Eating, eating and more eating

 Eating, eating and more eating

Well this week has not been my favourite of the year, I will mention the good bit first then I will talk about the bad.

Well to start off with I have eaten myself into a coma with all of the bad food, I do like food and I do like going out mmmmmm I have tried anywhere and everywhere, I can safely say if anyone gets the chance then head over to café rouge and have the eggs benedict……..very very tasty. There have been other places me and Alecia went to an Italian restraint in Stockton, it was beautiful so nice and well the food was good, the company was better. The last place I ate at was today at church, the kids team went to an Italian place in Newcastle, there was about 34 of us, and the amazing Richard came with us, now this guy is funny, after everyone had left he was going about eating the pizza left on peoples plates, and he just smiled with no care in the world, Adele followed suit……brilliant.  The last main thing I have done is play gears of war 3, if anyone has an Xbox get it…… simply amazing, I have really enjoyed it so far, and it has helped me keep my mind off things and keep my friends mind off things as well, that is the last part of this to where I talk about something in the bible from something during my week. This week someone I know died it was a shock and it hit me and a friend of mine, and to be honest I have not been in a good frame of mind, I have been distant in work, social and church life. All I can think off is I need to honour the memory and pray for the family. So this leads me onto what I have read in the bible this week……………………

The bible and death

This verse really comforted me this week, while there has been upset by a death this is what spoke to me.

Ecclesiastes 12:7

⁷ and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
   and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

This is something hard to experience in life, and me personally I have not experienced death around me until later in life, and no matter how much solace someone can bring to you, I never gets rid of the hurt, a very good friend said this to me once “it never gets better, it just gets less worse” and that is very true. Looking at this verse though we will go back to the ground when we die, when our physical bodies leave this world we will leave behind memories and influences, but our spirit will return to God. I love knowing this because just because there is an end on this earth, this is not the end we return to where we came from, this has really helped me I would not know what to do if I thought my friend would just be gone, nope he is not gone, he is with God. Really that is all I can say on this, I am no good with death I have experienced very little, and what I have has hit me very hard. But I will keep reading and I will gain a better understanding and find my own solace on this subject.

Its been a While

It’s Been a while

Well it’s been a while since I posted, I have been busy, and to sum it up I have been working and well travelling. So last week I went to the discipleship at Mike Lewis house, Aaron Fry led this week and wow, this was good and amazing talk on building bridges.

In the north we had the tail of a hurricane hit us, with winds of up to 80mph, this was not good places closed (including the A66 and other main roads) and in the pic below is the effects of the wind, this is my friend James and his tree that fell down, I am just so thankful it fell towards the road rather than towards his house.

For the rest of the week I have been playing Dead island (when I have had the chance) this is a zombie game and well....................awesome, I love anything to do with zombies, games, films, TV shows. (This does not include the resident evil films, games good, films pants) so yea running around chopping up zombies and running away from masses of zombies has been my relaxation. But as of Saturday I have my lady back to take up my timeJ, on Saturday I took a trip to London for the day to go get Alecia, so up at 4am train before 6am in London for 9:20am coach at 4:30pm to go home, home by 11pm. But in-between all of that I had a nice breakfast with Alecia and her aunt Denise at Cafe Rouge. Eggs Benedict for the win!!!!!!!

And while I was here I got to explore Camden market, and awesome, this place is amazing, places packed full of stuff for sale, in fact I went into a shop no bigger than my bathroom and he had the shelves full of retro 2^nd hand goods, this seemed to be the norm and it was amazing. On the travel back Alecia slept most the way while I was winging I wanted a burger king, we did manage to get a KFC but they were so slow at serving that we had so scoff and run. 

So yep, this is what I have done this week, and well off out tonight for a lovely meal with Alecia She does not know where but she will be impressed

Perserverance

I guess the next bit I want to talk about determination and perseverance, this came about as on Sunday I saw this old man walking into town, he had two walking sticks and was walking very very slow. But this was his pace and yet he still walked, not being swayed by the face everyone was speeding past him. I see this all the time whether it be someone persevering though a storm or a disaster, or persevering through life, so like usual i read my bible and this is what it says 

Psalm 130 5-6

⁵ I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits,
   and in his word I put my hope.
⁶ I wait for the Lord
   more than watchmen wait for the morning,
   more than watchmen wait for the morning.

This verse says quite a bit to me, as watchmen will wait over night and keep look out on a city or town waiting for a surprise attack or trouble, they do this through the night and when morning comes everything is safe, they have persevered through the darkness and now there is light. While we wait for the Lord in our hard times we hope in him from his word, we wait for him, he is the morning in our lives, to bring the light where there is darkness. As through the darkness we have to keep a lookout we are tormented by what could happen, but in the light we are safe.

This next verse speaks to me on a very personal level 

Romans 5:3-4

³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;

 ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. 

Through life I have found it hard, the many different situations and the many hardships I have had to face, that is life I am not the only one who has had hard times everyone has or everyone should have.

Now through this suffering we are able to persevere, with the lords help we can conquer all of our hardships, it’s the hard things in life that mould us into the people we are today, we become wise from these hard times, if it’s a hard time with money, the lord will help, and in turn we can give more to people who need it. And after we have came through the hard times we gain a bit of wisdom we are able to guide others in their way when they think they cannot persevere. We become a stronger character able to take the hits of life.  Just think on this said by me “How would we know what happiness is, if we never experience depression”

Well that’s what I have to say for this Blog this time round, I will try update again with a bit more wisdom and more of my life.  

Scared out of my wits, and Sisterhood

Well the recent happenings in the life of me, hmm well where do I start........

Scared out of my wits

Well I am now on the road again, the first time since passing my test a few months ago, and well it went ok. for the first time i had to drive on my own, with out anyone directing me (so yea I got lost) so safe to say i was nervous, but i got to where i needed to go to, and on the way back i was fine, driving on my own was good, (I did stall 3 times on a round about haha), but this is yet again something that is to do with work. yet another amazing part of my job, it might not seem amazing to some people but i have a choice, save for a house or get a car, and house is more important so yea amazing I get to drive, all all due to this amazing job I have.

Tomorrow setting off to Newcastle to go to church on the morning and then a steak with Joe Busby, mmmmm i do like a nice steak, so well that is the happenings in my life at the moment....well with in the last couple of days.

Ridicule

the next part is the ridicule me and others as Christians can face from the outside world and my taking on it.

Hebrews 2:10

 ¹⁰ In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered.

¹¹ Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

This verse to me points out the suffering we can receive as Christians, whether we are brought up in gods glory or we are brought to it later in life. we do what we do as good people yet we can suffer ridicule from people who do not understand what we do and what God does for us, Jesus suffered and eventually suffered on the cross, he paid the ultimate price, but he was risen. we should learn a lesson from this, if our saviour can face ridicule and the ultimate sacrifice, then when people laugh at us and people say offensive things to us about Christianity, should we feel the ridicule? should we feel the offence? it can be hard sometimes not to get annoyed but if our saviour can face the ultimate ridicule and rise, should we not face the ridicule head on and rise above the words and rise above the hurt? just because we give our money to people who need it, because we don't have sex, because we don't get intoxicated and wake up in some random town in a random bed with a random person next to us........ the answer is no we should not feel the offence or the ridicule, instead of getting annoyed should we not try to make these people Holy, we should be looking to make these people our brothers and sisters, as all men under Christ are brothers and all women sisters...........................this leads me to the final section of this blog

Sisterhood

Now I know I'm not a woman, but i was serving at sisterhood tonight, and sat there listening to Pastor Dee talk was amazing, she is a very insightful woman, showing us the combined age of the women there and in turn the combined wisdom in years, you know i really enjoyed it, to any man on team I would ask to serve on a night like this, if to not only hear the women talk but to gain a perspective on what they do and who they are as Christians. the women in our church are amazing, really just look at who we have and the impact they have, one woman springs to mind and that is Santa Putz, now i know random but when she is around and about people talk about how amazing it is when she prays for you, they talk about the impact she has on the church, another springs to mind..............Adele, she leads the youth of the church and in turn is my leader on kids church, she Is a primary school teacher as a job so she is bringing her work life and using it to help the church move forward......amazing. there are many more women to talk about but these two just seem to stand out to me, so I will say again to any man try to serve on one of these days it will impact you and help you look at things in a very different perspective. 

I always try to leave a video of some thing at the end of my blogs, so i will leave this, when I was at Hillsong London this song was played and WOW!!!!!!!!!!

 

Joe Busby, Leadership and my travels

To start this off with I will mention what I have done followed by a bit of wisdom inspired by the NCLC leaders.

My Travels

Well work today, things are really starting to look good, more trips to Leeds, sorting out exhibitions and then my other work, even though my job can be stressful and fast paced, the reward I gain from my work is amazing. I was hired with no experience in working in this environment. All I was, was a guy with a University Degree and some good ideas under my belt, and from this I have been able to learn more than I ever thought I would, i was given such an opportunity and I have to thank my boss for taking me on and believing in what I can do, and the good thing is there is more to come.

Joe Busby

Well Joe Busby what can I say, this guy has been such an inspiration in my life, a good friend and the biggest impact on my road to happiness, he is the reason i am doing what I do, and the reason I am in the church I am in. This guy is my hero, he has dispelled me for a while now and every word he says makes sense to the different perspectives in my life.
and now he never ceases to surprise me, tonight on look north he was on with the most impressive T-Shirt i have ever seen...................his CV!! I have never known anyone with the balls big enough to do this.....simply amazing

this is the video from look north. recorded off my phone, so don't whinge at the quality.

 Leadership

Well I was at the leadership meeting last night, and well it inspired me. so reading the bible i came across this in the book of Luke. (i have been reading this one recently)

 Luke 22

24Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.

25Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors.

26But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.

what this passage says to me is.........

 If i think back, when i first came to church, I saw this smiling woman stood with a plate of sweets outside the crypt in Middlesbrough (my first and favorite memory of NCLC), I later found out this was Pastor Lindsay, and through my time in NCLC Teesside I have seen Nathan and Lindsay doing the jobs I did when I first started on team, I have seen Jon Cook do the same along with our other leaders.
Now to me Nathan, Lindsay Jon, Alison and the rest of the big big leaders in our church do so much to prepare for the service and to lead us from the spot light of the stage and the mic, but its the before and the after the service when they show how good they are as leaders. they bring us up from our first steps to the time when we can bring others up as leaders, they lead by example and not by command, our NCLC  leaders are amazing.
With out these guys in church doing what they do I would not be able to lead and progress in my leadership, and I know the further I get up the ladder of leadership the further down I have to walk to bring some one else up, like our leaders I want to be great so I will go back to serving as I did once before and I serve, this is not because i have to, this is because I want to.
I have been inspired by my leaders they have lead by example and I will follow suit. age does not make the difference in the way we lead, entitlement does not make the difference, what makes the difference is what is in our heart.

Recent Happenings plus Encounter

Well how do i start this one.............well Saturday was not that exiting but it was amazing! i was able to kick off an old friendship against been a while but one of my long time best friends came over to have a beer, I must admit we cannot drink like we used to (plus there is the fact i never want to be drunk) but in our older ways its nice to sit and enjoy a beer or two rather than getting plastered.  so yea re connecting over Coors (its a fine light Beer) and Doctor Who.....Epic!!!!!!!!

so well Sunday rolled about and what an amazing day, for the first time i was able to read in the kids church meeting and well this is what i read...
Psalm 127
³ Children are a heritage from the LORD,
   offspring a reward from him.
⁴ Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
   are children born in one’s youth.
⁵ Blessed is the man
   whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
   when they contend with their opponents in court.

surprisingly what drew me to this verse was reading a comic book called the runaways and this verse was in it, so i read it and read it until i gained an understanding for it, this is what i got.

the children we lead and the children we have are the arrows, we have to guide them in the right direction, fire them to the goodness of the world, fire them to the truth, and most important, fire them to the lord. we are gods warriors and we need to keep our quiver full of these arrows and always shoot to hit the target, as with a quiver full of arrows no one can shame us as we are guiding the next generation into what god wants, we spend our time and show our wisdom, no one can persecute us when we show our arrows have hit the target.


and in saying this it could not be closer to the truth from encounter tonight, seeing the youth of the church perform and hearing stories of how much they have grown, this is all due to the previous generation...guiding the arrows.

Its that day Friday

Beers +

Swords =

Awesome

Well friday has came about again, erm well today not much happened I went towork I came home and got some beers. but no matter what you should always remember, Beer + Swords = looking like a French aristocrat. Must say I have some plans in the works, some good things im about to start but getting distracted by the awesomeness of South Park haha.

Oh i found some videos i made a while ago, keep looking there will be more to come, the next one will be the Crazy drumm and bass guy. but here is one for now.

This is Gaz owen playing Low, one of my favorite songs by him, if you see him playing a gig check him out...........simply Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!

Well This is the Blog

Yep its about time to write a blog, i am 25 and now just doing this, seems ok, i will be updating my page soon but as it stands im tired and need sleep.