Catch the Fire and other stuff

Hello again! Sorry its been a while but we've been getting ourselves back to some kind of normality here. Had a good couple of weeks here including a fab family weekend last weekend - more of that later - lets work backwards!

Last night was our latest Catch the Fire. It was also the first outing of our newly formed Youth Club Worship Group. Suffice to say it was a fantastic evening - God really blessed us and used the band to great effect. Find out more over at the Catch the Fire blog

Wednesday night Glenrothes SA Band, Singing Group and Timbrels were at St Monans - a little town on the East coast of Fife. We were providing a festival of music etc to the St Monans Church of Scotland Womens Guild and, if we do say so ourselves, we sounded pretty good. The band played a series of varied pieces, the singing group sang some great songs including first time solos for 2 members, and the timbrels did what they do best - timbrel ! Oh yeah, mustn't forget a rare outing for a male voice quartet who sang a close harmony version of "When I survey the wondrous cross" which was a real blessing to hear. Those who know me will know that I'm not really greatly into the whole band performance type thing but I think we actually got the balance of performance v worship just right and kind of enjoyed the evening too.

Last weekend was brilliant and much needed. For the first time in recent memory, I had a Saturday off and nothing to do on it. Usually my Saturdays off relate to stuff that we've got to do but not this time. So, at the end of a pretty tough few weeks, (some of which has been lived out on this blog and other stuff which hasn't that will remain that way) we decided to have a laid back family weekend. Saturday we didn't do much to be honest. We just chilled and enjoyed each others company. We went to a DIY store and chose a few colours for the house and then chilled a bit more. All in all a great literal day of rest. Sunday, we set out to Glasgow. Yes we took a day off from Church but not to run away or hide from anything, but simply to be a family. So we took in lunch at IKEA (only bought the one thing we went in for - that has to be a first!) then headed through to the Fort shopping area. More browsing, a little bit of purchasing, a short frantic spell when we hunted for a lost teddy ... found him again ... a drink in BB's, a long browse in Borders, then tea in Nandos followed by a return to Borders for a nice cup of tea in Starbucks.

Now for all those who aren't fans of branded consumerism - sorry! But we enjoyed ourselves.

We kind of attempted to make up for things by heading off to Bellshill Salvation Army where we would meet up with Thomas and Olwyn plus Kenny, Jane, Ross and hopefully many more too, for S*N*A*C* which is their informal worship evening. Added bonus was that Matthew and Debbie, SA Officers at Peterhead, were there too - great to see them again. It was a great evening ... bit weird to start with because we had nothing to do but sit and wait - felt really strange but in a good way - nice to be on the receiving side of things for a change. The evening focussed on Psalm 40 and the verses were interspersed with songs, discussion and testimony. Felt really blessed through the night and whilst it was a late night home, it was really what we needed and the perfect end to a great weekend.

So after more downs than ups over the last few weeks, I think we're back to some kind of normality. This Sunday, we're leading worship at Maddiston Salvation Army which will be a nice change again. Then its the Fife school holidays so for the next fortnight, whilst work continues, we have little or nothing to do in the evenings which will help us catch up with stuff again!

Thanks for all your support and prayers over recent weeks. Thank you really doesn't say enough but its all i've got.