6 Nations fever

So the RBS Six Nations tournament is starting again next week. I'm a huge rugby supporter and have been for as long as I can remember. I guess I grew up in the centre of the culture, going to school and playing with Welsh internationals such as Gethin Jenkins and Michael Owen and being in University with Ceri Sweeney. I also played against Gavin Henson and other players still playing top class rugby.
To me the interest isn't just who scores the best tries on the day and who gets the win, that's just the end product. The interesting and inspiring thing is the commitment to discipline and lifestyle choices these players put in every single day. The training, the diet, the attention to detail in video analysis and that's before the actual physcological and physical battering they get for 80 minutes. I find fly on the wall documaentaries of the lead upto big games intensely interesting.
As Disciples, we are called to have huge discipline in our lives. We are constantly having to over come temptation and grow through trials. We have a motivation that should far out way winning a Grand Slam and that is to fulfill our God given life purpose and have Him say to us when we meet Him face to face 'Well Done'.
Looking forward to the opening game a week today against Scotland. For the players, the preparation started weeks ago, all for a 80 minute performance. Come on Wales!

We had our first ignite band get together of 2009 last monday. This included everyone involved in the two ignite bands already established and a few extra key people that will be involved in a third band.
We started a series of devotions inspired by one of Nigel James' books (Ignite founder and Third day road pastor) called 7 ways to Ignite your Life. The first topic that we talked about was listening to the voice of God. I was challenged to reassess the time I spend with God, to think about how long I actually spend listening rather than completing a task such as reading a scripture, praying through a prayer list or reading a spiritual book. All of these are fantastic, and God speaks to us through this, but I know I am a task orientated person. I'm always focussed on completing a task and then moving onto the next one. Sometimes listening to God can take us stopping from our schedule and just really allowing God to speak, rather than us trying to speed up the process by doing a quick fix devotion.

I'm currently reading my Grandfathers diary from the war. He kept a detailed journal of his time in Canada. It's great to look back and see what he has done in his life. It encourages me to keep this blog going, a use of today's technology to create a journal that maybe someday read by my offspring?

I believe in purpose. I believe that God has created me and you with a unique purpose in mind. We have to play our part in discovering and living out that purpose with His guidance.
As a drummer, I know that God gave me a sense of rhythm and a love of music, but it's upto me to nurture that initial gift and to use it for the correct purpose (to use the gift in the way that God would want it to be used).
I believe that Grace is given to us by God when we believe that Jesus went to the Cross to take the sin of the whole human race upon himself so that we wouldn't suffer the consequences of it. I believe that nothing can seperate me from the love of God because of Jesus. However I do believe that I can be a Christian, go to heaven, but miss living out my God given purpose. Paul says in Philippians: 'I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.' We don't have to strive for our salvation, thats through faith, but we do have to strive to win the prize of living out our God given purpose.