Belfast Battalion Football League and Activities

Our True Refuge Is God After his wife died, Fred felt he could endure the pain as long as he had his Monday breakfasts with his buddies. His fellow retirees lifted his spirits. Whenever sadness came, Fred would think about the next time he’d enjoy their company again. Their corner table was Fred’s safe place from grie...

Time to Party Our former church in Virginia held baptisms in the Rivanna River where often the sunshine is warm, but the water is frigid. After our Sunday service, we’d load into our cars and caravan to a city park where neighbors tossed Frisbees and kids mobbed the playground. We were quite a spectacle, traips...

Instruments for Good The criminal had been apprehended, and the detective asked the perpetrator why he had brazenly attacked someone with so many witnesses present. The response was startling. “I knew they wouldn’t do anything; people never do.” That comment pictures what is called “guilty knowledge”—choosin...

The Winning Goal On February 5, 2023, Christian Atsu kicked the winning goal for his football (soccer) team in a match in Turkey. A star international player, he learned to play the sport as a kid running barefoot in his home country of Ghana. Christian was a believer in Jesus: “Jesus is the best thing that ever h...

Following approval from our Patron, HM The King, we are delighted to announce that our highest award will become known as the King's Badge from 1st September 2024!

Find out more, including details of the transition from the Queen's Badge, at https://boys-brigade.org.uk/introducing-the-kings-badge/

Brokenness that Blesses His back is hunched, and he walks with a cane, but his six decades of spiritual shepherding are evidence that he leans on God—the source of his strength. In 1993, the Reverend William Barber was diagnosed with a debilitating disease that causes the vertebrae of the spine to fuse together. In a not...

Renewing Our Strength A pair of eagles built a giant nest in a tree a few miles away from my house. Before long, the enormous birds had eaglets. They cared for their hatchlings together until one of the adult eagles was tragically struck and killed by a car. For several days, the surviving eagle flew up and down a nearby...

Profound statement. I strongly recommend your local Boys Brigade as the best way to get your boys to church to encounter Jesus. Worked for me.

92nd Belfast on tour at Anfield as part of their camp. Enjoy boys and officers.

92nd are at camp in Kirkham. Look at these two aul boys, 117 consecutive summer camps between them. I'll let you decide which one is on 67! 😎⚓. In their day it would have requested answers on a postcard 😂. However today its post below. Enjoy camp gentlemen advancing Christ Kingdom.

Euro 2024 Fantasy wrapped up! Well done to the top players and thanks to all 59 players for joining in the fun. Not long until Premier League fantasy starts!

Devoted to Prayer “I’ve been praying for you for fifty years,” said the elderly woman. My friend Lou looked into her eyes with profound gratitude. He was visiting the Bulgarian village that his father grew up in and left as a teenager. The woman, a believer in Jesus, lived next to his grandparents. She began to...

Better Together in Christ Dr. Tiffany Gholson had seen crime impact her small American city of East Saint Louis, Missouri in many ways. By 2023, however, the town recorded a 31 percent drop in homicides and a 37 percent drop in crime overall. What happened? A partnership. Working together, the city’s Public Safety Enforcem...

Belfast Battalion Euro 24 Fantasy League Update

One game to go! It’s tight among the top 3 to be crowned winner.

Get transferring for the final…your Limitless or Wildcard chips may come in handy.

After the final, it’d be helpful if we could be told the name/company of the top 3 players so we can announce them properly. Good luck!

Worship First I’d never planned to start a non-profit organization about adult friendship, and when I felt called to do so, I had so many questions. How would the charity be financed, and who should help me build it? My greatest help on these matters ended up coming not from a business book, but a biblical one....

Uncovered Sins A thief broke into a phone repair shop, smashed the glass of a display case, and began pocketing phones and more. He tried to conceal his identity from the surveillance camera by covering his head with a cardboard box. But during the burglary, the box briefly tipped, uncovering his face. Minutes lat...

Read today's Our Daily Bread devotional:
https://odb.org/2024/07/12/uncovered-sins/

This month in our Newsletter you can read about how Gospel literature is reaching the previously unreached in remote parts of Papua New Guinea, and how many lives have been transformed through the impact of one Gospel of John in Tanzania.
https://www.revivalmovement.org/s/Julyrep24.pdf

Heavenly Abundance I expected eight bananas. Instead, when I opened the grocery bags delivered to my home, I discovered twenty bananas! I quickly realized that my move to England meant I also moved from ordering groceries in pounds to requesting them in kilograms. Instead of three pounds, I had ordered three kilograms...

And they are off!
Let’s remember Michael, Petra, Evelyn and the Czech team in our prayers. There’s a Big BB connection with Michael, David, Michael, Max, Simon and Jacob. We assure them of our prayers — pray for travel, team relationships and for all their service in Czech.
&Steadfast

Search My Heart, God To reduce food waste, a supermarket chain in Singapore sells slightly blemished fruits and vegetables at lower prices. In one year, this initiative saved more than 850 tons (778,000 kg) of produce that previously would’ve been thrown out for not meeting aesthetic standards. Shoppers soon learned t...

Do I Belong? Actress Sally Field finally felt what we all long for. When she won a second Oscar in 1985, she exclaimed in her acceptance speech: “I’ve wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time I didn’t feel it. But this time I feel it. And I can't deny the fact that you like me, right ...

Serving Jesus In the early 1800s, Elizabeth Fry was appalled by the conditions in a London women’s prison. Women and their children were crowded together and made to sleep on the cold stone floors. Although they weren’t given bedding, a tap flowed with gin. For years, she visited the prison and ushered in cha...

Trapped in Chocolate Two workers at a Mars candy factory in Pennsylvania fell into a large vat of chocolate. This might sound like the beginning of a joke—and perhaps a lovely predicament to chocolate lovers! But the men—though unhurt—were waist-deep in the confection and couldn’t get out on their own. Firefight...

Grappling with God An old friend sent me a note after my husband’s death: “[Alan] was . . . a grappler with God. He was a real Jacob/Israel and a strong reason why I am a Christian today.” I’d never thought to compare Alan’s struggles with the patriarch Jacob’s, but it fit. Throughout his life, Alan strugg...