Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke won Golf’s Open Championship at Royal St George’s in Sandwich, Kent.

The 42-year-old finished three shots ahead of his nearest rivals, Americans Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson, on five under par.

Clarke’s first major title was Northern Ireland’s third in little over a year after Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell won the last two US Opens.

In Football, Manchester City have agreed to sell captain Carlos Tevez to Brazilian side Corinthions for £39million.

The Argentinian striker, who helped City reach the Champions League for the first time last season, said he wanted to leave Manchester to be closer to his family in Argentina.

Tevez’s switch would be the second big Premier League transfer in a week after England winger Stewart Downing moved from Aston Villa to Liverpool for an undisclosed fee, thought to be around £20million.

In Cricket, England begin their four-Test series against world number one India at Lord’s on Thursday, knowing victory by two games will put Andrew Strauss’ side top of the rankings.

Strauss, guesting for Somerset, warmed up nicely with a fifty and an unbeaten century against the tourists in the drawn tour match at Taunton.

Domestically, the Twenty20 quarter-final line-up has been confirmed with Hampshire playing Durham, Leicestershire facing Kent, Nottinghamshire meeting Somerset and Sussex taking on Lancashire.

The Pro40 resumed with surprise wins for the Netherlands over Kent and Scotland against Northamptonshire while Middlesex beat Yorkshire. The other four games were rained off.

In Rugby League’s Super League, leaders Wigan and second-placed Warrington beat Wakefield and Harlequins respectively. St Helens went third with victory over Catalan Dragons and Huddersfield losing to Bradford.

Castleford and Leeds remained sixth and seventh with wins over Crusaders and Hull FC respectively. Hull KR saw off Salford.

(Originally published at carlbeech.com)

Being the leader of the largest UK men’s movement, I’ve been asked more than a few times lately where we are with some of the teaching coming from the United States.

I need to take serious time to start to put my thoughts down in a considered manner but as my schedule through to September is extremely heavy, to say the least, I thought I would begin with a few bullet points. Come September I hope to have a series of articles in development. One thing I am convinced of is the need for British men to be speaking to British men…I hope I can deliver that over time.

At this time, my primary concern is not to teach the church on issues of gender but to focus on evangelism. By this I mean words and actions. I believe that by reaching men we can start to tackle some of the issues that men face and the sins they perpetrate upon society. With violence against women “off the chart” and sex trafficking able to thrive because of sex addicted men, the last thing we need is macho posturing. We need men to use their strength and testosterone in pursuit of more noble causes.

That’s why I founded the movement based around “the code”.

So here you go:

1. Unlike some ministries and individuals we don’t criticise another man or woman’s ministry from the pulpit or blog. We have enough to do without worrying about targeting friendly fire on each other. We get on with the job in hand and trust that our own message and teaching will get out there in the end. What follows is not directed at any individual.

2. I believe there is no one-way of being a man. Portraying stereotypes is unhelpful and shallow. Human beings are far more complex than any stereotype. People hear my accent and see my build and assume I’m into everything that’s macho and despise anything that looks weak or wimpy. Assumption is the mother of all catastrophe. I play piano, write poems and don’t like football. I also love to cook and don’t mind watching a chick flick with the girls. However, it is true I also love gadgets, shooting stuff, meat, fire and loud music. Big deal. I have testosterone. Some of my mates who also of course have testosterone like none of these things. Big deal. Lets get on with the real task in hand. Millions are dying without Christ. We need all our talents, eccentricities and personalities on task.

3. Projecting ‘macho” as the only type of man speaks to me of deep inadequacy and insecurity. If you were truly a man (of whatever type) you wouldn’t keep needing to talk about it. You would simply live it, demonstrate you are truly comfortable in your own skin and point beyond yourself to Jesus. We tend to bleat on about what we struggle with most. Be mindful of this next time you get a hobby horse!

4. I believe people should be allowed to be comfortable to be whatever they have been made by God to be, within the framework that the bible gives us. Some men will be artistic, others born to lift heavy weights. One is not superior to the other IMO.

5. Being a husband is a huge privilege. The bible tells us to lay down our lives for our wives. I see myself as the thorn on the rose, protecting the rose so that it can flourish and take the lime light. I am called to apologise first, take the hit and carry the can. I love my wife as Christ loved the church….by dying to myself. Lets talk about that before we talk about anything else. IMO, if you take the ability to do that away from me I don’t have much else. This is where feminism goes wrong. More on this another time.

6. Men should use their strength to protect the weak and stand against the abuse of power. There’s a good use for our testosterone. I can’t think of a better one.

7. Do I think my wife is weaker and more easily deceived and that for this reason I should be in charge? Of course not! In fact I feel that this sort of teaching massively insults my wife and I take issue with it in the strongest possible terms. How dare women be spoken of in this way. In fact, if Genesis is used for that argument we should conclude that men are less intelligent and gullible for eating the fruit offered in the first place. This smacks of culture deeply affecting the reading of scripture and control stemming from fear.

8. Every human being is an amazing and stunning creation. There is no place for bullying, intimidating, harassing, stereotyping or squashing another person or ministry. Taking strong issue with something is a different matter.

9. Jesus exercised power and strength with nails through his skin and bone. Sometimes we need to remember this.

10. My greatest heroes are those who serve humbly, walk diligently before God and lay their lives down. It’s not about following someone with greater physical strength who can handle himself in a dark alleyway.

Hope that helps for now to at least begin to understand where we are at with some issues. Don’t forget to check out the code. Its going ballistic and men are finding faith in Jesus through it.

Grace to you

Carl

England’s cricketers came from 2-1 down to beat Sri Lanka 3-2 in the 50-over series between the sides.

New one-day captain Alastair Cook led his charges to a thrilling 16-run win in a tight final game at Old Trafford to seal the series victory.

Many had questioned Cook’s selection as skipper, which saw him recalled to a side he had not played for in more than a year, but he responded with 298 runs in the five-match rubber.

Domestically, the first four quarter-finalists for the Twenty20 Cup have been confirmed as holders Hampshire, last year’s runners-up Somerset, Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. The other four will be known by the end of Friday evening.

In Formula One, Fernando Alonso won the British Grand Prix at Silverstone to claim Ferrari’s first win of the season.

The Spaniard took the lead from Sebastain Vettel while the runaway championship leader was in the pits. Vettel finished second, his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber was third and Lewis Hamilton the leading British competitor in fourth.

England’s Luke Donald, Golf’s world number one, warmed up for this week’s Open Championship with victory in a rain-reduced Scottish Open.

After the tournament was cut from 72 to 54 holes, Donald finished on 19 under par – four shots ahead of Sweden’s Fredrik Andersson in second.

Wigan stayed top of Rugby League’s Super League with a 38-6 victory at Harlequins, but Warrington remained one point behind in second courtesy of a 28-16 win over third-placed Huddersfield.

St Helens took advantage of that result to move a point behind the Giants with a 46-6 triumph at Wakefield. Fifth-placed Catalan Dragons remained level on points with Saints thanks to a 38-18 defeat of Leeds.

Sixth-placed Castleford beat Bradford 34-30 and seventh-placed Hull saw off Salford 52-16. Outside the play-off places Hull KR won 38-10 at Crusaders.

In Football, Tottenham remain determined to keep playmaker Luka Modric although the player has claimed Spurs went back on a promise made last summer when they blocked a move to Chelsea last month.

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas has again been linked with a move to Barcelona and team-mate Samir Nasri remains subject of a bid from Manchester United. The Gunners have been suggested as rivals to Liverpool for Aston Villa winger Stewart Downing’s signature.

Novak Djokovic won his first Wimbledon Tennis title, preventing Rafael Nadal from winning three in a row with a 6-4 6-1 1-6 6-3 victory.

Djokovic took over from Nadal, who beat Britain’s Andy Murray in the semi-final, as world number one the next day. The Serbian had done enough before the final to knock the Spaniard off his perch and the Wimbledon triumph confirmed his new status.

Petra Kvitoca, of the Czech Republic, won the women’s title, beating Maria Sharapova 6-3 6-4.

In Cricket, England trailed Sri Lanka 2-1 with two one-day internationals to play after suffering a six-wicket defeat at Lord’s.

New one-day captain Alastair Cook scored 119 at the top of the order to set the tourists 247 to win. However, Dinesh Chandimal’s unbeaten 105 led them to victory with 10 balls to spare.

Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Hampshire were well on course to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Twenty20 Cup with all three winning over the weekend. The remaining places seemed open with both divisions congested in the middle.

David Haye failed in his attempt to unify Boxing’s heavyweight division as he lost on points to Wladimir Klitschko in Hamburg.

Haye, who was outboxed and outmuscled, blamed the defeat on a broken little toe, which he claimed restricted his right hand.

Rugby League’s Super League remained much the same this weekend. Leaders Warrington won a 48-18 at Castleford, second-placed Wigan beat Leeds 26-24, third-placed Huddersfield defeated Crusaders 40-12, fourth-placed St Helens saw off Hull 28-14 and fifth-placed Catalan Dragons were 34-28 winners at Bradford.

Elsewhere, Hull KR thrashed Wakefield 70-14 and Salford beat Harlequins 26-18.

In Rugby Union, England flanker James Haskell will rejoin Wasps in 2012 on a three-year contract. He was recently released by Stade Francais and will play for Ricoh Black Rams in Japan after the World Cup.

Finally, Scotland’s David Millar and Wales’ Geraint Thomas were in the top four after the first two stages of Cycling’s Tour de France. Norway’s Thor Hushovd held the yellow jersey.

So – there we were.

Blokes.

Blokes in a big tent.

Blokes in a big tent in a windswept field.

Blokes everywhere. Big blokes, little blokes, beardy blokes, shaven blokes, baldy blokes, hairy blokes, young blokes, old blokes. It was exciting. Banter, bacon rolls, burgers, beer, and the ….I’ve run out of b’s – but you’ve got the idea.

We’d come from all over the UK. One guy had come from Mexico, or so it seemed. I rather think he was visiting the UK and got invited along. Surely no-one would come all the way from Mexico, just for a bit of Christian fellowship and fun?

We’d come together to celebrate being a man. To encourage, exhort and edifiy one another. To be church for a weekend that was just male but nonetheless just as rich, just as textured, just as nuanced as our usual experience.

Men together for the Son of Man.

The meeting started in an unusual way with a rolling darts competition. Any old chancer could come up to the ockey, throw two sets of three and the highest five scores over the next 36 hours would go forward to the grand final on Sunday morning. A truly effective crowd warmer. We loved it.

There was an inspiring amount of blokey banter between the three wise men fronting the event, but it was never cynical, never nasty, just fun and occasionally a bit challenging as the deeper things about our bloke-ishness were exposed and examined. Healthy stuff this. We were dealing with man–issues and having fun.

Then the trouble started.

I’d been enjoying a long period of really getting to grips with this ‘personal relationship with Jesus’ thing. I’d learned to take lot of time meditating on small sections of scripture. Maybe just a verse or two that I’ll carry around for a week [ or more ] until I get to the time when I shut myself away, put on some quiet music and really, really think hard and pray deeply about what I’m looking at. One aspect of this process is that worship becomes deep, intimate and sometimes rather intense. I love it. The worship thing can now happen almost anywhere, anytime. Beautiful.

It was Kendrick’s fault.

As usual, Graham led us in praise. He does it beautifully, simply, powerfully. But above all he does it with a humble grace that leads you to worship. So I worshipped. All I could do was stand there with my hands by my sides and feel the tangible presence of the Spirit of God. Right there. Right then.

Worship often makes me see things differently. I’ve become acutely aware that God, Jesus, Holy Spirit, my spirituality is something that I can only describe as ‘other’. It’s otherworldly. It’s other being-ness. I just know when the otherness is opening up ‘this’ world becomes thinner. It’s as though there’s a veil over the spirituality until I choose to focus on the spiritual things then the veil flips and I’m in the ‘other’ and I’ve left ‘this’ world partly behind. See Colossians 3 : 1-3. See if it makes different sense now.

I love being ‘other’. I love leaving ‘this’ behind because ‘other’ makes more sense to me than all the pressures and pursuits of ‘this’.

I’ve understood for years that sin isn’t a range of actions & attitudes that are unacceptable to Father God, rather it’s the persistent choice to live and make life choices independently of Father God. It’s choosing ‘this’ world rather than pursuing the ‘other’ world.

So that’s my trouble that I’m in. Thanks to CVM and Graham Kendrick I now know that otherness isn’t confined to my study. Otherness is with me wherever I am. Otherness can be attained in what appears to be the least likely of circumstances and is no less potent for it.

In the midst of all that fun and masculinity and banter, the teaching of John 10:10 shows us that life remains fully open, fully accessible to us all.

His name is Jesus, the portal, the door to the ‘other’ way of being fully man and fully alive – forever.

(Acknowledgements to Roy Crown, after his talk at the CVM Gathering, 26.06.11).

Pete:

“It happens ‘specially when I’m driving alone on a long journey. I’ll get one of my big ideas. It’ll be something which will solve loads of our problems in one go, or make the work go ballistic. They come from something that’s happened to me in the past or some random thing will spark one off. Sometimes they come from other people who’ve had a similar idea but they don’t seem to see its full potential, or they just can’t be bothered to do anything. I’ll get really fired up about an idea because I can see the potential straight away. I’m good at selling an idea to other people and getting them fired up as well. I just crack on with it. It makes me feel full of energy and I can put loads of hours in—no problem, networking and getting everybody behind it. Sometimes my head’s so full of these things, I think it might burst. It’s difficult keeping so many projects on the boil and new, even better ideas keep coming to me… “

Tim:

“When one of these ‘ideas’ blokes tells me about his latest one, my mind switches onto it straight away. It takes about a second for my head to fill with all the implications that nobody else thinks about. I can see at once the overestimates and underestimates that I already know the’ideas’ bloke’s made. I’ve seen them stumble into the same pitfalls before and I remember all that, where they forget. I can get completely absorbed by all this. It’s mouth-watering. I can put loads of hours in—no problem, usually on my own, beavering away, planning and turning an idea into reality. I don’t like making a song and dance about stuff with other people. I’m just not like these ‘ideas’ blokes…”

Pete:

“… Then I talk to my colleague Tim about it. He doesn’t ever seem to get excited, unlike most other people. He gets this look–his face glazes over. He might manage a, “That’s really good…” But it comes out so flat, you know it’s forced. And it’s usually followed by, “But ‘ang on, what about…” And then it starts—all the things that might go wrong, all the risks, the deadlines and so on and on and on. Trying to listen to Tim’s like watching a dumper trunk pouring out a deluge of facts and figures on top of an idea, so it gets buried. You just get lost in it all…”

Tim:

“…like Pete. On the rare occasions when I get him to stop long enough for a serious conversation, he just doesn’t seem to listen. He’s so excitable. He gets this look—his face glazes over. He doesn’t get how much time and effort there is between just having an idea and actually making it happen. The devil really is in the detail. He gets bored with details. He’s got so many projects on the boil, the work is littered with stuff he’s put on the back burner. Who knows when it’ll come off ? You don’t want to give him any of your own ideas. I’ve tried and two weeks later he’s back selling it to you as one of his…”

Pete:

“…That Tim, he’s so negative. He’s an irritating nitpicker. He kills things off. He pees me off completely. I just can’t understand him.”

Tim:

“…That Pete, he’s an airhead. He’s a superficial thinker. He’s over-optimistic and naive. He pees me off completely. I just can’t understand him.”

Read. John 21, 1-14, about Peter who jumped in and the rest who rowed the catch to shore; and 1 Corinthians 12, 12-26, about body parts who argue with each other.

Pete, the visionary leader who jumps straight in and Tim, the administrative genius, who’s rowing to keep up, desperately need each other. They’re different parts of the body. Working apart, they’re stuffed. Working in the (difficult) unity of The Spirit, trying to understand each other’s gifts and patiently making allowances, they could win the World.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy led from the first round as he stormed to Golf’s US Open title by a mammoth eight shots at the Congressional Club in Maryland.

The 22-year-old, who squandered a similar position in the final round of this year’s Masters, won his first major and set a dozen records in the process.

His 16 under par was the lowest score in the competition and he became the youngest US Open winner since Bobby Jones in 1923 plus the youngest major winner since Tiger Woods in 1997.

In Football, England were knocked out of the European Under-21 Championship at the group stage after suffering a 2-1 defeat to the Czech Republic.

Manager Stuart Pearce’s team needed to win to reach the last four and led through Danny Welbeck’s 76th-minute header. However, Czech substitutes Jan Charmosta and Thomas Pekhart scored late goals to send England home.

Tottenham face a battle to keep playmaker Luca Modric after the Croatian said he wanted to move to Chelsea, who had a £22million bid rejected. Spurs chairman Daniel Levy said the midfielder is not for sale at any price, but Chelsea were expected to make an improved offer with Manchester United and Manchester City also possibly bidding.

In Rugby Union, England won the last Churchill Cup with a 37-6 win over Canada in the final at Worcester. It was the final chance for several players to make their case for the 45-man extended World Cup squad, which was due to be announced on Monday. Prop Matt Stevens, who has served a two-year drugs ban, was expected to be included.

In Rugby League, Matt King’s hat-trick helped Warrington stay top of Super League with a 46-16 win over Hull KR. Huddersfield are level on points with the Wolves thanks to a 28-20 victory against Catalan Dragons.

Wigan are third and St Helens fourth after the Warriors’ 32-10 win over Saints. Leeds are fifth following a 12-7 victory versus Crusaders. Hull FC beat Bradford 28-14, Harlequins saw off Wakefield 40-22 and Castleford defeated Salford 15-8.

In Cricket, England were on course to win the Test series against Sri Lanka going into its final day. Ian Bell’s unbeaten hundred allowed Andrew Strauss to declare with a lead of 193 and the tourists were 112 for three at stumps on day four of the third Test at the Rose Bowl. Paceman Chris Tremlett had taken six first-innings wickets on his former home ground. England led the series 1-0.

Domestically, Nottinghamshire and Sussex were top of the Twenty20 North and South groups respectively going into a week of County Championship games.

Finally, in Tennis, Wimbledon fortnight arrived with Britain’s hopes again pinned on Andy Murray, who was due to play Daniel Gemeno-Traver in the first round on Monday.

He stood at the train station scratching his perfectly spherical head which looks more like a bowling ball than a human feature. And though I had come up with a new list of witty insults for my friend Daniel, I couldn’t hide the fact I was elated to welcome him to Chesterfield.

And as I gave Dan a tour of the old market town, I thought about how brilliant it feels to get visits from those you have known for a long time. My thoughts soon drifted to what it means to be part of Christian brotherhood.

Many speakers have drawn up military analogies to explain what it is to have a group of adopted brothers in Christ. However, like all analogies, it falls short of summing up what it actually means. You see, when a soldier returns from action, his allegiance to his military colleagues changes. Though a sense of duty will always remain amongst him and those who served alongside him, there is no getting away from the fact that relationships change away from the frontline.

Not so with followers of Christ. My commitment to supporting Dan is something which goes beyond duty. The fact that we have both submitted to the same Creator, repented to the same Redeemer and accepted the same Spirit makes us brothers without an agenda. Jesus spoke about the greatest display of love being found in he who lays down his life for his friends. And though that love can be carried out in many different ways, its a notion which has to be practiced for the rest of my life. Its a lifelong deal.

Anyway, I guess I wanted to remind my Christian brothers that me and you are exactly that: brothers. And since we have been adopted by Christ to pioneer a different way of sharing our lives, I’d like to point out an elephant in the room. We are not in competition with each other. We are on the same team. Lets think on how we can celebrate this fact this week.

Peace

Jenson Button overtook Formula One Championship leader Sebastian Vettel on the final lap to win the Canadian Grand Prix.

Vettel spun his Red Bull under pressure from Button, who recovered from a collision with McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton and Fernando Alonso failed to finish a severely rain-affected race in which Mark Webber came third. Vettel still leads the Drivers’ Championship by 60 points from Button.

In Football, England began the European Under-21 Championship with a creditable 1-1 draw against Spain.

Danny Welbeck’s late goal cancelled out Ander Herrera’s early strike. England’s next game is versus Ukraine on Wednesday.

Alec McLeish has resigned as manager of Birmingham City, who won the League Cup this year but were relegated from the Premier League.

Former England manager Steve McClaren has been named Nottingham Forest’s new boss after they sacked Billy Davies. McClaren has been out of work since being dismissed by Wolfsburg in February.

In Cricket, James Anderson is set to return from a side strain in the third and final Test against Sri Lanka at the Rose Bowl, starting on Thursday.

Anderson, who missed the drawn second Test at Lord’s due to the injury, was due to make his comeback on Sunday for Lancashire. However, all Sunday’s domestic Twenty20 games were washed out. Nottinghamshire, who beat Warwickshire on Saturday, led the North Group while holders Hampshire top the South Group.

In Rugby Union, England Saxons will play Canada in the final of the Churchill Cup on Saturday, having secured their place with a 41-14 win over Tonga.

Tonga conceded three set-piece penalty tries and there were touchdowns for Jordan Crane and Billy Twelvetrees, plus 16 kicked points by Rory Clegg.

In Rugby League, the vast majority of those involved in Friday evening’s 16-12 victory for the Exiles over England played two days later in Super League when the top two lost.

Warrington were beaten 16-18 at home to Salford and Huddersfield lost 13-10 at Wakefield. Wigan and St Helens missed the chance to go top, drawing with Castleford and Bradford respectively. Catalan Dragons beat Crusaders 31-18, Leeds thrashed Hull KR 44-14 and Hull FC thumped Harlequins 38-6.

In Tennis, Andy Murray was due to play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Monday in the Queen’s Club final, which rain delayed from Sunday.

The Goonies, The Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me, Forrest Gump…these classics were just a few of the movie locations we researched ahead of our epic three month jaunt across the United States. My wife and I had specific instructions and detailed maps regarding exactly how to find the square in Georgia where Tom Hanks sat on that bench with his box of chocolates and the exact spot in Oregon where Chunk performed the famous truffle shuffle. (I admit, I did it too, and the wife filmed it – it had to be done!) It was a blessed time; a dream come true for a couple of film fans. You think we might have had enough following our movie themed wedding, but no!

We also faced challenges along the way; scary moments that would result in us relying on, trusting in and counting on God more than ever before. Like inadvertently driving eight miles down the wrong road late one night in the middle of New Mexico and getting stuck. We had pretty much reached a dead end and it was too dark to attempt driving back up. It was a dirt road and we weren’t even sure our little camper van could handle the climb. Stranded and alone, scared and anxious – the headlights that were shining in our direction for the majority of the night from a hill ahead of us in otherwise total darkness made it impossible not to think about all those horribly unpleasant, desert set horror films. We felt as though we were in one.

Another night, on failing to find a campground, we were forced to pull over in a cowboy-esque saloon bar car park in Arizona, as drunks filtered out well into the early hours. The ‘rent me’ text on the side of our van made us look and feel way beyond vulnerable, as we lay there silently in our thermals, occasionally peeping through the curtains praying no-one would be too bothered by our being there. I was often aware of my expectation as a husband in such circumstances – to comfort and protect. We didn’t have an awful lot in the van that would have been useful in a situation that required self defence. My dirty boxers? A road map of the USA? Jason Bourne could maybe have used the latter to good effect, whereas for me it would probably result in nothing more than a few self inflicted paper cuts.

We also had a Bible, which we read every day. It spoke of how we can grow closer to God in the tough times; the testing times. If everything went swimmingly all the time, what good would having a God even be? We discovered that the word ‘faith is called that for a reason. Reading God’s word enabled my wife and I to realise that He never puts us in a situation we can’t handle. It also makes it clear that life is never going to be an easy ride. We went on to encounter feisty alligators in the Everglades and Bruce Willis and his bald head in New Orleans. As Christans, we take the rough with the smooth.