Toby - the German

  So I've had this guy Tobias from Germany stay with me for 2 months. He is over on work placement, helping out YFC with business and finance stuff.
It's interesting living with people. I've lived with quite a few people and it reveals a lot about myself - mainly that I am selfish and stubborn! 

Slieve Donard

  Here I am with my wee sis and her 2 dogs. Mac (Black) and Maddy (the other one). People are scared of them but they are great. They are so strong and fast and it is amazing the differnce to when they are inside and when they get out. Mac is so timid and good. Maddy is mad (heece the name!) So this is like the 3rd time Ive climbed Donard and I forgot how hard it was. Im getting old! It was such a clear day so we were able to see Scrabo and the Isle of Man and even whales! (not the country) well it was 2 black things in the water that some guy said were whales but they could have been submarines....anyway now I know why people belive God dwelt in the mountains and that in the Old Testament people attributed the presence of God to a mountain. There is something sacred and amazing about mountains. It makes me feel small in one way but overwhelmed in another that Creator God knows and loves me. Amazing! 

Small group

This was my small group for the week. We met every morning after breakfast to talk, read and pray thru some Bible notes. I tried to go deeper with these guys, rather than just read thru the notes. We had a great look at Matthew 23, and the guys were shocked at how Jesus spoke to the Pharisees. Its important to read the Bible, but if it aint impacting the way we live then whats the point? Simon shared how Jewish boys of his age would have been able to recite the whole Old Testament, and yet we struggled to find Ezekiel!

Back row: Paul and me/I
Front row: Sammy, Simon and Stevie

Whats interesting is that I used to teach Paul when I was at Slemish College in Ballymena. He was in my first football team. Really skillful player but was small in Year 10 but now has sprouted up. Paul got constantly slagged because of his accent. We needed subtitles when interviewing him in our 'Soccer PM' show ever night. This was loosely based on the Saturday morning TV show 'Soccer AM' - we even had soccerettes! Instead of having a 'talk' each night we watched video clips and each coach got interviewed about their life. We wanted to share how living as a follower of Jesus was in all areas of our lives.

Sammy reminded me a lot of myself when I was younger - fast, an eye for goal and ginger...

Simon woul ask questions and had a lot of offer the group in terms of his thoughts and what he had heard before. He is a great player but it was class to see him pass to younger players and include those who werent as good as him. Hopefully he will become a leader on the camp in the future

Stevie was a real pro. He always was well groomed and enjoyed golf. He also was interested in Ruth-Anne Morgan and old friend from school, who was on the Adventure Camp and staying in the same place as us. 

Baptist Youth Soccer Coaches 06

Don't we look like footballers?! Well I had so much fun on this camp. I went with the intention of finding out how to run a football camp but ended up really enjoying myself. I suppose at the start I was like a spy...but I ended up joining the enemy...if you can call Baptist Youth the enemy! It was good to get back involved in Baptist Youth circles again. The last Baptist Youth camp I done/did was over 10 year ago. I felt old and noone really new me so that was good. I have preconceptions that people from Baptist Youth maybe just remember me being a young, immature, badtempered cheeky slabber. And what has changed I hear you say?? Newtownbreda always had a bad name as being too competitive at Baptist Youth Sports, and the fact that we always won didnt help either!

It was cool cos I met Dave Ramsey, who is now head of Baptist Youth, and we both used to compete against eachother in football, to put it nicely. He is from Carrick Baptist, which were largerly represented at the Soccer Camp.

So the picture from l to r: (top row) Ashley "Stato" from Armagh, Sammy "Midfield General" Chambers from Carrick, Charlie "The Ref" Pollock from Carrick, Matt "Techie" from Loughall. (Sitting) Josh "about to turn pro" from Ballycraigy (?), Steve "the gaffer" Couiller from Monkstown, me and Paul "the foreigner" from Glenarm (?)