All That Matters
You are all that matters
All that satisfies
All that gives me life
And stands the test of time
You are my portion
My only passion
You mean everything to me
by Eoghan Heaslip

Who is Ben Lee?
This is an odd post because I'm not usually quick to admit to musical ignorance. For the past three years I've been listening to a few tracks that I found somewhere, somehow by a guy called Ben Lee. I assumed discovering his music was the kind of freak incident that happens when you use the internet too much and love finding new music, but it appears not. I arrived home the other night and notice a piece of paper on my Dad's desk which read:

Ben Lee "Awake Is The New Sleep"

And today discovered that he heard this guys music while walking around Cribbs Causeway (shopping mall in Bristol). Maybe I'm the only person who finds this weird...

Sat in the jacuzzi at my Mum's health club and these two older ladies get in and we're chatting away (mostly about pets dying, but chatting none the less). Anyways my Mum is on my right and the lady on my left asks: "is that your girlfriend?"

So I'm in Cardiff spending time with family and friends and trying to figure out what the immediate future holds. It's a crazy journey trying to figure out where God is taking you, but it's exciting.

Monday saw the return of the Form people from their trip to Anaheim and it was great catching up with Emma and Emelie, hearing some of their stories. On Tuesday I took Emelie to New Wine and ended up in Venue, which is being run by the guys from Trent Vineyard and replaces the Em Church venue I was working in last year. This time around it was full to bursting and they opened up the sides of the tent so that people could sit outside.

I'm participating in a slightly less than common occupation right now - utilising wireless internet outdoors. And in an area where theives are operating...maybe I should put the ole ibook away before it gets swiped. Does this count as an adventure sport?

Domestic god(ess)
Mark 'Adonis' Evans has (finally) decided to enlighten the world with his brand of culinary excellence! click here

Last Day
Today is my last day in the Bristol Vineyard office. I always find the prospect of leaving somewhere that I've had sustained proximity with brings out an odd sentimentality. In reality it will be people that I'll miss more than the office space.

Doppelganger
I'm stood in the bank and one of the ladies comes up to me...
"Hi, Steve?"
And for a second I wonder if I'm one of Bristol's most wanted or something.
I frown back, looking confused.
"Oh, sorry, you look just like this guy I was in uni with.."
"Oh, where were you at uni?" I reply, for no obvious reason (I mean it wasn't like I was about to recall that yes when I lived in that particular town I was called Steve)
"Bath Spa"
"Ah, I was at Cardiff..." (apologetic tone in voice)
"Well, you've got a double out there!"

For some nice party hip hop mixes check out Roy's site. I can't believe it was 4 and a half years ago he played at my 18th birthday party - time flies.

Reckless Abandon
Some people find it difficult letting go of their inhibitions and acting like a child. I’m not one of those people. One example of this is when I went to Cardiff with Emma and Dave and managed to talk them into running up a steep muddy slope with only sandals on their feet and then running down barefoot. It was kind of painful because of the tree roots, but was a lot of fun. We drove home muddy and satisfied that we had adventured.

Another of these occasions happened yesterday. We were all set to head to Ashton Court festival, which I’m told, is a forum for local Bristol talent with a few crowd pullers headlining. I was in the car with Dave and Lois and we were queueing in the diverted traffic and we noticed the sign to Weston Super Mare and decided the beach rocks far more than the prospect of seeing a bunch of bands we’d never heard of. It would also give us an affinity with our friends who are currently sunning themselves over in Southern California (grrr). When we arrived we headed straight for the water and noticed that the closer we got the deeper our feet sank into the mud. So I suggested we sprint across the mud until we reach the sea. We did it, got completely filthy, and wandered back towards the sand. Strangely between our arrival and our walk back from the water someone had put some signs up which announced “Danger, Sinking Mud,” or perhaps we just didn’t notice them… Things we also did: ate chips and Ben & Jerry’s (Cookie Dough flavour), buried Dave with sand, drove Dave’s mini around the beach (I like driving over sandcastles!) and watched the sun set.

Very topical
(thanks to Mark)

It's strange to think that I only have another two weeks living in the Pink House. This year has been crazy, I've learned a lot, often unexpected things, and I'm that little bit closer to doing what I'm made for!

The next fortnight is about intensive soul searching and prayer working out the next step and maybe even the one after that should God so oblige. There are a number of options which have arisen and which I'm sure would be formative, but right now it's a case of asking, among all the nice ideas, "Lord, what do you want?"

What is it with British people?
When it's raining, it's too wet.
When it's hot, it's too hot.

The weirdest thing happened on Saturday...
The Form people were on their way to the airport and I was hanging out with Dave and Mark (a welshman and two africans). We went to this park overlooking the suspension bridge to play frisbee, and as we approached our destination Mark (who was ahead of us) shouts, "you're not going to believe this guys..." There were some people playing Kubb! We thought we were the only people in Bristol who had heard of this crazy game, but it appears it's spreading.

We joined their game and actually won two in a row (The Dream Team strikes again!)

The sun is shining, the weather is sweet (though usually, whenever I mention the sunny weather on my blog clouds and rain appear). Ian (web guru and general nice guy) rocks - yesterday he helped me fix some of the coding on my blog (not without some disciplinary words at my laziness).

Rowland and the Formettes head to Anaheim tomorrow for their final ministry trip (working with the compassion teams at Anaheim Vineyard), so I guess this is goodbye. I'm praying God completely rocks their worlds.

Gluttony
This week I've been laying low on the ice cream eating front. Last week saw me participating in the consumption of five tubs of Ben and Jerry's (for those of you who are interested: 3 Chocolate Fudge Brownie, 2 Phish Food). Surely that's not right?

As has Sofia...

Emelie has (finally) joined the blogging world.

We watched Garden State yesterday, a movie I would 100% recommend. The charm of the film is its honesty, it's willingness to explore a broad range of real issues from the complications of family life to the systematised and legal 'drugging' of our western societies. It seems to mimic the span of emotions that your average human experiences from day to day.

An interesting concept that arises gravitates around the issue of Home as aspiration, or figment of memory, rather than reality. Andrew (Zach Braff) hypothesizes that maybe family are just people who long for "the same imaginary place." This line of thought is brought to a satisfying conclusion at the end, but I won't spoil it for you...
(Disclaimer: I didn't re-read this post before publishing it the first time round, so there was unforgivable repitition. Sorry!)

Tonight will be an interesting experience - a goodbye party for some of my closest friends of 2005 - the form team. They're off to Anaheim Vineyard next weekend to spend a fortnight helping out with their compassion ministries before returning to their respective countries (at least within 36 hours of returning to the UK).

I hate goodbyes. Is it the Purpose Driven Life that talks about us being created for eternity, hence why it is odd living with a series of close but short-term relationships? I guess it's only been in the last 200 years that people would relocate so easily. Before that we were pretty content with a life of friendships in a community of relatively modest size.

I see planting a church as a long term, if not permanent commitment to a particular place (ala Peterson). The question is: is it possible to minister effectively to a society in which your way of life is so different to those around you? Are we called to model healthy, long term community, or to simply buy into the continent hopping lifestyles of our peers?

Ok, that was two questions...