Truman Capote, author of Breakfast at Tiffany's, once said "life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act." I want to resist both statements with every fibre of my being.
Read moreTell The Next Generation
What we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us; we will not hide them from our children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power and the wonders He has done.
Read morePiper Worship?
I think the best thing about John Piper's teaching (other than it introduced me a few years back to Jonathan Edwards) is not that I learn a great deal about God from it (although I do), but it makes me want to spend my life for God's glory among the nations, and it makes me want to be able to put Jesus Christ before people's eyes in more clear and powerful ways than I am currently capable of. The value of great teachers is seen by the next generation whom they train and help, even more than it is seen in the content of the teaching itself.
Read moreIts All Over Bar the Shouting
The football is (thankfully) over. Manchester United are delighted (so is our church trainee. The pastor rather less so). There was lots of silly talk on the TV about fate and destiny. And John Terry is feeling dreadful for missing the clinching penalty.
I can't resist a slightly corny analogy. Terry (and Chelsea) could wake up this morning delighting in all their achievements. They came a good second, they played a good game. They could spend the day enjoying the fact that they are all paid a zillion pounds a week, all have good health and material stuff beyond the dreams of avarice.
But they won't.
Read moreChampions' League Final
Tomorrow is final day in the Champion's League. Watching the news today some poor reporter had been dispatched to Manchester Airport at a grisly time in the morning to interview out-going fans. They were all bleary-eyed but excited.
The reporter asked one pair of fans "what does it mean to you to go to this match in Moscow?"
One replied "not getting very much sleep. I've flown in from Scotland already, but you do what you have to do." His friend added "this is so important. We would go to the ends of the earth to see United play. This is something you don't miss."
What a picture of dedication! I like that kind of commitment to a cause. But it does make me wonder whether lots of Christians I know are as dedicated to the worldwide fame of God and the worldwide spread of the gospel, as Manchester United fans are to the worldwide fame of their football club. It was clearly taking all their money and lots of their free time. It was way more than a leisure pursuit to them. It was a cause, a community and a life commitment.
Jesus said "go into all the world and make disciples." Am I less committed to that than these men were to going to the ends of the earth to glorify Manchester?