Watched The River King this evening with some of the usual suspects. The cinematography and attention to detail was fantastic. It’s a shame the story wasn’t up to much. This level of film-making should be reserved for films which are true stories, and not merely the pure fictional concoction of a writer. A very long one and a half hours of film telling a story which is very simple. Worth watching? I don’t know.

There are all sorts of understandings of what love is, but in his letter, John tells us what the author of love has demonstrated it to be. For Jesus Christ laid down his life for his people. If we consider how unworthy we are in the sight of God, not only unworthy, but rebellious sinners, it amazes us that he would do such a thing. This love carried out what was necessary, and without condition. This love was self-sacrificing, it involved the sacrifice of almighty God himself for sinful humanity.

If we are Christians, our love for others should mirror that of our Saviour, for his love should flow into us and through us to others. We should love others in an unconditional self-sacrificial way, seeing when they have a need. We should not be all words and no actions, if anything we should be all action and no words. Saying that, our sacrifice should have a purpose, and be for the good of others.

If our lives are a reflection of Christ’s, we can assurance we are his. If our lives bear no resemblance at all, we should wonder if we are his at all, for we can only know this love if we have faith in him, and we can only love as he did if his Spirit is working in us.

Another year, another year in Tywyn (rather than Twywn, as spelled by Jonny!) with CCIW. I’m not sure what the attraction is, as I’m not particularly fond of tents, getting wet, sleeping on the floor and generally being exhausted, but the opportunity of sowing the word of God with others, to be able to glorify God in a very direct way, and the fellowship of meeting up with other Christians more than makes up for it. This year was slightly different, as I wasn’t a tent officer, but rather I was responsible for the spiritual well-being of the male kitchen staff.

Fortunately, for most of the camp, the kitchen staff were able to function without my input, and I was left to enjoy/supervise the activities the children were involved in, including an attempt to climb Cadair Idris and some fun producing ‘pom poms’, without any of the responsibility of looking after a tent of children.

The general theme of the week was the kingdom of heaven, with the parables given by Jesus in Mt 13. Starting with the parable of the sower, which spoke of the spreading of the good news of the kingdom, and then the parable of the wheat and the weeds. We looked at the parables likening the kingdom to a mustard seed, yeast, treasure hidden in a field, a merchant who find a pearl, and finally a dragnet. From something which starts small and grows into something huge, to something which grows within. From something which is worth is worth more than everything else, to something which is worth more than anything else. Ultimately, something which will be accomplished through the coming of a new order.

A good week spent sharing God’s word, meeting up with old friends and making new ones. I just need to sleep now. 🙂

Q: Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God?
A: No mere man, since the fall, is able, in this life, perfectly to keep the commandments of God; but doth daily break them, in thought, word, and deed.

Q: Are all transgressions of the law equally heinous?
A: Some sins in themselves, and by reason of several aggravations, are more heinous in the sight of God than others.

(Questions LXXXII and LXXXIII from the Westminster Shorter Catechism.)

Went to the Ask restaurant in Uxbridge for Beth’s birthday this evening. Most people opted for the spaghetti bolognese, but I decided to go for the ravioli with seafood stuffing – mmmmm. A nice way to wind down in the evening, catch up with friends and celebrate the birthday of a fine young lady. I think she might’ve enjoyed herself as well – bonus! 🙂

I appear to be getting better at the violin – I can actually sight read pieces I’ve never seen before (rather than those I have)! Admittedly they aren’t difficult, but a year ago, it would’ve taken me a good few days to be able to play them half competantly, but now I can play them in such a fashion as they are pleasant to listen to, and even have some dynamics and musicality in them!

“Second star to the right, and straight on till morning” Peter Pan

When Jesus came across the man possessed by demons, his power over even demons was demonstrated. Before Jesus came along, this man lived amongst the dead, for no one would associate with him. He was out of control, both by himself and others. He was dysfunctional, unable to do what he was intended to do, even so far as to be self harming. Jesus was able to take this man and cleanse him of his illness, to remove the demons from him completely, to restore him to a completely right mind.

Whilst we may not be demon possessed, we are all possessed by sin. This sin permeates everything we do. Sin makes us dead before God, because of sin we are unable to associate with a holy God. Far from being self-controlled, we are controlled by sin. Sin causes us do things which are not for our good, even to take pleasure in it. Sin ultimately stops us from being able to do what we were intended to do. Yet, in his power, Jesus is able to cleanse us from sin, to remove it from us and take it upon himself. This is not to say sin is removed completely straight away, but if our faith is in Christ, not only will he cleanse us from sin, but his Spirit will dwell in us and strengthen us that we might be able to do his will. Through the power of the Spirit, we are able to do what we are intended to do – to glorify God, and through that, we find our chief enjoyment.

Woke up this morning slightly earlier than usual – for a Saturday anyway – it had rained during the night and now it was really, really warm and humid! Ah well, good thing I guess, as it meant I got up, did my food shopping and then trundled into London with Sam to do some wandering. The plan was to meet up with others later on to go to a Proms concert at the Royal Albert Hall, and it seemed a long way to go just for a concert, so I thought I’d make a day of it.

The afternoon was spent attempting to do lots of little chores in Chinatown, some of which I succeeded and some just fell flat on its face. The remainder of the time was spent perusing masterpieces in the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. I hadn’t realised so many works of art were on display there!

A quick hop on the tube and we were sitting under the Albert Memorial, with the others, eating sandwiches before the concert.

The concert itself was superb, although I wasn’t keen on the Janacek – my favourite being the Mozart Piano Concerto in E flat for two pianos, followed by the Dvorak Symphony no. 7. I was surprised that some preferred the Janacek over the Mozart. I guess I’m just a fan of Baroque/early classical music. 🙂

One of those weeks where I’ve been busy doing things which aren’t interesting to read about. Very useful things, but quite mundane. Fortunately, this evening was spent playing Diplomacy with some of the usual suspects.

After a slight mix up with the tokens, and a redistribution, I ended up being Russia. Fortunately, I hadn’t got the short straw as Dave had drawn Italy. Quite early on, the alliances were made, with Russia allying with Turkey and Austria-Hungary, France and Germany became inseparable and England allied with Italy (!) It became evident that the Franco-German alliance was the one to contend with, as England and Italy fumbled and eventually collapsed without too much effort by 1904. I seemed to spend most of the game watching the world go by as Russia was too remote from any of the action to really be active. However, a little provoking produced a slight tactical blunder through a premature attack on Warsaw by the Germans allowed a swift march into Germany and the fall of Munich. As with most games of Diplomacy, we never came to an end, although it was looking interesting. A fun evening none the less.

Does God really care about me?

It’s a question which can crop up far too often for the Christian. Even for the disciples, when Jesus was in the boat with them – they wondered if their Lord cared for them. They had forgotten who was in control of the storm. They were so taken up with the immediate storm which had arisen around them, that they had forgotten who Jesus is. This becomes even more apparent when Jesus’ awakes, and with just a word calms the storm. Then their understanding of Jesus becomes ever greater.

How often do we panic when we think we’ve been abandoned by God? How often do we forget how great God is, how faithful he is and how caring he is?

After all, he cared so much for us, that he sent his Son to die for us, that our sins might be forgiven. Why would we doubt he could do anything? For this is the God who can do more than we can ask or imagine. If our hope is in Christ alone, our hope is well founded.

…but not Bristol fashion, as I spent the day, with some of the usual suspects, in Portsmouth to celebrate Karen and Nige’s birthdays. After a rather early start for a Staurday morning, we arrived in Portsmouth with vague ideas of what we wanted to do. First port of call was lunch, and then a wander along to the Spinnaker Tower to have a rather impressive view of the city. From the observation decks you can see pretty much all of Portsmouth, with its naval history dotted all around the city. We then wandered more, with plenty of sunshine, scenery and social interaction until it was time for dinner at a local Harvester restaurant. The day ended with us relaxing back at Nige’s with a DVD.

A fun day spent with friends, old and new.

Well, I know I’ve been classed as homophobic in the past. For some reason, because I believe the bible states that homosexuality is a sin, some people equate belief that with believing that all homosexuals should be assaulted/abused/have all sorts of nasty things done to them. If anything,

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Mt 22:37-40

so regardless of whether I agree with someone about anything, I’m still to love them.

Of course, this becomes even more interesting when I see something like:

As placed in the Independent on 29th June.

Then something like

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you Mt 5:43,44

becomes ever more appropriate.

An interesting observation of the ad can be found at Hacking for Christ.

“I should try and practice more”, ran through my head as I attempted to play a study intended to be played in third position throughout. Admittedly, the week since my previous violin lesson had been rather hectic and short of practicing time, but as my violin teacher says, even just ten minutes a day is useful. Saying that, it might take a while to get used to playing in third position, let alone playing anything which requires shifting position a lot! I did seem to spend a lot of time concentrating on what I was doing, instead of concentrating on the sound I was making. The finger work might’ve been correct, I’m not sure the intonation was though…

The gap is closing – lost 4-3 frames to Ed this evening. The first couple of frames started badly, with Ed pulling away with comfortable wins, but the games slowly turned and I was eventually firing on at least three cylinders before the end of the evening.