Dedication… by Grandpa Paul & Uncle Andy Dolloway

Dedication, Dedication, Dedication, that’s what you need...

...are words from the popular theme tune for Roy Castle’s 1970s entertainment show: Record Breakers.

It continued “…if you wanna be the best, if you wanna beat the rest, oh-oh dedication’s what you need.” This still very much applies today.

Mo Farah, the British long-distance runner, endured four years of a gruelling training regime before the 2012 Olympics: high altitude running, a strict diet and even an underwater treadmill for recovery… day after day after day. His dedication paid off with two gold medals!

Today, Eva Alys Dumbrill is having her dedication. At just under 8 months old she’s a little young to run for 10,000m gold. Though one day maybe!

The biblical meaning of dedication is when a place, object or person is set apart to fulfil an exclusive God-given purpose.

Whatever Eva’s may be, as a loving grandpa and uncle, we will be joining with Lucy and Ed in making a public commitment to help raise Eva in the knowledge, goodness and love of God.

To be all that God has made her to be.

The Great I Am Blogspot by Joel Pridmore

One of the songs that people really connected with at Rivercamp was 'The Great I Am' by Jared Anderson from New Life Curch, Colorado Springs. The words have been circulating in my mind throughout this week. In the first verse it says 'I want to be close, close to your side, where heaven is real and death is a lie.' This has been a fresh thought in our household: that death is a lie. We have been contemplating this, especially in the midst of having several close family members passing into eternity during this year.

They say the only certain thing in life is death, but the truth us that Christ came that we may have life forever. It is obviously true that these mortal bodies that carry us around will give up at some stage but what is more real: this temporary physical life or the eternal spiritual one?

I remember being struck by a thought I read in a book some time ago. I think it was ‘The Gift of Pain’ by Phillip Yancey & Dr Paul Brand. The thought being that Christ doesn't give us an easy way to deal with death; He gives us a way to overcome it!

At the burning bush, God revealed himself to Moses as 'I Am who I Am' - that is an eternal ongoing tense - he always was, is, and always will be the Great I Am. And through Christ we can be with Him forever.

God said to Moses, “I am who I am.”

(Exodus 3:14)