When I first heard about 'blog', I thought it was one of Fred's offspring for which he had not thought of a name or perhaps a misspelt Irish swamp! Gareth put me right, by explaining he would like occasional thoughts for the church website. My thoughts at present are very much focused on all the exciting ideas being shared by all our church family through "Clearing our Vision".

Just to pick up on one of our six vision statements, namely Dependence on God, I personally feel this is one of the key ingredients for our future. We have God's promise that if we "humble ourselves before the Lord, He will lift us up" (James 4: 10). Part of that will mean being a people immersed in prayer. There must be loads of different ways we can do this and probably we are only paddling in the shallows at the moment.

The two weeks of 24/7 prayer were wonderful experiences for many, and our day of prayer on the last Saturday of October was truly a divine encounter. Prayer meetings, prayer triplets, a prayer line, fasting and prayer, house-group prayer times, the prayer ministry team and the battle prayer time are areas to be developed and/or initiated. I am sure the Lord will lead us into other ways in which we can be a people "immersed in prayer".

Let us go forward on our knees. Billy Nesbitt recently referred to an early name given to the apostle James - camel knees - because the skin on his knees became tough through many hours of prayer. Little wonder they turned their world upside down. As one boss said to me, "you don't have to be on your toes all the time, your knees will do".

Until I blog again, may you know the Lord's blessing in the full measure he has for you.

Mervyn.