Thoughts From The Road

Cardiff Mens Convention

Yesterday I joined another 1,000 men for the Cardiff Mens convention at the St Davids Hall Cardiff. It was quite an event. My role was to run some "round table" discussions about Cardiff Street Pastors. The seemed to be pretty well received. It was a particular joy when I was about to start one and Chief Superintendent Josh Jones sat down and joined me. There were a good crowd from Band of Brothers and Mark ran a round table about this growing movement (www.bandofbrothersonline.com).

The keynote speakers were RT Kendall. He preached from the life of Joseph and brought his message on total forgiveness. There was a time of repentance at the end of his talk that was very powerful.  Other keynote speakers were Lyndon Bowring who talked on what he had learnt in his life of ministry. Again, there was a significant message. 

The other main speaker was Richard Taylor who shared his testimony on how God had resued him from a life of crime and drug addiction. He may well be a speaker at Ignite at some point as it a story young people should hear. The organising committee for this event is chaired by Chris Street, on of our trustees. He is doing a great job.

Today will see RT Kendall preach at City Temple and me preach at the Ignite event. Talk about from the sublime to the ridiculous!

So much pain, such a small cause.

Pictured here are 3 kidney stones. They look fairly lethal but are in fact at least 10 times their actual size. Last Monday morning, I met for a quick coffee with my mate Paul Brown. Within 5 minutes of sitting down I had to excuse myself and dash home. I could feel a pain around my kidneys reminiscent of one I had had 14 year previously. Lesley took me to the hospital and I was admitted with suspected kidney stones. Tests showed there were 3. One was traveling between my kidney and bladder whilst the other 2 were still in the kidneys (1 on each!). It was the moving one that was causing the pain. Tiny as it was it was traveling through a tube the size of a single bristle on a tooth brush, so size is all relative. The pain was excruciating and only strong medication (including morphine) offered any respite. In fact you imagine my response to the nurse who seeing me in agony offered me a couple of paracetamol!

During the time I was in the ward I took the had some amazing conversations with a fairly evangelistic muslim who was there with the same ailment. He had such a passion for his faith and a respect for Jesus. However, is understanding was very limited. He was quite surprised when I told him that Jesus was the son of God, that this is what the bible said and there was no justification that he was only a profit. The dialogue was interesting but what struck home was when I told him the a story from the life of Jesus. I am challenged by meeting with him again to share more of this truth.

The power of prayer is a wonderful thing. When the doctor told me where he was going to put the camera and the instrument to remove the kidney, if I did not pass it with 24hrs, I confidently predicted that the pain would be gone before then. Indeed it was as I passed it that day (as I was typing this I accidentally put an i in the word passed where the a should be. Either way it is accurate). Praise God. Only 2 to go now!

U2 Announce 360 degree Tour to play Cardiff, Wales

U2 have announced their latest globe spanning tour and the European leg finishes in Cardiff on August 22nd 2009. I am delighted to say that we have floor tickets! If the show is anything like their last tour I will be delighted. This new album is a classic and gets better with every play. The band continue to explore spiritual themes that excite and challenge by turns. It is amazing that I managed to buy it for £6 from the local supermarket. I am also impressed that there were seats from as little as £30 for the show in the Millennium Stadium.

National prayer breakfast for Wales

This morning I am having breakfast with a couple of hundred people in the milennium centre, Cardiff. There is so much that is challenging here. As well as meeting with some of my friends, I was encouraged to hear from the leader of the Christian Union political party in the Netherlands. An academic by training he made a couple of fascinating points. One is there is no such thing as a post-Christian society. you cannot go beyond Jesus. Post-modernism and even a post secular society are reality but when we as the church suggest we are in a post Christian society, we buy into a poverty mentality that is a falsehood that our faith in Jesus must reject.

We also looked at returning to covenant living rather than contract living. I love these faith shaping, potentially paradigm shifting opportunities.

Written live from the event!