Sir Steve Redgrave passed the Olympic flame on to a group of young athletes to light the cauldron in the Olympic Stadium and signal the start of the 2012 Olympic Games on Friday evening.

Team GB have got off to a relatively slow start as far as medals are concerned, though. Lizzie Armitstead won silver in the women’s road race yesterday, and Rebecca Adlington snuck into the final of the women’s 400m freestyle but raised her game to win a bronze.

On Saturday Mark Cavendish and his teammates were unable to recover after losing ground early on in the men’s road race.

Andy Murray confidently progressed past Stanlisav Wawrinka in the first round of the men’s tennis competition 6-3 6-4 on Wimbledon’s Centre Court. Novak Djokovic recovered from losing the first set to beat Italian Fabio Fognini. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was also taken to three sets by his opponent, Thomaz Bellucci.

Agnieszka Radwanska suffered a shock defeat to Julia Goerges of Germany and

Maria Sharapova beat Shahar Peer of Israel 6-2 6-0.

At Wembley, Britain’s footballers followed up a disappointing draw against Senegal with a 3-1 win over the UAE. One of the tournament favourites Spain went out after defeat to Honduras.

Lewis Hamilton led throughout to win the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of the Lotus pair Kimi Raikkonon and Romain Grosjean.

Fernando Alonso finished ahead of Mark Webber to increase his lead in the drivers’ championship to 40 points. Victory puts Hamilton up to fourth, 47 points of the lead.

Wigan beat Castleford 40-16 to maintain their three-point lead at the top of the Super League with one round of matches remaining. Warrington kept up the pressure on the leaders with a 50-22 thrashing of Bradford, whose chances of making the playoffs were dealt a blow as Hull KR beat Widnes 32-26.

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Manchester City’s stuttering form continued against in their 3-3 with Sunderland on Saturday, allowing Manchester United the opportunity to open up a five-point gap at the top of the league if they beat Blackburn this evening.

Sebastian Larsson scored either side of half-time for Sunderland to help his side to a 3-1 lead but City rescued a point with two goals in the final five minutes of the match.

Arsenal’s excellent run came to an end at QPR. Theo Walcott cancelled out Adel Taarabt opening goal before half time but Samba Diakite won it for Rangers midway through the second half to leave them only in the relegation zone behind Blackburn on goals scored.

Wigan were impressive in their 2-0 win at home to Stoke, and the only side in the bottom four not to win on Saturday was Wolves who lost their relegation six-pointer against Bolton 3-2 at Molineux.

Martin Petrov scored from the penalty spot to reveal a t-shirt in support of countryman and friend, Aston Villa captain Stilyan Petrov who was announced to be suffering from acute leukaemia. Petrov’s team lost 4-2 at home to Chelsea, with Fernando Torres scoring his first league goal in six months in the final seconds.

On Sunday, Liverpool’s dreadful league form continued as they went down 2-0 away at Newcastle thanks to a goal in each half from Papiss Demba Cisse. An exaggerated reaction from James Perch saw Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina shown a red card in the final minutes for an apparent headbutt.

Tottenham beat Swansea 3-1 at White Hart Lane to stop the rot and win their first league game in seven weeks. Rafael can der Vaart opened the scoring in the first half and Emmanuel Adebayor added two more in the final twenty minutes.

Andy Murray lost in the final of the Miami Masters, going down 6-1q 7-6 (7-4) to world number one Novak Djokovic in a repeat of the 2009 final. Djokovic bossed the match from beginning to end and deserved the win, not even allowing Murray a single break point chance all match.

Harlequins beat Saracens 24-19 in what was billed as the biggest game of the Aviva Premiership season so far. Jordan Turner-Hall, George Lowe and Danny Care all scored for Harlequins and the league leaders resisted a late charge from their opponents.

Third, fourth and fifth-placed Leicester, Northampton and Exeter all won to move ahead of Gloucester who lost at Wasps.

Huddersfield beat Leeds 22-12 to return to the top of the Super League ahead of Hull who have a game in hand. On Friday evening Warrington slipped up at home to St. Helens, losing 28-16, while Wigan beat Salford 40-20. Catalan Dragons thrashed bottom side Widnes 76-6 to keep pace in fifth.

Interim England head coach Stuart Lancaster was given the job on a permanent basis after guiding the national team through what was a successful Six Nations campaign in which England finished second with four wins from five matches.

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The half Marathon I completed last week set my soul up for the real thing in Belfast this May. Today however, I was told about a recurring injury in the tendons around my fifth metatarsals in both feet. I can no longer run the Marathon.

To be honest here, it’s not just the fact I’ll be demoted to cheerleader for Dan Baldwin as he runs for CVM on May 7th that hurts the most. It’s not even the physical pain which throbs through my foot reducing me to a distorted John Wayne hop-a-long.The hardest thing to swallow is that in the eyes of my friends, my colleagues and my family, I have a weakness. And what saddens me in the light of day is that I’m discovering more weaknesses in my being regularly.

Let’s be realistic though, when will I ever have to run 26 miles in normal life? Unless we’re invaded by Ethiopian distance athletes, I’m going to be alright. But even this doesn’t take away the stale taste of failure in my mouth. If my body was a machine, I’d be prone to malfunctions, if I were a computer, I’d freeze three times every day.

I can see your face now, sympathetic and concerned. (But I’m not looking for sympathy, honest )

As I get older, and mature in my often hilarious Christian faith, I’m becoming more of a perfectionist in the tasks at hand. Despite God pouring immeasurable grace into my life, I still think I’m a world-beater. I fancy my chances at most obstacles. If it’s me versus you, I think you’d struggle. And the tragedy of this personality trait is not just the arrogance. The tragedy is that when I do spot a chink in the armour of Alex, I begin to lose heart. I lose heart because there is still so much of my identity based solely on my targets and ambitions. I am still learning how to anchor myself to the bigger picture.

There is a man sitting opposite me here at the CVM office called Dean Gray. He is my Managing Director. He is the sort of man who delights in God whether he is speaking to 500 people or having coffee with a homeless man. He is constant. He is balanced. He is steadfast. I am like a goose being attacked by fifty squirrels.

So, I’d like you to do two things for me.

1) Would you pray that I listen to what God says about me before I trust in my own understanding?

2) Would you throw £5 to CVM as Dan Baldwin smashes the Belfast Marathon without his Welsh co-pilot?

Romans 12:2-3

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

Pray this for me.

Peace.

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For those of you following our Twitter and Facebook feeds on Sunday you will have kept pace with Carl as he trudged round London for 5 hours 13 minutes and 42 seconds with 35,000 other people.

Carl was running for CVM and so far has collected over £4,400 – an awesome achievement! There’s still time to donate if you like, go to: http://justgiving.com/revbeechy And for now, check out the video of Carl in action on the day.

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Firstly, thanks to all those who have sponsored me for the London marathon on Sunday!

I’ve put in the training and aside from a very slightly tender calf that should be 100% by Sunday, I’m feeling pretty confident!

By all accounts it will be a hot day (72f) in London but at least that will mean the crowds will be out.

The money raised is all going directly into the ongoing work of CVM and will be used to develop more resources to help men and churches all over the uk. The generosity we have experienced and the encouraging messages left on the just giving website have been humbling.

To answer a common question: no I’m not wearing fancy dress (Although dressing up as captain America was tempting!)

If you haven’t sponsored me yet you can just go to: http://justgiving.com/revbeechy

Next update after the event. If you’re there spectating and by some miraculous event you see me on the road, give me a shout and a chocolate digestive!

Cheers and God bless!

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Firstly, thanks to all those who have sponsored me for the London marathon on Sunday!

I’ve put in the training and aside from a very slightly tender calf that should be 100% by Sunday, I’m feeling pretty confident!

By all accounts it will be a hot day (72f) in London but at least that will mean the crowds will be out.

The money raised is all going directly into the ongoing work of CVM and will be used to develop more resources to help men and churches all over the uk. The generosity we have experienced and the encouraging messages left on the just giving website have been humbling.

To answer a common question: no I’m not wearing fancy dress (Although dressing up as captain America was tempting!)

If you haven’t sponsored me yet you can just go to: http://justgiving.com/revbeechy

Next update after the event. If you’re there spectating and by some miraculous event you see me on the road, give me a shout and a chocolate digestive!

Cheers and God bless!

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I am more impressed with Eddie Izzard than Usain Bolt. Don’t get me wrong, Bolt is the fastest man on Earth over a short distance, and if I broke into his house and he was in, I would be in a very tricky position if it came to a foot race. I’d probably have to knock him out before my getaway. Anyway, Eddie Izzard ran 43 marathons in 53 days. They say you should take 26 days to rest after one marathon. He had never ran before the first one. It’s not really possible to do what Eddie did it.

People are wowed by those who sprint, but humbled by those who endure. The crazy thing is, Jesus talks about this. I have seen a lot of people take a fleeting interest in the message of Jesus before moving on to something more shiny. The more I read the scriptures the more I see the long distance runners changing the world whilst shooting stars fall after a few seconds under the spotlight.

Ok enough with the metaphors. These last few weeks endurance has littered our TVs and radios with sports relief challenges and marathon men. Coupled with this new phase of endurance, I have recently taken some major steps with the most testing battle a man can face. Golf.

It has nothing to do with skill, strength or power. It truly is all in the mind. And after you swing and miss the first 7 million balls, the temptation comes over you like a wall of burdens. No man should have to stand so vulnerable on a driving range in front of 20 professionals wearing one glove. Everyone I speak to about my recent progress in Golf say the same thing. “Yeah man that’s really good. It’s a great game but well hard. I played once but I was awful. Didn’t bother again.” Some of my mates spent hundreds of pounds on clubs but gave up because they weren’t very good at it. (These clubs will become my property in the near future).

Like some crazed freak I use these faces of those who quit Golf to pump my concentration after I spoon a ball 20 yards over the fence. I will not quit. Not because I’m super strong, or as focused as a leopard, but because the theology of Eddie Izzard is 100% proof. How does perseverance work? It works like this: Wake up, have a wash, eat some breakfast, do the thing worth persevering for, eat some food, have a sleep. We cannot persevere tomorrow. Only today. And if everyday you wake up, have a wash, eat some food and persevere, the years will pass and looking back on your life you will see that you have finished the race.

Consider these epic teachings by Jesus who persevered more than any living thing. In Mark’s account he said this: “Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—thirty, sixty or even a hundred times what was sown.”

For those of you who have not yet encountered “The word” then for the next hour or so have a read of the book of Mark. Endurance pays off. For those of you who have encountered “The word” then for the next hour or so have a read of the book of Mark. Endurance pays off.

Today we endure, because tomorrow isn’t real.

Peace.

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