 Have the time for reflection, our time for reflection Leaders. Today is Rev气 Mgheir am Daniels, the general director of Christians in Sport. Presiding Officer and Members of the Scottish Parliament, thank you for the opportunity to address you this afternoon. For a Welshman living in exile in Cambridge, addressing the Scottish Parliament is a moment in life. I hope I'm unlike there but I honestly am in trouble, decision I hope I'm unlikely to forget. I hope to add it to a catalogue of fond memories which includes an entry in the Guinness Book of Records for the football season second division English League October 1983 to March 1984. When my football team came united achieved the record for all football at that time in English League football at least of playing 31 games in a row. We drew four, lost 27. I played in them all. It really hurt of course at the time but here's the thing, I've laughed about it so many times since then. With pals who are in the team of shame. That's why I love sport. It tests your character whilst building community. It makes life so much richer. Maybe today will prove as long standing a memory as the annual prize day in the upper sixth. When the head teacher sent me from the stage because I refused to stand for prayers because as a young man I was a convinced atheist. I was so proud to be a martyr to the cause and went home pretty proud apart from a very sharp retribution for my mother. However I bumped into a boy from school the next day and he challenged me and said, you're all show Daniels but have you ever actually read one of the Christian gospels? I had to confess I hadn't and it did take six, seven or eight years of thinking about these things to come to the conclusion that God had actually revealed himself to his world through Jesus Christ and actually as a younger adult I became convinced. That the Christian faith wasn't just a matter of taste but a matter of truth. That's why I love the Christian gospel. It can surprise you. It can actually turn one's life around. So it's my honour this afternoon to open the session by addressing you as a Christian in sport. Here today having spent the morning in Glasgow preparing with the churches there for the Commonwealth Games. Many people in this great country have a Christian faith. Many people in this great country have a huge passion for sport and a significant number of people in this great country combine a passion for sport with a love for Jesus Christ. May Scotland continue to be a country that cherishes and nurtures both these things as it looks to its future.