It got me thinking. There are so many reflections I could make on the night. Comparing my own desire for the eternal with the crowd’s desire for the temporary and finding myself lacking, wishing the church was as desperate to spread the gospel as these customers were to get their hands on the game. The memory of the night encapsulates all that I think is wrong with today’s consumeristic society. The must-have attitude where people are so desperate for the latest game, fashion, phone that they have to be one of the first to own it. The sad fact that this will all be repeated on perhaps an even bigger scale next year when the next Call of Duty comes out.

Even reflecting on the name – do we, as Christians, treat our call as a duty rather than a pleasure? Is that why we so consistently get it wrong. I don’t know. However I do know that as I left the shop that morning, my own discounted copy clutched tightly in my hands, I lamented that something has to change.

Romans 12:1-2 (The Message) ‘So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.’

Stubbington, near Portsmouth, was recently CVM’s port of call for yet another fun-filled, packed out Regional Day. The night before a Regional Day, the team usually stays in a Travel Inn close by to chill out, eat food and frequent a local pub. This evening was no exception.

What followed a good meal of ribs in barbecue sauce was a nice glass of Baileys and some good friendly chatter. As Carl and I sat there on one side of the pub, parallel to us was another duo of mates. They were debating giving up smoking and suddenly we became involved in the conversation. As time went on, not only did we get an offer from one of these blokes for a drink, but ended up talking about life and the challenges brought on by the recession.

The conversation moved from politics to religion, which should rarely be brought together over a few tipples of the strong stuff. But things didn’t go the way you think they might have.

One of our newly made friends began opening up and telling Carl and I about how he was struggling to make ends meet He explained how he was having to downsize his business and make a real lifestyle change. He was finding it hard as the main breadwinner to have failed to bring in enough to keep his family in the life they were accustomed to.

He soon concluded his thoughts with: “It’s all about the money”. Carl and I simultaneously replied “No its not, it’s about family’.

We didn’t pull any punches in mentioning that we were Christians and that we ran a national men’s ministry. We carried on making our faith known and being open to the Holy Spirit as I shared my failings in business as well.

And as a man’s man, I decided to talk to him about Mary Poppins. When I was in London with my family a while back, we caught the West End show of the Disney feature film live on stage. And what jumped out for me whilst struggling to make ends meet and being in so much debt, was that I could take refuge in a scene from this show. The scene is when the father loses his job due to the children causing havoc at the bank and then realizing that they are about to lose everything. But suddenly, the reassurance of the mother comes in the middle of a particular harrowing moment. She quite boldly exclaims that: “As long as we are together, that is all that counts”.

This scene helped me through the time of uncertainty. And amazingly, it somehow hit home for the bloke in this bar who was struggling. He opened his eyes to the fact that there was more to life than money and material things.

We mentioned Jesus on numerous occasions that night and now have to leave it with God to follow it through. But hopefully, with Carl and I unashamedly making Him known with everything we do and say, we planted a seed in this chap’s heart. We now pray that something has happens because we didn’t back down from the basic stuff of Jesus. We hope that what we said, even though it included a scene from a fairytale, changes his life. Only God knows. But we do that know that Jesus loved to use stories to point people to the truth, so let’s not be afraid to do the same.

Cheers.

England’s Footballers were boosted in their preparations for next summer’s European Championship with a 1-0 friendly victory over defending champions and World Cup holders Spain at Wembley. Spain dominated but could not break through and stand-in captain Frank Lampard’s 49th-minute header from close range proved decisive.

Wales also had a good result, beating Norway 4-1 in Cardiff thanks to Sam Vokes’ brace plus goals from Gareth Bale and Craig Bellamy. Scotland won 2-1 in Cyprus courtesy of great finishes from Kenny Miller and Jamie Mackie.

The Republic of Ireland are almost certain to join England at Euro 2012 after winning the first leg of their qualifying play-off 4-0 in Estonia. The second leg is on Tuesday.

Keith Andrews headed the Republic into the lead and the visitors took advantage of Andrei Stepanov’s red card as Jonathan Walters nodded in and Robbie Keane grabbed a brace either side of Raio Piiroja being sent off.

Lewis Hamilton won Formula One’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after world champion Sebastian Vettel was forced to retire on the first lap. Hamilton started second behind Vettel, who suffered a puncture at the second corner. Fernando Alonso pushed Hamilton hard but to no avail and Jenson Button finished third.

England qualified for Rugby League’s Four Nations final thanks to an impressive 28-6 win over world champions New Zealand in Hull. Tries from Tom Briscoe and Ryan Hall put the hosts ahead and, although Jason Nightingale pulled one back, further touchdowns for James Graham and Sam Tomkins secured victory.

In Saturday’s showpiece at Elland Road England will play Australia, who had already qualified and came from 8-0 down to thrash Wales 56-14 in Wrexham.

Rugby Union’s European Cup began with wins for Harlequins, Cardiff Blues, Leicester, Edinburgh, Munster, Ospreys, Scarlets, Ulster, Glasgow, Saracens and Toulouse. Montpellier and Leinster drew 16-16.

In Cricket, former Somerset captain Peter Roebuck died aged 55. The player turned journalist took his life in a Cape Town hotel, local police announced. The opening batsman played for Somerset in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s, a period when they won five trophies in as many years.

Who are these guys? 50 plus … that is ancient! I suppose it depends on how big the plus is! We are a group who meet twice a year to chat and pray together to encourage the churches to reach every man in our age group. Our next meeting is in London on 14 March 2012. We also ‘skype’ conference six times a year and post on the CVM Blog every two weeks so you are welcome to join us. This is the first blog.

At our first meeting in York in October we discussed how to encourage more social projects by working in small teams of all ages, to encourage groups of guys to do DIY, gardening and garden clearance for folk in our community who may be ill or in great need … for details see the Besom website.

We reminded ourselves of Jesus’ command to ‘make disciples’. How could we help this become a core activity of the local church? Again to be done across all age groups and by every member. We felt that by testimony and stories we could encourage discipling on this blog.

The 50 plus group is not a fringe activity, it is at the core of CVM. We are sure that you could think of a better name for the group, so to win your prize of a Yorkie bar please submit your brilliant ideas to me by next week at eddie.james@cvm.org.uk

God bless you – Eddie

In our old house there was a cupboard that could comfortably contain a full grown man. I know this because I would often slip inside the cupboard and wait, sat in darkness trying to contain the giggles that threatened to explode at my wittiness, to hear my wife moving around in the room. Upon hearing this I would leap out on her and shout ‘BOO!’. I’m not sure how often I risked my marriage in this way, but I do remember Anna becoming wary of walking past the said cupboard just incase I was crouching inside waiting to pounce. Which I found hilarious, Anna not so much.

We often talk about sin in a very casual way. When we struggle with something we talk about ‘falling into’ a pattern of behaviour. As though everything was fine and we suddenly tripped over into a massive vat of sin. However we don’t have to travel very far into the Bible to see that this is not the case. In Genesis 4 we find Cain and Abel, both bring sacrifices to God and Cain is lazy. When God doesn’t accept his offering Cain starts to sulk. In verses 6 & 7 we find God’s reply:

‘Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”’

Sin is crouching at the door. Why does something crouch? In order to pounce! The suggestion is that sin is not some inactive thing that we can fall into, but something that desires to possess us, that is waiting for us to make any mistake that it can take advantage of, including walking past ignorant of it.

1 Peter 5:8-9 ‘Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.’

Anna learnt to walk past a cupboard cautiously because her adorable husband might be waiting to jump out on her. For us the stakes are much higher than that.

Manchester City stayed five points clear of second-placed Manchester United in Football’s Premier League table thanks to a 3-2 win at Queens Park Rangers. Jay Bothroyd’s header put QPR ahead but Edin Dzeko levelled just before half-time. Heidar Helguson equalised David Silva’s goal but Yaya Toure headed the winner 16 minutes from time.

United marked the 25th anniversary of Sir Alex Ferguson’s appointment as manager by beating Sunderland 1-0. Old Trafford’s North Stand was renamed after Ferguson.

Unbeaten Newcastle remained third with a 2-1 win over Everton, Chelsea stayed fourth by beating Blackburn 1-0 and Tottenham fifth courtesy of a 3-1 defeat of Fulham.

Bolton thrashed Stoke 5-0, a reverse of last season’s FA semi-final between the sides, Wolves beat bottom side Wigan 3-1, Arsenal saw off West Brom 3-0 and Aston Villa edged out Norwich 3-2. Liverpool were held to a goalless draw by Swansea.

Australia made it two wins from two in Rugby League’s Four Nations with a 36-20 defeat of England at Wembley.
Ryan Hall touched down either side of Australian duo Luke Lewis and Tony Williams to make it 12-8 to the visitors at the break. Greg Inglis and Paul Gallen extended the lead and, despite tries from Jack Reed ad Chris Heighington, scores from Darius Boyd and Chris Lawrence sealed a comfortable win.

Defending champions New Zealand earlier beat Wales 36-0 at the same venue.

Harlequins kept up their 100% record in Rugby Union’s Premiership with a 26-13 win at Bath. Saracens stayed second thanks to a 23-10 victory over Sale. Leicester drew 24-24 with London Irish and Newcastle also finished level with Worcester at 16 apiece. Northampton saw off Wasps 24-13 Gloucester beat Exeter 24-19.

A few weeks ago the CVM team and I headed off for another nights stay at a hotel somewhere in the UK, ahead of a regional mens conference we were putting on. Pitching up at the hotel my wife (and PA) had booked for us, we found it difficult to find the reception but eventually found a side entrance that led into a small bar area. The bar was pretty brightly lit with disco lights and some loud, hard core (by my standards) dance music was pumping out to the five people that were there. The conversation with the barman went something like this;

BARMAN: “Let me take you to your rooms, so what are you doing in town?”

ME “I lead a Christian mission agency that works mostly with men. We’re running a conference tomorrow.”

BARMAN “So what do you do?”

ME: “Well we tackle all sorts of issues that men face in life and help them unpack how the message of Jesus can help them.  We support churches all over the UK etc etc.”

BARMAN: “Fair enough…” (looks blank and uninterested and starts talking about how many stairs there are.)

And that was that…

Later that evening after a curry we went back to the bar for a drink.  By this time it was absolutely heaving and stuffed full of men and women in party mode. Sitting outside with a glass of something, it was my team members who started to notice something was a bit different about the place.  A quick web search later on the phones and it turns out that the place we were staying was, although ‘straight friendly’, the pre eminent gay bar and hotel in the town. After a moment of laughter at the situation, we were asked to move inside as the licensing requirements meant that after 10.30pm no one could drink outside.

You have a choice in these situations.  To quote The Clash, its a case of “Do I stay or do I go now.”  We decided to stay up for another drink and eventually it was just Dean and I standing at the bar for another hour or so. Picture it, two youngish straight leaders of a national mens ministry, the night before a mens ministry conference, in the company of 100 or so gay men and women.

Heres what I saw and the questions I left with;

1) It was a friendly, totally unthreatening and pretty chilled out crowd.

2) There was a genuine sense of friendship and comradeship amongst the men and women there that was way beyond the superficial we see and experience in many of our christian communities. Genuine belonging.

3) I could sense deep within me the love of God for every person in there but also a sense of lostness.

5) I felt the Holy Spirit challenge me to focus some attention into the issue of reaching the gay community with the message of Jesus.

6) I was left asking myself why as a specialist evangelist to men, I hadn’t ever gone into a gay bar to talk to blokes before with a colleague or two or investigated seriously, what CVM should do. I suspect Jesus would have done so by now?

And that got me thinking about the complete ambivalence of the obviously gay barman who showed me to my room, when he found out I was a Christian. I suspect he had not heard the message of the pearl of great price. The story about amazing treasure of the gospel that causes people to radically change their lives, giving up everything for it, if thats what it takes.

I suspect he hadn’t heard it because he hadn’t met someone yet who could articulate it to him in a way that he would get it, or perhaps even demonstrate it by the conduct of their lives. I’m not saying there aren’t those people, more that he hadn’t met one!

So I’m thinking.  What is good news to the gay barman, in the seaside town, in the town’s foremost gay hotel and bar? And furthermore, whose going to take that message to him?

Shalom.

Carl Beech

Arsenal confirmed their return to form with a stunning 5-3 triumph against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
The seventh-placed Gunners made a poor start to the season but gained their fourth consecutive Premier League win thanks to Robin Van Persie’s hat-trick.

Manchester City remained five points clear at the top with a 3-1 victory over Wolves and second-placed Manchester United were 1-0 winners against Everton.

Fourth-placed Newcastle were due to play Stoke on Monday evening, fifth-placed Tottenham beat Queens Park Rangers 3-1 and sixth-placed Liverpool overcame West Brom 2-0. Norwich drew 3-3 with Blackburn and Sunderland versus Aston Villa finished 2-2. Swansea defeated Bolton 3-1 and Fulham saw off Wigan 2-0.

England’s Cricketers ended their dismal tour of India on a high with victory in the one-off Twenty20 international to maintain their number one T20 status. Having been whitewashed 5-0 in the one-day series, Kevin Pietersen’s 53 helped the tourists overhaul India’s paltry 120 for nine with six wickets and eight balls to spare.

In Rugby League, Sam Tomkins scored four tries as England began their Four Nations campaign with a 42-4 win over Wales after Australia beat New Zealand 26-12.

Rugby Union Premiership leaders Harlequins made it seven wins from seven with a 19-13 victory over Exeter. Saracens stayed second by edging Gloucester 19-17. Bath beat London Irish 13-12, Leicester defeated Sale 34-13, Northampton thrashed Newcastle 44-15 and Wasps pipped Worcester 14-12.

Rory McIlroy won Golf’s richest prize – £1.24m at the Shanghai Masters. McIlroy beat Anthony Kim in a play-off, having finished level with Kim on 18 under par.

Already-crowned Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel took his 11th race of the season at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix. Jenson Button overtook Fernando Alonso to finish second ahead of the Spaniard.

So here’s a story.

Let me tell you about the oldest woman in my city. She is incredible. I’ve not known her that long, but as soon as I gave her the time of day a few years back, I knew I’d be friends with her for the rest of my time here. She met me when I was going through a tricky time in my life. And though at first, I assumed a lady like her wouldn’t want anything to do with someone like me, I couldn’t have been further from the truth. I noticed straight away that she is the sort of woman who remembers people’s names.

I’ll be honest, she’s not an expert in many things, but she puts a fair shift in. For instance, she cooks for me and many others every week. She offers to help me out when I’ve fallen on hard times. And without fail, she always asks me how I’m doing in my life and is keen to meet my mates at any given opportunity.

I did a bit of research into her life due to her lack of boasting. And get this; she has done pretty much everything. I read about her early years and was mesmerised as I found out about her time in Asia Minor when she was attacked because of what she believed. I wept as I read about her time in China when many of her family members were executed for sharing the same faith as her. Never has a life story gripped me so much as hers. She worked as a nurse in wartime, a teacher during the apartheid and she even helped rebuild houses and schools after the devastation of natural disasters in recent times.

At first I thought she was a perfect human being, but she soon stopped me in my tracks. She confessed to a lifetime of mistakes. I was told about how some men had taken her down roads she had never intended to travel. She told me that regret was never far from her despite the difference she had made in the world. She even remembered the names of those she had offended by not prioritising them when it mattered. As she fought back the tears, I tried to remind her of the people she had helped in her life. However, she simply confessed to being constantly reminded of her past failures.

After hearing her life story to date, I couldn’t help but cry with her in the middle of York city centre.

Some of my friends found out that I started meeting with the old lady regularly, and their reaction was somewhat varied. One of my friends described her as an outdated failure. (I later found out that he had actually been fed, watered and loved by the same old lady a few years previous, but he had forgotten.) Another mate of mine scoffed at her charitable works and muttered: “Let’s face it, she’ll be dead soon.” I was stunned to hear such volatile words spoken about such a humble and honest woman.

I shared my friend’s comments with the old lady last week, and was once again floored by her reaction. She told me that she had never been perfect, and for every good deed she had carried out, she also made a mistake. However, it was her parting words to me which I’ll never forget. She said: “Alex, I’m trying to get better at how I love people. Please tell your friends that I’m sorry I failed in this love.”

My friends were not interested in redemption though. And I’m learning that redemption is their prerogative and not mine. However, I informed them that I would not stop having coffee with the old lady. For all she has done for me and people like me all over the world, I will be forever grateful. I also told my friends that despite their rigid opinions, I would not allow any of them to say horrible things about her in front of me. She is my sister, my guardian, my healer, my teacher and my best friend. She is more than 2000 years old. Her name is Church. Mrs Local Church, and I’d take a bullet for her.

Peace.