Caerdydd calling

Yeah... i was going to write 'calling' in welsh, but its a very long word. And 'to call' is even harder to get!

So there you go, I'm back in Caerdydd and happy to be back. Train journey was uneventful. Train station was full of rugby supporters trying to get home, nightmare.

Small group was great. 11-14's club is back on tonight, we're talking about discipline with the little dahlings. Hmmm, cue lots of 'that's not fair' and 'we should ban them forever', nice.

Apologies for lack of photos - I'm not the one holding the digital camera.

Not much God stuff going around in my head at the mo. But have been thinking about worship and what it all means.

Oh and on Friday I finally get to do my 'How do I resist evil?' talk in Porth - I've been waiting for an entire month.

Comfortable

So now I'm sitting at home. Doing the work I need to do for the small group on Sunday. I'm quite excited about the possiblity of getting these young people to think along the lines of God.

Identity has always been a tricky subject for me.

Not so much about finding my identity in God, but using that identity to gain the most out of life. It works really well some days and other days I forget who created me. Which can only cause trouble surely?

Well, I don't know all the answers. Which is the approach I'm taking to Youth Work at the moment and it seems to be working well!

Every cloud has a silver lining

Negative - moving to the smallest room in the house
Positive - internet 24/7 but I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon

Negative - loads of work
Positive - Train rides home and back this weekend. Yeay for parents who will still feed me!

Negative - going from train ride to small group
Positive - going to church and having a small group focussed on God rather than food

Ok, more positive things to balance it out I think. I have recovered from the weekend and as a consequence I'm having almost 4 days off of work. I got an interview for a job. Lots of people already know too much! Ask me... don't be afraid!

Everything is going great at the moment, possibly half term is to blame. Next week is full to the rafters with schools work and clubs back in force. Hard to believe that its nearly March but the good thing is we finish Feb wih Pancake day!!

Don't forget guys! I say we eat as many pancakes in as many styles this year. I already have 3 pancake nights booked in for next week.

And for lent as well as giving up something I'm gonna stop making excuses to not go to kick boxing. "I'm too tired" should never be an excuse!

Weekend a-wahey!

I met a pig called Steve this weekend!

The farm was very fun, after all my groaning and complaining. We had a packed weekend and many laughs to go along with it.

I was tired and challenged. I am glad that we spent a lot of time inside and listening to God and who ever was teaching.

I don't intend on doing it again any time soon. I think 11 months is a small enough gap between exhausting weekends away.

Pictures to follow - promise.

Day off and away

School in Porth had a day off today, so I automatically get a day off to!

Fantastic! An afternoon off to practice sleeping I think.

I'm so not looking forward to this weekend still. Being away and being ill is never fun. But I'm sure that God has a lot to say to me this weekend and I'll probably end up with an entirely different view to where I started.

I started applying for jobs, so pray for me. I don't know where I'm gonna go or what I really want to do, but God's there guiding me every single step of the way.

So to further my development on the management front I'm now conference manger for a Brian McLaren event my church is holding. Scared and very happy to have even more responsibility! Feeling very grown up.

'That' time of year!

All my single ladies and lads - miss you guys loads right now.

We're just under 12 hours into Valentine's day and the chocolate cake is definitely calling me!

No such fun however this year.

I did get a lovely card in the post this morning which was really encouraging and set me up for what could be a very long and tedious day.

Previous experience has taught me to gear myself up for half term week as being a busy week, without clubs we all drift into 9 til 5 and have meetings constantly.

It will be fine... the calmness of this week gives me a great opportunity to think about Lent and what I'll be fasting from this year. I'm looking for a challenge!

Lots to be doing

I'm hearing cries of 'Yeah, right!'

This week, like every week, always seems pretty empty to start off with, then I'll put things into my diary and suddenly the time just goes, before you know it next weekend will be here.

Ha ha, thats something I'm definitely not looking forward to!

Some of you may remember the weekend away that I did with the Luton guys last year, well exactly a year on I'll be away again with my peers doing team building on a farm.

I would love to look forward to it, but i'm finding it really hard at the moment. i just can't imagine myself having fun in the cold.

Hopefully the weather will treat us good and the team will be stronger.

But to be honest I'd much rather go to a big old house in the country and relax with God for a few days.

If we did not praise

Kind of going on from the SoulNet thing...

I was thinking lots about praise and sung worship. 3 lines from a song really struck me:

'If we did not praise the rocks would cry out'
'Life itself your perfect plan'
'Creation joins as one to sing "Glorious God" '

I just took some time out to think about that. I'm yet to come up with anything really profound, but I'm definitely amazed by the idea that I fit into a perfect plan (however many times I mess up) and that even when I'm singing to God walking down the street I can be assured that creation is singing with me!

Also, the first line comes from Luke 19v40. I don't really want a stone having my job!!

Any thoughts?

Centre Parcs in all it's glory

Having spent 6 hours trying to get to Elveden Forest nr Thetford, I arrived at Centre Parcs late.

Went straight to hear Mike P talk about how we should keep an eye on out first love and remain focussed on God. Great! I can really understand that.

I won't say any more about the weekend, that's between me and God mostly. I did have a really good time. I have come away with some great tips and I'm a big step closer to God.

Spent the 6 hours on the train back doing work and thinking about how important it is to remain focussed on God even if you have a huge organisation under your belt. It's a lot different from being a humble youth worker and having designated time off (I'm sitting at home dressed warmly).

To all those who have asked, I won't be on any summer festivals this year, as member or team. God has bigger plans for me.

Its all over

That's not as drastic as it sounds.

The drama module I'm on enjoyed a rarity last night... we had an audience that listened to us and interacted the way we expected them to.

They laughed at the jokes, were stunned by the action and their comments at the end were helpful... mostly.

One girl said 'Thanks... for nothing!' So helpful.

Oh well, life can go back to normal now, for the most part. Although I am away this weekend at SoulNet, so another busy weekend for me. I'm very excited to be learning and receiving. I really want to start networking properly too.

Also looking forward to having visitors... yes have been here 5 months and no one has come to see me. Get you bums over here guys!!!