Show your colours

Ben (my 7 year old) was playing FIFA 12 on his Nintendo 3DS. He was Manchester United and was playing against Stoke City.

He was getting so frustrated because he couldn't beat them as usually he would win with ease.

I watched him play and realised that he had both teams in almost the same kit. When I pointed this out to him and explained that he may see his players better if he played in red he changed the shirts and won 3-0.

I seem to remember Manchester United losing a game a few years ago and blamed the grey shirts they where playing in. They said they couldnt see each other very well as the colours seemed to blend in with the suroundings.


I explained to Ben that teams wear different colours so they can see who's on which side, and if they all wear the same they would keep passing the ball to the wrong play and giving the ball away.

The conversation then went on to how we all look different and speak different as Ben said ''but they would recognise the player''. The only way I could get out of that was to tell him football is a fast game and that they wouldn't have time to look at faces just shirts.

Do you wear your true colours? or do you try and wear someone else colours. In other Words do you try and be yourself or try and be what others want you to be?

For many years I tried to wear all sorts of colours to blend in with my surroundings, but I soon learnt that this doesn't always work. I was maybe unsure of what colours to wear and often found it hard to wear my own "kit"

Don't try and fit into someone else's shirt or try and wear they're colours (because it probably wont match your eyes) Wear your own colours with pride . Be yourself and try and do what you believe and people will start to show you more respect.

Take Up The Challenge.

In 1989 The New Zealand All Black went to Landsdows Road to play against Ireland. Before the game the traditional Huka was performed by the All Blacks players.

The Huka is effectively a native war dance and was used to challenge other Warriors to a fight or dual. It has become a big rugby tradition for teams such as New Zealand, Samoa and Fiji to perform the dance before a rugby match to set the challenge for the opposition.

Most times the Huka is performed the opponents will stand in a line to watch the challenge before taking they re place ready for kick off. But in 1989 Ireland went one step further in accepting the challenge.

What the Ireland Team done that day was put the challenge back to New Zealand.

Most recently Wales accepted the challenge at the Millennium Stadium. After the  Huka they Didn't move and refused to move until the All Blacks had Backed off.

You Know Sometimes we all face challenges and its how we respond to those challenges that can determine the outcome. Maybe its not all about war dances or trying to beat one another. It can sometimes be about keeping calm and stepping back to look at things from a different angel.

On the other hand there is a time to step up to the challenge and Take it on. These challenges are won with guts and determination.

Challenges are things that we may find difficult. Being challenged can be a uncomfortable situation. To challenge someone else could be putting them in a bad situation.

Does God set us challenges? Maybe. God doesn't set us challenges to put us in an uncomfortable situation (though sometimes it may feel like it). God sets challenges that however impossible they may seem, it is actually total achievable.

Why Not take up those Impossible Challenges and work on them with God? because with God all things are possible and even with the Smallest of faiths and the most tiniest belief God Works with you to achieve.

Like Brian Moore said ''Its a Challenge and there to be accepted, Accept it and make sure you then Back it up''

What he was saying was accept the challenge and then put 100% into your Game. if you Win great but if your don't it doesn't matter as long as you've given 100% effort.







Wait and god will be seen

Psalms 37:7
Be still in the presence of the Lord,
and wait patiently for him to act.
Don’t worry about evil people who prosper
or fret about their wicked schemes.

Trees - Rob Ball

Sponsor a Child.

Im looking into Sponsoring a child. This is through a christian organisation that runs Schools and christian centres all round the world.

I send £21 per month which goes directly to the centre or school where this child is and pays for a meal, Clothes, books and helps to keep the child in education till they reech 17 years old.

Now I was looking up about this and I read that many of these children where in the care of parents (which is great) but the average wage in the area they lived was around £20 per month.

Now that means for a father to send one child to school could mean everything he earns go directly to pay for schooling leaving him nothing to feed his family with. If he has 2 or even 3 children then there is no way for parents to afford schooling for their children.

This is something we take for granted. School is free to everyone here and as we take our children to school every day sometimes not even thinking that in parts of the world children dont get the chance to learn as we do.

As part of this Sponsorship you get the opportunities to also send money directly to the child's family to help with everyday needs and to make life easier. You can write to the children and send pictures, and they write and send pictures back.

Now I know that Charity's always ask for money to send abroad to help people living in poverty and I know we cant help everyone. we also never see where our money is sent.

With this scheme 100% of our money goes directly to where we send it and the £21 is used by the school or centre to pay for the needs of that child we sponsor. The money we send to help the child's family also gets given to them and the charity will help them to spend it wisely.

So I'm gonna start sponsoring a child and try and help a family out. Then I thought I could go a little further and ask people to donate a pound per month to sponsor a child through this blog. I would put the money together and send it in the same way. I will write (or someone else can if they want) and I will publish the letter we receive on this blog (on a new page).

I know I get about 50 - 100 different hits here per week so I'm sure we could raise £21 per month together to change a family's life.

You may ever want to sponsor a child for yourself if so go to www.compassionuk.org and all the information is there.

contact me if your interested either on facebook or twitter and I will organise the rest and keep everyone updated with what happens.

if you don't want to do this but would like to help in a smaller way then maybe give me a small donation to send to the family of the child I decide to Sponsor.

Why Go To Church?

God made the human race to be Social, he made Adam and knew it would work better with Eve. So he created two people to share the new earth together.

He also told Noah to take 2 of each animal on to the ark together with his family, this again was because god new that one of each would not work.

So OK this may be obvious to us, and we may know that for a species to survive it needs two, a male and female. And from that numbers grow and prosper.

This maybe not 100% true as I'm sure there is some species somewhere that can reproduce its self, and they say there are many species to still be discovered throughout the world. So who knows what is gonna be found.

I go to church and I know its not the only place I can go to pray and worship. I know going to church doesn't make me a christian. But being part of a church (which isn't actually the building its the people that meet there) gives me a place I can feel part of. It helps to learn and helps to encourage.

If we look at sport. Some people like to play individual sports such as golf and tennis. They get a sense of personal pride when they have won and don't feel they have let anyone else down when they lose.

Others like to be part of a team and like to work together with others an share the joy of winning and disappointment of losing. They enjoy the ''of pitch'' friendships they have with others and work hard to do there best for others.

All of these factors are important for a christian. A christian Needs to have a sense of personal pride and a one to one relationship with God by praying and trying to be the best they can.

Also It is important that we are part of the Church. This helps to encourage and be encouraged. being part of a church enables us to learn and teach each other and share our experiences to help us to grow with God.

So why go to church? Because God made us to be sociable and encouraged us to help and support each other. He wants us to be part of a complete family and meet together both to Worship and to socialise

''Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.''

Hebrews 10:25

Proof That God Exists

Found this on youtube and found it interesting. Why not take time to check it out

Get back what you put in

Ever heard the phrase. " you get out of life what you put in"
Well I think this is a great phrase to use through out all parts of life.

As a dad I get so much more out of the boys when I spend time to play with them and speak to them on they're level. It's amazing sometimes what they come out with if you take time to listen.

In the same way, as a member of a club you often find the same people doing most of the organising and find that although it can sometimes get them down they get so much more out of being part of that club than another does by just being there.

When I started my own business 12 years ago I wanted to move on in my career and the only way at the time to do this was leave my job and start a business of my own.

OK it's a hard way forward, and sometimes feel I'm not getting anywhere, but I guess I feel proud of building it from scratch and what I do is for me and not someone else.

I can run my business in a way I feel is right and not worry about compromising my morals as I work hard to run a honest and reliable company. I get so much more satisfaction building a business of my own rather than building it for someone else.

In the same way God rewards those who give more to him. And when you trust in him you actually see his hand in your life.

By opening up to God and working with him you will always find that God works for the good and not for bad. He wants the best for everyone and those that seek God will find him.

It's easy to maybe sit back and watch others do the leg work. It is also a more comfortable option to stay in the back ground.

But God wants you on the front line, working for him and helping others to do his work. And by this and trusting in god you will find God will see you a rewarded.

A life of hope.

Now to me being a Christian can some time be confusing. And the bible can seem mind boggling.

That why I like to look at things simply and try and see thing in my own language.

So it say in the bible that anyone that believes in god will not die, but have eternal life.

In a earlier blog I mentioned about the boss giving the same wage to a worker who had do just an hours work as he gave to the worker who had helped him all day.

The point was that they where promised the same wage and both got what they had been promised.

The point was that no mater when we seek the lord wholeheartedly he will give us that eternal life. Life in heaven forever wig him.

So then people will say "I'll continue to live my life as I am doing and later will ask the lord for forgiveness and will take my place in heaven.

This is kind of like the medieval people that would berry the dead with a cross in one hand incase they where going to heaven, and a coin in the other hand to pay the ferry man to get across to the "other side".

They edged they're bets on two views of death.

Thing is I feel sad for those people that really don't believe in Christianity as they can't haves we a life after death and that's where it ends.

But a life on earth here is so short and God promises a life with him in paradise. With joy and riches beyond any on earth. He promise no more suffering, no more sadness and no more dyeing.

What a way to live now. With the faith that life doesn't stop when you die but it only is just the start of something
new. And life here now is better with God than without him

"NO God, NO Hope..... KNOW God, KNOW Hope"

Jesus chose you.

Some times we all get the feeling that your face doesn't fit, or that your not good enough to join a group or rich enough to be part of a club.

It's true that money or education can get some better thing in life. You can get a better job, a better education or a better deal if your in the right circles.

It's the old "it's who you know not what you know" scenario or "if your face fits" situation.

In private clubs and secretive groups there's a voting system that's called the black ball vote. The idea is that members have a white ball and black ball to vote with and if when the balls are all revealed there is a black ball in the bag the the person being voted for is not allowed to join.

Some people are also quick to judge. Like the salesman who judged a customer to be poor and didn't give them the time of day, the customer left the store and went next door and paid£5000 cash for products.

Let's look at Jesus. He was born in a stable, his father was a carpenter and live among the poorer section of society.

Yet he was the son of God. And could have easily been placed in the care of a rich family, born in a palace and part of a royal household. But God wanted him to be with the masses. And spread the word amongst all people.

When Jesus meet with people he spoke to all. Even a tax man who everyone hated because he stole money a was corrupt. Yet Jesus shared a meal with him in his home.

He choose a small group of men to help him and to follow him. These where not kings, or skollars or priests. He chose fisherman and farmers.

So when you feel that maybe you feel your just not as good as others, or feel your not good enough for something remember who Jesus chose to be with, not the rich or the upper class but the people that lived and work. He chose the people that where living as part of the masses. He chose you and me.

This then kills all theory of classes. It kills all ideas that some people are more important than others.

Every person on this earth today is equal in Gods eyes and all have an equal ability to succeed.

Let look at people around us, not as better or worse, richer or poorer but as equal.

Take the challenge to treat everyone as you would want to be treated yourself.

How it works

My older brother is one of those people that just has to know how things work. I remember getting a toy for my birthday and soon after getting it out of the box my brother was trying to take it apart to see how things worked and how it did what it did.

Now I don't care how it works, as long as when I press the correct button it does what I want, that's all i need to know. Simple but effective. Why try and make it complicated and get it to bits not really knowing if you'll get it back together again?

With Prayer I often find myself wondering how it works, if god has a plan then surly that's what is going to happen and all the praying in the world will not change it.

Praying is talking to God and making him part of your life. And communication with God is key if your to have him in your life.

I guess as a parent we know what we want for our children but sometimes the child may ask for something different and we have to weigh up whats best for the child.

The child may not always get what it wants. As a parent we will sometimes decide to give the child something better as we try to teach our children the best ways in life.

God is like our parent and will always listen to our prayers, he will always answer them even if its sometimes not the answer we where expecting. He will always help us when we ask for help and lead us in the right direction.

This is all part of having faith in Him and trusting him to know what is best for us and others. Just as a child trusts a parent and seeks help, we should trust and seek help from God .

I don't know how it works but I guess I'm happy just knowing it does work and trust God will always listen and answer.

Are you in Tune?

No Thank You... I have faith in the Lord.

There's a story of a man who was at his house when heavy rains poured down, the river crested, and the town flooded. As he stood on his front porch, the neighbourhood completely under water, two men came by in a rowboat. "Can we take you to safety?" one called out.

The man shook his head. "No, thank you. I have faith in the Lord and He will save me."

A little later, the waters had risen and the man was on the roof of his porch when a few people came along in a motorboat. "Hey, would you like to come with us?" one of them called.

"No, thank you," the man replied. "I have faith in the Lord, and He will save me."

The waters continued to rise with alarming speed, and the man soon found himself on the roof of his house. A helicopter came by and hovered overhead as the pilot broadcasted, "Let me drop a line and get you out of there."

"No, thank you," the man called back. "I have faith in the Lord, and He will save me."

The man died in the flood and went to Heaven, where he was met at the Gates by Saint Peter. Extremely saddened and upset, the man requested to talk to God. His request was granted.

"Heavenly Father," the man cried, "I had faith in you to save me from the flood, and you didn't come through for me!"

Astonished, God replied, "What are you talking about? I sent you two boats and a helicopter!"

We cant have to much faith in God as the bible tells us anything is possible with God. I guess its been another one of those confusing question in my mind about how do we know when god is calling or leading?

Its not about waiting for what you think will happen it is seeing what god has planned.

But maybe this is impossible as we can not even start to think even close to Gods plans and like that man in the story would we have seen what God had sent for us.