Sadly Dennis Birch died on Thurs 8th June. Among other charities, Dennis was the founder of Worth Unlimited and something of a father in the faith to me. Faithful to the whole gospel, for many years he carried the demonstration agenda in YFC and helped me survive. The funeral is on Monday at 2pm at St Georges Church Wembdon in Somerset. He was a man full of grace and a true agent of the kingdom and I am honoured to be able to attend on Monday in the celebration of Dennis’ life.

Great weekend with family at Nephews wedding, one of the funniest best mans speech I have ever heard. Chatting to another nephew about purpose in work. As a dedicated teacher he was enthusing about the buzz and sense of purpose it gave him. As a throw away he mentioned how we all need that sense of purpose even those coming from agnostic/ atheist position. I understand that sense of purpose when i hear him discussing his vocation, but for me when we use the word purpose in this context I have an automatic value judgement on the word. Does simply making money equate to a sense of purpose?

So far the slugs have eaten 4 courgette plants, 2 tomato plants and quite a bit of broccoli. We managed to harvest some spinach yesterday which unfortunately we burned when cooking in the pan. Hope England do better in the footie

“I love it when a plan comes together” said Hannibal of the A team. I love it when suddenly things seem to come together in a way you don’t expect. I don’t about you but I often have my head down plugging away, working away on a project and seeking to make things happen and slowly unaware to you God is doing the same. You reach the end of your efforts and God starts to unleash THE plan and opens a new way forward.

I have supported the hammers since I met an older, cooler cousin, who had West ham written all over his trainers, I was nine at the time that I pledged my allegiance to the team. That season we won the FA cup and it has been a long time, through relegation, Harry moving on etc that I have stuck with them. My commitment hasn’t really changed, but I no longer have a scarf or write them on my trainers. West Ham or at least my notional commitment to them being my team is a strange constant in my life. We don’t have Sky so I rarely see them on the TV, I will make a point of seeing how they have done at the weekend but couldn’t tell you who they are playing next week. Yet I know they are the team I support. Perhaps its a wishy washy commitment by some standards, but it is a constant and open one to those who ask.

A few things caught my attention and I have knitted them together chesk out this hattip to Rev TC and the quote below Hattip Steve

“…the more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.”
G.K.Chesterton in ‘The Paradoxes of Christianity’.

When we are spiritually free, we do not have to worry about what to say or do in unexpected, difficult circumstances. When we are not concerned about what others think of us or what we will get for what we do, the right words and actions will emerge from the center of our beings because the Spirit of God, who makes us children of God and sets us free, will speak and act through us.

Jesus says: “When you are handed over, do not worry about how to speak or what to say; what you are to say will be given to you when the time comes, because it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you” (Matthew 10:19-20).

Let’s keep trusting the Spirit of God living within us, so that we can live freely in a world that keeps handing us over to judges and evalutators.
Henri Nouwen

Holidays are great. Starting back can be hard, and after a stressful few weeks followed by a couple of weeks off, it is easy to slip back into things at a breakneck pace. However I am determined to manage more effectivly. For me this isn’t just about time but also the amount of things to be juggled. Too many things hovering and needing to be done adds more stress to me than actual amount of time I spend working. So the reflecting through this post confirms that something needs to go.