How many Baptists does it take to change a lightbulb?

Called out to do a favour for a parishioner, last night.  Light bulbs blown and she was unable to get up to the light fitting to replace them; all the sort of thing that you get taught at Bible College.  Still, so easy that even a Baptist Pastor could fix it.

As I left she thanked me and joked, "Let there be light".  Then she stopped and looked genuinely puzzled.  "Now who was it who said that?", she asked. 

I'm having a great impact here....

A great weekend

After clocking off from youth club on Friday night I had a really great weekend this week.

Saturday: Breakfast with the family, met a friend to pray, met up with family and friends to watch my team win 3-0, food at Nandos and wine and talk with an old friend. 

Sunday: Enjoyed church with no responsibilities in the knowledge that I was in the safe hands of  good leaders and preachers, huge lunch, watched the big game and then missed the evening service to take the teenagers group bowling.  And won.  Drop or two more wine and more great conversation.  Fall asleep grateful for the weekend, a day of rest that actually felt like one and, I admit it, just a tiny bit envious of others who have weekends off on a regular basis and perhaps take the blessing for granted.    

Beatbox Nativity

What's not to love?  The Nativity as you've never heard it before, explained by a real-life vicar.  Already think about how I can use this in a service.  This was pointed out to me at 607 views on YouTube - think there will be a lot more before Christmas is over!

Dice

Hey, after a year of trying, for the first time I was actually placed in the top five in the monthly competition.  Tonight's competition had the theme Numbers and it was a stretch to know what to actually try to photograph. This was the best I could come up with and I got placed second.

Next month the theme is Food.

Mystery Worshippers

Some time ago we employed a researcher to come to church and give us some honest feedback, we did this through the Church Check scheme run by Christian Research.  I was contacted recently by The Baptist Times for comments on the scheme, so the article appears in this week's edition.

http://www.baptisttimes.co.uk/news4.htm

As does the news that the paper will cease publication at the end of next month. 

Not my fault - honest! 

Let's Get Married

Going through Ephesians in church and the chance to preach on Ephesians 5.21-33 this week - it's dangerous stuff folks!  Wonderfully, Tim Keller publishes his book on this very passage (The Meaning of Marriage) next week.  Or so it says on the websites.  I pre-ordered mine and got sent it last week.  As a result I have had the chance to read most of it before Sunday.  A true pleasure.

Enjoyed putting this together as well.  It's a sequence of pictures and great marriage quotes that I have done for service.  All with the uplifting sounds of The Proclaimers too, can't be bad.  Take a look and see what you think. 

It is on YouTube here...   http://youtu.be/9wfjU6sIOR8

Rugby - a first

Did something yesterday that I had never done before and watched a live game of rugby.  Only ventured round the corner for Burnham-on-Sea's game against Matson but had a great time.  17-0 to the home side and got a few pictures into the bargain.

  




 

Another small planet

This is a shot of Cheltenham Cricket Festival taken this summer.  Probably works better than most of my attempts at a small planet.

I want to be a clone...

...or at least learn how to use the clone tool in Photoshop better.  A friend at camera club blew us all away with a Little Planet view of the sea front and so I have been trying to work out how.  It isn't actually all that hard.  What is hard is to do it well.  I'd never used the cloning tool before and clearly need a great deal of practice.  Meanwhile, here are two of my first efforts. 

This is taken from a bird hide on the Somerset levels just this afternoon...

This is the cricket ground at Taunton, taken earlier this summer...

Not great, but the germ of an idea?

It seems God is limited by our prayer life - that he can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks him - John Wesley

Kenneth Hagin - not John Wesley.

I know, I know, snappy title for a blog entry...
But anyone know where this quote comes from?  Is it even Wesley?  I see it attributed to him all over the place but cannot find a reference for it.  Most of the references I have found on the internet are from people like Kenneth Hagin, Creslo Dollar, and others, who, frankly, are the kind of word of faith / prosperity teachers that make extremely cross. 

Thing is, I don't think the sentiment of the quote is true.  I'm all for spurring people to pray but God can't do anything unless we ask him to?!  I find that hard to accept if God is all sovereign and all powerful. 

Hence I want to find out if anyone knows where the quote is from as I think I would like to see it in context.  It's a long shot... but you never know.