Walk On...

The end...

2008-02-11T23:01:00.000Z

After much contemplation, I have decided to end my time blogging on 'Walk On...' I feel that a new start would be a good thing, and so have begun to chronicle my life at a new location and under a new title.

I would like to thank the thousands of people who have logged onto this blog during its time. It will remain accessible for some time while I document what has been written here.

If you would like to continue to follow my progress as a blogger and indeed as a person, please visit this link

The Alan Show

So, perhaps for the last time, I bid you good-bye, God bless and bid you to Walk on...

"Which tyre?"

2007-06-06T17:58:00.000+01:00

I tell you, the wit of some people around here when you tell them "we've got a flat!". It just surpasses anything I've ever encountered!

But indeed, Sarah and I have a flat which we will live in for at least a year, probably more. Its a lovely little thing, at the top of Byres Rd in Glasgow. In a very green area and right where we wanted to be. God has been good to us this month!

Since I last blogged I've written 7000 words in completed essays, a further 1529 of the essay I've taken a break from writing to write this, and I've still got a greek exam to try and bluff my way through too. But I do get the feeling that after that will come the calm after the storm; the eeiry silence of 'no work' hanging around. I look forward with great delight to monday the 11th at 12pm, where I'll have finished all my exams and essays, and all thats left to do is a reflective paper which will take me half an hour. They seem to be easy though, it took me half an hour to write it last year. I get the impression that you'd have to write several pages of 'my brain is melting' to render a 'fail'.

But tonight all writing and stress stops because I'm going to Pizza hut with Sarah and a few friends. Good food and good company means good evening. Sarah's been finished for about a week, and from her example I've found that its fun to do nothing. Seven weeks and a few days left until our wedding, and I can't wait.

Keep lovin' Jesus!

And check these out

ICC student council

Marc

Reflections

2007-05-11T12:18:00.000+01:00

And so this morning I woke up as a man aged 21. I'm quite sure I've been a man for a number of years now, but there now seems to be nothing left to hide behind. Peter Pan has grown a beard and carries a briefcase. At a time like this I always find myself reflecting a whole lot on the present, past and, most importantly, future. There's a line in the film Men in Black which contains some wisdom. It goes like this:

"A thousand years ago, everybody knew that the earth was the centre of the universe. Five hundred years ago everybody knew that the world was flat and fifteen minutes ago you knew that we were alone on this planet. Imagine what you'll know tomorrow."

Knowledge is only knowledge once it's acquired, and I am more knowledgeable than I was a year ago, and nowhere near as knowledgeable as I will be on my 22nd Birthday. It was a year ago today that I really started to feel at home here at ICC - it took me that long. In a year's time I'll have been married for more than ten months, which at the moment still seems like a lifetime away (although its not, check the bottom of the page!). I've also been thinking back to previous birthdays, for example my 16th and 18th. I was ill on my 16th birthday, and so I watched Frasier box sets and shaved my feet and a large tennis ball. On my 18th birthday I was in 6th form, with many of the same people who I know a love right now around me.

Tonight we're going to have a big Chinese buffet here in Glasgow, with about 20 people coming and about another 10 joining us at the pub later on. Sarah said to me yesterday, "We were at the Kublai Khan this time 3 years ago, with no one who'll be there tomorrow night present", which made me think of how life is like a river, and that you cannot step into the same river twice. It can be similar, for example in 24 hours time Sarah and I will step off a train and go see our families and have a big meal tomorrow night with them and some friends from Newcastle (you know who you are!), but even if we did the exact same thing as last year, it wouldn't be last year. Its now, its present. All this interests me. That's why The Alan Show is constantly changing its cast, to varying degrees, but there's never the same exact cast from season to season. I guess that's why it stays interesting.

My birthday present from Sarah was a complete secret until we got off a bus in Edinburgh outside the zoo, and she explained that she'd gotten me an evening with some rhinos! She knows me so well! These animals are half their full size and they're still as tall as a man! Such amazing creatures, their eyes, their skin, the way they look like they've been assembled from a build-a-rhino kit. They're gentle giants, a testament to God's creative tendencies.

Click here for a Video

Recently on The Alan Show...

2007-04-19T15:07:00.000+01:00

Greetings traveller. Come, take off your coat and rest a while. I'll fetch you a drink, would you like water or ale? Ale it is, but do you have a preference as to the type? Newcastle Brown? I think we could scour up one of those...

Many weeks have gone by since the last time I sat down and asked myself, "what does the wider world want to know about me?" Usually I conclude that the world's interest in me is akin to that of my interest in thermodynamics. However, since thermodynamics can be used occasionally for the purposes of humour, I present to you this: The blog.

Well, I've had a month off college because of Easter, which was a relief. ICC life just never seems to stop during term time, so to have a month off here and there counts for a lot. I'm now part of the student council, looking after guys as "Male Student Support". Its not too demanding as of yet, but I feel that my duties will increase a great deal from September. But its good for me to experience being in an elected position. Another elected position I now hold is that of Scripture Union England and Wales, which has people on the board who are head of theology and writers of great books and me: The guy who can hit oddly high notes for his size. The meeting in Coventry next week should be good though.

Work is good, got letcutes about the atonement, the gospels and interpreting the Bible, as well as greek greek greek! We're finally into reading some of the Bible, which is a really edifying milestone. Other than that, Sarah is beauitful and brilliant and we're getting married in 100 days, friends are great, weather is pleasant and I'm allowed to wear shorts because of it!

And finally, my facial hair has reached the status of 'beard', or at least 'Mr Tumnus fluff'. Life is good eh?

New Look

2007-02-28T20:59:00.000Z

Not the shop, the blog! I decided it was about time I stopped faffing around with HTML and started using the new blogger. However, although I've spent the last hour working on my blog, I don't think it looks much different. Check out the banner at the bottom, along with the super-sized Wedding countdown, along with the all new clock! Wow!

Am in the midst of an essay about Martin Luther, he was quite a man. I cannot even presume to shine the shoes of this steadfast fellow! Am also in the midst of my Nazirite vow for Lent (see Number 6:1-8), so I'm craving coke, which I've included, and my facial hair is longer than certain people would like.

Lament

2007-02-23T11:14:00.000Z

I grieve for the youth of today. Some of whom I grieve for is obvious, but I'm realising just how infiltrated the church is. Its like we've been invaded and not noticed. There are, I believe, two types of Christian.

1) There are those who want to follow God but occasionally get it wrong
2) There are those who want to do their own thing, and occasionally follow God

I lived for too long in the second camp to be unaffected by it. I see so many people who are 'Christians' by title, but not by deeds. After too much caffine last night, I was lying in bed trying to get to sleep, thinking of a discussion thats been happening with different people for the last few days about grace and works. I have come to this conclusion:

"Know you'll never earn eternal life, live as if you could".

I can't remember if I made that up, or someone I am close to did, or if I read it in a book, but its a steadfast principle.

When is it right to say to someone in your church, "You're not living as you should be"? In our society of 'doing it our own way', which has elbowed its way into the church, we're not accountable to anyone. But God says differently. God does have a standard. God does have rules. And I'm not writing this as someone who follows them consistantly, but it is my intention to, where as for so many 'nominal' Christians, it is not.

"And some days you pray for silence, and some days you pray for soul, some days you just pray to the God of sex and drugs and rock & roll..."

Return of the Blogger...

2007-02-09T18:37:00.000Z

Yes, I know, it has been a really long time since I wrote anything on here. This is because of a number of reasons. Firstly, I was working on a new blog which took many hours work. However that was more than a month ago, so we can dismiss that one as a reason. Secondly, I have been very busy with working, mostly for Greek, and thirdly, for exactly one week (to the hour) the internet was down here at ICC. Therefore all electronic communication ground to a halt and I sought refuge by using other people's internet whenever I could.

So, I guess I should say happy new year! Not too sure why since the memories of new year have long since evaporated from my memory, and probably yours. Life is far too busy to be dwelling on the past all the time, though as I'm learning in History class (we're studying the reformation) that the past can both instruct and warn us. Martin Luther was such a legend!

For those who don't know this already, my Gran (dad's mum) died a few weeks ago. It had been a long time coming, and she's much more comfortable where she is now, to say the least! I was asked to speak at the funeral, which was both a great honour and a mammoth challenge. I mean, what do you say!? Gran was deffinately a Christian, but as soon as the words left reached my ear with the suggestion that I speak, all Bible verses fled from my mind like chickens fleeing a fox! But God was very present at the service, and I praise Him for that.

Sarah and I have booked our honeymoon and we've started looking for a flat. However, it seems that to rent it's best to look about a month and a half before we want to move in, which means we can't look with intent to sign just yet. However, the wedding invitations have been sent out and we have a wedding blog. Check it out, click below.

Alan and Sarah's Wedding Blog

I've also taken up archery on a wednesday and friday afternoon, which is great fun. I've only been twice but I'm really enjoying it. However, because I'm new I'm to shoot at a target which is only half the regular distance. So on wednesday when I shot and arrow, it hit the target and bounced out again, flying past me into a cupboard. Scary, but apparently its quite common!

And finally, in true dramatic style, Marc and I were walking back from the cinema the other day and we saw the 118 118 guys in the street. They were doing a kareoke in the street for charity, and so we each had a go. If you wanna see what we did, click on the link below. Search for Glasgow and we're both on there somewhere! Was greta fun!

Loveoke.com

Walk on...

A Christmas Observation

2006-12-14T12:29:00.000Z

As I lay in bed last night, it occurred to me just how bizarre the Christmas season is. Imagine, if you will, that visitors from another planet were observing earth. What do you think they'd see, and what would they make of Christmas time? I imagine a report to their superior officer would read something like this:

"To: Officer one
cc: Officer two, officer three, officer four, The Pentagon
re: Peculiar homosapian behaviour

These creatures seem to be seasonal beings. When their climate turns colder and the temperature drops, their hands and necks grow more hair, with a variety of patterns and colours. Also, they show much less of their flesh, presumably because it is no longer mating season. There are exceptions to this, of course, but these individual creatures seem to crave shelter just as much, but are in need of a companion, presumably for reasons of warmth.

In certain parts of their planet, the creatures will make an attempt to illuminate their place of living by hanging multi-coloured flashing lights. It seems that during this time there is much rivalry between some individuals, as the place with the most lights seems to attract the most attention. This is presumably an act of worship to the sun-god, whom they feel has abandoned them during this time.

A study of their intercommunication system shows that their system of credit, which is known to us, seems to suffer a sharp decline during this period. Closer inspection of the creatures themselves revealed that they will exchange their credit for a variety of items in order to give these items away to other creatures of their species. However, it seems to be a widely accepted custom that a creature who offers no items will receive less items, and in turn less favour among his companions, than a creature who offers more items. This seems to be the result of the inherent selfishness that these creatures suffer from.

The older creatures will tell tales to the younger ones. They will take pieces from nature and alter aspects of them. For example, they tell of an overweight creature who will bless the young ones if they are orderly. This creature visits many young creatures in one night and breaks into their living places. The overweight creature travels around using a species of deer, another organism from earth, that can fly. These terrifying air-deer and the overweight burglar come out only once every time the earth circles the sun. This mythology seems to be a way of keeping the younger creatures from being unruly.

Among the busyness of this process known as 'shopping', there is a portion of the creatures colony that holds to a different way of life. These creatures tell a story from the past of a creature who was unlike the others. They tell that he was actually the offspring of the gods, but clearly the mists of time have obscured this myth, as the story tells of him being born in poverty and squalor, and also narrowly escaping death by the King of the time. In modern times, certain creatures revere this god-man and his way of life as a model of how to live their own lives. However, it is certainly not a globally accepted belief system, and therefore deserves further investigation.

In their places of living, the creatures will erect a tree and put yet more multi-coloured flashing lights on and around it. Spheres and strings will also be placed on this tree, along with certain small toys and either a crude depiction of a star or angel. It is not clear why this takes place, and even more baffling, the creatures themselves don't seem to know why they carry out this act. Another confusing act is that of writing notes on squares of card and giving them to creatures in uniform, presumably army officers, who will then take it to another creature. This second creature will write exactly the same literature on a similar square, and give it to another officer, who will take it back to the original creature. Both of these will then display the squares for a matter of weeks, before disposing of them. Another as of yet unexplained ritual these creatures have.

Finally sirs, an observation of their eating and drinking habits. In short, they will eat and drink more during this period. Somewhere towards the end of their calendar is what we can only conclude to be their 'eating day'. This is the day when a lone creature, usually the female, will spend many hours heating a large bird, as well as placing many plants in water for a time. The unit of creatures will then sit around a fallen tree (which is curiously flat) and eat the bird and the plants. However, they will eat more than they would usually eat in one, two or even three meals. They will then retire to a single part of their living place and sit as a unit, all facing one direction. Seven rotations of the earth later seems to be their 'drinking day'. Apart from the very young or very old creatures, they will gather in common places and will consume many times more liquid than they would in a normal day. However, unlike normal days, they will continue to consume this liquid, which we can only assume to be another act of worship to the god of their world, throughout the night, with a loud cheer at a certain point, again, probably a cry of devotion to their god or gods.

We do not yet have sufficient knowledge to say for sure, but these creatures seem to be in a cycle from which they are unable to escape. This is unfortunate and may lead to their extinction. However, we will continue to observe them in order to make sense of their strange way of life.

Transmission end.

Covert Officer 108"

If there's one thing you must learn, it's to avoid Dave the takling alzheimer's patient............ WHO AM I?! thud

2006-12-07T15:58:00.000Z

Well its 4pm on the day that I am leaving ICC for Christmas, and I'm thinking, "what have I learned?" Well, I have begun to learn greek, and although I am the one who struggles most in the class (ie, laziest) I passed with an overall CAS mark of 15/20, which I was very pleased with.

I've learnt a lot about the Old Testament, about the law and about the sacrifice system.

Sarah and I have chosen our church, the one we'll be part of for some years to come, which is quite an exciting thing to have accomplished. Its really great living away with someone you love, though its not really away anymore. It is more like home, as I've already discussed in a previous post.

I've made some amazing friends, and strengthened some older friendships. I love the people who I work and live with up here, they all have such an energy about them which inspires me to be more who I am, which I think is a good thing.

But overall I'm learning more about who God is, and who God is to me. Not in a new-age, arty farty "this is what I believe and I don't need it to be credible" way, but in a way that lets me understand my faith from the point of view of my faith. I do not have anyone else's faith, and as such I do not answer to anyone for it. My choice of church, lifestyle, whiskey, money management, friends, entertainment and all such things are subject to a set of values, and more than that - a whole belief system which calls for change of heart, which I believe to be true and are found in my own language in the Bible. Of course, I have respect for those who are my church elders, but that does not mean that I take their opinion with no consideration at all. People can differ on, lets face it, irrelevant doctrine and still be friends, family, church members, believers etc.

What I'm trying to say is that I am learning what it is to be both Alan P Harrison (which will be my published title should I ever write a book) and a follower of Christ. And its exciting.

My Theological World View...

2006-12-05T16:38:00.000Z

Thanks to Nodrog for this quiz, apparently I am...

You scored as Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan. You are an evangelical in the Wesleyan tradition. You believe that God's grace enables you to choose to believe in him, even though you yourself are totally depraved. The gift of the Holy Spirit gives you assurance of your salvation, and he also enables you to live the life of obedience to which God has called us. You are influenced heavly by John Wesley and the Methodists.

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan
75%
Neo orthodox
61%
Emergent/Postmodern
61%
Fundamentalist
50%
Charismatic/Pentecostal
43%
Reformed Evangelical
43%
Roman Catholic
36%
Classical Liberal
25%
Modern Liberal
18%

The disorganisation of an organisation

2006-11-27T10:35:00.000Z

Long story short, I was in Oxford this weekend for the training of the the next group of AA's who will be going to South Africa, Oz, New Zealand, Peru and most relevant for me, India. On the way back, a nice man in a BMI uniform asked me which flight I was due to travel on. I informed him that it was the 5:15pm flight to Glasgow (it was presently 1pm). He then asked me if I would consider taking a flight two hours later in exchange for £75 cash. Since Sarah and I are trying to save money for the first few months we are married, I thought it would be a great way to make a few extra pennies.

However, although the man in uniform assured me that wherever I went my bag would follow, when I arrived at Glasgow airport 2 and a half hours after I was supposed to, my bag was no where to be seen. Its not that there's anything of value in it that anyone could steal, its just that it contains ALL my India photos. The nice lady on the desk assured me that it would turn up, and I have a number I'm to call, as they have mine. Just didn't have the weekend I wanted it to be.

But the India team are great, and they're going to have an amazing time. I'm supposed to be in a lecture right now, but I've done both assignments and need to write an Old Testament essay, so I'm gonna go do that now.

My apologies that this blog is nowhere near as reflective and interesting as Sarah's most recent blog. But I can't be fussed with wit.

Home for the 5th

2006-11-05T14:56:00.000Z

And so it is that after a mad week of Exegesis and greek revision that I land up back home in the suburban town of cullercoats, my family home. I say, 'family home' because A) its where my family have lived for generations, B) its where my family live now and C) I want to differenciate between 'my home' and 'my family home'. Glasgow has become my home. I don't really know when it happened, but I now call it 'home', as in where I have begun to create a life outside of that of my upbringing.

Its been good to see a few people who I haven't seen for about a month, and some even longer, such as my dad (last seen August 17th). And tonight will be a spectacular fireworks extravaganza, as it is every year around the 5th of November (remember?)

I must say, November 5th is one of my favourite days of the year. Not really because of the fireworks or bonfires or whatever, but because its so truely British. Its not an imported 'holiday'. nor is it adopted from pagan traditions and changed to fit our own needs (such as the placing of Christmas and new year), but within written memory there is something that we celebrate - the failure to blow up Parliment. And Guy Fawkes was quite an admirable character, and I probably would have done the same thing if I were in his shoes. He was fighting against King James the 1st for the right to worship without fear of persecution. It wasn't a political stab, it was a religious one. He was about my age, had fought in two wars by then though, and hot-headded, not unlike myself. He was influenced by several other people who actually concieved the Gunpowder plot and he was the guy who knew how gunpowder worked and so was the trigger man.

But he was caught and tortured, hung, drawn and quartered. And now we celebrate his death as a triumph of the authorities over terrorism. But one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter, so I submit that we think of ol' Guy not with contempt, but with a sort of reverance for his ideology - to do anything to be able to worship his God, even if we don't follow in the footsteps of his methodology (which I suggest we don't).

THE haircut

2006-10-27T12:57:00.001+01:00

I don't have very long here, but I shall impart this to you and then rush to my greek lecture.

Behold, a four part special of my haircut!

Only parts one and four are working at the moment, but I'll get the middle bit in when I have time

Part one

Part four

Let me know what you think of the end result...!

"It's a new day, it's a new life..."

Britain?

2006-10-23T17:09:00.000+01:00

I got this in an email a week or so ago. Pretty harsh assessment of Britain, but what do you all think?

" REST OF THE WORLD VERSION:The squirrel works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building and improving his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.Come winter, the squirrel is warm and well fed. The shivering grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.THE END

THE BRITISH VERSION:The squirrel works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the squirrel is warm and well fed.A social worker finds the shivering grasshopper, calls a press conference and demands to know why the squirrel should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others less fortunate, like the grasshopper, are cold and starving. The BBC shows up to provide live coverage of the shivering grasshopper; with cuts to a video of the squirrel in his comfortable warm home with a table laden with food.The British press informs people that they should be ashamed that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so while others have plenty. The Labour Party, Greenpeace, Animal Rights and The Grasshopper Council of GB demonstrate in front of the squirrel's house.The BBC, interrupting a cultural festival special from Notting Hill with breaking news, broadcasts a multi cultural choir singing "We Shall Overcome". Ken Livingstone rants in an interview with Trevor McDonald that the squirrel has gotten rich off the backs of grasshoppers, and calls for an immediate tax hike on the squirrel to make him pay his "fair share" and increases the charge for squirrels to enter inner London.In response to pressure from the media, the Government drafts the Economic Equity and Grasshopper Anti Discrimination Act, retroactive to the beginning of the summer.The squirrel's taxes are reassessed. He is taken to court and fined for failing to hire grasshoppers as builders for the work he was doing on his home and an additional fine for contempt when he told the court the grasshopper did not want to work.The grasshopper is provided with a council house, financial aid to furnish it and an account with a local taxi firm to ensure he can be socially mobile. The squirrel's food is seized and re distributed to the more needy members of society, in this case the grasshopper.Without enough money to buy more food, to pay the fine and his newly imposed retroactive taxes, the squirrel has to downsize and start building a new home. The local authority takes over his old home and utilises it as a temporary home for asylum seeking cats who had hijacked a plane to get to Britain as they had to share their country of origin with mice. On arrival they tried to blow up the airport because of Britain's apparent love of dogs.The cats had been arrested for the international offence of hijacking and attempted bombing but were immediately released because the police fed them pilchards instead of salmon whilst in custody. Initial moves to then return them to their own country were abandoned because it was feared they would face death by the mice. The cats devise and start a scam to obtain money from people's credit cards.A Panorama special shows the grasshopper finishing up the last of the squirrel's food, though Spring is still months away, while the council house he is in, crumbles around him because he hasn't bothered to maintain the house. He is shown to be taking drugs. Inadequate government funding is blamed for the grasshopper's drug 'illness'.The cats seek recompense in the British courts for their treatment since arrival in UK.The grasshopper gets arrested for stabbing an old dog during a burglary to get money for his drugs habit. He is imprisoned but released immediately because he has been in custody for a few weeks. He is placed in the care of the probation service to monitor and supervise him. Within a few weeks he has killed a guinea pig in a botched robbery.A commission of enquiry, that will eventually cost £10,000,000 and state the obvious, is set up.Additional money is put into funding a drug rehabilitation scheme for grasshoppers and legal aid for lawyers representing asylum seekers is increased. The asylum seeking cats are praised by the government for enriching Britain's multicultural diversity and dogs are criticised by the government for failing to befriend the cats.The grasshopper dies of a drug overdose. The usual sections of the press blame it on the obvious failure of government to address the root causes of despair arising from social inequity and his traumatic experience of prison. They call for the resignation of a minister.The cats are paid a million pounds each because their rights were infringed when the government failed to inform them there were mice in the United Kingdom.The squirrel, the dogs and the victims of the hijacking, the bombing, the burglaries and robberies have to pay an additional percentage on their credit cards to cover losses, their taxes are increased to pay for law and order and they are told that they will have to work beyond 65 because of a shortfall in government funds.THE END"

Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters...

2006-10-18T17:03:00.000+01:00

Thats what I'm trying not to do. Its so easy in a bible college like ICC to just plod along without ever really getting into the depths of the faith, or more specifically, my faith. How seriously do I take my faith?

Well, lets review. In the last 2 years God has taken me to India, where I learnt so much and met some amazing people. He's deemed me ready to get married, and check the bottom of the page to see how long it is. He's taken me to ICC where, again, I've learnt so much and met some amazing people. Who knows where He's going to take me and Sarah in the next year, 3 years, 10 years. Blows my mind!

And so far this year at ICC, I've learnt about the nature of Old Testament law and sacrifice, which is shedding so much light on obscure parts of the Bible. I'm learning New Testament greek, which again is shedding so much light on the original text the New Testament was written in. We haven't used the New Testament yet; until now we're still learning vocabulary. But I'm loving it so much!

Last year I was part of the ICC drama group, which was great fun, but since Ellen has left ICC there would be no drama group. So Simba (real name Chris Torrence) and I decided to run it! We're going to have it more piece based this year, i.e. always working towards a piece of drama, whether its actual perfomance is a soon or not.

Several of us have taken it upon ourselves to be in the pub next to ICC every friday night for the Kareoke. The idea is to establish a Christian presence in the pub, as well as to have a good time and share our faith whenever we can. One guy gave his life to Christ on the second night we were there. As it happens, I wasn't there, but its so good to part of some evangelism. I figure that I'm not an amazing singer (and completely humiliated myself last friday with my attempt to sing Radio GaGa) but I am a performer. I want eventually to get maybe 30 seconds to explain who we are and where we're from.

I've joined the gym again and am going two or three times a week, focussing mainly on running and weight training. Hugh, Rebekah and I are planning on playing squash regularly too, which will be really good.

The biggest cinema in Europe is 10 minutes walk from the college, and for £10.99 a month I can see unlimited films, which is awesome! It works out that if you would normally see 3 films a month (or more) then its cost effective to get this card. I've seen four films in 16 days, and probably seeing another one tonight. Quite a few of us have these cards, so its a good social outing.

And of course I've been seeing my love, Ms Sarah Carr. We're living our new life - a life that is however we make it. We spend the weekend together, and at least once during the week, but with my gym, pub, cinema and ICC stuff and her CU, hallgroup, band and such things, we are really busy (oh, and in all that we both are doing degrees...). But we're really happy here.

Possibly the biggest revelation of the year... I'm getting my haircut. Short. Like, 2004 short. If you didn't know me then, it was rather short. Look out for a video on this blog of the famous do meeting its end. Just time for a change.

"Therefore... let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverence the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on JESUS, the author and perfecter of our faith..."

Hebrews 12: 1-2

My Dad.

2006-10-09T13:29:00.000+01:00

My dad is cool. He works in Dublin (Ireland's fair city) so is away a lot, but he's such a trooper. He recently ran the great north run, a 13.1 mile slog of physical endurance, and did the whole thing in 2hrs 4 mins. He's also a preacher, and a great one at that. He cannot tell the difference between a good joke and a bad one, but the way he will tell it will make you laugh anyway, just because he's a good guy. He continues to be an inspiration to me in word and deed.

Jelly

2006-10-04T15:44:00.000+01:00

Some of you may have heard about the recent Jelly-eating event that happened at ICC...

Click here...

The welcome to ICC week has officially finished, and we've dived (or 'dove', though thats a bird) into lectures. There aren't enough books to go round, so I'm waiting til tomorrow before I start reading. Only one more (1hr) lecture this week before Sarah, Suz and I head back down to Newcastle for Mr. Johnson's birthday celebration.

But in other news, it has rained to much in glasgow that I actually took it upon myself to buy a belt and a brolly, both of which are distinctly less expensive than a raincoat.

And you know that feeling when God kinda prompts you in the right direction? Well Sam appeared at my door with a pair of shoes, looking for someone to give them to. As they were oranged souled shoes, I gladly took them and will be looking to join the Squash club in the next few days. The new people upstairs are great, and we're getting on well. I went to see World Trade Centre with some of the the other night, one of whom was an American, which was interesting. Look out for film reviews appearing here soon...!

Seeing Sarah tonight, haven't in a few days. I like living in Glasgow

Begin Year 2...

2006-09-29T18:49:00.000+01:00

Yes, Indeed I am back at the International Christian College in Glasgow beginning my second year of theological study! And so far I haven't done much of anything theological as such. However I was given the great honor or meeting my favourite author - Mr. Philip Yancey. He was at the Glasgow city halls promoting his new book, and I was offered the chance to go, and not only that but I met him! Best £2.50 ever spent!

This post was a lot bigger but my browser crashed leaving me with only 2 sentences, so I'm going to leave it here. I'm happy up here, starting lectures on wednesday, and I've met Sarah's flatmates - they're all lovely and remind me of people who I think i've met before. Also we've been looking for churches, and are getting a fairly good idea of what we're looking for. The search goes on...!

P!NK and related issues

2006-09-20T21:50:00.000+01:00

A combination of working at Mills and spending time with Sarah has lead me to listen to the radio a lot more than I used to, and I have to say it's... Educational. One such artist who I have found particularly interesting is Pink, real name Alecia Moore. One of her recent songs is called "Stupid Girls", and she talks about the lifestyle you have to adopt in order to be a celebrity. Quote:

"What happened to the dreams of a girl president
She's dancing in the video next to 50 Cent
They travel in packs of two or three
With their itsy bitsy doggies and their teeny-weeny tees
Where, oh where, have the smart people gone?"

Now, I couldn't claim that I'm into popular music to the point where I'd know anything about it. Most of what I hear from the popworld is utter trash, but alongside the artists who give you a steady stream of quality, you get the occasional song making a valid point.

Where, oh where, have all the smart people gone? Working in a newsagents, I get the occasional look at some of what's happening in the here-one-minute-gone-the-next celebrity world we live in. Why is Britain and America so obsessed with celebities? And I don't even mean real celebrities, but ones who have done nothing to deserve any fame. They're all blurring into one blob of talent-less mess.

I was having a conversation with a friend about this, and she said that celebrities have replaced religion, worshipping those greater than ourselves. But similarly, the public love nothing more than to expose the cracks in a celebrity and tear them to pieces. However, a great many people love to rip God to pieces.

So, have we resorted to ancient Greek society where people can indeed become gods? Perhaps, though the Greeks were afraid of their gods, and people certainly have no more fear than they do respect anymore.

So, can we escape from this culture? Can we get out of the grips of the latest celebrity (I have been known to remark that Chantelle was a sign of the end times) and who they're not sleeping with?

I don't know, but it makes me think; 'what's next'? Where will we go from elevating, lets face it, ordinary people to the status of royalty. Celebrities need to learn something; "with great power, comes great responsibility". Footballers too, must learn this. If you want to be wield great power, then earn it.

The Pope

2006-09-17T16:40:00.000+01:00

I'm sure I'm not the only one, in fact, everyone who I've either talked to or read the thoughts of (which include a preacher, a radio broadcaster and a newspaper editor just to name a few) thinks that the reaction of the Islamic world to the Pope's speech is ridiculous.

When the Pope quotes someone from 600 years ago calling all Islam "violent" and claiming that everything Mohammed brought was evil, surely the Islamic reaction should simply be to say, "we're not violent".

Instead we have Muslims across the world burning effigies of the Pope and attacking Churches. Wasn't a nun shot because of this? Is it not clear to the people who are doing this that their actions are completely contradicting what they're claiming about themselves? When you burn a church or shoot an elderly nun to prove that you're not a violent person, you're very much in the wrong.

And yet, we hear people every day exclaiming "Jesus Christ!" when they hurt themselves or miss a bus or just want to swear. Imagine the utter chaos if there was a sudden change of heart and people began shouting "Mohammed!" as a swear word. Yet when the head of another religion quotes someone with some quasi-offensive quip about Islam, there's global demonstrations. People are attacked and killed.

Its almost as if the media has gotten a hold of this and gone "Wow, what a scoop! Major religions disagree!"

Yeah, 'cos thats never happened before.

I don't mean to be disrespectful, but this is getting to a point where it needs to be said "Enough is enough - its getting silly."

Toys!

2006-08-29T00:37:00.000+01:00

Quick post, but I found these and thought they were great! Give 'em a click!

http://www.toysrus.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=lost&origkw=lost&f=Taxonomy/TRUS/2254197

Giving Blood...

2006-08-25T20:02:00.000+01:00

I gave blood today, and as I was lying there listening to National Blood Service radio, I noticed something one the wall of the community hall in which I was lying with a needle in my arm for the fifth time. It was the picture on the left. Now, from what I learned from a guy called Ron who was watching my life-blood flow into a little plastic bag, the hospitals need 500 donations per day to keep them 'above sea level', as it were. Thats collected by four teams who get somewhere in the region of 100 dontations per day. And sometimes they'll lend some to other places, for example Edinburgh or Manchester.

Now, upon reflecting on this later on, I thought that the model of Christ on the cross hanging on the wall was quite apt. Jesus gave blood too, but just the once. And unlike the hospotals of the North East, His blood doesn't run out. Hebrews 7:27 says...

"Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself."

Once for all. I just thought it was interesting.

NE1

2006-07-30T12:28:00.000+01:00

I've spent this last week camping near Penshaw Monument (click for pic) as part of a project of social evangelism called NE1 (pictures will probably follow). Sarah and I were youth leaders for 7 young people, and our team was assigned a project in Sunderland, in the Hendon area. I knew this area before from the Sunderland Christian Centre where they had a toronto-blessing type experience about 12 years ago. This building is now being used by another church, Hope church. Hendon is a rough area, one of the roughest in Sunderland. Our project was quite varied. On day one we played games with random kids who just turned up. These kids are amazing, and even though we were only there for 5 days, I feel like we've really made a connection there, and I'd like to continue being involved in the church.

On tuesday we were doing some renovating work at an old youth building that hope have built and are making into a new youth building. Michael and I helped a guy called John extend a stage. In the evenings of tuesday and wednesday we had a youth club with a Kareoke, which I made good use out of, but not before Sarah had to go to casualty with a distinct inability to breath.

Thursday and Friday were days spent gardening and inviting people to youth events. This was hard work in the 26 degree heat. We unearthed what turned out to be a 10ft by 12ft carpet!

The youth events were really good, LZ7 on Thursday night, which saw 30 people come to know Jesus, and Yfriday on friday (funny that!) night, who saw 'hundreds' come to know Jesus!

But even though its finished, it does feel like its just started. Evangelism isn't just telling people that God loves them; it has much more clout if they are shown that God loves them. I feel a changed man.

And I'm starting a new job in 4 hours, working in a newsagents. I'm quite looking forward to it!

Walk on folks,
Walk strong...

Did He get wet?

2006-07-17T11:58:00.000+01:00

Something I've been thinking about lately as I've been listening to "if you" by TheTempted. The line;

"If you could walk on water,
Or turn it into wine,
Bid the storm be silent,
The tempest left to die..."

So, when Jesus was walking on the water, with the wind holwing and the waves crashing, did he get wet? Would he have been soaking by the time he got into the boat?

Or imagine what it would have been like to watch Jesus say to the storm "BE SILENT!", and then it did. Blows my mind...!

Hoping to hear from this job today. Been a month since the end of college and I need some employment.

NE1 in less than a week, which will be great. Sarah and I are leading a group of 6 young people, which will be a blessing and a curse, I'm sure!

"Today is black as murder but tomorrow's like the sun"

2006-07-13T10:43:00.000+01:00

So, Zidane’s head butt! If lip readers are to be believed then I would have done the same thing, personally. Funny how a persons actions aren’t always clear until much later on, if indeed they become clear at all. I watched the final in the cinema with Dan and Michael, (13 people in the screen including us!) and I can just remember the absolute disbelief of what had happened. But when I saw the paper the next day, that Italian player was calling his mother “a terrorist whore” (it was then that I remembered that Zidane had some Islamic heritage), I almost condoned what he did.

Anyway, away from football, we’ve got another 2 years to wait until the European championship, so I’ll stop about football.

In recent times I’ve been to the theatre twice, and I’ve realised how much I love it! Once was to see an amateur production of Fawlty Towers, and I went to see Gigi last night, for which Michael is musical director. I’ve also taken a liking to squash, and Michael and I are playing every week. I want to play more, but no one else seems to want to. And it’s a bit sad playing on my own…! Though it might not be so terribly unbeneficial…! (Sorry Rebekah!)

I’m also looking for a job, and I have an interview at Mills in 3 hours, so I’m getting dressed up. I’ve been looking for almost a month now, giving out CV’s, filling in application forms. Its all very draining, especially when you don’t get the job you really want, at the Odeon. But God has really been providing me with money, which is a real blessing as I’m £95 in debt.

Last night I met the young people who Sarah and I are taking to NE1, but unfortunately Sarah had to work, so it was just me leading this meeting. Thing is, I didn’t really realise I was leading it until it began, so I busked it. NE1 should be great fun!! And its very possible that I might be going to Campbell’s on the day NE1 ends, again by God’s grace providing me with money.

“Today is black as murder but tomorrow’s like the sun” is a line from “if you” by Thetempted. An amazing up and coming band, give them a listen at http://www.thetempted.co.uk/

God be with you, and me, as I’m going running now!

So, where HAVE I been?

2006-06-30T14:28:00.000+01:00

Well, I've been in Newcastle, with inadequate internat access or computer facilities to be updating my blog daily as I had been at ICC.

I've been home 13 days now, and to be honest I haven't achieved much. I did go for a job interview at my local Odeon Cinema, and while I didn't get the job, I came away with a wonderfully rounded sense of rejection, finding out last night that they actually employed twenty one people, leaving only a few unemployed, myself included. Wonderful. So, I'm still looking.

I have, however, resolved 4 out of 4 problems that I have had with my computer for many years. Networking, sound, anti-virus and printer problems have been the bain of my computing world for a while, but they're sorted now!

On the 6th of August, I'll be preaching on "I am the resurrection and the life" from John's gospel. Anyone who wants to come along is more than welcome. Click here for directions.

And to cap off this wonderous update, England are playing a depleted Portugal in the World-Cup Quarter-finals tomorrow. Should be quite a treat!

Walk on...!

I write real blogs thank you!

2006-06-21T13:11:00.000+01:00

What, no updates for 5 days!? No i haven't fallen of the edge of the world, but I left ICC on saturday and my PC at home is rather tempremental, in that its in bits in a friends house who's t rying to fix it.

Been settling back in alright here, We do have some family staying from france, which is fun!

WHAT ABOUT LOST LAST NIGHT!?!? MINDBLOWING STUFF!

Yesterday some Jehovah's witnesses came to my door. Now, before ICC I would've dismissed them as hertics, but I deci ded to talk to them, and it was r eally good to do so! I asked for more imformation about what they believe, and they came round today with it. I may even condict an interview like I did with Tarik to find out more about them and how they differ from Evangelicalism. So many people, including Christians are s cared of them. I'm not. If we have the truth in Christ, then that surely is a rock that won't move, right?

And England are through to the 2nd round of the World Cup as top of their group, drew with Sweden. I really wanted to beat them. We'll get you yet Malmqvist...

It is finished (kinda)

2006-06-16T17:24:00.000+01:00

Exam prep for the last few days, and I was stressing a lot last night because I could recall nothing I had 'memorised'. However, God was faithful to me this morning, and I remembered everything I needed to about Origen and St. Augustine of Hippo. And so, chappies, I am finished first year. Almost. I will be in about 70 minutes. You see, because I missed a lecture here and there of one particular subject, I have to read for an hour, and report back to the lecturer what I've read. Which I will do once I've finished this post.

At the moment I'm in the middle of packing up my room, which is a strange feeling - the room looks fo bare without my stuff in it, even with Kris's stuff still in it. England's 2-0 victory against Trinidad & Tabego yesterday was a brilliant boost for the Great country, and watching Argentina thrash Serbia 6-0 was lots of fun.

So, I'm leaving ICC's first year at 11am tomorrow. It's been quite a year, and I've learnt a lot!

Also, there's a strong possibility that Sarah and I may be leading a group of young people at NE1, which would be great. I've been wanting to do that for a while, since Avalanche really.

Bagels

2006-06-14T16:38:00.000+01:00

[Alan buys 4 bagels from sainsburies to try and bury his bad mood. Goes to eat one]

Josh: Whats that?
Alan: Thats a Bagel.
Josh: What is it? (N.B. Bagels are not common in India)
Alan: It's like a doughnut but without sugar on it.
Graham: Well what's the point?

This made me laugh a lot! Revising going well now, done 4/6ths of my work for this exam on friday, and in between that is the England match tomorrow!

As it turns out, Spain, who beat Ukraine 4-0 today are winning the World Cup so far, as they've scored the most goals while conceding none!

The lapse week...

2006-06-13T12:02:00.000+01:00

That isn't supposed to say 'last', although that would also be appropriate. No no, this is the lapse week, where all I have to do academically is study for one exam on friday morning, which has three questions which I have written out here next to me. And in this week there are three World Cup matches per day. I realised a few days ago that the world cup has a lot to do with numbers in the opening games, the group stages, so I'm following the numbers on my computer in an Excel spreadsheet! Its exciting!

I go home on saturday until the end of september. 3 months at home, just over 100 days. That'll be nice, but I need to get a job. Apparently there are some jobs going at the UCI near where I live, which would be ideal for me, as long as the shifts are kind and the wage is honest enough.

So, for the rest of this lapse week I'll be working, revising, watching footy, watching Lost tonight, possibly hearing John Piper speak on wednesday (as Sarah and I did on sunday, we had a great 23 hours in the same city! (really :)!)), then on thursday is the England match, which I shall not miss, come hell or high water, followed by appropriate reactions depending on their performance (saturday's match was close, and we JUST won, but lads, you gotta play better than that if you're gonna win this thing!), friday morning is the exam, then cleaning my room, then drinks with Josh and Kat, then something nice in the evening.

Then I'm off home on saturday morning, to be greeted by my French folk, who will be arriving at about the same time.

So lots of fun! God is good.

...The End - The Beginning...

2006-06-10T11:54:00.000+01:00

Yesterday many of us here at ICC experienced something marvelous: The End of lectures for first year. Having done all my essaya, I now only have one exam left between me and the end of first year, and as far as I know, I haven't failed anything! So, I'm playing today and tomorrow, and starting work for the exam, set on friday, on monday morning! But its such a good feeling to be finished one year of my degree!

What isn't a nice feeling is that in one week (less than now) I'll be saying googbye to some good friends. Josh, Kat, Pete, Linda, Emily are all 3rd year with no intention of doing honors, and all have jobs to go to. And I dunno when, if ever, I'll see them again. I mean, I'm a realist - I would love to say to each of them "lets stay the best of friends", but in all liklihood its not going to happen. People move on, move away, move continents in some people's cases. I've been doing this for many years, and though Christian friendships have a different dinemsion to them ("I'll see you in the next life if not in this one"), its still sad when people you've lived with and have grown to love move away.

But then again it'll start a new cycle of stuff with the 'Newbies' coming in next year, and Sarah and Suz'll be up here, and all kinds of different stuff'll be happening. Which is kinds cool to look forward to, but I'm not in the mood for 'kinda cool' right now.

What I am in the mood for is when began yesterday: THE 2006 WORLD CUP!! Germany's amazing opening game against Costa Rica with a 4-2 win was quite a start to this tournament. I love tournaments. And England's first game starts in 2 hours! Woo!!

And, as if today couldn't get any better, Sarah's coming up today! For less than 24 hours, but still I can't wait to see her. Its been almost 2 weeks, when compared to how long we HAVE been apart (39 weeks once...) isn't that long, but I still miss her a lot.

So yay!

Smells, Songs and Soccer

2006-06-08T13:08:00.000+01:00

I am struck today by how much I miss India, and my time there and my friends from there. It's almost a year since I came home (will be in a week), but time seems to have done something weird. I can almost feel like I'm going back in a few weeks, to get on the Avalanche truck and trunge through the jungle with a load of kids who depend on us to get them there safely, to go swimming in the lake or spend the evening round the fireplace talking about God. I can smell parts of India when I walk around the place. Garbage reminds me of some part of Chennai which we'd drive through occasionally, blossom makes me think of Mahabs, birds of Avalanche. I miss it a lot, and its kinda painful to think that it will always be a past-tense thing. Sure I may go back, I may even go back to the places I went, but it'll never be in the same context of a group of 7 strangers becomming the best of friends and a place that was alien becomming like home. I could write about it for hours. I shall over the summer.

To advertise a cause I follow, go to www.thetempted.co.uk and listen to their stuff. They're awesome!

And Rooney's foot is healed and he'll play a part in the world cup. Yay! Starts tomorrow!

There is a God...

2006-06-06T16:42:00.000+01:00

...declared the front page of The Sun, with this picture of Wayne Rooney kicking a football into the back of the net. It occured to me that the general public are looking for proof that God exists, and though this headline was probably meaning "it is very nice that Wayne can kick again", reference to God pricked up my theological ears. How is God seen in the media? This is something I don't know, but something I'd like to find out. I've wanted to do a survey randomly in a street asking people's opinions on different theological issues, for example; God, Jesus, Church, Heaven, Christians etc. That's actually my book idea, which I may even get round to writing one day.

I've just gotten back from shopping with Michael in Glasgow for the last 2 and a bit hours. Its SO hot here today, apparently its a common northern thing, as Dad says its hot in Whitley Bay too. Man I want a cold shower, or to jump in the sea with a device that should not be used as a floatation device (my inflatable England chair!)

I have to start writing an essay tomorrow about homosexuality, and I'm not even sure what my answers gonna be. Right now I'd like to sleep for a long time, but we press on!

Need to spend time with God again, haven't properly in a few days.

Sarah's comin on Saturday for 24 hours, 30 mins! yay! Flying visit but her job doesn't permit longer visits (I think its some sort of religious persecution which is masquerading as something called 'shifts'...)

Quickly now...

2006-06-05T15:11:00.000+01:00

Quite a weekend! As any self respecting Englishman either experienced or heard about soon after, England won 6-0 against Jamacia on saturday! WHAT A MATCH! We had a projector set up in the lounge up here for the game, and kept it up for the rest of the day! Watching a nine-foot tv screen is quite an experience!

I have Michael here with me for a few days, and while I'm currently in a History of Christianity lecture (last one, yay!) he's off trotting around Glasgow! Hope he doesn't get lost...

I have one more essay to to this term, and one more exam, and then I'm done for the year! I've also picked my elective modules for next year, Greek, Greek, Greek, Hinduism and Christian councelling, which will be quite a bit of work, but will be good to do!

I should go, we're getting our essays back today and being late will only stress me more.

Oh, and I got a job for the last 2 weeks of term. Get this - 2 hours a week! Suits me!

The Little Things...And the Big Things

2006-06-02T16:23:00.000+01:00

Just lost most of the post, in fact all of it, and if I were feeling less graceful I'd swear or throw the computer across the room. Since I am feeling graceful, I shall try and remember WWJD, and not do the above things. I'm finding myself being a lot more graceful in the last few days, but its not just happening, its in direct correlation with the amount of time I'm spending with God, reading my Bible and praying, which I do almost every day, but sometimes only because I think I should. Sometimes the action of opening the Bible is the hardest thing I'll do in a day, but the act of reading the Bible will be the best thing I do in the day. God honors sacrifice. Time. Money. Something you enjoy. Someone you love. If these are given up in the name of God and for the benefit of our relationship with Him and for His glory, He is faithful and will answer.

I'm learning this. I need to be changed from the inside out, not the other way round. I so often fall into the trap of 'acting the part' and saying "I'm alright" when someone asks how I am, when really I'm being torn apart inside. Now, I'm not advocating divulging one's life story everything someone uses the typically western greeting of "You'all right?" (have you ever noticed something that guys in particular do when they meet each other in the street but they're in a hurry. One will say "Allright?" and the other will say exactly the same thing, but no information has changed place!! Quite crazy!), but rather we should praise and worship God in every circumstance.

So anyway, God is good, and I trust Him. "It is perfectly right to commit an unknown future to a known God" was on an overhead in our class today as I walked in.

The little things are the things that you have to laugh about, otherwise you'd cry, as my Grandma would say. When I was walking back from Argyle Street today with Kat, a bird pooed on me. Right square in the nose, fortunately avoiding the hair!!!

How I did laugh...!

[witty title]

2006-06-01T10:32:00.000+01:00

The Interview with Tarik went really well, except that Rebekah's recording thing only got about 5 minutes of it cos the batteries died. Annoying.

Currently in a lecture about homosexuality, and its draining me. A group of 30 Christians, with ages ranging from 20 to 65 (both extremes are in my group) can't seem to agree what the scriptural and compassionate approach to homosexuality is.

Feelin' tired in general today, and things are annoying me. Like people suing each other for millions of dollars because concent wasn't given for footage of them to be used in a film that did well at the box office. GET A LIFE!!!

And people are moaning that couples who've lived together for years but never got married don't have the same rights as married couples. You're fifty or something! Get off your cloud and come down here to the real world - just get married, it'll cost you £80.

Rediculous. What's with the world?

Recent thoughts

2006-05-31T16:44:00.000+01:00

Though I am buried in work, I am taking this 17 minutes between concluding an essay until 8pm tonight and meeting with Rebekah to discuss what we're going to ask the Muslim that we're interviewing at 6pm to blog some thoughts I've had recently.

1) What is the deal with alcohol? Really. I really don't understand the fascination with it. I recently had a cheesecake, and after three bites of "it tastes a bit weird", I realized that it had liquor in it! In a cheesecake! Have you ever noticed that when people are drinking they get loud and sing and stop caring what people think of them? It dawned on me that when people are drunk, they act like I do when I'm sober. Perhaps thats why I don't understand the whole "lets get inebriated and have a good time " mindset, or more accurately, "lets get inebriated TO have a good time" mindset, because apparently if you can walk in a straight line and pronouce words correctly then you're bored.

Next!

2) Have you ever noticed those magazines on about the middle shelf of any tobacconist with pictures of 'celebrities' doing everyday things? 'Heat' is one, 'closer' is another, and apparently there's a new one called 'love it!', which of course everyone will. They all have the same pictures of the same people with slightly different fonts and wordings of their 'headlines'. There's a strongbow advert taking the Michael out of these magazines, declaring "In new C-list Magazine, the stars reveal their real favourite colours!" with the headline on the magazine reading "Mel G goes out in yellow dress". Its such a brilliant advert. Who reads these things anyway? Hairdressers? Thats gotta be the reason Big Brother is so 'successful' (click here for more), we love to watch other people, who were 'just like us' turning into celebrities for a fortnight or so. And I'm sure Chantelle is a sign of the end times.

NEXT!

3) Something a little more food-for-thought than the above two. What makes a person a Christian? Following Christ. What does it mean to follow Christ? Living as He lived. What does that entail? Loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself. How do we do that then? Read the Bible, pray to God, do good to everyone else. How often do you need to read the Bible to be a Christian? How often do you need to pray? How many times can you NOT do good to everyone before you backslide? It depends on the attitude you have towards God, whether you love Him fully or not. How do I know that I love Him...?

Etc etc.

The Wedding

2006-05-30T10:20:00.000+01:00

Having had no more than 25 hours sleep in the four days before today, I was SO tired last night I could hardly stand.

The wedding was a really good time. Meeting the future extended inlaws, I could not help looking at noses and ways of speaking and trying to see who was more like whom! Lots of fun!

The hotel we stayed at was about an hour from Heathrow, and seeing as we'd been delayed by two hours on the way there, we didn't get to the hotel until 1am! Tim and I shared a room, and Sarah shared with her Aunt (not the one who was getting married). FREE minibar was a lovely bonus, as was the half dozen or so chocolate bars left out by the groom (he works with chocolate... must be every girls dream!) in our rooms! The hotel was 350 years old, and looked like it had been extended and extended many times over, as it was like a rabbit warren!!

The wedding itself was lovely. Sarah was the youngest female, and Tim was the youngest male (both by about 20 years you understand), so you get the kind of atmosphere there was... middle aged people seeing their friends of old tie the knot. Really nice 4 piece jazz band playing as the guests were arriving. Not a Christian wedding, so instead of reading from Corinthians, Shakespeare was read, and instead of singing "blessed be your name", The Beatles were sung, which put quite an interesting twist on things - I've never been to a civil ceremony before!

The reception was on a boat on the thames. A hundred people crammed onto a vehicle, plus water, plus alcohol, plus music, times middle age... you get where I'm going. Very interesting! My leg started to cease up about an hour before we docked again.

And now I'm back in Glasgow, for my last three weeks of ICC year 1. Gone really fast when I think about it. I have gained some interesting thoughts about certain things, which I will blog about imminently. But gotta get back to class now.

O! The life of a Bible College student!

Where on earth is Belarus!?

2006-05-26T10:26:00.000+01:00

England match last night. We were robbed. I don't say that because I think England are the best in the world, I say that because Belarus shouldn't have won. For a start they weren't playing the main England team, but the B team. Beckham, Lampard and Gerrard, not to mention a few others, were on the bench, never intending to play. The match was really about Michael Owen and Theo Walcott. Both played brilliantly!

Belarus played so dirty, hacking people every few minutes. When Green, our keeper at the time, was rolling on the floor in agony from a goalkick, Belarus took advantage of this and scored. Not a fan of the Belarus team. England have a lot of work to do, but they're still my team, and they still are world-cup class!

I've had a few comments that my posts have been getting shorter, and apparently they have, so I'm doing a fairly biggish one before I go away this evening to *LONDON BABY!* for Sarah's aunt's wedding. It just struck me this morning that I'm meeting a lot of her family tonight, so when I discovered I'd slept in for the first part of the lecture, my instant reaction wasn't "argh, I must run about getting ready", it was "I'd better shave". So I have shaved, and am wearing my England shirt with pride! I should be safe once I get south of Berwick on the train, which I leave for in about an hour.

I'm really looking forward to this weekend, for many reasons. A) I'm seeing Sarah (and haven't in almost 2 weeks) B) I'm seeing my family (again, because I haven't in almost two weeks, but it won't be for very long cos I got a plane to catch) C) I'm seeing sarah's family D) I'm going to London, E) I'm staying in posh hotel and F) I'll be meeting my future extended in-laws. So its all good.

Today I am premiering the new look Walk on..., complete with new banner, and many exciting things yet to come (possibly once I've thought them up).

I should go, the lecturer who's class I missed has just walked in. Gulp!

Oh, and Belarus is in Eastern Europe, former USSR.

Scoundrels!

Weak Journalism...

2006-05-25T15:11:00.000+01:00

It just gets silly...

Halakah...

2006-05-25T14:05:00.000+01:00

Halakah is the Hebrew word for Walking, which I thought appropriate for my blog. I learned that in class today.

Still beavering away at this Mission essay, which is actually coming on nicely. Enjoying it more than I thought I would. My problem is the word count. I still need to discuss Hinduism and I have about 500 words max in which to do it.

realizing that I've slipped back into arrow prayers, and I haven't spent any proper time with God since Monday. I shall as soon as I can, which seems stupid because I'm writing this essay for his Glory. "Sorry friend, I can't spend any time with you, I'm doing something for you" doesn't make much sense.

The college has a secret 4th floor! I discovered this yesterday! Felt like I was in an action film!

England match tonight, hopefully will be watching it, if I get this essay done!

A new idea for Reality TV!

2006-05-24T14:44:00.000+01:00

1) Find eleven thousand volunteers, a car park with eleven thousand spaces and eleven thousand identical Ford Focus's.

2) Give each volunteer one of eleven thousand unique keys, each one corresponding to one of the Ford Focus's.

3) The first one to get into their car and exit the carpark wins all eleven thousand Ford Focus's.

Go!

Plagiarising of Blogs

2006-05-24T11:56:00.000+01:00

Read this before you read the rest of this post.

"Something you said to me once kinda summed up prayer in a sentence. "God always answers prayers, and the answers are either 'yes', 'no' or 'wait'. So therefore, when this person comes to me and asks to be prayed to cure their cancer, I would pray with them of course, but to be honest, depending on the stage of the cancer and what their medical likelihood of recovery is, I would probably only pray with them because A) they asked me to and B) it would make them feel better.

This does show that I need more faith too, who doesn't, but I don't believe that God would put the fate of a person (or any matter which we would pray about) into the hands of humans who can lie, cheat, forget, manipulate or corrupt. I don't think anything happens because we prayed XYZ amount for it, but only that Almighty God saw fit to bless a certain situation.

I pray because I need to to keep myself afloat. I pray for other people for God to keep them afloat. I cannot deny examples I've heard of people being healed, people being brought to faith in dreams or being saved from certain-death situations.

I think what I'm trying to say is this; I believe God can and will heal a person of cancer. I believe it is right to pray for that person to be healed of cancer. I don't think the two are linked though. Surely if they were, then we could take some credit, saying "Yeah I prayed for you, you owe me." God must be given all glory in our prayers, and we must never fall into the trap of thinking that because we utter a few words of prayer that we possess God's power to heal."

Thoughts?

Independent (biased) Film Review

2006-05-23T21:33:00.000+01:00

Click here to read a review of The Da Vinci Code.

St. Robbie of Hippo?

2006-05-23T14:31:00.000+01:00

Just about to start an essay about pluralism and secularism, for which I have done no reading and so am panicing slightly as the deadline is less than 74 hours away, and for a lot of that I'll be sleeping!

I discovered yesterday that the line "Oh Lord, make me pure, but not yet" which may be recongnised from a Robbie Williams song, was first prayed by St Augustine of Hippo in the 4th Century AD! Amazing what you learn when you pay attention to lectures.

Had an amazing lecture about Islam today, really fascinating, and the next mission assessment (interview someone from a different religious tradition) looks like its going to be actual fun!

Lots to do today, and time is slipping away from me at a rate of knots. Going to London for a wedding on friday, which I'm looking forward to a lot!

Self Image(s)

2006-05-22T11:55:00.000+01:00

Finally saw The Da Vinci Code on saturday night. Had planned to see it with Steve and Kat. Actually saw it with Kat. Steve never showed up... Odd fellow! Keep your browsers pointed here for a review, possibly tonight!

Sarah's blog has made me think. So many girls/women suffer from self esteem issues, this is a fact. But what causes it? Is it in fact the media plowing us with images about how to look beautiful? Is it the fact that everyone on television is slim (with the possible exception of Peter Kay)? Certainly most women in the spotlight are slim, toned, tanned, have 'perfect' faces etc. Can anyone think of any who do not fit these categories?

I do not, however, think its all the media's fault. Neither do I think it is something that women take upon themselves. I blame the Western Culture we live in. Let me ask you this, How many people in developing countries care about what they look like? How many people who have to beg for food have self esteem issues? How many people in developing countries see a psychiatrist? How many people who have seen their homes burned or their families killed care about the latest fashion, or that they may be those few extra pounds heavier?

If I lived in africa, I would probably hear women complaining that they were too thin, that they need more skin (cos apparently in African culture (though I know that is a huge generalisation and there are hundreds of cultures within Africa) the more skin you have, the sexier you are).

Surely thats what it comes down to, in the end. Sex. Being wanted. Being loved. Being made to feel beautiful. Feeling worth something. The problem is that even if any given woman lost XYZ pounds and gained a supermodel body, they would still feel the same, they would still feel as if they're too fat, because A) thats how culture/media/(dare I say it?) men make them feel, and B) their view of themselves has been so weakened that its not a matter of bodily bliss anymore, but rather its a mental and/or spiritual battle masquerading as a physical condition.

Jesus said...

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength... [and] Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12: 30-31

Not only must we love God and love our neighbour, but we must love ourselves, which is either very easy of very hard.

Challenged

2006-05-20T11:29:00.000+01:00

Incidently I didn't see the Da Vinci Code last night, when we got to the cinema at 2:30 they were sold out for all showing except the 11:30pm one, which I was fine with but Kat and Steve were less so. So we're going tonight, have got tickets!

I am challenged today by several things, but all about the same subject. While on the phone to Sarah last night I got a text from Daniel saying he'd been challenged by Sarah's blog. I hadn't read it, so I enquired as to what she had written about. Prayer, I was told, and she described to me what she'd written about her prayer life. You know when it takes someone taking assessment of their own life to make you assess yours. My prayer-life sucks. I make excuses like "I'm too busy with this essay" or "My body's failing me and I'm too tired", but the bottom line is that I'm crap at it. As I was reading her blog just now, I had Coldplay's 'Speed of Sound' in my ears. This line hit me like a train:

"how long am I gonna can stand,
with my head stuck under the sand"

What am I waiting for? For the summer? Do I delude myself with thoughts of "witnessing isn't my field, its encouraging", either way, I still need to pray. And who am I to deduct what God has in store for me? I'm a B-grade bible college student in his first year, with an ego the size of most family cars. I tell myself that I don't need God in this area of my life, and so I don't include him. This is the guy speaking who preached 6 days ago. I haven't spent more than a minute and a half in prayer in one go since then, nor have I opened my Bible.

My dad used to have a poem on his wall, which went along the lines of "I had too much to do that I didn't make time to pray... I realised I had so much to do I HAD to take time to pray." It rhymed when I read it, but you get the gist.

I was speaking with Fletch and Coxy the other day about our Clustermaps, and one of them (I can't remember which) said that it was a humbling thing, and it shouldn't be about the dots. And for me it is.

I'm gonna wrap this up here and go shower, eat and then PRAY before I do anything else. Maybe the reason my body is hurting is because I haven't been praying for healing. Maybe the reason I'm stressed about essays is because they're about God, but I haven't been letting him in.

I'm far to quick to point out the speck in someone else's eye while I got this pride-o-lumberjack-country in my own.

The title of my blog is "Walk on...", and the reason for this is not because it's an awesome by the Irish lads, its because thats what we Christians need to do when stuff gets crap - Walk on, keep going, persevere, endure etc.

I'm going Walking...

Anagrams

2006-05-19T13:03:00.000+01:00

The Da Vinci Code = A convicted hide
Alan Harrison = Anal or in rash
International Christian College = Interesting, laconical lionheart
Whitley Bay Christian Fellowship = Newsworthy, cheapish fallibility
Pauline Harrison = Insular hero pain
Suzanne Johnson = Nun's Jonah zones
Nick Fletcher = Left rich neck
Tony Blair = Tory in Lab
Dave White = View Death
Tony Sargent = Snotty anger
Steve Roberts = Best-ever sort
Jesus Christ Superstar = Sharp-cut stress juries
Michael Lamb = Able, calm him
Alan Dickinson = Kind, nasal icon
Matthew Mellor = Hmm! Towel alert
Rachel Warner = Rare crawl hen
Brilliant Website!!!!

Problems

2006-05-19T10:12:00.000+01:00

This last week I've had such problems getting out of bed, except on monday morning when I was up at the crack of dawn, and by crack of dawn, I mean 7:45am. What is it about Glasgow that makes it so tiring? Might be my bed. The management are trying to put me and Kris into a single room (together) next year, which would mean a cut in the price of the room per month, but also a dramatic cut in the floorspace we have. I think I'll compaign and cause a fuss if they press us on this. A double room is annoying as it is without them cramming us into a single room. Some people...!

Last night a few of us from upstairs went out for a drink for an hour, which was nice. I realised that I'd never been in the Lee (the pub 30 seconds from college) except to ask for a job. Guess I'm more of a cinema guy than a pub guy. Then a lot more of us invaded Andy and Hazel's flat and had chocolate fondu, something which I've never had before. Was nice, if a bit sickly. I need to go to the gym today, and I shall, as I have finished my History essay! Yyyyyaaaaaayyyyy!!!!

Will be going to see the Da Vinci code tonight at 10:30, and I'm really looking forward to that! Come on Tom Hanks! No doubt will be updating the film blog about it soon after.

I find myself growing increasingly comfortable with people up here, and it's gonna suck when Josh and Kat leave (5 weeks) cos they're two really good mates. I guess I just gotta trust God that He'll bring the right people along next year. And I do. Cos He's good.

"There's a rock that doesn't move, it hasn't moved, it will never move..."

Independant (biased) Film Review

2006-05-18T19:35:00.000+01:00

Check out the film review blog, now with a review of 16 Blocks, and a review of The Da Vinci Code coming soon!!

One more for the fold...

2006-05-18T14:04:00.000+01:00

Yet another noble personl has become a blogger. Jenny's Blog is now up and running.

If only it was as easy to share my faith as it is to share my Blog...

Testosterone, Beer and Theirry Henry

2006-05-18T10:34:00.000+01:00

So, after I'd had enough of writing about persecuted Christians and had my fill of Joy's dinner (she hardly eats anything, which for someone who eats lots, me, is great!) James and I wandered down to The Walkabout in town, just behind the Cineworld. We went there to watch the Champions League final. While I didn't know much about football before I came to ICC, having a roommate who's football crazy has tilted me in the other direction! The match was AMAZING! I never knew football could be so theatrical! The Arsenal keeper got sent off in the first half, then Sol Campbell (England's finest) scored for Arsenal and it looked like it was going to be a proud day to be English. However, the hopes of the nation were dashed, and as I watched with a budweiser trying not to get my white leather covered in beer and listening to the conversation of several passionate african/french guys, Barcelona not only equalised but scored another after than in the space of 5 minutes. Amazing football!

The atmosphere in that place was unbelievable! Imagine 300 people crammed into a place that could comfortably hold 220, add football passion and alcohol, mixed in with the TV screen not working terribly well and the pride of both England and Scotland (one of Barcelona's players was scottish) at stake, it makes a great evening! I can't wait for the world cup, and for the England matches I'll be front row with some fellow Englishmen, cheering on a cause that hasn't won in 40 years.

But we're English, it is our duty!

Currently in a lecture about sexual ethics, which is interesting. Someone remarked "but isn't it was a sin to sleep before marriage?" I wondered why I'd been so tired lately...

Busy

2006-05-17T16:03:00.000+01:00

Rediculously busy doing a history essay, which is coming on nicely but slowly. I'm writing about the martyrdom of a guy called Polycarp, who was a bishop in turkey in the second century. Not the most jolly thing I've ever done an essay about.

Have just got me some free tickets to see 'The Wild' next week for free, which is a film that I wouldn't normally see out of choice given the shameless copy of Madagaskar that it looks to be, but it does help to keep my film reviewing on a more equal playing field. If I'm only seeing film's I like, what good is that!?

I miss Sarah, and she's missing me too. So we're missing each other. This wedding next weekend sounds like a laugh though. Lots of fun to be had!

Anyway, must dash and write more about people killing Christians!

More from The Da Vinci Code

2006-05-16T19:47:00.000+01:00

You may have noticed that I recieved this question, "What do you haev to say about the Da Vinci Code?" from this guy. Eug, I will post a bit about what I spoke on RE: the Da Vinci Code when I get a chance in the next few days. If you want to hear me, email me and I'll email you the file

Somewhere in the shadow-land between orthodoxy and heresy

2006-05-16T13:19:00.000+01:00

You know the feeling of absolute frustration when you want/need to go on the internet but it's not working and no one seems to know why!?!?! GRRR! Well its working now, and I have a list of about 10 things to do on it in the next hour, one of which is this.

Sunday afternoon I, along with a few others (not including Jo, which I was annoyed at because though she's 15, she should be let into a bar before 9pm if she doesn't try to drink, right? I should check that out and flash a copy of "Royal British Law" in the face of the owner of the Fat Ox. You too Michelle, I don't mean to deny you your pain.) went to the Fat Ox in Whitley Bay to see TheTempted playing. TheTempted consist of Daniel, Matthew and Andy (who's real name is Nellie), and they are the band who played a large part in both my coming to faith and in my development as a Christian. They split up when Dan went to South Africa, and in the process lost their keys player Liam, and have since reformed. They were awesome, in a word! I was actually in awe of how good they'd gotten, and in their 6(ish) song set, they only covered 2 songs. Very impressed guys. I'll link you from here when you get your website up and running.

Two years ago today I was swimming with Sand Tiger Sharks, amongst other things...

One of the things I got for my birthday was a wireless network stick for my computer up here, so I can blog all night long! However, when trying to install it I encountered Windows 98 errors which hindered my progress, and so it won't install! Which means I either have to find out whats wrong with my computer, or install a newer version of windows, which'll cost money. Probably the latter one, as I've had network problems with this computer for years!

One of the essays we have to do before the end of term is to write up and interview we've taken with a person of another faith group. Now, in principle I have no problem with this, but in reality I do, because I don't know anyone who is 'religious' who isn't a Christian. Do I? Anyone on here wanna be interviewed?

As you may have gathered from my previous entry, Sarah, my fiance, has succomed to the desires of the web and now has a blog, on blogger no less! Link to her blog is at the side. Its a pink blog, in which she says many nice things about me. Thanks love :)

In 70 minutes I'm doing a presentation about India (it could have been about anything) for no more than ten minutes (FIF: remember our '15 minute' presentation at the debrief which lasted for 40? Memories...!), and for this I have written about 25 words on a bit of paper and intend to fill in the blanks as I go along.

Though it may seem like obsession, it's really just a cool thing to do. Blogging. I've been very blessed by the people who say they've read it or the little red dots on the cluster map. Long may it continue. Finally I have an outlet for everything in my head. No "well that won't take long" jokes please!

Apparently the clocks aren't working, which is annoying. I think I might take out the world cup one and just have one with the time on it. I keep scouring the internet for stuff to include here.

I need to spend more time with God. Something I read on Coxy's blog which inspired me was a bit on his profile. "The world doesn't want proper Christians, it wants real Christians"So I need to be real, or, more real, because sometimes I feel like I'm getting sucked further and further into a Christian bubble.

It's infectious...

2006-05-14T21:20:00.000+01:00

Well, she's got one!

Visit Sarah's blog! Her URL is here!

They all crumble sooner or later...

The Da Vinci Code

2006-05-14T18:02:00.000+01:00

I've just gotten back from church and I've just preached about the Da Vinci Code. God has been so good to me in the last few days in preparing for this, and it went really well apparently. I was worried I was gonna run over by ages and talk for an hour or something, but I kept it relatively short at 30 minutes. Praise the Lord!

I was at Sarah's yesterday and among making a cake and eating a 14 inch pizza between us, we spent more than four hours working on my presentation (powerpoint) and sermon, because I hadn't been through it as a sermon, but only as notes. So, as I spoke, I realised that what I was saying wasn't worded right or that some things were irrelevant (for example, about Dan Brown and what he believes and who he is. Interesting, but not important for what I was trying to say) and so with much discussion and rewording and printing and emailing and searching the Internet and stressing, she helped me get it in order and preach-worthy. God's really blessed me with her.

Going off back to college tomorrow, which is going to be a hellish week, given that I have two assignments in and I haven't started either of them. But I have wednesday off, so instead of shopping for food, I'll be writing a history essay. Fun.

You know its your birthday because you get seventeen texts from different people before 10am! One such text was from daniel read:

"Happy birthday to you, for he's a jolly good fellow, how much is that doggy in the window, darlin darlin stand by me, 99 bottles of beer on the wall"

Picture/s

2006-05-14T13:17:00.000+01:00

Possibly the funniest moment...
For more photo's see Suz's blog
Damn paparazzi, they get everywhere...!
I saw something AMAZING in the distance

Stop that man, he has my beard!
Unfortunately I got my thumb stuck up my nose...
Ees a race... ees a race!
Meditation is the name of the game (not 'bowling')

Pointing either to the England Badge with pride or my nipple in pain...

Birthday Bowling!

2006-05-13T12:05:00.000+01:00

Three guesses what I did yesterday...!

Flew a kite with Jo and Isla for ages, it was SO much fun!
Also went bowling with a few mates and my family, then had chinese and Indian with said people, was a good time.

Many thanks to all who came, I really enjoyed myself.

Photo's coming soon.

Inspired comments seem to have dried up today. Perhaps because I've just finished my sermon for tomorrow. Anyone wants a copy when I've done it, give me a shout/email. Also some prayers would be appreciated for it.

God has a way of continuingly surprising me with things. Its curious yet amazing.

Big shout out to Nick Cox who's been a Christian for 3 years now! Good on ya Coxy, Walk on man...!

(More Americans now...! Who ARE you guys??)

4 8 15 16 23 42

2006-05-12T09:53:00.000+01:00

Picture of my 19th birthday.

And now I'm 20. Was thinking on wednesday night, "what was I doing the last time I changed digits (by which I mean, changed from 09 to 10), and what will I be doing next time?" I concluded that last time I was playing Pogs, and the next time I'd be a father...

Played squash with Michael on wednesday, and I'm still paying for it today. Went to bed at 10pm last night I was that tired, though tonight'll be a public celebration of my birthday (bowling and Indian).

So, what shape did my birthday take? Was woken up at 7:40am by family and did presents, including a kite, the speeches of Martin Luther King, Without a Trace series 2 DVD, Lost and Find by Will Smith etc. Quite blessed! Then everyone went to work/school and Sarah came round, and we had some lunch and went to the Cinema. The film review blog will have a review of 16 Blocks on it soon. Then, as one does on a birthday, I went and gave blood. Always lots of fun, but since I had my appendix out in January, needles really dont bother me!

After that and the complimentary drink of juice and such things, we went to Sarah's for a bit and then back to mine and crashed. ER and sunlight, nice!

So that was my day. I've had the three nights out of six at home, and its going far too quickly.

Man I'm tired...

The Hatch

2006-05-10T11:17:00.000+01:00

Perhaps its because I was watching Lost last night, or perhaps its just because I have an 'other reality' mindset, but either way, as I woke up this morning I was suddenly struck by how different my house in Newcastle is to my flat in Glasgow. It does remind me of going into the hatch in lost, where, compared to the jungle, things are pretty comfortable. I never realised how different it is...!

Arrived at Newcastle station over the tyne, which I love doing because I get t' see wor bridge like, an its well cushdy like, y'naa!

Excuse me...! Slipped back into Geordie there. But Newcastle as a whole is a nice place, albeit with a few rough edges. But God can work in all situations, as He is still working in me, which is quite reassuring. I'm preaching on sunday about the Da Vinci code, which I think I've mentioned before on here, but I'm doing so again.

Just about to play squash with Michael, which'll be interesting as I've never touched a squash racket in my life!

My birthday tomorrow...

Dreams

2006-05-09T10:18:00.000+01:00

I've had a few weird dreams in the last few days. I dreamt on sunday night that Jurassic Park 4 was being woven into Lost, and I remember being impressed with the Tyrannosaurus and the Dilophosaurs, which didn't spit poison, but breathed it... Sayid was driving a Jeep...! Lots of fun.

Because of mens breakfast this morning I've missed the first part of the Secularism, Pluralism and Christianity lecture, which I'm a bit annoyed at because I find this topic interesting. Mens breakfast went really well, big bowls of cereal - hotel style - were the order of the day, and one great thing about cereals is that they keep for years, so anything people didn't eat will do me nicely til the end of the term! Ka-ching!

Finally reviewed MI3 last night, which was fun, so if you wanna see what I think of it, click here.

Going home today, so the rest of the day will be: lecture - fellowship group - lecture - lunch - going to station - get tickets - arrive in Newcastle. Good old Newcastle.

What is this moral fiber you speak of?

2006-05-08T19:19:00.000+01:00

On the way to buy essentials for tomorrows mens breakfast (which falls to me to provide this week) I passed through George's Square. On any sunny day there will be students on the grass, either chilling, working, kissing (etc) or drinking. Today I saw all this apart from working, which is fair enough, I'm not especially up for working on a sunny day.

But it just struck me how much flesh appears on the streets the minute the sun stays out for more than five minutes. Just passing through George's Square, which couldn't have taken more than a minute tops, I saw some quite perculiar things happening with cameras and summer shirts...

Makes me think of india, which is quite the opposite. Bellies are shown with no remorse, and when you see a 60 year old woman's midriff, you want to stop yourself looking. Heat is constant so all that does is make people dress in lighter clothes, and perhaps wear a headscarf. Man, its such a different world out there.

Take me back to the Jungle...!

Having said that, if you can put up with flesh and drunks, I do love the summer. Light late at night, no school (yay!), good mates and a barbeque with a few cold ones... Sweet...!

The Weekend

2006-05-08T16:24:00.000+01:00

And the England squad stands at...

Provisional squad:
Robinson (Tottenham), James (Manchester City), Green (Norwich); G Neville (Manchester United), Ferdinand (Manchester United), Terry (Chelsea), Cole (Arsenal), Campbell (Arsenal), Carragher (Liverpool), Bridge (Chelsea), Beckham (Real Madrid), Carrick (Tottenham), Lampard (Chelsea), Gerrard (Liverpool), Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Jenas (Tottenham), Downing (Middlesbrough), J Cole (Chelsea), Lennon (Tottenham), Rooney (Manchester United), Owen (Newcastle), Crouch (Liverpool), Walcott (Arsenal).

If that means nothing to you you have sertious homework to do in the next 5 weeks!!

Quite a weekend for me, quite a different weekend for other people. You know that feeling when you're whole week/world collapses into spasms that can't be controlled with anything short of a defibrilator? Prayers to those who know what I mean.

Didn't do a lot really this weekend. Didn't go to church on sunday, watched 'Hitch' instead. Did quite a lot of my sermon for sunday, which is looking good but perhaps too long. I've gotta run through it and time how long it is.

You know that clustermap down the right hand side of the screen? I have three hits from the states on there. If you read this from another country can you please leave a comment? I'm quite curious.

In a lecture about the history of Christianity. Wanting to knaw my own arm off just so I have something to do. Not usually one to actually declare a subject at ICC boring, but this is BORING!Not enjoying it one bit. Home tomorrow though, which will be good.

Take me to a mountain with a Bible, The Warden and a pipe...!

2006-05-05T13:00:00.000+01:00

There was a thunderstorm last night here in Glasgow! SO much fun to A) watch and B) be out in.

Went to see mission impossible yesterday afternoon once I'd finished on the computer, and it was great by the way! http://butterhookfilmreview.blogspot.com will have a full review soon enough. ANYWAY! Steve, Rebekah and I went to see this film. On the way back I got 22 messages from Sarah, each containing no writing. Quite strange... Almost Lost-esk...!

Just arriving back at college we 3 met four others from upstairs who were heading out for coffee. Since I hadn't eaten in many hours I said I'd catch them up later, which I did. Nice Itallian cafe called 'cafe uno'. Lightning still going on outside, thunder getting louder, and post hot chocolate the heavens open and it pours!

Not being able to resist, I removed from my person every electronic piece of equipment and wandered out in the rain, praising God whenever there was a thunderclap! Lightning became forked, rain became deep...! What an evening! I sang 'Elevation' very loud, something which I would not do in Glasgow without any strange circumstances, and I only stopped because someone started shouting louder than I was.

Took me flying back to Avalanche, and climbing the hill at night with Ed for phone reception, then finding a thunderstorm happening across the valley. I miss it.

Our God is an AWESOME God!!!

Rant

2006-05-04T16:26:00.000+01:00

Yesterday I decided that since I couldn’t find my headphones and one of them was broken anyway that I’d buy some new ones. Unfortunately, when I listened to my MP3 player with them, it sounded like I was listening to it through a wall. = Not happy.

Took them back to HMV today with the receipt expecting to be shot down saying “you’ve opened them and they DO work, so get lost!!!” Was greeted by a friendly Glaswegian sales lady who with absolute calm asked whether I’d like the same pair again or a different pair. Opted for a different pair. VERY impressed with the service of HMV for its customers, of which I am one. = Happy!

Going to see Mission Impossible 3 tonight, so watch out for a review on the Film review blog soon! Should be a lot of fun. Actually leaving in about 50 minutes, which gives me no time to start the essay I was supposed to begin writing today. Shame… Will start it tomorrow. It’s about Philemon you see…!

The guy who lent me his computer yesterday was called John, as I discovered by looking at the college photo poster for about 15 minutes, and then realised that his name was on the start-up screen! >_< felt foolish. Spent a bit of time with his laptop last night – the internet is a wondrous thing! I really want to get it for my room at college; the room that I hope to stay in next year with Kris. We have a good routine, not that we’re picking out curtains or anything, but he’s out at football a lot and I’m at the cinema or bowling or whatever.

Was watching the news just before I came on here. Apparently now one in four adults in Britain is officially obese, and GP’s are being asked to take steps to combat this. Did they have any success with smokers? Drinkers? BBC news asked people what they thought about GP’s saying to you when you come in that they think you’re overweight and need to eat healthier and do more exercise. One woman said that she’d feel quite victimised and wouldn’t be comfortable talking about her weight if she hadn’t gone for that reason. My doctor frequently asks me if I smoke, and not only if I go to her complaining of chest pains.

Frankly, I don’t think that its GPs responsibility to make you lose weight. It’s partly your own, but largely that of the media. The government needs to crack down on the crap that is channelled into our living rooms every morning, noon and night which makes you feel like you’re not beautiful, not attractive, that food is your friend and you can eat it without remorse or consequence. I weigh too much, 21lbs too much according to my average BMI, and I know I need to do something about it. Hence the gym, hence the bike. The media is choking our society. You don’t need a size 6 waist with blonde hair and all that goes with it to be attractive, as so many TV shows and magazines would have us believe. You’re beautiful to God, just how you are!!

Okay, rant over.

My birthday a week today… yay! And I’ve discovered Diet Coke with cherry… Yum!

Lost

2006-05-03T13:05:00.000+01:00

This post will not contain any spoilers... I hope!

Last night I settled into a confortable chair at about 9:45pm and waited patiently for the beginning of Lost series two. During this wait The O.C. was on, and as happens on channel 4, there were many adverts. One of which was for The Hansol Foundation, declaring that "since the dawn of time man has striven to discover the mysteries of the universe." Thinking nothing of it, it was dismissed. Until, half way through the 3 hours of lost that we got last night, a clip from the Hansol Foundation's advert was shown as part of the episode. Kris, Donna and I then called the Hansol foundation's number and heard a voice giving different extensions for different people, plus one for general information. We listened to the general information one and heard a man speaking in what Kris thought was Danish. Something strange is happening...

As for the episodes themselves... well they, as they always did, left the viewers with more questions than answers, though some of series one's questions were answered. However, a lot seemed to happen in episode one which was then recapped in episodes two and three, and though new information was being given, it was information to fill in holes from the earlier in the episode, or the episode before. Still, gripping stuff. Very satisfying...!

One guy who I helped with the resolution on his screen once has just given me his laptop to keep for two days to look at and figure out what can be done to improve it. Thing is, I don't know if he wants me to tell him to buy stuff, or if he's expecting me to install stuff for him, which I'm not going to do. Also, I don't know his name...

"If Jesus was playing in the world cup He'd be in goal, because he saves!"

Crashing

2006-05-02T12:21:00.000+01:00

Have you ever seen 'Crash', that film with Sandra Bullock and a load of other people in? At the beginning of that, the guy who plays a cop (who also I THINK is in later ERs) says something like; "we go through our lives by ourselves, and sometimes we just crash into each other just to have interaction with one another". It's struck me recently how isolating our culture can be.

In pretty much every other culture in the world, be it Indian, African, Eastern European, whatever, family, friendship, community are all valued much more than wealth, power or status. But in the west (UK, USA, Australia), family, friends and just general knowing people is put on the back burner to these things.

These were the thoughts brought at the mens prayer breakfast this morning, which happens here every tuesday for the residents of ICC, and its so true! Had good time this morning, after 6 hours sleep and much cheese and pastries, I'm feeling pretty good. Mix that in with a dash of fellowship day (= no lectures) and sprinkly with vast quantities of Lost series two this evening at 10pm, and you'll have a pretty good day, as I am having!

Don't wanna do an essay :(

"Mayday" or "M'aide"?

2006-05-01T19:45:00.000+01:00

Man listening to air traffic control is trying to think of a name for a bank holiday.

[VOICE OVER RADIO]: Mayday! Mayday!

Man: Good idea...

Back in Glasgow for yet more theological learning! Is it blasphemous to say that I sometimes find lectures boring? I really hope not, but its a sad fact that when you're tired and quite emotional you really don't want hear about so many Roman emperors, even if they did kill a load of early Christians.

Someone was praying for me on sunday morning at church and she prayed this; "God, you are so mighty and powerful and clever...". And it struck me like a ton of bricks!! God is clever! We talk about God as grand words as possible and they do become meaningless. We should pray how we really think, I think. Instead of praying "God you have the most awesome intellect with such fathomless cognition of every atom in existence", would it be so wrong to pray "God, you are very clever, and I love you". Wordiness can be good, but only in certain cases and when a person would speak like that in any circumstance.

Alright, a game. You are having a dinner party. Your table can fit eight people around it and everyone you already know is busy that night. So, you decide to invite seven fictional people from television. Who would make your list? At my party would be...

Dr. Doug Ross (E.R)
John Locke (Lost)
Mr. Burns (The Simpsons)
Gil Grisson (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation)
Daphne Moon (Frasier)
Dr. Perry Cox (Scrubs)
Edmund Blackadder (Blackadder)

Who would YOU invite?

Like so many fried haddock

2006-04-30T09:10:00.000+01:00

I think the days are gone when I cared to little about football I could list all the players I could name on one hand. How carefree were those days!

Were England's world cup hopes snapped like a metatarsal bone last night as Wayne Rooney took a flying tackle for Man U. against Chelsea?

Funnily enough, it happened EXACTLY 6 weeks before England's first world cup match, and he was told he'd be out of play for 6 weeks... coinsidence?

Had a great time playing rounders at Matt's last night for his 21st, got quite carried away and put a hole in the lawn with my knee...

Heading back to Glasgow tomorrow morning, which seems rediculous since I only got here on friday, but such is my lecture timetable.

Tired and my leg's killing me this morning, siatic nerve (or whatever) is killing me. Off to shower, then to church.

Ghosts

2006-04-28T10:17:00.000+01:00

ghost n.
1)The spirit of a dead person, especially one believed to appear in bodily likeness to living persons or to haunt former habitats.
2)The center of spiritual life; the soul.
3)A demon or spirit.
4)A returning or haunting memory or image.

www.dictionary.com defines 'ghost' as "a returning or haunting memory or image". I'd say thats about right...

"how loosely woven is the fabric of our happiness. A tug or two, and it unravels to reveal just how bare we really are."

"I waited patiently for the Lord,
He looked down and heard my cry,
He lifts me up out of the pit,
Up out of the mirey clay.

I will sing,
Sing a new song,
I will sing,
Sing a new song.

You set my feet upon a rock,
And made my footsteps firm,
That many will see,
Many will see and hear.

How long to sing this song?
How long to sing this song?
How long, how long, how long, how long,
To sing this song?"

Where is my trust? Where does my hope lie? Where is my sense of peace in times of trial? When will my head stop spinning? How long will I sing this song?

"Its one thing to give advice, its another to take it"

"I quote people to better express myself"

Scaring Geese

2006-04-27T10:40:00.000+01:00

Was up til 2am last night on the phone to Sarah. Was up at 8:50am this morning to get to a lecture on the ethics of war and peace. Still in it. Something that amuses me a lot is "the rules of war". How would that go...

"Soldier1: Okay, now we're all going to shoot at each other, and I'll blow this whistle if any of you don't shoot right.

[shooting begins]

Soldier1: [blows whistle] STOP! You lad, [points to random militia] you weren't using the cold .45 with an extendable arm, you were using the cold .49 with a retractable arm. As a result, you were offside.

[militia protests, soldier1 gives him a red card, and he leaves the trench for an early shower].

Solider1: Now, no shooting in the body, arms, legs or groin. only good clean head-shots please! Nothing too bloody. And.... GO!"

Also, I've heard the comment in the last few days "he wouldn't say 'boo to a goose'". Well there's a novelty... Why would he WANT to say 'boo' to any such farm bird? We English with our queer expressions...!

HTML decoding

2006-04-26T11:24:00.000+01:00

Discovered yesterday that though I have no idea what a lot of it means, I can blag my way through HTML coding, which is super! I wonder if I can get away with putting links into this entry... I'll try in a bit.

Sock crisis averted, I found some on Sauchihall street, which when you think about it could be a cross between a japanese drink and a place of meeting, on a street. Glaswegian humour I suppose, which I'm only just learning to understand now having watched two episodes of "chewing the fat", which is filmed apparently outside my bedroom window here on occasion. If I were a bigger fan I'd cause more of an uproar! But I'm not.

Home on friday, which'll be good. Got quite a lot to do over the three days that I'm there, however next time after that'll be when its my birthday, and I'm home for 6 nights then, which is super.

Called Suz last night. Went something like this...:

[phone rings]

Aaron: Hello its Aaron.
Me: Hello this is David Miller from United Kingdom immigration agency. Can I please speak to suzanne?
Aaron: Yeah sure...[calls for Suz] [to suz] immigration for you.
Suz: Hello?
Me: Yes hello, this is david miller from the united kingdom immigration agency. I understand you recently flew back to the UK from Colombia, was it?
Suz: Yes thats right
Me: [thinking she'd realised who it was] How you doing mate?
Suz: I'm alright thanks.
Me: So, hows it been, talk me through the last 24 hours
Suz: OH I KNOW WHO THIS IS!!!

The annoying thing was that I could have had her going for much much longer! Sort of slipped my mind that she's lost her cases en route and probably thought this was some very important phone call.

Today will consist of A) getting my towel back from the gym, as I left it there last night B) going to Wesley Owen for a book C) Reading for friday and monday D) doing my loan form. None of which thrill me a lot, but hey ho... (what does that mean!?)

Alright, lets try HTML. Does this work?

Random David Blane info there.

And to finish with today, a cool pic Peter sent me. Thanks Pete!

Glasgow's sock crisis

2006-04-25T10:23:00.000+01:00

This terms modules seem to be a drawn out revision class of my A levels. Therefore I'm finding it difficult to stay focussed in them, which is unusual for me.

Talk about the use of Blogs as a witness yesterday, so decided to update this one as well as my film review one. Did you know that 'blog' is short for 'web-log'? I put the hyphen in because I couldn't tell where each word was!

Went out shopping for socks yesterday because I didn't have enough to last me til the next wash, because I am loathed to A) pay for another wash when I still have underwear and B) cant be bothered to wash them by hand. I shall try and find some socks today, lest the weather impede my efforts, or I forget, either of which is plausable.

And may I say a big welcome home to Suz Johnson! [cry from over there; "No!"] Well I'm going to anyway! Welcome home suz, I hope England is slightly less depressing than you remember it to be!

What AM I supposed to do in these lecture breaks? Hmmm... Write a play? Search for Nazi gold... Possibly in the library, who knows where some of these books have been. I could socialise, but sometimes you just cant be bothered and want to tap a load of rubbish into a computer.

Such is blogging...

Happy Birthday to me...!

2006-01-19T12:52:00.000Z

This evening will be three years since I became a Christian. Thats quite a mile-stone, I'm three today!

What do three years olds do that two year olds don't? Walk, talk, play...?

Worship, teach, pray I guess in this analogy.

Happy Birthday to me!

Chingle all the way...

2006-01-09T17:20:00.000Z

Happy New year!

A lot of people have asked me since I got back to college "what did you do over the holiday". Well, my answer to them all, as to you, is "a lot of not much". While its true that I went to Brighton to see my Gap team (including a surprise visit from Joe Harvey), saw Delirious live, saw Narnia, sang in a REALLY FUN swingbridge reunion, Anna and Mike came up to stay at Sarahs, went out for a meal with Sarah, Dan, Jenny, Michael and Mike for New years (who knew Spanish food would have been so filling!?) and also had me a Budweiser...

[Brief interlude while reader faints, is found and revived, and locates seat and blog again]

... as well as many hours with family and friends, I had a pretty good time all in all.

So, Im back at college and its all the fun of the fair. 3 exams this term, 5 essays, but next term I have 1 exam, 7 essays, which I prefer.

BTW, for last term I got the following

Personal Perspective: PASS, B
New Testament: B+, B+
Old Testament: A+, D
Mission Studies: B, C+

...which I was quite pleased about, save the OT exam.

So, lots to be had this year, and its gonna be a good year. Sarah and I are getting married next year - how great does that sound!?

HNY everyone, walk on...

You know you've been at University too long when...

2005-12-09T03:32:00.000Z

-You actually like doing laundry at home where the washing machines work.
-Two miles is not too far to walk for a party.
-You'd rather clean than study especially if an essay is due.
-"How did it get so late!" comes out of your mouth at least once a night.
-Parents' cooking becomes something you desire, not avoid.
-You schedule your classes around sleep habits and soap operas especially Neighbours and Hollyoaks.
-You know the pizza boy by name and don't even need to read the menu.
-You go to sleep when it's light and get up when it's dark.
-You live for getting mail.
-Looking out the window is a form of entertainment.
-Prank phone calls become funny again.
-You start thinking and sounding like your friends and your accent becomes a hybrid of West Country, Surrey and general Northern and South Wales.
-Highlighters are the coolest things on earth.
-Rearranging your room is your favourite pastime.
-Rubbish cheap £1 shops are so cool.
-The weekend lasts from Thursday to Monday.

BEFORE I CAME TO UNIVERSITY, I WISH I HAD KNOWN...

-That it didn't matter how late my first lecture was, I'd still sleep through it.
-That I could change so much and barely realize it.
-That you can love a lot of people in a lot of different ways.
-No matter how 'cool' you were in school, no one here cares.
-That if you wear polyester everyone will ask why you are so dressed up.
-That every clock on campus shows a different time.
-That if you got good a-levels, so what? It doesn't matter here.
-That I would go to a party the night before an exam or essay due-date.
-That you can know everything and fail a test.
-That you can know nothing and ace a test.
-That I could get used to almost anything found out about my friends.
-That most of my education would be obtained outside of lectures.
-That friendship is more than getting drunk together but that's still funny......!
-That Sunday is a figment of the world's imagination.
-That Psychology is really Biology, that Biology is really Chemistry, that Chemistry is really Physics and that Physics is really Maths.
-That my parents would become so much smarter in the last few years.
-That it's possible to be alone even when you are surrounded by friends.
-Don't be dismayed at good-byes, a farewell is necessary before we can meet again, and meeting again, after moments or a lifetime, is certain for those who are friends.

TOP 10 REASONS THAT UNIVERSITY IS LIKE PRIMARY SCHOOL

10. You cry for your mum.
9. You cross the street without looking for cars.
8. Snack time is a necessity.
7. You bundle up for the outdoors without caring what you look like (because everyone else looks as stupid as you do).
6. You stay at home and play games with your friends.
5. You wear your backpack on both shoulders.
4. You wear big mittens.
3. Playing in the snow is a legitimate activity.
2. You take naps.
1. You look forward to cheese toasties.

Exami-nation

2005-12-07T18:48:00.000Z

Kind of sounds like something the BBC would do, probably hosted by Anne Robinson and Terry Wogan. Yup, had my first exam today, Old TestAment. I spend all day yesterday revising for it, trying to cram the names, dates and actions of several long-dead kings into my head. You know, in the nation of Israel after the slipt from Judah, only 2 of their 20 kings were good? God sure does use the underdogs...!!!

Got questioned on Proverbs, which was a blessing, and the prophets, which was a curse, mostly because I didn't do as much reading and revising about the prophets as I should have, but I think I got away with it alright.

I spent a lot of the day after that categorically NOT working. Spoke to Sarah, played Theme Hospital, watched TV, messed about on my blog, chased money about the internet, and finally went for a walk into Glasgow to find out how much a buffet lunch is from pizza-hut (turns out its £3.99 - nice!), cos we're going there on friday after the next exam, which I'm gonna sign off and revise for now. New Testament - every bit as nasty as the OT exam me thinks... But I'm learning a lot about them both.

I'm looking forward to coming home on friday, and being home for more than a weekend. Its actually just less than a month (26 days) until the new term starts, but I shall enjoy my break!

Thats enough for now, NT beckons...

Walk on...

Random Image 1: think up a caption for the above frog...!

And lo, Alan Said 'Let there be colour'...

2005-12-05T02:02:00.000Z

Certain things seem confusing to this chap that wouldn't confuse you or me, such as "how does that cream get in the tube?"

A day in the life of...

2005-11-24T04:28:00.000Z

It's come to my attention that I haven't actually told people about what I'm doing at college. So, given that I have a bit of free time on my hands, I figured that I'd take a stab at explaining what I do in a normal day.

8am: a tingle next to my bed soon turns into a fully fledged alarm, and I realise that the night has passed and another day has come. I generally lie about for a few minutes and reply to any texts I might have gotten during the night, after which I'll get up and have a shower. Kris's alarm always goes off at 8:20, so if I'm not out of bed by the time this goes off, I sharpish am after it.

8:30am: Having showered and dressed, Kris heads to the shower and I sit on my bed and pray for half an hour. I find I need this to function properly through the day, not just to get myself right with God, but also to bring to my mind the people who I won't see that day because they're in a different place.

9:10am: I leave my room and head downstairs for the first session of the days lecture. This lasts til about 10am, where we have a 20 minute break, and then the second session will last til 11:15am, when we'll break for worship. The final session of the morning starts at 11:50am, and goes on to between 12:35pm and 12:55pm, depending on the lecture.

After lectures I'll go back upstairs and collect my phone (I refuse to take it to class) and get some lunch, possibly checking my emails in the library on the way.

1:30pm: Scrubs! The BEST TV comedy on screen! This is becomming a thing that the whole residencey of the college participates in, so its generally a good time.

2pm: depending on the day/weather, I'll normally make some excuse to leave the college, even its just for a walk into town to get some air. Its getting colder, so I have to bundle up, but thats ok.

Between 2:30 and 3pm: I'll start doing work, whether its reading or writing essays or revising

6pm: simpsons

6:30pm: Tea

7:30pm: If I haven't completed the work I was meant to do that day, I'll continue it til about 9pm, if not, its basically free time where I'll use the internet, read, watch TV, use the phone etc.

No later than 1am: Bed!! This really depends on how tired I am, and whether I'm on the phone or not.

Please keep my in your prayers, I need it...

Until then,

Walk on...

The Life Of Pie

2005-10-27T03:26:00.000+01:00

"Short" is the answer to that question. Too short!

Trying very hard not to curse now, I've had a bad day.

I was in the kitchen chatting nicely to Steve, who had earlier cleaned the kitchen and given it an industrial-strength lemony-fresh smell, which, though intoxicating, was rather nice. I had a sausage-pie on the go, and no I didn't make it, I was just heating it. Also the carrots were bubbling away nicely on the stove. It seemed like an ordinary meal... but OH NO!

I drain the carrots, and go to fetch the pie out the oven. I drop the thing all over Steve's industrial strength floor!! Salvaging about one sixth of it from the plastic tray it was in, i had a less enjoyable meal because of it.

Glad I'm home on friday, its getting kind of depressing to be in ICC ALL the time. I went out for a walk, pre-pie, just to walk, to be outside. I ended up in the tourist information asking about the natural history museum. In 3 saturdays time I'm not gonna be at home, and neither is anyone (that I know of) going to be up here, so I might just take a look at some fossils. Or do one of the 5 essays I have to do. Five! Suppose it could be worse, I could have 5 exams, while this term I only have 2.

I'm a grouch, I know.

I miss my pie... :(

[in the style of] Saved by the Bell

2005-10-20T17:51:00.000+01:00

Talking to Daniel on MSN, it occured to me how old we're all getting. Not in the light of "lets take our teeth out and visit our grandchildren", but that we used to stay in all the time watching Friends, but now we make plans to go the pub... and later in life we'll make plans to go round for dinner so our kids can play together...

Its like in saved by the bell where they're all so young at the start and they don't care about car insurance and such adult things, but later on they get older, and they care about getting their homework in on time and when their next meeting is and whatever. WHBS seems a long time ago...

Weird...

*strange reflective music*

Stranger in a Strange Land...

2005-10-10T19:55:00.000+01:00

How long does it seem since I last updated by Blog in an upstairs internet cafe opposite Abi Rami Mall In Chennai just before we went travelling... In actual fact it's almost 5 months! And once again, I find myself without the comfort of those I normally have around me (though 'normally' is used a bit loosely now, this year I've spent more time away than at home), SO! I thought I;d restart my blog again. But first...

A Brief Recap Before We Continue

I split from Ed and Gord in Chennai as they headed off to Delhi and we headed off to Calcutta. 36 hours on a train later (SO much fun! you wouldn't think there could be so much entertainment on trains...) we got off in Calcutta, where we stayed for two nights. We saw the sights of the great former British city, such as Mother Teresa's house, Victoria Memorial, human-rickshaws (soon to be banned!) and above all else got a mouthful for declaring that we were Christians. Colin said that we should be careful, but only afterwards... nice one Col!

From Calcutta we ventured to Varanassi, where they 'sail you down the Gangees' when you die, and supposedly you go straight to Nirvana if you do. [Watch out Kurt!] So the town is littered with old hindu guys waiting to die, and bodies are carried down streets covered in gold cloth. I was out the hotel for 7 minutes once and i saw four bodies, and two different people tried to sell me hash! Crazy Stuff! I didn't like varanassi much, cos it was like a maze, very few roads, and just reminded me too much about 16th century England.

Next was Bohd Gaya, where the buddha supposedly recieved enlightenment under something called the 'Bodi tree', and I have a photo of myself being enlightened under that very tree. Bohd Gaya was basically Buddhism Disneyland, imagine the two combined (with more beggers) and it'll be like you're there!

And then I saw her, from afar at first, but the closer I got the more beautiful she looked. After hours of travel, I finally saw what I'd been looking for for longer than I could remember. Agra presented us with the 600 year old beauty built by Mumtas Mahal for his late wife. The Taj took my breath away. It really is as beautiful as it looks, and is cold inside too!

Having spent all of 4 hours in Agra with the Taj, we made our way to Delhi, which looked SO much like London it was weird. High-rise buildings, clean streets, round abouts (!!!) and we stayed at the most expensive cheap-place we could find - the YMCA! India's capital was very cool, and Ben and I went to the Zoo! Also we saw the parliment buildings, the India Gate (not the Gate of India) and had an on-site Christian book shop! Unfortunaltly this was where the 5 of us parted ways, while Ben, Campbell and Rachel went to the himalayas, Bentley and I made our way to Bombay.

Bombay is crap, though we did go water skiing, which was good...

Bangalore was our next and final stop on the tour. We met up with Gopi and Colin and had a tour of Bangalore and its surrounding area's. Bentley and I rode on an ELEPHANT!!! So cool, such a peaceful beast! Actually, we did it twice, at different locations. We also rode a camel and went on a tiger safari - quite a good idea to put the people in the cage and let the tigers roam free...! And... And we ate Emu (texture of beef, tastes like chicken - nice!)

And so our India tour came to an end. We returned to Colins house, and spent the next few days doing not a lot, until Ben, Campbell and Rachel came home (SO good to see them!) and we started making plans to go back to good old England. While Ben, Campbell and I packed, Rachel and Bentley didn't! Having not even enough money to get to anywhere, really, I stayed in the house on the last day, and packed and talked to Sarah on the phone, and got to sleep at about 11pm, knowing I was getting up at 3am to leave at 4am to check in at 5am to fly at 8am. First up, first with bags in Gopi's car. We checked in and said goodbye to Colin, Bentley, Rachel, Blessen and Gopi, and set out into the waiting lounge. Here I used the Internet and talked to Sarah on MSN before getting on a plane home.

10 hours later, having left at 8am, we arrive at 2:30pm (figure that one out!) and I said goodbye to Campbell, and had coffee with Ben and his family. Nice.

Then it was my turn to fly alone, and I did. That flight was the most nervous I've ever been - I couldn't eat!! But when I flew over the tyne, and saw the priory from the air, I felt like I was coming home.

Walked out of arrivals, and a 'peek of strink' collided with me, and she was back in my arms again, after 259 days, 1 hour and 40 minutes apart, I was stood holding Sarah to my chest in Newcastle airport. I was very touched by the turnout of people who came to see me in - 28 I think we counted! I wanna take this chance to say a big thank you to everyone who came to see my arrive, it meant a lot.

Went home and it was like being shown round my own home, half the rooms had been re-done, its very nice. I don't remember thinking anything between 7:45 and 11pm - we were innundated with people in my house, and my planned "evening in with Sarah and my family" became an evening in with everyone I know! But I loved it. I was home with my friends, family, church and Sarah
Settling back into life in the UK was very hard at times, and at other times quite fun. I remember declaring on MSN, "A Christian with a Ferarri should be shot!". But slowly yet surely I got there. Took me about 6 - 7 weeks. In that time a few of us went to Bubalin Dub-a-lin, Dublin Ireland to see the biggest rock-band in the world sing live for us - and 80,000 others. Crammed into Croke park, we were 5 meters from Bono, The Edge and the rest of the band (when they were out on the walkways) AMAZING GIG!!! To put a bit of a downer on the whole thing, we did leave something quite valuable in Dublin... Daniel. Oops! He went off ahead of us, but where-as we found the desk, he didnt, and missed his flight. Had to get one 12 hours later. After a night of sleeping/playing cards in the airport, we weren't feeling great, but it was an amazing experience!
And now... If you haven't heard it already... Me and Sarah got engaged! Yup! We'd been talking about it for a while, and, to be honest, shes the one I want to spend the rest of my life with, so we bought a ring, and on bended knee on the beach with no-one else around I asked her to be my wife. We've set a date for 28th July 2007 (less than 21 months away), and we're going to live in Glasgow for the first few years of our marriage. Sarah didn't want to do speech therapy, as much as she would have loved to be where Anna was, so she's reapplying to study at Glasgow Uni starting September 2006, so when we get married I'll have done two years here at ICC and Sarah will have done one year.

Well, that pretty much wraps things up... So now, Ladies and Gentlemen I give to you...

My life at ICC (International Christian College) thus far.

You'd think that having been apart from Sarah for 8 and a half months, and my family and friends for 5 months that I'd be ready to set up camp at home. But oh not, that would be TOO simple. I'm currently studying Theology at ICC, Glasgow, and have had 3 lectures so far.

I realised last night that life is a bit like a soap opera. I'm the main Character of the 'Alan show', and I stay pretty much in it all the time (unless I die, in which case the show is cancelled), but new characters keep getting added as I move through my life. New characters in this series of the Alan show are:

Kris, my room mate. 19 years old from Abberdeen and loves football.

Steve, guy I share a kitchen with, 31 years old, former teacher studying a masters

Joy, early twenties, lives on the corridor, from Abberdeen also, and very perculiar

Donna, 19, also on the corridor and studying youth work with applies theology

Graham, 23ish, second year youth work, GSOH and I get on well with him

Christopher, 37 from the shetland islands, also in second year

Simon, 19 and very quiet, but nice fellow, studying youth work

Rebekkah, 23, 1st year youth work, Birmingham accent but was born in Pakistan

Roselyn, late twenties, REALLY tall, originally from Uganda, also studying Theology

Christian, early thirties, from Nigeria studying a masters. Spends a lot of time (more than I do) on the phone to his girlfriend back in Nigeria

Daniel, early-mid thirties, from Tanzaneer (sp), cool guys, but makes odd sounds while watching films

Mike, guy I met in worship one day, 34, married to Carol and have 3 kids, Harrison, Lilly and Sophie. I had dinner there last night

Nick, bashed heads with him in a missions lecture, getting on better since, 31, married to Jill and they gave me a lift to an undeground station yesterday after we'd had dinner at the principles house

So, thats who I'm hanging out with here in sunny (ha!) Glasgow. I'm cooking, cleaning and shopping on my own, which I'm glad of, cos then I'll know how to do it when Sarah and I get married. Sarah is coming up to stay this weekend for two nights (YAY!) and I can't wait. Homesickness still has a clutch on my throat, and sometimes I just want to vomit because of it, but im learning things about the bible I didnt know were there to be learnt. And hey, I'll call this city home for at least 5 years, and in 21 months, it'll be home ALL the time, not just summers.

So, thats me thus far. Feel free to correct me or just post a message.

Walk on...

Back to the Future...>>>

2005-05-25T11:39:00.000+01:00

"What an odd title" I foresee some of you saying. "What could he possibly mean by it?". Actually, i cant imagine any of you actually asking that, simply because you all know at least a bit about me. But, i will explain what i mean by BTTF at the end of this update.

So, what have i been doing since i last updated?

Well, ironically enough, when i asked for prayer of thanks for good health, i went straight from the internet cafe to Richards house, where i ate some biriani and was horrendously sick the following night! For 7 hours i threw up biriani, which isnt the nicest of foods to have in your mouth once, never mind twice! I was rather annoyed, as i was supposed to be going to avalanche, but i had to stay back, not wanting to brave the truck ride. I asked Ben to stay with me, and Gordon was having dental surgery done so he stayed aswell.

We eventually left for avalanche from ooty, but not on the truck, which needed to be mended. We hired a jeep at Rs 450 which took us to the other side of Avalanche lake. There, Wilson and Ed were waiting with 2 Kayacks and the white boat to get us and our stuff across the lake. Our week at avalanche wasn't productive at all, because there was little to do. So we did what we wanted, played cards, read books, listened to music. Ed ventured to the old telegraph tower for the second time, and saw a tiger slinking off into the jungle. Needless to say he burst into song and a swifter walk!

Another animal encounter occured for me - I killed a chicken. I felt awful afterwards, actually traumatised. I felt like lady macbeth. I probably won't kill a chicken again, unless i have to, in which case i know how NOT to do it now, and how TO do it.

The final camp we had at avalanche was the best one we had! Absolutely amazing stuff. It was a group from Bangalore, a youth group with their own youth pastor, who was trained at Hillsongs Australia, and he was amazing, a fantastic speaker. The whole weekend had a very 'harvest' feel to it, though on a much smaller scale. We AA's (6, Gordon missed it unfortunately) were more like campers than Avalanche staff, and we only did one activity, which was swimming. We also did a treasurehunt for the campers, which was SO much fun! We led them all over avalanche looking for one of three british coins, a pound, a 50p and a 1p! Some of us were clues in ourselves: Ed was a noble lord in meditation, who asked for a pail of water and some sand, put them both in a bowl and then said the clue, which lead to somewhere else. SO much fun to watch! I was a grumpy guy with a clue on page 22 of the book i was reading, but i wouldnt let them see it. Asking nicely didnt work, they had to TAKE the book off me to get it! And Ben was a dreamer who had to be woken up. Thing is, he didnt make that much noise sleeping, and people kept walking past him! Lol!

Leaving Avalanche was surprisingly emotional. We 6 AA's walked out from under the avalanche sign and thus finished out time with SU. We huddled together. We prayed together. We cried together (the girls actually did, we boys held it in). We thanked God for our time with SU, and for each other. These people have been my surrugate family and friends for the last 135 days, and we were finished our placement.

Another night in ooty. Saying goodbye to the kitchen staff was hard, and Wilson even harder. I thought of it as just another goodbye, but it wasnt. Goodbyes are never 'just another goodbye'. I might never see them again. I certainly won't see them for another decade or so.

And then we were back in chennai. Hot, sticky, sweaty chennai. We had our debrief this morning. Just an hour or so, telling Herbert what we thought of the AA scheme and the people and places therein. It was good to talk.

And another goodbye occures tomorrow. At 10:30pm, 2005's AA India team will split up and head for different cities. Ed and Gord for Delhi, the rest of us for Calcutta. We 5 will be travelling from Chennai to calcutta, calcutta to Bod Gia, Varanassi, Agra (Taj Mahal), Delhi, and from there Bentley and I go to Bombay, and the other three to the mountains. Bentley and I go from Bombay to Bangalore, where we'll meet Gopi and Colin and go about with them until the 13th, when we meet Ben, Rachel and Campbell back in chennai to shop and pack, leaving the SU offices for the final time at 3:30am on the 15th of June. Check in at 5am, plane leaves 8am Indian time (3:30am UK time), arrives 2:30pm UK time. Another flight for me from Heathrow at 6pm, arriving newcastle at 7:15. 3 weeks today. Need I say more?

What do i mean by Back to the Future?

From the first month of being in India (which was January, its now almost June...!!!) i saw similarities between England and India. Vague though some of them were, it was clear to see the British occupation of India's influence on the country in a long-term way. I saw, and still see, India as being, in many respects, England 100-150 years ago. Obviously there are major differences; England in the 1800's didnt have mobile phones or Toyotas, but it did have fruit, meat and trinket markets. They did have an infant mortality rate of 1 in 11. They did have every other person living in poverty and squalor. As does India now.

I am weary of this life. I love the country, and I have loved most minutes of my time here, but I'm ready to come home. And 3 weeks today i will be watching some movie situated in the back of a seat on a British Airways flight. My culture shock... who knows?! I might be a right terror when i get back. I guess we'll see!

Prayer stuff:

We have heard rumors of unichs who dwell on trains up north. These men dressed as women are basically beggers, but they will accept either money or sex with men. Apparently they wander down the train making a racket, and will abuse men unless you sleep with them or pay them off. Since we're white, we attract attention from every person who see's us. Please pray that, should we encounter any, we wont have any hastle from them.
We're splitting up. I will miss Ed and Gord a lot.
I want to come home. Please pray i'll be able to enjoy India knowing i could be home having finished my placement.

I think thats it guys. If i do update again, i'll mail those of you who i have on my email list. I will update, but im not sure which time-zone ill be in. Probably GMT...! Yay.

Until I see you all face to face, Walk on...

Some U2 lyrics to finish with...

"Bad"

This desperation,
Dislocation,
Separation,
Condemnation,
Revelation,
In temptation,
Isolation,
Desolation,
Let it go...

[INSERT ORIGINAL TITLE HERE]

2005-05-12T10:23:00.000+01:00

Having not updated since the last time i updated,and knowing as i do how lazy i can be, its finally time to add more to the ol' blog. Hmmm, what have i been doing.

I think (i'm too lazy to check (the internet connection is too slow)) that the last time i updated i was complaining about being stuck in ooty for 3 days. as it turned out we were in ooty for 6 days, doing, well... not much. A few weird things did happen though. For example, my Hutch SIMcard randomly rejected itself (or, if i were to take it personally, rejected me), causing me to rush around trying to arrange a new SIMcard before i left for avalanche the following day. Don't ask me why, but to buy a SIMcard in India, you need to have a house in india. This doesnt make a lot of sense to me, because unless they're trying to ensure that all mobile owners also have a housephone, they'rejust gonna lose business. But, im subject to the system, not maker of it. So, i spent a morning getting all my details sorted (passport photo's, copy of passport etc), before i went to an Airtel shop and realised the small issue of my non-indian residency. I called Richard and had him buy the card for me, which now works nicely. I will email everyone my new number, because although i have my doubts as to whether anyone who doesnt know me will ever look at this page, putting ones phone number on a website seems foolish.

So, equipped with new phone number and 3 team members down (Gordie and Rachel had just returned from their third week at VBS and we're wrecked, and Campbell was struck down with a 16 hour illness, so missed the truck) and Sunali not feeling up to going into avalanche, cos she had horrid toothache and had to get a tooth out, we headed off from Ooty in the avalanche truck to avalanche. We came bearing 6 sheets of corrigated metal for a new roof and some loose chickens.

We arrived and basically had to put up three tents. Avalanche's tents are awful, to be blunt. They keep them in the dorms, where the rats reside, and the rats seem to have an annoyign habit of chewing through tents. At best there are a few holes the size of a 50p piece in the tent, at worst, there is ahole a person could fit through :S But we pitched them anyway, and fortunately it didnt rain badly, so no one got flooded or drowned. We had a camp from Hebron school that weekend, with 24 boys, 2 teachers, 1 IG and a family and their camera crew. The family had volunteered/been persuaded into having their oldest son, josh - 10, filmed for a documentary for Channel 5 being aired in september about kids growing up in a different environment. Two guys followed him around literally every waking hour for 3 days, 2 of which were at the camp. He hated it. But the camp went well. I gave a talk about 'Religion vs Christ' on one of the nights, which i felt appropriate for the age group, given that 14yr olds are sort of at the end of their parents faith and sooner or later will have to choose to either accept Christ for themselves, or not. I may be proud, and this is something God will have to work out of me, but i do enjoy giving talks to people/kids. They find me engaging, and i can judge when to joke about and when to hit them between the eyes with the point i want to make. And im told im good. Though i have spoken only to an indian audience thus far, i'm curious to try out my speaking in the UK, say at Rock of Ages (3rd sunday of every month, WBCF - go, its great! :D) or dimension or something similar.

Anyway, another camp under out belts, and as the camp left avalanche with Wilson, the truck arrived with Gord, Campbell and Rachel. Sunday evening we had the campsite to ourselves (apart from ther kitchen staff, who respect us too much to sit with us :S), so we made a fire (I MADE A FIRE!) and sat around talking about our weaknesses in a way we havent all together before. Realising that we hadnt prayed together for more than 2 months, we prayed that night and resolved to have a devotion in the morning to get our heads in the right mindset for the day, cos we're serving God by serving avalanche, and if u see it as service of Yahweh rather than 'cleaning a fireplace', it has a whole new ring to it.

Since we had just got to avalanche, we didnt come out with the camp, and it was a week until the next one started, so we had a week of doing not much. I learnt and played a lot a card game called 'poohead', or at thats what we dubbed it. We boys spent many a happy evening/afternoon/morning playing cards, and we've grown closer because of it. Its funny, i've spent the last 4 months with these men, but i feel ive gotten closer to them in the last 2 weeks than in the time before it. Gordie and I are at a new high in our relationship. VBS softened him, not that he was hard before, but he is very much more gentle now, which is amazing and makes him easier to laugh about with. Ben and I still laugh like 5 year olds at anything and annoy each other in a similar way. I really love him though. One day, we spent an hour and a half listening to 'monty python's life of brian' soundtrack, while feeding cheese crackers to rats, who came to get the crackers; excellent fun! And Ed and I have taken to 'hilling' as we call it. This is going up the hill to find phone signal, which gives us excellent chances to talk and pray as well as text our lovelys. I am actually really sad that in less than 2 weeks i wont see Ed for perhaps 3 months, but we've made provisional plans for him to come up in the summer.

During this week, I started a bible study on Christ in the Old testament, and i didnt realise how frequently he's prophesied about. These are books written, some of them, 1500 years before he was born. Isaiah still knocks me down cold when i read about Christ's crucifixion written 700 years before it happened. Amazing stuff.

The second camp we did in this stint was J team, which is avalanche's biggest camp of the year. 70 kids, plus about 20 leaders from all over the place descended on avalanche for 4 nights of learning the meaning of the phrase "what would Jesus do?". The 70 were split up into teams, each with 2 leaders. Bentley and I lead the Judeans team, which was a good team. The activities were divided up into 6 things, abseiling, kayacking, gorge walking, swimming, raft building and trecking. On day one i lead a gorge walk, which was fun seeing as id never lead one before! But its simple really: walk upwards, dont fall over. I spoke on the first night (Colin asked us AA"s to do devotionals in the mornings.as it turned out, only i did one, in the evening... thats colin for you! Seeing him and wilson in the same place was weird, as ben remarked "i thought they were the same person...!") having been asked to give an introduction to the camp, so i spoke on "what DID Jesus do" in which i described Jesus' life from his scandellous birth situation to his ministry and crucifixion and resurrection. I'm always nervous before i speak, never having more than 12 hours to prepare (sometimes no more than 1 hour!), so i very much depend on the Holy Spirit's promptings of what to say when and how to say it. Afterwards, we broke off into groups and God gave me the first of three tests of the weekend. One guy, Praveen, had amazing bible knowledge, but he confessed he didnt know if he was a christian or not. I spoke with him for an hour and a half, before praying with him. He got a lot out of it, but the chance to talk at length with a person about their faith is something a pastor faces regularly, so having a taste was good.

The guy who did the rest of the talks was an astounding speaker, and knew how to speak to kids. Clifford, had spoken the previous year and studied at Spurgens college in London. But, he presented me my second lesson of the weekend. I disagreed with him on a number of things he had opinions on, not in what he spoke about with the kids, but in private conversations during the day. I respected him, but i didnt agree with him, which is also something pastors have to face.

Raft building was a lot of fun, but only once the rafts were afloat. 40 people per team, 2 teams to build a raft each left each person with little to do. I decided to be at the finish line to help out guys out the raft once they crossed the lake. I didnt get to though. Half way across the lake, the blue team (my team)'s raft sank! Fortunately all the occupants had life jackets on, but Ben and I tore off our shirts and shoes and dived in to save the raft (by the time we got to the raft, the people were wrapping towels around themselves), which we pushed back to shore, and then messed about in the lake for a bit. Afterwards we ran out the water and hugged dry people, making them less dry.

The final night of J team was a good night. Ben and I missed the evening meeting because we were talking to a girl, Mala, about Jesus. She was asking all sorts of questions, and we went round in circles for about an hour and a half. Presenting the final test of the weekend, Mala had been raised a hindu, and was asking why Jesus was the only way to God. Explaining theology to a 12yr old takes time and you have to use many examples, but i think she understood us. When Ben was talking, i was praying to myself, and i think that bed was when i was talking. She said afterwards that what she got from the weekend was that Christianity really touched her. Did she become a christian there and then? no. Will she? i dont know. But my part in it is over. Jesus calls us to tell people about the gospel, about Him and His Father, and about how they are loved by living God. Thats it. It says no where in the bible to "make people christians", just to tell them about it. Its a choice, which im learning is an emphatic part of Gods love. He loves us too much to demand fellowship with us, he desires genuine love, like the kind of love lovers share.

The camp ended, and we left for ooty once again. Leaving again for avalanche tomorrow (friday) we spend the 11th and 12th in ooty. And... it was my birthday. I wasnt really looking forward to it - part of me feels like its undeserved fuss about me, but i resolved that if its better to give than to recieve, someone must be on the recieving end. And yesterday it was me. I had a greatday, i spoke to my family and my girlfriend, and they had a party of sorts without me. Here in ooty, we went out for a chinese (payed for by my parents), and in case you're wondering, i got an electronic bible (VV cool!), "whats so amazing about Grace" by philip yancey and a monty python CD off ben. I also bought myself a new phone that im gonna take back to the UK, its cool, nokia 3120. I did have a very good day, and i felt very loved. :)

Epilogue.....

How am I? I feel finished here. 9 more days in avalanche, some in ooty, some in chennai, 19 days travelling, then home. I've learnt a lot while ive been here, and if you wanna know what ive learnt, ask me when im back. Stories f people you've never met and places you've never seen i will be all to happy to tell. I miss home, and im missing people more accutely. I dont miss 'my family', i miss Pol, Stan Jo and Isla. I dont miss 'my girlfriend', i miss sarah. I dont miss my church, i miss..... you get the idea. People have somewhere along the line become more people, and i think it might have something to do with that fact that ive become more me. With having my identiy in Christ, the more i discover about Him, the more i know myself. And im not done yet, and He's not done with me.

Thank you for reading this far. On a sidenote, we 7 are gonna try and raise 1000 pounds to buy some new tents for avalanche. If anyone wants to contribute, can you email me saved_butterhook@hotmail.com

Your support over these last 4 months has been great, and im constantly forgetting how many people are praying for me at home and away. Even reading this is a blessing (post comments if you wish!), and i look forward to meeting you all again. 34 days and im home.

Walk on guys...

Alan x

Prayer stuff:

2 more camps at avalanche, pray we'll give the same we have for the previous ones
Pray for homesickness within the group, Ben and campbell especially
Bentley's gran is having a heart operation tomorrow, please pray for her
Praise JC for good health!
Pray for Ed. I cant say what, but just pray he'll know very clearly Gods direction for his life.

:o)

Take me back to the jungle...

2005-04-24T01:41:00.000+01:00

the second week of VBS went well, thank you very much and a bag of potato chips! i was genuinely sad to leave the inter class, cos i felt like i ws their youth leader, and they, i think, looked on me in that light. But VBS came to a close with a fantastic final day program, in which all the classes did a performance and we directors pretended we knew what we were doing. the most fun i had at VBS was singing "Romans" in the style of Freddie Mercury - the kids loved it and i love performing! everyone wins!

We three AA's left Vellore and its tempreture at 9pm to catch an 11pm overnight train to coimbatore, where Ed, Bentley and Colin had been doing another VBS. We attended (and i sang Romans again at) that VBS, then spent the night at the house they were staying at, watching Finding Nemo and, this morning, Shrek 2! We left coimbatore at 11:15am and arrived in Ooty at 3pm. I like ooty, its cool and small. We don't know when we're going up to Avalanche, could be as late as monday, cos i think Richard and the truck are there already. So now there are 6 of us: the AA's minus Rachel and Gordie, plus a woman called suenali (pronounced tsunaLi) who will be with us at avalanche until we leave it on the 22nd of May, a mear 4 weeks from now...!

Til we meet again...

Walk on...

I declared "Its hotter than a monkeys bum in here your majesty" to which she nodded and smiled politely

2005-04-17T09:54:00.000+01:00

Day 100 in the Big Brother house...

50.9 degrees centegrade! thats the temp today according to Rachel's clock thermomiter thingy. I left it outside to check the temp, and the thing melted a little!

Won't be able to mail/blog for about a week, possibly more depending on whether we go straight to avalanche from Ooty of whether Richard lets us rest for a bit. I hope for the latter.

Prayer~noun:
A reverent petition made to God, a god, or another object of worship.

heat, cos it is very hot, and along with the old saying "mad dogs and englishmen go out in the mid-day sun" and both white people and dogs are out in the sun here. VBS makes you sweat, so when the power dies at midday you need to pray!
Though there's only 3 days to go, plus the awards day/afternoon/evening on thursday, its still very stressful, and I've had to bow out of doing beginners, cos i was so whacked by them last time. I may yet to them for a second time. I need patience and grace, both of which are attributes of God, hense prayer
Our VBs is quite small, 150ish kids. Rachel and Gordie are taking a VBS, with just 4 of them (where as we've had 7 for a week) of 300+ kids. They need a lot of prayer, and with rachel's meticulous attitude to work, she's about ready to pop.
Also, Colin, Ed and Bentley are doing a VBS in coimbatore.
Just that we'll make the most of all chances while here, cos we only have 8 weeks left. scary

Thanks guys :-)

Walk on...

VBS = Very Beneficially Stressful

2005-04-16T02:18:00.000+01:00

The way i have found VBS to work is that the day goes to quickly that i find myself wondering "where has the time gone?", but all too soon we're preparing for the next day. I think ive decided to write a blog now rather than a block emails, so A) i can maintain a website (one of my long-hoped-for desires) and B) so i can stop annoying people who don't want to get big massive block emails which take an hour and a half to read. i know it seems to be the gap-year trend, but still i find a website cooler, and im cooler than thou!Anyway, VBS. forgive me if i am repeating myself, but ill explain a bit about it. i have to leave in half an hour, so ill try and make this quick. This stands for vocation bible school, not what ive written at the top. We start the day with a team meeting in the morning at 7:30. our team is ben, campbell, Adalin (some of you may remember fredy being mentioned a while ago, this is his wife) and a guy called sam who doesnt say much. Also, currently we have two extras, Jerry and Joe, Adalins two kids. Though they are very nice, i do find them very annoying, because Jerry is the type of kid who cries when he wants to, for no apparent reason. What goes on in his head may be relevant to him, for example "i want chocolate" or "i dont like the decor of this room", but it all comes out as "WWWHHHAAAAAAA!!!!". plus, he hates me.

The morning meeting lasts about half an hour, and will consist of learning songs, skits (ben and Ed wrote some cool skits set on a ship) and prayer which usually goes something like "Lord, PLEASE get us through this day". We then venture across the road to the CMS, christian medical college, campus where we're hosting this holiday club. At 8am we get served breakfast (free! :D) and we meet with the teachers and teach them the songs and actions. The general rule of VBS is "if you have pride, you fail". Actions for songs are probably the most humiliating thing to teach a group of 18yr olds (the teachers are VERY young, and all volunteers, i think the youngest is 15...!), but it has to be done cos the kids lap it up.

At 9am, we host the main assembally. This involves crowd control, mainly, and a very useful game is making them put their hands up, down, over their eyes etc to make them shut up! In the assembally we do a skit, which lasts 5ish minutes, but its the part they love most. My duck that Sarah and Caz got me for my 18th birthday has a starring role, where he plays a duck called ducky and gets blamed for everything!
We also do songs with them, one of which they love was written by campbell and colin in chennai, but basically all the songs are a theology ice cream, lots of fun stuff (actions, funny words etc) with somthing good on top ('Jesus loves me', for example)

Campbell and I are also doing a quiz, pitting the boys against the girls to win sweets. This lasts ages, so we thought it would be good to include! And also, we ask questions about the previous days skits, songs, themes, stories etc, which helps them remember.

After the assembally we have a bit of time off, where for two hours all we have to do is take attendance of our departments, mine being inters, which are 12/13/14. i like this age group, cos A) they ask questions and B) they listen to the answers. We had a great time with them yesterday afternoon where they all wrote out questions about God, the bible, and how they apply to this life they find themselves in. Questions like "if God and Jesus are the same, was Jesus praying to himself on the cross?" really allowed us to flex our theologcal muscles, and explained the trinity to them in ways they could understand.At 11:15 each director is in charge of a specific department for the day, which we have on a rota. So far ive had Teachers (doing the bible study i wrote... weyhey!) beginners ( 4 yr olds who dont listen or understand when you say "stop fighting", but who love to sing), inters who are great and ask questions, as ive said and juniors who are like inters but harder to control. and theres 40 of them. This is the most intense time of the day, but i find that as the days go on they get easier, and its deffinately easier to rely on God than try and do it on your own. "Sometimes you cant make it on your own" has a whole new meaning with VBS.

The day ends at 12pm, after a brief teachers meeting in which we say to them "you're doing well, keep it up" or "you're doing bad, do better", but pad it out a bit more and explain it, encourangingly. I dont have a department leader because shes off and has constand substitues, so i just talk with myself....

In the afternoon and evening, we, firstly, relax. listen to music, read a book, play Uno (a great game ive found!) or just chat with people we find. The inters live on campus cos they're parents all are doctors and teach in the college so we talk with them, play with them etc. We also eat at a different persons house each night which is great cos its free! This is the time when Jerry really shines cos he needs to be in bed early so we have to leave soon after dinner, which avoids hours of nervous chit chat, which makes me, as ive said, nervous.

How am I? Well, lets just say that its 2 months til i go home today and ive known that for the last week. I'm not ready to leave india, and if i did/had to for some reason i would feel like id missed out on a lot, because to be really frank, the only thing i dont like about avalanche is the inability to talk with people at home/abroad. But I cant wait to spend a month there. Homesickness hit me harder than it has since february when we arrived on sunday, just because it was the unknown, again, and it was a new place to sleep in, which is what made me homesick in the first place when i got to india.

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about VBS is that you can't spend any decent amound of time with God until the end of the day, so im on the rooftop praying at 9/10 at night (which is the end of the day here cos i get up at 6:30). But its deffinately teaching me to rely on him, and how i HAVE to give the day, and what i do in it, into his hands. Ive been thinking alot about church at home lately, and how much i miss the familiarity of it. Ive also been thinking about what contradiction when i leave will be. On the one hand ill be saying goodbye to the people who ive lived breathed fought eaten cried prayed with, every day for the last 5 months, but on the other hand ill be coming home to the people who i did those things with for the previous XYZ months.

In some ways i cant wait to leave, and in someways i dont want to. But TWBD

Anyway, that'll do for now. God bless and love to all.

Walk on...

(hows that dan...?)
(the weird coin danced about whern people patted their right buttock on the asda advert, declaring ":theres more to come". perhaps this is a sad testimony to my perception of english life...)

In the beginning...

2005-04-11T23:06:00.000+01:00

Ironically I'm writing this rather fast because we have a meeting about tomorrows VBS in less than an hour and we're a bus-ride away from where we're staying. I like the idea of Suz's blog, so I took it for my own and will abuse it while I'm in India and probably further on into Glasgow and beyond! The simplest of websites...!

There's more to come (and no, I'm not that odd coin from Asda)

Walk on...