24 hours

Well, I did the fast thing for 24 whole hours.

I know its not very long, but I do feel like I've achieved something. I can say I'm proud of myself and of all the people who took part. It was interesting to see how I felt after 24 hours of not eating, but to tell you the truth, I was just tired.

The computers at Uni aren't working right now. The mail system is down and the internet is being really rubbish. I can't get to my emails, very annoying.

I can get to Hotmail though, I got these this morning...


Its great to hear from you, J. Thanks very much.

I also realised how 24 hours can change everything. In that last 24 hours I have been called by God, helped a friend and prayed alot. So much has happened that it is very hard to get my head around the things that make my life so different.

I've also been asked to produce some ideas on what it means to be a Christian women in the 21st century. Interesting. I will really have to think about this one.

Giggle

Just agreed to do the Word section in cell in two weeks time.

Its all about not worrying... had to laugh. God has a great way of pointing out stuff, doesn't he??

I won't be your winter

Its been snowing for the last 5 hours at least. And its wet snow, so kind of settling but turning into slush. I'd much rather be warm.

This is what I woke up to this morning

Looks peaceful doesn't it?

Cell was fun last night. We were talking about the Holy Spirit being with us constantly. It was greatly encouraging, when I got to bed (eventually) I had a really good prayer time. It was amazing.

Jana left this morning. She's all the way back in Canada. See you mate! Have a great time at home and we'll see you soon. Love you.

Oh well, all the snow is slowly melting and I need some lunch.

Interesting Insight

Yesterday was great. After I left the IT Suite (pretty sharpish due to a random bloke trying to chat me up) I went to Christine's for dinner with Jana. Her first time on public transport (that isn't a train or coach - what other types are there?). Suddenly felt like the authority on buses, when its the only bit of public transport I'm scared of!

During dinner Christine got a phone call from Charlie asking if we could supervise cell at Infinity (4 leaders had dropped out an hour before it started). It's been 18 months since I was at Infinity, I got very excited.

We actually were a little late, but said hi to every one before going to pray. Then Steve led worship. It was very amazing. Some stuff realy hit home with me, the sad thing is it took at least another 30 minutes to even dawn on the girls who were in the cell group.

Insight in to the current Infinity. I asked, 'how often do you talk to God?' and got a resounding silence. We prayed. The sad thing about living in an instant society is as soon as I said they could go they all disappeared quickly.

If I had felt in a rude mood, I would have made then answer all the questions again once they were engaged in the material, but I didn't. I just made them sit in silence for a minute, thinking about what they are bound by. Is it possible to be bound by dis-respect?

Trusting Times

Yes, I'm learning to trust all the time...

I think that is all I can really say with out letting on as to what its about. I think I really really have to trust Jesus with everything right now.

Next year is looking promising, all applications are in, the email told me so. I'm really looking forward to going to interviews, very scary. I can't believe I get to go and talk about doing what I love and involving Jesus.

So thats all ok. I can handle being in the process of that because I've been there for a few months.

I've written 500 words of my dissertation. 500 very dis-jointed words of an introduction. But its there to be refined and added to. I'm on my way. Inviting God in to my brain everytime I sit down to do some work, itd the only way I'll keep awake!

I think the only thing I'm really having problems with is the idea that I will be leaving Luton. I will be leaving this...

Sad, very sad, hard to trust that I'll be happy else where.

On a lighter note, Eleanor and Richard got engaged on Saturday. Congrats to them! (may get to come back to Luton within the year for that one)

Learning to say NO

As Christians this is something we definitely have to learn. I know I'm a victim of 'yes' escaping my mouth too often. Saying no is a learned expression.

I experienced this twice yesterday. There was definitely one person who shouldn't have been at cell yesterday, she turned up at mine, told me she was ill and I had my first instance of sending some one home successfully. I know that she really wanted to be at cell, but even Jesus wanted a rest some times.

I believe showing compassion to others is about knowing their needs. Jesus went to a solitary place in Matt 14:13 then showed compassion on the crowd (v14). He catered first for his needs, then the crowds needs.

We need to learn the line between looking after ourselves and being selfish. This involves missing events and staying in bed to get better.

The other incident I will mention is the way Christians tend to run to the aid of people who shout loudly. I'm not saying that we shouldn't try to help people in need, but when the cry is one of attention we need to learn to sit down for a second and reflect on why we are being called.

Next time you are tired, ill or just feeling horrid, think for a second, would you do better sitting at home for a few hours relaxing, or out about doing yourself inevitably more damage?

Next time you are called on, stop, think. You probably know the person who is calling you... Would it be helpful for you to stay where you are, or do you really need to go?

Learn to say no, and remember that compassion isn't just shown in what we can do physically.

Cake and Boys

Before

After

He he! We had lots of cake last night and we talked about lots of boys. Funny how we had questions posed to go round the table and I managed to always be picked on for being pretty silent!

Sill questions like: who is your favourite celeb? Where would you go on the perfect date? Etc etc...

Of course we talked about the boys we know and laughed too. It was great fun to eat really bad food and giggle about how red different types of people go when mentioning certain boys!

We ended the night by wathching Wimbledon and drinking too much hot chocolate. Ewww... the walk home was slow.

This was my hand after saturday night. We crowd-surfed Jude as part of her commissioning! It was great fun. God spoke to me a lot last weekend and I'm still really excited about what I can do for Him. Bring on next year!