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YKW is away for the night so I am home alone making a few phone calls for work and watching some rugby. England, as I thought they would, made it through. But Wales went out this afternoon and, as I type, Scotland have just gone in front against Italy. I think they'll win. As for Ireland tomorrow - I'm not so sure...
I was lucky enough to be able to go to the Willow Creek Leaders Summit over the past two days, where we heard from speakers from church, business and military backgrounds.
It was an excellent couple of days. New ideas; old ideas refreshed; challenges. I am excited about trying to put some of it into practice, and to seeing God at work as I do.
We woke up to driving rain on Saturday morning, not exactly what YKW and I had in mind for a day out walking. In the end it wasn't very far up the Ben Nevis track that we decided we were neither up for walking all the way in the rain or amongst the 50 strong group who had set off at the same time as us.
So instead we went here; my folks deciding that after a week of drinking the stuff they should find out how it was made!
Today YKW and I decided to try and make up for our failure on Saturday and went out for a stroll up a hill overlooking Loch Lomond - at least it would have if the rain wasn't once again driving in making visibility very low! But it was lovely to be out together in the fresh air; a real time of refreshment, enjoyment and togetherness.
We are heading up north to Fort William today. We are meeting up with my parents who are finishing the West Highland Way and then walking up Ben Nevis tomorrow and coming back down tomorrow night. It is my first time venturing significantly beyond Loch Lomond and I am really looking forward to getting out into the great Scottish outdoors!
I am working on an essay, to be handed in tomorrow, all about the atonement and the best way of expressing it in today's context. I am pleased to say that some (of what feels like loads) of the reading, and classes are beginning to stick. However this is such a huge question and there is so much to take in and attempt to understand that I am seriously concerned as to whether or not I will pass, and even if I do, whether I will have learnt as much as I long to have. Amidst this frustration and concern I draw encouragement from this statement by John Stott.
"God...reconciling the world to himself in Christ, is a mystery whose depths we shall spend eternity plumbing." (John Stott, The Cross of Christ, 12)
I guess I just wish that in this little bit of eternity I could plumb a little further!
I was doing my reading in a coffee shop in town today and during a break from my books went for a short walk. As I walked past two men, clearly intoxicated from some substance or other, one of them kicked a knife across the floor to the wall of a building about 10 metres away. There was no sign of violence from either man but given the fact that the men were well oiled I decided that the wise thing would not be to pick up the knife and dispose of it myself, just in case they took exception, but to call the police. I did exactly that, and then stood waiting and watching in case the police needed to speak to me.
I waited, and waited, and then over 15 minutes later they arrived, at no more than a leisurely snails pace.
By the time they arrived the men had moved on and someone had picked up the knife and put it in a bin. But I was shocked at the police's lack of urgency. Glasgow, apparently, is one of the worst places for violent crime and so, even though I stressed on my call that the situation did not seem to be aggressive in any way, I would have expected that two drunk men in possession of a knife which is now lying in the street would have been enough to bring about a somewhat faster and seemingly more urgent response than the two coppers who strolled up the pavement chatting to one another portrayed.
I have an assignment left to complete that I didn't finish last term. It is the first time that I can recall not completing all my work in time but I think, given the mitigating circumstances (longer rugby season than envisaged, wedding planning etc,) it is understandable.
So I need to get on with it now, having just received an email from the person who will be marking it and having decided on a date for me to hand it in (next Thursday.) So if you don't hear much from me before then (unlikely but just in case!) then you will know why!
Thanks to our friends at Hawks, despite the fact that I am not going to be playing or training all the time this year, YKW and I have joined this gym at a much reduced rate. It also happens to be the same gym that some of Glasgow's professional rugby team use. And so it was, as I made my way up to the training area the other day, that I noticed one of these guys doing his hair. Nothing wrong with that of course, but then... he too made his way up to the gym and got on with his weights!
Now I have played rugby at a good level for several years and I know that when we get into the gym we have a tendency to be drawn towards the 'beach weights' (weights, the use of which will hone the upper body for the beach) which, conveniently, tend to be right in front of lots of mirrors! I know that we can be a vain lot (especially the backs.) But this took the biscuit. Doing your hair before a work out; that's taking male pruning to a whole level. And to make things worse, he was a forward!
Somehow, having only just returned to some light training, I was asked to play for the Hawks 2nd team on Saturday. As YKW was out at a conference, and with only the thought of what was surely to be a low key England match to keep me in, I agreed. It was good fun; we won, I scored, and I played all but the final 2 minutes. The hard work I have been doing in the gym must be paying off in some way at least.
I have used examples from rugby to illustrate points in my last two sermons. Last night I was talking about how useless a team would be if it was all made up of fatties like me, but similarly how useless it would be if it made up entirely of skinny 10 stoner's!
Despite people perhaps not being quite sure what I would get from it Romans 16 has a lot to say to us and I really enjoyed preparing to preach and preaching from it. Aspects of the message were hard, others were encouraging. The challenge for me now, as for all of us as we study and learn, is to see it working out in my life.
Tonight was the first game of the Rugby World Cup; and what a game! I think my whole block will have heard me shouting as Argentina ran in their try, and again in the dieing moments as they held on for a great win.
It has kind of made the predictions I was going to do a bit harder. In their pool I had expected France to go through as winners with one from Argentina and Ireland. But the whole group is up in the air now and I am not quite sure what to call. In the Scotland group New Zealand will go through first with, again, a close call between Scotland and Italy - but I'll say Scotland... South Africa will win their group with England coming second, and Australia will win their group with Wales coming second. So there are my predictions. Well, almost...
I also read this article, worth a quick read, about the Togan team and their daily prayer meetings.
