I'm BaAAAAaaaaaaaack!!

That's right, I'm back to bloggity blogging.. Its going to take a few blogs to catch you all up.. but this blog is dedicated to apologizing for my laziness and lack of blogging!!

I"M SORRY!

Palm Sunday

I brought in Palm Sunday with my wonderful church placement crew.
Saturday night we drove over to Basingstoke to have a sleep over with Earl and Rebecca, the pastors of our church.
We all went to the Carvery. Every Sunday morning, we drive passed the Carvery, our bellies start rumbling, and out mouths start drooling, but on this Saturday night, we pulled into the car park and we all knew what was coming.
£3.50= all you can eat gammon, roasted turkey, roast beef, peas (don't worry, i left plenty for the people behind me), corn, boiled potatoes, and roasted potatoes.
It was divine.
Earl and Rebecca live with a German couple and another girl named Lizzy. It was all of us out at the Carvery and it was a great night of great food and great conversation.
We headed back to their house and played some games. We played about five different games! After the games we watched Michael Mcintyre, a real thigh-slapping English comedian.
We didn't get to bed until about 3:00 A.M. and that was the same night the clocks were supposed to spring forward!
The next morning I heard Earl got a little talking to from his wife about keeping us poor tired students up so late. :)

Church on Palm Sunday was amazing though.
We walked into the building and there were two tables in the very front of the church with a gigantic cross laid across and bread and wine surrounding it for communion.

We worshiped the entire morning unable to ignore the cross.
It was a tender, emotional, heavy morning.

Did you know that Charles Wesley wrote over 9,000 poems and 6,500 of those became hymns?
But, he said he would have given up all of those to have written this one:

When I survey the wondrous cross

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

We love You for the cross, Lord.

There was such an intense presence when we sang this hymn together, all standing at the foot of the cross.

We read the story of the Last Supper and all gathered around the table with the cross and shared the bread together. Talk about impact.

Also, during worship Rebecca read the story of the "Three Trees". If you haven't read it, you should. It's a kids book, it won't take you long.

After communion,we prayed then settled in our seats to hear from what God had put on Earl's heart.

He suggested there was a fourth tree. The one that we should have been on. The one that was on either side of Jesus as he was pouring out His blood for us.

The cross that was assembled for criminals.

One thing that Earl said that stuck with me was, "What Christ did for us should never cease to remind us of the tree we didn't deserve, but also remind us of the tree we did deserve."

You know how sometimes you can read something in your Bible and it doesn't mean much to you that day, but than other times you read it and its like hammering you in the face?

Well, we read 1 Corinthians 1:18 and it made so much sense to me today.

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being redeemed, it is the power of God.

What does redemption mean to you? (I'd actually really love to hear your comments, so comment!)

Earl ended with saying that the cross is a sign of Jesus' victory and the Enemy's defeat, and the Enemy knows that. He is doing everything he can to soften the power of the cross and make it seem dull and yesterday's news.

Before we left, we surrounded the cross one more time and prayed for persecuted Christians we knew all around the world.

I'd like to leave you with the same challenge.

Lets pray for the people we know or don't know, our brothers and sisters all around the world who are toiling endlessly for the spreading of the power of the Cross. The Enemy is trying, but he won't prevail.

Here are a few specifics:

North Africa-Extremely Islamic area. Christians who have been toiling for 20+ years are being expelled from the country.

North Korea-Over 100,000 people, including many Christians, are believed to be imprisoned in North Korea’s barbaric death camps. The brutal dictatorship of Kim Jong Il suppresses all religious activities, and imposes a personality cult based around the ‘Great Leader’.

The places could go on for ever, but these are the top two on my heart, but I don't want to limit what you want to pray about, so I'll put the top ten persecuting countries: Burma, China, Egypt, Iran, Laos, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Vietnam.

Please, pray.

You know you're busy when.....

You can plan the next week and a half down to the last minute....

....AND that doesn't include sleep.

Things to do on my list before the term ends:

1. Write a 1800 word essay about "What is the Gospel? And how should it be presented?"
2. Make 150+ cookies for the Tumbling Bay residents
3. Clean the KBCTC building
4. Write a 800 word essay on the Spiritual discipline of Praying and what I have learned through the Lent process.
   
5. Read.
   
6. When I'm done with that, Read.
7. Read some more.
8. Have Emmaus Group
9. Have bio Group.
10. Go to London (for an EMERY CONCERT!) This one I'm pretty stoked about.

OK OK.. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but there is more I didn't write.
But everything is really time consuming!!
And there are so many things to be done...............

BUT, Life is Good. Hard Good.

Just thought I'd write a little now, so if I don't write much until Easter break, you know why.

Peace.

Information Overload...

This picture basically sums up how I have been feeling as of late.
No need for explanation.
This is tea by the way. Not coffee.


I guess I'll explain it further.....

This week and last week, well, ever since I did the last proper blog post, I have been feeling like this cup.
Overflowing.
Can't possibly absorb anymore.
Completely full.

Now, this isn't the "Oh-God-has-blessed-me-abundantly-and-my-cup-overfloweths" kind of overflowing cup, but more of the "God-is-dealing-with-so-much-at-one-time-and-i-can't-possibly-process-anymore" kind of overflowing.
Apologies for all the dashes.
They help me think.

Don't get me wrong, God has abundantly blessed me. I'm living my dream for one example. I'm in this amazing city of Oxford, but who knew that living 'your dream' was so difficult?

Transformation hurts.
Birth of new vision hurts.
Good hurts.

I'll explain that last bit. In the college here, we all know what we mean when we say 'i'm good'. What we mean is not the "fluffy-everything-is-just-fine-and-dandy good" but more the "stretching-you-feel-like-you-might-snap-any-minute good".
(There are those dang dashes again!)

That is the good that hurts.
That is the good I'm living in.
That is the good I'm feeling overwhelmed by.

BUT, I choose to believe that although I'm being bombarded with information and knowledge and envisioning and re-igniting and empowering,
and I feel like I can't absorb all that I need to,
and I can't process all that is happening,
God will finish the work inside of me.

And in the years to come, I will still be drawing on stuff that I have learned in the few precious months I'm here.

Instant Messages

Slacking.. I know. And this blog is going to be about nothing much. But hey, its an update!

I just wanted to say, I LOVE technology!

Any messages I send my mom on facebook or through gmail go directly to her phone. Which is perfect! Because anytime I really need her encouragement, her whereabouts, or her recipes, I can send her a quick message, and I know wherever she is, whether shes hard at work in her cute office, or sun bathing on the beach without me, she can reply and I'll receive it within a few minutes.

This wonderful "fast-feedback" happened again the other day with another good friend of mine. It helps when I'm being dramatic and worrying about stuff i don't need to be, and someone is there to calm you down and get you back on the right track, even through instant facebook messages.

Immediate results.

Just what I need when I feel completely removed from the ones I love.

Canada vs USA

I have never been so into men's hockey in my entire life!

I came home from church placement today to see my house decked with Canadian flags, Steven
and Loralie and three other Canadians wearing Canadian attire, and even some red and white desserts. All ready to watch Canada beat USA.........

I had to represent.

So I watched the intense game projected on the wall with about eighteen others filling my lounge.

Intense is an understatement.

At one point the BBC internet we were watching the game from kept freezing up so we could only hear what was happening through the annoying commentators. So, when USA scored in the last 34 seconds of the game I had to ask someone if that really happened and when they said yes, I jumped and screeched and clapped.

I don't even like hockey.

Don't ask what came over me. The feeling didn't last long though....

As most of you probably know, USA lost.

It was good times though :)

Wisdom from Josie...

"Just take life as it comes. And enjoy it!"

Josie. Sweet sweet Josie.
Josie is one of the old ladies at Tumbling Bay that we visit on Thursdays. As we chatted today, the above quote was what she told me to do with my life. Simple, yet profound wisdom.
Don't worry about tomorrow.
Enjoy today.
My new life motto.
Josie is 95. Born in 1915. Not many people get to say that. I love listening to her, watching her laugh, even get a little frustrated because she can't seem to remember things as well as she used to.
Tumbling Bay is becoming a real joy for me, something I look forward to.
We only have a few precious Thursdays left.
Sad.
BUT! I'm not worrying about tomorrow.
I'm enjoying today.

My housemates aren't enjoying today so much. Steven, Loralie, Dalia, AND Lydia have all been sick this past week. Off and on. With vomiting and all that jazz.
Not good.
Not good at all.
Lou and I have been blessed enough to have not caught anything yet, and we're hoping and praying it stays that way!

Lent has been going alright. I don't think I've explained what I'm giving up/taking up for lent yet, so i suppose I will do that now.
There are a few things I'm doing or not doing everyday. 1) Going through a devotional book called "A Guide to Prayer for all God's People".
2) Praying creatively. Type a prayer. Write a prayer. Pray scriptures. Pray while walking. Pray not sitting down. Pray in tongues. Pray. Pray. Pray.
3) Only allow myself 10-15, which really means 15, minutes of Facebook a day.
These are all habits I want to instill in myself during this time of Lent.
I'm doing a few other things, but they aren't everyday, but only once a week. Things like fasting or reading a book.
Anyway, its been good. We do communion during every chapel and last week we did it a little differently. Usually everyone will just take a small pinch of bread and a little sip of wine and be done, but last week, in the spirit of starting lent, Jem said he didn't want to see any of the bread left over. So some of us had to go back for more bread. Basically Jem was trying to portray that we shouldn't be content with little bit of Jesus, but when things get hard, when we're trying to be spiritually disciplined, when life isn't how we thought it should be, we should keep going back to Jesus. Asking for more. Taking more. Not being content. That really stuck with me and has been really good for me during this week when I feel like I haven't done very well with being disciplined about the lent stuff. But I'm not going to give up. I'm going to keep going back for more.

I haven't really talked about the ELC either have I? Wow! Sorry again for how lame and detail-less my blogs have been lately!

The ELC was really good. The best part of it all though was seeing familiar faces! I saw and chatted with Pat and Kristen Forbes, Don, Cheri, and Stephanie White, Ben Pawlitschek, Dave and Kris Richards, Buck and Jenny Hudson, Hakan and Gunilla, and quite a few of the Danes from the house in Denmark. It was so good to catch up with people.
Jenny and I talked about some dates for me to come visit Denmark. It should work out sometime in early April if I can find some cheap tickets! I met Abby Hobbs, who is married to Az, and they lead a small Salt and Light church in Spain. Abby, myself, and Simon, principal of the college, met together and talked about details for the move in May. Oh yeah.. I guess i should mention to anyone who doesn't know, that I'll be moving to Spain in May after I get back from North Africa. I'll be in Spain, helping Az and Abby for about 5 to 6 weeks. We talked about me doing things like teaching kids english, working with Abby to do a kid's "Holiday week" when they get out of school in June, talking at "church", things like that.
As I heard Abby talk about what kind of church they have and how they meet in houses and not in a building and other things she was explaining, I grew more and more excited. I've been really asking myself lately "what is the church?", and I've been really excited to be given different opportunities like Denmark, North Africa, and Spain to catch different glimpses of church and see different ways its working and outreaching into the community.
I bought a book titled "The Passionate Church" and I'm stoked to read it, but its put aside until I can really focus on it and no other books. I'm reading a few others at the moment. One is titled "Irresistable Revolution: living as an ordinary radical". That book makes me want to do some radical things! Hence the title. It makes me want to do things like sell everything and live on the streets with the poor, walking in their shoes, hearing their stories, letting them show me Jesus. But, realistically, it just makes me want to be a REAL christian. To not be confined in the four walls of a church but to go where Jesus would've have gone and to talk to the types of people Jesus would have engaged with.

PS ( I just took a 2+ hour break from whatever I wrote before. I just skyped with Stephanie for the first time since I've been here. Man is it good to hear her voice.)
Speaking of Stephanie, Pat and I had a chance to have some tea together during the weekend. It was lovely. He had a picture about me being dough used for bread or a pie crust. He said he knows that I'm being stretched a lot and that sometimes it feels like I might break any moment, but he told me to be encouraged, because when that dough is rolled out flat, it can be used to cover a lot. He told me also that he was "proud of me" and that even if he doesn't talk to me much, him and Theresa are thinking of me and praying for me. All in all, it was a wonderful, fatherly encouragement and just what I needed at the moment.

I am being stretched. Kneaded. Rolled flat.
I'm not sure how to go into it in detail, but God is just working on things in almost every area of my life.

I can share one thing specifically though.
I've noticed I'm quick to say "No" to God using me prophetically. Not 'no' as in I have a word or a picture and I'm just not going to say anything, but 'no' as in God just doesn't use me like that because I don't see pictures or get words. Well, once I realized how ridiculous that was and how I don't get to choose how God uses me, but my job is to remain open and moldable, He started using me in ways I never thought He would.
Don't get me wrong. I'm no Scott Squires or Buck Hudson or Michael Newman. I'm just me.
Me being open to God.
God using that openness.
God speaking through that openness.
The day Ellen arrived, a couple students and myself had an Emmaus meeting. We did some praying for each other. Then Steven proposed that we should pray for Ellen and get words or pictures for her. Immediately I ruled myself out of that second group. I can pray. I can't get words. Well, the second I made up my mind, a picture came into my head. I instantly smiled and told God I thought He was a funny guy. I did wrestle in my head for a few minutes about whether or not to share it, but then I decided that its Ellen and she would be a good guinea pig for me. So I shared it. There were no tears and it wasn't some massive, problem-solving, revelation, but it was from God and I think it encouraged her. There have been a few times since then where God's popped stuff into my head. And can I just say, I love it. It doesn't come followed by thunder and lightening. Or a loud orchestra playing in the back ground, but instead, its just sort of plopped into my head. Ha. I love how it works.

Remain open to God and He will use you.

Tomorrow is a day off for me! Some students have to go in, but not me! We are doing these seminar type things and tomorrow's is on "Capitalism". We had to choose two seminars to attend out of the four. I chose the "Poor and Marginalized" and "Politics". The last choice was "Environment". We have to write an essay for one group, but read for four hours on the topic of the second one your attending. Fortunately I'm writing on the poor and marginalized, a subject I'm quite interested in, but unfortunately, that means I have to read for four hours on the subject of Christians and Politics, a subject I could care less about.
See? Stretching...........

If you're wondering why I haven't put up any pictures of my recent voyages lately, its because MY CAMERA IS BROKEN!!
My camera has been a little demonic since I came here, but now its broken broken.
But! I did have it since 8th grade, so it had a nice run.
My birthday is in April. (*Wink Wink*)

I think I'm running out of exciting, new things to say.

I'm going to go do some reading.

PEACE OUT.