CHRISTmas Time!

Christmas is here yay!

I want to wish all who read my blog a very Happy Christmas.

May your New Year also be filled with much happiness.

So eat well, enjoy famliy and friends, and I hope many great gifts. But don't forget that Jesus is the reason for the season.

The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity.

(Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7 NLT)

In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it. He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God.

(John 1:1-5, 10-12 NLT)

God Bless You

Yay I'm on holiday!!

I'm as happy as a bear just out of hibernation!!

The cloud of unknowing!

This morning I've been working through an interesting unit in my studies on spirituality. Its been on the subject of hard times, they word it as 'dessert times'.

You can see from my last post that Louise and I have been through something of a hard time in that we aren't able to go to the UK for Christmas, so such a subject hit home with me easily.

I'm aware that many others face much harder times then mine. I want to ask such people to join me in viewing them in a way that will bring glory to God.

Dessert times or hard times, whatever you want to call them have been experienced and come through by many Christians and characters from the bible or from the history of the Church, we can learn much from them if we take the time to hear their stories.

In these hard times one may wonder where God is. A fare question I feel! But what I've been looking at in my studies may help shed light on what you may be going through.

When we are saved we often experience God in pretty amazing ways which is great, I myself was saved from drugs and really couldn't get enough of God. But God doesn't want to hold us or keep us at that point in life, He wants us to grow.

So it maybe that God has to take away that feeling of closeness experienced when we're first saved, even to the point where we may ask whether God has completely left us.

He doesn't do this because He wants to hurt us but because He doesn't want us to rely only on past experiences.

Experiences of God are great but when they don't come we often feel quite desperate. God does want us to rely on them but for us to rely on Him.

Times of darkness or uncertainty in our faith in God are often the times when He's taking us from experiences of Him, to a lasting faith in Him. They are seldom easy, but would they be of any real worth if they were.

I can't say that having worked through my studies today that I've found the answer to all our pain but I can now ask questions like:

'Lord are you trying to lead me into deeper degrees of maturity in this'?

'How can I get to know You better through this'?

Are you in a place where you can ask such questions?

In the past I would have done anything I could think of to escape that desert but now I am discovering some of the exquisite flowers that bloom nowhere else ... I am discovering God when God apparently was not there to be discovered.

(quote from Anne Townsend)

I want this to be my testimony in hard times, I pray that it will be yours also.

Are you seeking God for answers, or are you seeking the God of answers?

Sad news.

This is a hard one for me.

I know friends read this and I need to call for your prayers at this time. Louise and I won't be able to travel to the UK over Christmas due to passport problems. We are both very upset about it and so gutted that we won't get to catch up with family and friends.

We do hope that some time next year when the issues have been dealt with that we can try again.

So, we are very sorry to all who where expecting to see us both and hope you can be patient with us and as I've asked, keep us in your prayers.

Thanks guy's.

Heavenly Illuminations!

 

I've just been watching the most amazing thing from my sun room. The sky over the bay is peppered with evening clouds and theirs a storm that's causing the clouds to fill with illuminations. Its really cool to watch these massive puffy clouds glow. I can't hear thunder but the light display is great!

I hope it lasts up, it's getting darker and it's then that the real show will start!

 

Yeah okay, some strange things interest me!

Sunday in Port Alfred

Well not entirely!
We started our day with a beautiful early morning swim. Rather painfully we started of at the wrong part of the beach (it was very rocky under foot) but as we made our way further down the beach it became sandy and was absolutely great. I can't think of a better way to start the day.
After breakfast and a trip into town to visit the tourism center we decided to head out of Port Alfred for a drive to Bathurst. On the way we stopped of to visit a giant pineapple, how could we not?
The pineapple is huge and has a little gift shop at its base (no that's Louise!).

From hear we drove of to Grahamstown for a look around. Grahamstown has loads of history and a lot of Churches. I've been here once before very early in the morning and everything was shut, sadly, being a Sunday, most things were shut again! We did have a nice lunch together though. The drive to and from Grahamstown was very nice with great views of the countryside.
The countryside in this part of the country is very dry and harsh with lots of aloe vera trees and plants. The temperatures were very hot which kind of set the scene well.
Grahamstown has a yearly arts festival which I hope Louise and I can one day visit (if it's open!!).
We've been blessed with a lovely weekend; add to that great weather and that leaves Louise and myself very happy.

I will be putting more pictures on my photo blog so check them out:

http://mlk30.blogspot.com/

God bless ya

The Kowie river

Today we started with a nice stroll down the beach catching the early morning sun, wow man, even at such an early hour the sea was warm.
We headed back to the cabin for breakfast on the deck and yes, a dip in the jacuzzi!















Some nasty person directed the jets upwards! So things got a bit wet!
Jets pointing the right way and I was in bath heaven.

After breakfast Louise and I went into town to have a look around. Later we met with Louise's mom and dad, and the four of us went on a boating trip down the river Kowie.















Our guide took us all around the very posh canals and the canalside mansions, we actually saw a three story house that had its own elevator!
The boat ride then took us further down the river Kowie and further inland. It was lovely to be on the open water and to our surprise we sailed past our soon to be Associate Pastor, Donovan!

The rest of the day was spent chilling out, Louise and I went to the beach and enjoyed the sun and sea, cool man!

Port Alfred Sands

Louise and I were blessed with a very pleasant drive through to Port Alfred. We arrived early evening and shared a nice meal with Louise's folks. The wooden cabin that we are staying in is really nice, we've been given the double room with a jacuzzi in the en-suit which I'll have to try out!
The cabin is very close to the beach, the sound of the sea is just so nice.
We're looking forward to our first full day tomorrow.
I'll tell you more about it later.

Yay.........Holiday time!

Just a quick post before I set off.
Louise is just about to finish work then she's going to pick me up and we're off!
The weather looks like its picking up for us which is great, so the forecast is LOADS of laying in the SUN!!
Just heard from Louise's folks who are half way there already, Port Elizabeth is very busy with Friday traffic. I'm hoping a lot of that will have cleared by the time we get there??
So, what ever your doing over the weekend, I hope it involves FUN FUN FUN!!

God bless ya!

Let's just get away from it all!!

Louise and I are having a weekend away!
Thanks to her folks who have this great holiday points club thing!
I’m not sure of the proper name, but I do know that it’s enables them to book into some really great places.
Louise and I are both very grateful to them both for including us in their short break.
The place where we are going is called Port Alfred Sands in Port Alfred. It’s located between Port Elizabeth and East London and isn’t that far from Grahamstown.
Port Alfred is really a little fishing port but has become more of a holiday destination. It looks like there is plenty to do locally with game reserves and boating trips, theirs even a small train ride that you can go on taking you in land and into some beautiful countryside.

Louise and are both very excited and both feeling very much like we need this break. It’s been a year since we had any real holiday with us saving up our holiday time for our trip to the UK.
So, we may only have a weekend away because of work but it’s going to be great. Great company, great location, great food and a great big rest!
Last weekend Louise and I got to speak to my family in the UK via Skype which was wonderful. We saw Jack and Susan for the first time since we left the UK, man I miss you guys.
It’s all very exciting at the moment because we know that the next time we all see each other will be in the UK for our holiday, YAY!!
I can’t believe just how soon it is now to when we fly. Christmas in the UK, with family and friends, we can’t wait.
(But I do want to say that we will miss all those that we leaving behind and are looking forward to having another Christmas with you guys when we get back home!).
So, that’s it for now, I’m going to get some breakfast.
I’ll take pictures while I’m away and I’ll post them on my photo blog:
http://mlk30.blogspot.com/

God bless ya!

The department of home affairs!!

Well, as you may have read in my last posting, Louise and I went to PE so as to extend my visa, Louise had done a lot of ground work together with her Mom in order to make sure we had all we needed.
Having arrived nice and early and both of us taking a day away from work we were told that we couldn’t extend the visa until thirty days before my current visa expires!
Why they didn’t tell us this on the many phone calls that were made before we went through I don’t know!!
Anyway, they have told me that I shouldn’t have any trouble at the airport when I arrive back from the UK as the visa is still current; please pray for me that this will be the case. It was a very upsetting experience for us both mainly because Louise actually had to take a day’s holiday leave to be able to go and she doesn’t have much.
I will say that the guy who dealt with us was very nice and I’m hoping to see him when we return. We have to go through in January to try again to extend the visa so watch this space for more news and prayer requests.
The day ended up being an enjoyable one, we spent the day with Louise’s folks and managed to get some Christmas presents which was great. So the day wasn’t a complete waste.
Next time we go to PE it will be to fly out to the UK.
I’m getting excited now!!

PE again!!

I know, I said that Louise and I won't be going back to Port Elizabeth in a hurry, but we have to go through tomorrow in order to extend my visa. The office is in PE and Louise's folks are going through for other reasons so we're going to catch a ride with them. If we're not driving I'm sure all will be fine!
My visa runs out about March time next year but with us going to the UK for Christmas I don't really want to be trying to get back into the country with only a short time left on the visa . We've been told various things about what we must do to get my visa extended so it might be a bit of a trying time for us. Louise is great in such circumstances, she really brings the balance needed to get such things sorted out.

Yesterday, at Church, we found out that possibly five guy's from our small group are going forward to be baptised this coming Sunday which is really great. I know that God is going to be meeting with them in this and I'm so excited for them as they take this next step in there relationship with God.

If you read this before the end of Tuesday 6th November, I.E. tomorrow, please pray for us that all will go well with extending my visa.
Many thanks.

Yay.............I got to swim!

So, Saturday didn't start quite as planned, the weather looked a little bit like it was going to be a wet day but hey this is J'bay man, even if the weather looks down early, chances are it will brighten up as the morning progresses and it did.
Louise went off to a Christmas fete which gave me a chance to sort out my garage, something I been wanting to do for a long time.
But it's the weekend man and I can't spend the whole thing doing horrible job's eh?
So Louise and I took a drive over to Aston Bay and hit the beach, the weather was a little cold for Louise to want to swim but for me it was just begging for me to take a dip!
Yay, all week I've wanted to get into the sea and I really enjoyed this chance.
It's evening now and I've been sat in our stoop looking out at our garden, the sun is setting and the sky is taking on that red glow. A perfect end to a lovely day.
God bless ya.

PS, I've posted some new pictures on my photo blog. If you want to check them out visit: http://mlk30.blogspot.com/

The Heavens split open!

Wow man, last night (Wed, 31st Oct) we had a kicking thunder storm in the Bay!
Well, let’s just say that for an Englishmen it was kicking!
I don’t remember too many big storms in the UK with such incredible displays of lightning.
The sheet lightning kind of lit up the sky then the forks came crashing down. When you see such displays of nature created in and through our Great God you realise just how small we really are.
Small, but still so important to God.
Creations displays really remind me of how great our God is.
But that was last night!
This morning I woke to the sound of the sea and birds singing all around (Yes, God is amazing and how often He blesses me with such mornings). I went out to fetch some tea about 06.45 and sat with Louise in our stoop and already the sun was so hot.

On a day like today theirs only one way to start the day and that’s got to be a walk on the beach with Max!


Problem is
I just want to go and swim!
Still the weekend is approaching fast and I’m hoping to drag the wife too the beach for a swim (her first of the summer! Some South African’s need the water to be warm before they venture out in it!! Light weight!!).
So anyway, today is Thursday and we have our small group tonight, I’ve got some prep to do for that and I’m continuing with my studies, so its time to go, hope your day goes well.
God bless ya

PE......Never again!!

Why did I think that a trip to Port Elizabeth would be un-eventful?
Louise and I went on Saturday and all was going fine until I lost my accelerator cable!
Yes, something that I've never experienced before happened. I tried to put the peddle to the metal so to speak and found nothing there!
With much thanks I had enough momentum to allow me to pull over to the hard shoulder where we both scratched our heads among other things!! (Exploding tempers, frustrations and, well you get the drift!!)
I was able to push the car into a local car park where we had to call for help.
Help came in the form of my bestest Mother and Father-inlaw. Who came out and made it possible for us to get the car towed away and for us to get home.
WOW!! Why did we go to PE?
Never again, well, not until we really really have too.
But all was not bad.
We worship an amazing God.
We were to phone the storage yard where our car was towed to in order to arrange for the car to be towed on to a mechanic. Once contact was made we were informed that the repair had already been done and that their would be no charge. The cable had become unattached and the mechanic was able fix it.
Louise and I both were expecting to be stung with garage charges but that wasn't to be.
I say again, we worship an amazing God.
I can reflect on this event and say that I'm disappointed with myself. I'm teaching in our small group about persevering in hard times but when this happened to us, perseverance wasn't what I was thinking about. Still, God is so cool, I know that I'm still learning and every event in life like this gives me an incredible boost in confidence in our great God.
Live and learn eh?
So, the car is back home and all is well.
Both of us was quite glade that the weekend was over, not what I was expecting as I looked forward to the weekends arrival!!

The weekend, it be approaching!

(Part one of two)
It's Friday and I have that Friday feeling!!
Last night we had our small group as normal; it was great to catch up with our friends.
I started a new bible study with the guy's that looks at the book of James. The study is called 'Live Wisely' and is written by Bill Hybels. Anyone who has read the book of James knows that it contains some really down to earth teaching about the Christian life.
The first session looked at 'Developing Perseverance' and was taken from both James 1.1-4 and Job 1.13 - 2.13. It was an interesting topic to start with and looked at some rather difficult issues for us as a group, their required a lot of soul searching on all of our parts.
Troubles come our way as Christians, no one said that such things wouldn't, but we need to be asking ourselves:
Do we hold on to Jesus in those times?
Does our faith grow and do hard times promote perseverance within us and our relationship with the Lord?

2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.
3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.
4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
(James 1.2-4, NLT)

James encourages us to look at our troubles in a new light; they are opportunities for growth within us as we grow into maturity in our life with the Lord. That isn't an easy thing to do is it?
But we can find joy in God even in hard times, (read Paul's words in Philippians). That joy is hardly likely to be in the very thing that is causing the hardship but should be in our faithful God who is always there with us in the hard times, who always brings us through such things, who always loves us even if we mess it all up.
With such real encounters with Jesus we can view hardships as growth opportunities even if they are ‘times’ that we would rather didn't come our way.
I guess we need to be looking first to God and then to what the end result in it will be?
Know this; it will involve opportunities to glorify God and also opportunities to become, more and more, the person He has created us to be.
One more thing we looked at in this study was the need for brotherly love and support of each other, particularly seen in the reading from the book of Job.
Job had three friends who came to be with him, they didn't get it right at every moment as you will see if you read the whole of the book of Job. But in this reading they did something really well, they spent time with Job; they sat with him for seven days and nights, they grieved with him.
Notice though, that they were silent!
When we support our brothers and sisters, our friends and our families we don't always have to have the right words to say. Often it’s about just being there with your love, with a hug and a smile.
We can all do that, can’t we?
Are you facing hard times at this moment?
Will you hold onto Jesus in the midst of them?
Will they cause you to grow more and more, into the person God has designed you to be?
Or are you someone who has been through a number of battles, and the very person whom God is looking for to support another person who He loves dearly?
Things too think about eh?

I've got more to say but think that I should maybe do another blog entry so as to keep each entry within a measured chunk!

Make a cup of tea, and then come back to my next blog entry!!

Part two, (how’s the tea?)!!

(Part two of two)
Well, this one will only be a short one.
As I said earlier, ‘it’s almost the weekend’, YAY!
Louise and I are off to Port Elizabeth Saturday. We tend to visit PE once every second month. Louise does it for me really; I miss the opportunity to get out on a Saturday to walk around the shops etc.
Trips to PE tend to be rather eventful but often for the wrong reasons sadly. So this weekend, we’re looking for a break from what is becoming the norm!
It is going to be our last visit to PE before we leave for the UK in December and we want to stock up on groceries etc (boring, I know!!). While we are there we are hoping to maybe pick up a few Christmas presents for people. I’m also hoping to buy myself a watch; I’ve been saving pocket money and should have enough to find one I like.
So that will pretty much be our Saturday.
Sunday will see Louise attending a Sunday school pick-nick, so we’re praying for a nice sunny but not too warm day. I hope that everyone has loads of fun!
I’m preaching Sunday evening and have just completed my sermon; I’ll probably give you my thoughts on it in another blog post.
So that pretty much is going to be our weekend.
I hope that everyone who reads this has a great one and thank you for reading.
God bless ya!

Questions, questions, questions!

Thanks Jay for not only reading my blog but also for responding to it.
I hope that I've understood your question correctly.
My understanding of 'Renewal Theology' is that it stems from Charismatic/Pentecostalism.
Do I think that in every area of study it is 'truth'?
Well I have to say I would question any theology that would say 'your not truly baptised in the Holy Spirit until you can display gifts of The Spirit' such as the ability to 'speak in tongues' which some in such movements would claim.
Some Charismatics and Pentecostals believe that you are filled with the Holy Spirit when saved but at some point a believer is later baptised in the Holy Spirit.

Ephesians 1.13-14 says:
13 And now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago.
14 The Spirit is God’s guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify him.

When we first believed in Jesus and asked Him to save us and be our Lord He gave us the Holy Spirit. Some people who have the Holy Spirit in there lives will manifest gifts of the Spirit such as the ability to pray and speak in tongues but if they don't manifest such gifting it doesn't mean they aren't saved and haven't been baptised with the Holy Spirit.
I do believe that there is more of the Holy Spirit that should be sort by a believer each and every day, scripture says, 'go on being filled with the Spirit' but I think this is experienced as we surrender more of our lives to the control of the Holy Spirit. We are being filled more and more by the Spirit as we live under His Lordship and are becoming more Christ-like in the way we live our lives.
Part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit as the 'Spirit of truth' is to make 'truth' known to us as believers and I would join you Jay in praying that He will go on doing that in all believers lives.
I hope this has helped Jay.
Can I ask in future for your thoughts and feelings as well as the questions on such subjects as I know that I would find such things very interesting.

So, what else?
I've been asked about 'surfing'!!
What a great sport?
Done by those who can and watched by those who can't!
I've watched from the sidelines but haven't as yet had a go. One day maybe I will, but first I have other challenges. Get to know me better and I might tell you what they are!!
Keep reading and responding.
God bless ya.

Leadership training

This last two days, myself and some of the other leaders in my Church have attended the 'Global Leadership Summit 2007' held at Jeffrey's Bay.
We've all really enjoyed the two days which has seen us sitting under the teaching of Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Church together with various guests invited to speak at the summit.
I've never been on a conference that has looked purely at leadership and skills needed by leaders in the Church today. I feel that I have learnt a lot of things that will serve me now and in my future as I pursue the call to full time ministry.
I have lots of stuff that I want to unpack in the coming days that I've learnt but I wanted to share a little something from a session lead by Bill Hybles called 'What Ever You Do Inspire Me'.
Bill asks the question concerning leaders, 'who is responsible for inspiring leaders'?
He explains that, as King David did (see 1 Samuel 30 and particularly verse 6), we need to find our strength in the Lord.
Who is responsible for building us up as leaders, who is responsible for inspiring us?
We are, we need find our strength in the Lord.
Bill gave us ten ideas that he himself adopts as he works at inspiring himself. I want to share them with you because I have found them particularly helpful.

TEN MOTIVATIONAL ACTIVITIES:

1. Stay crystal clear about your calling from God.
2. Leverage your spiritual gifts the way God gave them to you.
3. Make sure the players on your team are inspiring people.
4. Read inspiring books.
5. Make a point to rub shoulders with exceptionally inspiring people every now and then.
6. Participate in exceptionally inspiring events.
7. Pay attention to physical disciplines.
8. Pay attention to your working environment.
9. Have an inspiring recreational life outside your work world.
10. Practise daily spiritual disciplines that keep your faith fresh.
(Taken from: 'The Global Leadership Summit 2007', delegates book)

I hope that you will find this list that Bill Hybels has put together as helpful as I have.
I would encourage you to visit http://www.willowcreek.com/ to find out more about the teaching of Bill Hybels and the ministry of Willow Creek.

Before I close I just want to thank everyone who has responded to some of my earlier post. For those who have posted responses asking me questions, I just want to say that I intend to respond but want to go away with your questions and think about them before I do.

God bless you all.

Charismatic Theology

Well, I've had a great day studying.
As the title says, I've been studying Charismatic theology and have found this unit very interesting.
I can't say that I hold with all that a Charismatic would hold too concerning spirituality but in looking at this subject it has made me think about the 'Emerging Church' and the way in which they are viewed by the Church today.
I had to think about what the Evangelical Church must have felt like when the Charismatic movement started gaining momentum back in the 1960's. I would say that they looked at it with scepticism much like a lot of people do today when they think about the Emerging Church.
All I want to say at this stage is that my reading on the subject of Charismatic theology isn't broad enough for me to say that the Charismatic movement is wrong never have I read enough on the Emerging Church. Should I voice an opinion when I don't know the arguments from both sides?
Clearly 'no', or if I do so I need to remember that such an opinion is going to be ill informed.
I think people judge before investigating and in doing so they may well get it wrong.
I don't want to miss God doing something new in our world today, do you?

The beach!

Wow, man!
What a blessing it is to live in a place like Jeffrey's!
I woke up early today and the sun was shining so I gave Max his breakfast early and headed of to the beach to give him his early walk.
As I walked on the beach watching and listening to the sea I just got a real sense of how blessed I am.
Having grown up in a 'tower block' and having spent all of my life living 'inner city', you just don't get to experience such mornings.
Its still early and I'm back from my walk, thankful to God for it and ready to get stuck into my studies.
I hope your day has started as well as mine.
God bless.

Rambles!

Today (15 Oct), I spoke with my friend Jay in the UK. Its great to chat with him, whenever I do I feel like I'm back their in the UK. Its like I've not gone away. Its hard also because I know that when we discuss things I can't do anything practical to help with troubling things. Sometimes though, simply chatting has a way of making us feel better eh? I hope so anyway.
Its late here and I should be off to bed (late, ha, 22.45, some might laugh at that but well...). Anyway I just felt like rambling a bit before I turn in. I haven't used this blog for such things really but I'm told that rambling is what its all about.
I guess it gets easier as you get into it.
I've only recently started to use the internet as a way of communicating and have found that it can be a lot of fun. I use 'facebook' and the various applications that can be installed, its all fun stuff but its also a great way of keeping friendship alive. I've just located a good old football and work friend who I feared I had lost contact with to a point (Steve, its great to me in contact with you). So if you haven't tried 'facebook' can I say, 'give it a try, its great fun'.
I've also been using 'Skype'. 'Skype' is a little chat communication program, it can be used to make internet calls including video feeds. I haven't used the call features much due to internet capping by my internet service provider but find it another great way to chat with people all over the place.
So anyway, all these programs together with blogging are still new to me but are things that I want to make full use of.

Catch ya soon.

Thoughts from my sermon

Last night I preached from Isaiah 55.1-3.
This is a well known passage that looks at God's invitation to the thirsty.
We live in a world where sadly there are a lot of unfulfilled discontented people.
I asked the question, why is this?
In answer, I believe that people are looking for fulfillment in the wrong places. They look for jobs or possessions and so on to meet there needs without recognizing that actually the need at the heart of us all is of a spiritual nature.
Jesus is the only one who can fulfill that need.
We see in the reading from Isaiah that God offers water, wine and milk, each are significant.
Water represents the water of life; it’s what God invites us to drink from as He invites us to receive salvation. The wine represents the Holy Spirit. Wine was often used to purify undrinkable water, it killed of the bacteria in the water. The Spirit purifies us as we receive Him into our lives. The final substance is milk which is used to describe the Word of God.
As you can see, in these three substances offered by God to those who thirst, they are everything we could possible need. Salvation, purification and growth through God's living Word in our lives.
Are you looking for contentment?
Has the world and the pursuits of wealth and even more possessions been your way of trying to find satisfaction?
Well I've some bad news for you; such things will never give you real lasting satisfaction and contentment. What the world has to offer is of no real lasting value, it will always see us striving for yet more in an attempt to meet our need.
God, in Isaiah say's, 'why go after things that don't satisfy'?
We need to hear His call; we need to respond to His invitation and drink of the substances that lead to life and fulfillment in and through an ongoing relationship with Him through Jesus.
Are you thirsty?
Has the life you've been living been coming up short?
Are you looking for lasting satisfaction and eternal contentment?
If 'yes' is your answer then Jesus is your man. Turn to Him and start to live in the satisfaction that only He can bring. The satisfaction that comes through living in a relationship with Him where you can receive ever blessing God has promised us.
One last thing.
How much will all this cost us?
Let me just say that you will never be able to pay for it!
The great thing is, God knew that before He ever made an invitation to man to receive such blessings as salvation.
That's why He sent Jesus.
Jesus is the only one who can pay the price and He has done so for you and for me.
The question is, 'will you let Jesus quench your thirst'?
Will you receive the water of life, the Spirit of purification and joy together with the milk which is the very Word of God?
Or are you going to carry on with what the world has to offer?
The worlds best can only temporarily satisfy, what God offers brings satisfaction and contentment for all eternity.
The choice is yours!

Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer

Louise and I had a DVD night last night. We sat and watched Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer

Wow, what a great film.

We're both fans of super hero movies (something I've had a huge impact on concerning the wife!).

We both really enjoyed the first Fantastic Four movie and wondered whether they could really pull off a second.

We weren't disappointed. I wonder whether this was actually better the the first film.

I know some of you are thinking that this film has been out for ages now and why the fuss? Well some of us don't get to see all the big films at the cinema and have to wait for them to come out on DVD.

We've both recently been disappointed by the latest Spiderman film and came to this film hoping for our faith in the good old 'super hero' movie to be restored, it was!

The movie has all the humor of the first film that you may come to expect and a great storyline.

The 'Silver Surfer' might sound like a strange thing to have in land but he really worked and his skills really impressed us.

At one stage in the film you get to see London minus the water in the Thames. Wow, London with no Thames really is a sad place!

The special effects in this film are great and go some way to make it such a great watch.

If you haven't seen it yet, let me just say, I put it as one of my favorite 'super hero' films.

Get out and rent the DVD, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Ups and downs

So, last week was something of a hard one. If you read my last blog entry you'll know that I was preaching Sunday (Sept 30th). Well just before I left to go to Church I started to feel that my left knee was becoming very stiff. God is good and this didn't stop me from preaching. However Monday found me in all kinds of pain with what I understand was 'gout' in my left knee. I've never had it before and would hope to never have it again. My knee swelled up to something like a rugby ball and left me almost unable to walk for most of the week.

This made it hard for me to meet Louise's Auntie who had come through to J’bay for a short break with Louise’s folks. Every time that we had set to go around I found I had to pull out off because I was still in so much pain. Still Friday saw me feeling a certain degree better and I joined Louise and went out to 'Spur' to help celebrate Louise's dad's birthday.
I finally got to meet Marion which was an absolute pleasure. We celebrated dad's birthday early so that Marion could come out with us all. It was a lovely evening which ended back at our place for coffee. Sadly Marion flew back to Jo'burg on Saturday which meant I didn't really get much chance to get to know her, still I'm sure we’ll all get together again at some point.


This last Sunday saw us start something new at Church. We are having a coffee/fellowship lounge in the evening before the service. Its all about fellowship and everyone who popped in had a good time I’m told. We're hoping it will be something that young adults in J'bay will want to come too. Louise has come up with a great name for it 'J'bay Java' and we're also advertising it on 'facebook'.
Talking about 'facebook', I've also started a new group called 'Christians in Jeffrey's Bay'. The hope is that Christians all over J'bay will join it and collectively we can seek to be effective for God in our community, it'll be nice to also make known to others the various things happening in our Churches.
Well, that's about it for now I guess. I'm preaching again this Sunday, not sure on what as yet, but when I have something I'll share some thoughts in another blog entry.
My knee is loads better, just a bit of stiffness now, Thank you Lord.
God bless ya!

'The apple doesn't fall far from the tree'

Tonight I preached on John 14:7-14.

Yes, the verses after probably one of the most well known verses in the New Testament.
That being verse six, 'Jesus said 'I am the way, the truth and the life...'.
I wanted to preach about the 'identity of Jesus' and that, as believers we really should grasp His identity to be able to truly believe in Him.
Jesus proves His identity by His words and by His works. Their should be no doubt as to His true identity as 'one' with the Father particularly for us living after the death, resurrection and accession of our Lord.
As we embrace the true identity of Jesus and see ourselves as alive in Him we need to understand the ramifications of this truth on us as believers; we can do the works that Jesus did and more because Jesus has gone to be with the Father, which has released the Spirit to fill and empower us. But together with this comes the responsibility of living with Jesus' attitude to glorifying the Father.
When Jesus said 'ask anything of Me and I will do it'; we need to remember that He will do it as He seeks to bring the Father glory. Are we asking for things that will bring glory to the Father?
As children of God, identified as alive in Jesus, we need to have His attitude to glorifying our Heavenly Father.
HAVE WE?

Does the words and works of Jesus cause you to identify Him as the Almighty God?
If it does and you put your faith in Him, you have the opportunity to do great things with this 'new life','this new identity', things that God has prepared for you since before you were born?

Jesus said, ‘I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing’.
(John 15:5)

Harry Potter & the Order of the Phoenix

Yes, Jeffrey's Bay movie house has at long last shown the latest Harry Potter film.
A number of us from our small group went to see it and we all loved it.
I can still remember seeing the first film and thinking that it was okay but very much a kid’s film, not this one, I was caught up in the story from the very first scene.
As Harry and his friends have grown so has my enjoyment in the ongoing story of good verses evil. It’s fair to say that the story is getting darker and a bit scarier! Harry, however, isn't only growing in years but is growing in strength and wizardry skills to the point where he even teaches some of the other students how to look after themselves, which makes for some pretty funny mishaps by some.
The film has seen the development of some of the more background charters and the introduction of some pretty nasty individuals. Who is that battle axe from the ministry of magic? It was nice to see her get well sorted out.
The film was great and has left us all looking forward to the next chapter in this exciting story.

Shell festival weekend

Louise and I enjoyed a Saturday where we had very little to do. Past weekends have been rather busy for one reason or another.
So our Saturday started very relaxed, it was mum's sixtieth birthday and together with Trev in the UK, we planned to set up a webcam and use 'Skype' to video call her. Mum looked so excited, it was really great. The connection wasn't great but she could see us and us her. This is actually the first time we have seen each other since I left the UK. Wow, my mum has lost so much weight, I'm so proud of her. I really hope she enjoyed her birthday.
Louise and I headed off for the 'Jeffrey's Bay Shell festival', the weather wasn't great sadly but the event was nice. A lot of people put a lot of effort into making it happen. I took a few pictures which I've posted on my photo blog site (I'll talk more about my new photo blog later). The event is a bit like a great big community fete with people setting up their tables and selling all kinds of things. Louise and I came across a couple from our Church who was selling homemade jams and things; we brought a very nice onion jam that you can use on chicken etc (very nice). We wandered around further and I brought a hat for an incredible R.40, what's that in pounds? Less then £3.50, cool eh?
The festival is clearly very well liked in the Eastern Cape and people are coached in from all over. It lasts for four days in total, each day their are special events happening from groups dancing, to walks from J'bay to Aston Bay etc, plenty to entertain yourself.
I'm writing this on Sunday and the weather is a little bit showery, the showers are very short, hopefully it won't stop people from going, I'm sure Louise and I will go again today.
Our day didn't finish their, we later met with a young couple who had visited our Church. We got together for coffee and a chat, they seem like a very nice couple and will be meeting with us and our small group on Tuesday to go to our local cinema, we're going to watch the new 'Harry Potter film', we also hope they might join our Church.
A great day ended with us flaked out at home for the evening with the new 'Spiderman three' movie. All I can say about this film is, 'how disappointing!'
So, I said I will talk more about my new photo blog. It's something I have started this weekend because people are asking to see pictures of my surroundings. There is a link to this new blog under my profile details, to the right of this screen (Or copy and paste this link onto your web browser: http://mlk30.blogspot.com). Please do visit it; I hope to regularly update it with new pictures.
As I talk about this, I want to ask you to go to my 'guest book', its something new I've started and will give me an opportunity too hear from you. Tell me what you think of my blog and any suggestions you might have. Ask me questions and ask for things you want me to include, but most importantly, tell me about you, and what's new in your life.
Well on that request I'm going to sign off.
God blessed you.

Reflections

I can’t believe it!
My mother is now retired.
She's worked most of her life and today is the first day of her retirement. I don’t actually feel old enough to have my mum as retired, but there it is. Having spoken to her today, she told me some of the things she's planning to do with her time. I’m so pleased that God has blessed her with all she needs to now start living some of her dreams. Who knows, maybe she will start her own blog? It would be great to read about some of the places she’s visited and so on. There is a lot going on in the lives of my family at the moment. Trev and Clare have just brought their new home. It’s their first so they're both very excited. I’m so pleased for them both. It seems like everyone is moving on in life eh?
Louise and I have been here in South Africa for well over a year now. Its strange because I don’t feel like I’m living in a foreign land anymore, its like I’ve been here for so long that it feels normal. When I first got here it was like being on an extended working holiday but that feeling has really gone.
Two friends of ours are heading to the UK for a two week holiday today. Irene is from Aberdeen and Stuart is from South London (Don’t hold it against him, he's a Crystal Palace fan). It’s Stuart’s first visit to the UK in eleven years; wow how he will notice a change. We met up with them last weekend for a braai (yes Englishmen can braai!) and we talked about going to the UK, I’m going with Louise in December. I have to say that I’m looking forward to our visit for a number of reasons. I can’t wait to see family and friends of cause but I also want to see how I’m going to feel about the country.
Will I get their and then start realising what I miss about the place and question why I ever left or will I feel like South Africa really is the place for me?
I know one thing; South African weather really is for me. Wow it’s another beautiful day in the bay.
Louise and I are going to the UK in December as I said; we'll be leaving what is mid-summer for us to go to what could be a very cold England! I don’t think we'll mind returning to our glorious weather!

Louise and I are hosting our bible study tonight and with a sad-heart we will miss two of our friends who have had to go of to Cape Town. Sadly Jacques mum has died and they're going there to meet up with more of the family. Please pray for Jacques, Lynda, Michael and Monique. This is such a hard thing for them and life hasn’t been easy for them of late. As a family, they have become very special to both Louise and I and we feel so gutted for them. Jacques mum has been suffering for some time now. Thankfully she is no longer in pain but when you loose someone so dear to you that kind of truth is so hard to except. They really will benefit from all of our prayers.
So our small group will be missing two very important members, may they return soon.

This weekend sees Jeffrey’s Bay hosting the world famous ‘shell festival!' (What do you mean; you’ve never heard off it?) Last year I was at the 'South African Baptist Assembly' and missed it. It’s a big festival that the town and the surrounding areas get involved in and promises to be a great time. Their will be stalls selling all kinds of things together with various different activities. The place will be packed as people come from all over to join in the festival.
So the weekend is looking exciting and what’s more, it’s a holiday weekend as well, no work on Monday, three whole days off, YAY.

I think I will close on that high note, I was going to talk about the collapse of England in both the rugby and the twenty 20 cricket, but we won’t talk about that eh?
God bless you all.

Question: Should England give up playing internationals?

Well for an Englishmen living in South Africa its been a depressing weekend. First we were beaten badly on Friday in the rugby, then today we've lost the cricket.

Man, I was frustrated with the cricket, are there any English batsmen with a backbone!

But, to save my weekend I've just checked my beloved AFC Wimbledon, and yes, we won.
No in fact we didn't win, we hammered Cray Wanderers 6-2.
Come on you Don's.
If your struggling to work out who Cray Wanderers are, join the club, I've never heard of them.
It was a nice win for Wimbledon though, it was a F A Cup match and now gives us the opportunity to progress further in the cup.
Could AFC Wimbledon make it to Wembly?
Who knows!!
Thank you AFC Wimbledon for picking up my weekend.
We love you Wombles, we do. We love you wombles, we do.
We love you Wombles, we do. Oh, Wombles we love you!!

(Photo from http://www.afcwimbledon.co.uk/)

J'bay has an Indian takeaway!

Well it's Friday which means its shopping night. On our way home we picked up a curry from our new little takeaway. It’s very different to what I'm used too, but hey, it's nice to get a curry man!
God has clearly heard my prayers or should I say His heard me complain about not being able to get a curry in J'bay!

South Africa are hosting the twenty 20 cricket world cup, I've never really been much of a cricket fan, I just think that cricket tends to be too long. Still that said, I've been enjoying this world cup. Some of the cricket has been very exciting. It makes me think about my mate Nick from the UK who I'm sure will be watching as much as he can. England sadly lost to Australia today, but I think the Aussie's were particularly on fire. This format of cricket is going to pick up a lot of new fans like me.
It's a busy time for sports fans in South Africa, most people here are mad about rugby and the world cup is on in France. England have to play South Africa tonight, I'm pretty sure that most people are expecting England to lose. I guess I'll be keeping my accent low key for the weekend!

I'm preaching Sunday night on Galatians 6.11-18. I've done a complete series of sermons on Galatians. It's been a good learning curve for me as I've never preached a whole series before. I've found that because theirs been a number of breaks in my regular every second week preaching slot, that it's meant the flow has been lost to some extent. I think in future I will do one off sermons or a series that doesn't rely on keeping the flow. Maybe I'll preach a series on men in the bible or something?
I have enjoyed preaching from Galatians and do feel that I've learnt along the way. People tell me that my preaching is getting better and I want to give God the glory for that.
The closing paragraph in Galatians sees the Apostle Paul dealing with what's behind the Judaizers false teaching. They fear persecution and really have their focus completely wrong. They boast in leading the Gentile Christians to follow the ways of Judaism. Paul says he boasts in the cross of Jesus. I'm asking people where there focus is for there salvation. Is it in what we can do for ourselves or is it in the saving work of Jesus? Today we aren't lead to add things like circumcision to our salvation but do we add our own expectations to people who are getting saved. Things like, 'you need to be Baptists or to be able to pray in tongues etc'.
Do you try to add anything to your salvation?
Remember, we are saved by Jesus alone.

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.
(Galatians 2.20, NIV)

God bless all my readers.

Power cut!

What do you do if you're in J'bay and the power goes off?
Hit the beach man!
The beach was amazing, and I saw a whale again. The tide was coming in and it looked like it was feeding.
I'm pleased to say that the bug I had over the weekend has passed. It was a bit unfortunate to be sick with Rev. John McGregor here. I was able to hear him Thursday and Sunday evening but missed most of the weekend. The feedback from those who heard more from him was very positive.

Our little cinema in J'bay is showing 'Die hard 4' on their R15. night. So a number of us from Church went to see it.

Switch off any sense of belief, sit back and enjoy a great film.

I've seen all the 'Die hard' films and was very disappointed with the third film but this is detective John McClain back to his best. The action is often very far fetched and is from start to finish, and I loved it!
The plot was very clever and in a world so dependent on computers, I would say, not to much of a stretch of the imagination to wonder if such a thing could ever happen. Real computer hackers would probably laugh at me in saying such a thing but hey, who knows!

If you like pure unbelievable action and can deal with some rather blue language you're going to love this one.
Bruce Willis is still pulling it out of the bag. He is getting older though and I do hope that he will leave it now with this great closer to the 'Die hard' story.

Have you seen it?
What did you think?

Thanks for reading.

Rev. John McGregor

I've just come back from Church where Rev. John McGregor preached as part of the Churches 10th anniversary. The theme of the weekend is personal revival and his first message was about the place where our desire for personal revival begins, at the foot of Jesus.
He preached about prayer from Matthew 6.5-15 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%206.5-15&version=31.
John highlighted the truth that prayer involves relationship. I came home tonight and looked at my blog and found that someone responded to an earlier entry I made today with a poem about turning to God through prayer.

My prayers tend to be for other people largely which isn't a bad thing, but they do tend to be prayers for help and God's intervention in peoples lives. My prayer life needs to be more then that. It needs to be a place where I spend time with my Father God who wants to be in relationship with me. This spending time with God shouldn't just be in those moments of need. God is challenging me to walk with Him through out the day, I want to rise to the challenge.

I nearly didn't go tonight because I'm still feeling pretty sick. I'm glade I did, I met with a friend who hasn't been coming to Church for very long and has been away for a couple of weeks. He responded to my invitation to come along tonight. His going through some battles at the moment and needs friends, I'm meeting with him for coffee tomorrow. God clearly wanted me at Church tonight, I thank Him that He had His way.

God makes a habit of such things don't you think?

Please share any stories you may have on the subject.



Lata's

Church anniversary

Our Church has been going for ten years now and we're marking the anniversary by having a revival weekend. We have a guy called Rev. John McGregor coming to speak at what looks like a very full weekend program.

I'm feeling a bit 'tom dick' today sadly. I'm really hoping that it won't spoil the weekend.
Our small group will be meeting at Church tonight to hear Rev. John McGregor, Louise and I have volunteered to serve as councillors along with a number of other folk from the Church. I might have to stand back from that for now as I don't want to pass on this nasty bug.
So, if your reading this blog and you happen to be in Jeffrey's Bay over the weekend, why not visit Jeffrey's Bay Baptist Church and join in with our anniversary weekend (Stay away from me though, I have a bug, you've been warned!!)

God bless all my readers.

Spring.. Yay

This last weekend Louise and I hosted a young family, Donovan, Caryn and Kylie. They came to meet the Church where we are considering calling Don to be our Associate Pastor. They are a very nice family and both Louise and I are very excited and hopeful that God will call them to our Church. At this time they are living in East London, Don clearly has a passion for theology and for reaching out to people with the Love of God. He preached at both the morning and evening services and was very warmly received by the Church. Should God call them to our Church, I'm sure I will learn a lot from Don as I continue on with my own studies towards the Pastorate. I would ask you to join us in praying that God will make clear His will to Don, his family and to us the Church.

The weekend also saw Louise and I take a trip out in my buggy, we went to the Gamtoos river mouth not far from Jeffreys Bay. It’s a really nice place that has a nature reserve and sand dunes. We saw various birds but the highlight was seeing some whales just off the coast. I think they were right whales. We saw them slapping there tails and having all sorts of fun. Sadly they were just a little too far out for me to get pictures but they are often found in the bay so maybe some other time I’ll be fortunate enough to get some pictures.

The weather on Saturday was great and as the first day of spring, we had to mark it by getting out and doing something nice, we certainly did that.
We both hope to return to the Gamtoos for a camping trip one day, I for one look forward to that.

Wildlife!!

Let me introduce you too Max, my dog, his a little over a year now and is a Boer-bull x Rhodesian ridge back, which makes for a rather large mutt.
He has a very gentle nature but will certainly let people know his around if they try to get to close to our garden and house. Thankfully he doesn’t bark at the slightest thing un-like a lot of dogs around here.
Max can be a handful at times, particularly when he chews the wicker furniture given to us by Louise’s folks, but largely his growing into a lovely dog as he leaves his puppy days and troubles behind him.


Louise has two Siamese cats, one of which I can see in the garden (she’s probably coming back from hunting!).

Their names are Tessa and Pippa. Both come from our local S.P.C.A. which is quite incredible, as I wouldn’t have expected breed cats like these to be in an animal rescue place like that.
They are both very lovely and give Louise incredible joy. Tessa has really taken to me and Max, but Pippa clearly longs for Louise and has to have regular times on her lap.
They both like to hunt in the garden and the plot next door and will often bring home there spoils. The picture here shows one such creature, the funny thing is, when they catch chameleons they never really know what to do with them and I end up having to take the poor things to a local rescue place for chameleons.



So now you’ve met some of the family.


I really hope you're enjoying my blog.

God bless ya.

Went to the movies

Wow, what a great film?

Louise and I went through to PE on Saturday and were griped by the non-stop action of the latest Bourne movie.

If you haven't seen this film yet and you like edge of your seat action then what are you waiting for. I don't want to give any of the plot away but let me say that some of the gaps are filled, you will understand what I mean after watching the film. Matt Damon for me has been great in the three films and has grown as an actor. The fact that he isn't your Bruce Willis or some of the other action hero's from the big screen makes the charter 'Jason Bourne' more real.

If you love non-stop action with some great fight scenes and chase scenes, your going to love this. For me this third installment has been the best.

Anyone who has read the Bourne books by Robert Ludlum will soon see that this film doesn't follow the third book but this isn't a bad thing for me as I like the young Jason Bourne who is very capable of taking care of himself.

The film will take you all over the world in particular, to London which was nice for Louise and I as we got to see some familiar places. I think I even saw a Northern Line Train (I'm so pleased I'm not driving them anymore)!

Is their anything that I didn't enjoy about the movie?

Only that this may well be the last of the Bourne films, but who knows?

Our weekend ended up being a busy one with one thing or another. We are hosting a young couple in our home next weekend who are coming to Jeffrey's Bay with a view of becoming our Churches associate Pastor, so Louise and I have been moving beds and taking time to get ready for there coming.

We are having friends for dinner tonight (i hope they taste good!). Louise has made a very nice looking spag-bol, YUMMY. As is becoming a custom in our house, I'm sure we will introduce some un-suspecting newbies to the delights of our 'wanted game'. Ouch!

Thanks for reading. If any of you get to see, 'The Bourne Ultimatum' please let me know what you thought about it. I hope that you enjoy it as much as Louise and I did.

Lata's

The Bourne Ultimatum

Well at last one of my favorite films has its third episode in 'The Bourne Ultimatum'. I understand that this film isn't following the book but promises to be another exciting film.
Louise and I are going to see it on Saturday when we visit Port Elizabeth. I for one am really looking forward to seeing the film, it's been some years since the last episode (The Bourne supremacy) came out.
I'll update my blog with my thoughts on the film later.
It would be interesting to hear from any of my readers what films they've seen lately and whether they were enjoyed, please include why you did or didn't enjoy them.

Louise and I are really enjoying having a faster internet connection. We've talked about how fast the internet was when we were in the UK. When we first arrived in SA we had to go back to 56k dail up!! But i have to say a credit to SA is that it has seen the need for better internet for the people and have quickly made things better and more affordable. I think this has to be a big thanks to the Government and not Telkom the interesting phone company.

So in closing, the weekend promises to be a good one, I think that Friday we are going to get together with Louise's folks and are going to go out for a 'Spur' dinner.... COOL!

Welcome

This is my very first entry and I just wanted to say hi to everyone who reads it.
I'm new to such things as 'blogs' and will be learning as I go alone.

I'm living in South Africa and hope that this blog will give my friends and family a chance to catch up with what is going on in my life. So watch this space for updates and please feel free to post your comments, it will be great to hear what you have to say.

God bless all my readers.

From

Mark