A lovely evening, another win for the City and RIP Ninian Park...

I am reflecting at the end of both a packed and fun day. It started off with a visit to Maria's house before I left for my final season ticket game at Cardiff City Stadium in the afternoon. It was great to be back watching the boys and the City won an exciting game by 3 goals to 2 against Sheffield Wednesday courtesy of a Peter Whittingham free kick and two great goals by Jay Bothroyd. Other highlights of the game included the banter between a bald, fat Sheffield Wednesday fan nicknamed "the Tango man" (after the Tango fizzy drink ads) and our fans in the Ninian Stand. They even had him "doing the ayatollah" by the second half so fair play to the bloke. Former City captain Darren Purse got an ovation from our fans in recognition of the time he was with us and it was weird seeing him in a Sheffield Wednesday shirt. "Pursey" also did the "Ayatollah"and applauded our fans in return.

The above picture shows the ruins of the Bob Bank and the last parts of Ninian Park. My eyes welled up when I saw it as Ninian Park will always have a special place in my heart, but thankfully Cardiff City are still here. My second team Merthyr Tydfil also avoided relegation by 1 point after drawing 1-1 away to Swindon Supermarine and it is great that they have survived.

When I got back Maria and I enjoyed a lovely walk together in the Bristol Harbourside area as far down as Brunel's steamship "SS Great Britain". This anchor was close by and Maria will not be happy that I have included this picture! We had a lovely walk and thankfully missed getting caught up amongst the throng of drunken revellers on the other side of the river from us. We enjoyed seeing the replica of John Cabot's "The Matthew" sailing up and down the harbour and chuckled at the sight of numerous booze cruises passing us too.

Connecting in a retro styley....

Connecting with people and friends is really important to me. I don't know why, but every time I think of connect groups I think of the childhood board game "Connect 4" (pictured left). Tonight we enjoyed some video teaching by Joyce Meyer and we learnt some great stuff about how to love people in really practical ways. We also experienced a fantastic comedy moment during our prayer time. At a really serious moment our friends dog proceeded to break wind rather loudly and rhythmically and as a result we all dissolved into much laughter. I once joked that I would write a book called "101 ways to break the anointing" and tonight was number 6!

Creative Ministries was great fun again on Wednesday night with a mixture of fun, music, laughter, bread and butter pudding and tea. We rehearsed some more of our songs in order to integrate Mark and Emma more fully into the team. It is great to have some more musicians in the church and they are really adding something fresh and new to our team. We enjoyed being with each other so much we didn't leave our rehearsal venue until 11pm as we chatted after we packed the gear away. These are exciting times for the church and I can't wait to see what else unfolds over the next few months.

Sorry but I got a bit distracted and the City reach the play offs....

I have been a busy boy again and I have soooo much to tell you about. It has been a busy, tiring, fun and packed week since I last wrote on here and yet I couldn't be happier right now. On Thursday night we had another great rehearsal with Creative Ministries and our two new team members Mark and Emma were superb again. It was a time of laughter, friendship and great music and I was in a zany mood which resulted in me generating a large proportion of the humour that night. God has given me a gift of making people laugh and these days I am more confident about using it. I also took time to respect the memory of my late wife Bonni who passed away three years ago on Thursday too. I will never forget her, but I am also grateful for the second chance I now have with Maria.

Apart from work I have also spent some quality time with Maria over the last few days. It is amazing to think that we have been together for a month and our relationship is developing and building nicely. It is great to have someone special in my life again and to enjoy spending time with. Although shopping at Tesco's may be a mundane task we had a fun time nonetheless. I found myself freaking out the cashier by singing my nephew E5N1's epic song "No Balls Today" whilst I was packing our food. It's a catchy ditty which can be located on YouTube.

The City clinched their place in The Championship play offs with a 1-0 away win at QPR on Saturday courtesy of a Joe Ledley goal (pictured). It has helped to partially erase the bad memories of last seasons end of season collapse and hopefully they can get to the play off final at Wembley and become the first Welsh side to appear in The Premiership.

More motivational teaching, another great day at church and musical inspiration....

As I am still editing the sound files from the weekend I am really enjoying listening to last Sunday's message from our visiting speaker Pastor Chris Horwood. Over the years we have enjoyed great teaching from our own Pastors as well as numerous visiting speakers. Each week I have learnt so much and this year I have really grown and progressed in my faith. Psalm 119:11 says "I have hidden your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you." It is amazing how much strength you can draw from the Bible during challenging times and how it can help you to overcome in life. Life and all its circumstances can crush you if you allow it to, but I believe in a God who has given us the power to overcome in life and has given us the Bible as a life manual.

I have also enjoyed listening to one of my favourite guitarists of all time, the late Paul Kossoff (pictured). "Koss" was an immensely talented player whose playing featured mainly on albums by the British rock band Free and also his band Back Street Crawler. Sadly following the acrimonious demise of Free he never recovered and fell into drug addiction, which eventually caused his heart failure at the mere age of 25. His playing and especially his vibrato style moves me every time and the late Mrs FlyingVJenks once remarked that my playing style was reminiscent of a cross between Paul Kossoff and the late Deep Purple guitarist Tommy Bolin. You are always influenced by players who inspire you and I owe a debt of gratitude to "Koss" for the way he has inspired me to say so much by playing so few notes and making more out of the ones I play.

What a lovely weekend.....

A few days later than planned, but I am reflecting after a brilliant weekend for me. It started with a family visit from my parents on Saturday. Maria and I had a lovely lunch and walk with them and I was really pleased that they accepted her with open arms. It's not that I didn't expect them to, but when you actually meet Maria in person it is impossible not to instantly love and accept her. I am a very blessed man and God has given me a very special lady to love and one who loves me too.

In the early evening we took a walk up on The Downs (pictured), which has become a very special place for us. Our first date included a walk around there before walking over to the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The weather was great and we were able to stay out for longer as a result. It is great to have someone special in my life again and to quote a great song title by Martyn Joseph she is most definitely a "gift to me".

The happy axeman....

Life is good. No, really it is. Hence my unusually overtly happy demeanour in this picture! I am reflecting at the end of a really busy few weeks and I have a lot to be thankful for. 6-7 weeks ago I was jobless, but God has enabled me to get back into work, ministry wise God is taking my musicianship and other creative talents up another few levels and then he has also blessed me with an incredible woman in Maria. She is probably slightly embarassed by me sharing this but she has really helped me to finally move on in my life. I finally feel like I have turned a corner and that I am emerging at long last from the shadows of grief. Ecclesiates 3:4 puts it this way, "a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance". Without wishing to sound like Troy McClure from "The Simpsons", you may have also heard these words in the song "Turn, turn, turn" by 1960's American psychedelic pop stars, The Byrds. I digress though...

We had a great Creative Ministries rehearsal tonight with two new members of the team. I have just written about this on the Destiny Church blog (see right hand blogs column to access this) as we have been faithfully praying for God to add musicians to the church. It was a brilliant evening and I am looking forward to seeing our team grow and develop in the months and years ahead.

View from Station Road......Concorde is not far from here...ish....

I can see Concorde from Maria's house. Well, not really. But the above picture does show that one of the remaining Concorde aeroplanes is out on the tarmac at Filton Airfield exposed to the elements. It is sad to see it corroding away in the corner of the airfield and many local residents are still campaigning for a proper museum to store it properly.

The City drew 0-0 away at Nottingham Forest and I watched part of the game online via the bbc website. It was funny to think that this time last year I was on the Bob Bank watching the City defeat Burnley 3-1 in what turned out to be the last ever Cardiff City win at Ninian Park. Our former home is nearly gone with the rest of the Bob Bank coming down over the next few weeks and then dear old Ninian will be gone forever. Hopefully this season will end on a happier note than last season and 6 more points from the last 4 games should be enough to secure a play off spot. Here's hoping for a better end to this season.

I have enjoyed a great day with Maria and we are looking forward to watching "Groundhog Day" with Bill Murray shortly. We spent most of the day laughing, talking and editing the church sound files as well as pausing to eat. Maria has also kindly reviewed my CV and is helping me with my permanent job applications. Already she has helped me to stop under selling myself which I have a tendency to do and my CV has gone from being good to being rather great. I don't recognise myself! I am in all seriousness very grateful for her input and hopefully I will be able to share some exciting news with you in the months to come regarding permanent jobs.

Who's that coming over the hill? It's Michael Chopra, it's Michael Chopraaaaa!!!!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!! The City finally beat their nemesis, Swansea City (or "The Jacks") 2-1 at Cardiff City Stadium today. Despite going a goal down early on, two goals by Michael Chopra (pictured) including a stoppage time winner were enough to earn Cardiff a long awaited win over their arch rivals. City travel to Nottingham Forest on Easter Monday and a win would see Cardiff draw level on points with Forest who are a place above us in 4th position. Hopefully City can get the points they need to secure their play off spot and they are coming good at the right time. Bluuuuuuebirds!!

Church tomorrow is going to be great. I am really looking forward to us introducing a new song to the church as we will be playing a song called "The Power Of The Cross". It is an amazing song with very poignant lyrics by Ricardo Sanchez and I am sure it will touch the lives of all who are present in the morning.

Ready to rock!.....

I am really looking forward to playing guitar tomorrow. I have even brought one of my guitars over with me today to Maria's in order to go back over tomorrow's songs so that they are fresh in my mind too. I was listening to some songs from my ITunes library earlier on and I suddenly realised that I have a lot of stuff on my Ipod. It ranges from radio shows, teaching CD's, self help, audio books, though to a variety of musical genres including folk, country, heavy metal, pop and blues. I managed to impress Maria with my ability to recognize songs from the opening bars of music. It reminded me of another occasion when I was watching "University Challenge" and I guessed a song on the music round by the opening chord alone! For the record the song was "Locomotive Breath" by Jethro Tull!

A lovely day in prospect and can the City win THE game?....

Hopefully Ross McCormack (pictured) can help the City to a win against our arch rivals Swansea City later today. The City are in top form at present with four wins and a draw from their last 5 games and in a twist of irony Maria studied in Swansea and is going to support Swansea just to wind me up. She's a lovely lady but I will help her to stop being a "jack", as I will lead her away from the dark side to the light of Cardiff City FC!

This weekend is going to be great especially tomorrow as we will be holding our Easter Sunday experience at Destiny. It is likely to be moving as it will include an illustrated message featuring video excerpts from the excellent, but harrowing film "The Passion of the Christ". I saw the film when it came out at the cinema and I was stunned at the end of it. It was a visual reminder of what Jesus went through in order that our relationship with God could be restored. I remember that my faith was drifting at the time I originally saw it, but God used the film to draw me back to him. It is by no means an easy film to watch and indeed some people found it to be intensely violent, but the story doesn't end there as tomorrow will be the day when we celebrate his resurrection. Whilst we are thankful for what Jesus did for us on the cross, we are also grateful for his resurrection and the fact that we can now know him personally.

Remembering the greatest gift of all...

It is very easy in a secular society to go with the flow and to treat today like any other ordinary day. However even though we couldn't meet with our church today due to the venue being unavailable for us, Maria and I decided to find somewhere to go in order to remember exactly what Jesus did for us. We enjoyed a great service this morning at a local Methodist church in Filton and it was nice to receive some excellent teaching about the cross. I have complete respect for other churches and traditions and whilst I may practice my worship and faith in a different way each week I will not knock any other church that positively celebrates the life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. I am looking forward to celebrating his resurrection on Sunday at Destiny when this little "axeman" will play again.

Another blessing about today has been that I have been able to listen back to last week's message "What's on the menu pt.2?" On an average Sunday I am usually listening and writing things down for editing purposes so the messages don't tend to really impact my life until I listen back to them afterwards. Maria and I have really received some great truths from listening to this recording and it has been all the more special because of the fact that it is Good Friday today.

A busy few days and a cracking new song for Sunday....

Technology (when it goes wrong) can be a pain in the derriere when it boils down to it. My laptop has stopped booting up and so I have had to dip my toe in the water and try to use a Macbook Pro (pictured) instead. So far it has gone well and I am currently working my way around Garageband 09 in an attempt to produce the sound files for church. This is because the original files are trapped on my laptop waiting to be freed.

The City won 2-1 last night against Leicester to remain 4th and it sets them up nicely for the South Wales derby on Saturday against the Jacks. This is THE game that we have to win and after a poor run of results Cardiff appear to be hitting form at the right time.

Apart from working hard, I have also had some more quality time with Maria as we continue to build our relationship together. As she is now an avid reader of this blog, I may embarrass her with what I am about to say. I have to give her credit for putting a smile back on my face, for being a rock of support during some challenging times, but more for her love and friendship. We are toying with the idea of co-writing a humourous blog together, which at the moment has the working title of "The adventures of Captain Reassurance and Miss Universe". Hopefully time will allow for this to start soon and hopefully it will also add to your enjoyment. "Cardiff Exile" will continue and my contributions to the "Destiny blog" have just started so there is plenty for me to keep myself occupied at present.