Well, what else has been happening, I know I must get better at putting time aside to do this more regularly…………….I have been talking with lots of different people with regard to what we are doing here in Brandes. I have had various meetings with our Anglican friends, the Rural Dean for the area and also the vicar of Beeford, plus meetings arranged for the coming weeks with Saint Marys lay preachers and stewards. I am trying to keep our methodist friends informed as well. The idea is that now we have a leaflet / brochure to give to people I can actually start the process of giving them out to key persons at the other churches. If everyone at Saint Marys and the chapel know who we are and what we are about it won’t come as too much of a shock when the leaflets start dropping through letter boxes at the end of August. It’s good to talk as the saying goes and it is especially good to talk about Jesus. I really want to let everyone know in the village that the churches are all pulling in the same direction. We are not in competition with the other churches, we are just trying to tell people about the love of Jesus in a different way.

It has  been amazing how many opportunities have come my way to tell people about Gods love and how Jesus died and rose again so that we can be forgiven for everything we have done wrong in our lives.

All you have to do is pray to our Father in heaven that opportunities will come your way to speak to people about Jesus. The opportunities arise when you least expect them, but you must grasp the opportunity with both hands immediately or the moment will have passed. ( I usually burst into song at this point…….Give me one moment in time….)

I have found that a fantastic time to talk to my colleagues is when we are in a car coming back from Spurn Point, 28 miles of captive audience!! The pub is another good place to speak about Jesus, again you must never try and dodge the opportunity, but once it happens it is so exciting you cannot help yourself. It is also a good excuse for why I am back so late from the Dacre Arms………..

God is really interested in every detail of our life, we were concerned that the entrance to the chapel hall is quite dark because of a hedge down the side of the path, plus the door is hidden from the street, and when we start we would like to be visible from the Chinese takeaway…….so we have been praying, and amazingly enough…………………… someone has cut the hedge down……Thank you Lord.

We had a home group barbecue a week ago, it was lovely, all that glorious sunshine and heat that we have had for a fortnight, suddenly disappeared and the clouds and rains arrived. Not that it spoilt anything as I stood inside the kitchen patio doors and barbecued away like a good un. Half way through the evening Mike B texted to say that Emily their daughter was having a rough night and would we pray for her. So we did, and Emily settled down and fell asleep almost immediately. God is so good.

The bible says in Matthew ch10v 30 ” That even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” God is concerned with everything we do, with every little detail, He knows us so intimately and wants to help us in every way possible, we just have to remember to ask Him to help us. 

We are so valuable to Him that God sent His only Son to die for us. We must remember that truth all the time………………John ch3 v16 For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life…………………. 

I must tell you about my brassicas……………………. It has been a very trying time down on the allotment.

Well the last 2 weeks seem to have just literally disappeared in a whirlwind of activity and work.

I have now begun my well earned week off after a busy 11 days at work driving ships up and down the river Humber. The last couple of days have been exceptionally busy as we have had some of the biggest tides for a few months and ship owners take advantage by getting deeper drafted ships up to the wharfs and jetties on the river Trent and up to Goole, via the river Ouse.

Well what has been happening over the past few weeks….

Our daughter had her prom after finishing her GCSEs and looked stunningly beautiful even though I say so myself.

Saturday 3rd we travel up the M62 for  a celebration at Huddersfield Christian Fellowship and listen to a speaker from New York tell amazing stories about what God has been doing where he lives. A warehouse costing hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars is made available to the church and then food to fill the warehouse arrives, so that the church can provide for the poor in the city, all these things that seemed impossible to man, God made possible, through the faithful prayers of His people.

God can do and is doing amazing things now, today, the bottom line is that we have to pray and ask Him and He will deliver in ways that you cannot imagine, in ways that will always astound and amaze, all we have to do is pray and believe, pray dangerous prayers, prayers that will make an impact, and believe that God will answer them…….

Huddersfield Christian Fellowship meet in a brand new building called Cathedral House, which is as its name says an awesome Cathedral of a building, (have a look at some photos on their website www. huddersfieldchristianfellowship.com) It is a staggering building and after the meeting we get chatting to Colin Cooper the senior pastor, who told us that it was meant to be a proclamation in a city with a large Moslem community, the Christians needed to make a bold brash statement that Christianity is still alive and kicking, and wow they have really managed it with this building and an active membership of over 900.

It’s good to find out what other Christians are doing throughout the land and our little project in this village is no less relevant or  less important to God. God wants Christians to succeed and be successful and we pray once again Lord for the vision that you have given us for this area, that your hand is upon everything we are trying to achieve and do, and with your help and guidance we will be successful in bringing the love of Jesus to this area.

Everything is possible with God and we must not get bogged down with the comings and goings and the pressures and toil of daily life. After 11 days at work I do feel rather weary but take strength from Isaiah chapter 40 v 30~31….Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. 

Sunday 26th June. After church Amanda gives us the 2500 leaflets and the 2 conference banners. We cannot wait to get home and have a look at them. They look truly stunning and we just pray that the banners will make a visual impact when people walk through the doors of the chapel on September 12th. Two and a half thousand leaflets to deliver, that is an awful lot of walking………………..

Monday 27th June. I pop off to Huddersfield to bring Adam back from uni. The galaxy is literally piled from floor to ceiling with gear. Adam tells me he has been talking with his leader at Huddersfield Christian Fellowship and he has given us 5 brand new books from the shelves of the church bookshop on starting new churches. Every one has been so good to us and God continues to bless us.

We attend a meeting led by Ali in the evening, telling us about some new and exciting ideas that Beverley Community Church are going to be getting involved with. One of them being the street angels scheme in Beverley, hopefully starting before the Christmas party season. Sue and myself are looking forward to getting involved, watch this space….our kids are “over the moon” about the prospect of Mum and dad being on the streets on a Friday and Saturday evening……………. 

Wednesday 30th June. The morning after the night before, Oh dear, Oh dear. I thought England losing 4-1 to Germany last Sunday was bad enough but last night we were absolutely thrashed at bowls, yes bowls. We were playing an away match against a team of young men /lads ( all under 25 ish). These lads were full of it and they were very good, there were lots of high 5s and low 5s, lots of come on mate, well done mate, you can do it mate, lots of running down the green after there woods, lots of cheering and a lot of points scored against us…..and they were even still managing to text whilst continuing to drop woods into the head. ( a bowls expression : the head being the immediate area around the jack, the jack being the small white ball we are trying to get close too with our woods, woods another expression for our bowls. I presume they are called woods because at one time they were made of lignum vitae a very hard, hardwood.) The final score  for the evening being 49 – 6………..It was a lovely sunny evening, and we did enjoy ourselves I think, yes it was a lovely sunny evening……..it was a lovely sunny evening, it was a lovely sunny evening and we did enjoy ourselves.

These four young men absolutely loved what they were doing, they had a passion for the game they were a bit over exuberant and a bit over zealous in their celebrations, but is that such a bad thing. If only we could translate this passion and exuberance into a passion for our Lord Jesus. This is the challenge that I face today, it is the challenge that we all face. We have to make Jesus accessible to these young people, we have to make the love of Jesus, cool, we have to find a way of making Jesus relevant, (if that is the right word) in their busy lives.