Last night we began with a Lectio Divina on Psalm 90, listening to God's voice and allowing time for silence, to sit and 'be' in the midst of a busy week.

We then shared what opportunities God has allowed us to share His Kingdom with those around us. Week 2 of Power Evangelism and the stories have already begun. One in particular of a girl who allowed her friend to pray with her regarding some pain in her life and who has since reported a real sense of peace!

Throughout the night there was an overall sense of greatfulness that God allows us, imperfect people, to join in His mission.

click here to watch the new Beastie Boys video 'Ch-Check it out'

Separated at Birth?


Could it be that Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and flouncy BBC interior designer Lawrence Llewellyn Bowen were separated at birth?

Helen has recently started a blog.

For those of you who are interested, here are my exam dates:

13th May - Contemporary Political Theory
18th May - British Government and Politics
19th May - Trusts
5th June - Comparative Law of Religion

Each starts at 9am and is 3 hours long. Prayer would be much appreciated. Once these are finished, my degree is complete!

Last night our housegroup started studying Power Evangelism. Learning about the Kingdom of God is such an exciting experience. I love the way that everyone gets talking, has questions and stories and ideas etc. The most successful analogy I've found so far for describing the now and the not yet of the Kingdom has been the fruit teabag (you know the ones with those little strings attached).

As you dip the teabag into the boiling water in the mug the tea begins to diffuse. If you take the teabag out after just a few moments, the tea won't have reached its full flavour but it will have a slight taste. The world, with the kingdom of God here but not fully here, is like this - it's lightly, but not fully, flavoured.

Some people were saying: "the teabag is like Jesus, he came and has left the kingdom in part, but has temporarily gone and will return to bring his flavour in full." I'm not sure the analogy really stretches that far, but it's as good as any I've heard before. I guess it probably wouldn't do the mystery of the kingdom justice if there was a comprehensive analogy that explained exactly what it is like!

Things are very busy with uni work at the moment - revision etc. Yesterday I wrote an essay on Freedom of Religion (Art 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights) and the Child, in the UK. It's a very interesting subject and possibly the first time I've gone substantially over the word limit in an essay.

Christian Hedonism is the new black. Go check out Andrew's post on the subject, dated 21st April and let me know what you think!

I've been looking forward to today for about a week now, having found it hard coming to terms with the fact that times of intensive revision don't give you much opportunity to get in contact with people and do kingdom stuff.

Recently a guy who has been a heroin user for some time has started showing up at our gatherings. He's found himself unable to get out of the drug culture and therefore break the habit. While he was in prison he had some experience of God and was asking if we knew of any way out. We told him about a local drugs rehab centre, run by followers and with a very high success rate, and made contact with them on his behalf. They invited him for an interview, which was supposed to take place this afternoon.

To cut a long story short, when we went to pick him up to take him for the interview he wasn't there and didn't show. Even though I knew there was some chance of this, I had had a good feeling about it and really thought he would show. This last week I had thanked God that even though I've been in "isolation," he's brought me into contact with people to serve, which is why I think it has felt like a blow.

This morning my little cousin Lucy was on Saturday morning television interviewing NME darlings Busted. Their success can surely only be attributed to the buying power of British children.

There are now some photos on my fotolog.

I think it must be because I'm approaching a time of transition, coming to the end of uni and moving to Bristol in September, that I've been reminiscing a little more than usual. Today I was reminded that one of my most natural experiences of community happened in this very street.

When we moved in, maybe 6 years ago, I met Dan and Ben who had both lived in this street for a fair few years. They were both at Whitchurch High, just up the road, and we were all about 15 years old. Dan lived next door and there were three houses between mine and Ben's place. We would hang out a lot, go to parties and generally just share our life experiences.

They've both moved away now and we rarely see each other. I think last time I saw Ben was in Clwb Ifor Bach, sometime last year, and I occasionally see Dan when he visits his parents.

I was reading a book on feminism yesterday and was somehow reminded of an experience that I had one night many years ago...

We were sat in a room in Nick's house, door locked and hearts beating. We didn't know whether to laugh or sit in fear.

It was the first week of A-levels and the excitement of this new era and a free house had given us both reason and means by which to celebrate. The last few hours had gone well, loud music and rawkus youths aren't a problem when a house is detached, on an expansive piece of land and neighbours are friendly.

The music had flowed from Mix Master Mike to Pantera, the beer from Michelob to Guiness. A few of us were chilling out in Nick's room when we noticed that some of the partygoers were outside having a smoke. These guys were a few years older than us and not even acquaintances - they even had beards! An idea sprang into my head: "Nick has a sink, and we could throw water at them from this window."

Chris and I took it in turns to fill the glass that sat rather conveniently to the side of the sink before throwing its contents on those sat on the patio below. This went on for a while until we heard raised voices. We scrambled downstairs only to be cross-examined by the now slightly damp smokers. They were a little 'worse for wear,' a few hours of drinking under their belts coupled with their ('magic') cigarettes. We claimed it was Claudia, Nick's younger sister, towards whom we assumed they would show mercy.

The discussions went on and I remembered that Nick had an outhouse that could be locked. These guys were beginning, even through their drunken stupor, to work out that we were not quite as innocent as we had claimed and we decided to make a run for it. The door was locked behind us and we were safe.

I know this is a bit late, but we had a good Easter weekend. It began with a gathering at our place on Friday night where we ate a good meal and broke bread. We mingled among the people there catching up and praying for one another. Later on a few of us had a bit of a jam in our front room.

My Dad and Rob were working from Saturday through Monday on our back yard. I joined them on Saturday and Sunday, but revised on Monday. We've managed to clear all the concrete and have ordered our third skip to fill with the remaining dirt. Once the ground is level and we've layed adequate foundations the slabs will go down.

Today is Chris' 21st Birthday. We celebrated on Saturday night at the Brasserie with some of his family. Happy Birthday bro!

For some reason I've felt a little like a zombie the last few days. I think it's partly the after effects of the head cold, the manual (non-aerobic) labour, and a few late nights. Last night however I had a great night's sleep and am feeling back on form.

Great news...The Beastie Boys have a new album coming out on June 14th!

Banksy makes me laugh - he's the guy who paints warning signs on bridges that say "warning, concealed trapdoors" among other things. His pieces are often made using stencils, which allows him to capture more detail in a shorter time. This time he's actually managed to install a piece of his work in the Natural History Museum!

One of those days...
Do you ever feel like your brain is one step behind the rest of you? That was me today. I felt a little like I was somehow 'tuned out' and couldn't quite get tuned in. I think it was half the muzzy head of the cold mixed with a broken night of sleep. All I can say to those who I came across today is I hope I made sense!

sniffle
I'm on day 4 of a headcold. Hopefully it'll break soon - I'm getting sick of the constant flow from my sore, red nose. Lemsip really is proving itself to be a good friend.

Tomorrow Billy and I are off to Bristol to visit Andrew, but for now the joys of Trust Law.

Prayer needed
Yesterday I received the email below that Emma forwarded to me from one of her friends. The first operation that she mentions is today.

Hi Guys,

O.k. I am writing to you all with a very specific purpose. Prayer. I am pretty certain that most of you (but not all) know about my mother and the fact that she has recently been diagnosed with cancer.

Well, her first major operation (hysterectomy) is this tuesday. It's going to be a big load of surgery and to say the least my family and I are all beginning to feel very strained. What I am asking for is mass prayer for a successful operation on tuesday, that nothing will go wrong and that they won't find the condition any worse than they already suspect. I would like for you all to pray for peace and comfort for my mother and the rest of my family and that we will all continue to be strong.

For those of you that don't know my mother's name is LINDY and it is ovarian cancer which had spread to the liver that we are dealing with.

I thank God that I have all of you in my time of need.

I love you all.
Rachel xxxxx

Wheelbarrows
Today was a different day - spent outside in the garden. My Dad and I (and later Rob) have been moving junk, concrete and turf into the skip at the front of our house. It's nice to do some non-legal work and to be outdoors.

These new glasses of mine are taking a while to get used to. I've been feeling pretty disorientated for about a week now. Went to the opticians earlier and it turns out my eyes are just getting used to a flatter lense. The joys of myopia!

update (Friday): today my eyes are feeling much more normal!