Wednesday 31 August 2011

Bullet Pointed Thoughts

Here are some bullett pointed thoughts that are whizzing around my head....

  • I have massive writer's block.
  • The internet annoys me. You write things, it gets deleted.
  • I wonder if working in a depressingly dull job kills brain cells. 
  • I need to invest in some shoes that actually fit. I fear they have got bigger. Either that or rubbish Primark shoes shrink.
  • I am merely moaning and not sharing how good God has been the past few days.
  • I got an email today which made moving to London even more obvious and more scary. I DON'T WANT TO BE FRIENDLESS.
  • I have a shockingly large amount of stuff I need to do, and to organise.
  • A drink tomorrow with an old friend. I do love a good catch up.
  • I need some sleep.
BLAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

This is what happens when I do nothing social for daaaays!

xo

Thursday 25 August 2011

Present

A friend bought me a 1920s typewriter. From a French market. It's beautiful. I don't quite know what else to say. It looks like this. 



Tuesday 23 August 2011

Jesus Paid It All

I hear the Savior say
"Thy strength indeed is small
Child of weakness, watch and pray
Find in Me thine all in all"

’Cause Jesus paid it all
All to Him I owe
Sin had left a crimson stain
He washed it white as snow

Lord, now indeed I find
Thy pow'r and Thine alone
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone

And when before the throne
I stand in Him complete
Jesus died my soul to save
my lips shall still repeat

Oh, praise the One who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead

Oh, praise the One who paid my debt
And raised this life up from the dead

Monday 22 August 2011

Devonshire - a report

I've been to 'Together at Westpoint' and I'm home now, a little more crazy than I was before. I am dearly hoping that it's purely a consequence of little sleep and a lot of work over the last week.

Tuesday began bright and early, with a splattering of rain, and a teeny car filled with the most stuff I have ever seen. Most of this was mine, but hey, camping required many, many things. Most notably, a tent. And that's big. The plan was to leave Bournemouth by 2pm. We left around 6pm and after an eventful drive along many wrong roads, arrived in Exeter in the dark. Thus, put up the big tent, in the dark. Not something I'd recommend. 

Wednesday dawned and we remembered the gigantic pile of stuff we'd left in the air craft hanger that needed to be sorted, organised and set up, and yet before we had time to process the task, 40 security fence panels arrived, each needing to be covered in hundreds of metres of fabric. Wednesday was a long day. Thursday even longer, with an earlier start, so we could complete all we needed to, before delegates arrived.

Meanwhile, Bournemouth was flooding and roads were being shut, which meant it took many people much longer to join us than expected. What can I say, things fall apart when we're not in town....? Anyway, before long people began to arrive and I managed to not nap on the sofa in front of them all as I made even more bunting. A dinner of slightly cold carbonara with the girls, before the first meeting began, and a fun evening we had worshipping Jesus and hearing from His word. 

Friday flew past, Saturday too, each spent in worship and hearing teaching, and enjoying the sunshine that we were so blessed with. In fact, I have a few more freckles, thanks to Mr Sunshine! We heard incredible talks from some of the great men that serve the churches in our region and our nation, and were encouraged to 'Remember the Poor' and 'Climb over the Walls', thus taking hold of the Kingdom of God and bringing the hope of the Gospel. Such a challenge does not fail to stir you, and today I'm going to try and process some of the many things I heard whilst away. 

Sunday, a strange day that required a lot of lifting and taking down. It wasn't something I was looking forward to but being cooked lunch, having a short break and playing a fantastic game of Tetris with all of the stuff in the pick up trucks, was, if not enjoyable, certainly not too annoying. We ended the day with the coffee and caffettiere we finally found in the bottom of a bag, and some Toblerone, all on top of a hill overlooking the rolling hills and fruit trees that were nearby. 

I'm home now, and have a lot of washing to do. And then I have work to return to tomorrow, and many, many people to say goodbye to.

On a more exciting note however, watch this space, for more adventures are on their way; for the prairie land is ours for the taking.

Much love to all Citygaters for you were fantastic this week in many, many ways.

xxx

Sunday 14 August 2011

All Over the Country

Over the past few weeks I feel as if I've been all over England. From Norwich to Bournemouth to Cornwall to Bournemouth. I'm back for 36 hours, a friend's birthday celebration and then off again to Exeter. 


I've spent many, many hours in coaches and cars. I love travelling, but now, I'm getting a tad fed up. I would like to live in my house, with my bed and my normal routine.

However, University beckons in just a few short weeks. And so I feel that I will end up in another whirlwind which names itself Life but really just causes chaos in my head.

I had a nice time in Cornwall, and enjoyed great things like a balloon art installation in the Tate at St Ives, running across a beach in the pouring rain, watching Jousting in a 500 year old castle, pottering about little arty shops and eating mussels in a Cornish pub in a storm. Unfortunately it was a typical British holiday, full of rain and wind and so I am possibly paler now than I was at the start. It was lovely to spend time with the family though; despite their insanity, I feel rather comfortable there... Haha. 

Anyway, washing and packing call, as does a further trip across counties.

x


Tuesday 9 August 2011

Newday

Since I was 16 I've spent a week of my summer at an event called Newday; a week of camping with around 7,000 young people who are all there to worship Jesus and hear more about living for Him. At the age of 16 I had the most life changing week. I'd been a Christian a year but God broke into my life in a completely different way, and I knew that I wanted the whole of my life to be about Him.


Four years and five Newdays later, and I have that surreal feeling of the heavens having been shaken, and eternity having been changed. I'm not exaggerating. When Jesus gets a hold of a life, something beautiful and mysterious happens as hope and life fill them. That's my story. From ruin to redemption, from death to life. From youth to leader, and yet Jesus stays the same, and the Good News is still incredibly and outrageously good.


A few days on, and life in the normal world resumes but all across the country are thousands of people living for something different. Then I listen to the news and hear of riots breaking out in every city. I hear countless voices suggesting solutions and yet their thoughts are futile. You cannot change the heart of a nation by providing police to rule the streets, and you cannot encourage change with a Prime Minister that threatens law and punishment. The answer for our nation is Jesus. The God of transformation and redemption, who deals with the heart and not just your actions. 


I was incredibly struck whilst away, by this quote by William Booth, the guy who began the Salvation Army. He said this...
“While women weep, as they do now, I'll fight; while children go hungry, as they do now I'll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight; while there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight, I'll fight to the very end!”

As I've been back home, pondering Newday and all that happened, I have come to realise that it is not just something that happens for a week in a field. Instead, it's about mobilising thousands of young men and women to live for Jesus, and in doing so, bringing about transformation across every sphere of society. Our nation needs a new day, where life has value, and love is a strong, fighting force, and not the feeble emotion it is portrayed to be.

Jesus, the hope for all. Always.

xo