So that was 2016...

So...  back to the blog.

It's been more than a year, since putting anything on here and quite a year it's been for so many.

For me, personally, it's been quite a year.

Finally got the London Marathon done, a year after I should have...

I've changed employer, had a great summer with the family and had a few months focusing on not working for any employer.

Took part in my first ultra marathon...

...and bought this little baby...

Now back into part time employment and working that through at the moment...let's see what 2017 holds for us.

What about you?  How has the last year been?  Here's a few thoughts on my latest vlog that I've uploaded to YouTube...

May you know God's blessing in 2017...

Back in Time

This week is quite a week for time itself isn't it?

 

The 21st October 2015 was a day made famous in 1985 by the Back to the Future movies as the day that Doc and Marty McFly went to, in the future.

 

Back then, their vision of the future now looks quite funny. The suggestion of hover boards and self tying shoelaces may seem not quite in line with the reality we see today. Although, perhaps the idea of cars running on alternative energy sources isn't too far fetched at all!!

 

Then, of course, in the UK, on Sunday 25th of October the clocks go back (at 2am in the morning).

 

So, we need to ensure that we amend our clocks to enjoy that extra hour in bed. If we forget then maybe there is a sense that we're living a bit in the future, even if it is only one hour.

 

Time is quite an amazing thing. It dictates our life as it hurtles along and looking back it seems to run ever faster.

 

One of the places I enjoy going to on holiday is Chester and this years back in the summer we were there. Whilst in Chester, we took the opportunity to go into the cathedral to have a look around.

 

 

One of the many items of interest in the cathedral is a clock that sits unassumingly down the north side of that cathedral. It's not a particularly fancy clock, but it does have a very poignant message on it. There it warns of the passing of time so quickly and the real need to evaluate priorities.

 

The Bible talks about time - a time to laugh, a time to weep, a time to live, a time to die and so on. Within the Bible it also tells us of a soul that will live forever and it tells us about the way to life everlasting. This is not a make believe fairytale - but a reality that can be ours from an infinite God. The Bible makes clear that, this way is found through Jesus Christ, who came from heaven, to earth and died for our wrong, that we through Him, might have eternal life.

 

This can be our possession today, but it's a choice we need to make. The Bible says....Our soul will exist forever in one of two places, we deserve punishment in hell on account of sin, but through confession of sin to Jesus Christ and acknowledging Him as Lord of our life, we can know eternal life and be saved from that impending punishment.

 

But that decision needs to be made in time. Again, the Bible says, "Now is the accepted time, Now is the day of salvation". So our opportunity is now, let's not waste our time.... Those words on the clock in Chester cathedral....

 

When as a child I laughed and wept, Time crept.

When as a youth I waxed more bold, Time strolled.

When I became a full grown man, Time RAN.

When older still I daily grew, Time FLEW.

Soon I shall find, in passing on, Time gone.

O Christ! wilt Thou have saved me then?

Amen.

 

 

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Bucket List Marathon

I've never really had a "bucket list". At least not until recently that is. Then having done a half marathon last year, I decided that to do a marathon before I was 40 (Feb 2014) was the next challenge.

I'm pleased to say that I achieved that back in May and was delighted with my accomplishment (4hrs 9mins).

But I have to say that I felt particularly flat after the event. I guess it's one of those things that you have focused on for so long and then once its over there's not that same focus.

It got me thinking about "aspirations" and "ambitions" that people have in general. We often look for satisfaction and fulfilment in our next achievement. For some that might be the next promotion or an achievement in family life, a sporting accomplishment or many other things.

But do these things really satisfy?

In the Bible, Jesus spoke to many people who had tried many things to satisfy them, but found that they were left empty. On one occasion, in John ch 4, Jesus spoke to a women at a well in Samaria, who had, had 5 husbands and now a live-in lover and yet, was still unhappy and unfulfilled.

She had come to the well for a drink, but on that occasion, Jesus offered her living water as he said, "whoever drinks of the water that I will give will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give will become a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jesus offers us something that truly and fully satisfies - eternal life!!

This is something that we can't have on our own strength, because each of us have flaws in our life (which the Bible describes as sin).

Yet, we are promised from God that if we confess our sins and believe in what Jesus has done for us when he died on the cross at Calvary, we can have this eternal life.

So, what's on your bucket list? Make sure you give God some thought and consider why Jesus came into the world and died. It was for you, that you might have eternal life in heaven with Him.

Thanks for reading!! God Bless!

 

Posted with Blogsy