Prayer

I teach because I want to change lives.
I am involved in a school because I teach.
At school there are often issues that are frustrating and problematic. Some of then caused by me!

The question I want to ask myself is why don't we submit all our frustrations and problems to God in prayer.

Why don't we pray more for our children?
Why don't we pray more for our leadership?
Why don't we pray more for ourselves?

I do moan about our children. And I bet they moan about me!
I do moan about our leadership. And I know they moan about me!
I do wish to be more effective!

Why don't I pray more and moan less.

This is my promise to myself. I will pray about my frustrations and not moan about them.
I will do this for one month and evaluate.

I will let you know.......

It's just not cricket.

Got to find a way to change this.....

I went yesterday to a cricket match between two schools. It was a hopelessly one-sided affair.
It was a twenty over match in which one team scored 216 runs. Even had their best player act as umpire and retired some of their batsmen. The other team was bowled out for 17 runs.

To an outside observer it would seam that the beaten team should hang their heads in shame. That they would have left the game depressed and contemplate never playing again. But they did not. To their credit this team of young men were full of stories about their own courage, efforts and attempts. They were smiling and laughing and talking about "next time I will......"

For me the most upsetting thing about the day was not the scores, or the dropped catches, or the number of extras. No way

The most upsetting thing about the day was the sledging done by the better side. I watched them mocking the lack of uniform or cricket clothes of the weaker team. I watched them mock the bravado of the weaker team who chose to take off their batting helmets. I wanted to shout at them and say...

I wanted to say things like

• Do you know that the boys whose shoes you are mocking has lost both his mother and father. Do you know that he may not be able to afford cricket shoes.
• Do you know we are playing this game at your home field (as all our games are away games) because we don't have a field of our own.
• Do you know we were not transported here in a school bus, but in a taxi.
• Do you know the helmets are cracked and cut into the boys heads - so better risk it.
• Do you know that we do not have enough boys for age group teams - we have one team, grade 8-11 that's it.
• Do you know that our number 10 batsman is blind in the eye that is facing the bowler, yet he has the courage to face even your fastest bowler.
• Do you know that we only have two protective boxes. Its is either swap on the field or go without.
• Do you know that we have only the two bats you see (they belong to two of the boys) and one is cracked.
• Do you know that the young men you are mocking have been through so much and have faced so much, and that your mocking hurts.

I wanted to say that there is almost no chance you can lose this game so why mock the bravery and sportsmanship of a team who face bigger obstacles that your bowling and yet still turn out to enjoy the challenge of sharing an afternoon of (not quite) competitive sport with you.

To the young men I was with. Your courage, attitude and enjoyment was an inspiration. I give you this promise, that if I can find a way, I will try to get sponsorship so that the opposition can forget about the lack of equipment you have and rather focus their eyes on the heart and passion you put into your cricket and your lives. I promise you that is you carry on with this heart and determination your play will improve and one day soon you will find yourselves winning a game.

I know then, that the lessons you have learned will enable you to treat your opponents with dignity and sportsmanship. 

With my girls, having a wonderful holiday at the beach. I am so blessed. Only two months till my sons come out for Christmas.

Family is so important. God gives us people around us who brighten up our lives and share our lives.

My board game has undergone so many changes and matured into something I am very excited about. Can't wait to playtest with my sons.

Please visit Steve Mcvey

I have found many writers who have influenced my faith in a possitve way.

I enjoy reading Brian Mclaren, Myles Munroe, Philip Yancey, John Maxwell.

One person who is not as well known as these other gentlemen is Steve Mcvey and yet his writing has had a profound influence on my life. I have added a link to his blog.



Steve Mcvey

 His views are not always going to be exactly what you hear from most pulpits. He majors on grace!
Yet somehow I think that Jesus majored on grace. I think grace is what seperates followers of Jesus from every other faith in the world. And, sadly I think that many christians display very little grace towards people who are not like them and people from other faiths.

If I am not mistaken this was the cause of many conflicts between Jesus and the religious establishment of his day. In fact, you could say that this was the reason why they crucified him.


I remember being stuck by the fact of Gods' grace towards me when reading these words from Colossians 1

 ²¹ Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of^] your evil behavior. ²² But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation

To think that my emnity with God was always just in my mind. His attitude towards me was always LOVE and always GRACE, and because of this grace he calls me holy and without blemish, free from accusation.



Life Changing Book!



Wow, wow, wow. I live my life in self accusation. Satan is continually accusing me and reminding me of my faults and weaknesses and yet God is not. God is perfect - he could hold me accountable for so much and yet 2000 years before I was even born he had sorted out every failure and weakness of mine so that I could come into fellowship with him by Grace.

It is only when I accept this grace and live in it that I am able to ignore the accusations of my past failures and weaknesses. This gives me freedom to have victory over new temptations and to live a better life. To know God's grace allows us to Know God.

One day in a Christian bookstore I came across a book called Grace Walk. It was on special and I bought it. When I read it I was reminded time and again of the Grace that I had experienced when reading Colossians 1.

 Please make a visit to Steve Mcveys blog.
The more you do it the more you will be blessed and convinced of the grace of God.

As an example here is one of his posts.

God Is For You!

God is for me.” Can you make that statement with a deep sense of certainty? He is, you know. When things are going the way you want, God is for you. When life seems to be falling apart, God is for you. When the Philistines chased David down in Gath, he wrote, “This I know, that God is for me” (Psalm 56:9). What a time to make a declaration like that!

Many of us have found ourselves in a place similar to David’s situation at times. Life is closing in . . . the enemy seems to have us cornered and there appears to be no way out. Pleasant circumstances disappear before our eyes and the world turns dark.

At times like that, we may be tempted to cry out, “Why is God against me?” Not David. He assured himself with the truth, “God is for me.” He didn’t say, “This I feel, that God is for me.” There are many times in life that we don’t feel like God is for us. No, he said, “This I know, that God is for me.

Will you affirm this truth in your own life? God really is for you. Nothing can ever change His mind or heart toward you. If you are His child, His lovingkindness toward you will last forever. (Read Psalm 136 sometime!)

Circumstances may be suffocating you at times, but God is for you! Negative feelings may seem to be strangling you, but God is for you! Life may not make sense at a given moment, but God is for you! Trust Him. When you feel like you’re drowning in an ocean of problems, cling to your Heavenly Father. He will prove Himself strong in your life by assuring you of His love.

Your circumstances may or may not turn out like you want, but He will hold you in His loving and sovereign arms and gently whisper His love to you again and again. Sit in quietness for a moment and listen to his loving voice assure you of that fact until, like the Psalmist, you may say, “This is know, God is for me!”