Fiery Ashes Predicted

Things are hotting up between England and Australia.

During yesterdays one-dayer (rained off) in the sixth over of Australia’s innings, Simon Jones incensed Hayden by hurling a ball back at him in an attempt to throw down the wicket.
The ball landed well short of the stumps and bounced up to strike Hayden a stinging blow on the shoulder.

Hayden spun around and glared at Jones, mouthing his displeasure. Jones apologised, but Collingwood, who had sent Hayden packing in an earlier game with an astonishing overhead catch, ran in from point and brushed shoulders with the strongly-built Queenslander, giving him an earful at the same time.

Ponting ran down from the non-striker's end and pulled Hayden out by the hand to settle things.

"We play it pretty tough and so do they, so I wouldn't say it will be the last time that England and Australia, in the middle, have a few words," Michael Vaughan

"It was just something that happened in the heat of battle" Ricky Ponting

The Winning Team

A message from Paul Benger spoken last night in church - inspired by the book ‘Winning’ by Clive Woodward and of course the Bible!

We are a winning TEAM!

‘Teamwork makes the Dreamwork’ John Maxwell

We cannot do it on our own. The friends of the paralytic man were a winning team – he would never have got to Jesus without teamwork!

Church is not for spectators but participators...were in it together.

5 things about a winning team:

Winning teams have...

A shared mental model
What does winning look like? Are we seeing the same thing as a church? We all need to see it, a shared vision...so that we don’t drop the ball!

A shared leadership responsibility
We’re all leaders...shared responsibility. Initiative in all of us. Not just for senior leaders. Enthusiasm and participation. Energisers not energy sappers.

A shared commitment to overcome setbacks
Getting back into the arena after a defeat. Churches have setbacks - we all have setbacks. Leaving the past behind and pressing on towards the goal (Apostle Paul) – get back into the arena.

A shared ownership of winning habits
We need to find winning habits. Good habits. Life-giving, full of energy.

A shared openness to thinking differently
Romans 12:2 – be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Thinking differently is part of a winning team. An openness to God for change, thinking in the DETAIL as well.

Q’s
What does winning look like for you as a Christian and as a Church?
What does shared leadership responsibility mean to you?
Name some winning habits.

Australia Hit Back

Australia 266-5
England 209-9

Marcus Trescothick wins the toss and puts Australia into bat - what’s all that about? I'm sure he's done this before when he's stepped in for Vaughn. Does he like the glory of batting second?

"Nobody in their right mind chooses to bat in the evening under lights" Jonathan Agnew

Still shouldn’t take anything away from the Aussies.

"The guys have really stuck together after Sunday's loss and we hope to keep on improving from now on" Ricky Ponting

Monkey Art

Encouragement for all you budding artists out there....

Yesterday three abstract paintings by Congo the Chimpanzee sold at auction for more than £12,000.

Acceptable

Great message last night in church from Mark Wilkins on our ‘acceptability’ to God because of Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:1-22

Vs 13, "But now you belong to Christ Jesus. Though you once were far away from God, now you have been brought near to him because of the blood of Christ."

God’s masterpiece…

Vs 10, "For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago."

No longer strangers, outsiders…

Vs 19, "So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God's holy people. You are members of God's family."

Pietersen and Harmison Shine

Australia 252 for 9 (50 overs)
England 253 for 7 (47.3 overs)

Highlights….

Steve Harmison 5 for 33
Kevin Pietersen struck four superb sixes in a match-winning 91 not out.

"We competed a lot better today. We were in a good position in the game with 10 or 12 overs to go but fell over at the end," Ricky Ponting

This was an improved effort from Australia, but again they were no match for England, who recorded a fourth straight win over them in all competitions.

Eh?!?

Bangladesh (250-5) beat Australia (249-5)

This result is a little bewildering isn't it? Are the Aussies playing some kind of phsycological game with us? Who knows.

I trust there were no dodgy bets placed before the game.

They play England tomorrow......mmmmm?!

Ponting not a Happy Chap

Australia's captain, Ricky Ponting, admitted he was "angry" after his side's failure to protect a massive total of 342 against Somerset at Taunton. Read on.

Ponting refused to blame a lack of cricket for his team's poor showing.

"Your brain isn't rusty - you still know what is right and what is wrong" Ricky Ponting

Thatcherism

I wonder how much influence she still has on the Conservative Party? (Read)

The Tories are still trying to move on from her legacy. It seems they continue to struggle in finding their true identity again...showing that the leadership baton can be a difficult thing to hand on when it has been so strong and influential.

So how much influence does she still have? A negative one perhaps as far as the Tories are concerned but maybe not for Tony Blair. He seems the one to have benefited the most from her legacy and dare I say carrying it on in some way.

Interesting Fact

England have now won their last 3 encounters with Australia in all forms of the game. The last Test match, the last one-day match and now the latest Twenty20 match.

Not bad eh?!

One for the album....

And speaking of winning....

Sportsflash....England have just handed Australia a Twenty20 thrashing as they raced to a 100-run win at the Rose Bowl to start the Ashes summer in the best way!

Alright it's only a Twenty20 but what a start to the summer...and 'momentum' is a wonderful thing.

Come on England!

Developing a Winning Culture

Notes taken from a great message from Paul Benger at Church yesterday...we’ll be discussing them tomorrow night in our Connect Group.

Ephesians 4:17-32

We are here to win!

3 things to have in place when developing that Winning Culture....

a) Thinking Correctly

Romans 12:2 – transforming your mind, changing your thinking. About the way you think about yourself, about the church etc.

b) Plan – get organised!

Proverbs 16:9 – We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.

Don’t just wait and see what happens…what is our plan?

c) Having a Spirit of Excellence

Luke 14:28-30 – (28) "But don't begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first getting estimates and then checking to see if there is enough money to pay the bills? (29) Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of funds. And then how everyone would laugh at you! (30) They would say, `There's the person who started that building and ran out of money before it was finished!'

Plan to be the best…plan to build the very best! It’s not about our skills but about our attitude, our spirit.

Questions to consider:
How does a ‘winner’ think?
Planning for excellence…what does that look like?

Discovery Day

Spent a great time this morning as a church with Martin Houghton-Brown from Leeds City Life Church and our very own Paul Benger, Chesterfield Christian Life Church.

Under the heading ‘Discovery Day’ we looked at such things as living a life of faith, and the work of the Holy Spirit.

Some key points for me were…

On faith…

‘Faith’ is counter-culture to the western world. It is not pride to recognise who you really are in Christ.

It is a matter of fact that through Jesus, what He has done, we can reign in life!

Romans 5:1-5 – (1) Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. (2) Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory. (3) We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us--they help us learn to endure. (4) And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. (5) And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Exercise your faith and access your authority.

On the Holy Spirit…

Matthew 16:13-20 – (13) When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"
(14) "Well," they replied, "some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets."
(15) Then he asked them, "Who do you say I am?"
(16) Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."
(17) Jesus replied, "You are blessed, Simon son of John,[b] because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. (18) Now I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. (19) And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you lock on earth will be locked in heaven, and whatever you open on earth will be opened in heaven." (20) Then he sternly warned them not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

The Holy Spirit brings Revelation. When the ‘penny drops’...it’s our domain as Christians and not just a select few.
The Holy Spirit brings Creativity. Genesis 1:2 – the Holy Spirit hovered over the face of the earth...creative agenda! Churches have their creativity stifled when they try to keep out the work of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit in us brings life...flowing out of us into our world.

What a fantastic time we had and God definitely moved!

Australia Win

Their tour began with a comfortable Twenty20 win against the PCA Masters - Matthew Hayden top scoring with 79 from 46 balls.

"There is nothing I like more in my life than to hit a cricket ball" - Matthew Hayden

Let’s see how England fairs against them next Monday in another Twenty20.

England 'tougher' than Australia

England have found an ally as the battle for the Ashes with Australia hots up - in the form of Bangladesh captain Habibul Bashar.

Bashar claims England have proved tougher opponents than Australia after losing both Tests by an innings. "We found it a bit harder here. When we played in Australia we managed to play better than we did here," he said. Only five England players got to bat in the two Tests while Australia lost 11 wickets in their two wins. Bangladesh batted the whole day in the Cairns Test and it took Australia until the fourth day to clinch the win.

I am really looking forward to the Australian tour this summer…expectations are high! I think it would be a good idea keep posting regular updates on how the tour is progressing.

Just 44 days until the first Test!

Pacman

Pacman comes to life! Whatever will they think of next?!

"These games symbolize the dawn of an era where real and virtual interactive experience will form part of the routine of our daily lives, allowing users to indulge in the seamless links across different domains be it for entertainment or socialising" Adrian David Cheok, Mixed Reality Lab

Lightsabre - Practical Usage No 3

Great at kids parties....

....serving the cake

Lightsabre - Practical Usage No 2

For us coffee lovers.....

.....re-heating coffee!

Lightsabre - Practical Usage No 1

For the gardener.....

.....hedge trimming

World's Finest Coffee

I love to make coffee…the proper stuff. Some friends have just given me some great coffee (Dark Sumatra) from a local supplier. Their web-link suggests it may be the best coffee in the world…probably. Without doubt it is a fine coffee.