Cyclone devastates Bangledesh

I was appalled to see how little the devastating effects of Cyclone Sidr on Bangledesh have made the media. This cyclone made 240km/h down in the bay of bengal and has killed over 3000 people. It has left many with their homes flattened and their crops flooded. Soon disease will settle in and there are fears the death toll could soar. A couple of days after and it made barely the last news item on the BBC

So many people have died, so many people are suffering! The death toll is over twice that of September 11th, but because it Bangledesh, the western media don't care? There is something seriously wrong with the way our perceptions are controlled by the media but that is a topic for another time. 50,000 people are left injured and homeless to pick up the pieces. They need the love of Jesus, so get praying and click below to watch the DEC appeal.

DEC Bangledesh Cyclone Appeal

Something to thank God for is the warning they got before the cyclone hit. People were able to make it to purpose built shelters, to avoid the same disaster which killed 140,000 people in 1991

//... Update another typhoon has now hit the philippines. Please pray and keep an eye out.

Tennis Masters Cup

The tennis season has finally drawn to a close with a familiar sight to it: Roger Federer - all victorious. This hasn't been Federer's best year, yet he still walks away with 3 grand slams, the masters cup and the world no.1 ranking.

This week was the season finalé Masters cup tournament where the worlds top 8 players play each other in a round robin format. Federer suffered a shock early loss to an inspired Fernando Gonzalez but Federer stepped it up into that gear that nobody else has as he marched to the final without dropping a set the rest of the tournament. In the gold group, David Ferrer was in the form of his life beating world no.2 Nadal, no.3 Djokovic, no.4 Roddick and no.8 Gasquet!
Federer proved too much for the spandiard however as destroyed Ferrer 6-2 6-3 6-2 in the final.

Can anyone stop the mighty Federer? He has lost more matches this year but there is just something about him that says he can win anytime he wants to. Rafael Nadal is a bit like that too but only on the clay. Nalbandian, Djokovic, Murray have all shown they can cause him trouble, but none of them play so consistantly brilliantly in the big tournaments.

People say you are not the greatest until you win on all surfaces (something Borg did consistantly) but something tells me that we are watching the greatest player of all. He is a great clay court player already, it's just unfortunate he's living in the days of the best clay-courter ever in Nadal, but I can see him winning the french open and completing the illustrious elusive grand slam. It won't be long before he surpasses Sampras's record of 14 grand slams either (he only needs 2 more!).

SR07 - Cloughfern

I miraculously found my wallet which had been missing for over 2 months in the cinema completely by random this week (praise God!!). Inside was my writings about my time spent in Cloughfern during StreetReach in the summer and here they are, for memories sake.

Hebrews 12:1 - "...and let us run with patience the race that is set before us".

- out of the blocks
We finally hit the streets and straight away our team got stuck into action without having to be told. They already had eyes to see and ears to hear.

- false start
After lunch torrential rain hit. So we prayed and when we finished the rain had stopped. Thank the Lord!

- first lap
We tried to blitz a ladies garden that had knee height weeds with our limited resources. Her name was Cathy. There was lots of neglect inside and out - herself included. She spoke of fear to leave the house and hurt from the church. Lord please bless her. She seemed touched that we even wanted to chat.

- streakers
We were running this race, cleaning the local playpark when... kids! everywhere interrupted our work. The place exploded into life, even despite the rain there was no need to stop play (like at Wimbledon). The kids loved hanging with us so much, weren't we the ones supposed to be doing the loving?

- respect between competitors
We decided to stand-up and speak to the guys on the bonfire. They were initially hostile, but soon they were eating from the hand of a team leader who was formerly in the UDA. Lord break down the walls of sectarianism.

- lap 2
We were sent to Abbots cross to clean the local shopping area. We soon became disillusioned by the thought that no one could see and we didn't seem to be making much difference. That coupled with the sheer frustration that Cathy;s garden couldn't be finished as we weren't insured to use and equipment needed to finish the job. Who needs insurance? If God is for us, who can be against us? Should we not have taken that step of FAITH for the sake of the Gospel? Stand up!!

- 2nd Wind
...and then God. He showed up. A woman from the pharmacy saw what we were doing and decided to bless us with sweets; God had been working despite our ignorance - we are sorry Lord! Then a local man came up with a strimmer and we got to finish Cathy's garden after all. It turns out that when things don't go our way we learn to trust in God more.

- lap 3
2 laps gone - things have slipped into routine. Half of us tackled a ladies drive-way that had weeds. We also blessed her with grass seed on the bare patches - Lord, I pray new life in her Spirit as well. The other half helped run a fun day where we played games/football, had a bouncy castle and a bbq.

- hit the showers
In the park in the evening we were playing football and...

MORE RAIN!!

Then we met speedy. He wanted to know what it was like to worship God. Lord help him to come to you just as he is.

- final lap bell ringing
Starting to sprint now, doing the last minute things. A free car-wash, prayer-walking and praying with shop keepers to name a few. Lord please answer the groaning's of our ill-presented prayers.

- bell still ringing
With the sound of a new beat we will march the streets of Belfast, declaring a new way, new era, and the day of salvation 7/7/07. The bell is still ringing when we realise that this is not the last lap, in fact every day is a final lap; and our lives are a marathon of sprints - come Lord Jesus come!

The blue and white stuff

I just started in my new job this week. It wasn't so much a new job, but more-so a transfer from one Spar store to another. The store has just been refurbished and looks great, so come in and see me when I'm working to save me from the boredom!

Anyway, it strikes me as odd however that despite how modern we have become we still find the need to use the plastic bag. Surely by now those brainiacs down in the technology department could have thought of something else to carry our shopping home in; or a more environmentally friendly option at least!


There is a descent solution in the bags for life, and tescos has some nice ones. It is hard though to remember to bring them with you, we need a motivation! Plastic bags float around town like tumbleweed, and are very hard to dispose of as they take 400 years to decompose. Only 1 in every 200 bags are recycled, and in the UK alone we use 10 billion plastic bags a year!

In it's defense one could argue that plastic bags do not litter - people do. That does not excuse it though, it is a waste of resources! I say we should do what the south did, and make people pay for plastic bags, that could give us the motivation I spoke about earlier, and it seems to have really worked down there.

Autumn Soul

I had the privilege of going with my youth group to Autumn Soul (the Methodist youth weekend in Bangor). It was a fun weekend with all the usual antics. The photo is the youth groups annual masterpiece of filling the local fountain with fairy liquid and letting the bubbles overflow.

It was a strange weekend for a few reasons. First, There is a problem getting the young people to engage in what's going on. The phone is the first thing that usually comes out during worship, and then theres just complaints about how its not good enough for them and they just end up messing about.

I can understand their frustration with the songs though a wee bit. It just felt like there was no structure in the songs picked. All the songs were just the same lyrics rearranged a wee bit with a different tune, it was hard to find anything with real substance to really relate to God with.

Maybe it's just that I am getting old. I remember when I was 16 and had just become a Christian, I didn't question anything, I just took it all in and worshiped God. Now that I know 'more' I seem to question everything, and I wonder is this part of what God meant when he said we must become like children.

Paul Flavel was the speaker. He's an Aussie who lives in Birmingham and he spoke about justice and the lies of this world that we buy into to do with what we look like, where we're from, what we do etc. He also talked about what it means when Jesus said 'When I was hungry you fed me', for example standing up for the outcast kid in school.

Football fever

I was amazed today to read in the independent that Vladimir Putin's annual salary is a mere £40,000! Russia isn't exactly the richest country in the world with and average annual salary of £3000, and most people in the world won't even come close to earning what Putin does. However there are a large percentage of normal people in the UK who actually earn more than a Russian President!

George Bush the not-to-be-much-longer US President earns £195,000 a year. Yet I find it unbelievable that a football superstar for example Steven Gerrard could earn more in 2 weeks than a US President can in a year! Surely this can not be? The work load, stresses and pressures of a footballer don't even come minutely close to a President yet they earn ridiculous amounts of money, and even have the cheek to demand more or they'll leave their club!

Don't get me wrong I am not calling for an increase in Presidential salary, but a serious review of the salaries of sporting superstars and question 'is it really necessary to pay these obscene amounts when there is so much poverty in the world?' Where is the justice! Some may argue that sport stars needs extra because they have to retire early, but what is there to stop them from coaching or even getting a qualification and get a real job! Once the US President finishes his post, he isn't going to ever have another job!

Housekeeping

Last weekend I decided to give my student flat a good ol' once over clean. After a while I really got into it cleaning the kitchen, bathroom, living room and my bedroom. I vacuumed floors, wiped benches, cleaned sinks, tidied up, done dishes, I even washed the bathroom mats!

It took me a couple of hours and afterwards I was exhausted. I only do this about once a month, and I began to think, wow! how does my mother do this every week, twice a week in such a big house. How does she get the motivation to do it on top of having to cook, look after children, wash & iron clothes, and work a part-time job on top of it all.

I think it is clear that all of us under-appreciate what exactly mummies do for us, because it really is amazing! We tend to only celebrate the things mums do on mothers day (of which I am a culprit), and I think this is wrong, we should give our appreciation everyday. So here is toast to mummies everywhere! my mum ---->