IN AND OUT OF CARDIFF

Whilst thousands of Chelsea and Arsenal football supporters have struggled to get in and out of Cardiff this weekend for the Carling Cup Final, due to railway difficulties, I've been in and out of the city too. On Friday afternoon I travelled up to London for a rehearsal of a service of thanksgiving for 100 years of Scouting. The service itself was on Saturday morning in Westminster Central Hall. Never before have I spoken directly after the congregation has sung 'If I was a butterfly' and 'Give me oil in my lamp keep me scouting'! Whilst it was a privilege to represent The Boys' Brigade (The Christian uniformed youth organisation I grew up in) at this service, it was a spiritually challenging time for me- The Scouts make a promise to God, but accept that can apply to any religions. The service was 'religious' but I wanted to speak from a Christian perspective, honour the day, not offend anyone deliberately, but clearly point to Jesus. All in the allocated 10 minutes! Thankfully, I managed to achieve it. I did meet lots of dedicated leaders who have given most of the spare time in their adult lives over to investing in young people. One man has spent the best part of 10 years preparing for this year's international Scout jamboree, when 42,000 Scouts from all over the world will be camping in Chelmsford for 10 days. Another man runs a Scout troop each Saturday afternoon in a Suffolk children's hospital and another troop for severely handicapped children. I got back into Cardiff on Saturday evening in time for some rest before preaching at City Temple on the Sunday morning- the theme was Abraham, part of the His Story series. Then this afternoon, John Setatree from Ignite and I drove to Kingham Hill School in the Cotswolds ready for a three day school mission. I've been here with a team loads of times before, but this is John's first visit. We are joined on the team by The Sonflowerz-a band consisting of 2 sisters from Colorado in the USA, along with their parents. We are working with the chaplaincy team at the school, headed by Andrew Savage- it's his first year at the school, so we're all praying that the mission will be a success.