Ten things I learnt this weekend May 24, 2010

I had the absolute pleasure of spending last weekend with the Juniors (8-11′s) from Belle Vue Baptist’s Brigades. Thought I’d be different and update with a list of things I learnt. So in no particular order . . . .

1) Tents don’t have to be small and cramped (one person to a four man tent is very spacious!) and camping in good weather is actually kinda fun - though only if good weather and spacious tent can be guarnteed (with showers and toilets near by!)
2) Essex has pretty parts (which I forgot to photograph but trust me they exist!)
3) The basic truth of the gospel is something that we never move past, and the wonder of the awesomeness of it never passes
4) Kids are cleverer than I sometimes give them credit for. E.g. Me: Apart from Jesus does anyone know of anyone else who ever rose from the dead? It’s impossible isn’t it? 8 year old: What about Lazarus?
5) Kids really do get a lot of pleasure from a relatively small hill and find playing on it for 5 hours over the weekend perfectly acceptable fun.
6) I love the sun!
7) I hate being woken up at 4am by teenage girls talking thus only having 3 hours sleep.
8 ) Listening outside the girls tent when they’re having their midnight feast can be very enlightening!
9) I love Top Gear so much, the basis for my three sessions was inadvertantly based on the Top Gear cool wall . . . . !
10) God really does give us what we need, even in the situations where were convinced its the last thing we need. I was so tired going into the weekend I was convinced it wasn’t the best idea, but I’ve come back feeling physically shattered but completly refreshed and recharged in many ways. It’s awsome.

All in all a great weekend!

 

What is faith? January 8, 2010

Have spent today looking for illustrations of faith for Girls Brigade Parade on Sunday where we’re looking at Hebrews 11. Was using my old trusty friend google and came across this from Piper which I thought was really helpful

Your daddy is standing in a swimming pool out a little bit from the edge. You are, let’s say, three years old and standing on the edge of the pool. Daddy holds out his arms to you and says, “Jump, I’ll catch you. I promise.” Now, how do you make your daddy look good at that moment? Answer: trust him and jump. Have faith in him and jump. That makes him look strong and wise and loving. But if you won’t jump, if you shake your head and run away from the edge, you make your daddy look bad. It looks like you are saying, “he can’t catch me” or “he won’t catch me” or “it’s not a good idea to do what he tells me to do.” And all three of those make your dad look bad.

But you don’t want to make God look bad. So you trust him. Then you make him look good–which he really is. And that is what we mean when we say, “Faith glorifies God” or “Faith gives God glory.” It makes him look as good as he really is. So trusting God is really important.

What a great illustration, especially to explain faith to children!

It’s been a while . . . February 11, 2009

So, been a while since I wrote anything apart from my blog ‘boast’ about lots of snow!!

What have I been doing? Well I had the joy (suprising joy at that!) of attending the Girls Brigade Leaders Rededication Meal where we were told about all theFerndales GB team work that has been going on acoss South East Essex which was so encouraging. It was also great to stand with all the other leaders and commit ourselves to serving the girls and being a witness to them. It made me realise that GB is so much more about the gospel than being a youth group. Also, I’ve been realising that the time we spend doing devotions is worth it. Although it appears sometime (well all the times!) that the girls aren’t really listening, I’ve had some really good conversations recently about things they have learnt and one girl is weighing up the truth of the gospel – what an encouragment!

However, it’s been a hard few weeks. I’ve been hit again and again with just how broken this world is. This world is completly broken and people are hurting all over.

I was reminded yesterday of a conversation I had with Pete during Lancaster Mission Week about this world and praying for Jesus to come back. I had thought for so long that God couldn’t be loving if Jesus came back before everyone I knew was saved!! And, the truth that not everyone I know will necessarily be saved is still hard but especially after being exposed again to the pain of this world I can truly say “Come Lord Jesus” but pray more earnestly for those I love and seek to tell them of the gospel.

Christmas is all around December 17, 2008

The Christmas season is in full swing now at Ferndale, although I did manage to avoid the decorations going up until last week! Christmas for me this year seemed to start at the end of November with the Girls Brigade Christmas parties – 2 parties in one evening, and it was suprisingly enjoyable! Last week however, felt more Christmassy with the start of the many carol services I shall be attending this year!

The first was the Women’s Institute Carol Service & Christmas Party, hosted by Ferndale WI and for WI’s in Southend. I was speaking at the service and was strangely calm until I saw the 50 women piling into the church – there was a lot more than I had thought in my head and suddenly got very scared about preaching the gospel to all these women – most of whom I had never met before. Especially as I had decided not to go with the traditional talk relating to the Nativity but to go for Romans 6:23: “For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”. It was linked to Christmas as you’d expect – by a cracker with the verse inside it which we pulled at the start. I think it was the first time I’ve ever given a talk and seen peoples face change from just listening to being really offended which I found quite hard!

I also ended up redoing the talk at a youth group in Basildon that evening which was a very dfferent experience! I’d never given a talk to such a large group of youth before which was quite scary as I really didn’t expect them to start answering rhetorical questions during my talk!!

My second talk was for Gold Club (the over 50′s group) for which I rewrote a  talk (Isaiah 9:6-7) I had given at my first BEC (Biblical Evangelism Conference) way back in my 2nd year of Uni. It was a real encouragement for me to go back to that talk and be able to make changes to it and see how my understanding has grown in the past three years!  As well as the fact that I remember thinking that I would never be able to actually give a talk in a real life context! I really do love Gold Club as well – so encouraging to see such a varied group of people! (see pictured right with us playing Christmas music for them)

We’ve also had the mums and tots christmas party (above) and the Womens Fellowship christmas party both of which have been amazing. It’s great to see how much I have gotten to know people in the past four months.

The only Christmas events I have left are the nativity (which I  will be glad when it’s over!), Girls Brigade Christmas Play, YMCA Christingle Service, Carols on Cluny Square and carols by candlelight which I am really looking forward, then 6.40am on Monday it’s off home for a rest! So exciting!