God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen:
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the Queen.

O Lord, our God, arise,
Scatter her enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save the Queen.

Thy choicest gifts in store,
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign:
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice
God save the Queen.

Saw X-Men 3 on Wednesday with Dave. I went in with the odd expectation, as Sarah had been all hyped about it before she went to see it. As far as sequels in general are concerned, they usually deteriorate with increasing ordinals. I must admit, I thought the first X-Men film was better than the second, so there were a few parameters to consider.

I must admit to being pleasantly surprised. There were plenty of special effects, with lots of action and yet there was still an appreciable storyline. They weren’t afraid to present you with the unexpected, whilst the story was true to the good vs evil formula, with the odd interesting twist.

On a par with the first of the trilogy, with a good conclusion. Worth seeing.

Well, after beating Ed consistently for a while, I lost 5-3 frames this evening. Admittedly, the last frame turned into a frame of endurance to see who might pass out first from the heat, but I snatched it!

Words can be a powerful thing. They can take imagination to all sorts of places, from the mundane to the exotic and back again. Nations have relied on them in times of peace as well as war. Creation itself began with the words of God.

Words can be constructive and/or destructive, depending what is said and when it is said. They can be most destructive when one is least thoughtful about their use. They can also be some of the most comforting things to another human being.

With such power, comes great responsibility. (I’m sure that’s must’ve been said in something more ancient than Spiderman!) We must be careful how we use our words, that they may comfort and edify those around us. Even the slighest wrong word can be the fly in the ointment. The writer of Ecclesiastes points out it is not just our words which need to change. Our thoughts must also be under control, for as Jesus points out later on, the mouth is the overflow of the heart. We need to tackle the cause and not just the effect.

We must be wise in our thinking, and for that to happen we need a change of heart. This is not something we can achieve alone, but only through trusting in the Word incarnate and what he achieved on the cross. Once we are trusting in Jesus Christ, his Spirit will dwell within our hearts, slowly changing us to be like Christ, slowly becoming wiser.

Then, when are hearts are being dealt with, the nature of our speech will change accordingly.

A rather busy Saturday. Started off with a morning at the church stripping paint and generally tidying up in a rather warm 31°C sun!

Took a short breather to have a full English breakfast at the local greasy spoon, and then watched the England vs Paraguay football world cup match on the telly. I’ll be the first to admit I’m not a great football fan, but there’s something different about the world cup and your country. In true English style, the England team made it a bit of a nail-biter with their play distinctly worse in the second-half from the first. Far too many opportunities given to Paraguay to score a goal.

The evening was spent wandering around Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park with Ally – alas, no one else wanted/could come out with us. Was cool though, with a very pleasant leisurely walk chatting and taking photos of flora and fauna. Much better than spending the whole evening indoors watching the telly.

Finished the day watching Lost in Translation, which was a fairly good film about a man and a woman who form a close friendship, but for various reasons cannot go any further. It was interesting to watch their circumstances and how their circumstances brought them together. It was also an interesting take on Japanese society as viewed from a very Western pair of eyes. Slightly longer than necessary, but worth watching.

I might be slipping – drew 2-2 frames this afternoon against Ed.

Played Ed this evening. 5-2 frames to me. 🙂 Not sure if it’s because I’m getting better or some other reason though. The Riley’s in Staines could do with some airconditioning though – really really warm!

Spent the evening in Nando’s in Staines, with some of the usual suspects, to celebrate Dave’s birthday. Unusually, it was an all lads affair with all the ladies away for various reasons. Even without the ladies, it was a great evening, with some interesting conversations and we played an interesting game after dinner called Imaginiff. It basically tested our knowledge of each other, both as individuals and as a group, through multiple choice questions, awarding the more knowledgable. There were some interesting answers to some of the questions. 🙂

The apostle Paul was eager to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to everyone. After all, what could be more amazing? The very idea that, even though we sinned and turned our backs on God, God loves us and gave his only Son to die in our place is an amazing thought. The idea that this substitution is not gained through our own efforts, but merely by trusting solely in the Son is almost beyond belief. Yet when you think about it, it is the only way we can be made right with God. Our sinful nature prevents us being able to do anything to put right our status before a holy God. Only God is able to do anything about it, and only God can bear the punishment due for the sins of his people.

With such good news, Paul is right to point out we should be telling everyone, for people won’t know of this great gospel without being told.

Yet, no one will be without excuse, because everyone knows God is holy and just and that they’ve fallen short of God’s glory. Looking around at Creation reveals the fingerprints of God, and so revealing his glory and majesty.

After a brief time watching the England-Jamaica football match, practising the violin for a bit, playing the piano for a bit, taking a short walk around Osterley Park, I wandered down to Capers restaurant in Windsor to meet up with some of the former members of the Harlington Singers for a meal and an opportunity to catch up. I thought I was a bit late, but some others arrived a lot later than me. The evening was spent catching up and discussing all manner of things – always interesting sitting opposite a lawyer. Whilst the company and conversation were good, I’m not sure the food was worth the price tag it carried. Saying that, it was substantial and I guess that’s more important.

Spent Friday evening round the Hollands’ household with some of the usual suspects for a game of Monopoly. It all started off normally, with properties slowly being purchased, and no silly bargaining taking place too early. Eventually, with most of the properties gone, I managed to wheel and deal in such a fashion that everyone got a set apart from Deanna – who eventually managed to buy a set anyway through landing on the properties! The pace of the game then speeded up, with people dropping out fairly rapidly. Whilst I didn’t have the most money, I survived long enough to go out leaving only Ally and Dave to battle it out.

Another bank holiday in a long string of bank holidays, another opportunity to sample the delights of the English weather. Fortunately I took an umbrella and a warm fleece with me to Hyde Park to meet up with lots of other young people from churches in and around London. We sat around, chatted, ate food, played games and generally caught up with each other. Interpersing all this was sunny periods, rainy periods, and cloudy periods, with cloudy periods making up the most of the day. The day was completed with a meal at the Spaghetti House in Duke Street, with a fine dish of fresh mussels and pasta in a tomato and chilli sauce. A good time was had by all, and Dave even managed to get sunburnt somehow.

What is it to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit?

It can’t be to misuse his name, for whilst the misuse of God’s name is a sin, it is not unforgivable.

Looking at the situation Jesus was in, it appears more likely to be rejecting the work of the Spirit. For Jesus used the power of the Spirit in his ministry. Yet, the teachers of the law attributed the Spirit to be the work of Satan, and so rejected the work of the Spirit.

Jesus points out the absurdity of their argument. After all, how could Satan succeed if he fought against himself, especially on such a public level. Instead, the accusations were merely a wilful persistent rejection of the work of the Spirit. Today this culminates in the rejection of the Gospel, which the Spirit worked to establish in the word of God, which tells of all that Jesus Christ achieved for sinners.

On the flip side, Jesus remarks that everything else is forgivable. Such is the love and grace of God that any who repent of their sin and trust in Jesus Christ for forgiveness will be forgiven.

Saw The New World this evening with some of the usual suspects. As Sarah had chosen the film, I went in with no preconceptions, only knowing it was a differing (and allegedly more accurate) story of Pocahontas to the Disney offering (which I’ve never seen anyway). I was very pleasantly surprised to see a film spend time setting the scene, developing its characters and telling the story at a pace which allowed you to appreciate what was going on. The actual story itself is fairly simple to explain, but the film concentrated on the character of Pocahontas, in her various experiences, the situation the settlers were in and the sheer natural beauty of this new world. I thought it was a good film and worth seeing – some of my fellow viewers thought otherwise. Probably good if you’re an adult. 🙂

Friday night was spent surrounded by teenagers at the Slough Ice Arena. I must admit, I’m beginning to feel my age as everyone rushed along around me, leaving me to trundle along in their wake. I think I’m actually getting better at it though, managing to avoid falling over and staying away from the side for the majority of the time. I eventually had to retire thirty minutes early as I just ran out of energy, and left the teenagers to continue on until it was time to go home. A slightly different evening.

I wonder why people spend Bank Holidays looking in sofa shops, after spending Saturday afternoon looking at things for my new flat. I can’t say the experience in and of itself was fun, looking at sofa upon sofa. It gave me a good idea of how much money I’d need to furnish my new abode, and Ally was there to give me a much needed female opinion on how things would look. I might need to give some aspects of furnishing a little more thought…