PJBelfast

The past four weeks have been busy with work. I've also been out most evenings at various events. So please forgive me if I've been a tad quiet on the blog front. September is the month schools start back, but for me it has brought with it the recommencement of "BCGC" (choir) and "Tribes" (LVV life group's.) Over the past three Thursday evenings I've also had the joy, honour and privilege to be able to share a foundational (didactic) teaching devotional course with the life group leaders at Forestside Church, Belvoir, South Belfast. We have also been pleasantly surprised to find others coming from other church streams. Forestside Church needs commended on the friendliness of their welcome. They pulled out all the stops on night one, with Tim Hortons doughnuts as a lovely treat for delegates. It is safe to say that this 1.5 hr evening teaching hub has been a winning formula. Someone once said that "if it's all Word you dry up, if

The headliner tonight was Susan Boyle. She gave great renditions of "Wild Horses" and "Somewhere over the rainbow." My favourite tonight though has been Mark Vincent the 2009 winner of Australia's Got Talent. What a velvety voice! Classical music definitely isn't my favourite genre, but the BBC Proms on the Park at the Titanic slipway is a great nights varied entertainment. Most folk have brought their own picnic and their own portable seats. People have started to wrap themselves in their rugs and blankets, as the wind has now picked up - after all "it's not Brazil it's Northern Ireland!" We have just had a live link with the Royal Albert Hall, London. The enthusiasm certainly knocks the stuffiness out of classical music. Thanks for including us in your party Mandie, Neil, Yvonne, Mandie and Peter. It was great we could celebrate Caroline's new hair do in such style!

Asda, UK subsidiary of Walmart sent me a message today. Before shopping for our groceries I used their Scan & Go handset. I entered my mobile number and the message said "Paul you are good to go"! Asda had me "good to go" to scan my shopping. But it triggered a thought. It reminded me of Jesus' final commission which we know as the Great Commission. Matthews gospel says we are good " to go and make disciples". Not just converts but disciples. Research from various sources inform me that a disciple is an apprentice, literally "a taught one". I'm a sexagenarian (in my sixties) but realise staying teachable keeps me from fossilising and thinking I'm a 'know it all.' Wasn't it the wise Solomon who said " Better is a poor and a wise child than an old and foolish king who will no more be admonished." Stay teachable - "you are good to go!" You never know you just might learn something new today. #goo

It was standing room only at St. Anne's Cathedral Belfast on Monday night past, when over 3000 people turned up to pray for a breakthrough on the Abortion legislation, sanctioned from Westminster, and due to come into effect in NI on 22nd October 2019. The prayers were an initiative from a groundswell of Christian organisations voicing their opposition to this parliamentary edict. It was both an outcry to overturn this appalling legislation and a crying out to God for divine intervention. The government’s Northern Ireland (Executive Formations and Exercise of Functions) Bill is due to introduce same sex marriage and liberalise abortion law in NI if Stormont is not up and running again by 22 October unless our MPs return to Stormont. It will be the most liberal of laws, permitting abortions up to 28 weeks term. The campaign against liberalising abortion laws and legalising same-sex marriage continues with two more events this week. "On Friday evening at Stormont at 7pm,