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Tony Curtis - what a legend!

So Tony Curtis is dead. I have to say he was one of the MOST gorgeous actors of his time. And young, strong and talented.

It really shocked me to see pictures of him as an old man. Just brings it home, that we are not long for this world, and whatever we have now (health, youth, family, money, strength) is not ours to keep. I don't know if Tony was ready to meet God, but I'm trusting Jesus to make me ready.

How is it POSS?

We've got good news. We want people to know about it. That's one of the main reasons we exist. Just to keep ourselves motivated, we've said we want 40 adults to be meeting regularly together by October next year. We'll see how it goes, under God. The question is, how's it going to happen?

We don't believe we're so impressive or attractive that people will flock to us. We not going to stand on the street corners and shout about it, or do much knocking on people's doors. No real objection to those things - we just don't think it gets the message across very well. (And understandably puts some people off!) We just want to keep telling people we know and meet. Not in a scary intense way. But we pray for people; organise our social lives; actually socialise; and, as opportunity arises, speak. (And listen, too!)

Book review: "Bringing up Boys" - James Dobson


I've only read five chapters, and I love it already. Having said that, I wasn't expecting anything else. James Dobson is one of the best Christian authors on the family and parenthood around. Some classics well worth reading are "The strong willed child", "Dare to discipline", and "What wives wish their husbands knew about women".

Some quotes from chapter 5 of "Bringing up Boys":

"Historically, when the family begins to unravel in a given culture, everything from the effectiveness of government to the general welfare of the people is adversely impacted.....the future of Western civilisation depends on how we handle this present crisis...Nations that are populated largely by immature, immoral, weak-willed, cowardly, and self-indulgent men cannot and will not long endure."

"We must make the necessary investment to counter these influences and to build within our boys lasting qualities of character, self-discipline, respect for authority, commitment to the truth, a belief in the work ethic, and an unshakeable love for Jesus Christ."

Very helpful. We know the challenges of our particular culture, and we know the challenges of our particular children! Perhaps we don't apreciate the likely consequences of our efforts with them now. An encouragement to all christian parents to keep at it, and to those whose kids are boys, a challenge in the face of a huge social attack on manhood and masulinity, to nurture healthy character in our sons.

ten in two

I stumbled across a blog the other day and one post stopped me in my tracks. It was just what I had been thinking I should be doing with my life... Only the writer was actually doing it!

I really, really want you to have a read. It's short.
Here's the link to the post. Go on, read it now - I'll be here when you get back.

*    *    *    *   *    *    *    *    *    *    *

Good isn't it?

I think he's summed up pretty clearly what were trying to do at Wellfield. His challenge is to help ten people get to know Jesus and become Christians and his timescale for doing that is two years.

Do you remember at growth group when we were talking about where we'd like to be when Wellfield is five years old? That's two years off, almost exactly.

Who is up for the challenge?

I think having 'ten in two' as our main goal (both as individuals and as a Church) would absolutely transform Wellfield. It would totally change our priorities, wouldn't it?

We will have to rethink how we use our time, our service, our homes. Our prayer lives will change. It will affect the choices we make for our kids and our friendships.

But we'll be in it together - You get to know my mates, I get to know yours and we share Jesus together.

So, each of us aiming at ten people in two years? Are you up for it?

I'll post again later in the week with some ideas for how we could do it and with some encouragement if, like me, you read this challenge and felt like hiding for the next two years instead.

Godly saints and old hags

Fron Mark's sermon this morning:

There are two types of old lady, aren't there? The lovely type... and the other. If you want to end up as the lovely, godly type, start practising now! Olive Bell, whose funeral was this week, was one of the first type. She was lovely. I remember her talking about when she and Ray had their son, how they lived in one room, with a curtain to pull across after the baby went to bed! It was one of her many fond memories!

Her granddaughter asked her to write answers to a load of questionsin her old age. One of the questions was this: "what's the best advice you could give to a younger person?", and her answer was this: "always be optimistic; look on the bright side; the Lord will provide and be with us always."

That's a lesson to our whinging generation. One for me anyway.

The Pope, Humanism and Hitler

"As we reflect on the sobering lessons of the atheist extremism of the 21st century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society".

This is the conclusion of Pope Benedict XVI's speech today, with which the British Humanist Society has been so offended. Nice to have the boot on the other foot, and use the "intolerance" card to show the aggressive atheist and secular agenda for what it is. The Pope knows about the Nazis. He was in the Hitler Youth, and deserted from the army of the 3rd Reich towards the end of the war.

As Mark washed the dishes and I sat on the sofa reading about all this, Mark made the point that people only ever (try to) get rid of God so that they can do evil. So, although no papist myself, it is great to have someone with such a platform pointing these things out. Nice one, Benedict old man.

Dog Blog

At the top of the blog page, there's a button that says 'Next Blog'. I didn't know we had another one, so I clicked on it. Turns out, it just takes you to another random blog. I clicked through about 10 or 15 other blogs. What was interesting was not the blogs (no way, mostly...), but that of that small number, three of them - yes, THREE of them! - where about people's dogs!

Now, I like dogs. At least, some dogs. And I like it that people have them at pets, and I'm happy for them to like them. But really, who thinks the world wants to know about their dog? Are these people dyslexic or something? Surely the world wants to know about God, not their Dog.

The order of things as laid out in the Bible is: God, people, animals. So in Genesis 3, as sin enters the world, it is seen in the order being turned upside down. The serpent leads the woman, who leads the man, who both disobey God. It's nice to have pets. But our obsession with pets as a society is a sign of rebellion against God. We care more for flea-ridden muts than we do about the glorious creator of all and giver of life.

Jennifer Aniston on families


So Jennifer Aniston thinks it's just SO GREAT, we can have babies in our 40s, 50s and beyond, via medical whizzery. No need for a real man. Or a relationship. Or a family.

Jennifer Aniston doesn't know the God who made her. What does she really have? She's rich, pretty and famous. Dog poo.

Families are surely complicated, none can claim to be perfect, and some are very unusual in the way they work (!). But Ms. A. doesn't know better than God about the best place for kids. I think I'll stick with what he says.

Holiday of a lifetime?


Aah! We've just got back from holiday. And the truth is, we're really glad to be back! Not because we had a rubbish time. (We didn't.) Not because the kids were driving us mad. (They weren't.) Not because the weather spoiled it. (It couldn't.) We're glad to be back because that's what holidays are for - coming home from!
If you live and work for holidays, they tend to leave you just slightly disappointed, don't they? 'You can have the best time ever, do whatever you want, spend money...' - and deep down, there's a nagging frustration. (Even if it's just because you know it's coming to an end soon.) But the question is, what are you living for? We're refreshed and rested, and grateful for the privilege of another family holiday. But we've come back to get on with the purpose of our lives: - to live for Jesus, to tell people about Jesus, that they may come to have life in his name just as we have done. Isn't that great?!