Category: Uncategorized

This morning, I had the privilege to visit the Roudourou stadium. It is the home of En Avant de Guingamp, our local football team. We were initially told we would only see the changing rooms of the visiting team. But a member of Staff turned up and showed us around En Avant de Guingamp’s changing rooms and facilities. It was nice, but sober. There was nothing extravagant about the equipment. But it was fairly comfortable.

It is fascinating to think that a small club in a small town like Guingamp , with a small budget, is going to face teams like Marseille and PSG. One interesting fact is that there are more people with a season ticket than inhabitants in the town (7281 in the latest census)

That’s mainly because I have been away from the computer. It’s actually been quite nice. My brain feels much better, my attention span is also getting better.

I’ve been back home for a week now. It was a good trip to Wales, but I was glad to see my family again. The trip was uneventful. I flew from Manchester to Southampton, and then to Rennes. In rennes, I was able to catch a train fairly early which meant I was in Guingamp in the middle of the afternoon.

I arrived in the UK a week ago and I have toured North Wales to visit churches and speak about our work in Brittany. The meetings have been mainly in Welsh.

I also attended the Bala ministers’ conference (in English). It was a blessing to sit under Ian Parry’s ministry on Hosea. The singing was impressive. I caught up with my friend Alan Davey and other friends from various churches around Wales. I also met some new people.

The weather was hot and sunny when I arrived, but it is now cold and wet again.

Today and tomorrow are off. I’ll visit some friends this afternoon and will read and prepare for Sunday.

[amazon_link id=”0875526004″ target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]I was recently given some books. One of them was [amazon_link id=”0875526004″ target=”_parent” container=”” container_class=”” ]”When people are BIG and God is small” by Edward T Welch[/amazon_link]. The title caught my attention. It starts with an observation: the fear of man is a recurrent problem. The fear of man can take different shapes and names: codependency, peer-pressure, people-pleasing… the author gives a powerful diagnostic of one of our basic problems: we put people higher than we should. He also highlights why we fear others. At the end of the day, the fear of man is a form of idolatry where we put other men above God.

What’s the proper cure for the fear of man? To learn to fear God. We must meditate on God and His character. He is much more powerful and loving than we realize. We must also understand that our basic needs are physiological and spiritual but not psychological. The idea that human beings have also some basic psychological needs is not found in Scripture. For example, it’s not so much that we “need” to be loved. In fact, we want to be loved. There’s a difference between needing something and wanting it. If there’s one thing we need it’s probably to show more love rather than wait to receive more.

It was a helpful read. I realized that many of my decisions and attitudes are often guided by the fear of man, rather than the fear of God. It is a practical book, grounded in Scriptures and with many real life examples. There’s plenty of helpful exercises that will helped me get the most of my reading. If you haven’t read it, get a copy. I am sure you will find it helpful.