So here is post number one.
Well, technically not, but it is... but it's not... I'm sounding all Jeremy Clarkson now.
What I mean t say is - this isn't my first time blogging. I write a diary for a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) website also and have done so for about a year and a half now, it's been updated some 35 to 40 times so I'm certainly no noob. So why double up? Well I have recently pondered a second blog for these reasons:

1. I have a lot to say.
2. I keep a journal of my thoughts and bible study notes which I often share with my girlfriend and family... I'd like to share it with many more people.
3. I enjoy writing my MMA blog and will continue to do so, but it's hardly the place for personal musings over Dr Martin Lloyd Jones's commentary on Romans.
4. I have a lot to say.
5. I take a great deal of encouragement from reading other Christians' online experiences and feelings that mirror my own... I'm hoping this may return that favour.
6. I have a... oh you get the point!

I became a Christian in April 2009, or rather that is when I understood what God was doing in my life and consciously and openly made a commitment to the Lord. A lot of things had happened in the year leading up to my conversion, which as no doubt later blogs will reveal were dramatic in part and disturbingly samey same as anyone else's life in others.

I moan a lot, so don't say I didn't warn you. My job, money, injures, diet and food, family (only sometimes!), jobs and DIY at home, bad films, overcooked steak, blunt pencils, bad coffee and shortage of Ben and Jerry's in Sainsburys all get me griping, whinging, backbiting.... moaning!

I also like to quote, so get used to" and ". I seem to punctuate sentences with rows of full stops... they are meant to indicate dramatic... pauses... get it?

I often paraphrase and I love using analogies... you know... like when you do this and it's like that, but it isn't that, but if you can pretend it is that, then I can explain why the point I'm making can be simply understood by using that context... got it? No? Let me give you an analogy then...

I also think I'm funny, but that I ain't. I laugh at myself, other people just laugh at me laughing at myself. What they say inwardly would no doubt bother me if I stopped laughing long enough to realise that was what was happening. In the instances I have realised this everyone has walked off and left me, so I have no need for embarrassment. I keep myself amused at least.

Anyway, I'm wandering from the point. I am no minister, preacher or evangelist and make no pretensions to be one. Everything I say is my own take, thought or opinion. Granted it's often the case that I quote, but I am conscious that I am exceptionally fallible and prone to error. If I ever offend or misquote I apologise in advance and will stand corrected with well informed, polite and constructive criticism.

Anyway I'll start (and finish) by quoting Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians. I had had a very busy, long and testing week at work and talking to my girlfriend on the phone I was conscious that she too had had a rather difficult and testing time of things in the last couple of weeks. After the phone call I rolled over and picked up my bible and did something I think everyone has done at least once. I stuck my finger near the middle at random, ran my finger up and down and said 'stop', then chose the right hand page. Not the best way to study the bible I'm sure you'll agree, but the paragraph I read was this:

2 Corinthians 11: 23 - 29
23Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?

Simply put - my week quickly came into perspective and I chuckled at myself for ever having considered myself unfortunate or hard pushed. Easy life. I have an easy life.


"I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, an He answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice... Salvation belongs to the Lord."
(Prayer of Jonah - Jonah 2:1-10)