When life works out

I have, by no means got it all sorted, I cry at silly things, I often open my mouth without prior thought, I gossip and sometimes I'm not a very good friend. However I know God, and I know he definitely has it all sorted. How long did He ponder about making the Earth and all the intrinsic things that we don't see, and won't because we take them for granted. I still take time to marvel at rainbows, and their fleeting beauty.

This makes a massive difference in how I approach some tasks... I know that God will sort out things I can't and will bless the things I try to do.

Anyway the point is, I asked the young people to share how their summer had been, what it sounded like for them. For some it sounded like new music, melodies and words which touch hearts and get stuck there. For others summer made Jesus sound a whole lot bigger than they originally understood. For others there was a loud, clear call to be something more, to become the person they are.

For me the summer was a repetitive sound, in a good way. Not the drip of a tap when you can't sleep, but better than that. I talked a bit on Sunday about Psalm 139, and Doug (who is 'granddad') repeated the verse we'd learnt at camp, with no prompting. Every week as we pray, I go back to the Psalms and search out the verse we learnt at camp, I don't know why but it's comforting.

I'm really proud of what the young people taught church this weekend, and mostly because it fitted right in with the theme of the summer for church - the story of David.

My summer started with John Mayer and two months later its over with an event this weekend which I will not be able to talk about until it's over. And i will post pictures, I promise. i feel I have been a little bit middle of the road about life. It's time to start getting passionate again!!

A victim

The Luton On Sunday's front page was about the Muslim community complaining about the new HPV vaccine starting when Ramadan is. I learnt something new about the rules of ramadan, if you have an injection it breaks the fast.

The Primary Care Trust responded with the fact that the vaccine will run throughout the year for all the girls who's parent's consent to it. So even if the girls miss out this month, they can get the vaccine from their GP. Though the PCT were called "insensitive" I think that they dealt really well with the claims.

I just think it's just a case of realising the bigger picture. I can have the HPV vaccine if I wish, but I won't. I have to have enough vaccines to go to Uganda in the summer. I don't think I can hack 5 needles in 6 months!!

Searching for Inspiration

The old has gone and the new has come... bye bye old small kitchen with no dishwasher, hello huge new kitchen with dishwasher! Yeay! Also there is a new office space for me! Woop! Time to measure, paint and furnish. Which might mean that I actually manage my time between work and home better.

Am watching Veggie Tales, as with the kitchen refurbishment we don't have a lot of room, so we'll do some colouring and watch the story. The funniest thing about some of the Veggie Tales stuff is focussed on adults.

So the new term begins, parents are desperately waiting for their children to go back to school, and I'm waiting for school to start too so that I can begin to have a schedule again.

To Resonate:

"To vibrate or sound, especially in response to another vibration; To have an effect or impact; to influence; to engender support"

I think this is what was happening in the last week. The leadership team responded to God's vibrations, and their vibrations lead to our vibrations and our vibrations helped the young people respond to God's vibrations which they may or may not have been hearing throughout the previous year. By the end of the first night, the young people were shining.

We had a lot of fun, some crazy days and some quieter days. But it was really lovely all the same. I made some new friends, and was really stretched by what God is doing with/for the young people. We have lots and lots to follow up.

We also had the weather on tap, the days where we wanted sun, we got sun. This was especially true of the obligatory water fight on the final afternoon. Lovely BBQ and some chucking water at each other. Good fun really.

An awesome week had by all and we raised some money for the persecuted church in China (to fit with the Olympic theme) by running 45 miles between the 150 of us.

Can't wait for the reunion in October/November time.

Good Morning Boys!

The M1 north of Luton is a funny place to be on a Monday morning, but that's where Chris and i found ourselves heading towards Alton Towers.

Was a very fun day, lots of rides and a walk around the towers withs it's dark scary rooms and lots of history. We went up to the roof to have a look around Staffordshire, it was windy and a bit cold.

Tuesday ended in the cinema watching Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (or Full-frontal snogging, for the purists). Wasn't brilliant, much of the story had been changed to fit in with the movie style of doing things. Being 14 was never that fun, and I'm pretty sure Eastbourne's old people are glad to be rid of snogging teenagers. A bit of fun for an afternoon, but nothing more.

Wednesday we went to Chessington World of Adventure. It now has a Sea Life Centre, along with the theme park and the mini zoo. All good fun, especially when it torrentially pours on you when you are getting on your second ride of the day.

Today was Mamma Mia, not as good as the stage show, but again quite fun. Laughed mostly at the end credits and Julie Walters in general. Maybe that tells you something about the movie if you haven't slready seen it. So in two weeks I'm caught up on most of the summer blockbusters.

Dark Knight was pretty stunning last week. Quite brilliantly filmed and delivered. The only thing that's a real bug about it is Christian Bale's Batman accent, why, why, why? Some of the things he said needed subtitling, to have such a deep voice with a bit of a lisp doesn't really help.

Mini film reviews over with, I'll just carry one with life, it's the summer, so we have the complusory camping trip coming up. Yeay!!

Wall-e

Went to see Wall-e last night, I am not a film reviewer, but I really liked it. It was lovely and well animated. Scary to think about what state we might be in as a planet in 800 years or so. Did notice the lack of dialogue for the first 30 mintues or so, especially since there were some delightful children in the cinema.

You know your children watch too much telly when they can recall the lines in an advert, before the advert has even begun! "Last one in the sea is a great big loser"

Next week is the week of fun, I hope it's really sunny. Mostly so I won't sit inside and be addicted to the Olympics! I will be going to the sea, I will be going to theme parks. I will book a proper holiday later in the year when all the children go back to school...

So off we go, blogging only upon return.

La la la

I feel a little bit like I'm twiddling my thumbs until camp comes 'round.

Next week is a week off, so hopefully I will feel very recharged by the time I reach camp.

We walked along the Thames at Richmond at the weekend, at high tide, I nearly waded in the Thames, but no one else wanted to join me. It's been beautifully sunny here, and the rain has only come to clear the air.

Also watched/sang along to/drooled at John Mayer's new music DVD called "Where the light is". Mayer overload the last few weeks, but that's not a bad thing. He especially does a very good acoustic version of "Free Fallin' " by Tom Petty, and some old classics. There are some good distractions.

Pictures of the week off will be up once we've had some fun.