Something New...!

I thought it was about time I joined the hoards of bloggers who actually have some system to their blogging, so for the next few days I’m going to attempt a mini-series – attempt being the operative word there!!
Amongst the mayhem of wedding prep that has been taking place in this household over the last few months, there has been one job Dave and I have returned to time and time again and still not completed…
It’s the problem of the dreaded wedding list…
Easy, you might say. How can you find it hard to choose 200 friends to come to your wedding? Sounds easy, but as we’ve cut our list, and cut our list, and cut our list repeatedly and we’ve realised something.
God has poured immense blessing upon our lives with our friends.
Young and old, covering most continents we have been privileged to be able to share in the lives of people who have challenged us, encouraged us, taught us to cherish God more, inspired us and befriended us.
Am I grateful to God for the people he has placed in my life who have encouraged me on in the faith?
I'm gonna stop now, and spend a moment thanking him for those people, rather than moaning about the fact we have too many special people in our lives to invite them all to our wedding!!!

TGS - a "Thank God Situation"

As I've been reflecting on my last 7 months as a church Apprentice, I realised that one of the hugest blessings this year has been my weekly trip down memory lane. As Monday lunchtime approaches I return to the school in which I spent 7 years learning everything I know (well, almost!) It’s the same school, the same teachers, the same smell, but a different bunch of people. The people I have the privilege of hanging out with on Monday lunchtimes are a small group of about 20 enthusiastic young Christians at Tolworth Girls School - eager to share their faith with their friends!

Amidst Haribo and doughnuts we’ve been looking at some tough questions, talking about evangelism, praying together, looking at the Bible – and I think we’re all agreed that the highlight of the year so far has been the one week of mission we did back in March. Every day we crammed between 40 and 60 girls into Room 23 where they heard Gospel presentations on three consecutive days followed by the grand finale “Grill a Christian” question panel… it was a pleasure and a privilege to serve with these young Christians, to watch them excitedly bringing friends along to hear the Gospel, to see the hours they were prepared to get up at to plaster the school in posters, the array of puddings they made for the pudding party and the sheer enthusiasm for bringing the good news of Jesus to their school.

Please continue to pray for the crew at TGS – representing about 6 different churches across the area it’s great for them to be united by a desire to grow in their relationship with God and share him with those around them. Pray for them that they will be a light in that school as they try and work out what living for Jesus in a sometimes hostile, and sometimes indifferent environment looks like.

Reflections on the Apprenticeship

Wow! How do you start to summarise 7 months in 400 words?! It’s a tough call… but one I will endeavour to accomplish in this little section here!

YPF, Christian Unions, Bible Clubs, Exploring Christianity, One-2-Ones, Co-Mission Training, Apprentice Meetings, working at the Kings Centre – the last 7 months have been a hive of activity! At first the adjustment from a slightly more relaxed (/lazy) university lifestyle was a bit of a shock to the system – no more late nights and lie-ins, no more constant coffees with friends with the occasional last minute rush to get an essay in. This year has been work!

The first term was a toughie. In hindsight I see the biggest thing God has been doing is some serious character adjustments (though sometimes it’s felt rather more painful than mere adjusting). I guess my perception of this year was it would be a great opportunity to try my hand at some new things, stretch my gifts and test the waters a bit. While that has happened to some extent, I’ve had to realise (and yes, I’m still realising) that any gifts God gives me are absolutely useless if my attitude is wrong – and yes, sometimes I have serious attitude issues! So God seems to have been showing me the error of my attitude, the extent of my pride and the deceptiveness of my motivations… not nice things to discover about oneself! By Christmas I was feeling the weight of my sin and pretty much in the mood to give up.

But the great thing about the gospel is that while God wants us to feel our sin, he doesn’t want us to stay there. And the New Year brought new beginnings… the last 4 months have been a slow recovery into understanding God’s grace (and I am by no means there yet!). I still have false motivations, I can still be overly critical, I still suffer with pride, but I’m learning everyday to wallow in the grace of the Lord Jesus and to know with absolute certainty that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).

So thank you for your support as a church, thank you for the opportunity to do this year, thank you for your prayers – they are much needed and much appreciated! Please pray I will continue to grow in Christlikeness and that God will be honoured as I go about the daily life of a CEC Apprentice!