Not all Americans are overweight

I had an interesting conversation tonight when a group of us went for coffee. We stumbled upon a kind of interactive event with vaguely religious undertones. Anyhow I got into a conversation with one of the guys who was running it and he was telling me that "society no longer works on the parish-model, it's more focussed on networks of people who all come from different places to be together [because of shared interests etc.]" (and I'm thinking, what, like a megachurch?)

Now I think what he was getting at was the idea that our communities are no longer the people we meet when walking down the street, they're the people we meet when we get in our cars and drive to an event. And that Church should mimic that.

This goes against all my instincts regarding community. I really do feel that in order to build deep, growing, lasting relationships you need proximity. If and when I know where God wants me to start a community I will make sure that I live with and near the people with whom I build.

If you like a good story, check out Kim Johnson's blog. It seems that Fred Durst is more intelligent than his musical genre would suggest. Oh, and check out this interview with the 'new face of the BNP.'

Summer work
I finish Uni on the 5th June and I'm trying to work out what to do with the 12 weeks before I start at Bristol Vineyard. I might try and get a summer job, although I'm not really sure where to find them. It seems that most employers want you for longer than 12 weeks.

Any suggestions? Comment below.

This afternoon we visited Steve and Claire at the Pink house (which isn't pink but is a house) and met little Megan. I'm going to be living with them next year, when I intern at Bristol Vineyard. I'm really looking forward to this new leg of the journey, a new adventure.

My ears are finally clear! I just had them syringed. Last night at housegroup I asked for prayer for them and God clearly had other things in mind. As soon as they started praying for me I sensed that what God actually wanted to do was increase my passion for following Him. Very cool, if not quite what I had requested.

By the way, the link for Zoë, my little sister's blog is here.

The Dreaded Trusts Exam
This morning I sat my penultimate exam - Trust Law. Those of you who have been around me this past year will know that Trusts has been the biggie, the one module that I have found hardest.

When I arrived at the exam I was surprised at how stressed out everyone seemed, this bunch of final year Law students anticipating the mother of all law exams. It seemed that everyone had revision aids in their hands.

Anyhow, I got into the exam, sat down, prayed, waited, prayed, stretched, filled out my form. The exam started and, guess what...it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated. There were three questions that I could have a good crack at. My only reservation is that I ran out of time on the last question, which also happened to have been my favourite one, so ended up scribbling down bullet points and not really concluding properly. I'm just hoping that this won't drag the mark down too much.

Earache
Last night at 4am I woke up with real intense pain in my ear. It is also completely deaf. I'm off to see the doctor at 10.20am. I'd really appreciate your prayers because this week is the most intensive of my final exams and I really need to finish revising and get good, full nights of sleep.

Yawn...
Today was exam number 1. Contemporary Political Theory. Here are the questions I answered:
1. If Rawls's 'Original Position' is purely hypothetical, can it adequately justify his two principles of justice?
2. Should obligations of care supplant obligations of justice? Discuss with reference to Gilligan and Tronto.
3. Evaluate Rorty's claim that the ironist can be a committed liberal.
I was pretty happy with those.

Last night I finished revising at about 9.20 and ran myself a bath, with candles and Jack Johnson playing in the background. May sound sad, but it's the best way I've found to chill out, although Johnson has only been added to the mix since Zoë got back from New Zealand. Before him it was trip hop like Zero 7 or Massive attack that got me chilling.

Generally I just sit there and say to God: "ok, now I've done all I can do, I'm trusting you for the rest..." Which really isn't all that true because He got me through the bit I'm claiming credit for too!

Today I've had a pretty productive day, despite being mildly distracted by the torrential rain and even thunder and lightning that has been going on, not to mention the buzz of parents preparing to go on holiday.

I've managed to cover Dishonest Assistance, Knowing Receipt and Quistclose Trusts in just a matter of hours. The exam on Thursday is Contemporary Political Theory, so tonight I'll be dabbling in Rawls, Nozick and Parekh.

This is my first blog via email.  I'm glad blogger have finally added this new feature for regular, non paying users.  This really does seem to go against the general web principle of getting people using products and then gradually taking features away unless paid for... 

Today I've been thinking a bit about this. I've found myself affected by circumstances a little more than usual and I think it's because during exam times my emotional energy levels drop. The problem is it gets hard to justify taking time to recharge when the clock is ticking...

Todd Hunter on his new role as President of Alpha USA...

"Alpha is communal – they eat dinner together and share normal social time together. It was also relational; you are encouraged to be real and even assert things that are counter to Christianity, and the Alpha “insiders” are trained to listen and ask more questions. I observed a huge trust in the work of the Spirit. All of these are the selfsame values I would often discuss with emerging church leaders...[read more]"

(thanks to Eric Keck and Off the Map)

A few words from godspeed you! black emperor...

"a community isn't just the people you meet at mcdonald's to have coffee with" [read more]

from their website

I'm not sure I'll be blogging all that much over the next few weeks. It's time to get my head down and focus on preparing for my exams, which start on the 12th May and finish on the 5th June.

Kill Bill Marathon
Last night Jon, Jennie, Zoë and I did the Kill Bill Marathon. We watched Part I at our place on DVD and then went into town to see the second installment. It's definitely one long film, rather than two short ones, I think they only sliced it in two to make it more commercially viable.

Anyhow the second part was not a disappointment. There's more of Tarantino's trademark film making: great attention to detail and challenging established norms.

In this instance I love the way he adds everyday dialogue to a genre which is normally free of such things. My favourite example is when Budd is making a cocktail and his mixer is buzzing, making lots of noise, while Elle Driver carries on talking. You miss what she says first of all, but then Budd asks her to repeat, just as you would in every day speech.

That's about as much as I should say without giving too much away, but go see.