We are all back from the very hot island of Tenerife. It was such a good time. I am so fortunate, God has blessed me with two wonderful children. We spent lots of time laid by the pool. eating, swimming and walking...just hanging out being a family.

As usual I am reading about 4 books. 1 by Philip Yancey, one by Jeremy McQouid and a great book I bought the day before we left Cardiff, "Moondust" This is a book where a British writer seeks to interview the only 9 men living who have walked on the moon. I have not finished it yet but I am loving it. As a 44 year old man, I distinctly remember the Apollo programme. The book goes into the political and technological motivation that made men leave the gravitational pull of the earth and head off to the lunar surface. However, what it stirred in me was the sense of adventure that the astronautshad and that all of us as kids shared when they headed off to the moon. What is sad is it is unlikely that in the near future that rockets will go to the Moon or Mars for that matter. So in leiu of any other adult being there I tried to share some of the excitement with kids....I failed! They were not in the slightest bit interested and the whole thing, please excuse the pun seemed alien to them.

One suprising success was "West Wing" As a late convert to this Emmy winning series having only watched series 1 in May (to my shame I have since watched right through to series 6!) I took the first series took watch again late night in the apartment. So night one, the kids wanted to stay up and the kids wanted to stay up so they decided to watch the dvd with me. They loved it . So each night we watched 2 episodes before going to bed. I love the drama, characters and politics. I am not sure what they liked about it but am sure glad they did!

Gary, Rebecca and Benjamin are now on holiday. Hurrah!!!

Yesterday I went to Soul Survivor. It was a great time. The main reason I went was to see the band I manage, Superhero perform in the gigs venue but it turned out to be so much more.

It was day one of Week B and the youth group from my church youth group led by my mates Matt Gregor and Pete Joyce. They were having a great time. They were looking forward to life changing teaching, intimate worship and times with their mates that they will never forget.

I met up with some good friends, Roy Crowne, Andy Hawthorne, Liz Biddulph, Jonathan Brown and Simon (Botty) Ward. These were special times and alone made the journey worthwhile.

I spent most of the day hanging out with Superhero. Boy were they tired. Lead singer, Tom Cheshire gave the best quote of the day when he said "This is the 7th most tired I have ever been in my life!" So we asked, "what caused the other 6?" The band had been on the road for 14 days and had played lots of amazing shows. The reviews had been wonderful, kids had got saved and Compassion children had been sponsored....but the boys were knackered!!

So how was the show? Well they more than rose to the occasion. 500 people enjoyed a storming set from the boys. many fans were made and I was so proud of the way they rose to the occasion.

To be honest I am really tired and so looking forward to my holiday but as i drove back home, I was thinking, that God does not ask us to be fresh and alert before he uses us, he just asks us to be willing and he will do the rest! This is surely a good thing as if He waited for me to be on top form there might be about 10 days a year!!!!!!

I have just returned from another great but tiring week at Flames of Fire. Nigel and I ran the youth programme. There were many highlights, fewer greater than having a team of young people working with us to deliver a powerful programme. Another was truly inspiring worship provided by the Ignite band and then Superhero (www.superhero.org.uk). One highlight was singing the Delirious? song History Maker. There was a true sense that the young people present really believed that they could make history in the name of Jesus. Please God let it come to pass!

It is the first time I have been to the event without my children and I must admit that felt strange. It has been a strange couple of years, much of which I would not wish on anyone, but I'm still here! A friend of mine said one thing that marked out the army of God from any other army in the world was that it puts its wounded in the front-line and the more it does it the more invincible it will become.

Working with young people you see sometimes just how vunerable they are. The world is a tough place and they have a lot of challenges to negotiate. Some fall to drugs, teenage and pre-marital sex some are victims of abuse. It is terribly sad, BUT there is hope and that hope is in Jesus. With a willing heart, he can use us. The singer songwriter, Eli, said "God does not call the qualified, he qualifies the called" I find that comforting.

Also when life is tough, God can still use us. One of the lyrics in he song history maker is "We'll see broken hearts making history" amd I join with them in singing "and I believe it"

Today has been a great day. My daughter went shopping with some of her friends. My son and I first met with Ed Lumley to do some last minute shopping for Flames of Fire (www.flamesoffire.co.uk). After that we went to see STORMBREAKER at the local multiplex. The film was orignally from a book by Anthony Horowitz and features the 14 yr old school boy hero, and spy, Alex Ryder. Well let me say it was a great film! Lots of action, chases, martial arts and, of course, good triumphed over evil! If you like James Bond, do not demand a plot that is too complicated then this is a definite movie for you. It had some great British actors in it, Robbie Coltrane (Hagrid in Harry Potter), Bill Nighy (fresh from Pirates of the Caribbean, Dad Man's chest) Andy Serkes (Gollum and King Kong) Steven Fry and many more....

In recent days, for reasons I will not bore you with, I have had a greater understanding about what it means, as a Christian, to carry your cross daily. Much of my life gives me great joy and celebration but there is is one part that is a real trial. As i thought about the movie tonight, I realised that Jesus is the real Stormbreaker. As the son of God, "even the winds and the waves obey Him" So whatever life may throw at me, I follow a saviour who can calm any storm!

Somedays, I wake up, and metophorically speaking, look the devil in the face and say, "I'm still here!" It is my way of saying, whatever the devil throws at me, I have Jesus in my life and "He that lives in me is greater than he that lives in the world."

So go see the movie but more importantly, know the real Strombreaker!