love. These means: His word, his people and his Spirit are all given by him, manifesting themselves in ordinances such as the assembling of his people, the Lord’s supper and baptism. Ultimately Christ should be our motivation.

As Karen and Nigel’s birthdays are within days of each other, they organised a joint celebration day. It started off with a nice leisurely stroll around Gunnersbury Park’s pitch and putt course, and then some time just chilling and having something to eat. We then went to Hayes Town Chapel for a barbeque and more chilling out. Finally, the day was rounded off with a meal at Chiquito’s in Feltham, with plenty of good food and good company. Actually, that finally wasn’t quite true, as a few of us then strolled around Stockley Park industrial park for more chill-out time! A good time was had by all – including the birthday boy and girl, and possibly a lot of food and chilling out!

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine upon us, Selah
that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.
May the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you rule the peoples justly and guide the nations of the earth. Selah
May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you.
Then the land will yield its harvest, and God, our God, will bless us.
God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

Had my first piece of unsolicited SMS today. Of course, this is not to be confused with the pink spongy spam manufactured(!) by Hormel. Now spam isn’t a new concept to me, I’ve lost count of the number of emails offering me breast enlargement, enlargement of other body parts, effort-free degrees, free porn of every perversion, and the prospect of US$10,000,000 (Ten-million US Dollars)….amongst other things. So, instead of just deleting this unsolicited SMS, I had a trawl around the internet and found a site which collects SMS spam called 07text0spam.com. These guys pass the details of SMS spam onto the appropriate authorities, and who knows, something good might come of it – hopefully my SMS inbox will not become as riddled with spam as my email inbox if action is taken early on. We’ll see.

2-2 at snooker this evening against Robin. Couple of scrappy frames to start with, improved in the last two.

Hmmm, another manic evening playing four-a-side football with work colleagues. I’m not sure my fitness level is improving in any way – after twenty minutes running around, being semi-useful, I ceased to be a useful part of the team! Not only could I not run about anymore, I couldn’t actually think straight! All my brain could think about was “where is my next breath, where is it!?” Many apologies to my teammates, hopefully next week will be five-a-side, at least I get to be able to stand around and still be useful, rather than becoming useless in the manic pace of four-a-side.

Both morning and evening sermons seemed to say the same thing, even though they were from different passages of the Bible, 1 Cor 12:1-16 and Eph 4:7-12, and different churches – Totterdown Baptist Church and Hounslow West Evangelical Church respectively.

A healthy church is comprised of a body of healthy Christians. Each Christian has been given the grace to serve in various ways, through various gifts and talents. A healthy Christian is able to see the gifts they have and use them within the church and in the world. Such a Christian is also able to determine where they do not have a gift, or where someone else is more gifted, and will allow that gifted person to use their gifts instead. Ultimately, in everything that happens, it is God who should be glorified and not ourselves, but through that, we are better off.

Travelled back to my home town this weekend to join in the birthday celebrations of my nephew. It was good to catch up with family, as well as the enjoyable (and exhausting) experience of playing with my (now) three year old nephew. If anything, it reminds me that being a parent is a hard and difficult task, and should not be entered into lightly. However, it is also a very rewarding task and a very honorable task, having the responsibility of bringing and nurturing a new life into this world, whilst at the same time having one’s own life affected and enriched by this new life. I am now very very tired, and just want to sleep.

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.
In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise!”
Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honour and glory and power, for ever and ever!”

I saw Shrek 2 today. Sequels are usually poorer than the originals, but Shrek 2 delivered. Stunning visuals, courtesy of CGI, were on cue, as was a good story. The story had its usual twist on well-known fairy tales, and was varied enough to be slightly unexpected. All in all, a good film and definitely worth watching. I only hope the other sequel of the summer, Spiderman 2, lives up to the hype.

Good job I took this morning off of work. This evening was rather energetic! The five-a-side football after work turned into 4-a-side, which meant more running required…

After running around for an hour, I ended up playing Robin at snooker for another two hours. I think the running around took its toll on me as I lost 3-1. Saying that, the games were very close, with the last one ending on a respotted black – and this was the first time I’d played snooker with my contact lenses which, as any contact lens wearer will appreciate, gives a slightly different field and depth of view. That’s my excuse anyway!

This morning’s sermon was an exposition of John 14:19-24. Jesus was explaining how a Christian could be recognised. There were three positive points made by Jesus and one warning.

1. We would see Jesus – we would see him for who he is – our Lord and Saviour, and so love him.
2. We would know his commands and obey them. This is not to say we will be perfect, for original sin will cause us to fail. We will, however, endeavour to know his commands, trying to keep them to the best of our ability because we love him and when we fail, we acknowledge we have failed and seek forgiveness.
3. We would know his words, not just his commandments. If we love him, we would seek to know the mind of God and his will, that everything we do would be pleasing to him.

The warning was quite sobering though, “He who does not love me will not obey my teaching.” John 14:24.

What a cool day. Went to the British Museum today with Ally, Nigel and Sarah. We roughly followed the guidance given by Through the British Museum – with the Bible which had useful extra notes on how things fitted into history. Starting in the in the Great Court, we went through Ancient Mesopotamia, Ancient Israel, Ancient Egypt, Assyria, Ancient Greece, Imperial Rome, Roman Britain and finally finishing in Medieval Europe – with lunch somewhere in between. Quite a day, with loads of things to look at from the scale of the Elgin Marbles, to archaeologically important artifacts such as the Rosetta Stone through to the cutlery used by Roman subjects. Still haven’t seen everything though, will need to visit again.

Finished the evening playing Scrabble at Sarah’s. I think my brain was beginning to struggle with the pace towards the end, requiring assistance from the hostess. All in all, a very good day for which I am grateful.