On Friday I travelled down to the Gower with my children for a short break down at Nigel and Gill's caravan. It is in a lovely spot and the site is a great haven, being as it is child friendly. So Friday consisted of swimming in the pool and having a lovely meal in the local pub. Saturday arrived with a huge suprise, rain! I am not sure the last time it rained in Wales, suffice to say it was many weeks ago. However this weekend it arrived with avengance! You should realise that if the international community ever wants to end a drought, they should invite me to go on holiday, in a relatively short period a cloud will appear on the horizon and in no time the rivers will be overflowing their banks!

The lovely thing was it did not phase my fantastic children at all! What we do? Well dad suggested a trip to the nearby Borders Books where we could all look for books and then read them over a frappuccino in Starbucks. They loved it, I loved it and we all chilled. After that we all went back to the caravan for fish and chips, the odd dvd and some Saturday night TV.

I love being away for a break and even better if it is with my kids, my two favourite people in the whole world!

Thank you God!!!!!!

It is Thursday night and the first night I have been at home for a while with a chance to relax. So I decided to watch a bit of tv. The main programmes at the moment are Big Brother and Love Island. I have to say that my life is worth more than this! It seems that the thing that keeps people watching is that there is a chance you might see a couple have sex (which never struck me as a spectator sport anyway!). Some people suggest these programmes show a cross section of real life. Honestly, this is such a fallacy. The producers select people who they think will make "good tv". Well trust me this is not good tv, it is rubbish. End of rant!

So my solution? Pack for my trip away with the kids, read a good book and maybe watch an episode of West Wing!

The last few days, I have spent time with some great people, both at the Ignite golf day and yesterday at the Royal Welsh show. Now that is a better way to spend time. Forget the tv, hang out with friends!

In the last 6 months, my children and I have developed a pattern. Monday night is movie night! Often it's a DVD but tonight it was off to the multiplex to see Superman Returns.

Just a little detour....last week, Nigel and I travelled to Gateshead to visit Emmanuel College. We met the lower 6th and Nigel gave a lecture called "Is Bruce Almighty" Basically it looks at spiritual themes in Hollywood movies. He made a good point that many recent movies look at issues such as self sacrifice and friendships etc.

Anyway back to Superman! Firstly let me say it was a great film, definitely recommended. With great cinematography, special effects and fantastic music from John Williams it hooked you in from the start. In my view it is at least as good as the previous Superman outings. Anyway, there is no doubt in my mind that if Nigel is called upon to give the same talk he will definitely use this movie. It has some classic quotes. At one point Supermans father (Using a "resurrected" Marlon Brando) says "(humans) only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all—their capacity for good—I have sent them you, my only son." and then Superman says to Lois Lane "You wrote that the world doesn't need a saviour, but I hear them crying for one everyday. "

There is more obvious parallels in the storyline but I do not want to spoil it for you. Go see it and tell me what you saw in comments (BUT remember to start it with the word SPOILER so as not to give the plot away to others!

God does not require us to be superheroes. He has no illusions about us and He loves us unconditionally. However, last night Ugandan "Super" Pastor, Joseph Serwadda, whilst preaching at City Temple, said; "make sure your charisma does not overtake your character" I found that so powerful and challenging. So often we work on developing our gift when the main thing we need to develop is our character.

Keep in touch!

Gary

On Monday night I took my children to see "Pirates of The Carribbean 2 - Dead Man's Chest" at the local multiplex. It was a great movie and we all loved it! The sword fighting was fantastic.

Recently, I was on tour with Rebecca St James and her band. Immediately before a show in Switzerland, I looked in a locker and found some fencing gear. I threw a foil (the posh name for a sword!) and a mask to Scott Murray, the legendary rock and roll gutarist from the band. What started as a joke with a few tentative moves soon escalated to a full on swashbuckling fight. It was utter madness, one slip and either one of us could have seriously damaged the other. With pride on the line it quickly degenerated to a wrestling match....I will leave you to guess who won.

As i reflected on this, I thought of other times when I had done other stupid things like runnig through a railway tunnel on the mainline between Leeds and London, jumping from the roof of one building to another, climbing to the crows nest on an ocean going tall ship, driving down a single track road at 90mph, are just a few. Now I hasten to add, all these are acts of madness and I neither condone them, recommend them or think I am likely to any of them again. However, when I look at the risks the early disciples took I can now see that much of my Christian life is safe and lacking in adventure. What are the big risks I can take for God? I am planning to be here for a little while yet but wouldn't it be amazing to say, and really believe it, as the apostle paul did that to die in the service of Jesus be a gain?

So now we are all excited about "Pirates 3" what will we do until then...Well there is Superman Returns!

Last night saw the culmination of the FIFA World Cup. France played Italy. Settled on penalties, Italy won. However, that will not be the major headline. That will be dominated by Zinedine Zidane. This French footballing genius was the player of the tournament. Persuaded by his nation out of international retirement, he scored a penalty at the beginning of the match the was so simple it was brilliant. Everytime he touched the ball you felt like he could turn the match, whatever the result he was destined to be a national hero. This was his last ever professional football match, what a way to finish, as captain of your country in a world cup final....and then in a moment of absolute madness he head butted Marco Materazz in the chest with such force it knocked his opponent to the ground. The result? He was sent off in disgrace. The abiding memory of his career and that world cup final will be that action!

At Ignite we work with many young people, some of whom work with us on our year out internship scheme. At some point in the year, I often have to take them to one side and tell them it is essential you finish well as that will be the abiding memory. I know as I am a good initiator but have to work hard to finish one project before starting 20 others!

The Christian life is like that. We are often reminded that the life of discipleship is a marathon not a sprint. The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that "...we are surrounded by a cloud of witnesses, let us run with perseverence the race marked out for us." I am hoping that the race God has marked out for me still has some way to go. I am also mindful that I cannot be arrogant in purely believing that I will finish strong. It will only happen if I "fix my eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfector of my faith." (Hebrews 12:1)

I am sure that as Zidane thought about his last match, he dreamt about holding the world cup trophy aloft, remembered as a legend of the modern game. In reality it was so much different. Lord help me hold the crown that will last forever! (1Cor 9:25)

Today I visited two key partners to our ministry. Firstly I met with Bill Ritchie. He is the man in charge of the Ultimate Event at Alton Towers. Over the years we have taken Rebecca St James, superhero and newsboys to the festival. They have a commitment to excellence, a true ministry heart, a very realistic outlook and an event that probably attracts more non- Christian young people than just about any other. Over the years they have been great for Ignite and we are looking for more ways to effectively partner together.

From there i was off to see our publishers, Authentic. They have just published our latest book, 7 ways to ignite your Life
This is the 4th book they have published from Ignite and I think there are plenty more to come. Clearly, it is important to them that the books sell but they also value our ministry and us as individuals.

The other key person was my Co-Director Nigel James. Now strictly speaking I left him asleep in the hotel when I left this morning but late into the night we talked about some key plans and I went to sleep energised and excited about the plans that God has for us.

It is great the people that God puts into your life and journey!!

Today we had one of our Ignite prayer mornings. Each month we get together as a team and pray for our ministry and other stuff.

Today was particularly good. Nigel spent time teaching our team on the good decisions he had made and some of the not so good. Truth to tell, there was not much in the bad decisions that I could not relate to!

As Christians we know that prayer should underpin all that we do. As I reflect on this thought, I think of all the decisions that I have taken for Ignite, myself and my family in my own strength (or should I say weakness?) without intercession, travailing or even an arrow prayer. I have been a Christian for a long time now. I know prayer is key. I know it's essential. So why is it that I/we often try to live our life without prayer? I try to pray as I go throughout my day. I try to pray at the beginning and the end of the day. Sometimes though I rush around and don't refer to God. Some days I am late up and do not have time to pray, some nights I fall asleep before I have prayed. How rubbish is that?

I paraphrase the apostle Paul when he says why is it I do not do what is good for me and I do what is not good for me?

I guess this is the battle between the flesh and the spirit.

When I was out on tour with Rebecca St James, our bus developed a major fault meaning we could not continue our journey. If this was not resolved we would miss our flight and therefore our next show. What could we do? Well I suggested we pray. What is the theology of praying for a bus? I am not sure but we were out of other options! So pray we did. 15 minutes after our last amen, the bus moved! I went to see what had happened. The bis driver had no idea. One minute the hydraulics were wrecked, the next minute they were repaired, surely this was God at work? I know that is my conclusion!!

Please God help me to be more vigilent, to be more disciplined to be more like you and less like me!

Amen.

So England are out of the world cup.

In 1966, the world cup final was on the first day of my holiday in Scarborough. I was 4 and I watched England win against Germany. Since then it has all been down hill!

I like football. I follow the fortunes of Leeds United, Cardiff City and England. Now for the confession...I like football but it is not an obsession! I have enjoyed the world cup and I am gutted England are out but no tears were shed.

Over the years there have been many footballing heroes. George Best, Paul Gasgoigne, David Beckham, Wayne Rooney to name but a few. Today as the match was being previewed every single player, commentator, summariser, ex-pro and fan all said Rooney was the player who would make the difference, he could turn the match in England's favour, it was only a matter of time until he scored a spectacular goal. What happened? After 62 minutes after been involved in a minor scuffle, Wayne Rooney stamped in a very delicate area belonging to a memeber of the Portugal team. The referee looked on and had no choice but to red card the 20 year old. Another flag bearer for the nation side lined.

The players I mentioned earlier all carried the hopes of a nation, or at least a club, and in a fit of temper, blew it, dashing the hopes of millions. So why do we continue to build up these men, giving them titles such as saviour or messiah? We seem to have a need for heroes but they will almost certainly let us down. It could be their temper, an ill-advised comment, a life style slip or simply because they were not the people we had assumed they were.

I am reminded, not only as a result of football, but also from very hard experiences in my own life, that Jesus is the only one who will never let us down. He is for us, He loves us and we can never disappoint him because he never had any illusions about us in the first place! There is no history or evidence that He has ever let us down and I know he never will.

So as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!