It's Coming Home...

Football... football is coming home.

I'm not talking mere geography here... I am talking "spiritually".

Farewell to the corporate suits, WAGs, big names and usual suspects. The 2008 F.A. Cup is well on it's way to once more set in stone what the beautiful game is all about. It demonstrates the simple but elegant truth that for all the giants out there... sooner or later a David comes along.

Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United (HOORAY) all fell by the wayside, as a path was cleared for the unlikeliest of semi-final fixtures:

Here's how Chelsea fell:

and Man United:

Look at the charmed life that both Barnsley and Porstmouth lived! They certainly rode their luck, but that is what the game is about. Sir Alex Ferguson and his cohorts are naturally grumbling at the referee... but let them! United have certainly benefited from their own unfair share of refereeing decisions *cough* especially when Mike Riley referees (it would seem) *cough*. You have to admit though, it must take nerves of steel to give to decisions as big as the ones given in that game.

The F.A. Cup does not exclusively belong to a predestined clique of big clubs. The F.A. Cup belongs to the game of football itself. The lowliest teams aspire to achieve it... it is the holy grail of English football (and Welsh - not forgetting Cardiff).

Had this just been another case of one of a major Premiership side winning... i somehow think people would be less interested. Now that the competition has opened up in the latter stages, people's imagination has been captured once more... the dream of what might be.

There is only one Premiership side left - Portsmouth. Having seen the draw... and watched how the two sides have played (both in terms of skill and luck), I predict a Barnsley/Portsmouth final.

I really do hope that Barnsley go all the way. It will go down in history as an amazing day in football history if they do.

An Amnesty for Owen Hargreaves

Now is this post about football, my psychology or is it about faith? You decide.

Like many England football fans, I have for some time wondered why on Earth Sven has continually selected and utilised the midfielder Owen Hargreaves. He always seems to be brought on in place of more popular players who have been perceived as stronger... and I think this is where his problem has been.

I changed my opinion of him on Tuesday. I think he was helped by getting a start, instead of being substituted on for someone more established.

On a night where England were frightening in defence, Hargreaves stood out as one of the consistently better players.

More importantly I've now realised that in no way can I criticise him... for I'd be a hypocrite were I to continue doing so.

Like Hargreaves, time and time again, the people around me show so little faith in me. Most of them assign me tasks that don't reflect my gifting , my nature, my personality or my capabilities. I plug away at what I'm asked to do in the hope that people will recognise my value as a person.

When it comes down to the crunch... most people don't have a clue what to do with me and don't understand me... but those closest to me (probably numerically no more than the England Team itself), defend me... and my Manager (God) continually backs me up no matter what other people... even many Christians may say about my person.

The persecution of Hargreaves has for now abated... but give it two games and people will return to their scornful ways. I will not. I know how he feels. It's hard to be booed by your own supporters.

It's hard for me to speak and know that the only time men and women will listen to me is if the wind is blowing - when God uses divine intervention to get a message across through me. They make prejudicial assumptions about me, they treat me as less than equal and don't respect or value my opinions... either by just not listening to them and sweeping them under the carpet... or worse by ridiculing them.

What I would give to walk shoulder to shoulder with my brothers and sisters without them thinking of as just making up the numbers. What I would give for them to acknowledge me as an equal... instead I often feel they behave like the Greek gods of myth, treating me as a mortal beneath them and dabbling in my destiny at their own discretion. Whatever their motivation - good or bad, it's not their right to do this. One of the Proverbs says:

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps."

It's about the sovereignty of God. We make our choices for our own lives, but God has the ultimate say in where they lead us. Now, if we cannot even determine where our own spiritual travels will take us... what right do any of us have to interfere in another believer's journey?

I know I'm coming across as quite negative here, and a lot of that is due to an air of oppression that exists at this time, but I wanted to express just how fed up I get sometimes of the one way traffic... I have to vent it sometimes.

I keep thinking of a line the poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling:

"If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too"

... and I keep thinking that this is something I have to do every day. In the past I only trusted God... not even myself. As I have grown in confidence, I have learned to accept that I can trust myself too... so long as I keep pace with God. However, this is something that is yet to translate to other people... they still see the buffoon. The worst of those people who are blinded are the ones who claim that they can see.

Sometimes I do wonder if it's my lot in life to only be listened to at divine intersections. After all it's the message that is important and not the messenger... but I can't accept this, I don't see why I can't be embraced by other Christians. I admit I've desired distance in the past... but it is a painful irony now, that having learned from my past... I am now kept at arms length by the people who should be one with me.

Maybe I am the Lone Ranger after all.

Anyway whatever the case may be, you won't find me pouring unfair criticism on Owen Hargreaves... I know the road he walks... and I wouldn't wish it on anyone else.

The Journey Begins

This is it...

Today marks the day when England go into battle for the first time in the Germany 2006 World Cup campaign. Good luck to the lads. I'm with you all the way.

There are many parallels between spirituality and football... many dead churches could learn a great deal from the atmosphere you see at a football ground. The average footie match resounds with the bellowing of thousands of grown men... largely tone deaf... who rally their team no matter the weather, no matter the odds. The average church service or Songs of Praise can often by contrast be sanitised and half hearted. We need to get the same passion for God as a football supporter has for his team... even more than this!!!

Recently I've understood that supporting England in football is very much like supporting England in Church. You read about all the great revivals and wonders from the past... the Early Church, the Great Revival, the Celtic revivals, the Hebridean revival... to name just the ones relevant to my nation... and you yearn to see that in your lifetime. It's not all that different to the hopes we pin on England. All my life I've heard the nostalgia of 1966 and England's great World Cup victory over Germany... and yet we've never seen it in my time. not only this, but the constant frustration of ebb and flow... England get so far and then have it snatched away by a a quirk of fate... the Church stirs so much and the smell of blossom fills the air and then God calls a halt to the season... often without any obvious reason to our mortal eyes.

Yet we keep on believing in England... and we keep on believing God will restore this nation. I am ever hopeful of the former and entirely convinced of the latter.

So, in both matters spiritual and footballing I cry out:

"God for Harry, England and St. George!!!!"