Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesus
moving into victory
claiming the promises God has made me

if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness 1john1v9

1peter 3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

instead of moaning about how rubbish i am and keep doing the same sins, i gonna let God sort me out...

the plot thickens... ; )

2 tshirts
wearing two tshirts to keep me warm
feelings are kind of muffled behind two t shirts

feels like that with God, like i am wearing two tshirts and cant get close.
reading "Heavenly Man" by brother Yun amazing book the kind of guy who makes all that explaining away of the early church's suffering not being relivant to the modern world look like rubbish. eg he prayed and fasted for 100 days for a bible at a time in china when no one had bibles he has a dream these two men give him a bible, wakes up two men come to the door give him a bible, he reads and memorises it then tells everyone his first year as a christian age 16-17 2000 ppl become Christians. in jail after having beaten within an inch of his life and he decides to fast, gives the little food he gets to other prisoners and survives for over a month with No food or water. proper hardcore. proper relying on God, me? still cant defeat the same old tempations. I know that God loves me just as much as brother yun but i dont want to be stuck in the same spiritual immaturity for the rest of my life... i want to go further and learn more and see God work...

matt 6v19-21 19"Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or--worse!-stolen by burglars. 20Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. 21It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.

what is treasure in heaven? i spend a whole lot of time thinking about the earthly treasure i want, but not till today did i think about what is treasure in heaven: I thought blessing ppl to make someone smile, or laugh. To give someone a special gift, to take an insult cause of Jesus, to sweat or bleed for Him? to not steal the toothpaste of your housemate in the bathroom. to "waste" your money on extranivagant gifts

i dont know maybe its just doin the stuff Jesus did, and the payment is in heaven but i dont know i think is more than that or to have an awareness of it allows you a new perspective on daily decsisions, "I cant be arsed" - a favourite phrase of mine, maybe i cant be arsed for the earthly payment, but the heavenly? maybe I should not be arsed with other stuff cause it will have no heavenly pay off.

happy christmas, peace to you and the Love of God

whats the craic?

its been a bit too long since i posted

in no particular order whats been going on

last weekend in liverpool for rorys 21st and general reunion banter weekend with friends from home about 10 of us made it which was a couple down on last year but still really good to see everyone, Praise the Lord i didnt get drunk or do anything too stupid (last year was a disaster) i also went to the catholic cathedral, which was AWESOME so big and such a sense of the majesty of God and the smallness of me, and that if anything is achieved for good through us it is TOTALLY because of God. The serivce was cool too everyone stands and the choir sings amazingly when they bring the gospel up to be read, really good for me to remeber the reverance and specialness and fear that God demands.

been talking to a guy about doing some art, i wrote a propsal to do a multicultral crucifixion photographic installation to highlight the universality and reality of the cross, it was rejected in belfast but i felt that didnt really matter i just had to do the proposal, and the guy andy is well up for colaberating on it, and he wants to include a photo booth and a projector so that the face of jesus would be the faces of all the people who have come to see the ehibition... but its all funding and time dependant

flowers estate need some prayer to get it goin and get some wisdom

girls: head some cool stuff online after yet another disaster monday week ago, i dont know what the craic is but i seem to habitually fall done in this area so all prayer and advice is appreicated - www.9marks.com is cool am working through it again but its difficult

house: in general its all good we have finally decied to scrap our wireless network after many problems so thats a shame but needs to be done so lots of hole drilling and cable cutting to be done on wed

matrix:: went to see it last wednesday AMAZING go and watch the second one on dvd then go see the third and it will all fit together, well not really fix together but youll understand the questions its posing better i think well deep worth it definately

thats enough for now id say
other than sorry dan if you read this i was doing some coursewrok with friends so thats why i asked you to wait a sec and then you were gone

"Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the gates of despondency - welcome to a day in the average office." David Brent, The Office

feeling like i am a bit flat and have lost the passion and freedom and perspective of a true relationship with Christ, just started reading Jesus Freaks vol 2 all about martrys and other hardcore Christian so being challenged to get fired but again, bring that on

bogging

hows it going the world? this is my very first bog blog,
by the power of wireless networking and my mates laptop i am on the toilet writting my blog connected to the internet,
proof that technology is worthwhile :)

apart from that life is a bit hectic at the minute, i have started working for the youth work provision agency but this time on waking nights which mean i have to stay up all night and look after any kids who wake up, the shift runs 10pm to 9am and i did my first on wed nite/thurs morn and had to get the bus straight to lectures! i have another one tonight. but im getting paid so its all good
trying to work out what to do with my liife here at the minute, felt over the summer God calling me to do something more practical within the community there is an estate beside the uni and the relations between residents and students are pretty bad, ie students get a kicking, so it would be cool to try and do something to help that situation, but what and how are very big questions, God is a bigger God but i need to do some leg work to find stuff out.

am coming to the end of a 2week prayer and fast called by the church i fasted from drink, which has been cool, has made several situations easier to make the right decision, and provoked some good discussions about things, I have no plans for tee totality but its cool to put it before God and make sure im in control of it not vice versa

later
g

from jonny cousins cool artical
i quote

Here's an article I read recently - quite interesting perspective. So much
of our culture has it totally flipped!

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2003/010/3.46.html

sorry no post for so long
no internet in house and not a lot of time to walk the 30 mins to uni
everthing is cool enough with me
enjoying my new house and mates, we are eating together which is really cool and showing a bit of love
went to the halls commitee to see about some reconciliation with hoods from an estate who give students a kicking they were a bit afraid but on the much better they said they would let me take a motion to the big uni concil and they would back me up so that#s cool i dont really know what i am doin with it but i really felt God saying do this over the summer so its up to Him, but should be cool
anyway keep it real

Praise: Finnished cover to cover in about 13months :) but i was very cool highly recomend it

> > > > > > A drunk man in an Oldsmobile
> > > > > > They said had run the light
> > > > > > That caused the six-car pileup
> > > > > > On 109 that night.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > When broken bodies lay about
> > > > > > And blood was everywhere,
> > > > > > The sirens screamed out elegies,
> > > > > > For death was in the air.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > A mother, trapped inside her car,
> > > > > > Was heard above the noise;
> > > > > > Her plaintive plea near split the air:
> > > > > > “Oh, God, please spare my boys!“
> > > > > >
> > > > > > She fought to loose her pinned hands;
> > > > > > She struggled to get free,
> > > > > > But mangled metal held her fast
> > > > > > In grim captivity.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Her frightened eyes then focused
> > > > > > On where the back seat once had been,
> > > > > > But all she saw was broken glass and
> > > > > > Two children's seats crushed in.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Her twins were nowhere to be seen;
> > > > > > She did not hear them cry,
> > > > > > And then she prayed they'd been thrown free,
> > > > > > “Oh, God, don't let them die!“
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Then firemen came and cut her loose,
> > > > > > But when they searched the back,
> > > > > > They found therein no little boys,
> > > > > > But the seat belts were intact.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > They thought the woman had gone mad
> > > > > > And was traveling alone,
> > > > > > But when they turned to question her,
> > > > > > They discovered she was gone.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Policemen saw her running wild
> > > > > > And screaming above the noise
> > > > > > In beseeching supplication,
> > > > > > “Please help me find my boys!
> > > > > >
> > > > > > They're four years old and wear blue shirts;
> > > > > > Their jeans are blue to match.“
> > > > > > One cop spoke up, “They're in my car,
> > > > > > And they don't have a scratch.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > They said their daddy put them there
> > > > > > And gave them each a cone,
> > > > > > Then told them both to wait for Mom
> > > > > > To come and take them home.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I've searched the area high and low,
> > > > > > But I can't find their dad.
> > > > > > He must have fled the scene,
> > > > > > I guess, and that is very bad.“
> > > > > >
> > > > > > The mother hugged the twins and said,
> > > > > > While wiping at a tear,
> > > > > > “He could not flee the scene, you see,
> > > > > > For he's been dead a year.“
> > > > > >
> > > > > > The cop just looked confused and asked,
> > > > > > “Now, how can that be true?“
> > > > > > The boys said, “Mommy, Daddy came
> > > > > > And left a kiss for you.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > He told us not to worry
> > > > > > And that you would be all right,
> > > > > > And then he put us in this car with
> > > > > > The pretty, flashing light.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > We wanted him to stay with us,
> > > > > > Because we miss him so,
> > > > > > But Mommy, he just hugged us tight
> > > > > > And said he had to go.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > He said someday we'd understand
> > > > > > And told us not to fuss,
> > > > > > And he said to tell you, Mommy,
> > > > > > He's watching over us.“
> > > > > >
> > > > > > The mother knew without a doubt
> > > > > > That what they spoke was true,
> > > > > > For she recalled their dad's last words,
> > > > > > “I will watch over you.“
> > > > > >
> > > > > > The firemen's notes could not explain
> > > > > > The twisted, mangled car,
> > > > > > And how the three of them escaped
> > > > > > Without a single scar.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > But on the cop's report was scribed,
> > > > > > In print so very fine,
> > > > > > An angel walked the beat tonight
> > > > > > On Highway 109.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > “He who has a thousand friends has not a friend to spare.“
> > > > > > Just repeat this prayer and see how God moves!!
> > > > > > “Lord, I love you and I need you. Come into my heart, and bless
> my
> > > > > > family,
> > > > > > my home, my friends and me. In Jesus' name. Amen.
> > > > > >
> > > > > “Don't keep the blessing to yourself, pass it on!

sorry about the long time no blog

especially to ems d, i argued that i wasnt a crap blogger last time i was chatting to her

very tired, went to sleep about 4 woke and few times got up at 9 went to church then work now here.
was out for Jo's birthday a good night quite crazy, we were in 32(a group of friends student house) having a wee party and Jo's mum had bought some food and beers. Then we went to Vicos'(a nasty belfast club that plays great music and is generally full of wasted ppl) about 11:20 most of the rest of the crewe were doing pills but not really too heavy and we did some good dancing, then i was dancing with jo a bit and it seemed like maybe something was going to happen so i ran off to the toilet for a pray, phoned Joe(differnt to Jo) for some good advice and returned to the club resloved to not kiss Jo, which was cool, i went up to another floor of the club with a few other friends so the temptation was removed and everything was great and i was dancing and then i sat down and got into a really cool spiritiual discussion with one of the girls, about how she felt under pressure from some christian friends but didnt think she could "be a christian" and we were sitting close cause the music was really loud and then we were kissing... DOH
out of the frying pan into the fire, my will power and self control once more found totally lacking, walked back to 32 with the girl and then spent a long time together and ended up sleeping in her bed, but not sleeping with her, if you know what i mean... total disaster especially because my mate mike had been saying how he really respected my fatih and how i was the only genuine christian he knew.... i mean if christianity was a job id be fired
but then church was all about the God, our dad's love, and the prodical son and all the things about how God loves me even thought i am crap, so that was cool that He came a sorted me out but seriously the whole dersire for women thing finding it a BIG challenge right now.
actually considering saying i have a girl friend when i go back to uni, but then i think God's spirit will do a lot more to help me than lies will...
big up claire porter for praying for me last night, because without those prayers things could have been a lot worse.
so all prayers/ advice welcomed....

Fisherman

caught two fish last night, with my hands... in a tank. Catherine and i had just arrived home with a german family who were feeding us to find that their 600 litre fish tank had just cracked :) we spent about an hour mopping the floor, sucking the water out and best of all trying to catch the fish by hand (they had no net)
all this meant that dinner was a bit late and i didnt get to go on the motor bike, but the fish was much more fun.
so tonight maybe ill go there or maybe ill go to the temple again...

catherine just left and tonight will be my last night in moshi, tomorrow moring i start my journey back to belfast, which will take 2 and a half days :) I have been reading "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho, it is a great book, about a boy who decides to follow his destiny into the unknown, leaving a shepard job in south spain to look for treasure in Egypt. Very interesting and thought provoking, also reading 1 Corinthians at the mo and the book and the bible talked about love yesterday so this is a reflection

1 john 4v7 "everyone who loves has become God's child and knows God"

love is a universal language a blessing from God for all humanity.
It is the most common experience of spirituality.
All our life we are in touch with our creator, through the love of relationships with parents, close friends and lovers,
if this is a surprise,
consider love
attempt a definition
certainly we can list the physical expression of love, but that is not it's essence
it cannot be distilled in a laboratory or comprehensively defined,
because love in an eternal, dynamic force,
the taste of heaven for all

talking rubbish

after some consideration, i dont think there was any need to swear in the last post, especially when i had been reading those bits in james about controlling your tongue... anyway

the craic now is
family just left, so catherine and I are still in moshi, Tanzania, we are staying with an old friend of our dads. We were at church on sunday and the people were cool, so we have been invited to lunch and dinner on thursday :) also(AS well) one of the guys who lives at the house where we are having dinner owns a 250cc trail bike, so it seems my GTA Vice City dreams may yet be realised (playing the game has given me a real desire to ride motorbikes :)
the guy we are staying with and his wife are Janeish, which is quite cool, its a kind of Hinduy really really old religion, its 4 pillars are pretty cool, and tolerance is high on the agenda, but no grace :( and if this life is all going wrong, it means you messed up the last one, you can aparrently get beyond the law of Karma if you do enough good stuff. You also keep getting reincarnated until you get to heaven. Anyway they are fairly hardcore the lady Pushba is in the temple for 6am every morning and they are currently doing an 8 day fast! although cause Pushba and Himid are old they arent doing the whole thing.
So respect for the committment hopefully some interested discussion to follow..

CHEETAHS and CHEATERS
just back to a computer after 6 hardcore days of safaari, it was in short amazing, we saw just about every animal God made in this land from lions to zebras, eagles, cheetas, rhinos, giraffee, elephant the complete works, which was class. I obviously took a ridculous amount of photos averaging about 36 a day!
also been quite a chalenging time, been reading George Alagia's book a passage to africa hes the old africa corespondant for the BBC from Sri Lanka, youd know him if you saw him, anyway alot of the book is about how fucked up africa is. I very rarely use that word but this definately warrants it, and the rich west i.e. us have a lot to answer, in pursuit of our own political advances and money we have stuck our hands in where its not wanted and then turned our back when genocide (being committed at a FASTER rate than even Hitler managed with gas chambers) was being carried out in Rwanda.

also been reading acts, James and Thessolosians 1+2 which is really cool the way Paul completely bit the bullet for Jesus, he actually got stoned (no) until they left him for dead then got up again and decided it was time to leave the jails. but most interestingly are his comments about being "out of his mind for God" and not to ignore prophecy....

today visited a Massai village, who are undoubtledly the hardest people on earth they can kill lions, they have spears and knives and big sticks and clubs, and they can walk for miles and miles and it doesnt matter. Anyway the village we visited the men had gone to look for water with the cows(their livelyhood) about 3 months ago and the women were in the wee village, so you drive in, in a fancy land cruiser and pay $40 and they do a dance to welcome you and then show you round there houses (mud huts litterally, held together with cow dung) and its all good till the teenagers start asking for pens and money for photos... funy how it took our safarri driver Peter (a complete legend) to explain all the stuff about traditions, cause they dont speak english but then they know how to ask for the money. but i dont blame then about a 1000 ppl b4 probably gave them it and when most people in the country earn less than $1 a day and massi generally have no income the prospect of getting a couple of dollars off people who have paid $75 for their hotel room is probably too much.
which is all and bit mad and all this stuff is running round my head .. a lot
on the plus side got a guinness tonight, it was wierd foregin export stuff thats pretty strong but good for me nonetheless.
night world

SUNDAY IS JESUS DAY

as i mentioned last post feeling a bit spitually frustrated, and had the squirts. Well the squirts got worse and last night was not good for sleepin, but it was excellent for thinking. About lots of stuff but particularly the Flowers estate and how to try do something done so that the uni puts back into the community and the pikeys dont hate students. Thought about getting the glen residents involved early, dara and joe and gordy and tom and i spent 3hrs good revising time talkin about this so we have to make it happen.
Also today just chilled in hotel room and sang a few songs nice and loud then got some top quailty bible, sermon on the mount and then Ester, ester is a classic story. I also prayed with my sisters this morning cause their guts had been dodgy, and praise the Lord, they both ate lunch and i had a cheese toastie and plan on a big dinner soon as. I also just watched Chelsea beat liverpool on Tv(now staying in a nice hotel in aurssha left zanizbar this morning) great match, Jimmy Floyd Hasslebank scored a amazing goal to win it.

TURTLE CHASER

alright, just got back from a days diving, which was class, am in Zanzibar which is a very good effort at paradise, palm trees, calm sea big red sunsets, lobster for tea etc. The highlight of today was definately seeing a turtle, and then swimming off after it so the instructor had to chase me down and remind me i was nearly out of air :) the day started with a lengthy toilet session its seems after 5 weeks the dreded squirts have caught up with me. Had a nice massage on the beech yesterday, and leaving to meet up with catherine(my big sis) and then 5days safaari, which should be class. Kind of frustrating time spiritually, but God has been showing me some fine grace. cant get enough
until the next time....
enjoy the mango

LEGEND COUNTRY

tanzania is legend, it is really chilled out, with a ridculously perfect colour of sea and sand, and thats in the capital city. i cant wait to see the rest, had a really good day chillin out with God and market shoping with americans, they having a big chat with a kenyian capitalist and a development facilitator about the state and future of africa, heavy but excellent vote 3rddan

ON THE RUN WITH A DRUM

im in jo'burg airport paying lots of money for a nice and fast internet connection...

just flew in from cape town, i stayed there for the last week doing crew leader for another habitat team, which was a bit of a joke seeing i had 7days building expereince and was then made kind of in charge of these 7 people on a big programme thing but sure it was sunny and we built a house so thats all good, it was actually very fast. We arrived on monday with just the foudations poured (a big muddy trench filled with concrete for those who dont speak builder) and when i left on thursday, we had only to tile the roof and put up a few internal walls, which would have happened on friday while i went to Uni of Cape Town with my new flatmates...
let me rewind a little, i got to know a couple of the students at one of the churhes and managed to get to sleep in the louge of a flat owned by emma and amy, to cool girls. so from there i could get a lift to the township and generally have a good time. I was quite bizzar to be living with ppl i had just met but then i was also a good adventure, a another amazing bit of God's providence cause i didnt have the money to say in a backpacker all week and thanks to some good training from catherine (lasagne), chitra (tomato and roast pepper soup), dad (scrambled eggs) and mary hughes (massage) we all got along well. they even give a lift to the airport at 4:30am this morning with a couple of their other mates jules and ang. so i have had quite a rounded cape town experience from Township community spirit to white middle class high fences and pepper spray carrying, welcome and love.
its been cool, they dont drink very much here, like there is NO bar on the campus of the uni or in the halls of res!! they also seem to be quite introverted and discuss everything that everyone did or said at length, but they were very cool welcoming people, i would def go back in summer (it was proper raining yesterday) for beaches and chillin
gotta fly remeber vote 3rddan ( www.3rddan.co.uk )

ITS RAINING IN LONDON/ DONT STOP TILL YOU GET ENOUGH

team left yesterday, it was sad to see them go, but looking forward to the next adventure, went a checked myself in to "simply the best" backbpackers a rather optimistic title, it is total backpack stero type, the owners dog is called ganga, i went out last night with a german 2 south aficas(one with dreads), a dutchman and a californian girl! first we went to a bar that had really good guinness, it soon transpired however that it was a gay bar, and without being arrogant i think i was on the way to pulling, so quickly jumped in a taxi and we headed to a club in town, it was quite swanky, a sort of milk feel to it, the music was amazing and we did some serious dancing till after 3 and it was only a pound for a beer..
we finnished the night in a food place called Mr Pickwicks, which had.... HP fruity!!! legend

today got up late and read a bit of bible im well behind in cover to cover, it was really sunny so i decided to go to a park to read in the sun, opened to lonley planet and looked at the map to find the closest piece of green, unfortunately it turned out to be a bit dodgy but before i got mugged by the teenagers a old guy called lionel came and made friends, (cape town if full of beggers and stuff) and although we were generally advised against giving them money, and i know its not good to encourage it but i read the Matt 25 sheep and the goats, when i was hungry you .... so me and lionel went for a KFC, interesting guy, had done time on robin island had a family far away on the cape flats, earned a little money from car minding(a common thing in SA) but couldnt get work and didnt want to steal. chatted a bit about home ie the norn iron situation, and then i was thinking about some sandboradiing i booked for tomorrow and whether Jesus would have done that or maybe give this guy the money...

so maybe he was spinning me a great story and maybe i was a fool for giving him the cash but maybe he wasnt and anyway i dont really need to go sandborading. it was nice to do something a bit different and i felt God leading me and closer after it so im happy enough

it still recks me but cause you cant give every kid on the street some change but yet arent we meant to treat eveyone we meet like they are Jesus?

FEAR and POWER

went to the district 6 museam this morning, it was an area of cape town where different races lived together happily until the SA government decied it should be a "white area" and told everyone to leave to townships and buldozzed the whole area to the groud!!! really horrible aparteid stuff, it hit me pretty heavily when the guy who used to live there said the police would have beaten him up just for looking at a white girl... why does this happen why did the christian churches provided a "biblical backup" for it?
seems to be a mixture of power hunger and fear, people wanting power and to retain it will pretty much do anything to a people group they see as a threat, i.e. fear. hitler, sectarianism all bad stuff that humans do...

makes me think what horrors the church is supporting, or maybe a total apathy towards aids and the treatment of the third world is what the next generations will look back at and say "how could they honestly call themselves followers of Christ?"

on an aside saw the matrix 2 last night on a IMAX 5 story high screen (oh yes) and bought some chilled out house and drum and base from local djs

sorted out for a dakka and whizz

just about finnished the house today, did a wee bit of celtic rope work above a window in carving into cement with a pointy stick :) also went to see where the new home owner, Cordilla lives currently in a much harsher bit of the township, pretty dismal, i was one of the few went and was there to take photos so i was just looking for shots not really thinking about what i was seeing, pretty heavy, no electricity or running water, corrigated iron and cardboard for walls, it doesnt get much worse....
but not feeling to bad think i will come back to capetown after the weekend and build with some americans, cause its what i feel is the plan more than just travelling for the sake of it.
met some cool students and went out with them on friday night, good craic but crap music, teenage yank rock seemed to be the standard!!!!!
later

HOUSE BUILIDING LEGEND
alright whoever is reading hope your doing well, i am having a great time here in capetown, have almost completely build a house in 4 days!!! walls roof and all hand mixing the duga or cement (granada stylee) seen and eaten osterich, also seen some truly breath takin sights and once again i find the concept of this being random evolvedness ridculous,
and as psalm 127 says "If the Lord doesnt build the house, the builders work for nothing"
later

6am come to soon these days but a least you can watch the sunrise to over the sleepy city with Dj Marky providing an awesome sound track

been increadably blessed with money in the last week, through the inland revenue and ballynahinch baptist i recieved over £600 last week !!!!!
praise the Lord, it just goes to show you can't out give God, even the tiny amout of tithin leads to bigtime blessing

take er easy

A law unto Yourself

a law unto yourself
doing it my way
come along for the ride baby
if you dont like it
i dont want to hear it

the church stabs itself in the back
as the world laughs
busy crucifing gaymen
but who's excorcising the demons
loving the shemans
being Christ in this cold dark place

a law unto yourself
endless pleasure in a consequence free enviroment
till you drop 6 feet
and rot away to be part of it

the beautiful races
lookin good powdered noses chewin faces
dont stop till you get enough
i already seen enough
everybody trying to get to that place
where it dont hurt not more
where they feel happy some more
cant you see your treatin your body like a whore?

a law unto yourself
but how do you tackle this
I know lets go to church and forget about it
in a fake cosy bliss

but our cows earn more than the people
and the man who toils in a coffee field
cant send his kids to school
this world is broken who can fix this
J-e -s-u-s C-h-r i-s-t
know well to you and me
but kept secret cause
we dont even believe it

we're a law unto ourselves

update on below


i "happened" to be in the same place tonight as this girl Ellie, so i thought i couldnt ignore her but would have to face my situation.... i went and talked to her and she was really sound, said it was cool, but that she would have (obivously) rather i had said something not just disappeared, and that she didnt really want to sleep with me that night anyway. So did i over-react and get all dramatic, unecessarily? im not sure looking at the joesph/ potifpher's wife situation, he had verbally refused her plenty of times, whereas i just ran off at the first moment. I dont really know, i dont think i delt with it very well at all but at least i didnt get jiggy with her....

1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.


monday night

finnished exams about 4pm, excellent headed to the union bar had a couple of pints with coursemates in the glorious sunshine, then headed to the common(a park) for a girls birthday had another beer, and walked back with everyone , fell asleeps for 1/2 hour was feelin a bit tipsy and very tired. then instead of cooking dinner caught a bus with some more friends to a student bar had a drink with coursemates and chatted to a group of girls from their halls, and was told one liked me. Then out of the blue one of the ohter girls was like "you're a christian arent you" and lauched into a big story about her strong christian upbringing but not being sure if its her faith, and that she really wants to sleep with someone and is running out of reasons not too. It was pretty heavy going, cause she had ALL the head knowledge but it didnt mean much, i ended up almost shouting at her "but GOd LOVES You SO much" anyway left the bar with Joe and ed different friends for a nightclub, stopped off for dinner in a chineese takeaway, and was feeling grand. Got to the club Kaos and jumped a huge queue with the birthday party from the common earlier, entered and had a few beers did some good dancing but my hip was giving a bit of jip so i ended up sitting upstairs chatting a different girl from eariler(as in another one of the same group in the bar but no the girl who i was chatting to about God) in the bar(who had since arrived in the same club) and we were getting on well, probably better than well and i was leading her on and the rest...then it came to the end and instead of leaving with my freinds from halls, i ended up a taxi with her..(what an idiot)
so after some kissing and stuff in her room she left to get changed and i just felt like my one chance to escape the situation (and almost certain conclusion of sleeping with her) was to leave... (i have been in these circumstances before and not taken God's chance in the sense of the verse in corithians, to bad results)
so after a bit of an argument in my i head i did in His strenght peg it, a la joesph and potifer.
so i ended up walking home at 4am

it was cool i left, but if i had just had a bit of sense eariler i could have not completely messed her around...
since then been to london and after working today am really grateful for my contenance (as in i can control when i crap cause me and my workmate had to change a 15 guy with autism 3 times and wiping someone elses arse is not cool)

kinda sums it up well i thiink :)

Why Do We Mess Up Exams?

A year has 365 days for you to study.

After taking away 52 Sundays, there are only 313 days
left.

There are 50 days in the summer, during which time it
is way too hot to work,
so there are only 263 days left.

We sleep 8 hours a day meaning that, in a year, that
counts up to 122 days, so
now we're left with 141 days.

If we fooled around for only 1 hour a day, 15 days are
gone, so we are left
with 126 days.

We spend 2 hours eating each day, 30 days are used in
this way in the year,
and we are left with 96 days in our year.

We spend 1 hour a day speaking to friends and family,
that takes away 15 days
more and we are left with 81 days.

Exams and tests take up at least 35 days in your year,
hence you are only left
with 46 days.

Taking off approximately 40 days of holidays, you are
only left with 6 days.

Say you are sick for a minimum of 3 days, you're left
with 3 days in the year
to study!

Let's say you only go out for 2 days! You are left
with 1 day!

But that 1 day is your birthday, so...

Good luck to everyone on your exams!

ver ytired
just got an email, full of God stuff saying basically if you love Jesus pass this on to ten people, is this right? i do forward funny stuff quite happily but that i know i goin to brighten up someone's day, i dont really reading this particular email would be that helpful, it had a good bit about not running around all you life and a bit about how God love's us personally, but it all seems a bit cheesy and crass... so if i agree with the motivation but not the phrasing should i write my own email? prehaps i will
yeah and the subject line is only open if you have time for God, pack your bags your going on a guilt trip... Jesus didnt die to make us feel guilty but then to ask for forgiveness we have to be aware we need it,
yeah so i sent one, if you read this you prob got it if not
you are beautiful,
so you are

deep thoughts

was readin a bit of "mere Christianity" by CS Lewis a bit about the personality of God and the phrase "God is Love" The Father and Son are in a constantly moving developing loving relationship like a wild beautiful dance and the Spirit is the spirit of this love, and that is what is inside us as Christians!! and all we have to do is chill submit and let the Spirit transform us. it might not be much written down by in my head its very exciting.



i always thought of God and Jesus as fixed and kind of sparate in heaven, umoving, but this idea of thier reality is amazing, and it makes sense cause think of two people who love each other passionately, (can be parental love, friendship love or man woman love) they dont just sit there they are always chasing after a deeper relationship changing moving sweeping things up along the way.



it also makes be think on Neo and Trintiy in the new Matrix they are totally dependant on the love they share each of them draws strenght from their love and will do anything for it, although it is expressed in a particularly sexual way, it appear to have echo's of Jesus and God's relationship,
particularly, when they arrive back to Zion, they come out of a lift and Neo stops to heal the sick and basically minister to the people who await him, later when he sees trintiy again,
Trinity - "They need you Neo"

Neo- "I need you Trinity"

a guide to buying all things fairtrade from oxfam great please pray that i can sort out the cu clothing to be proper fairtrade, thanks

alright the world
sorry about the lack of posts,
im really tired, tried that audio blog thing but seems to be for american numbers only :( this week was my "revision" week to my shame i havnt started, it was very busy did some photography of a charity ball (the photo is of a few of my friends from halls)
since then claire from raliegh dropped in for a day or so after missing a boat at portsmouth, then i saw the matrix and today i got rae my staff discount at jessops a lovley second hand nikon FE camera for her birthday fully manual beautiful craftsman ship. which makes me look forward to the summer and getting dads old camera out for some good old photography, bring it on, but for now i can hear my bed call my name...

The policeman got out of his car and the lad who was stopped for speeding rolled down his window. "I've been waiting for you all day," the policeman said.

The lad replied, "Yeah, well I got here as fast as I could." When the policeman finally stopped laughing, he sent the lad on his way without a ticket.
_______________________________________________________________________

A lorry driver was driving along. A sign comes up that reads "low bridge ahead." Before he knows it the bridge is right ahead of him and he gets stuck under the bridge. Cars are backed up for miles. Finally, a police car comes up. The policeman gets out of his car and walks around to the lorry driver, puts his hands on his hips and says, "Got stuck?"

The lorry driver says, "No mate, I was delivering this bridge and ran out of petrol."

here i the bit i mean, nehemiah 13v15 >
15During those days, while back in Judah, I also noticed that people treaded wine presses, brought in sacks of grain, and loaded up their donkeys on the Sabbath. They brought wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of stuff to sell on the Sabbath. So I spoke up and warned them about selling food on that day. 16Tyrians living there brought in fish and whatever else, selling it to Judeans--in Jerusalem, mind you!-on the Sabbath.
17I confronted the leaders of Judah: "What's going on here? This evil! Profaning the Sabbath! 18Isn't this exactly what your ancestors did? And because of it didn't God bring down on us and this city all this misery? And here you are adding to it--accumulating more wrath on Jerusalem by profaning the Sabbath."
19As the gates of Jerusalem were darkened by the shadows of the approaching Sabbath, I ordered the doors shut and not to be opened until the Sabbath was over. I placed some of my servants at the gates to make sure that nothing to be sold would get in on the Sabbath day.
20Traders and dealers in various goods camped outside the gates once or twice. 21But I took them to task. I said, "You have no business camping out here by the wall. If I find you here again, I'll use force to drive you off."
And that did it; they didn't come back on the Sabbath.
22Then I directed the Levites to ceremonially cleanse themselves and take over as guards at the gates to keep the sanctity of the Sabbath day.
Remember me also for this, my God. Treat me with mercy according to your great and steadfast love.

shopping on a sunday


i have been just readin a bit in Nehemiah 13 when he(nehemaih) locks the gates and threatens traders with force because on a sunday non-jews are bringing in food and other stuff to sell. (Nehemiah had just rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and is pretty cool, he have everyone from the priests to the pig farmers building along side on another. he was kinda the leader of the God's ppl at the time)
anyway it struck me that the arugement for shopping on a sunday, of "its different now" seems to be contradicted by this passage.
I dont know exactly what that means, it is handy being able to get milk on a sunday when u run out, and i think that a legalistic stand on no sunday shopping, is maybe a waste of energy that could be spent loving people where they are ... but maybe we have forgotten the concept of sunday as being a whole day for celebration and chilling with Jesus, and made it for church and coursework?

JESUS CHRIST FREESTYLE...




WOW last night was quite a big one. One of those nights where if a friend came with you they probably would have run away screaming, but they would know, that something HAPPENS at church.

This couple came to lead, it was a change from the plan of having a cell(small house group bit of church) feedback night. Thats one of the good things, having flexible programme.

Anyway they were cool and lead worship with some songs we know and some they have written themselves, one great one about feeling thirsty in an ocean of love (which were really cool and properly published) They the guy Mark or Marcus or something, starts saying that his wife is a "wobbler" and that if she kicks off it has nothing to do with him! he was joking but i got on of those,

"and the plot thickened"

feelings. So she starts taking about feeling dry in the spiritual sense and that everywhere feels dry, since the "boom" that God had droping in 1994-5 starting in Tronto. This was obviously the tronto blessing they were talkiing about, I dont really know much about it but i knew it was really crazy..

anyway She says that God has been saying that he is going to break the final hurdle of control and that church is nt going to be tidy, resoviors of living water, but that we are goin to burst out into the desert and flow into every nook and cranny, and to do this we needed to "take a drink" of the Holy Spirit. As she goes on people in the congregation start reacting, not sayin "Amen" but calling out in really loud voices not really words but groans and some people leave, and then the speaker starts going a bit funny seems to be a bit drunk, and her husband says "oh there she goes that was 20 minutes you kept it together"
And then it all kicks off people falling over laughing, making crazy noises and stuff, but it all just seemed very funny...



And if this had been september i probably would have run away, but I just felt so sure so strong that is was God and His spirit within me, helped me to cope. And the woman in her state was saying its all getting messy and we got rid of all the chairs (the church meets in a school hall so the chairs arent fixed) and She's saying "Whos thirsty and starts throwing a bottle of water round, clearly for a laugh but then we all come up in lines to be prayed for, and a woman Joy is helping her pray but she keeps falling over still but manages to keep it together to pray for everyone,



It felt really good when the spirit came during her prayer not fallig over but she said "fresh realease" which is kinda what i have been wanting for a while, and some of my friends quivered a bit and one Michelle was just so full of energy she wanted to go running and was jumping around.



and that bit in acts 2 v13 "Some, however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine" made sense cause walking into that you would have sworn everyone had been drinking.



and what are the conclusions, i dont know? you tell me but it was quite radical, and it seemed to bring me closer to the original radical man, Jesus Christ.

Palm sunday = BRING IT ON sunday


it strikes me that Jesus had been out round the towns and challenging the Pharasees and established religion for a while and everyone knew he wasnt making any friends, his card was marked so what does he do? go underground for a while till things cool off?

NO! him and his disciples march into Jerusalem (the city of God's dwelling place, established religion centre) on a donkey ( deiberately chosen to fulfill messiah scriptures) and then head in to the temple(the place that is the focus of the whole Jewish religion) and Jesus turns it upside down, throwing out the moneylenders etc!!(matt 21) Jesus going to fade away cause the religious ppl say so? No he's gonna keep fighting for God's will till it kills him...

"Just as the Father sent me, I send you." - Jesus(John 20)

here is an email questionaire i decided not to torment you all with but didnt want to waste all the effort of doing it so an posting feel free to ask any questions arising from it...

*--------GENERAL INFO--------*
Time: 16:56pm
Date: 13th April 2003
Name: Graham Thomas Patrick Robinson
School/Uni: Southampton
Location: Have a wild guess
Hair: short with a blonde patch on one side a mohican in the middle

Height: 6ft 1inapprox
Shoe size: 11
Brothers/sisters: 3 sisters; Catherine Sophie and lucinda

Who lives with you: at uni: Ed the legend, Vikki, Michelle, Ant and Nat
When is bedtime: around then, it depends
*--------HAVE YOU--------*
Ever been so drunk you blacked out: forgotten sum stuff but not fully
Missed school/uni because it rained: wha?
Put a body part on fire for amusement: jumped through one with Dara for Iranian new year
Been hurt emotionally: yes
Kept a secret from everyone: no i usually tell someone
Had an imaginary friend: no
Wanted to hook up with a friend: hook up?
Cried during a movie: yes (My Girl)
Had a crush on a teacher: yes, Miss Curie P3+P4, the art student in upper 6th Kerrie Anne
Ever thought an animated character was hot: like burning hot?
Been on stage: Not recently
Cut your hair: just a few trims myself but Madame Dupont has been excellent

*--------FAVOURITES--------*
Shampoo: whatever my sisters have left behind in the shower

Colour: black and white/ green
Day/night: Both but you can't beat a great day out in the sunshine but then a really good nite will include a sunrise...

Summer/winter: Summer
Lace or satin: Satin
Fave food: Tayto Cheese and Onion, Steak, an Ulster Fry
Fave add: dont watch much TV at the minute

Fave movies: Fight Club, Traffic, America Beauty, Easy Rider, loads more
Fave ice-cream: banana split
Fave subject: Art/photography

Fave 'normal' drink: whats normal? guinness
Fave person to talk to online: dont, rather meet people face to face
Fave Actor: Sean Connary, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey
Fave Actress: Helena bona Carter is good, my wee sister is always good for a performance!

*--------RIGHT NOW--------*
Wearing: my brown chords, t-shirt and jumper
Hair: as above

Eating: nothing waiting for a rib roast and then a pot luck dinner : )
Drinking: nothing
Thinking about: putting this on my blog

Listening to: A tritubute to Rich Mullins, previously rory's band the 3rddan who are class check out www.3rddan.co.uk


*--------IN THE LAST 24 HOURS--------*
Cried: yea, church was AMAZING this moring brought home the reality what Jesus was experiencing and how he was pushed to the very edge of the human experience, and the music was inspired
Worn jeans: there are in the wash
Met someone new: yeah a cool guy John who did some prayer ministry for me @ mannafest and then a really drunk woman in Auntie annies who kind of collapsed on me!
Cleaned your room: no
Laundry: no
Drove a car: yeah i was driving last nite

*--------DO U BELIEVE IN--------*
Yourself: yeah
Your friends: definately
Santa Claus: no, but he is a legend
Tooth fairy: no
Destiny/fate: yes, in that they are external forces to what we experince visually in this reality but i dont call them those names.
Angels: yes
Ghosts: i believe in spitiual beings and the posibility of communcating with them and the spirits of dead ppl, but i also believe in the concept of final jugdement i.e. we just dont float around rattling chains but go before our creator God


*--------FRIENDS AND LIFE--------*
Do you have a girlfriend/boyfriend: no
Like someone: you could say that
Who have you known the longest of your friends: John Cairns probably, then Ben jamin and the rest of the muckers later

Who's the shyest: hard to say everyone is changing at uni and stuff

Who's the weirdest: all of us, me??

Who do you cry to: Jesus and whoever is there at the time

When do you cry the most: there is no particular time just when i am moved

Who will respond to this e-mail the fastest: who cares?


Who did you send this to who wont respond: well im only sending it to Mikey and he sent me one so i dont expect a response

Who sent it to you: Mikey the Rock


Time now: 17.25pm

feeling good yesterday was great, church lying around in the sun, then played waterpolo
going to get my last hair cut later
below is from an email Ollie the hallgroup (like cell but in halls) sent me, Its pretty cool

Pure Spiritual Power

“To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of
the water of life.” Revelation 21v6

Do you want to be productive and effective in your knowledge of Jesus Christ
today? Do you want to see results when you start reaching out to your non-
Christian friends, in you own lives and in the lives of those around you? I
don’t know about you but I do! How do you get that power?

The Bible talks a lot about the fruit of the Spirit - Love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control (Gal
5v23). Those are the keys to you walking out your life effectively. 2 Peter
1v8 says if we possess these qualities in increasing measure that we will be
kept from being unproductive in our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

You might be thinking “fair enough, I know that but I just can’t seem to walk
in those qualities in my life. I guess I’ve always been a kind of impatient
person. I just can’t seem to get any self control in my life.”

Well, let me tell you this. So long as you keep trying to get those qualities
by yourself, the longer you’ll stay impatient, the longer you’ll have that
lack of self control. See, that’s why Jesus said in John 15v4 that no branch
of a vine can bear fruit by itself. It just won’t happen.

Now if you remain in Jesus, if you spend time with Him, spend time in the Word
constantly and as He remains in you the Bible says you’ll bear much fruit!
(John 15v5) Isn’t that good? It doesn’t depend on your personality, your
genetic make-up – you can exhibit all those spiritual fruits in your life and
all you have to do is spend time with Him! Amen!

The best illustration is in Jeremiah 17v7,8:

But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He
will be like a tree planted by the WATER, that sends out its roots by the
STREAM. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It
has NO worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear FRUIT.

Hallelujah! As you spend time with Jesus and drink from His living waters, you
will stay green and productive when the heat comes and when the pressure is
on. Now that’s something to shout about!

alright the world
just finnished another victorios waterpolo match, this time against Portsmouth, I did nets for the first have pretty pooly and then got sin binned twice in the third quater which along with one from the first half (yes as keeper!) meant i was boxed i.e could play no more, wick it wasnt being dirty just trying to go over the top of people to get the ball, a bit more skill less energy required...

the war is wick this is an email i got but rather than send on ANOTHER big email i thought i would stick it up here for u to decide

Please join me in taking a simple action for peace.
>
>Together with thousands of folks around the world, I'm putting
>a light in my window. If enough of us do the same, we can send
>a strong message of continued opposition to war and continued
>hope for peace. It could be a Christmas string or candle, a
>light bulb, or a lantern. It's an easy way to keep the light of
>reason and hope burning, to let others know that they are not
>alone, and to show the way home to the young men and women who
>are on their way to Iraq.
>
>MoveOn's keeping a count of the people who are joining in this
>simple act, from places all over the globe. Please sign up now
>
>click here
> http://www.moveon.org/windowlight/

click here
go and laugh at me with a mullet and green mohican :)

http://www.fotango.com/cgi-bin/vpi.cgi?S_ID=212214&P_W=71135
go and laugh at me with a mullet and green mohican :)

i feel good ... knew that i would ... SO good etc


it is a bit sad, but i am happy cause i was just able to write a programme that ACTUALLY DID SOMETHING USEFUL, my friend sam's coursework needed data split over 5 coloumns but the file he was given had only 1 with the five bits of data in it, the problem was it was 535 rows deep so simply doing it by hand was going to be a MISSION. i wrote a programme that split it up into different files. Simple as that sounds this took me the best part of 3hrs, but now it is finnished, and i think it worked :)

apart from that my week has been pretty hectic, went out a little too much and my joints are a bit stiff, fairtrade fortnight is HAPPENING, getting signatures for a petition so the uni will swap the cafe to Fairtrade, going well, pray we get enough, and pray for a club night on Tuesday, its faritrade themed if loads of ppl show up and pay £2 in then the cost of the 2weeks of PR and events will be covered which needs to happen :)<>br
oh yeah and monday is the big day
i will begin haircuts...

i did a fundraiser where the people get to decide what hair cut i get (a bit of a change from the old head shave) its for Cape Town this summer with habitat for humanity and St Johns church, and still not too late to sponser me (it never will be!)

anyway
on monday i will be getting a mullet

then next monday a mohican

then next monday a fin ( a nice short boybandy type haircut)

Its a definate Praise the Lord event, cause not only have my skint student mates pledged over £270 pounds but the fancy uni Hairdressers have agreed to do the cuts for FREE, the power of prayer once again in action
thank you Jesus.

check out my mates Joes' amazing tune with another friend laura on the vocals, they call him TNG
click on the track called deeper and then it will give you the option to download it or just listen there is also another one of his which is cool its a streaming file so Real player will open it when you click, enjoy :)

wow totally blown away by the poem posted on dan's site, so much feeling, although i dont know if i understand all or much of it, I really feel like i can relate to it


interesting things of late

went to london for theantiwar rally
, great time real party atmosphere and craic, such a diverse crowd of people, met Claire a good friend from Costa rica i hadnt seem since august. :):):) it really is great to meet up with people.

Just finnished a couple of days "Team Teach" training in preparation for my long awaited (i applied in october) professional youth work debut. It was quite intense all about the last resort i.e. "positive holding/ restraining" children if they are risking injury to themselves or others or seriuos damage to the property. It was good fun breaking out of headlocks and strangle holds and one of the last excercises involved two of us marching the instructor (a ex navy fitness instructor who is built like a tank) arcoss the room against his will...


I was away last weekend with church with was excellent like a proper holiday, the sun was shinning i swam in the sea, chilled with the Lord, danced to funky music, ireland won the rugby, more that i could ask for


this weekend its up to Oxford for the 2nd round of the national waterpolo tournament the BUSA's I doubt ill play too much as i have missed the last 3 or 4 training sessions and all the matches, but it should be good craic.



and finally i have been taught a few cords on the guitar, and am working my way towards playing amazing grace although i have to borrow Rae's guitar and i am a bit busy, but it is good fun

If you read this monster post in one go, well done give yourself a pat on the back and until next time... keep it sweet

Check out new link for the make trade fair gig videos, including Noel Gallagher playing Yellow with Chris Martin singing and a Chris Martin(coldplay) Ms Dynamite duet. Quality

one of those funny feelings

A couple of my friends from cu were going up to St. Pauls on friday for a big Soul Survivor(big nu church) celebration in preparation for a huge practical service in london in 2004. I really wanted to go up with them and agreed with Sam to go. But that night i got "one of those feelings" that God wanted me to stay down here and go out to the student union. So i told sam i wasnt going and sorted it out the my friends from halls to go with them to the Toga Party at the union ( back in october there was a toga party that was great fun and it kinda bonded together the people who were there) anyway i went and it was cool, and i won the best toga award(kind of everyone i knew from everywhere was there to cheer for me), the prize which was a STERO SYSTEM, which was really cool because for the last few weeks in the announcements at church the people doing childrens work have been asked for a CD player. So today i was able to give them a brand new stereo system. So not only was it cool that i was able to do that but it was cool to get that little feeling from God and see how he used it and the hundreds of people in the student union to give a CD player to where it was needed in the church. praise the LORD

do this now

and another thing

last sunday i was in the kitchen doing the washing up/ revision dodging and listening to the sunday surgery on radion 1. Callers phone in with problems and they do their best to help and advise them, also opening up some problems to the listerners to txt or ring in. It struck me that although, i didnt neccessaryily agree with the advice give on all things, radio one are doing a lot more to help the teenagers of this culture on a sunday that however many million churches met up the same day. I know sunday is about a celebration meeting but i really think that its would be good if churhes did communal worship expressed in something other than praise. I strongly believe in praiseing God together through music but i think that its easy to grow up in a church thinking that worship is praise and then hearing later from a sermon that worship is about your whole life. What if instead of signing praises together some sunday the whole church went out and washed cars and then came back for a sermon?

finnished my exams on tueday :) and my hip was/is better enough to go dancing so its been a good few days. We went to a club called Rhinos last night that does a really cool 70's night and normally you have to be there really early or the queue gets huge, but last night it was FREEEEEEZING cold and we (as in my cell group from church) got there at 9:20 thats 40 minutes before they openned the doors. At 10 exactly there was a bit of queque but not the normal and it was so cold stanging there that long. But i think we all had a better night for it... The cold built anitcipation, gave us determination to enjoy what we were waiting for and united the group into a big huddle. And the music was incredablie, i had forgotten how much i love to dance ( i havent been since... probably the formal) praise God that not only did he make us so amazingly but he made music too and knew how it would make us feel :)

most people know that i will eat pretty much anything...
check this out


no i didnt actually :)

i also want to put out a very belated THANKS to Dave "wheels of" Steele for a great night at the formal, Greg did a good job, but you Dave have a real talent, keep developing it and you'll go far...
and andy - undesputed SY b-boy keep it real :)

walking
dont ever take it forgranted. my hip is really inflamed which means i have had a really comical (and sometimes painful) limp for the last week or so, it is getting better Praise the Lord, but today to have just a wee limp was like having wings :) so dont take even the tiny thing of walking forgranted. On the plus side i have got a lot more work and sleeping done in the last while because i havent been able to go out dancing, which is really cool. We did our final bridge presentation today, which was cool, we managed to blag a LCD projector and were able to use flash and powerpoint to woo the audience, it was all incrediabley last minute ( as some of you who know me might be abel to imagine :) but the Lord was with us and if all came off... i also was able to write stuff down in a maths test this morining so today is so far a great day :)

recursive christianity

it was this time last year that i was in mexico and God was providing from me 100% and i felt really really alive. i was thinking about how to rely on God fully in this bit of the world ....
It seems that vision and focus are very important, if I have a right image of Jesus (ie Him on a cross for me/you not an angry old man throwing lightening bolts or a chilled out hippy on a cloud not caring what happens, (a great sermon from ems duncan pointed this out)) and if I focus on that right image of Jesus spending time in intamacy, desiring spiritual gifts and developing fruits of the spirit, then passion will come and I can be a living sacrifice 100% of the time, and I can keep fighting to love people and give God the glory for EVERTHING. But the thing is to do this i need to Rely on God's strength and not just say things are fine cause this world tells us that if you havent got it all sorted there's something wrong.
so thats the recursion, to rely on God fully i have to rely on God fully (to strenghten me to do all those things). which might seem like its impossible (eg to make a computer you have to make a computer) but logic doesnt always work and time and space arent constant and God is all powerful, so ANYTHING is possible.
and if you think of it another way if you relying on God and bit then if you keep at it, you'll be lead to rely on God more and more.
sorry if thats all a bit head pickling but its kinda where im at :) g