tales of a sandled wanderer

LOVE tennis

2010-01-13T14:24:00.002Z

Not another tennis post i hear you say?

Fortunately not... rather a shameless plug for the website me and my mate Peter have just started. It is to do with all things tennis, so if you are a bit of a tennis geek like us or simply are a summer player because you got the itch from watching Wimbledon, I'm sure you'll love what we have to say. You can find us at the link below or on twitter and facebook. We're also on the look out for those who would be interested in blogging with us to lighten the blogging burden! Please check us out @

http://www.lovetennisblog.com

hobbies

2009-12-30T17:08:00.003Z

Recently I have taken up the art of knitting. Now one might think this is hardly a man's sport and I would tend to agree with them. Nevertheless, I find knitting thoroughly therapudic especially while watching sport on tv. I decided to start knitting because I have no money this Christmas and needed to be inventive with my gifts. So I decided to knit my mum and scarf and you can see the fruits of my labour below.

This is a new hobby that I believe I will keep up. I have many other hobbies as well. I love tennis, playing guitar, outdoor pursuits to name a few and I believe these hobbies are part of what makes up our being, and therefore contributes to our witness to the world.

Through the exercise of these hobbies we can genuinely connect with the world. Quite often when we witness it's in a false manner, trying to meet people where they are at and we know nothing of the culture. I do not question the method of 'meeting people where they're at', in fact I agree with it, but I believe we can do this in a more intentional way.

Let me give an example. I go to a tennis club. I thorughly enjoy tennis and have my own personal interest and opinions on it. I can witness to my fellow club members on a genuine level because we have a mutual interest in the sport and can develop a good relationship based on our mutual interest.

It is through hobbies that we can get into the world. The more hobbies and interests we take up the more people we are likely to be able to reach and gain access into their world. Paul claims in 1 Cor 9:19-23 that has become 'all things to all men so that by all possible means he might save a few'. To the skater I have become like a skater, to the surfer I have become like a surfer, to the knitter I have become like a knitter, that for the sake of the gospel, some might be saved. I encourage you all to take up some hobbies!

red frustration

2009-12-30T11:28:00.000Z

It was the 50th anniversary of the take over at the Liverpool helm by Bill Shankly. Roll in the glory days that seen the likes of Paisley and Dalglish continue his success, leading Liverpool to being the most successful team in England with 18 championships and 4 european cups to their name. My how times have changed. Nobody thought Liverpool's record could be equalled, certainly not so quickly by Manchester United. But ever since that fateful day at Anfield in May 1990 when Arsenal stormed back to win by two clear goals and steal the championship, Liverpool have never been the same.

Sure there has been the odd moment of glory. The 2001 season where Liverpool won everything but the championship; the incredible 2005 champions league triumph, but there has simply just been too many false dawns. Enter Rafael Benitez, the supposed messiah. Last season he led Liverpool to 2nd in the league, with their highest ever points total of 86pts, and they were very unlucky to prevent United equalling their record. Had only one to two incidents gone a different way, things could be a lot different (isn't that always the case). However, from steam rolling all opposition that stood in their way in the close of last season, Liverpool have gone right back into their mediorce shell.

7 games already this season (11 in all competitions) we have lost in comparison to last season's 1 at the same stage. One of the reasons for this could be put down to the loss of the quality Xabi Alonso. Xabi could have found Gerrard in the dark; he was the glue that held that what seemed a perfect 4-2-3-1 system together. This may have be part of the reason, but I believe it's only a sympton of a deeper problem - Benitez's iron fist belief in his methods.

Toward the end of last season, it looked like Rafa had finally caught a glimpse of how to win the Premier league, the spirit of Shankly - throw caution to the wind attack! He had to, if he had any hope of chasing down United. But this season he has gone back to the same old cautious approach. In the recent loss to Portsmouth, he fielded 7 defensive outfield players in a match Liverpool simply had to win. I mean come on! This is the team bottom of the table; if they can't be confident in their ability to attack that, when else will they be?!

Benitez spends too much time worrying about what the other team will do. This is not the spirit of Shankly. The reason why Shankly erected the 'This is Anfield' sign in the Liverpool tunnel, was to let his opponents know they were there to be beaten. It's time Benitez stopped worrying what the opposition will do and instead let them to worry about what Liverpool will do. Sure in the bigger games against the likes of Chelsea, ManU, Barcelona etc he can spend more time on the tactics (which we have seen him gloriously do in the champions league) but I wanna watch a Liverpool side who attacks!

He will need to bring the title to Liverpool quick, because the fans will get impatient and he won't be able to live off that champions league victory forever. I would say next season should be his last chance. I recall Alex Ferguson almost getting sacked in his 7th season and United - boy aren't they glad they held on to him. First off he needs to secure 4th place. 8pts behind Villa is a disgrace, but with some positive play like last season I think Liverpool have the squad to do it. I have listed below how I think Liverpool should play (at least at home).

Riena

Degen Carragher Agger Insua

Johnson Gerrard Aquiliani Riera

Ngog Torres

Subs: Cavalieri, Aurelio, Mascherano, Benayoun, Kuyt

I think they should return to a simple attacking 4-4-2 formation, and try 2 stikers up top. Also Glen Johnson played his best football for Portsmouth last season when on the wing, hence why I have put him there; it would also relieve him of his defensive duties. Gerrard would still play the middle of the park and can connect with Torres and Aquiliani should be given a chance to show what he can do (he can also shield the back 4). There is plenty of quality on the bench but the defense is what is lacking at the moment. Perhaps the experience of Kyrgiakos might come in handy to an ailing back four. Benayoun has been a revelation this year and we'd do well to keep the likes of him and Kuyt.

I would also like to see some investment. I believe Liverpool need an Adebayor/Drogba type striker, and could use an experienced versaille defender. I would also like to see either Downing or Ashley Young brought in from Villa. Given Liverpool are in some financial problems, the likes of Lucas, Babel, Skrtyl, Dossena, Voronin and El Zhar could fund these puchases.

A long rant I know -but come on the pool! It's amazing the passion one can muster for football. Pity we struggle to do the same for a God who loves us.

Christmas carols

2009-12-24T23:37:00.004Z

I love Christmas carols. One of my favourite services in the whole year is carols by candlelight. I have missed this tradition in free evangelical circles. I don't mean to tarnish all with the same brush, but these churches tend to avoid anything traditional like the plague. I'm all for changing with the times, but not all traditions are poisonous!

Anyway this blog isn't about pentecostal bashing, but rather my favourite Christmas carol. There are so many to choose from; Silent Night, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, O Come all Ye Faithful, but my all-time favourite has to be O Holy Night. I know it's about the lyrics, but some of these are accompanied by the most simple beautiful melodies as well. And speaking of songs being about the lyrics; there are also some really bad carols out there too. I mean what do 'The Holly and the Ivy' and 'In the Bleak Midwinter' have to do with the Nativity story!

We have had a big snow here, in the UK & Ireland this year and many are going to get that 'white Christmas' they so much hope for. But this begs the question for me that where do these stereotypes comes from. Surely a 'white' Christmas is a very Western northern hemisphere thing. Because the nativity story would have been set in the hot middle east, with Jesus fleeing from Herod across the desert to Egypt. Also, does anyone ever wonder what ever happened to the wise men after they depart from Jesus company?

The BBC have done a good article on this http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8425357.stm. It must get tiresome listening to Christians bash on about the true reason for the season, but in a culture where these traditions are being etched ever so slowly out, we must continue to be the voice crying in the wilderness.

We'll sing His praise forever

We'll sing His praise forever
Christ, the Lord.

Happy Christmas everyone.

my rebirthday

2009-12-19T17:11:00.007Z

μή τις γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν, οὐ δύναται ἰδεῖν τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ ~ John 3:3

I just realised that today was my 10th rebirth-day, that is, I became a Christian exactly 10 years ago. My old self had passed away and my new life in Christ had begun. When I was young I always had a 'fear' of God but I never really committed myself to idea of following Jesus until I met my friend Mark.

My mother wanted for me to go through confirmation classes in a church. At the time we went to Magheralin Church of Ireland but I also attended the Boys Brigade at High Street Methodist in Lurgan. Mum said I could choose between the two and High Street offered a 12 week course in comparison to Magheralin's 18 months. So being a teenager, weighing up the options, obviously I chose High Street!

Little did I know God had a use for this vanity. This is where I met my mate Mark. It was his zeal, his lifestyle, his passion for God like I'd not seen before that intrigued me. For the first time, I had met a Christian who actually seemed to be living out the promise given to us in John 10:10 and I wanted some of this. There was something so much more exciting and fulfilling in Mark's witness, than what the world had to offer.

So the 12 weeks passed, I still hadn't made a commitment and it was the eve of my confirmation. I felt a stirring in my spirit, a choking in my gut, in response to the fact that I was about to stand up in front of the church and declare my faith in a God I hadn't commited to. So simply, in the stillness of my bedroom, I asked Jesus into my heart. Now since then I probably have 'given my life to Jesus' about 20 times in various meetings. You know - those meetings where the speaker tries to convince impressionable teenagers that maybe we didn't do it right the first time. However, I look upon that day, December 19th 1999, as the day God saved my life.

So rather cliché, there has been both mountains and valleys since then, but I praise God for my salvation, and I have indeed experienced the promises of John 10:10 in my own life. I realise my testimoney is not exactly exotic in compared to drugs and alcohol testimoneys, but I believe every Christian has an exiting testimoney. I mean come on, try to wrap your imagination around this - we have met with the living God, the very being that holds the world in one hand, and can speak galaxies into existance...

holy cow!

so now I encourage you to share your story...

Another Psalm

2009-11-30T22:25:00.004Z

This week in my tutor group, I encouraged everyone to try and write a psalm. I was able to scratch something down in the short space of time, and like my first attempt, this is very raw so please don't be too hard.

Rock of Ages, Giver of truth
I stand firm upon Your foundations
You give source to this light
Supplication for my needs
Strength in my heart
Hope for my spirit
You have made all things new

I praise You for Your faithfulness O' God
You have raised me up from the miry clay
Inspire my soul to do Your will O Lord
For none can match mighty works!
It is futile even to try
They are like the waves of the ocean
Untameable, unrelenting, irresistable

So my life I offer to thee
Creator and Sustainer of all things
To lift up Your name
To serve the purposes of Your kingdom
And at the foot of the cross is where I'll find You
My sanctuary where You restore my soul

Come in power my king
The rocks are crying out for Your glory!

Upside down tennis

2009-11-30T21:25:00.002Z

I said it last year and I'll say it again... I can not believe it's that time again - time for my annual tennis review. It's been a strange year this year, by which i mean tennis has become somewhat unpredictable. In the last 5 years of dominance in what I'm gonna call the Federer years, there has been an air of predictability about the big tournaments, that is Nadal wins the French open and Federer wins the rest. However, perhaps we were given a hint right at the very beginning of this year that this was to be no ordinary year.

Following a great 2008 for Nadal, where he wrestled the Wimbledon title and no.1 ranking from Federer, these two giants locked horns once more in Nadal's first hard court grand slam final - the Australian Open. Federer, twice winner in oz, was hot favourite to win despite Nadal's form, but it was not to be the case, and he only had himself to blame. In a similar fashion to last year he did not take his chances. He should have won the first and third sets, but Nadal took them both and inevitably the title which led to Federer's heavily critized emotional outburst. I had nothing but sympathy for the man who thought that this would be the day he would win the record equalling 14th grand slam and enter his legendary status in tennis history. Instead Rafa had now beaten him in finals on all surfaces, and it looked like it was slipping from Federer's grasp.

Enter the clay court season. In the lead up to this event, two extrodinary events occured. First Federer smashed a racket in his loss to Djokovic in Miami. It looked like Federer's reign was finally falling apart at the seams. Amazingly though he fought back his way back into form, beating Nadal on clay for only the second time, in Hamburg. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, and this years french open will be remembered as one of the most famous in history. Roger Federer finally completed the golden slam and achieved his 14th grand slam, but even more memorable than that, was the biggest shock in tennis for years... Rafael Nadal losing on clay, more specifically in the french open. Four time winner, current champion, never lost a match at Roland Garros and it wasn't even to Federer , but to someone who was considered an also-ran until this year - Robin Soderling.

This victory helped Federer ragain his mojo that took a massive weight of his shoulders, allowing him to play freely, showing some of the best tennis of his career. Coupled with his new drop shot and new found ability to grind matches out, Federer was unstoppable for the next couple of months, also winning Wimbledon and Cincinatti. Nadal on the other hand was having the complete opposite to his year last year, losing his french open, wimbledon and world no.1 crowns back to Federer.

Then came the US Open. Federer strolled through to the final. Murray has a disappointing 4th round exit after much hype. Then came the next big shock of the year, Juan Martin Del Potro beating an in form Federer in the final of the US Open. Del Potro has been considered to have the potential to be the next big thing for the last few years and I would tend to agree, going by the evidence of this break through year for him. He has a forehand to die for and an appetite for the big matches. I believe he will cause more damage to the fading established order than Murray or Djokovic.

Toward the end of the season Murray and Nadal came back from injury both with varying fortunes. Nadal could barely win a match and Murray won in Valencia. In fact Nadal's form is worrying for next year as he doesn't look anything like the man that nobody could touch at the start of the season. Murray had a brilliant first half of the season, but has been disappointing since winning in Montreal. It should be noted he hasn't beaten anyone in the top 4 since Indian Wells and will need to do something special in the off season to keep up with the rest.

Finally, the end of season tournament - the Masters Cup summed - up the season with upset after upset. Despite beating Del Potro and winning 2 matches, Del Potro and Federer made it out of Murray's group. The second group was way more interesting. Djokovic who has been back in descent form and favourite to qualify. Instead it was Soderling and Davydenko. Then amazingly Davydenko beat Federer for the first time in 13 attempts to make the final, and buoyed by this victory, took the title by beating Del Potro. He would have been my last pick to win the tournament, maybe now hes showing he can fight with the big boys, but I doubt it. I still don't think he has the class to consistantly challenge for big prizes, but he deserves credit for his efforts here.

So the season has now ended, and who knows what 2010 will bring. I am already looking forward to Australia and for the first time in a long time, I have no idea what the outcome will be. Federer, Nadal, Murray, Djokovic, Del Potro all with equal and realistic chances to win, making tennis so much more interesting. Can the rest of the world put up a challenge to break this mould? On the evidence of this season I wouldn't want to hazard a guess!

short term mission

2009-11-14T00:15:00.001Z

Every Friday I get a lecture from diferent mission agencies from the U.K. It's a privilege to hear and see the amazing work that men and women across the U.K. are doing in the name of Jesus. Perhaps one day I'll find myself working for one of these agencies, but (and there always is a but isn't there?) I am failing to see the sense in going out with these organisations to random countries on the short term.

You know what I'm talking about. These 2-4 weeks summer teams that people go on spending from one to three thousand pounds to get there and look after themselves. To be honest, that money would have been far better spent just being sent to the communities we visit, rather than dragging our unskilled butts over there on a glorfied holiday.

Don't get me wrong I am not judging the motives of the people who take part in these trips, for I myself have done them. In fact their heart is good, because they see a need and want to do something about it. However, that desire is not being used to its full potential in the current way it is being exercised. Perhaps it is good to go once, in order to have our hearts and minds opened to the poverty in the world, but to keep doing it simply isn't productive.

I mean what do we really have to offer a remote community in the middle of Africa anyway (sorry to stereotype)? Sure we can go build a school, but there are plenty of people in those countries who have building skills themselves, and we only take the trade away from the locals. It's white colonialism gone wrong all over again. We made the mess in the first place. Now we see the mess and think we've got all the answers to fix it.

Yes indeed however it is the responsibility of the better off to take care of the poor, but we need to be more creative, more sensitive in how we approach it, and we need to act fast. I don't have all the answers and I'm certainly willing to listen to other points of view but here are some of the things I think we can do:

We can pray. We can rally organisations, governments and powers at be into doing the action they should be. We can carefully give of our finances and resources from our vast reserves. There is a scope for churches partnering alongside other churches (the same body of Christ) in different countries for the long term. We could even go and teach for the long term. Although we would need to be careful how we do that, because I don't think that Africa really needs to be 'westernised' in the cultural sense of the word, as I believe it would lose it's own cultural and spiritual richness.

These are all very raw thoughts and feelings from a naive young man, but watch this space as I hope to develop them into something tangible real soon.

To my granny

2009-11-08T21:18:00.003Z

My granny passed away on November 4th. She bravely battled cancer for a little over a year. When she was first diagnosed, things seemed ominous, but God blessed us with one more year with her. It's hard to believe how fast things happened when only 2 weeks ago she was gardening but in a sense it was a blessing, for she passed without any pain and even got to enjoy a last meal (little did she know it).

I praise God for this and the fact that she is with Him in heaven. For she loved the Lord and it's a great comfort to my family that she's now with her Maker. It's just so hard though seeing the anguish in my mother, uncle and especially my grandfather. There is just no way of understanding the kind of pain that comes with losing a life partner.

I've never really had anyone close to me die before. My grans passing has got me thinking a lot about death recently. It's not so much death that I fear, but rather eternity. The inifite idea of never endingingness scares the daylights out of me. I know as a Christian I have eternal hope but I simply do not have a strong enough grasp of the marvels of heaven and what it will be like to worship God forever. Am I the only one who thinks like this?

Dorothy McCarthy

Back to my granny. I said at her funeral that I think she would appreciate somebody saying something in their own words in memory of her, and my little brother, Adam, chose a wonderful verse - 1 Corinthians 13 (often read at weddings, paraphrased) to aid this.

Dorothy was patient and kind; she did not envy nor boast; she was never arrogant nor rude. She wouldn't insist on her own way; she was not irritable nor resentful; she never rejoiced at wrongdoing, but rejoiced with the truth. Dorothy bore all things, believed in all the things of God, hoped for all things, endured all things, her love will never die in us the people she loved...So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

If there was one thing to describe my gran it's that she was a loving person. We know from God's word that God is love, and also when we become Christians, God perfects us to become more like Christ - love. So I think the most special thing about Dorothy was that we caught just a glimpse of what the love, God the Father has for us.

My gran taught us all how to love better. We'll miss you Dorothy.

man card

2009-10-30T00:07:00.005Z

Last weekend 5 men in college completed the 28oz meat challenge at Iford Bridge. This consisted of 2 chicken breasts (or cumberland sausages), 1 gammon steak and 1 80z rump steak with a side of chips and salad (the salad being a non compulsory item of the challenge as it is not manly).

The completion of this challenge was dubbed so worthy that we have decided to award them with the Red Man Card. There are 3 levels of man card and they are listed as follows:

Man Card Red: Completion of the 28oz Steak Challenge or equivalent
Man Card Silver: An overnight stay in the wild or equivalent. Creating fire is mandatory.
Man Card Gold: An outstanding honourary award, that can not be defined any single act of valor. The worthiness of an act for a Gold man card shall be voted upon by fellow man card holders.

Got your eggs in one basket?

2009-10-29T21:50:00.006Z

The first thing I want to make clear is that this is not a blog comparatively arguing the theologies of some of the greatest Christian minds in history for that would take a dissertation, not a blog! But rather, this an exasperation as to why we put them on such a pedistool.

Calvin, Luther, Arminius, Wesley, there are so many to choose from but what really drives me mad is why people insist on defining themselves as one or the other. What is so special about these guys that we feel the need to come under their yolk like they're some kind of Jewish Rabbi.

In methodist circles, there is barely a week that goes by without some kind of trumpeting of the Wesleys. Now that I am in Bible college, people simply just have to make it painfully clear that they are either 5 point Calvanist or 5 point Arminian.

I think it is some very shaky ground to be stood upon if we are putting all our eggs into one theologians basket, because no man is infalliable. Otherwise we create a kind of papacy that the above mentioned reformists were all against! I am not saying either that we should go around creating our own theology willy nilly, but rather that we find the security of our beliefs in Christ Jesus

"But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." ~ Galatians 6:14

Heaven Rejoices

2009-10-03T10:00:00.000+01:00

This is a song I came across a long time ago, but I still love the lyrics today. We quite often sing songs about what we feel about God, but this is a song about how the writer thinks God feels about us, and I agree. I particularly like the line

I know my ways are hard to understand
But my plan is greater than you can imagine
Through all the darkness, I've never left your side

A new chapter

2009-09-30T11:56:00.000+01:00

Isn't life amazing? It's amazing for a lot of reasons. It's mysterious, it's entropic, it's infinitely diverse, it's full of experience and feelings and depth. I love life, and I love the God who designed it. How amazing is our God who made all of this just for his names sake, and he lavishes this creativity upon us, his prize possesion of all His creation (Ps 8).

I have got to experience so much of that beauty over the last 24 years back home in Northern Ireland. Stuff like StreetReach, Queen's University, High Street Methodist, the Mourne mountains, stuff I will never forget. But it's a funny ol' world isn't it? And God in His grace has begun writing a new chapter for me to play a part in His story.

When I look at my life 5 years ago, and indeed even from just this time last year, it's almost unrecognisable. The people whom I am surrounded by, the things I dedicate my 'nine til five' to have completely changed, but I do not lament this fact. Of course I miss people, but I praise God that he is revealing his will to me in new ways every single day.

After a short flirtation with banking, I have finally decided to go England and train as a youth worker. It is a move surrounded entirely by faith as I have no clue how I am going to pay for it all! So if if any of you reading would like to commit that to prayer, it would be greatly appreciated! I should also give a mention to the East Africa stuff I was involved in over the summer (see previous posts). It seems we have poked the bear, and now God is opening up a whole stream of possibilty there, so watch this space!

This last year for me has definitely been the hardest and most painful of my life, but in my pain God has proven faithful and is rebuilding my heart into something He can use. And for those of you who are suffering, I want you to know that God has seen your pain, and His heart breaks with yours.

The same man that the winds and waves obeyed,
Is the same man who was the first one to know pain
Same man could keep control of everything
Same man knows more than me about suffering

28-30"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."

working 9 to 5

2009-09-12T00:15:00.003+01:00

As I wrap up my time with Northern Bank Ltd, I would like to say some things about the rat race that is the nine to five work culture. First of all I should say I have rather surprisingly enjoyed working for the bank. Beforehand I struggled with the idea of being trapped in a weekly routine commitment. However, I have enjoyed learning how to live in the professional world, and I have seen vast potential for God to work in this arena.

A lot can be said about the office. It's a lot like how my friend Donna puts it - like a "goldfish bowl". The dynamic/politics of it all can be at times complicated and intense. On the other hand, I can find the great beauty God intended for His creation in the diversity of the people I work with.

The common denominator I find with nearly all people is the desire for the weekend to come. Phrases like "I can not believe it's Monday", or "roll on Friday". Even during the day people watch every painstaking movement of the second hand on the clock, and it's this kind of living that moves me to frustration and then sorrow.

WHAT A WASTE

How much of your life do you want to have spent wishing away? Everytime you wish for it to be 5 oclock and then it comes, or wish for the weekend and then it passes, that is time you are never getting back. Oh how I wish people would realise that you can feel as much fulfilment in your life at 9am on a Wednesday morning as you can at 9pm on a Saturday night.

We need to see our daily routines as more than just going through the motions. We need to stop waiting for the weekends. In the end, what really all that special happens at the weekend? We need to stop waiting for something to happen in our lives. We only get to live it once, and we have got to make every second count.

How do we do this? We can work to the best of our abilities. We can purposefully bless those around us. We can be thankful for what we have, when there are plenty in the world who have a lot less. We can be the joy that we want to have in our lives. But more than this, we can make everything we do about our worship to our Creator. Not everyone believes in God, but if they would give it just one chance, to see that God came to give us life and life in its fullest (John 10:10) and not the nine to five monotony that we have become so familiar with in our lives.

He's desperate to give it to us, don't settle for anything less.

Student Loans

2009-08-31T15:00:00.013+01:00

I can't decide if the student loan company is good or evil

It's good because you can take a huge loan, and it doesn't effect your credit rating for other borrowing. If you can't pay it back you don't. If you haven't paid it off within 20 years, your debt is forgiven. You can't default on any payments because it comes out of your wages before you get them. At the end of the day it's just glorified income tax.

It's evil because their rules are ridiculous. For example it discriminates against the middle class. If your parents earn less than a certain amount you get grants and fees paid for you. If you're parents are wealthy they can pay you through college. But if you're middle class, and you live in a family or 1, 2 or maybe even 3 siblings; your parents are expected to pay you through university with a minimal loan. This on top of having other children, a mortgage, and rising living costs to deal with, not to mention in this current climate - job insecurity!

Also if you're a second degree student, you can not get funding unless in special circumstances. What about the countless number of people who choose a degree when they're 18 and decide when they're done, or even worse when they don't even complete it, that the course leads to a path they do not want to pursue for their career. That is way too much pressure on someone not old enough to make a decision that will decide the path for the REST of their life. I mean how many 18 year olds really know what they want to do with their lives? Only a select few.

It leaves people feeling trapped and miserable in what they do. How many people aren't even using their degrees? Their should be more support for people who wish to retrain because often with a little bit of life experience they've found out what really drives them. This has been my experience, and if I have children I will be encouraging them to wait a few years after A Levels to try a few things, enjoy a bit of life, figure out what they're passionate about and then go for it.

Especially because there's big bursaries for those who are over 25, as they are considered "independant of their parents". What a pile of poppycock! So I'm living away from home permanently but just because I'm only 24 I'm still dependant on my parents?!

Another thing about all of this that bothers me is that 15 years ago, people were practically being paid to go to university. There was no such thing as the Student Loans company, because there was no need for one. The government was giving out grants practically saying "There you go son, go and get pissed for three years". Since then there's been tuition fees, top up fees, and now they're considering even doubling that.

I get it. I understand that universities need money to progress, but it's getting blind ridiculous. The only advantage to increased tuition fees will be that it will discourage people from taking on unnecessary degrees. There are too many degrees out there at the moment. The value of the degree has been cheapened. "I have a degree.....Oh who hasn't", which is a great shame.

/end rant

lip service

2009-08-29T16:00:00.002+01:00

Everyone has pet hates, and one of my biggest ones is lip service. You know when people say something with their mouths, but you know it's a pile of bull, and they'll never follow through.

But there's a worse kind of lip service, the type when you actually believe what someone tells you, and you get disappointed or even hurt that they don't live up to their word.

I mean for goodness sake, don't say you'll do something if you never had any intention of making any kind of effort to follow it through. It's infinitely better to just be honest, so people know what to expect from each other.

As with all people in the hypocrites anonymous club, I have been guilty of my own pet hate.

my mate dave

2009-08-24T14:28:00.003+01:00

Has anyone noticed that Dave is actually the most common name ever? You can actually walk into a room of people and exclaim "Dave!" and it's almost a dead-cert someone will react.

This post is about my friend Dave, whom I met camped beside the spar on botanic avenue on a freezing cold November night. I had just bought a new hat, that I was particularly fond of, and as I got chatting to him, he asked me if he could have my hat, and my heart was immediately endeared him.

As we shared with each other about our lives, mostly his, I could see a life of sorrow. His weather beaten face suggested years of being exposed to the elements, sleeping rough, and alchohol abuse. As I got to know him better I discovered that he had an amazing faith in Jesus Christ, and even more so that he writes hauntingly beautiful poetry about it. His faith brings him great joy in the midst of adversity.

Which makes me feel great shame. I'm not gonna do the whole "his faith puts us to shame" thing, but rather the churches inability to live out it's mandate given to us from Christ. That is to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to visit the prisoner. Why is a man like this who has such faith, on the streets? Why isn't the church doing it's job and taking in people like this? And this guy is a Christian, God help the unbelievers!

This guy even went to a church, that turned him away for his appearance, because they thought he looked like a "bum". I mean what? Have they not even read the Gospel? Jesus came to heal the sick, not the healthy! Is it too far to expect a Christian to invite people like Dave into their homes for a hot meal, even for a nights rest and a shower? Where does our responsibility end? Is it not up to the church to rehabilitate these people?

Anyway time passes by and I haven't seen Dave in a good few months. Don't know where he's been. On Saturday passed there I randomly decide after leaving some people off to the boat, that I wanna buy a hat from the Rusty Zip on Botanic Avenue. And yes, you guessed it, as I walked down the street, there was Dave sitting on that familiar spot beside the spar. I was so excited so see him, and I believe now, that it was no random act that I found myself there.

It turns out that Dave has pluracy on his lungs. He's in his 50's now, and with sleeping rough, and no one to take care of him, it's likely he's going to die someone soon. So he's decided to go to Edinburgh to see out the rest of his days in a place that he loves. I really hope he finds peace there. As he continued to share with me about his struggles with alcohol, his face lit up with joy in the knowledge that his faith covers his sin by the blood of the Lamb, and that someday real soon he is going to be redeemed with his maker.

His faith in an inspiration to me. One of his favourite sayings is "I have nothing yet I have everything, in the Lord". That is the kind of deep revelation one can only get by being close to the Father. It will be a sad day when he leaves this earth, and I believe the earth will notice his goodness missing. Please pray for Dave, for peace, for health, for his continued faith, for someone on this earth to love him.

I have another friend called Dave. He's just swanned off to East Africa for the indefinite future. He and his wife are wonderful people and I will miss them immensely, so please keep them in your thoughts too. There really is something about the name Dave!

Romania 2009

2009-07-25T23:00:00.004+01:00

So I have just spent 2 weeks with 15 members of the church youth group (that of course includes Maurice) in a little village called Parhida, just off the Hungarian border in Romania. I received from God far more than I thought I would on this trip, as I continue through this journey I am on. It should be no surprise of course, as I remember God speaking to me before I left to expect more of him.

During the first week, everyday began with a beautifully designed study of 2 Corinthians that Maurice did, that give us an image to carry with us each day such as being the fragrance of Christ. We then split into 2 groups doing kids clubs in Parhida and Nuyved where between the two, over 100 children came!

I was part of the Nuyved group, and we were caught off guard when we found over 15 teenagers in our club. So we had to adapt quickly and 'wing' a programme for them. As it turned out, when we were put in a position where we weren't prepared, we found ourselves relying more on God to deliver, and as I am well discovering, unlike us He never fails.

We instantly developed a real chemsitry with this group without really having to do anything complicated. We played games, shared the Word of God, sang, and simply just hung out. It was hard to leave but we found a great sense of God's purposes for this trip, as we found out that one of the translators is in the process of setting up a permanent youth group after their experiences over the week. Please continue to pray for this

Later in the afternoon, we visited many locals, just sharing with each other and bringing small gifts of food parcels. It gave a real sense of our theme for the church services, "the body of Christ". We would often sing, and during one of the visits after singing Seek ye first, the lady said that the world "Hallelujah" transcends all languages. For some reason we then sang Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". Just the chorus of course, but it moved this lady to tears. It was a special moment, little did Cohen know when he wrote this song that it would be claimed for the kingdom of God in a small house in the middle of Romania.

We were then usually treated to some of Hungary's finest cuisine, as we were spoilt by Andrea, our host. This was followed by one of the highlights of the trip, the "man shower". This included the boys stripping down to their togs and getting washed under tap and hose.

Over the second weekend we spent a few days living wildly in the bush 3 hours from Parhida. There was much apprehension within the group, as they all wondered how they would cope without some of the things we formally considered "basic needs". However I was so impressed with the attitude of the whole group, as we all got stuck into everything we were asked to do. The team grew closer, as we exerted testorone together chopping wood, as we gazed upon the stars beside the campfire, as we all stepped out of our comfort zones and did crazy things like jumping into dirty water.

Finally, on a personal level I have learnt so much here. I have learned much from our hosts about the freedom that comes in Christ, something I may share later. I have learned how ridiculous some of my insecurities are. And as maurice challenged us with on our last night, I have learned that God is able. I pray that we will all be more like Joshua & Caleb (Joshua 4), and return from enemy territory to say, "yep, with God we can do this, anything is possible", even in the refugee camps in the Congo.

faith begats faith

2009-07-09T22:17:00.000+01:00

As I return from my travels in Africa and move on to Romania with the youth group, I'm feeling rather emotionless. I do not feel sorrow, I do not feel joy, just overwhelmed with the amount of stuff I'm having to take in, in such a short space of time, with no time in between to digest it all.

One thing I have learnt though is that...

faith begats faith

I'll explain what I mean. Simply put that means, the more faith one exercises the more faith one receives. When I try to step out in faith, the more faith I have that God can do more immeasurably that I can imagine. The more I resist the urge to say silent and speak the word of God, the more daring I become for the kingdom. The more I hand over my burdens to God, the more and more I see Him move in my life.

Faith itself is described as a Spiritual gift in 1 Cor 12. I believe everyone has a measure of this gift in their lives, for example it takes some faith just to believe in Jesus Christ. But like any Spiritual gift, you have to practice at it in order for it to improve. It requires a step of faith just to act out a gift.

So my prayer for Romania for myself and indeed all the youth is that we will step out in faith, speaking out God's word, prophesying, praying without ceasing, loving unconditionally, claiming the Kingdom of God, in order to grow in even more faith. If it requires only the faith of a mustard seed to move a mountain, just imagine what God could do with a group of 15 young people (one not so young! =D ) who are growing their faith everyday by exercising faith. God bless you and see you in 2 weeks.

the Servant Heart

2009-07-02T14:23:00.003+01:00

The first thing I wanna do on this my final blog of Rwanda, is honour our dear friend Vincent. Vincent is hired by the landlord of the house we stay in to look after the place while he's not around. A simple form of property management if you like, and Vincent seems very happy to have this job. But he goes above and beyond what he is expected to do. He has helped us cook nearly every night; if we leave our bedroom door open even for 5 seconds, he's straight in there and has our clothes washed before we know it.

I often feel bad about this fact, but also have learned so much from him about what it is to be a silent servant. He never makes a noise about his good deeds, in fact he goes as far as to hide them from the people he does them for. There is no limits for his servant attitude either as he often insists when we actually do our own cleaning, that he does it for us. It has been a pleasure knowing this guy and I pray that his faith in God grows abundantly.

This week, we spent a couple of days writing our report on what we have seen, including long term and short term actions for each of the cooperatives. Hopefully they are God led and will prove useful. Dave also got to give his Sexual Education class which went down with a bundle of laughs with the young people. You wouldn't believe some of the questions asked. I also got to share some of my IT knowledge and have begun to design a short teaching course for CJ.

Mark arrived yesterday, and by means of celebration for his arrival and mine & dave's departure we had everyone around for dinner. It was an amazing night of fun food & fellowship. There really is something about sitting down and having a meal together that crosses all kinds of cultural and linguistic divides.

Today I visited the last cooperative that I will get to see, but it was one of the most moving. This was a group mostly made up of genocide survivor widows. They have applied for a CJ grant but as yet CJ can not find a partner to support this so big prayer is needed to get this group off their feet and earning some capital. It's important for their general welfare, it's important for the children's education, it's important just to change the general mentality of trauma, something that still seriously and deeply affects these people.

We heard of terrifying testimoneys of how some escaped the genocide. One lady in particular beautifully shared with us often fighting back the tears for over 30 minutes. Her story began with the genocide soldiers coming into her house and beating her, but yet choosing not to kill her. She was then seperated from her family, husband and children, being dragged to different cities again being beaten and raped several times, but yet for some reason still alive. Finally when the genocide was over she found 2 of her children, and the entire rest of her family dead. It was only by the grace of God and the kindness of a few people that she is alive today to tell her story. I can not process this kind of pain. She still has amazing faith, and she longs for the day that God will restore her in paradise. I want her to know that Jesus wants to bring this restoration into her life today, and wants to use her testimoney to change lives everywhere.

As we left a lady prayed for us. Little did she know that when she prayed about our finances that it was quite prophetic as all of Dave, Luke and myself are trusting in God to provide for our near future! As I leave Rwanda I pray that someday, this place (and indeed Ireland) will bear a great witness for Christ all around the world, a beacon of hope and peace to areas of deep hatred and pain. I leave tomorrow on a gruesome 11 hour bus journey, followed by another all day plane journey so please bear me, and more importantly Rwanda (and the people we have met) in your prayers.

all RISE!

2009-06-29T13:51:00.003+01:00

Luke, Dave & I are just back from a weekend healing conference in Cyangugu. There seems to be a bit of pattern developing anytime we seem to travel any sort of distance. This pattern usually consists of dramtic Rwandan hills (I am beginning to believe there is no flat land in rwanda) and death defying stunts from bus drivers. On the way through we passed through the Nyawunga Rainforest, and I simply could not grasp the sheer vastness of this area. We were treated to seeing some wild monkeys, complimented by the uplifting African music along the way.

Many over 500 people turned out in this remote piece of land on top of a hill in the middle of nowhere, on which a church was built upon and subsequently knocked down from an earthquake. The point of the conference was for healing people from the trauma's of the genocide and helping people to forgive one another from a Gospel perspective. There was singing, dancing, testimoneys, drama and preaching (one of which I had to do, and it was terrifying!). So many people came up to receive healing and also to receive Jesus for the very first time - It was amazing, and humbling, and a learning experience. Imana Ishymiwe (meaning praise God in Kinyarwanda).

I am beginnning to love african music, and particularly the worship music. People all of a sudden just burst into singing and dancing with out worrying what's going on next to them. I think Barney from "how I met your mother" would love the music here as it seems to be all rise! and very seldom seems to be slow. Over the weekend we had got to know the CJ groupe de jeunes (youth group) a bit better, and on the way home things all of a sudden became animated and hyper as we all burst into song in each others languages. It was one of those moments in life I think I will never forget. These people are so full of the love and joy of God all the time, I am going to find it hard coming home to the lethargy of our culture.

I am Umuzungu

2009-06-25T12:34:00.002+01:00

I know I have already brought this up before, but everywhere we go we hear cries of umuzungooo! It means white man, and it's never meant offensively like it would be considered at home, and in fact when the children say it, it is adorable! It's a tad strange though the respect children seem to be brought up to show white people. I wish i could tell them there is a holy God out there who loves them, who fearfully and wonderfully made us all equal.

We have spent the week visiting different cooperatives partnered with CJ, all of which have their own specific attributes. First off however, we began the week going to a local church with Justin. It was called New Vision Pentecostal church, and had much more of an 'African' feel than the one we visited previously. There was singing and dancing, and just as I started to get into it, their pastor noticed and grabbed me to dance at the front, I was completely scundered! They usually have their services in Kinyarwanda, but just because we were there they had a translator. Much to Luke and Dave's malaise, I think I almost feel in love with her lol!

On Monday we visited a group who made a living breeding rabbits. They needed more hutches built to increase their stock. Cute as these rabbits first seemed, the only thing they were interested in was eating and breeding! A useful source of income where even their excrement is used for fertilizing crops.

Later that day we visited a place called kimichanga. People often say when they come back from Africa trips that the kids were amazing and i always figured it was lip service, but the kids here are genuinely so pleasant and playful. We actually got justin into trouble for them following us everywhere!

The next day we saw a group who showed great promise. They were entirely subsistant, where all their crops, livestock and farms worked in harmony. There was a real sense of community with these people. Their land covered a vast space that we had to walk, only for us to find after all that effort our camera battery had somehow died! Despite have much less technology people here don't get bored and they seem to be authentically content with their work. This is a place i could see myself living in. CJ provided advice and the capital to get the project up and running, and now they are in a place where they can return that capital for another project to use, praise God.Wednesday had us visit almost the polar opposite of the hope of the day before. Here we net a group made mostly of widow genocide survivors, some of whom were rape victims. They are still finding it difficult to cope with the atrocites of 15 years ago. Living conditions for these people are hard with the rainy season washing away peoples huts. Food is scarce at times making it difficult to take HIV medication as it makes them sick. Many of the children don't go to school, and there is a real need for counselling here. CJ stepped in and are trying to help build a bakery, that would provide the much needed capital that would give the momentum to this community to improve every aspect of their lives. They still are a few hundred dollars short, so we're trusting in God.

Finally today we visited another plantation called bom boga. This time fish is the main produce. The excrement from the rabbits they keep feeds the fish, while the water helps irrigate the crops. This is a group of HIV/Aids Sufferers who have worked really hard, and have showed great improvement and are a great encouragement to the other cooperatives. The land is located down a treacherously steep mountain, and if it wasn't hairy enough coming down it, it was amazing that we got up it. At one stage Luke, Dave & Justin had to get out of the car while we reversed up a cliff edge!On a more lighter note. I thought I had seen it all when it came to vanity in the west with fake tan etc, so i couldn't believe my eyes when i saw can of spray lightener! That's right people at home wanna be darker and people here wanna be lighter. The world can be pathetic sometimes!

DRC: Democratic Republic of Corruption

2009-06-20T14:28:00.001+01:00

28 July 2009 (Original post 20/06/2009) please read updates in italic

I have just returned from my trip to the Congo DR, and I haven't been able to fully process my thoughts but here is some of the raw material I can come up with.

To call the bus journey to Gisenyi 'scenic' would only under sell the dramatic Rwandan landscape. Mountains and cliff edges abound, which made for nervous travelling as the bus drivers here seem to hold no sanctity for human life!! We had already passed a truck lying flattened upside down, no doubt killing instantly its driver, but this did not seem to act as a deterrant for our driver! On route we also noted a lot of uniformed workers, building along the mountain sides. It turns out this is part of the 15 year rehabilitation programme for genocide prisoners.

We arrived at the Congolese border to find it carefully guarded by the army. We went to pay for our visa's when we were hurried into this pokey back office, with God know's what behind the curtain that lay behind the shifty officer who interviewed us as to our purpose to travelling into the Congo. Praise God for Justin rallying our case for I fear if it were not for him we may have been pray to the hungry Congolese soldiers who had not been paid in over 4 months (which is not the first time that has happened either!)

Eventually we got in for the rip off price of $50 when it should have only been $35, but of course we had no legs to stand on because they had guns! We were even more outraged to find out they were going to force us to pay again the next day despite possessing an 8 day visa, which ultimately cut our time there short.

So we finally made it into Goma. A city torn apart from war and molten rock from the volcanic eruptions. As we rode through the town on boda boda's, we found most buildings lacked any structural integrity, there was poverty everywhere we looked and there was a general feeling of insecurity from the locals. In fact Dave was lucky to escape a mugging as the offender went for the wrong pocket, and then got surrounded.

With firearms everywhere and even attack helicopters flying overhead, we thought we had seen the worst of it, boy were we deceived. When we entered the refugee camp Magunga (our purpose for being in goma in the first place), we were immediately hit with the overwhelming and devastating need of the people who live there. We heard endless stories of widows who lost most of the families to the war, are now living barely with shelter and there is simply no food to feed their children let alone themselves.

They live with the clothing they have on their backs. They get fed on average one paltry meal every 3 days. They have no beds, no blankets, no education, no income, no self worth, no medication, minimal protection, no counselling, no sanitation, (in fact there is one toilet between 8000 refugees, and it's full, and its stinking). Their basic needs are just so many, it's incomprendable. And all these 'theys' that I speak about, these are real individual human beings, with real lives, thoughts, emotions, dreams. I am desperate that these people are remembered not as statistics, but as deeply loved children of God who need this world to...

WAKE UP!

There is simply no aid organisations there, including the UN. I can not fathom how anybody who finds themselves in that situation finds any hope let alone faith in God, but I was struck by the amazing faithfulness of these people who still believe that God will redeem their situation, end the war and return them to their homelands. Perhaps there has never been a truer meaning for that passage in Chronicles "If my people who are called by my name...". The children as well are amazing, they find such joy and playfullness despite such incomprehendable conditions.

I can not help but feel called into action, yet feel so helpless as to what to do. I am not so sure if returning to their homelands is the best situation for the people in these refugee camps. Perhaps maybe they could even start a new community there, subsistantly looking after each other. But right now I am too overwhelmed to have any idea what to do or even to pray for. This is something only God can take care of. I believe like in Moses time that He has heard the cry of his people, and He will come down to save them from such destitution.

We could have not been more relieved to return back to beautiful Gisenyi. The rwandan border control were most welcoming on our return, it really felt like we had came from purgatory into paradise. Lake Kivu is magnificent to bathe in and there are simply no superlatives to describe to beauty of the view.

To grasp this we climbed a hill behind where we were staying, and the scene could only be described as something out of the Lord of the Rings. The Congo mountains gave distinct resemblence to Mordor, with the Volcano off to the far right being Mount Doom. Then of course, fair gisenyi and lake kivu reminds one of Middle Earth. I'm not a LOTR guru, so if you don't believe me check out Luke's photo's when we get back! One of our other experiences here was our first taste of 'Banana beer', and if I have my way it will be my last, for it was rancid!

Again, I have not had enough time to gather my thoughts, not enough space on this blog to tell of every smell, sound and story. I will try my best to tell the story of these individual people, real human beings who God loves just as much as you and me, whose heart breaks for their situation. In the meantime Dave has written and excellent insight to what we say... see below.

http://ugandacrew2009.blogspot.com/2009/06/hope-inspite-of-what-we-can-see.html

Itchy Feet

2009-06-17T12:09:00.008+01:00

Updated 22.06.09 .... I have now uploaded a couple of photos from our time working with one of the CJ Partners ACORDI, who try to help vulnerable people such as orphans from the war by getting them selling at markets, or milk from goats. Rather like housing they build up an equity in goats to buy a cow, or even a boda boda (An motorcycle used in public transport, an experience to say the least!) to make better money

We have made it to our second destination of our travels, that being the very beautiful Kigali. We will spend the majority of our trip here working for a magnificent organisation called Coeur Joyeux (I will be referring to it as CJ from now on!).

It was an 11 hour bus journey from Kampala on a okay bus operator named Jaguar. My legs were a little oo big for the seating, and my ass a little too wide! At first I wondered how I was gonna cope for 11 hours on this journey, but I managed to get pretty useless broken sleep most of the way. There was some outstanding landscapes ranging from the countless hills of Rwanda, to swamps, to savannah land. I notice that the roads and cities in east africa at least are filled with orangy dust which gives you a deceptive tan on your legs! I reminds me of a quote from the movie Blood Diamond that they say the dirt is this red colour for the amount of blood constantly spilt on the continent of Africa.

Border control was an interesting experience as well. We had our bags searched for what I presumed was drugs, but it turns out it was for plastic bags as they have been outlawed in Rwanda - my bad! It should also be noted that getting the Irish passport was not only travelling astutue but financially astute also as I gained a free visa in Uganda with it!

Kigali itself is a city of many hills, each consisting of its own district. We are situated near the national football stadium and United Nations building, so I'm sure they both will proivide interesting entertainment over the weeks to come. I've noted that there is a big mobile phone push here with billboards and sellars everywhere. You get people coming up to your parked car, looking for you to buy a topup, much like the Telegraph sellars in Belfast.

Despite President Kagame's horrific faults (and I hope I can get away with saying that!) one can not fault him on his massive effort on Urban Development. The roads here are as good as any, and the standard of living could not even have been dreamed of here 15 years after the genocide. It is amazing to me how this work has been so successful for if you could see the scafolding here, it doesn't bear thinking about.

Despite the huge infrastructure development, we have noticed from our early work with CJ that the countryside tends to be forgotten about. It's a contant life struggle to even as much as feed your family. A lady we met, Josephine, who is a widow, can only afford to educate one of her 5 children (there is no free education system here), and provides for her famly with the 6 goats she has. CJ has been a massive assistance to people like Josephine giving them life and spiritual support.

We constantly hear the word Umuzunga! being exclaimed when we roam the streets. This is Kinyarwandan for White person. I'd imagine if we had a word for black people in Ireland, there maybe some offense caused. There is also an assumption here that every umuzunga is rich! I don't think any harm is intended however, and I guess in comparison to here; despite the recession and my paltry wage in the Northern Bank; that we are indeed rich!

Justin our guide, mentioned that the biggest problem in Kigali at the moment is water and power, and indeed we have experienced this in our own accomodation as they are regularly cut off. Praise God however that He has always provided when it has been needed. We have also experienced some video nasties such as lizards, mozquito bites and cockroaches the size of hands (I exaggerate of course!).

In closing and I apologise for the length, CJ does an incredible vast work here in Rwanda and the DRC on such limited resources. God has His hand upon it and I hope on my return to rally some support and try to get them some new partners. If you're interested please do let me know. If you're still wondering why this blog was called ithcy feet, is because I feel like we have rested and prepared a lot now and I'm just desperate to get out there and do something!

the Pearl of Africa

2009-06-12T18:57:00.005+01:00

It seems everywhere is the "Something" of Africa.

	So we have arrived in Kampala with all our limbs still attached...for now. After the boda boda ride I had today, I'm not too convinced they're all gonna be present for journey home. The 'Boda boda' is a popular form of public transport here in Kampala, where you simply call one of like a new york taxi cab. You simply ride on the back of a motorcycle whilst your driver skillfully (or suicidely, you can decide!) negotiates the oncomng traffic (that comes from all angles).
We've spent these last few days more or less climitising and regenerating from our energy sapping journey to get here. So far Dave has been propositioned by a "massouse", and Luke & myself have been thrown out of a government building, so not got ourselves into too much mischief just yet.
	So it has been well documented about my fear of flying, so just to give an update to all you lovely people who prayed for me about that particular area. God was ultimately gracious and I was able to just lay all my fears on Him and relax. At Heathrow airport while I was waiting for Dave and Luke to arrive I was lucky enough to see Susan Boyle pass me at the Arrivals gate in Terminal One... she is a crazy lady! One of the outstanding moments of the journey was flying over the sahara desert, seeing nothing but a dusty abyss on the horizon from 33000 feet. So after 2 bus journeys, 1 interview, 4 flights, 5000 miles and 54 hours we finally made it to Fields of Life in Kampala.

On our travels we managed to come across rather randomly a couple of Irish girls, who even more randomly bumped into Joy McMullan last week in Kigali. So tomrrow we actually head to Kigali on a 9 hour coach drive, where we will meet Justin and finally begin to set out our work. Glory has to go to God for the amazing provision he has given us in accommodation, transport and food. Speaking of which on a side note, the Fanta here is unbelievable!

Check out Luke's blog at This is not Ireland, This is Africa for some more.

loughshore trail

2009-05-24T23:19:00.012+01:00

On Saturday I had the pleasure of cycling around lough neagh in aid of both the Romania and Rwanda trips. I must say I actually thoroughly enjoyed the day out even though I found sitting down somewhat difficult by the time we returned home!!

The general route was Dollingstown to Portadown (as there is no earlier opportunity to cross the bann) to Tamnamore to Ballyronan to Toome to Randalstown to Crumlin to Gawleys Gate back to Dollingstown. We had only begun 20 mins and we had to stop at the bike repair shop in lurgan to have Luke's breaks amended! En route to said bike shop we almost ran over MEP candidate Alban Maginnes, I mean what were the chances? It would have been funny had we ran him over because we probably would have made the news!

After 10 miles boredom began to set in so we decided to play a little game called Zilch. It's a game taken from TV show 'How I Met Your Mother', where for everytime you spot a designated item you get one point. We noted that there was an unusual amount of roadkill on the roads so we played Zilch Roadkill! Phil thought he had struck gold when he had found 4 different dead animals on the road ardboe, much to his malaise when he discovered that those 4 pieces constituted the same animal! Thankfully there are no photos of this incident!

Cycling wise, we were putting in a good time up until ballyronan/toome. There we tackled some sharp hills at ballyronan which the legend that is Phil 'the Tank' McCabe powered up like they were flats. All was well until we hit the main road from toome to randalstown. It's a gradual uphill for 5 consecutive miles. With traffic speeding past you at 60mph, it was soul destroying.

We prodded on, and after tea in Randalstown we decided to give a big push down the east side of the lough to get home. We were flying down at points even reaching an average speed of 15mph (bare in mind this is on mountain bikes and we had already cycled 60 miles!), but the loughshore trail was to have the last laugh because after Gawleys gate it was hill after hill after hill for the last ten miles, and I have to say I found it tough going.

We were not to be undone however and we made it home slightly under 12 hours from departure. Definitely one of the hardest physical things I've ever done, but would also do it again.


Only 20 mins in!	River Bann @ Portadown

On the road to Palestine	River Bann @ Toome

Click here if you would like to examine our route!

evan almighty

2009-05-16T20:34:00.001+01:00

We were doing a stay awake at elevate youth club on Friday night, and I have to be honest, amidst the extreme hyperactivity and elevated adolescent hormone levels, I wasn't expecting to hear from God in the way that we did that night. I'm not even sure how many were actually paying attention to the movie, but we were watching Evan Almighty around about 2am, and God had this to say about our seemingly unanswered prayers.

If someone prays for patience, do you think God gives them patience? Or does he give them the opportunity to be patient? If they pray for courage, does God give them courage, or does he give them opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for their family to be closer, you think God zaps them with warm, fuzzy feelings? Or does he give them opportunities to love each other?

I love that thought, lets try to make the most of the opportunties that God gives us.

fundraising...

2009-05-05T20:35:00.001+01:00

is a pain in the backside. I find it so hard and feel bad asking people for money. Perhaps that's part of our carnal desire to seem independant and not reliant on each other. It's also really hard being creative enough to think of original fundraising ideas. So if you have any, please leave a comment!

That is the glorious thing about fundraising, people coming together in community trying to achieve a mutual goal. And I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have sown into my life whether prayerfully, financially or any other way. Here's a couple more fundraising events coming up that you are all cordially invited to, and I/we would appreciate your support.

Romania team - A group of 15 young people from church going out to serve for 2 weeks in Transylvania region of Romania (that's right, where Dracula is from!)

Sat 9th May: Romania team auction, High street methodist Lurgan, 7:30pm
Sat 30th May: Table-Quiz, High street methodist, 7:30pm

Rwanda Trip - Luke, Dave, Mark and myself heading out to northern uganda/rwanda/congo dr to help victims of human rights atrocities including child soldiers.

Wed 13th May - Fine Cine Evening, Oasis Cafe Elmwood Avenue, Belfast, 7ish PM, free popcorn!
Sat 16th May - Fine Cine Evening, High street methodist Lurgan, 7:30pm, free popcorn!
Sat 23rd May - 85 mile cycle around Lough Neagh

Thanks!

Cup of tea father?

2009-04-15T20:31:00.004+01:00

This year for lent I gave up drinking tea. Other things I have given up in the past have been lying in, my computer, the standard chocolate, but this was by far and away my hardest ever lent.

I also decided to give up coffee and hot chocolate. I don't really drink either that often but I figured I would only turn to them in replacement for the tea.

Prior to lent I was pondering what could I give up, and even what was the point of doing a lent just for the sake of it. Then someone in work spotted that I consume a large volume of tea and suggested I give that up. I thought to myself what a proposterous idea, I wouldn't even want to give up tea, let alone be able to!

Then it occurred me. I finally had reason to lent this year. I actually had something I could fast that I didn't believe I could, in order to be more like Jesus ( - yeh I know, what a saint! I gave up tea.... Jesus gave up all consumables!!)

So in the first few days of my lent, I actually had a consistant 120 hour headache from caffeine withdrawal <-- not recommended! and as time passed by I thought it should get easier.... it didn't. The edge of wanting a cup of tea was just as strong from one break to the next, and with people all around the office drinking it, it became almost unbareable. Respect goes to Jesus for what He had to endure.

But I made it through, thanks be to Him, and I had my first cup of tea courtesy of an American, whom may I add for a yank (apologies if that is an offensive term, I'm pretty ignorant of these things!), makes a pretty darn good cup of tea. I don't think it was the caffeine in the end that I was addicted to, but rather the inexplicable comfort which makes everything seem better that comes from a good ol' cuppa.

A psalm

2009-04-06T23:09:00.012+01:00

I do not claim to be any kind of a psalmist, but we were encouraged in youth last night to write our very own psalm to God. A psalm is raw and personal and honest. I got this picture of a tree, and just ran with it. I'm not exactly King David so go easy on me.

O Tree of life, bear good fruit
The branches of your grace reach out across the nations
You promise sanctuary and comfort for the wanderer
You have been my rock, my strong tower in these times of trouble
You have sheltered me from the bullets the world throws at me
From your bark a cross was made to pay for my sin
I thank you Lord, and surrender

Be a source of healing for my broken heart
and nutrition for my soul
Mould me to be a tree just like ou
Something that you can use
that I may bear good fruit for Your kingdom
You appeared to Moses, a blaze of beauty
Yet no char was found
Cleanse me with Holy fire, leave no trace of impurity.
May my roots be sown in righteousness
And the truth of Your Word
Bound by your Spirit
A Strength not of my own but Yours
For Yours be the glory
Amen

the longest week of my life

2009-03-30T19:39:00.004+01:00

Going by the subject header, one might assume that I had a hard week. Rather the opposite actually, this last week has been nothing but a positive and memorable experience. This year I have had the pleasure of organising (along with a wonderful committee) the Irish Tennis Intervarsity.

Being a organiser is when I am in my element. I love putting things together, getting to know people through it and seeing people enjoy themselves because of it. Everyday this week involved getting up out of my bed to go to the prayer room for an hour, coming home for a shower and some brekkie, then straight to the boat club to run the tennis from 9-5pm. Afterward I would grab a sauna, get ready, and entertain into the wee hours of the night, the 120 students who had come up from all across the land to play. It meant getting a max of 4 hours sleep a night, but I could do it, couldn't I... because this was when I was in my element - right?

Wrong, because little did I know what God was thinking about it all. Don't get me wrong, I was really enjoying the week, and I felt truly blessed when both the Trinity College and University College Dublin had bought me thank you gifts. However when I returned to my youth weekend, Andrew had a word from God for me. That I was a man of many abilities, that I could do most things in my own strength when I put my mind to it, but if I really wanted to reach higher places with God, places that I can not imagine, I need to die to my own ability, and allow God to flow through me instead.

Cue wake-up call. Something tells me now that those thank you cards I received would be the only reward I would receive for my efforts. I don't want to be like the priests in Matthew 6 whose works would only receive an earthly reward. I want to run the race for Christ and receive what heavenly reward He has prepared for me, so I can give it back to Him in worship. Something tells me that I'm in for a long painful ride, trying to die to myself, giving up attempting things first in my own ability before coming to God. Pray for me as I begin this journey.

Together standing tall

2009-03-21T20:20:00.001Z

Couldn't be prouder of the boys *tear*

I just wanna be a sheep babababa

2009-02-22T16:43:00.004Z

"I was hungry and you gave me no meal,
I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
I was homeless and you gave me no bed,
I was shivering and you gave me no clothes,
Sick and in prison, and you never visited"

When I think about these verses, after I have fed the hungry, quenched the thirst of parched, gave a bed to the homeless, clothed the naked, visited the prisoner, where on earth am I gonna find time for anything else? Having a nine-to-five job is a massive inconvenience to being able to do these things. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to give it up, and rely totally on God's providence as I try to live out this passage.

Of course there is a scope for having professionals, who can give of their richer resources, but I think there is something to be said for taking such a step of faith of being in a place where you are fully trusting in God for every little thing that you receive. Personally for me, I am finding less of a need for God's providence in my life with having a stable job, because it's easy to look after myself. It seems that God is a convenient appendage to my life, to pick me up when I make a mess. I don't want it to be like that. I want to be like the sheep, who realise that this scripture is not a optional extra, who when they did all these things to the least of brethren, they did it unto Him.

"Then those 'goats' are going to say, 'Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or homeless or shivering or sick or in prison and didn't help?' He will answer them, 'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.' Then those 'goats' will be herded to their eternal doom, but the 'sheep' to their eternal reward.

With great joy comes great tragedy

2009-02-16T23:23:00.005Z

It's with much gladness that I can announce that Searchers cafe has indeed been saved. I am not entirely sure of the details but for the meantime it remains open so praise God and thanks for everyone's prayers. However the joy from this news has quickly submerged as we found out that one of our dear friends whom we met through the café, has passed away.

I think if Cliff were here to see so many tributes to his life put down in writing he would be infinitely moved because I don't think he would have been aware just how many people cared about him. Much is made of his circumstances and the sad news of his death, but we can celebrate the fact that the closing chapters of his life were spent as part of a new family, the family of God. He finally got to glimpse what real faith looks like, and that truly is a blessing.

The world has lost a beautiful soul, and I can only pray that heaven has gained it. There seems to be so many tragic things happening. Hearing the news of the death of a great man of faith, Gareth Proctor; learning about the genocides and ongoing wars in Central Africa, it just moves my heart into a place of deep helplessness.

It feels like it is just too overwhelming to solve all the worlds problems, it makes you just want to give up. I mean where do you start, the cure for cancer? poverty, injustice, terrorism, tracifficking, corruption, financial crisis, global warming, knife crime, hatred....... the list goes on. Boy have we made a mess of God's 'good' creation, may God forgive us.

But in all of this mess, we are called to hope, Christ in us the HOPE of glory. Yes the worlds problems are too great for us to do on our own, that's why we need to unite as one body, to do it together, piece by piece, in the power of His name. We are told in God's word that if we had faith the size of a mustard seed we could literally command a mountain to move and it would be so. I mean I usually glaze over that verse, but are you serious God, can I really, verbally, communicatically, kinetically move a mountain?

And if that is the case then why hasn't anyone moved a mountain before, is it because we are so faithless that our combined faith doesn't even amount to as much as a mustard seed? Come on people! Lord give us the faith that we can't seem to give ourselves. Peronally I believe we have moved some mountains in Jesus name, they just aren't always what we expected. But then again we as a species have never really been very good expecting the things of God. One thing is clear though, we are in desperate need of Him.

Save Searchers

2009-01-26T22:42:00.005Z

Searchers cafe is apparently set to close at the end of February. For those if you who have never heard of Searchers, it is a small venue, just off Shaftbury Square, right in the heart of the city ran by Belfast City Mission.

Cafe by day, venue by night, this wee gem has been touching the lives people from Belfast for years, but the use of the venue is pending review, and they plan to close the cafe from the end of February. This place has been a long term place of refuge for the homeless, a few of whom I have had the priviledge to meet in my short experience of Searchers, and it would be a crying shame for them to lose such a place, where there has been great opportunities to cross the social divide.

If you feel called to act, please write a letter to David Kennedy, Belfast City Mission, 1st Floor Glengall Exchange, Belfast, BT12 5AB.

worship Part 3...

2009-01-26T01:38:00.000Z

I have decided to complete my limited thoughts on posts I made some time ago on worship. Click here and here to see. They were in part inspired by a lack of worship music with meaningful lyrics, something I am still struggling with. One album I have enjoyed though has been Tim Hughes - Holding nothing back.

But then since when is worship music got anything to do with my tastes. In fact it's probably this very attitude that holds many back from truly engaging with God in traditional church services. Perhaps we should worry less about ourselves and ask the question "What did God get out of this service".

Another contentious issue in churches is the role of women in leadership but just for the fun of throwing it in the pot; one of the earliest references in scripture of someone "leading worship" was a woman - Miriam, Moses & Aaron's sister. See Exodus 15:20.

Most of these thoughts on worship have unfortunately revolved around music (probably because it seems the most obvious, and music can powerfully move a man's soul), but there is so much more. Romans 12 talks about using our bodies in worship.

"In view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship"

This about using our gifts for his glory, and not for our own purposes. This is picking up something for someone when they have dropped it, without ulterior motive. It's about living our lives in purity and with humility, this is how we worship every second of every day.

Why do we worship? Well Paul tells us just before that verse of God's greatness, then also states in view of His mercy, we should offer ourselves as living sacrifices. The word worship comes from the term worth-ship which broken down means "to be in the condition of worth". And that's exactly it, we worship for He is worthy!

The great thing is we are already worshippers. Man was made for worship. We all worship something whether it be God, another god, money, sex, possessions, golden cows, football teams. We have just lost our way a little. If only we could tap into some of that passion we can show at football matches for God's purposes.

On a more personal note, I have been going through a particularly hard time at the moment and it has been in this desert place I have felt God closest in my life. I think some of the purest worship we can give as humans, is to give God our all, even when we suffer, and I really hope I don't miss my opportunity to do that.

One other thing. I think worship is best done together.

new year, same saving grace

2009-01-03T13:24:00.001Z

This is going to sound silly, and will only prove how little I understand the Gospel but every new years eve as the midnight hour approaches I become more and more anxious on the inside that trumpets will sound and Jesus will come back riding on the clouds.

A few things come to mind in particular. One: Why on this day more than others would Jesus return, didn't the Bible say it would be like "a thief in the night" and why aren't I just as anxious every other day of the year. Secondly, and more importantly, what am I anxious about? Surely I am saved and there is nothing to be worried about as paradise awaits me.

The truth is it seems that on this night I am made most aware of my need for God's grace, that I have no hope on my own, and I fear that there is some part of me that has stopped the fullness of God's grace in my life. But I am going to view this awareness of my need to God's saving grace as a good thing, and say that this is an attitude I need to have all year round. I need to realise that I am a sinful man of carnal nature, and am in desperate need of His grace every day. It would be a dangerous thing to get complacent about. So this is going to be my main resolution for this year.

Resolutions are a funny thing. They are tackled with renewed strength and determination with a new year. Is there any surprise then that we fail so often to keep these with such shaky motivations. It's often quoted that we need to live in God's strength, but in time I find we forget this and go back to doing it in our own. So my prayer is that we will always be aware of the need for His strength also.

2 Cor 12:7 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8 Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

What an amazing verse. At first, it's our nature to despair at our weaknesses, and we try our best to improve, even asking God to take them away. What Paul is telling us here is that we are to be thankful for our weakness! For without them God can not use us, for there is no weakness in us that He can use to made strong, and be glorified. I think God chooses to use the weak, so that when He does amazing things through us, there can be no mistake that it was Him and not us!

Last year I made these resolutions: -

1/ To be closer to knowing what I'm doing when I graduate - I feel like I know this a bit better now. God has got me dreaming again. I have also taken a job with the Northern bank ~ i did not see that one coming!
2/ I want to be more bold in my faith - err, I'll let God be the judge of that one!
3/ And to stop biting my nails! - completely and utterly failed lol!

My other resolution this year is to do with small talk. I'm finding myself having less and less energy for small talk. It's great to greet one another affectionately, but why do we feel the need to follow the same monotonous protocol of asking the same questions and giving the usual responses. This is one of the many things I am also a hypocrite of, and so I (in God's strength of course!) will try to get better at. This has been in part the inspiration for changing my blog name from "scorah's small talk"!

Remember... "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. " ~Phil 4:13

beautiful mournes

2008-12-28T00:38:00.003Z

Yesterday we spent a day dandering through the mourne mountains with some guys (and gals!) from our church. I've been finding great joy of late just spending time in the glorious nature God has provided for us here in NI. A lot of people will talk about the beauty of other places in the world that they have visited like there was nothing more beautiful to be beheld, and I'm sure there are other places of great pulchritude (<-- that one's for you norman!) but as the proverb Travis once wisely quoted goes... the grass always seems greener on the other side.

I think we have been truly blessed in this country with it's outstanding beauty, and in particularly the mournes. There is something mystifying about this places that's captures my heart and imagination. I can see myself doing a lot more exploring.

< - below is a picture of where we went yesterday Loughshannagh/Slieve Doan. One of the unsung heroes of the mournes. It has a wonderful view from the top overlooking most of 7 over 700m as well as lough shannagh and silent valley. There is also some fun rock climbing to be done on the top. If you have any other tips please let me know! - >

numbers can deceive.

2008-12-23T23:59:00.002Z

I remember reading recently that there is more to averages than meets the eye. For example the GDP per capita in the UK and end of year 2007 was roughly £20,000. Which means the average amount of money each person earnt per year was £20,000. However how many people in the UK actually earn this? the answer is not many. When you take into account the over inflated (to put it politely!) salaries of a few fat cat millionaires, that number is only brought back down to size due to the many people living amongst us living under the poverty line.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we brought back the great Jewish tradition, the Year of the Jubilee, and evenly shared out all our wealth every fifty years regardless of whether you contributed five quid or five million. We would all be earning twenty grand a year! That'll soon sort out the credit crisis!

So the moral of the story is don't always believe in averages, if you did you might be led to believe that...

"Those with 2 feet have an above-average number of feet"

Crazyness.

fear

2008-12-08T22:05:00.013Z

Some good quotes about fear

I was ice-skating with elevate last friday, and I discovered that the less I feared the fall, the faster I learnt and the more exhillerating was the ride. It lead me to some brainstorming thoughts about fear that I have been pondering recently...

If we give in to fear we will never reach the heights of our potential, in all God that has for us. We will not live life, nor life in it's fullest.

Fear is like a cancer that grabs a hold of our lives and starts infecting every aspect of it.

There is only one thing that should be feared and that is a holy fear for the Name above all names.

what does the God's word tell us to do ...

fear not

... 365 times.

hd projectorness

2008-12-05T00:29:00.002Z

This is where my geeky side comes out. I recently bought an HD projector for a very reasonable amount of money. I have it on my wall at the moment covering 100inches. (picture below in comparison with a standard tv), without compromising any of the hd quality. It's been amazing to watch my favourite tv shows and have people round to play games on it, but I hope to give it some real purpose in the future.

Part of me feels quite bad about spending a significant sum of money on a luxury item like this. I guess at the time I viewed it as a bit of a Birthday/Christmas/Comfort present to myself. I justified it by saying I am working and saving hard this year, this was my one treat, but there really isnt any excuse is there!

Anyway, the Optoma HD700X comes highly recommended to anyone interested out there.

Advent

2008-11-30T20:10:00.009Z

When most people think of advent they think of calendars, chocolates, Christmas, candles. A quick google search for advent and I had to go to page 3 to find anything real about advent (save for good ol wikipedia!)

Advent comes from the latin adventus which means 'coming' so in essence advent is about waiting for something that is coming

Queuing, Traffic, Doctor's surgeries, packages, are all examples of times we have to wait, and they are all things we associate with frustration. Waiting is something we are not very good at. It's not very attractive and it's not a very popular discipline in this western culture where we want everything 'Now', we don't like to wait.

Advent however is all about waiting for the coming of the saviour, the coming of the one who will set the captives free. It's about making straight the path for the coming of the Lord as John the baptist said.

The scriptures have several references to waiting: -

Ps 27: Wait for the Lord, be strong and let your heart take courage

Ps 37: Those who wait on the Lord will inherit the Land

Is 40:31 "But those who wait upon God get fresh strength, they spread their wings and soar like eagles, they run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind."

So what is involved in waiting? Waiting involves reflecting, repenting, resting, longing, hoping, expecting, trusting in His timing.

'Waiting on the Lord' seems somewhat of a lost art in our culture, even in our prayer lives, for myself anyway I find it hard to spend time just waiting for God to speak. But there is something to be said for waiting on Him. Isaiah 35 promises of a desert is bloom as we wait for the saviour. Waiting builds

Strength
relationship with the King
disclipine (- early adveters in the 5th century used to go on 6 week fasts!)
waiting enables us for the future
It brings discernment for when to act..

..and that is the key - knowing when to move into action. I think we have an itchy feet syndrome where we feel like we must make something happen, something we are taught from youth that if you want something you have to go get it. But sometimes I think God is just asking us to wait for His prompting, because when we try to do things in our own strength we only end up messing it up!

more unexpected beauty

2008-11-22T23:23:00.000Z

Refering back to this I just wanted to give a wee update. I found out that man who wrote that, his name is Dave, and it turns out that he is wonderfully creative. It seems obvious but this is a pattern I have come to see more and more with homeless people.

I have found amazing talent, great faith, and brilliant banter with these brothers & sisters, that as the title suggests was rather unexpected. The thing is now, it seems ridiculous that I have thought any differently, I mean why wouldn't these people be all those things, after all they are made in the image of God.

The hard thing is getting past that first barrier of awkwardness; that vaguely patronising attitude that we 'the Christians' carry when we go trying to live out the great commission. As soon as we realise that the guys we meet are real people, with real stories and colourful lives, real bonds of kinship can be formed.

I speak of this because of a few people I have met on the streets. They are amazing singers, story tellers, comedians, graceful and great carers for each other. I say graceful for one particular ugly incident where a friend of mine was refused entry into church, but was willing to forgive and give me a second chance to try and bring the Fathers grace into his situation. He has faith, so pray that God will be so very close to him, that he would be able to find a house, and that we would be able to help him as he seeks rehabilitation from the things that hold him back.

sowing a seed

2008-11-16T23:39:00.003Z

Some of you may recognise the picture that has been my bebo picture for as long as I remember (see below), well something the minister said in church this morning got me thinking about this.

Luke 8: 5 ~ "A farmer went out to sow his seed. Some of it fell on the road; it was tramped down and the birds ate it. Other seed fell in the gravel; it sprouted, but withered because it didn't have good roots. Other seed fell in the weeds; the weeds grew with it and strangled it. Other seed fell in rich earth and produced a bumper crop"

For the majority of my Christian life I have felt that I am one of those lucky people whose seed fell on 'good ground', and that God was going to use my life to produce a hundredfold crop. However with every passing day, with the many times that I mess up, I am beginning to realise that there is weeds in my garden that need to be rooted out. Sometimes I fear that the seeds never fell on good soil in the first place. So my prayer is that God would plant new seeds in my life that fall on good ground, and produce a bumper harvest for His Kingdom and glory.

As I pondered some more, I began thinking that this problem is deeper than I first imagined, much deeper than just the weeds surrounding my own life. We live in a western culture that has thorns and vultures everywhere. We have abused our lands so far that there is barely any good soil left to plant in. Financial security, comfort in our churches, distant acts of kindness, image & media, and much more are choking the life out of the seeds God has planted in our lives. I believe we need to 'root' this things out of our lives if we are ever see our seeds grow into the full fruition that God has for our lives.

And this is were the hypocrisy begins, the challenge for me and others is to actually start living out these words, and stop talking about them.

fantasy tennis

2008-11-16T20:13:00.004Z

Well I can't believe it's that time again, the tennis season has come to a close. Most women I know are relieved when the football season is over, but I doubt most people even know when the tennis season is. Well I'll tell you, it runs from January to October with a big end of season tournament in November.

Speaking of said tournament, that was played this week where the worlds best 8 players from the season come head to head for one final showdown. It involved the like of Roger Federer, new world no.1 Rafael Nadal, and for the first time Britain's Andy Murray. The eventual winner was Novak Djokovic in an unexpected final with my least favourite player Nikolay Davydenko. Murray had a descent run too, winning all of 3 his group games (including Federer), only to go out in the next round.

This season, since March I have been playing a fantasy tennis game kind of like what you get with fantasy football. The idea was to choose who you thought would win each of the first round matches for all of the masters series events, and then guess who would progress through the draw based on those predictions. The further your 'picks' got in the tournament, the higher the points were on offer. I had some really good tournaments and some not so good, but I was very almost rewarded for my conistant picking. After 8 tournaments, I finished 12th from 23,033 players, and had Roger Federer not pulled out injured in the Semi-finals of the last tournament, there was a pretty good chance I could have won the whole thing (The grand prize being £1000 and an all expenses paid trip for 2 to any tournament of my choice!).

I was livid having been so close, but still pretty proud of my efforts! So hopefully when I make a tennis prediction now it carries some sort of credibility, and next year I'm gonna predict the following. Andy Murray has a lot of points to gain in the first half of next season, with poor efforts in the aus open, early masters series and clay court season this year. He is ranked 4th in the world, which will mean being seeded to make at least semi finals in big tournaments which should make it easier for him to progress through the draw, instead of having to face the likes of Nadal in the 4th round! I expect more of the same from rafa, dominating on clay, and trying to be more competitive on hard court. I think Djokovic will always be a danger, but I think he lacks the legend factor that Nadal and Federer clearly have. Speaking of Roger - I wouldn't write him off just yet, he will not be pleased with how things have went this season, and he will want to prove everyone wrong, and get back to no.1, and I think he certainly could do it. Lastly my one to look out for next season - well there are a few. Jo-Wilfred Tsonga and David Nalbandian (if he ever shrugs off that false dawn syndrome!).

The picture below is evidence for my efforts in the fantasy tennis league (I am antykz, click to enlarge). To play next season log on to http://challenge.atptennis.com

learning from our mistakes

2008-11-11T00:33:00.002Z

I am not an advocate of war of any kind, but I would just like to remember the millions of people that died to protect freedom in the many wars that have past, and also the atrocity of the jewish holocaust. The numbers of deaths and suffering seem meaningless to us, they are just numbers, but these were real human beings who bled and died.

So we should remember them, and learn from our mistakes. The problem is, despite centuries of war, killing and suffering, we still haven't learned from those tragedies past to stop. You think especially after 2 world wars, we would get the point. It's almost like allowing those who died before us die in vain. I believe in a God of peace, and my prayer is that one day we would seek peace, love and joy over death and suffering.

mr president elect

2008-11-06T00:14:00.000Z

Well just about everyone seems to have an opinion on this, so I guess I'll share mine too. Listening in to some of the UTV news items, I can't understand why Northern Ireland has such an interest in American politics, like it really is going to have a massive influence here. I'm pretty sure this small little island isn't too high on the agenda of a new President who has been left to pick up the pieces of a global recession with $11 trillion debt and 2 tragic wars that have only incited racial hate to a new extreme. However electing a first ever African American president speaks volumes for a country who now finally seems to put to bed it's own deep ingrained inner racism, which God willing will have an effect on the rest of the world (including N.Ireland's sectarian culture).

The election itself has proven to a bit of a landslide with Mr President Elect Obama taking more than twice the amount of electoral college votes than that of his competitor John McCain (349-162). The democrats now hold quite significant majorities in both the house and the senate (254-173 & 54-40 respectively). So this means any agenda that Mr Obama may have will be quite easy to put through the American 'parliament' so to speak. This creates the ability to run a small dictatorship with not enough power coming from the opposition. So with such great power comes great responsibility and it is our duty as Christians to be praying for the new President elect, that the Holy Spirit will guide his decisions, and the he will pursue peace, mercy and love rather than the ways of his predecessor ("Blessed are the peacemakers ~ Matt 5:9). Consitutionally speaking of course the President elect has no power until his inaugaration in January.

As Mr Obama himself so often mentioned it is indeed time for a change. The American public are tired of the bush/republican rule, in the same way we here in the UK are tired of the Blair/Brown/Labour government. No dount the tories will get back in soon, and like Obama will be left to pick up the pieces of a crippled economy. They will have to make some tough unpopular decisions to get their respectibe countries back on their feet, which could prove their downfalls in 4 to 8 years time. But that is inevitable as people will eventually get tired and want a change, and so the cycle continues.

See Dave's blog for something pretty funny about pre-election. Also see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7708238.stm for an interesting article on what all this means for the future.

prison

2008-11-01T00:01:00.000Z

I am not one who particularly knows much about prison (never having done any time myself!) or even had a particular heart for prison work (another being international students but thats for another time), and if I was being entirely honest I still struggle with developing a passion for it, but what I do know is that God wants us to have a compassion for the people who are on the inside (and friendships with the int. students!)

Firstly, in the bible it was seen as a good thing to have been thown in prison for your faith. But the men and women in prison need to know about the love of the saviour, and the grace of the creator, and it is our responsibility to bring it to them, and what a witness it could be!

There was a recent debate about the prisoner/victim recovery schemes, and that there was an issue in that there seemed to be more emphasis on rehabilitating convicts rather than helping victims. I think there should be a balance, and that it is important that both have the opportunity to receive grace equally, as none of us deserve our second chances. Wasn't it Jesus who told a criminal on the cross that today we would be in paradise with him.

It also got me to thinking that we treat our prisoners really well. Shelter, daily food, clothes, bed, activity, education. That's all far more effort that what we do for our homeless law abiding citizens, and there is definitely an injustice there. It would almost be profittable for a homeless person to commit a crime and be put in prison (except maybe that freedom is more important)! It made me think about my own efforts with the homeless. For example when we bring them food, we might bring them some and bread. But as one homeless person rightly corrected me, we would feed bread to the pidgeons, how much more should we be doing for a brothers and sisters on the street and in poor countries.

So it's time to pray for the prisoner, the homeless, the international student, those on the fringes of society for those are the people who Jesus says are Blessed (matt 5). And not only to pray, but to be the pray you ask for. Be the food giver, the clother, the one who introduces the life giver to the broken.

really old deeds

2008-10-27T21:45:00.001Z

I found these really old deeds in work (The Northern Bank) last week, way back in the late 18th century! How awesome is that? - they were so old that they were literally handwritten, and were beautifully scribed as well. The thing that blew my mind away is that a human being with a real life like you and me sat down one day over 225 years ago and wrote this out, knowing little how one day I, Chris Scorah would stumble across them. So I guess I had better be careful of what footsteps I leave behind for someone in the future to find.

For those who don't know what title deeds are, basically it is the legal document stating the exact owener of the property, which also includes the history of every owner the property has had. The crying shame is that people are trying to push through legislation that old documents like this one should be destroyed and only the latest kept. See if you can guess the exact date of these deeds from the pic below (leave a msg if you think you have it!)

unexpected beauty

2008-10-23T01:00:00.003+01:00

A homeless person wrote this poem for some Christians who had been hanging out with him, and I thought it was beautiful, Lord bless that man.

Looking for the lost

But found the most

In yourselves

and so much more.

early bird

2008-10-14T23:36:00.003+01:00

I've been feeling rather lethargic of late with working in an office all day and not getting any excercise, so I decided to try out a few exercises to see what I liked. I tried a bit of cycling, and running but eventually I came across early bird swimming, and I have to say, I love it! It's so peaceful in the morning, and the people around you just want to get on with the swimming (which is great if you're not really a morning person like me!) and you feel really refreshed to tackle the day ahead of you when you get out. I fully recommend it!

The one down side to it was the first day I tried it I got the biggest mouth ulcer in history! I couldn't enjoy food for over a week! I've only just started getting over it now. If you have any good mouth ulcer remedies, please let me know!

heroes

2008-09-23T03:06:00.005+01:00

All my favourite tv shows are returning after the writers strike in America e.g. prison break, chuck, heroes (and 4 in January!) and I'm very excited! Back on my recent theme of heroes (see this.) I loved the first 2 seasons and the first new episode was great with....

The show makes it seem real and very possible to have such seemingly super human powers. It is also good and making the heroes seem very human. This series has opened really well, completely shattering what you initially think about some of the characters. I think deep down inside of everyone there is a desire to be the hero. To have something extra-ordinary about themselves, to be the person that everyone looks to, and someone who leaves a legacy, where times has no bounds.

The problem with all these characters, Hiro, Peter, Superman is that they are all fictional, but the good news is, we have actually had some super human heroes in our time. People like Paul the apostle, the twelve disciples. More recently Martin Luther King and Mother Theresa. But the most important of all, someone who does actually transcend through time. He's our Maker, He's our Lover, He is Jesus. He has defied death and Hell, He heals the sick, He has defeated principalities and powers. He is the one true real Hero for mankind. Why should we be star-studded by the likes of David Beckham, when we have met the maker of the universe! The amazing thing is He asks us to be heroes with Him and work together, and all we have to do is believe that He died to save us. Man that is such amazing grace.

my first nerd project

2008-09-15T03:05:00.003+01:00

Over the summer I have been coding a record storing database for the SOS bus charity. The system inputs data through the use of forms and stores them in a record base format. It stores information about visitors, volunteers and night shifts. It can perform statistical analysis and search queries based on pretty much an critieria you want and it also has nifty import/export and password systems that I am particularly proud of.

One problem was that I programmed in Visual Basic and had to use Microsoft Excel as a front-end, as this was a user specification. Personally for this kind of system Access would have been much easier to use, but Excel does provide some nifty statistics functions. Other alternatives would have simply hard coding with Java/SQL. See below for a pic! I also recently completed a simple record input form, with sort & search functions for the Northern Bank to make it easier for them to enter mortgage data. So if anyone out there is needing a records or office based solution or just any other minor programming why not give me a shout.

Look out for the possibility of bringing one of these bad boys to lurgan!

my foot take two

2008-09-13T21:11:00.004+01:00

Some people may remember the horrific picture of my left ankle after going over it when I was climing slieve commedagh a few years back. For those who have not yet seen it, or would like to be reminded, check the links below to see what I mean...

http://file010a.bebo.com/large/2006/04/11/00/250301291a575657356b667010685l.jpg

Well today it was the turn of my right ankle. I was bitten on Thursday by some repugnant little creature whilst playing tennis in the park during the twilight of the evening. I didn't think much of it, because I seem to get bitten regularly these days (although up until a few years back I never used to!), but today I felt a discomfort that can only be described like old woman ankles. So I rolled back my trouser-leg, pulled off my socks and lo and behold, my foot & ankle were the size of a cricket bat! I have no idea how such a little bite could cause such an angry reaction but there you have it. Just as a warning, if you are squeamish, you may just want to look away now...

On a philisophical note, apparently I have an above average number of feet.

Anyone for a cone of credit crunch?

2008-09-06T14:04:00.006+01:00

Melanie made a funny point the other day, that the term "credit crunch" sounds like a flavour of ice-cream, and I guess it does, wouldn't you agree? It seems all we ever hear on the news these days is fuel & energy crisis, cost-of-living increases (since when does living have a price?!), food prices rise, economy at record low, recession, credit crunch. The thing is no one is doing anything about it. For example we are still not building houses with standardised solar panelled rooftops. Oil prices are going down, yet the consumer sees nothing of it. The Reason? Same reason as it has been throughout the ages, people are making money from others suffering. Frankly, I am so sick of hearing about rising costs and didn't the Bible predict it anyway? And on that note that's all I am gonna say on the matter, so here's what I think a credit crunch ice-cream would look like!

my first wee car

2008-09-05T01:16:00.000+01:00

Six years, nine months and two days since my 17th birthday, and I have finally hit the road. I passed my driving test in August 2007, after a year of lessons (with a massive break in the middle). Now more than a year on from that I finally have got myself on the road.

I have a 2003 cyan renault clio billabong that I bought from my dad (who was purchasing a rather nice Ford Focus), and I was able to ensure for about a grand - not bad for a first time young driver I guess. I'm trying to think of a name, something dog-like perhaps because the window wiper looks like a dogs tail. So far I have come up with Sam-bo. Anyone got any suggestions?

knife culture

2008-09-01T00:01:00.001+01:00

Today's News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7590862.stm

This is something that really scares me in the UK at the moment. The idea that you could be walking down a busy city centre and get stabbed (or beaten) for just looking at someone the wrong way even in daylight!

There has been many prevention programs and tv adverts. These are great and I wouldnt want to give comment on any of them unless I had a better idea which I don't. However one thing that strikes me as odd is how can the government expect socially deprived young people to not hurt/stab/kill each other, when that very same government leads by the example of waging war and using violence on other countries that they don't like to get what they want.

Perhaps what we need is more for young people to do in these areas, such as community centres, parks etc, something to give them purpose. But I think we need to be more creative than that, to understand the culture that they live in. Also I truly believe that violence and sex in movies and video games that kids as young as 3 can easily watch is peverting their minds. Afterall whatever we take in through our eyes is what goes into our heart.

There's something very wrong about that and we need to do MORE. Perhaps showing a little bit of God's grace to our countries enemies, could be part of the way to diffuse the whole problem

well done china

2008-08-25T02:30:00.003+01:00

I have to say, love them or hate them, I love the olympics. I know they can be cheesy and i know people get fed up with their tvs forcing it down their throat for two weeks. However it is the one of the very few things that can bring every tribe and every tongue on this earth together in more or less harmony. I love the way all kinds of athletes, spectators and cultures come together for one big sporting celebration for 2 weeks every 4 years.

The olympics also brings a healthy competivity where nations can pit their best against each other, mutually enjoy it (win or lose) and not end up killing 1000's of each others citizens. It also allows people a very real opportunity to honour God by use their giftings to the maximum, and maybe even write the history books.

I have to say well done to china for putting this together. Despite all of the international disapproval over political grey areas I really don't understand, massive natural disasters only a few months back and fears of terrorism, this massive communist machine just got the job done and to the highest of standards. This can only be a good ambassador for the country to finally open up its doors to the rest of the world. I'm thankful to God that their were no attacks on the olympics. It's a sad thing that we even after to consider it. China even had an anti missile battery installed on-site in its main stadium.

Well done to GB for doing so well with 19 golds, 13 silver and 15 bronze and err nice try to Ireland. Here's hoping for an even better peaceful olympics in London in 2012.

Lord help us...

2008-08-22T00:13:00.009+01:00

Everything seems so pointless when stuff like this happens...

Madrid Plane Crash
20.08.2008

Pakistan Suicide Bomber
21.08.2008

Iraq
all-the-time

Does a woman have a right to choose?

2008-08-19T00:45:00.000+01:00

I realise abortion is a very delicate topic on it's own, but even more so for a man to talk about, because what do men know about it right? So I promise before i say anymore, I realise I am a man and I do not wish to offend anybody.

Mel and I were talking about this the other night, and we both would be what is widely considered to be pro-life (which is a fancy term for being against abortion). Then the questions came up about What if a woman was raped? or what if it is a danger to the mothers life? and I can totally understand those points of view, and I can't pretend for one minute that I know how hard it is to be in that position. However, what my gut instinct tells me is that abortion is not of God, fullstop.

In the case of a rape, I believe that almighty God is abundantly more capable of healing a woman from those scars completely. Also the child may bring much blessing to the mother and others around it, and it's hardly fair the child doesn't get the chance to live because of another man's evil-doing. In the case of life-at-risk I feel that we should put our trust in God to be the keeper of our souls. We aren't the ones who decide if we get another breath, not to mention the fact that God would want us to put our complete faith in Him to perform the miraculous and defy medicine. The Bible says he who tries to hold onto his life will surely lose it, but he who gives up his life for the sake of Christ will gain eternal life.

The bottom line, God is the soverignty on life. He is the one who knits us in the womb. He is also the one that returns us to dust. I just don't feel that any human being has the right to decide if another life lives (I believe life begins at conception), and that included the death penalty (but that's a story for another day!). That said, I do not feel it is the place for government to legislate abortion as legal or illegal, as sadly not everyone in this country believes that Christ came to save. As I read in irresistable revolution one thing is important for anyone taking a pro-life status, is that they had better be prepared to adopt some babies and help some single mothers.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7462934.stm

Caucus trouble

2008-08-15T02:07:00.003+01:00

Some when they hear about conflict in the caucuses think "what's new" but things have seemed relatively quiet in recent years in this volitile area. Sadly that changed as Georgia attacked south Ossetia region over alleged terrorist activity then Russia advanced on the Abkhazia region. Georgia is the north neighbour of the country I went to a few years back - Armenia, so I have a particular interest in this area.

Georgia was the 2nd country in the world suceeding Armenia to adopt Christianity as it's officical national religion in 312AD. It's a shame some of it's ancestory values haven't been adopted by this tiny forgotten about little country.

America has condemned the russian aggression on Georgia and has demanded their troops to fall back to Russia. Bush called it bullying a country trying to live in the free world (after seeking independance from the soviet union over a decade back). I thought to myself isn't Bush one to talk? What does he call Iraq then? He bullied his nations values and democracy on a small, comparatively defensiveless country just because he didn't like what was going on there? I am not saying that Georgia is on a par with Iraq, not even close, but the idea remains the same.

It's frightening however, how effective the Russian aggression was, much more so than the coalitions efforts were in the middle east. Perhaps that is what caused America to act. Or perhaps it was the fact that Georgia is a key ally in the transport of oil from east to west? Whatever the reasons, I pray that this conflict ends here, because I think this has the potential to escalate internationally, and the hundreds of lives lost already makes it tragic enough.

Today in Northern Ireland we marked the 10th anniversary of the omagh bombing disaster. This was an abominadable act, and it is right the the lives lost should be remembered. It got me thinking however, that we have rightly made such a big deal out of the 30 deaths that occurred in this one incident, but these kinds of incidents are happening everyday in Iraq where scores have lost their lives and we barely bat an eyelid? We need to put a face to these people like we have for Omagh in order to motivate people for change. I praise God that He moving is our little nation closer to reconcilliation and I can only pray that our example can be a light to the rest of a world in conflict.

Back in Georgia, this whole conflict is about two disputed pieces of land that both Georgia and Russia have both staked a claim on, but the actual population of the two regions just want independance from them both! It's an incredibly sad thing that nations wage war over something as trivial as land. Surely in God's kingdom there are no borders?

job hunting

2008-07-31T00:01:00.005+01:00

Since graduation in June from Maths and Computer Science I have been scaling the job market to finally get myself a 'real job'. So far I have completed 12 applications, 8 of which were unsuccessful, 2 are still pending, another 2 I got invited to attend an interview, and one of those I finally received a job offer - praise God - that being from the Northern Bank (which I have subsequently taken).

What I can not understand is the age-old argument of experience. Everywhere I looked it was 2 years experience this, 1 years experience that. How is anyone supposed to gain said experience if no-one is willing to give them that chance? I heard Great Victoria Street Spar had over 100 applications for just 2 customer advisor positions. The way they filtered the applications was to separate them into experience and non-experience and then binned the non-experience. What has the world come to? You don't need experience for a bottom-of-the-food-chain shop job, where you pack out shelves and serve on tills!

The reason for all of this is that I am giving consideration to doing a second degree in Youth & Community Work with Applied Theology to qualify me with the lawfully required JNC to work with young people. I do not wish to go further into debt so I am going to work this year to help pay for this 2 year course. It's amazing how unrelated all this is to Maths & Computer Science, but I guess that is how God works sometimes. It's for that very reason that I am keeping an open heart for the gentle whisper of God that could blow my plans completely out the window, because I really want this to be all about Him (see my post on Matthew 7 : 21-23). So please pray...

"All of my ambitions hopes and plans, I surrender these into your hands"

West Cork

2008-07-30T02:04:00.011+01:00

I had the pleasure of spending the last week on the Sheep's head (see below) near Bantry in West Cork. It took me over 12 hours and multiple bus journeys to get from Dollingstown to Bantry via Belfast, Dublin Airport, Dublin and Cork (see above). This magical place is less popular than others on our little Island but it has quickly become my favourite.

There is much to do around here such as fishing on Bantry Bay (see right), sailing in Adrigole, the market in Bantry, visit the many towns & islands, Ceiledh's in many local pubs, eating out at the many lovely restaurants around, climbing mountains (only in Ireland would you find mountains names Hungry Hill & Sugar Loaf!), or simply just savouring the local scenery which in my opinion is the best the country has to offer.

One place I have yet to go but would love to is Sherkan Island. I hear it has beautiful sandy beaches and an amazing surf!

women bishops, homosexuals and harems

2008-07-17T18:42:00.006+01:00

I am deeply concerned by the recent bad press the Church of England has been receiving with respect to women bishops and homosexuals (see Mark Russell's blog). Personally speaking, I am unsure of my position on women in leadership roles within the church. There are explicit verses in 1 Cor 14:33-36 and 1 Tim 2:11-12 that forbid women from teaching men in church, however it is sanctioned for women to pray and prophesy with their head covered in 1 Cor 11:5. In today's society, feminism has made the Gospel seem sexist. I think rather that the roles described for men and women in the New Testament suit the natural order of creation and that it should not be considered that hospitality, mercy, teaching and helps are lesser positions that pastorship and preaching. Click here to read more.

The other issue in the CoE is ordination and the sanctioning of marriage of homosexuals. I am often wary of positioning myself on either side of sensitive issues such as this one, so what I do say, I say with love, an open mind and I hope without discrimination. I find it hard to accept how the act of homosexuality can ever be described as not sinful. The bible makes this clear in both the old and new testament e.g. Lev 18:22, 1 Cor 6:9. However in a world that is obsessed with sex, Christians often fall into the trap of making this sin bigger than the rest. God will punish liars for their sins in the same way he will punish sexual sin. There will not be one Bishop in this world who can say he (or she lol!) has never lied. Everybody has a sin that is a "thorn in their side"; for some that will be lies, others lust, and some homosexual temptation. I say temptation because one has not sinned by being tempted by homosexual tendancies in the same way another has not sinned by being tempted to lie. The sin only occurs when the temptation has been been acted upon. Therefore i think that people who struggle with homosexuality can of course be in ministry as long as they do not act upon their temptations (which is the same for everybody!)

The problem with all of this is not everyone in the Church of England agrees on what is right on these matters, and it has caused threats of a split in the Anglican church, which is utterly ridiculous! This should never be a reason for splitting a church, I would like to think I wouldn't leave a church if it contradicted what I have stated above. It's not like these issues are fundamental to our salvation, and all this in-fighting and bitterness makes Christians seem old-fashioned and irrelavant to the rest of the world. Not only is it a terrible witness, but the church is already multi-denominational and it flies in the face of one of Jesus last requests to His Father - that His church would be united!

We need to show the world that Christ can unite us no matter what. I mean if Ian Paisley and Martin Maguiness can do it, why can't Christian men! Shane Claiborne wrote a funny and very appropriate line in his book Irresistable Revolution, "Jesus is returning, and we need to unite as one body because Jesus is coming back for a bride - not a harem!" Boy have we made a mess of God's amazing story! Praise God for his promise that I will build my church and gates of hades will not prevail against it.

A change of the guard? - Wimbledon 2008

2008-07-07T13:19:00.018+01:00

I must admit I have usually cringed at this statement this year as Roger Federer has had an incredibly difficult year battling with mononucleus (aka Glandular fever). People started writing him off months ago when Novak Djokovic beat him in the Australian open semi's, and after which having some shock losses. I couldn't believe this because this is Roger Federer, who has been (and still is for that matter) world no.1 since January 2004! Yes his year has not been up to his usual impeccable standards but even after that, the rest of the pack still haven't caught up.

This is reflected in the fact the Rafael Nadal won Wimbledon yesterday, and now owns 2 of the 4 grand slams in comparison to Federer's one, and is still behind him in the rankings! However, after Nadal beating Federer at Wimbledon (Federer's favourite surface where he had a 64 match unbeaten run), it would be difficult to argue now that Rafa is indeed the best player in the world at the moment. It leaves Federer needing to retain his US Open title in September, and have a great end-of-season run to have any hope of holding on to his no.1 spot, and perhaps more importantly for him, a chance of equalling Pete Sampras' record of 14 career grand slams to be considered the best player ever (Federer is on 12).

Yesterdays final was amazing, probably one of the best tennis matches I've watched ever, and I watch a lot of tennis! I am traditionally a Nadal fan, but I was won over by Federer's incredible heart to come back from 2 sets down, and facing championship points. Two of the best points you will ever see was Nadal's pass to get championship point in the 4th set tiebreak from an almost perfect approach shot from federer. Then only to have Federer save it with an equally as amazing pass from practically in the spectator stands (see video below). It was heart breaking to see him lose after such a fightback, and I felt so sorry for him when I saw his face at the prize-giving. I do hope he doesn't lose motivation like Borg did after such a demoralising defeat.

I think the match was more lost by Federer than won by Nadal, that is no disrespect to Nadal for he too played extremely well. Coming into the net is grass court tennis 101 and as the kind of grass, Federer should know that only too well, but he seemed reluctant to do this. In fact the whole first two sets he seemed scared to play his best shots. This is because Nadal is in his head and has been ever since that 5 set comeback in Rome 2006. Perhaps this rivalry would have a completely different look if Federer had won that. I said before the beginning of the match that Federer's serve would be key and I was proved right, for when he served well, Nadal could not get close to his service games, but in each of the 1st, 2nd and 5th set Federer lost his focus and played some mindless points which cost him the sets. What did work for Federer was playing the dangerous yet if done right, successful tactic of playing wide to Nadals's forehand to open up a show at the backhand wing. Perhaps this will be a feature in a future Federer comeback?

I myself had the luxury of going to wimbledon this year for the second and third round. I got to see Federer, Nadal, Serena play Mauresmo, David Ferrer and Mario Ancic, Chris Eaton and Maria Sharapova. Speaking of Sharapova, she played absolutely rubbish, practically every point was an error, and it was terrible to watch. In fact (without trying to sound sexist) I found most of the womens matches error-strewn this year. The best match I saw was Ferrer vs Ancic. It was high quality tennis throughout with long rallies and by the end the crowd were really into it.

The new brit - Chris Eaton was a surprise package. He serves and volleys very well and is a bit like Tim Henman in that respect. I don't think he will quite reach the heights of Henman/Murray but I do think he can beat the rest of the british men into the top 50. Which is good news for all round for British tennis as the women are coming on much stronger now with outstanding perfomances from Anne Keothvathong and the Junior champion, Laura Robson.

I would recommend Wimbledon to anyone, it's worth trying at least once as it's great fun (even the queuing overnight!) and the quality of tennis can only be appreciated fully watched live. In saying that next year I think I will be up for something different and head the the dirt of Roland Garros! Check out my photo's on bebo

Jericho

2008-06-29T22:27:00.004+01:00

I wanted to recommend an under-rated, relatively-unheard of tv show called Jericho. It is about a small town in Kansas, USA supposedly 200 miles away from Denver. The main plot is that a nuclear acttack has occurred in Denver and the people of Jericho can see the mushroom cloud. Panic ensues as to what happened, and their worst fears were realised when they discover that this attack is much larger than first thought

The whole first series captures your imagination not only as they unfold the mystery behind the attacks but more so the way they work out each of the new roles and relationships between the characters as they learn to rebuild in the strange new world with power, fuel and food shortages.
I will not give any spoilers but you should definitely try this show. This is up there with my favourite shows such as Prison break, 24 and heroes.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jericho-Season-1-Skeet-Ulrich/dp/B000RHUERU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1214777087&sr=1-2

Animal Rescue

2008-06-19T01:01:00.002+01:00

I love it when your day doesn't go at all how you expected it to. Yesterday, I went to dungannon to spend some quality time with my girlfriend Mel. She had just picked me up from the bus station and were off doing our usual random things when we spotted a dog at the side of the road.

This poor creature looked miserable. It was camped in the busheds at the side of a country road, soaked through to the bone from the torrential rain we had just had. We couldn't just leave it there so we stopped the car and tried to coax him over, but it was too nervous and wouldn't come near us.

After several failed attempts, Mel went to the shop and came back with tesco value ham, and that seemed to do the trick. However, the dog had a limp, a bleeding mouth and just generally looked confused so we decided we should take him (yes we estblished at this stage that he was indeed a him!) to the vet and tried to get him into the car. But the dog wasn't having any of it, so we call Mel's mum over for help.

Sure enough Dr dolittle herself got him into the car, and we got him to the vet for a little TLC. There was no way though we were gonna allow the vet hand him over to the dog warden just to be put down, he was a gorgeous black lab! So in the morning we came back and collected him in order to find him a home. Praise God, his owners had contacted the dog warden about their missing black lab, and they put the 2 together.

Turned out his name was giggsy. It was sad to part with him after our ordeal, and it got me thinking that if we put all this effort in just for a stray dog, how much more should I be doing this for our homeless people. Despite failed attempts to lure the dog over, despite failed attempts getting him in the car, despite not knowing where to bring him after the vets, we still did something, I mean where does our responsibility end?

Ireland says NO!

2008-06-13T16:05:00.003+01:00

Wouldn't have Ian Paisley been proud? Thank God Ireland said no to the Lisbon treaty. It may be the case that it is inevitable the EU will take over everywhere, but at least it has been stalled for now. There are too many "hidden shadows" with this bill, and way too much that the general public don't know what they're signing on to.

I have several issues with this bill. We would be handing over federal power to unelected officials in brussels, with no real accountability being handed back to local government, and by local they actually mean national. It would be much harder to pass laws appropriate to our situation. There are way too many diverse cultures in Europe to have them all generically governed in one place. If the President of a European superstate wanted to abuse his power, he could achieve hitler-like ambitions without the wars.

Apart from all that, the Irish fought for centuries for home-rule from Britain; why would they hand it all away to Europe now? At least the Irish have had some sense and shown an example to the rest of Europe that hopefully the UK will follow. If not, I would suggest that perhaps then would be the perfect time to unite Ireland, and stay away from the EU. Also isn't there something apocalyptic about the rise of a nation in the scriptures?

Matthew 7: 21-23

2008-05-22T16:55:00.003+01:00

I was reading this passage the other day, and as that happens with many who read the Bible, this was not the first time I have this scripture but this time I learnt something new from it.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

I thought to myself I try to do things in Jesus name, just as that verse describes, and I worried that one day Jesus would say to me 'I never knew you'. I think what this passage means is that if you do things (in the name of Jesus) but you are not really doing them for His will and glory, then you must be doing them for yourself and you will never get to truly know Jesus

I tried to apply to this to where I am at in my own life at the moment. I am trying to make big decisions now that I have finished Queen's in what to do next, and my big fear is that I will make a decision based on what I would like to do and not God's will for my life. For example I have had some ideas of things I would like to do in the future, and then I have prayed about them. I wish I had of prayed first, and then came up with those ideas, so that I could know they were from God! I don't want to pray about something because it is what I want. I would hate to wake up some morning and realise I've really been doing things for my enjoyment and not for God's pleasure and have Jesus say to me 'I don't know you'.

So please pray for me so that I can make decisions without being blinded by my own human ambition and that God would reveal His will to me and also that I would know Jesus more everyday.

city centre 24-7 prayer

2008-05-21T01:47:00.001+01:00

I was hugely encouraged by the sight of a prayer room in the main shopping area of the city centre of the capital of northern ireland...that's right Belfast!! In the old accessorise shop, the methodist church in Ireland had set up a temporary 24 hour, 7 day a week prayer room. It was amazing to see open doors and windows and being able to watch people pray from the busiest street in northern ireland. Curious people who maybe had no faith were able to get their first possible taste of their maker.

It's a shame it's only temporary, but wouldn't it be great if we could encourage a more permanent one in such an amazing location? Thank you Lord though, for what you have given us! For more check out this

Armageddon like

2008-05-16T16:45:00.002+01:00

One would have to be inhumane not to be moved by recent disasters in first burma and then china. So far the death toll is 40,000 (including many crushed school children) in china and 78,000 in burma with many more displaced and desolate. To many that is just a number but try to let that sink in for a while. They were human beings just like you and me with lives and families and there were enough of those people to fill wembley stadium twice over. That is tragic... in fact there are no words.

Once again the shallow western media haven't made a big deal out of this. They have barely made a front page yet the scale of the death and human displacement is tsunami like. When hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, we heard about it for over a month. Don't get me wrong that disaster was also terrible and it was right that we were made aware of the devastation for so long, but surely then don't china and myanmar deserve the same respect? Sure both are very closed countries, burma more so than china, but that should make us want to make even more effort.

China have actually got quite an impressive military regime that will have the worst affected areas up and running again in no time but the picture is bleak elsewhere, especially in burma. The UN chief Ban Ki-Moon is there today trying to force the issue of international aid. Please pray that the burmese government will give in to international aid so that the many left broken and homeless can get help they so desperately need. Also pray for the millions left behind from the disasters, that they would find help to rebuild their lives and comfort from loosing the ones they loved. You can also give at Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) by clicking here.

That's not all however. In South Africa angry mobs have broke out killing at least 40 and displacing up 15,000 other people. Read more on the BBC Website. Also at the start of the month there was the massive volcano eruption/electric storm which brought about some awesome fearworthy pictures. It is believed the volcano had been dormant for thousands of years! With all these disasters occurring in such a short space of time - that is weeks! - for me it all had very much an armageddon feel to it, with reference to Matt 24:7 (and various other scriptures) "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places."

Check out this amazing photo of the chaitan volcano

andy flan

2008-04-26T00:32:00.003+01:00

Just wanted to blog to say i love this mans music. I heard him for the first time at summer madness in 2001 and immediately I was affected by his worship leading. He writes quiet humble songs as well as joyful melodic ones. Some of the ones that I really like are (i hope I don't break copyright infringement here!): -

My soul praises the Lord - A joyful song taken from Mary's Song written in early Luke. It's all about being praiseful for the things God has done for us and the day of salvation to come

He has filled the hungry with good things
Sent the rich empty away
He has helped to servant Israel
and He still does it today

All I Am - A song that talks about our purpose is to give God glory but we try to hold on to our lives (he who gives up his life will gain eternal life)

Each perfect gift has come from you
Yet I cling tightly
I pray oh Lord, release my grip
So I give gladly
All I am, I offer to you..

Arms - This song is all about trade justice (something I am extremely passionate about), corrupt governments and arms dealings. The candid sheer truthful nature of this song really hit me the first time I heard it and still does

We'll give you the food we're the generous ones
But only if you buy our rockets and guns
A bullet tastes better than bread, or so they say
...
When the arms that you use
The arms that you use
Are the ones that are holding the children you lose
...
So take me away from these facts that I've heard
The back of my head is the place they deserve
Take them away so my conscience remains undisturbed

Fragile - This is one that has affected me more recently. It was written in the aftermath of the tsunami. This was a particularly gut wrenching time for Andy as he was a missionary on one of the islands that got washed up just 2 months before the wave hit. This song can empathise with anyone who has gone through such suffering.

The same waves that brought you crashing in in with joy
Are the same waves that leave your universe destroyed
And the same sand that once warmed this white man’s toes
Makes graves for your silent flesh and bone.
...
The same man that the winds and waves obeyed,
Is the same man who was the first one to know pain
same man could keep control of everything
same man knows more than me about suffering
So calm this overwhelming force
As earth and heaven seem divorced.

But why does life have to be this fragile?
Why is there a death so close to birth?
Why does life have to be this fragile?
Here on earth.

He has released two albums called 'Advertising the invisible' and 'Son' as well as being on a few Summer Madness live CD's. There is more as well and some good new stuff on his website http://www.andyflan.com (where you can also learn his mums cooking recipes!). You can also download most of his songs off itunes. It's amazing to think this 'wee' man came from portadown, but I am also surprised his songs aren't more well heard of!

Role Models

2008-04-26T00:11:00.002+01:00

I was reflecting the other day on some of the things I've become and the people who have influenced my life in so many amazing ways and I would just like to honour some of them here (there are others of course so don't feel left out!).

David McMullen -
This man is the epitomy of humility. His unquenchable thirst for only the things of God, and desire to do everything he can for the people around him, has really taught me alot. Thanks for all the lifts and encouragement mate.

Mark Russell -
When he was my youth pastor his passion and zeal for God used to stir up my heart. He was the man who convinced me to take God seriously. He has taught me so much about scripture and stepping out in faith as well as just being a good mate. He is an inspiration with the way God blesses his ministry because of his obedience to his calling.

Peter Fryer -
As good a friend as anyone can ask for. We have had so many class chats ranging from tennis geekiness to life and scripture. Despite being in different worlds most of the time he always makes time for me. He is an awesomely talented man in so many areas, and has given me example in how to get things done in life.

Melanie Baird -
My loving girlfriend. One of the few I can take constructive criticism from. Makes me wanna do better and be better. Doesn't let me away with anything short of my best. She has taught me how to love (in a totally non-cheesy way!)

and of course Jesus but that goes without saying...

The Fathers Love Letter

2008-04-24T00:07:00.000+01:00

I came across this a few years ago and it really moved me. Each line is based on scripture and it helps reveal the heart of God for us. Check it out and really allow the scriptures sink right in to your heart

No frequent flyer miles for me thanks!

2008-04-08T00:44:00.006+01:00

I was flying home from London the other day and my flight experienced some bad turbulance. It had been snowing earlier (which is strange enough for London) but it wasn't until we were out of the clouds and into clear air that the turbulance occurred. I reckon it may have been something to do with a shift in air pressure.

Anyway, I am a nervous flyer as it is, so my heart skipped quite a few beats while I was up there. Melanie was making the man beside her terrified! It's not the worst turbulance I've experienced though; that was when i came home from Majorca and took off into a tropical storm - where the plane's backside swung like a pendulum and when the air hostesses began to panic, we knew we were in trouble!

That day on the plane (simlarly with my recent flight), people were faced with the inevitable fact of their mortality, and it is amazing to see how many people all of a sudden turn to faith in such a time as that. People offering up prayers of help and repentance on the top of their voices, whether they believed before or not. I imagine a lot of people if faced with imminent doom like that would wonder what comes next and would turn to God. It's sad however that it would take something like that to do it.

I'm not so sure if it's even natural that men should fly. I think I think I'll take a boat more often. At least if a boat is in trouble, you have a chance of survival, but if a plane goes down - you have absolutely no chance! I suppose millions of planes fly every year, and very rarely do you hear of a horror crash, but speaking as a Maths student, I still don't like the numbers!

nutters in covent garden

2008-04-06T15:22:00.004+01:00

There is a class group of musicians who jazz up classical pieces of music and busk in covent garden. For those who see it often i'm sure the novelty would wear off but i think it's a great way to keep this genre of music alive amongst today's generation. Whilst they are playing the music they chase people around and play to them as well as just generally messing about, it's brilliant. Check out the video i took with my phone below.

laid on Him

2008-04-02T15:01:00.000+01:00

This is a moving song by lance someone. It reminds us of how wicked we are and how amazing God's salvation is.

All my sin me every kind
All the thoughts that stain the mind
All the evil i designed... laid on Him

All the ways my feet have strayed
All the idols i have made
All the times i have not prayed... laid on Him

All the told and acted lies
All the success and all the tries
Sins that i legitimize... laid on Him

All that sinks me in the mire
All the times of base desire
All that offer a cleansing fire... laid on Him

All my misdirected powers
All my many wasted hours
All my dreams of ivory towers... laid on Him

All that makes my spirit cold
All that keeps me from the fold
All that dims my Father's gold... laid on Him

All the times i've grieved the Spirit
All the nature i inherit
All the punishment i merit... laid on Him

Laid on Him, God's own dear son
Laid on Him, the Holy One
Blotting out the noonday sun... when laid on Him!

congrats my friends!

2008-03-27T15:47:00.003Z

I am so happy for my friends who tied the knot yesterday. So much contraversy surrounds marriage these days but there is just something special about these two that you know they are so perfect! It really was a beautiful day, and I wish them God's best for the future. Michael and John made a hilarious video about dave, so if I can get a link to it I wil put it up. You can find photo's on my bebo

It seems so many of my friends around me are either married, getting married or getting engaged. Excuse me if I sound cynical but it just seems to be that it's the latest fashion! (not the case with these guys though

Upside down kingdom

2008-03-23T02:31:00.002Z

I saw this video courtesy of Beth in youth cell, and I thought it was a great way of describing the kingdom of God. Do you ever wonder what heaven is like? We should really listen to Jesus in the Bible when he says things like "The kingdom of God is like..." because he would know!....

Happy Friday!

2008-03-21T11:09:00.009Z

My friend dave and I when we were in school used to go around on Friday's and randomly shake peoples hands and say "Happy Friday!". Well on this in particular Friday, I want to say happy Friday!

A lot people when they think of this day, think of how Christ died on the cross - the phyical pain he went through because he loves us; but I want to concentrate on a worse torture. When Christ died and took the punishment of our sins, He took on every sin every believer has ever made upon him. Imagine being at the right hand of God, completely sinless, entirely in love with His Father one minute, to the next where he is feeling, and being punished for over, 2000 years of millions of peoples sins. I can not even come infinitely close to comprehending what that must have been like, except to say thank you so much for saving my life Lord!

Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

So lets rejoice! So many Christians walk in condemnation of their sins (sexual, drinking etc..) and they forget that Jesus has already taken the punishment for that and you are forgiven! All those sins that hold you back have been nailed with Him to the cross. So put your faith in Him and stop letting satan condemn you because God has "disarmed" him of that, as only unforgiven can be condemned.

As it turns out today happens to be the Spring equinox (where the day and night are theoretically of equal length at the equator). It marks the coming of the Spring time where new life dawns. Lets take this opportunity to take the shackles of winter off, and live in the freedom that Christ won for us on the cross and let's blossom in our relationship with Him.

To finish I would like to mention that easter egg chocolate is outstanding! What is it about it that makes it taste so much better! If you know please comment!

hats in church?

2008-03-16T15:55:00.009Z

I was in church this morning and was reminded to write this because of something my friend Besty had said to me. Besty usually wears a 'beanie', and apparently some people were giving off, and this is why...

1 Cor 11:2-onwards "..keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. 3 But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonors his head. 5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head...13 Judge among yourselves. Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?...16 But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God.

So here we see paul establishing the tradition that men should not cover their heads but women should whilst in worship. However what people tend to miss when talking about hats in church is that paul opens the paragraph declaring that he was establishing a tradition, not a commandment! Furthermore he reiterates this in the closing of this section by suggesting that if the issue causes arguments then not to worry because not even his church or any other church of God, strictly adhere to this, as it is not a commandment. It clearly does cause arguments in today's church, so lets take pauls advice and not be a bad witness to the world by bickering over something as unimportant as head dressings in church.

I would also love to know where people get the whole "women must wear skirts" and men must dress respectfully. Yes I know you would want to look your best for God but doesn't it say in His Word "come as you are?" and besides who decides what items of clothing are respectful and what aren't? It's these very things that people can be put off the church!

There are indeed some very wacky hats around churches these days, ranging from the minimilistic to royal ascot!

Fair trade fortnight

2008-02-26T03:45:00.000Z

Fair trade is an important step forward in the development of 3rd world countries and justice for all men. We should strive to be more aware of where our products have come from, and try to buy those which are ethically made. The next couple of weeks is called fair trade fortnight and it runs from 25th February to 9th March. Please do check out the website and see what is going on near you and use this opportunity to find out more about fair trade.

Child proctection annoyance

2008-02-24T02:13:00.003Z

As I am writing this post I am fearful that this going to come back to me in a job interview someday so I pray to God that won't happen! My grumbling is about our countries current child protections policies. Do not get me wrong, I understand comepletely why they exist, and fully agree about their importance, but I have to be honest, I get frustrated with child protection sometimes.

I have been through so many child proctection courses for different things. Usually about 3/4 every year. To be perfectly honest they are not the easiest thing to stay focused in especially when you've heard the same thing so many times! What I don't understand is why I have to go through a separate course for every little thing that I do? Surely some of the previous ones should count? I think they should come up with some sort of certificate as they have with first aid and food health & safety, which can be topped up after a few years declaring that somebody has been through child protection training.

It seems unfair that for a few disgusting people in the world, the rest of mankind has to suffer for it. Besides what child abuser is going to stand up in one of these CP courses and admit they are one? The thing that annoys me most is that when a child is upset, or has injured him/herself, you are not allowed to initiate comforting that child in the fear the someone may perceive it as inappropriate. It's inhumane to not want to take care of an distressed child! It is against our human nature not to take sympathy and want to help.

It is right that we should extremely cautious when it comes to our children. Still we should strive to do more to meet the balance of protection and loving care for them. I wonder what Jesus would do?

singletons day

2008-02-15T22:04:00.003Z

Valentines day is many things, but in my humble opinion, it is not romantic....

What is so romantic about people being bullied by society into buying expensive gifts and paying twice as much as normal for dinner. Some might say that it is sweet to make the effort and it's the thought that counts, but it is hardly an effort to buy a stereotypical present, on a day you have been told to by everyone else; I mean where is the imagination in that! We should celebrate our love for each other every single day, not just one!!

I also have a certain distain for the day because it makes single people feel like crap. Melanie and I haven't really done anything big for vday. This year was kept low key in that we made each other dinner, and painted pictures for each other. I was proud of my effort in the cooking because I made a masala sauce from scratch!

Anfield legends tour

2008-02-11T00:01:00.000Z

My brother and I took my dad on the Ultimate Anfield legends tour (also paid for by my mother!) for his 50th *cough* i mean 30th birthday. It was a classic day out which actually started the day before. We flew over to Liverpool quite early on Thursday morning, so we were able to check out some of the sites and buy some souvenirs while we were there. We had a surprise for him lined up after lunch, as we invited his sisters to come join us. It was a really brilliant time just getting to know them better and hear family stories, seeing as we hadn't seen them in over 5 years! Interestingly I learnt that my surname in Viking means 'recorder' which is essentially what I do on this blog...record things! and what is weirder is my Grandad Scorah used to keep reams and reams of scrapbooks of all kinds of things like cricket, football, gardening!

Phil Neal and Alan Kennedy 2 former star defenders for Liverpool in their glory days back in the 80s (8 leagues and 4 european cups between them) were our legends for the day. They took us for a training session in the morning which I thoroughly enjoyed and probably played the best I ever played! My claim to fame is that I took the ball not once but twice, off the brilliant Alan Kennedy.

After lunch and a Q&A sesson with Al and Phil we headed for a private tour of the ground, where we learnt that Liverpool's dressing rooms aren't fancy or high-tech at all. The thing of note was that in the home teams room their was a cushioned surface so that players would not trip on their boots, but the away team deliberately had hard ground! In fact the whole set up was geared about intimidating the away side including the home teams door being smaller than the away teams; touching the this is anfield sign and so on.

I have to say it was a great day out, and it was just good to spend some time with my dad, brother and family. Come on the pool!

where does stuff go when we flush the loo?

2008-02-01T21:47:00.000Z

I came up with this question one day when I flushed the toilet and wondered to myself, where does that go?The actual answer is... it goes into a septic tank under your house, where it's broken down by bacteria. Then it's carried out into the sewage network to ferment for years to come. Toilet water can be recycled. In fact, sewage waste can be treated so that pure water molecules are extracted. It's expensive, however. The faucet water (from bathroom tap) you use has the same source as the clean water that pumps into your toilet after you flush.

You'll be glad to know that that was not the sole purpose of this blog post, rather this is what I am getting at. Maybe I am wrong but I reckon most people are oblivious to the huge process involved in getting rid of our waste, we just do our business and get on with our life. This an attitude we should not let infect the rest of our lives as every action we do has it's consequence.

Gal 6:7 - "A man reaps what he sows"
First of all I think we should thank God for sanitation! There are so many who do not get to enjoy such high standards. Moreover we should strive to know more about the everyday things we do; for example every light switch we forget to turn off leaving it's carbon footprint, dropping litter, buying food from the shops and not knowing the standards by which it was produced, or if their workers were ethically paid.

Sometimes it's easy to think that 'I am only one person, it won't matter if I do it', but then if everyone gets sucked into this apathy then it becomes a major problem not just for you but for the people who suffer its consequences. Instead we should do what the passage says ('sow into the Spirit, and from the Spirit reap eternal life'), and make a stand for what is right, then we can begin to change the world for good (<--- how is that for philisophical toilet thought!)

man's best friend

2008-01-27T17:39:00.000Z

my dog died yesterday. His name was max and he has been the kingpin of my house for the last 12 years. The last year has been a constant battle to keep him alive as he seemed to just go from one thing to another but he always had a happy spirit.

I will miss him a lot. I felt so bad when we had to put him down. I wish there was some way we could ask him did he want us to keep trying or to just let him go. In the end it was putting him out of his pain

I wonder why we think it's ok to decide this for our pets yet it's considered such a moral grey area when it comes to human beings. How is it not wrong to put a dog out of it's misery but we can't turn a machine off for someone who really wants it. This is one where i don't know what the right answer is.

keeping up with technology

2008-01-22T00:21:00.000Z

I have been feeling rather blessed recently as I have been given a new top phone and laptop for free. My brother for my birthday gave me the Nokia N95 (which is an excellent piece of equipment), and now I have been given a new good spec laptop to replace my broken laptop (that I blogged about earlier)which was covered by warranty. The new laptop is far better than my current one, retailing at over £200 dearer! My Spec: -

Model: Asus F3Sv
Screen: 15.4"
Ggx: geForce 8600M 256Mb
Cpu:Intel T7500 2.2Ghz
RAM: 2gb 667Mhz
Hdd: 250gb

Technology is amazing thing. To think we can communicate with anyone, anytime any where in the world and you can hold it in the palm of your hand. All kinds of applications can be performed on mobiles now. Portability seems to be the way now as notebooks and mobiles are catching up with desktop computers. It's crazy to think that essentially a piece of metal can produce such eye catching media, and perform huge calculations.

To think as little as 15 years ago not many knew what a mobile phone was. What will they think of next! I wonder what they'll think of next!

next stop anywhere

2008-01-18T01:52:00.000Z

Well I have finished my exams thank goodness and they went ok. Now, for the first time in my life I don't know where I am heading next. It never really entered my head before now that after those exams, I could finish my degree and I find myself wondering what my next move should be.

I could come back for another semester and improve some marks. I could start a PGCE in September. I could just earn money for the next few months. I could go travelling or do some form of mission work. I could apply for a professional job. In truth, I don't know what I want to do next, which is kind of exciting because I'm now in a place where I get to just follow where God leads instead of feeling I must do compulsory things or our society.

The famous phrase 'He who gives up what he can not keep to gain what he can not lose' has been on my mind recently, and it has had me wary of making too many of my own plans or ambitions to the point where I can not let go of them. I want to say God I am a blank canvas, I give you my plans, do your will with me. So I will keep this posted for any developments, and if you have any suggestions or feel God moving you to tell me something, please do leave a comment!

january blues

2008-01-10T17:55:00.000Z

Earlier I talked about the new year being inspiring for people to change. There is nothing inspiring about the new year in the university calender - because that means exams.

I hate exams! I hate revising, I loathe them. I hate going out for a bit of fun and feeling bad about it because I think I should be revising instead! I find it so hard to convince myself to go study and when I do I can't concentrate and I want to go on the internet or something. Does anyone else feel like this?

I am very much looking forward to 15th January as that is my last exam (possibly ever), and then I'm off for a while, to try and figure out what to do! I know I should be grateful for the amazing privilidge it is to be able to go to university, and I am - but I am only human!

The root of all evil

2008-01-09T12:49:00.000Z

I found this a few years ago and being a maths student I found this hilarious. Of course I am not suggesting that girls are evil but the fact that the love of money is bares some relevance to what I want to say.

When people say 'the love of money is the root of all evil", they usually think of greedy rich businessman, or people who would commit terrible crimes for a buck. That is indeed part of it but I think the is more to what God was trying to tell us. We live in a western society today which says you have to get a good degree for me, in order to get a good job for me so you can get paid well and live comfortably (& live for the weekend) for me, and save for a nice pension for me. Notice all those first-person 'me' oriented pronouns. People say you need to do all these things in order to gain financial security but why is financial security considered such a top priority? I would go as far to say that a lot of peoples worlds would fall apart without it.

I think it is that sentiment that God is trying to get at. We are so concerned with money and financial security, that less of our trust is given to God. We don't fully rely on God because we think we also need money; and God is saying if the birds don't worry about your next meal then why should you!? For example why should we stress out about pension schemes and such. You may die before then and never see a penny of it! Even if you do make that age, you won't be able to make the most of it because your body won't be what it used to be!

Snow wonderful snow

2008-01-04T17:36:00.000Z

I was in the library studying for my exams all day yesterday and to my delight when I came out at 9pm the whole city was covered in snow. I couldn't contain myself and immediately I had to snowball someone. Shortly afterward we decided to walk over to queen's to see what the craic was. There was loads of people out playing in the front lawns, building snowmen everywhere, having the most simplest and purest of fun. It truly was a beautiful sight to behold looking at the university through the falling snow with people full of joy in the midst of it. It is definitely one of my favourite moments of my time at university and here's what it looked like (captured by my phone!)

resolutions

2008-01-02T12:48:00.000Z

I find it surprising that the change of a single digit in a number inspires so many to want to change. It's probably for that shallow reason that people find it so hard to stick to the goals they set themselves.

Of course we actually take the turn of the year from Christ's birth and its Him in us that can help us make that change. My new years resolutions aren't that original:

1/ I want to be more bold in my faith
2/ To be closer to knowing what I'm doing when I graduate
3/ And to stop biting my nails!

At new year I always make the joke that I will give up my new years resolutions for lent but I won't be doing that this year! As a side note I find it amusing that in such a secular world they still take their dating system from Jesus's birth.

I am Legend

2007-12-30T12:48:00.000Z

I went to see the new Will Smith movie - 'I am Legend'. It's about this guy who seems to be the only survivor in New York city from a deadly virus that wiped out the majority of the population. I have heard mixed opinions on this movie, but for me - I really liked it. I thought the storyline was really well laid out to the viewer and the tension had you gripped the whole way through. Without giving too much away for those who haven't yet seen it, the only bit that was disappointing was when they introduced a new character, they protrayed that particular scene a little cheesy for my liking. Aside from that this movie gets my thumbs up. It would have Melanie's as well except she really never got over what happened to the dog!

There was one particular line that resounded with me, and I think this is a great message to everyone out there. It was when someone asked smith how could God create such a thing, and smith replied with...

"God didn't do this, we did"

It was the humans who accidently created the virus. If anyone wants to know the reason why there is pain or suffering out there, it's because man does the evil, not God.

worship part 2...

2007-12-28T01:37:00.000Z

Quite often there are arguments over what is an acceptable way to worship God in church services. There are many ways we can express ourselves with our body in worship. Some feel there is no Biblical basis for what is performed, so here are some scriptures for where most of it came from.

Saying - Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name ~ Hebrews 13:15

Singing - Sing praises unto God, sing praises, sing praises unto our King, sing praises ~ Psalm 149:6

Shouting - Cry out and shout thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee ~ Isaiah 12:6

Lifting Hands - And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. Then all the people answered, 'Amen, Amen!' while lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground ~ Nehemiah 8:6 (Lifting hands is a sign of surrender and blessing)

Clapping - clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph ~ Psalm 47:1
... and other instruments
Our hands can be used to play musical instruments "Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary. Praise Him in His mighty firmament! Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him for His excellent greatness! Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and dance, Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes.Praise Him with loud cymbals: Praise Him with clashing cymbals, Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord! ~ Psalm 150

Kneeling - O come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker ~ Psalm 95:6

Dancing - Praise Him with the timbrel and the dance" (Psalm 150:4). "Let them praise His name in the dance ~ Psalm 149:3

Togetherness - Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing ~ Rev 5:13

Silence...

The point is that unless something directly violates what God's word says, we can worship God any way providing our motive is pure and to God alone. Sometimes it can be easy to be sucked into looking holy for others to see in worship and the Bible warns strongly about this (Pharisees) stating God can see through it all, and He will spit you from His belly! Of course true worship is just not what we do in our church services, it is a whole lot more; and more on that will come in the next entry.

Happy birthday Jesus

2007-12-25T00:05:00.000Z

'Tis indeed the season to be jolly, as today is Jesus' 2008th birthday. Today we are reminded of where God began His redemptive work of His new covenant. We have so much to be thankful to God for, and I pray you will feel a fresh amazement about the truth that God saves people like us. Just remember to say a prayer for those today who do not have a warm home, nice presents and a cooked dinner.

There are some things about the Christmas story that I don't yet understand, and I hope I do not sound stupid. But what exactly were the shepherds for? And those carols that talk about snow - was there snow in Bethlehem; was there not a clear sky for the wise men to see the star?

Another thing that struck me the other day during the carol service is the line; no room in the inn; in a manger he lay. Aside from the David healy connotations, I find this sentiment typical of our giving and good works for the Lord. We claim there is no room in the inn, and so we give him not even second best in the form of a manger. How often have we given begrudgingly, or made a contribution but kept something back for ourselves (we had better be glad that God doesn't treat us all as Ananias and Sapphira!). We feel good about ourselves for the every so often random act of kindness we do do.

When Christians talk about Christmas, they usually mention how far away it is from it's original meaning. A quick google search for 'Christmas' revealed that the first website found which was remotely close to the real Christmas story was found half way down page 4 coming in the form of Christian Cyberspace! Even the image search produced few and far between God related images. So in light of this, I just want to remind myself of how amazing it actually is that Christ came from the power of heaven, to become a baby in a sinful world to be slain for our sins.

SOS Bus

2007-12-20T23:58:00.000Z

I was walking through Belfast yesterday when I came across the SOS bus on the Dublin Road. The guy who was running it was kind enough to invite us in and give us a tour. It turns out this guy is actually one of the visionaries for this faith-driven mission.

The SOS bus is a really simple idea yet such a versatile tool for bringing the Word of God alive in the community. During the day they going into schools helping with social issues and learning difficulties. Afterward they would go into the local estates and park the bus so the kids can play playstation on widescreen television or just hang out. Similary older people can come and enjoy each others company and the generations can join together.

Then at night the bus parks outside the local social scene and acts as an aide to people struggling on their way home. They offer tea, biscuits and heat to help people sober up. They do shuttle runs to bring people home and they even have a fully equipped medical centre. One must wonder how did this all got on its feet and became so sucessful.

The answer I believe is offering your talents fully to God instead of saving them (remember the parable). They don't use Bibles as they believe that God is already written all over what they do (and men often make a mess of telling God's story), people come to God by being touched by the love offered to them. They have been donated a whole batch of decomissioned translink buses, and why can't we bring one of these to Lurgan?. This truely is an amazing mission and you can check out more at:-

http://www.sosbusni.org/

worship Part 1 ...

2007-12-07T01:11:00.000Z

I have been rather disappointed with a few of the new Christian 'worship' cds I have bought recently. For example I buy the annual Soul Survivor live CD every year as it usually has 2 or 3 gems on it (e.g. From the inside out, happy day, whole world in His hands, God of justice) but this year was a let down. Some of the songs are ok but most of them lack any real kind of depth to them.

That is something I am finding with a lot of Christian lyrics these days. There are lots of airy fairy lyrics with nice tunes, but seldom is there some real truth to declare. John McMullen did a good article on this a while ago, you can find it here.

Oh, sing to the LORD a new song!
Sing to the LORD, all the earth.

That can be found in Psalm 96:1. I think it's great that there are people trying to write these new songs, but lets actually write a new song, not the same lyrics rearranged. I wonder does God ever get bored of hearing the same thing? I can't say anything I guess as I am no songwriter, but I would say is that it is great to sing your own words to God.

Some of my favourite songs are...
When the music fades - matt redman
Blessed be Your name - matt redman
God of Justice - tim hughes
Consuming fire - tim hughes
In Christ Alone - stuart townend
Holy Holy - nathan fellingham
My soul praises the Lord - andy flan

I realise that the term 'worship' is a huge topic and a word which is highly generalised and over stereotyped in the shallow Christian culture of today, so I have labelled this topic part 1 as I will release further thoughts on this topic over the coming weeks and months.

23 today

2007-12-02T15:00:00.000Z

Today is my 23rd birthday. I could say all the usual cliché's people say about birthdays....so I think I will :p

I can not believe I am 23 already, it does not seem that long since my last birthday. Time is going so fast at the moment that it brings into sharp relief our mortality. I am not scared of getting older and it annoys me when people harp on about wanting to be younger, or not wanting to grow up, or even when people try to hide their wrinkles!

There is nothing we can do about our age, so lets stop whinging about it and embrace it! I find it amusing that we spend our childhood desiring to be older, and we spend our adulthood desiring to be younger! I don't want to waste time like that, I want to use whatever precious time God has given me for Him.

Thanks to everyone who got me a gift, I really appreciate it. I once knew someone who asked for scarves and hats for their birthday so they could give them to the homeless, I think that's an amazing statement to make!

Cyclone devastates Bangledesh

2007-11-24T19:43:00.000Z

I was appalled to see how little the devastating effects of Cyclone Sidr on Bangledesh have made the media. This cyclone made 240km/h down in the bay of bengal and has killed over 3000 people. It has left many with their homes flattened and their crops flooded. Soon disease will settle in and there are fears the death toll could soar. A couple of days after and it made barely the last news item on the BBC

So many people have died, so many people are suffering! The death toll is over twice that of September 11th, but because it Bangledesh, the western media don't care? There is something seriously wrong with the way our perceptions are controlled by the media but that is a topic for another time. 50,000 people are left injured and homeless to pick up the pieces. They need the love of Jesus, so get praying and click below to watch the DEC appeal.

DEC Bangledesh Cyclone Appeal

Something to thank God for is the warning they got before the cyclone hit. People were able to make it to purpose built shelters, to avoid the same disaster which killed 140,000 people in 1991

//... Update another typhoon has now hit the philippines. Please pray and keep an eye out.