The Beatitudes - The Message Version

This doesn't really count as me doing Bible study as my friend pointed it out to me, but we just loved the way The Message phrased The Beatitudes as we were really able to relate to them.

Matt 5:3-12
³ "You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

⁴"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

⁵"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are--no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

⁶"You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.

⁷"You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being "carefull,' you find yourselves cared for.

⁸"You're blessed when you get your inside world--your mind and heart--put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

⁹"You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.

¹⁰"You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.

¹¹"Not only that--count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. ¹²You can be glad when that happens--give a cheer, even!-for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

They just make so much sense for today. It's difficult to remember it in everyday life, but it's nice to be reminded...

Reasons - moving to action

I've been looking a little at the theory of Solution-focused therapy. In short - focusing on solutions and using problem-free talk as opposed to just talking about your problems and searching for a reason. We can search for reasons forever and when (if?!) we find them, does that actually help us move on? Solution-focused therapy works on making the changes you want to make and moving you forward while you're looking for the reasons rather than waiting for them.

I don't know what I think about that.

I have discovered this week that my tendency to be a perfectionist relates to more of my life than I thought. I've been reading the Gale Dictionary of Psychology for an essay and it said a number of things that I relate to. I struggle to make decisions - this is because I fear making the wrong and not perfect decision so it's easier to make no decision. It takes me forever to do my uni work - "Due to their exacting precision, they take an excessive amount of time to perform tasks. Even small tasks become overwhelming, which leads to frustration, procrastination, and further anxiety caused by time constraints"

"Perfectionists also pay selective attention to their own achievements, criticizing themselves for mistakes or failures, and downplaying their successes. Overwhelmed by anxiety about their future performance, they are unable to enjoy successes."

It says that perfectionists can have memory loss or 'blank' before perfomances, it says that it causes headaches and depression. It can be an obstacle to reaching a goal.

So that's all very interesting - but how does that knowledge help me?

Outreach/Church

I guess the questions is what is church for.

But specifically, I'm confused.

I go to a small church that's recently been planted in York. There are 9 people in it plus three children. Currently we meet on just Wednesdays.

This Sunday the couple that lead the church have invited us for dinner as a church social. I asked if I could bring my housemate and they said no. We're having a social for bringing non-Christian friends next Saturday. I explained that my housemate works on Saturdays so would be unable to come. They know that I've had some really good conversations with her recently, but still they say no.

So now I'm confused.

They say that as a church it's important for us to socialise together in a non 'church' setting. Fair enough - great, but why can't I bring my housemate?

I thought that it was of top priority to help people see and meet with Jesus? On my gap year, every event the church did had to have an element of outreach in it. Everything was accessible to non-Christians. So why are they saying no? It doesn't make sense to me.

So if I go out for lunch, housemate asks where I'm going, I tell her, she asks to come, and I say no sorry your not part of the church - how's that good? Or am I missing something?

Ha ha

Jess discovered today that Mike Pilivachi is in the dictionary:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Mike+Pilavachi

Mike Pilivachi
Coolest of cool, Mike Pilavachi is a popular Christian evangelist seen generally in Soul Survivor wearing the coolest Nigerian kaftans a man can buy.Mike Pilavachi's faith inspires so many, it makes one jump for joy!
Source: Stephen W. Thomas, West Sussex, May 28, 2005

How entertaining. I typed my own name in, but it wasn't there - Helen is though: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Helen

I've looked up some fellow bloggers too

Keith was funny:
Keith

Keith is a female name, derived from the french word "fairy", meaning 'small winged legendary being' or 'male homosexual'.

Source: Jnen., Jan 6, 2005

It also said that he was good with computers - so not true!

Bouttell was undefined :(

Louise Wood was majorly rude

There were some lovely ones for Laura:
Laura

a brilliant person who is good at everything she wants to be good at, but as a kind person, she will step down to let another have the spotlight

Source: zebedah, Jan 1, 2005

Tuma is a little too rude to put on here - sorry Mark, but Grace was lovely
Grace
Beauty, sunrises, singing birds, blossoming flowers. All those things that remind us why life is worth living.
Heaven on earth. A star to light your life.
Source: JonGraceLover, Heaven, Aug 5, 2005

I was also entertained to discover that 'Cracknell is a disease:

Cracknell
A disease contracted by youths which turns them into highly mischevious pranksters.

Poor kid. . . He's got Cracknell's

Source: Joe D, Jul 2, 2003

Bible Reading

I'm really struggling to read my Bible at the moment.

Two big reasons 1.) I've just got out of the habit and 2.) My essays (and playing solitaire endlessly) seem to take up so much of my time.

Therefore, at Mark T's suggestion I'm going to read my Bible and post my findings on here.

I would like you all to bug me if I don't post anything.

My aim is to post something at least once a week - ideally I'd like to post something every other day - and I might manage that to begin with while I'm excited about it - but it may tail off.

So yeah, please please bug me. This is important.

I want to rebuild my neglected relationship with the Big Guy.

Woahhhh!

Massive conversation with her today!!! Massive, massive, massive!

God is amazing

*speechless*

P.S.

p.s. to the last post - it works.

I told the devil to go away in Jesus name and that he wasn't welcome in my housemate's heart and she's just come in and we've discussed sex and Christianity, and she explained how she's learnt about Christianity - in the forum of Catholics, Anglicans and Jehovah's Witnesses at school. She was inquisitive and interested.

there is power in prayer and Jesus' name...

Fresh Look

Isn't in interesting how being given a tiny nuget of information can help you see many things in a different way.

Last weekend I went on the Christian Union weekend and the speaker was talking about how our non-Christian friends hearts are often hardened to the truth, and that no matter how much we argue with them about God, they won't see His love because the devil has shut them off from it. It's only when we pray for the Holy Spirit to come in and minister to them, that their hearts can be opened.
He compared it to an egg inside a mother. No matter how much we talk to that egg and try and pursuade it to come alive, it won't. It takes the seed from the father to come in, to bring it life.

So our friends our spiritually dead. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to come in and make them alive.

So yeah, I've just listened to Tim Hughes' 'You' and bits of it stood out to me that relate to this that I hadn't heard in that way before:

"Love can melt the hardest heart
Your words can bring the dead to life
Nothing is impossible for You"

So I'd better get praying!

Good Shopping

Basically, York sucks when it comes to shopping.

Yes it's a lovely place, and has great historical places of interest and has lovely little quaint shopping streets, but...

I'm a student!

I have little money.

Therefore York is pants because it is all touristified (new word from me - please add to your dictionaries) and expensive.

Annoying piece of information I discovered this week - Primark has bought all of the Littlewooods stores. Wonderful, York had a Littlewoods store and Primark is great for a student budget.

But ooooh no. Primark has sold the York store to New Look because it's not big enough. We've already got two New Looks!!!!!!

What is going on in York?!

It's already taken them two years to build H & M and they haven't finished yet! I'm going (gone) mad!

Assignments

Why oh why oh why do I have 9 more assignments (ranging from 1500-2500 words) to finish before the end of this semester?!!!

I know they're not massive, but they're not small either, and the amount of research that needs to be done for each one is crazy.

See ya later Maurice!

I just wanted to spare a moment for Maurice today as he died at about 7.45 this morning.

I have known him for as long as I can remember and have many happy memories of him. He was always a cheerful and loving face to see at church and visit.

So yeah, looking forward to seeing ya later mate.

Emergent Versions of songs

Nicked this off a post on the NYFC forum. Apparently it's for those of us who are emergent.

Shout to the Lord (Angry) Original
(Lyrics: Marcus Curnow 2005)

Why Jesus? Why favour
Those who do not like you?
All of my years I cry bitter tears
I wonder where’s your mighty love?

No comfort, No shelter
Where is the refuge and strength?
Let every breath, all that I am
Never cease to question You

Shout to/(at) the Lord
All the Earth, let us bring
Powerlessness, tragedy
Rail at the King
Mountains fall down
And the seas will roar
Hear the sound of the pain

I long to see the work
Of your hand
Forever I’ll seek you
Seek to understand
Nothing to hold
But the promise I have
In you


I really like it. I often change the words of songs I sing if they're not quite what I need to sing at that particular moment. I made a suggestion once that we should have songs with the same tunes etc, but different lyrics, and at church you sing both together depending on which one you want to sing, depending on where you are with God.

Would probably sound awful!

Helen needs...

Saw this on Heather Cracknell's blog...

Basically you type in your name followed by 'needs' into google and see what comes up.
They're really odd but funny too!

Helen needs a bigger apartment
Helen needs a bassist
Helen needs to be cool and sassy
Helen needs to be an inside dog, with a family that will allow her to jump oncouches, sleep in the bed and be basically underfoot all day
Helen needs to call forhelp to break up a party
Helen needs to do some growing up herself
Helen needs effervescent refreshments
Helen needs the new owner at 325 Crestwood Terrace to shut up a minute
Helen needs to forget all that has happened in the past ten years
Helen needs your Help
Helen needs to be real
Helen needs it
Helen needs a cookie
Helen needs help, and friends,and so decides to take the plunge and join the local Garden Club
Helen needs a nursing home now?
Helen needs to take a nap

Baptism

Well it's a definte!

I am getting Baptised at the morning service on the 29th January 2006 at Norwich Central Baptist Church.

You are all so very welcome!

HOME

I am coming home next weekend :D

This morning I thought I would just be home for Friday-Monday.

Then I got an email informing me that my lecture on Tuesday is not on. So I arranged to swap my work shift (Mon night) with someone, thus allowing me to stay until Tuesday.

Then I got a phone call an hour or so ago saying that I'm not mentoring this Wednesday as they've not found me a 'victim' yet. (kind of sucks from a 'i need a placement' point of view!) They said that they'd be in touch in the next few weeks. So I inquired as to whether I'd be needed next week and they said no!

So now I shall be in Norwich Friday eve until Wednesday late afternoon probably!

Any requests to see me/meet up are warmly welcomed ;)

Now is the time...

... for us to shine. Shine with the face of Christ divine. (Delirious? & Matt Redman)k

This morning I went to The Groves Pentecostal Church. I was told that I have a beautiful face that shines with the spirit of God and that I have a beautiful and powerful singing voice.

How nice.

Anyway. The Groves is the area of York that I live in. I discovered The Groves Pentecostal Church on this website. I thought I'd check it out as it's barely a minute from my house. They meet in an upper room above the Spar shop. The door was shut when I got there and I thought I was going into a store room! I thought I'd set off an alarm - it was a bit scary.

There are about 30 people in the church. We sang about 20 different songs, all a bit old, but all sung with amazing enthusiasm and joy. The preach was a bit dull - but potentially cuz I didn't get much sleep last night. Everyone was really friendly - especially as I was hard to miss. I was welcomed during the notices by name and everyone clapped me. lol

Afterwards a lady came and talked to me. She'd had a number of struggles in her life but now feels amazingly free and happy. I found out later that she's 80, I thought she was 60!! She was lovely though and hugged me goodbye. I was dragged away to play with a little girl for ages! I found this a bit odd, but quite nice - she obviously trusted me to play. We made some duplo people have a tea party. I think everyone in the church spoke to me at some point! Two old ladies absolutely loved my jumper that says 'survivor' on the back, and my tshirt that says 'loved'.

It all felt a bit odd, but I shall go again in a fortnight.

Lou and Helen's Shopping Trip

Yesterday, Lou and I had fun trying on dresses to get inspiration for the Reality Ball (www.reality-norwich.com) and just for fun!

Essays

Why is it that when we know we've got essays to do, we spend all day reading, sleeping and playing solitaire endlessly. And then feel guilty for not doing anything, and therefore feel bad and so therefore read, sleep and play some more?

Skirt!

This is me looking half asleep in one of my new skirts
- may post the other one with it tomorrow.

What do you think?

Tag

I was tagged by Chris so here is the 5th line of my 25th blog:

"I have 8 cards and 3 presents sitting waiting for me in my room."

I tag Paul and Heather Cracknell and Dad

*There seems to be a lot of people confused about this - basically, if you're tagged, you find the 25th blog you made (or post as I call them) and then the 5th line of that blog - and you quote it - then you can tag other people ;)*

Be My Everything

EVERYTHING

God in my living
There in my breathing
God in my waking
God in my sleeping
__________
God in my resting
There in my working
God in my thinking
God in my speaking

Be my everything
Be my everything
Be my everything
Be my everything

God in my hoping
There in my dreaming
God in my watching
God in my waiting

God in my laughing
There in my weeping
God in my hurting
God in my healing

Christ in me
Christ in me
Christ in me the hope of glory

You are everything

Christ in me
Christ in me
Christ in me the hope of glory

Be my everything

If you haven't guess already - I love this song. We sang it at Soul Survivor and Momentum

You can download it here http://www.passionforyourname.com/newsong.html
There's a bit that says AUDIO at the bottom.

What are we paying for?

I've just come back from the third pointless seminar in Difference and Helping that I've had this semester (out of three) and I'm wondering what we're paying for.

They've spent the last few weeks talking about an assignment they want us to do, but how we can't do it, and wondering what we could do instead. This week I got there to find a note on the board from the tutor saying she was at a meeting and would join us in 45mins. In that time we had to go and do some research on Government policies for inclusion/exclusion. We then came back and discussed it for 45mins. I can't say I actually learnt anything other than it's hard to find the website when you're not given the address. It was all stuff she could have emailed and asked us to do in preparation for the seminar.

It's just a bit frustrating to be paying all this money to go to uni and for it to be pointless and useless!

Anyone else had similar encounters?

Hair Dryer

I've just discovered the most random use for my hair dryer (which I hardly ever use anyway!)

It blows up my cool airbed (that's more like a mattress) in record time!

CU

I went to the Christian Union at Uni this evening for the first time since this time last year.

I've avoided it like the plague due to people I felt uncomfortable with, its cliqueness, its general out-of-touchness with the rest of the world, and it's boring meetings.

A lot of my friends at uni are involved with it though and I think it's become their mission to get me involved.

So this evening, out of curiosity and support for my friend, I went along.

I felt a bit of an outcast to begin with, but there were a few faces I recognised.

We were very much blessed in that the speaker had cancelled (I've heard reports from various people that so far CU has just been like another lecture - which is not great on a Thurs since that's my busiest day at college). So we spent the evening in various groups of five praying about five different topics - one at a time and not in this order. We prayed about the Religious Hate Bill - that God's will is done. We prayed for all the different sufferings that are going on around the world, we prayed for those we knew of who are unwell, we prayed for the CU's mission week (which I have my reservations about - but hey!) and we prayed for the people around us at college both Christian and not-yet-Christian.

After the notices and the praying was done, there was only about 40mins left so we spent the rest of the time praising God. It wasn't the best quality worship ever, not many people knew the songs (although they were all from one of the Soul Survivor songbooks - yey I'm back at Fridays!) but I sang to my hearts content and to the Lord.

It felt so great to spend time with God in this way.

To finish we prayed for each other. This American guy I only just met thanked God for how awesome I am! WOw! He said to God that although he'd only just met me he could tell that I'm well passionate about God and stuff and seem like a cool person of God. A friend of a friend who I don't know greatly well also prayed a lovely prayer. It felt so wonderful as I've not been prayed for like that for ages.

Afterwards we chilled and I spoke to this girl I'd met in a lift during freshers week. I thank God for the way he works, because she was really upset as her grandad had just died and she had no one else to talk to. If we hadn't met in the lift (which we wouldn't have done if I hadn't been note taking for a disabled girl in her class) I wouldn't have talked to her and she would have gone home feeling even worse.

I also shared with everyone about how great God has been for finding my tweezers. They all laughed, but some people came up afterwards and thanked me for saying it! Basically I've been looking for them for a week or so, and it was only when I sat down and asked God for help that I looked in my drawer and thought - hey perhaps they've slipped into my magazine - and there they were! God cares about every single part of us - even the insignificant!

So yeah, I thank you God.

Dunno if I'll go again - depends if they're having a speaker or not! ;)

Lefthandedness

I very much rejoice in being left-handed.

I like being separated from the majority of people in this way.

Interestingly there are a lot of left-handers on my course...

I wonder if one day in the future I'll be disciminated for it?

Anyway, at church this morning the guy behind me tapped me on the shoulder and said - 'Ah it's good to see a fellow left-hander!' He was intrigued by my style of vertical writing. This led into a long historical discussion about left-handedness ranging from scissors, to computer mice, to cutlery.

As some of you may know, I hold out that all right-handers use their cutlery the wrong way. In my logic it makes sense for you to have the fork in your prominant hand because you do the most with it. You hold things with it and you move the food from the plate to your mouth with it. In some meals you only use the fork! Generally people disagree with me saying that you need the power of your dominant hand to cut with the knife.
This guy pointed out to me that at one time in the past we didn't use a fork, we just used a knife, using it to both cut and put things in our mouths. Occasionally a two pronged fork was used to hold things down. Therefore it made sense to use the dominant hand for the knife. It therefore appears that as the use of the knife has changed and it's become 'rude' to put it in your mouth, we have not adapted the use of our hands to fit.

Unless you're a left-hander of course ;)

Church Buildings

Something I can't get my head around...

With NCBC spending rather a large sum of money on their building at the moment - this is something that is in the forefront of my mind.

This morning at church (oo I've been going to the same one at uni for a month now!) a little old lady 'preached' about their miracle gift day next week - raising money for one of the church buildings. (the church is part of a fellowship of 3). I am kicking myself that I missed the Bible verse she gave which she said backed up that it's God ordained to raise money and spend it on our buildings...

Anyway, as I got increasingly annoyed with what she was saying I decided to write down my thoughts in response to what she was saying. Don't get me wrong - I think it's very important that we tithe and give to God's work, and she was saying some good things about that, but it chills me when all people talk about is this money going into a building.

Why do people dwell on buildings?

We don't need pretty buildings for people to come to - we need to go out to people.

God is not just present in pretty (expensive) buildlings.

Why does she keep saying pretty?

Sacrifice of life for buildings?!!! People died in building the minister - sacrificing their lives for the building? And so we should sacrifice our money for the building?

I'm sure God rejoices more over someone becoming a Christian

Why aren't we planning how to use the money for the community?

Lord, do you really have a vision of pretty churches all over the world?

We can't sit in the church and wait for people to come no matter how pretty it is!

I understand that buildings need repairing - but do we really need to dwell on it at the expense of the lost souls of the world?


Interestingly - I still feel draw to this church even when I disagree with it...

More than Enough

"All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your live
And all I have in You is more than enough

You are my supply
My breath of life
And still more awesome than I know
You are my reward
worth living for
And still more awesome than I know

All of You is more than enough for all of me
For every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough

You're my sacrifice
Of greatest price
And still more awesome than I know
You're my coming King
You are everything
And still more awesome than I know

More than all I want
More than all I need
You are more than enough for me
More than all I know
More than I can see
You are more than enough for me"

'Enough' by Chris Tomlin/Louis Giglio

Is this true? Is God really more than you need. It should be, but is it? How does this play out in real life? Who is it you cry out to in your need, who is it that you desire, or what is it?
How can you sing this and mean it?

Rainbow Trust

I said I would, and I keep forgetting! So here's a post on the Rainbow Trust.

A couple of weeks ago we had a charity fundraising event for the Rainbow Trust in honour of my cousin Sarah.

It was a fun evening - we had games, drinks, socialising and stuff to begin with - where my sister and I tried to win the good gifts on the tombola (although I went to have a go again later when I thought all the ones I didn't want might have gone - and everything had gone!). Rachel ended up with the cool rainbow vase which she managed to get by swapping with lots of people!

Next was the food, followed by some cool acts - singing, small band etc and then an auction. People were so generous and there was a wide variety of auction items ranging from tickets to see James Blunt to a handy man's service for the day!

There were loads of people there and it was nice to see family. My parents stayed with my friend George and Rach stayed with me and came to church in the morning - I think they liked it!

I will investigate how much was raised and update this post...

Also - I don't seem to be able to get the website to work - so I will give you a link when it does! Basically Rainbow Trust is a children's charity raising money for children with terminally ill diseases etc.

The Oath

I've just finished reading a book called 'The Oath' by Frank Peretti.
I picked it up in a charity shop last year for no reason other than to find some books to read that weren't counselling textbooks!

From the outside it looks like a kind of scary evil kind of book, so I've kind of put off reading it. Until this week that is. Since I've picked it up I've barely been able to put it down! It had quite a slow start and it's a really fat book, so half the time I was wondering what the author was going to do to fill all the pages!

As it went on though, I discovered that it had a really strong Christian message. Whether the author is a Christian or not I do not know, but it screamed out some themes so loudly.

It's about a town that has a secret. The secret is protected by the people of the town, so much so that they'll kill to keep it that way. They especially don't like outsiders. People live in fear, and if they go against the rules then they get sucked in by the 'dragon'. A sore appears above their heart and it turns black. At first it hurts and burns, but as it gets worse and black stuff oozes out the pain goes away and the victim no longer cares. The victim goes wild, boasting about all the bad stuff they've got away with, they don't listen to reason and eventually they wander off and disappear never to be seen again.

The story starts with an outsider being killed. Half of their body is left and it looks like a bear attack. This is the first time that there's been a trace of anyone. The wife of the victim is traumatised and doesn't remember what happened. She is unharmed. (It later becomes clear that she is unharmed because she has Jesus inside her). Her brother-in-law Steve sets out on the task of what happened - not believing in the bear theory. With the help of a sheriff deputy he uncovers all sorts of things. He is majorly hindered by the townsfolk who do not want their dragon uncovered. Anyone who helps him is beaten up and eventually gets the black mark and then disappears.

The only person talking sense in the crazy Christian guy proclaiming that the dragon and black mark is sin, and that unless you accept Jesus into your heart you will die. The town started after a massacre of believers and a new charter was drawn up ending 'If this is sin, let sin be served' - all who signed it were sworn to secrecy. At the start, sin and the dragon were small and ignorable, but it's grown. Not believing this Steve ignores the crazy Christian until he sleeps with the married sheriff deputy and he too gains a mark above his heart. His brother too slept with someone he shouldn't have from the town. It appears that as you sin, the mark appears and gets bigger.

The head of the town believes that the dragon is on his side, even when he too gains a mark. He fights for control the whole way through and eventually it is his death.

About 5 people are eaten by the dragon as the story goes on. The dragon is almost invisible, but it's there and almost impenetrable. As the story comes to an end, the crazy Christian is killed and Steve runs for his life. In his absence, the town leader orders all the Christians to be evacuated and their homes plundered. As the townsfolks' black marks get bigger and start oozing they stop caring. They steal and set fire to things, there are riots and everything turns into chaos.

As Steve climbs to the dragons lair he discovers that in praying to God and asking for help, things start to go right. Twice he manages to blow up the dragon eventually damaging him almost fatally. Steve goes to shoot the dragon, but as he gets closer he falls in love with it. Maybe it can be tamed, maybe they can come to an agreement, he so lovely, so amazing, so tempting, he can't kill it, that would be wrong. Only when Steve is almost killed do his sense come back and he realises that since he's link to the dragon by the mark, he's being pulled in, tricked into a false sense of security. He runs for his life.

By this time, the town is a scary place to be. Steve makes it back, dragon follows, more people die and eventually Steve leads the dragon to an empty mine. Here he sets up a trap planned by the crazy Christian guy whereupon the dragon will hopefully impale himself and eventually die. Steve is followed by the townsfolk and they're in the way. Steve remembers that the dragon was afraid of the crazy Christian because he'd got Jesus. Steve tells the dragon to back up (which will impale him) and get away. Three times the dragon breathes fire at Steve throwing him about, but miraculously he is unharmed. He declares Jesus' name and asks him into his heart and eventually the dragon moves back. Steve has won - or rather God has won.

Finally, when you think the dragon is dead he grabs the cocky head of the town and eats him. At this point there is a flash of light and the dragon disappears. Sin has been conquered.





Does this story seem similar to anyone? ;)

Yoga

I've just been to my first Yoga class and I am soooooooo unflexible!

My housemate could do loads more than me. I think it will be good for us though. It was encouraging to feel your body being stretched and toned :)

The lady said outright that she doesn't believe in or do any of the 'spiritual' parts of yoga, just does it as exercise, so that's cool.

Think I might have to practice a bit so I don't wobble, shake and fall over again!

No we won't let the rocks cry out!

"If we sit on them long enough do you think they'll stop crying out?"

"Nah I think we've gotta praise louder!"

"No we won't let the rocks cry out!"

Christianness in lectures

Interesting debate we had today. (I may not have quite expressed it as I want to here)

It was in a lecture on Difference and Helping. We were doing an exercise involving some pairs of statements, like 'Mental health is socially affected' and 'Mental health involves a chemical inbalance' and we had to stand along a line at the point we agreed with the statements (with one at each end. It was all very informative - and we then had to discuss how our view would effect us as a counsellor.

One pair of statements chosen by two girls in the class was 'There is a God' and 'There isn't a God'. Most of the people at the 'There is a God' side were various forms of Christians and the like and people of other faiths. Most of the people went to the other side.

When we then discussed how it would effect us as counsellors the 'No God' side immediately attacked the 'God' side saying that they wouldn't be able to counsel people without bringing their God into it, that they'd force their faith on to people. Whereas they as the 'No God' side wouldn't do that and therefore it's better to not believe in God if you're a counsellor.

Now isn't that interesting. The people claiming to be non-judgemental and open to anything, were immediately attacking the God believing people and being judgemental towards them. I certainly wouldn't have liked any of them counselling me!

Someone in the middle made the best point though, saying that it's up to all of us to focus on the client and not ourselves. It doesn't matter what view of life you have if you're a trained professional - you should be able to be open and helpful whatever your client brings.

It's made me want to investigate other religions a bit - just so I can have an idea of where people are coming from.

Christianness on campus

I'm am laughing at God today. Or rather he's perhaps saying to me 'See!!'

I went to a campus unity talk at Soul Survivor thinking it would be about how to juggle CU and church. It wasn't, it was about juggling different Christian groups on campus. I then promptly switched off thinking, well there's only one group on my campus and there's only 6000 of us anyway.

Today at Freshers Fair I discovered a new group. Student Christian Movement www.movement.org.uk
I thought, ok cool that's interesting. They advertise themselves as being more liberal and welcoming of all people unlike the CU. I asked if they were working against the CU and they said no. But them seem to be doing the same things.

I have to admit that the thought to start an alternative Christian group had crossed my mind as I found the CU too cliquey, strict and unwelcoming. But I didn't like the idea of the Christians being divided on campus, so I was planning to start a SPEAK group working alongside CU rather than in competition with. It has now become clear that the CU leaders knew nothing about this new group until the Freshers Fair today, so it's all going to be very interesting I think.

New Church

Tried out a new church on Sunday. Well a different one, not a new new one! Although I've heard rumours of a Vineyard church being planted in York - I'll keep me eyes open.

Anyway. Went with my friend Bek - short cycle ride, so not too far. We were a bit late and it looked a little shut up, but we sneaked in to what appeared to be a fairly old building that's been recently done up giving a large and airy feeling that's not so big you get lost in it! As we walked down to find a seat that small band was playing 'Your love is amazing' and there were no pews (not that that's necessarily important!)

It was a family service, so not a typical service. It was very interactive though - especially since it seemed to be a one man show. He did well at getting the children involved (distinct lack of youth). I enjoyed the service. There must have been 30-40 people of various ages. The two ladies in front of us turned round at the end and complimented our singing! lol.

We chatted to a number of people afterwards and had a long chat with the vicars wife explaining that we'd come across the church quite by accident as it was not advertised anywhere. They're going to sort that out! Through chatting to her and an email I received from the vicar previously (a very nice and helpful email) we discovered that they are part of three churches in the area, they do Alpha, are linked to New Wine, have cell groups using the four Ws (welcome, worship, witness, word), and seem to have a very balanced and good theology/doctrine (whatever the right word is!!). They do a tiny bit of community work and mission, but are up for supporting any suggestions. They don't have any students.

We also went to the evening service which starts with coffee at 7pm, before the service at 7.30. All three churches come together for this, so there were a few people who were slightly younger, but still no youth or students. The service is usually worship and word and looks like it could be pretty good - but they were doing a presentation on their experiences at New Wine (which really could have been adequately done in 10mins rather than boring us all!) so it wasn't great.

We are going to try it out again this Sunday - they're having a welcome back to church week - so that'll be interesting!

Sandcastle

Here is a sandcastle build by Keith and I on the beach at Lowerstoft a week ago :D







I hope you all approve ;)

UshopUgive

Guys!

You all need to go here http://www.ushopugive.com and register - for everyone that registers and nominates Norwich Youth for Christ - NYFC gets 50p, then when you buy anything through the website they get money too! You've got less than a week to do it though!

NYFC are a charity that does loads of great stuff and they only get money from donations and trusts - so they need all the help they can get!

Uni

Well it's that time again.

Travelled up today, thanks to the wonderful parents.

Had to get here in time for training for me new job - so I feel like it's been a really nonstop day.

So far I can't get onto my bed because there's too much stuff to sort out! The internet and router are working very well though and my phone is all set up and I've got my music playing and the TV almost works (gotta fiddle with the ariel a bit more), housemates seem ok.

Sunday

Lots of bits and pieces from Sunday, it's taken me till now to be able to post properly! How great to be back at uni with my broadband - although entertainingly we're getting broadband at home now I've left!

James spoke at church Sunday morning. We're in the hall now as they've taken the pews out of the main church. I prefer it in the hall (apart from have the muscians in the middle, but that's completely another story!). Aparently Norwich is the top Godless city in the UK! We gotta do something guys.

He also mentioned something about how all the reports in the press about Christians in the UK dying out by 2040 are actually just about the Anglican church and that it's not the same across the board. He also said something about Baptists being the fasted growing because they stick to the Bible the most. Obviously this won't be completely the same in every church, but generally speaking. I found it interesting, and also reassuring that maybe we won't have died out by 2040 - I'm certainly intending to still be a Christian then - I'll be 55 I think! lol

This all led nicely into the evening service where Randall came and talked to us about the work of NYFC - he was great. He also did a good plug for Reality (www.reality-norwich.com) - it's so exciting - I can't wait for next summer. I love Norwich. It's awful that it's the most Godless city. Us as Christians need kicking up our backsides to sort it out!

Paul C preached at the evening service. I like listening to him, but I prefer his Fridays talking - more interactive. The bits I picked out of his talk (before I read his notes!) were about expecting God in the unexpected places. He talked on Daniel 2 where Daniel had to interpret King Nebuchadnezzar's dream without knowing what it was about. Sometimes our non-Christian friends may have God talking to them without realising it and it's up to us to show them and explain to them. How we don't just go to people with God in a bag and offer some, we need to look at see where God is already working. Also that would shouldn't always expect to find God in all the usual places - he could be anywhere! It's also a little risking cuz you don't always know what God's doing - but you've got to trust.

There are more bits, but those are what stood out to me. They've encouraged me to keep going with my housemates. That at the vision of them getting Baptised!

Banking

Today I am quite entertained with my banking.

I've been juggling the money in three of my accounts round to accommodate the large sum of rent I was expecting to go out today, only to come online and discover that it's not going out till Monday. How foolish of me to assume that a standing order a nice young man in the bank set up for me to go out of my account into my landlords on the 1st of each month wouldn't work like that! Oh no, after ringing my bank - who I have to say were very helpful but had ghastly music playing too loud when you're on hold - I discovered that this gentleman had set my standing order to be the first Monday of every month - huh?!! Ya what? Why?

On a more positive note I have discovered that shoving my overdraft (which is interest free) into my ISA has gained me almost a tenner in interest this month :) whoopee! I think that makes a grand total of about £50 if not more I've earnt on it this year. That should pay for a return train trip from York to Norwich anyway.

One thing I've yet to get my head round - although all may become clear one day, is why Amazon have take £10 less out of my account than I spent the other day? I thought I had an amazing deal anyway! I bought a netgear wireless router recommended by Tesco (since our internet account is with them) which they advertised as £100 for about £66 on Amazon with a free USB wireless adapter for £30! Bargin. Obviously delivery is free, but why have they taken £10 less out of my account?!

Actually, just looked on the email they sent me of my order and it appears that they've charged me the amount before tax. So does that mean they're gonna take the tax off me later?! Or what? Why haven't they done it together? Confused now.

George and Adam's wedding

woooooooooooooooooooooowww!!






George looked absolutely gooorgeous. She was a shining white angel princess.

The wedding was cool - a mix of Jewish and Christian traditions - and we had fish and chips for the meal - awesome and random! I think I'd do that - much better than some posh meal.

It was well cool to see my friend Bek too - don't think we've seen each other for 3 months.

Train journey home today wasn't so great. For a start I'm not particularly well. I thought we were going to be late to the station but it was fine. Then discovered me train was 20 mins late so got permission to change to an earlier one. Then made a big mistake and took the slow local train from Reading to London which took an hour rather than 30mins - that left me 25 mins to get from paddington to liverpool street. Tube didn't come for 7mins and then kepts stopping in the tunnel. I resigned myself to thinking that I wouldn't get it, but arrived 2mins before my train, couldn't see it on the board, went to information, ran and found it, caught it and walked along it praising the Lord under my breath. All was great until we almost got to Chelmsford. There was a broken down train so we sat for over an hour not moving. By this point I felt really ill and wanted a hug from my mummy who's in Spain, so I rang Helsalata and cried down the phone to her and she was lovely! In the end we were only an hour and 15mins late and nana was wonderful and took me home with a picnic :)

Soul Survivor week B

Now this was no where near as good as Momentum but it was still cool. We were tired by this point too.

On a negative note - all the talks were the same as the previous week, which was extremely disappointing. The worship was more varied generally speaking, but the young people had an annoying habit of clapping after every single song which drove us completely nuts. Mike P tried to encourage people to have a break from clapping a number of times. They did a lot of whooping too!

Another thing that wasn't so great to start with was that they boys left us and we joined a group from Oak Grove who I barely knew - so it was a bit lonely.

It was hard starting back at the beginning again. I almost wish I hadn't stayed especially as the weather was so much worse. But I didn't want to go home after Momentum, and I was ready for it after SSB!

God still did stuff, I went to the chat room and got prayed for, Lou and I had great fun making up our own actions, Emily Singleton, who is now Emily Strange joined us for a day :D I bumped into my friend Anna and there were puddles through the carpet in the big tent!

There were some lovely new songs:
Now is the Time by Delirious? and Matt Redman which I really like.
Be my everything - Tim Hughes

can't remember any more at the mo. There was one by the dave crowder band which I think might not have been new, but was new to me. If I remember any more I'll post them!

OOoo forgot to mention in the momentum post - Soul Action www.soulaction.org well worth getting involved in. I'd love to go to Durban next year and in 2009 so I'll have to save up. Hopefully they'll be of some help for Reality www.reality-norwich.com as well.

Will post photo's when I go back to york and have broadband!

Momentum

I've decided to write about each of the last few weeks in separate bits so that my brain doesn't get too carried away!

Anyway - Momentum was awesome. It's a stream of Soul Survivor (www.soulsurvivor.com/uk) for school leavers/20s and 30s. I went with Fliss, Lou, Matt, Dom and of course Keith! ;) Except they all went to Passion for your Name - the worship leaders conference - freaks! So yeah, me the loner wandered into Momentum the first night - late - cuz I had miles further to go than the rest of them and walked up and down wondering who to squeeze in next to. Then I saw someone I knew! There was a girl from uni! I didn't know her much but she had come with a group of 30 from her home church - so I adopted them for the week - yey.

The talks were good. I especially liked J.John. Ali McInnes talked about the magi and shepherds worshipping Jesus in different ways on the first night and that was really helpful. I'll blog some more when I find my notes. I liked J.John's comment that if you're running away from God, the devil always provides transportation. (With reference to Jonah). He's so funny when he talks - unfortunately I can't do an impression on here! I didn't find many seminars helpful - mind you, you're mostly so tired after your brain being filled with so much information that there's no space for seminars! I was encouraged in a uni seminar on evangelism that they were with me on not being for the legalistic style of evangelism - ie knocking on peoples' doors, but were more for the relational of actually getting alongside people. I've since found out that my CU is stopping the door knocking :) Although it does have it's place. I was told a story about this guy going along a street giving out info, and at one house he felt and urge to keep on knocking even though no one was coming to the door. Then suddenly this big, threatening looking guy came to the door, grabbed the info and slammed the door shut. The next week this guy went up the same street doing some follow up work. He had barely knocked on the big guy's door when it swung up and he said, 'You gotta see this!' and dragged him inside. This evangelist was a little scared now as he was dragged up to the attic. The big guy said, 'look see that loop of rope hanging from the ceiling with the box underneath? Last week I was standing on the box with my head in the loop when you knocked on the door. I ignored you, but you were so persistant that I thought I'd go as a couple of minutes didn't matter. I read the leaflet you gave me, knelt down at my box and gave my life to Christ.' Awesome man!

Worship was cool. We had Delirious?, Jonny Parks, Martyn Lazell, 3 people from Soul Survivor Watford who led together and often had some drummers with them who used bins from B&Q! I felt so immensely free in my worship this year - more than at Passion last year. I danced and jumped about, I danced in the spirit (it was like swimming through liquid chocolate :D) and joined 6 people in a conga line around the tent - extremely exhilirating. We all held hands and jumped - that was great. It was just so awesome to be enjoying God's presence and partying with him. I even went to the front and told all 3000 of the people there how great it was and how I used to not be able to join in so fully. I wanted to encourage people.

That'll do for now, may fill in the gaps later - feel free to ask questions

Walking

Went for a walk around Horsford with Keith today - was nice to be in the peace and quiet.
We stopped for a picnic in the village hall playground which was nice too. Brought back memories of Nana and Grandpa's 40th wedding anniversary celebration that we had there. I think it would have been their 50th wedding anniversary this weekend...

I've been quite tired today - haven't been able to keep my eyes open much. Frustrating - but hey!

Yesterday Keith and I had a competition to see who could buy the most in Anglia Square for a fiver. I won :) It had to be more than 10p and it had to be something we could use at Passion and Momentum next week. It was such a laugh!

I have dyed my hair again. It's just darker brown. I quite like it. Means I don't have blonde streaks any more! - yey!

Update

Well, I'm not feeling quite so sick. Drs taken me off the pill that I was on for my skin - downside is that my skin is starting to deteriorate slowly now :(

Only got about 4 hrs sleep last night due to a sore throat and don't feel much better now. I've also had intense headaches most days since I stopped me medication and I've had quite an emotional day - mostly due to tiredness and being on the edge of illness - d'oh!

On a more positive note - last day of work today :) so yey - all done for now! Now I can relax a bit.

I'm a bit apprehensive about going to Momentum next week. My mood swings have been quite excessive and I don't want it to spoil things for me. I want to have a good time and learn more about God and maybe break down some barriers.

Well looking forward to some chilled out days with Keith this week and our trip to the beach with the Tumas :)

Sickness

Not supposed to be on really but just popped on to renew me overdue library books (£1 fine! rudeness!)

Anyway, I just wanted to blog some of my frustration.
Basically I feel sick. For as long as I can remember I've always felt sick when I'm hungry or tired, but at the moment I'm feeling sick most of the time and eating doesn't help. In fact it's now got to the point of preventing me from eating properly.

I'm also tired all the time. I just have no energy. Sometimes I can do stuff, sometimes I just completely flop and can't keep me eyes open.

It's just so frustrating - I want to do stuff but I can't.

Hopefully going to the drs this week, but in the meantime - prayer is much appreciated.

Soul in the City

Just some ponderings.

Almost this time a year ago we were in London, some of us in Hackney, working for the community as part of Soul in the City.

If this bombing stuff had happened last year, would we have still been there? Would we have still gone?

Are people we met ok? Have they been caught up in stuff?

Awesome

Went to Proclaimers evening service 'Awesome' last night.

Just gonna blog 5 good points and 5 bad points for now

Good:

1. I liked the length of the songs and the way they did repeats. They didn't just sing the same song over and over again
2. I liked the video style notices and info giving that they filmed and showed
3. I was impressed by everyone's friendliness
4. The Bible was used
5. It was good to see lots of young people worshipping God

Not so good:

1. I felt that they were a little full of themselves and talked about themselves and how wonderful they are too much
2. I hate Hillsongs!
3. The talk wasn't particuarly strong. Had some good points but was very bitty and I couldn't see where it was going and came away quite confused!
4. It was a bit overwhelming - didn't quite know what we were supposed to do in going from the meeting area at the beginning into the main bit.
5. Man they pressure people to respond - I'm torn as to whether that's good or bad - can be both I guess

Mmm... chocolate!

Memories

Tonight I went to pick up my sister from her school trip to Yorkshire.

It brought back memories of the 3 similar trips on went on with school.

I was very surprised by the teachers reactions to me. One, whom I used to play practical jokes on, turned round and gave me the most massive hug exclaiming how great it was to see me. They all seemed so genuinely pleased to see me. I was kinda taken aback. I thought they'd have moved on and be too busy sorting out all the young people they'd just been away with, but no! They were interested in stopping, chatting, hugging and finding out how I was.

Maybe people do like me?! ;)

Meditation

Tonight I went to the Monday night meditation group at St Augustine's after comments from Heather's blog (sorry - haven't got time to figure out links!). I was very apprehensive in going since I didn't know anyone and wasn't really sure where I was going!

Anyway, there were about 10 people and they were all very welcoming - one intent on telling me she'd been to NCBC for 20 years. I restrained myself from telling her that it's only been 'alive' 2 years, and if we're including the churches beforehand then I've been there 20 years too! Lol - makes me laugh. She didn't recognise me, although I recognised her.

We moved on quite quickly to getting started after a brief introduction and listenined to a tape with some guy called John talking about faith. I can't remember much about that as I struggled to switch off the busy day I've had. A guy then quickly explained what we were gonna do and the role of the mantra. We then listened to a few minutes of music followed by 20/5 mins of silence and then a bit more music.

For the first 10 minutes I managed to keep saying the mantra (ma-ra-na-tha or something - supposedly meaning come God) and got quite into it. Although it felt very intense and I had an imense pressure on my chest and head. I thought that was me trying to concentrate but it wasn't. I felt that I need to give some things over to God, so I did, but then got really really hot and felt sick and light-headed so I had to pull back. For the rest of the quiet time I was just jiffily waiting for the time to end. I wanted to go home and put me head down!

It all felt very strange. I didn't slip into it as easily as the times I've done reflective stuff before like when Heather did stuff at Fridays or on conferences I've been to. Maybe with practice it'll become easier. I just like the way it has potential to bring focus when my head is so usually all over the place.

We also talked a bit about 24/7 which was cool as I was able to fill them in a bit. I felt quiet but confident with them which was nice. A little scared to go again, but I'd like to. I wonder if they'd mind me lying on the floor, or is it important to sit on a chair with a straight back and feet flat?

Motorbike

I forgot to say last night

- I rode the back of my friend's motorbike!!!!

Results

Yey, have just checked on the college intranet and I've passed all my assignments this semester!
I even got an 80%! That's 10% over an A whoooo. Overall this semester I got A and 2 Bs so I am very pleased.

Looking more closely it was my practical demonstration of my skills that let me down - not surprised at all! Hmm.... gonna have to work on that one. My A was in 'Helping in the Social Context' - that included my placement. I know I'm a helper, so that's not surprising and is very cool.

Even better though is that my housemate only failed one assignment! I am so proud and pleased. She does so well even though it's all a major struggle for her (she's dyslexic and dyspraxic (sp?!)) and her tutors don't seem to give her much help. She needs to redo it by the end of Aug to carry on her course - so Lord please help her in that. Thankfully her computer and software to help her are arriving tomorrow. I'm just so pleased she's passed!!

24/7

Well that's the end of it then.

Well, maybe it's actually the start.

The room shut at 7pm this evening, it was sad shutting the door. There was no big celebratory ending, nothing jumping up and saying whoo. Don't know what I expected really. Was a bit of an anti-climax.

Still, it is majorly exciting the number of people that used it and the number of prayers said.

Hopefully we can set the ball rolling for a permanent room...

I'm sad that I am unable to make the clearing of the room session tomorrow and the celebration sat night. Ah well, can't be everywhere at once!

I just wanna praise the Lord for these 3 weeks and say 'long may the praying continue'

Networking

Well, in the next few days I'm going to be hopefully sorting out bills and stuff with housemates.
Gas and elec is fine - just gotta sort out how to pay.
Phone and internet is where the fun starts. We've got to agree on a provider - at the moment it could go anywhere.
Then there's the networking. In theory it's simple, may take a bit of setting up, but should be ok once we've got it going. The question is, which wireless/router/modem to we get, or do we get them separately or what?! I feel that my brain is a little too small for this and dad's only going to be with us until Sunday. Hmm.. oh ye of little faith. We will sort it!

Advice, suggestions, prayer welcomed! (infact advice/suggestions are better by text or email (yahoo) since I'm leaving tomorrow morning!)

Money

I'm sure I've blogged about this before - but how is one sensible with money?

I've just done some calculations. I've earnt about £900 by working full-time for the last 5 weeks or so. That leaves me with £150 after I've paid my rent for the next 3 months until my next loan installment. That will be about £1000 which will leave me with £250 when I get to Christmas.

I am currently in negative on my bank balance, so if I put that money in to my overdraft that still leaves me in over £300 debt, since once rent was paid this term, there wasn't a great deal left of my loan. And that's just accommodation - then there's food and general living. Maybe I need to work some more. The thing is, not many places are up for employing you just for summer - especially when you try to fit too much into it!

This isn't a plea for money, just comments on how you can be expected to go to uni without getting in debt. I just don't understand how you can live without working all summer and working during term time. I know all the arguments for 'you go to uni knowing you're gonna get in debt' and 'you can't expect money to be handed to you on a plate' but I am sensible with money. Far too sensible sometimes and yet I'm still gonna be in at least £9000 debt at the end of uni and that's just the student loan - which I have to say - doesn't go much further than accommodation and bills.

Hopefully I've got a job for September (depending on whether a girl passes her a levels) which will help a great deal. I thought I was doing fine, but then there's this big summer gap with no loan. If I'm struggling, how on earth do my housemates manage? I think one is already in up to £10000 debt.

I also don't understand how people like Keith can slog their guts out, but then when their pay comes in it only just about covers rent and bills. How do people afford things? Is it all just credit cards, store cards and massive amounts of debt?

This is quite a rant really isn't it? I'll shut up now.

Thank you Lord for all that you have given me. Thank you for wonderful friends and family. Thank you for the roof over my head, the food on my plate and my general safety and aliveness.