Another Psalm

This week in my tutor group, I encouraged everyone to try and write a psalm. I was able to scratch something down in the short space of time, and like my first attempt, this is very raw so please don't be too hard.

Rock of Ages, Giver of truth
I stand firm upon Your foundations
You give source to this light
Supplication for my needs
Strength in my heart
Hope for my spirit
You have made all things new

I praise You for Your faithfulness O' God
You have raised me up from the miry clay
Inspire my soul to do Your will O Lord
For none can match mighty works!
It is futile even to try
They are like the waves of the ocean
Untameable, unrelenting, irresistable

So my life I offer to thee
Creator and Sustainer of all things
To lift up Your name
To serve the purposes of Your kingdom
And at the foot of the cross is where I'll find You
My sanctuary where You restore my soul

Come in power my king
The rocks are crying out for Your glory!

Upside down tennis

I said it last year and I'll say it again... I can not believe it's that time again - time for my annual tennis review. It's been a strange year this year, by which i mean tennis has become somewhat unpredictable. In the last 5 years of dominance in what I'm gonna call the Federer years, there has been an air of predictability about the big tournaments, that is Nadal wins the French open and Federer wins the rest. However, perhaps we were given a hint right at the very beginning of this year that this was to be no ordinary year.

Following a great 2008 for Nadal, where he wrestled the Wimbledon title and no.1 ranking from Federer, these two giants locked horns once more in Nadal's first hard court grand slam final - the Australian Open. Federer, twice winner in oz, was hot favourite to win despite Nadal's form, but it was not to be the case, and he only had himself to blame. In a similar fashion to last year he did not take his chances. He should have won the first and third sets, but Nadal took them both and inevitably the title which led to Federer's heavily critized emotional outburst. I had nothing but sympathy for the man who thought that this would be the day he would win the record equalling 14th grand slam and enter his legendary status in tennis history. Instead Rafa had now beaten him in finals on all surfaces, and it looked like it was slipping from Federer's grasp.

Enter the clay court season. In the lead up to this event, two extrodinary events occured. First Federer smashed a racket in his loss to Djokovic in Miami. It looked like Federer's reign was finally falling apart at the seams. Amazingly though he fought back his way back into form, beating Nadal on clay for only the second time, in Hamburg. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, and this years french open will be remembered as one of the most famous in history. Roger Federer finally completed the golden slam and achieved his 14th grand slam, but even more memorable than that, was the biggest shock in tennis for years... Rafael Nadal losing on clay, more specifically in the french open. Four time winner, current champion, never lost a match at Roland Garros and it wasn't even to Federer , but to someone who was considered an also-ran until this year - Robin Soderling.

This victory helped Federer ragain his mojo that took a massive weight of his shoulders, allowing him to play freely, showing some of the best tennis of his career. Coupled with his new drop shot and new found ability to grind matches out, Federer was unstoppable for the next couple of months, also winning Wimbledon and Cincinatti. Nadal on the other hand was having the complete opposite to his year last year, losing his french open, wimbledon and world no.1 crowns back to Federer.

Then came the US Open. Federer strolled through to the final. Murray has a disappointing 4th round exit after much hype. Then came the next big shock of the year, Juan Martin Del Potro beating an in form Federer in the final of the US Open. Del Potro has been considered to have the potential to be the next big thing for the last few years and I would tend to agree, going by the evidence of this break through year for him. He has a forehand to die for and an appetite for the big matches. I believe he will cause more damage to the fading established order than Murray or Djokovic.

Toward the end of the season Murray and Nadal came back from injury both with varying fortunes. Nadal could barely win a match and Murray won in Valencia. In fact Nadal's form is worrying for next year as he doesn't look anything like the man that nobody could touch at the start of the season. Murray had a brilliant first half of the season, but has been disappointing since winning in Montreal. It should be noted he hasn't beaten anyone in the top 4 since Indian Wells and will need to do something special in the off season to keep up with the rest.

Finally, the end of season tournament - the Masters Cup summed - up the season with upset after upset. Despite beating Del Potro and winning 2 matches, Del Potro and Federer made it out of Murray's group. The second group was way more interesting. Djokovic who has been back in descent form and favourite to qualify. Instead it was Soderling and Davydenko. Then amazingly Davydenko beat Federer for the first time in 13 attempts to make the final, and buoyed by this victory, took the title by beating Del Potro. He would have been my last pick to win the tournament, maybe now hes showing he can fight with the big boys, but I doubt it. I still don't think he has the class to consistantly challenge for big prizes, but he deserves credit for his efforts here.

So the season has now ended, and who knows what 2010 will bring. I am already looking forward to Australia and for the first time in a long time, I have no idea what the outcome will be. Federer, Nadal, Murray, Djokovic, Del Potro all with equal and realistic chances to win, making tennis so much more interesting. Can the rest of the world put up a challenge to break this mould? On the evidence of this season I wouldn't want to hazard a guess!

short term mission

Every Friday I get a lecture from diferent mission agencies from the U.K. It's a privilege to hear and see the amazing work that men and women across the U.K. are doing in the name of Jesus. Perhaps one day I'll find myself working for one of these agencies, but (and there always is a but isn't there?) I am failing to see the sense in going out with these organisations to random countries on the short term.

You know what I'm talking about. These 2-4 weeks summer teams that people go on spending from one to three thousand pounds to get there and look after themselves. To be honest, that money would have been far better spent just being sent to the communities we visit, rather than dragging our unskilled butts over there on a glorfied holiday.

Don't get me wrong I am not judging the motives of the people who take part in these trips, for I myself have done them. In fact their heart is good, because they see a need and want to do something about it. However, that desire is not being used to its full potential in the current way it is being exercised. Perhaps it is good to go once, in order to have our hearts and minds opened to the poverty in the world, but to keep doing it simply isn't productive.

I mean what do we really have to offer a remote community in the middle of Africa anyway (sorry to stereotype)? Sure we can go build a school, but there are plenty of people in those countries who have building skills themselves, and we only take the trade away from the locals. It's white colonialism gone wrong all over again. We made the mess in the first place. Now we see the mess and think we've got all the answers to fix it.

Yes indeed however it is the responsibility of the better off to take care of the poor, but we need to be more creative, more sensitive in how we approach it, and we need to act fast. I don't have all the answers and I'm certainly willing to listen to other points of view but here are some of the things I think we can do:

We can pray. We can rally organisations, governments and powers at be into doing the action they should be. We can carefully give of our finances and resources from our vast reserves. There is a scope for churches partnering alongside other churches (the same body of Christ) in different countries for the long term. We could even go and teach for the long term. Although we would need to be careful how we do that, because I don't think that Africa really needs to be 'westernised' in the cultural sense of the word, as I believe it would lose it's own cultural and spiritual richness.

These are all very raw thoughts and feelings from a naive young man, but watch this space as I hope to develop them into something tangible real soon.

To my granny

My granny passed away on November 4th. She bravely battled cancer for a little over a year. When she was first diagnosed, things seemed ominous, but God blessed us with one more year with her. It's hard to believe how fast things happened when only 2 weeks ago she was gardening but in a sense it was a blessing, for she passed without any pain and even got to enjoy a last meal (little did she know it).

I praise God for this and the fact that she is with Him in heaven. For she loved the Lord and it's a great comfort to my family that she's now with her Maker. It's just so hard though seeing the anguish in my mother, uncle and especially my grandfather. There is just no way of understanding the kind of pain that comes with losing a life partner.

I've never really had anyone close to me die before. My grans passing has got me thinking a lot about death recently. It's not so much death that I fear, but rather eternity. The inifite idea of never endingingness scares the daylights out of me. I know as a Christian I have eternal hope but I simply do not have a strong enough grasp of the marvels of heaven and what it will be like to worship God forever. Am I the only one who thinks like this?

Dorothy McCarthy

Back to my granny. I said at her funeral that I think she would appreciate somebody saying something in their own words in memory of her, and my little brother, Adam, chose a wonderful verse - 1 Corinthians 13 (often read at weddings, paraphrased) to aid this.

Dorothy was patient and kind; she did not envy nor boast; she was never arrogant nor rude. She wouldn't insist on her own way; she was not irritable nor resentful; she never rejoiced at wrongdoing, but rejoiced with the truth. Dorothy bore all things, believed in all the things of God, hoped for all things, endured all things, her love will never die in us the people she loved...So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

If there was one thing to describe my gran it's that she was a loving person. We know from God's word that God is love, and also when we become Christians, God perfects us to become more like Christ - love. So I think the most special thing about Dorothy was that we caught just a glimpse of what the love, God the Father has for us.

My gran taught us all how to love better. We'll miss you Dorothy.