Although I've been back in work since Monday, I'm still battling with this illness. I'm really hoping it doesn't become a chest infection.

Last night was Alpha: "who was Jesus?" which was good fun. The best part about Alpha is meeting new people and dialoguing on these things. The more outrageous the beliefs of the people in your group the more fun!

Tonight I'm off to the UWE CU to meet some freshers and tell them about Bristol Vineyard. Sunday is the Bristol CU equivalent, but they don't let non-students talk at it, so I'm on the lookout for a willing student at BV.

The other night Claire had a dream that she was smuggling cocain and that I was trying to stop her so she shot me in the leg.

Yesterday I awoke to find, in the pile of letters on my bedside cabinet, a letter written in some foreign script. My first thought was that I’d somehow, overnight, forgotten how to read. I went downstairs and asked Steve if he could read this alien handwriting. He couldn’t, so all was forgotten until later in the day when he asked Claire if she knew anything about it.

It turns out that Claire had been cleaning in the bathroom during the week and had found the letter behind the toilet. Not recognising the writing she assumed (and this is absolutely true) that someone had been writing in tongues. Her next question was: ‘who in this household would try writing in tongues?’ And came to the conclusion that it must have been me.

Now she assumed that I would be embarrassed if she let on that she had found my ‘experiment’ and decided to sneak the letter into my bedroom so as not to raise any suspicion.

This year is going to be fun…

On Monday I went to Hull with Andrew to meet with Jeremy, who leads Hull Vineyard. Last time I visited Hull it took 8 hours on the National Express, so I was glad we were driving this time and arrived in half the time. Hull was nicer than I remember it being - although it was very cold.

27th September (Monday) is the start of term at Bristol Uni and UWE, so I'm trying to get ready for the arrival of students at BV. There's an evening service starting called 'Vineyard Late' which I'm hoping to use as a base for planting Fusion cells.

My throat is sore today, which is frustrating because I had a cold just over a week ago and I want my voice to be fixed so I can start doing music stuff.

I think that's all the news for now.

The recipe below is one that Steve has introduced me to since I've been living with them. It's very tasty.

Time is flying, although this weekend wasn't quite as fast as last. Friday evening I went to a Leaders' training session, which was fun - met some new people. On Saturday I mooched and did housework.

Today is grey and miserable outside. Let's hope it's not pathetic fallacy.

Couscous, Halloumi and Chargrilled Vegetables

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 Courgette
2 Peppers (1 red, 1 green)
4 Button mushrooms
2 Tomatoes (quartered)
1 pack of Halloumi (cubed)
1/2 Large onion
1/2-1 tsp. Harissa Sauce + garlic (to taste)
Salt and Pepper (to season)

Couscous:
300g Couscous
1 pint Vegetable stock

Garnish:
142ml Greek Yoghurt
1/4 cucumber
A few sprigs of fresh mint

Directions:
1. Heat olive oil in a griddle pan and fry garlic for 1 minute.
2. Add onions, peppers, and Harissa sauce and fry until crispy.
3. Add Halloumi and fry until golden.

For Couscous:
Place couscous in a large bowl and add the vegetable stock in stages: initially enough to cover, then fluff with a fork, adding more as required. Keep covered when not fluffing to retain heat.

For accompanying garnish:
Add finely chopped mint leaves, cucumber (diced small), salt and pepper to the greek yoghurt.

I haven't blogged for a few days as I've been out of the office. Cardiff at the weekend was great, saying Happy Birthday to Rob, seeing family and friends, and (not so great) saying goodbye to Sharon (she's moved back to Nottingham to finish her course).

Then on Monday Sarah-Lou and I went to the Fusion Training conference in Northampton, which was very interesting and allowed us to find out about running Fusion cells in our local communities.

Congratulations are in order. Llewellyn Parfitt was born yesterday afternoon, weighing in at 9 pounds 1 ounce. Congratulations Lewis and Maria!

Emotionally, life in Bristol is beginning to feel more normal. I no longer have that panicked "what am I doing here?" feeling, which really helps.

I'm also beginning to find my way around - last night I rode to the watershed cinema without the use of a map and in pretty good time - 15 minutes there and 17 minutes back (because of the hills). I was meeting Julian, a friend who was in my Politics class for A-Levels, and he showed me around a little as we caught up on the last 3 years.

Chris is coming down today and I'm hopefully having lunch with him tomorrow, which will be fun.

We're driving to London in an hour to pick up Andrew.

On Sunday we went to a Greek place called Yia Mas, which is on Park Street. It was a kind of restaraunt-come-bar-come-club and there was standing room only as the DJ played the best of cheesy european house. Very fun/ny.

What a ride the last week and a bit has been - and the internship hasn't even begun! I'm beginning to get used to Bristol and its people and the idea of being here for the next twelve months.

I start at the office tomorrow. It'll be good to be busier, to have a routine and to begin (or continue) exploring what lies ahead.

This weekend has been great. It was Zoë's 20th birthday and we went out in Bristol on Sunday night to celebrate, along with some of the Cardiff gang (Mark, Rob, Sarah-Lou and Sharon). I realised once again what a great bunch of friends I have in Cardiff.

I'm here!
So I'm sat in the Bristol Vineyard office catching up on a web-free few days. Saturday was moving into the 'pink house' and getting unpacked, which was all done within 2 hours.

Emotionally things have been a little weird the last few days. I guess you realise how close you are to your family when you're living away from them (even if only 45 minutes away). Reading Zoë's blog is pretty hard to do without wanting to cry. It's her 20th Birthday on Sunday, so she and some of the guys are coming over and we're going out in Bristol, which should be fun.

Yesterday I went shopping on Park Street and managed to find How to Read the Bible Book by Book, which I've been looking for since Gordon Fee spoke at the Leader's Conference back in March.

This week is flying by. Seeing a variety of friends every night is great fun but the experience is tempered by the fact that we're saying our goodbyes. At least I'll be seeing most of them in the course of the year.

Next Saturday I move to Bristol. This week I'm getting rid of my old cardiffvineyard.org and ntlworld.com email addresses and getting a new address. If you haven't just received an email with my new contact details in and need them, please leave a comment at the bottom of this post and I'll email you with the details.

I won't be publishing my new address on this website because I'm determined to keep spam at bay!

Sing a new song to The Lord?
I just had a look on the CCLI website to find out the 25 most popular songs sung in churches in the UK this year. To be honest I was astonished at the results...

1 Shout To The Lord - Darlene Zschech
2 Be Still - David J. Evans
3 Lord I Lift Your Name On High - Rick Founds
4 Knowing You - Graham Kendrick
5 Come Now Is The Time To Worship - Brian Doerksen
6 Shine Jesus Shine - Graham Kendrick
7 How Deep The Father's Love For Us - Stuart Townend
8 The Servant King - Graham Kendrick
9 Once Again - Matt Redman
10 There Is A Redeemer - Melody Green-Sievright
11 We Want To See Jesus Lifted High - Doug Horley
12 I Will Offer Up My Life - Matt Redman
13 All Heaven Declares - Noel Richards\Tricia Richards
14 The Power Of Your Love - Geoff Bullock
15 Faithful One - Brian Doerksen
16 As The Deer - Martin Nystrom
17 I Will Sing Your Praises - Ian Smale
18 Give Thanks - Henry Smith
19 Jesus Is The Name We Honour - Philip Lawson Johnston
20 Refiner's Fire - Brian Doerksen
21 Majesty - Jack Hayford
22 Celebrate - Patricia Morgan\Dave Bankhead
23 Be The Centre - Michael Frye
24 To Be In Your Presence - Noel Richards
25 Only By Grace - Gerrit Gustafson

One of the things that really stood out to me last week was something Mike Breen said in the last evening talk I recorded. He was talking about how we communicate the message of Jesus to our present culture. The thing that really stood out was this...

"we live in a culture that is high tech and low touch, surrounded by people who long for low tech, high touch relationships."

As you can probably see, yesterday was spent decluttering the sidebar of my blog. For some reason I'm having issues at the moment with blogger, gmail and the settings on my computer.

This morning my New York Lock arrived, weighing in at a hefty 3.8kg. It's definately a beast of a lock and should keep bike theives away, but I'm not sure if the weight is a little excessive (it's about half a stone for those of you on different measurements). I might exchange it for the New York 3000 D-Lock (pictured right)...

Today Mark and I cycled up to Castell Coch, in Tongwynlais. As we rode up the hill, who should pull up but the Turrigianos on their first visit to the holy land. How surreal that we'd be in the same place at the same time.

Sharon is now blogging.

I'm back! I know I said I'd be gone 2 weeks, but I've discovered that when it comes to the conference/festival thing I'm really not all that hardcore. One week at New Wine was enough.

I'm about to leave for New Wine - I'll be there for the next 2 weeks. If you need to get hold of me try 07906 503 995.

Otherwise, have fun!!
And don't forget to see Fahrenheit 9/11.

Update: my cousin, Sarah has a new blog.

I'm enjoying my new Flickr account. It's a great tool for photo-blogging (see right -->)

The last week seems to have been something of a mad rush. Yesterday I had to go shopping and get essentials for moving to Bristol. We survived by taking well-earned rests every so often for coffee or lunch.

Today I visited Chris and we went walking in Cefn Onn Park. We almost got lost and managed to find an amazing view over Cardiff on the one side and Caerphilly on the other while talking philosophy. Good times.

Does anyone who reads this blog have any experience of using one of these:

I've been using a tape-dictaphone to record any inspiration for songs over the last few months. The problem is that the in-built mic is real poor quality. I have a minidisc recorder and was thinking of getting an external mic for it.

On Friday I go to New Wine to work on the ICC recording team for Week A and B, so will be gone for 2 weeks. Then I return for one week before moving to Bristol!

I've just finished what was probably my final shift at the M-Store. This week has been really interesting. It started off a little on the low side - I was feeling pretty down, unfocussed and frustrated.

But on Thursday night at our housegroup God really showed up and brought His refreshing (click here for more).

Last night Mark came around. We went on a long walk with the dog, taking in the fine weather and enjoying the space. We were able to chat some more, sharing thoughts and dreams. A great end to a varied week!

My buddy Mark has a new blog.

Since the Worship Leaders' Retreat, back in June and a conversation I had with Matt I've been reflecting on the call to be practitioners first and "thinkers" second. This might sound a little strange to some of you, especially coming from someone who loves to learn, but I'm really trying to figure out where that fits in with walking with Jesus.

The truth is that a gospel that is purely theoretical, however accurate, is unappealing in equal measure for those not currently following Jesus and those who are. We can theorise about the Kingdom all we like, but until we become "word-workers," those with good "ortho-praxis" to match our good orthodoxy, our faith is questionable. As James says "what's the use of saying you have faith if you don't prove it by your actions? That kind of faith can't save anyone."

I want to be a practitioner, I want to be someone who doesn't shirk his responsibility to usher in the kingdom. It seems that Jesus didn't worry about his disciples' theoretical understanding but instead immersed them in the work of the kingdom and let the understanding follow. He kept experience one step ahead of information. Is it just me or does that sound like more of an adventure?

Why haven't I blogged recently? It's actually because a combination of blogger and the settings on our network has prevented some of my posts appearing...

Last night we returned from Re:fresh, an experience of camping, teaching, frisbee and eating in the Bradfield countryside (just outside Reading). It was good to hang out with some of the extended family that is the Vineyard.

Lack of sleep, cold and too much talking seems to have taken its toll on my system and I spent most of today sleeping and trying to shake off a sore throat.

I'm off to Re:fresh (Vineyard weekend) in a few minutes, but just have time to post about the crazy week that has just been...

As already blogged, Stefan arrived last weekend and has since educated us on the fact that the Swiss are the best at everything (hmmm). On Tuesday Becky and Rachael, our two cousins came to visit. It was great to spend some time with them, catching up on everything that's been going on in each others' lives.

Last night our housegroup went to see Verra Cruz, a great band from St Albans who are also part of this family we call the Vineyard. If you like your hard rock, they're definately one to watch.

Time really seems to be flying and before long I'll be getting used to life across the bridge.

I've just finished Invisible Monsters, a non-linear escapade from Chuck Palahniuk, author of  Fight Club.  On first glimpse the book is a study of the life of a model after having her face blown off.  Only later do you discover a far more sinister plot with twists that keep you guessing right until the end.  The tale is one of self-destruction with the aim of attaining freedom from the constraints of society.

 

Now for a quote from Brandy Alexander:
"I want out of labels.  I don't want my life crammed into a single word.  A story.  I want to find something else, unknowable, some place that's not on the map.  A real adventure..." (p261)

 

It's a story of decadence and is at times very dark.  This is the first book I've read by Palahniuk and I found his writing style is unique and refreshing.  However I did have concerns that in time it may seem clichéd.

I know I'm a bit late with this one, but we've just watched Lost in Translation on DVD. I've heard people say you either love it or hate it, no in-between (the Marmite effect). Anyhow I loved it: from the photography to the music, to the adventure that the movie takes you on. For me it really captured what it's like to be somewhere, surrounded by people and yet disengaged from everything around you.****

9.25am Friday morning, phone rings...
I pick up after a few rings..."hello?"
At first all I hear is background noise, people making people noises.
Then an accented voice "heilo can I speak to Zoë?"
And for some reason I assume it's a phonecall from her bank, from an Indian callcentre.

Accent recognition was obviously not functioning at that time of the morning. Turns out it was Zoë's Swiss friend Stefan from the discipleship course she did in Thailand last summer.

So if anyone (in Cardiff) has any space in their house and would like a Swiss visitor, please let us know! Stefan is currently at the Backpacker hostel.

This summer is beginning to remind me of those of my early-to-mid teens. Being old enough to "look after ones' self" but too young to get a job brought a kind of helpless feeling. This year 'being too young' has been replaced by 'only being available for the next eight weeks.'

While this can, at times, be frustrating I'm sure that God is teaching me stuff that I couldn't learn if everything was 'going to plan.' In my helplessness I'm once again forced into his arms. The whole degree thinghas also brought to light questions of where I find my value. Do I look for affirmation by intellectual means, or do I look to God? Am I trying to satisfy legitimate needs by illegitimate means?

Yesterday I picked up the results for my Law and Politics degree. I got a 2:2, which I was pretty disappointed with at first (having hoped for a 2:1). The reason for my frustration is that I know that, had I chosen to study a subject that I enjoy (as oppose to Law) I would have done much better.

Looking at the breakdown of my results (which my tutor shouldn't really have shown me) I got 2:1s for the modules I enjoyed, but barely revised for, which were the more philosophical ones like 20th Century European Intellectual History. The ones that I did worst at were the hard line Law modules like Trusts and Land Law that I never really wanted to learn.

It sucks knowing that your grade doesn't really reflect your capability, but I guess at least I know for sure that Law really isn't my thing!

There is only one factor that I can put down to me having chosen to study Law and Politics. That is a conversation (aged 17) with Mr Sidoli, one of the RE teachers at my Sixth Form College. He suggested the course because of my interests in subjects like English Literature, Art and Politics. I guess I stuck with it out of sheer stubbornness!

Things have been kind of busy recently.  I'm trying to finish things up here at Cardiff Vineyard before starting a new adventure in Bristol. 

 

I started a Gmail account, but for some reason when I compose a message and click 'send' it does nothing, so I'm looking for another email provider - any suggestions? (I'd rather not go down the ole hotmail route)

 

This week I've been reading two novels, as a light relief from all the intense reading of the last year.  One is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon, which is a murder mystery written from the perspective of a boy with Asperger's Syndrome (mild autism) and is very interesting.  The other is Painted House by John Grisham, which seems pretty good so far - I love the way he writes. 

Last night we returned from the UK Vineyard Worship Leaders' Retreat. It was a great weekend spent looking at the character and role of a worship leader, worshipping God and rediscovering vision.

Andy Park spoke on worship leaders as priests calling people into the reality of the Kingdom. It was fun meeting (and playing frizbee with) Matt Turrigiano, who I'll be working with next year. Matt spoke on living a life worthy of the call to worship.

Good quotes:
"God can only do through you what he has done to you"
"The Worship Leader (capital W, capital L) is the Holy Spirit, we are just the worship leaders (lowercase w, lowercase l), or lead worshippers"

P.O.H.M
Apparently Australians call the British "Poms." This is pretty funny because the word derives from the phrase "Prisoners Of Her Majesty," which surely means we should be calling them Poms, not vice versa! The things you learn in the Guardian...

We went to see Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind last night. It's such an interesting and enjoyable movie. Unlike some films it managest to be abstract and artistic, whilst maintaining a purpose. It has depth and takes you on an exploration into the nature of memory.

"As churches across the country become more mission-oriented, there are many informal discussions around the question of whether the ordained minister should not earn his living in a secular calling and participate as anyone else in the life of the church...but the new shaping of the church's life to the needs of the world is going to call for, not less leadership, but a different kind of leadership.  The church is going to be vastly limited in what it can do, if there are not those who can give all their waking hours to building the structures that will call forth the gifts of the laity and equip them for their ministry as pastors and teachers and healers and prophets."
(Elizabeth O'Connor, Journey Inward, Journey Outward)

Two days in a row this week, while riding along the Taff Trail (a local cycle and walking route) I've received verbal abuse from pedestrians. Both times has centered around their believing that the trail is in fact a footpath and that bikes shouldn't be using it.

I've been using this route for years and have been amazed at these recent reactions - could it be the rising temperatures that are evoking this response?

I quit the detox soon after my last post and have felt much better since. It seems you really have to be in it for the long haul to get beyond the tired, hungry stage and into the energy stage (apparently in week 3).

On Thursday night we had a great housegroup. We looked briefly at Power Evangelism (Week 6) and then spent some time praying for each person individually. We should definately do it more often.

Saturday Zoë and I were working at 'The M Store' with Heidi. It was hot, but we were in pretty good spirits and the day went pretty quickly.

Detox
I agreed to try out a detox that Zoë and my Mum are doing for the next month. It's day 3 and I'm feeling sluggish, tired, and pretty hungary. I've eaten a lot of fruit and brown rice, as well as nuts.

Most of the food is pretty tasty, I'm just not finding it filling. I was doing some digging in our garden yesterday and just didn't seem to have as much energy as usual.

We saw Incubus, perhaps California's finest, at Cardiff International Arena last night. Support came from Hundred Reasons who had apparently only had one song to soundcheck, and it showed.

Incubus must have played for 2 hours or more. We had tracks from all their albums, from SCIENCE through to A Crow Left of the Murder. They even covered Soundgarden's Black Hole Sun. While I knew they were a great band, I hadn't realised quite how talented they are. One of the highlights for me was a ten minute drum session with Ben Kenney (Bass) playing snare and symbols, Brandon Boyd (Vocals) playing three djembes, and Jose Pasillas holding it all together on drums.

For the encore Kenney enters the stage and for five minutes entertains us with bass solos (great harmonics), before being joined by the rest of the band for their finale. This included a breakdown in the middle of 'Certain Shade of Green' in which Chris Kilmore (DJ) scratches over the top of some Led Zeppelin.

All in all a great night.

And life begins
It's over! I had the last exam of my degree this morning. Seems strange considering it's a Saturday morning. It was a pretty tough paper - Comparative Law of Religion - four questions in three hours, but at least everyone else said it was tough.

The studying is over and I am feeling that feeling you get when you stop doing something that has taken up most of your time and you're not quite sure what to do with yourself. hmmm...sleep!

So the final hurdle is in sight. Tomorrow morning at 9am I sit my Comparative Law of Religion exam. Then my degree is over and the summer begins.

Tim emailed me a great word of advice a week or two ago: "Never give up for a second before the very very end." I took it to heart because he got a first for his Biology degree after going AWOL for like four months. I'm not aiming for a first (Law just doesn't interest me enough!) but I want to do as well as I can.

I'm pretty unusual in the student world. I always make sure I've had a good night of sleep before embarking on an exam. Filling my blood stream with Coffee and Pro-Plus, in order that I can stay awake all night, just doesn't appeal.

In our house rubber gloves only seem to last a few washes (of pans) before the right hand starts to leak. I'm guessing this is because I always use my right hand to scrub the pans, while the left hand plays a more supportive role.

Are there any left handed people who read this site? If so, do you find that the left hand glove always wears out first? This would help support my theory...perhaps we should set up a trade agreement - exchanging some of our odd left handed gloves for some right handers!

Journey Inward, Journey Outward by Elizabeth O'Connor

I've just started reading this great book telling some of the story of Church of the Saviour.  Here are some of my favourite quotes so far...

 

On community
"Peace is not the object of Christian fellowship, though we have thought it was and have maintained "good" relationships at the terrible expense of not being real with each other.  When this happens, we forego being a people on a pilgrimage together."

 

On the Outward Journey
"If prayer does not drive us out into some concrete involvement at a point of the world's need, then we must question prayer.  If the community of our Christian brothers does not deliver us from false securities and safe opinions and known ways, then we must cry out against that community, for it betrays."

 

On gifts
Quoting Gordon Cosby
"We are not sent into the world in order to make people good.  We are not sent to encourage them to do their duty.  The reason people have resisted the Gospel is that we have gone out to make people good, to help them do their duty, to impose new burdens on them, rather than calling forth the gift which is the essence of the person himself...They can be what in their deepest hearts they know they were intended to be, they can do what they were meant to do."

 

"We begin," Gordon said, "by exercising our own gifts.  The person who is having the time of his life doing what he is doing has a way of calling forth the deeps of another.  Such a person is Good News.  He is not saying the good news.  He is the Good News."

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.

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!

I just took a look at my site stats. It turns out someone recently came across this site after typing elven intentional communities into a search engine. Do those things really exist outside of Middle Earth? Perhaps this is the vocabulary that I've been looking for to describe what we do.

I saw The Passion last Thursday. I haven't really blogged about it because I needed time to work out what my response actually was. For me it brought everything back to reality, down to earth. It's made the reality of Jesus' life that much more tangible and as a result it has meant that I can better imagine what it means to be His follower.

That's it really, no major epiphanies - I don't think the film is particularly controversial, and I don't imagine it would be very accessible to individuals who don't already know the story.

Eastside vs. Westside
Reading the reaction to both Brian McClaren and Rick Warren’s comments on The Passion got me thinking. McClaren spoke out against the hype of regarding the film as “the best evangelistic tool in 2000 years,” arguing that it is the long-term living out of followership for people to see that really demonstrates something to live for.

Warren, on the other hand, argued against discrediting The Film altogether. He describes it as “a wave” of contemporary culture which, if the Church does its job and does some explaining, can draw people into relationship with Christ.

Now much of the dissatisfaction with Warren’s article was down to emphasis: the mention that “Mel” showed it to him, and that Saddleback have invited “leaders of communities” to watch the film at a VIP screening. He spoke of the numbers (3,000) added to the Church as a result of The Film. I was saddened that people got so riled at his language, while he may not envisage Church the same way we do, I don’t think that renders his perspective invalid. I also don’t believe he is ‘missing it.’

Warren may be a CEO of Saddleback Inc., and there is certainly no way that he pastors 23,000 individuals, but we can’t discredit the work he is doing just because his church is so large that he ends up using figures to describe their effectiveness. I’m sure the number game is a trap that is easy to fall into, and it must be difficult to ensure that so many individuals get discipled and don’t just become consumers. Their mode of presentation may, at times, even sacrifice The Message for the sake of presentation, but I would encourage us to avoid seeing our way as The Way.

Do leaders of communities need people to reach out to them? You bet they do! After all aren’t we supposed to make disciples of all people? Sure, we mustn’t focus on the rich at the expense of the poor, but maybe the work Saddleback does with the rich frees other communities to work among the poor in that area!

We watched The Life of David Gale last night. It's definately worth a watch: a tale of one man's fall from a life of prestigious academia to transient alcoholism, and then some. Kevin Spacey is great and in this instance demonstrates his ability to act true brokenness.****

Hiccups
Yesterday morning, while I was preparing some songs for our evening gathering, I got hiccups. They were the real deep, rather severe kind that linger even after drinking a lot of water. I sat down and chilled out for a while and eventually they went.

Then Lewis came around and, sure enough when I started singing the hiccups returned (grrr). We ran through the songs, amid many a "hic," and then went down to the YMCA to setup. I took the opportunity once everything was ready to just chill, sit down a bit, drink some water and just relax, and they subsided! I got up to lead the songs, got through King of Glory (which was the one that had got me hiccuping the last few times), got through all the other songs and even the rest of the evening with no obvious hiccup.

That evening when I returned home the dreaded hiccups returned and lasted until I fell asleep.

I've decided not to go to my graduation ceremony. It's such a huge money spinner and I'm really not that interested in the whole "pat on the back" side of my degree. I wanted the qualification, but not complete with photos of me in a cap and gown! When the time comes I will be looking forward to hearing how well I've done though.

Starting mid-September, Bristol Vineyard are running a years intensive discipleship programme called Form. If you'd like to find out more, or know people who are looking for something just like this, email Nicola, or visit www.form-uk.org.

Jobs I have done (in order):
1. Victoria Chip Shop - kitchen
2. Cyclopaedia - fixing bikes (work experience)
3. Sunset Cycles - building new bikes
4. ASDA - bag packing
5. Pizza Hut - kitchen
6. Salingers - waiting tables
7. Care for the Family - data entry
8. Care Wales - shadowing manager (work experience)
9. Café Europa - general bar work
10. Lloyds TSB/Blackhorse Retail Finance - 'New Business Adviser'
11. DWP Solicitors Office - admin.
12. M-Store - retail assistant (selling monkey - see right)

Keck is blogging about some interesting things recently, from a lack of practical teaching on ministering in the power of the Holy Spirit in the Emerging Church here, to the need to tell the story as well as live the story here. Check it out!

While walking away from the centre of Cardiff yesterday we were approached by a guy with a beard. He wore a check shirt, a hat and had wild eyes. He started a conversation "do you like the daffodils?" When we affirmed that we did like them he continued "look at the variation," as he pointed in the direction of the flowers, "they're lovely and most people don't notice them...look, the variation." I asked him where he was heading and he said he was off to get some cider, "do you drink?" I told him I didn't and he said "good for you, I drink, but I'm not an alcoholic." The the lights changed and we began to cross the road - "one last thing" he said, "God bless."

Happy Birthday Mum!
Yesterday we celebrated my Mum's birthday. Zoë took her shopping, while my Dad and I looked around music shops for a new skin for his djembe, then went for coffee. In the evening we went out for Burritos and ate Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. It was nice to just chill out together.

Eric, analyse this:

The night before last I dreampt that I was being held prisoner by a serial killer, who had an old house and wielded a machete. The first floor of the house (2nd floor for US readers) had a huge hole in it. The killer was making his prisoners jump barefoot from the first to the ground floor, onto the rough concrete below. Soon the guy became impatient with us and began to attack us with the machete. As he bludgeoned some of us I could hear a banging sound (which I took to be the impacts of the blade). Soon I woke up, but the banging carried on.

It turned out my next door neighbours were having a new kitchen fitted.

"The next step"
Over the last six months I've been trying to work out where it is that God is leading me once my degree is over. I have pushed a number of doors, aware that I want to learn more about starting, and leading communities of faith in order that one day I might do it myself.

About a month ago I heard God say something fairly concise, but which was to be unravelled as the weeks went on. He said "be patient," to which I responded "no, You clearly don't understand - I need an answer" (or something along those lines!) When I got to the Leaders' Conference two weeks ago I received that word once again from someone I had only just met.

I initially assumed that He meant "just you wait and I'll tell you where I want you." It turns out he was actually (or was also) saying that I wasn't to look on the next year as an end in itself, that He's willing to take his time with me!

So I looked at the guidance I already had on this issue and recognised that, of all the doors that had opened, only one seemed to be for now. So to cut a long story short(er)...next year I'll be interning with Andrew Wallis (aka Grommit) over at Bristol Vineyard.

This is one of the reasons I've been pretty quiet on here over the last few weeks - just trying to sort out some stuff before I commit it to web! Thanks for all of you who've been praying as this whole thing has been going on. I've already found somewhere to live, so now I just need to raise finances, wind down my involvement at CV, and pass those exams before I move over the Severn Bridge in September.

Hmmm...maybe I answered wrong?

You are Woodstock!
Which Peanuts Character are You?

Here's an interesting article on Marriage. [found thanks to instapundit]

Help my friend
Chris is one of my oldest friends. His girlfriend, Charlotte is a student in Bournemouth and has found a way of getting free rent next year. click here and vote for 'pixie' (Charlotte's housemate next year) and you'll give her a better chance of winning.

We returned yesterday from our week in Bournemouth at the UK Vineyard National Leaders' Conference. It was a great time. I've come away with a much clearer idea of my future direction. I'll blog some more soon, but for now something Andrew Jones said in this months Next Wave magazine that really struck me. It's on the issue of how 'established' Churches approach alternative ways of doing church:

"You should keep your church intact, but allow new structures to arise. Preserve the old wineskins, since they are keeping the old wine mature and that pleases God. If your people like church the way it is, let them have it. You can never catch up to emerging culture, and trying to transition all the way will spill too much wine. So why bother? Much better to allow the next generation to create new structures that make sense to them. You want life and growth, and they want freedom to spend their energy on the things of God. So send them out with your blessing to chase the Kingdom and support it. They understand the new scene more than you, so bless them and cover their backs." [read more]

I'm off to the Vineyard UK National Leaders' Conference tomorrow. It should be a good week. I'm hoping to hear some more from God regarding my activities on leaving Uni (June onwards). Speaking at the Conference will be Gordon Fee, David Pitches, Debbie Wright and Rick Williams, to name but a few.

Tonight I spoke at one of our gatherings on the subject of 'Giving' [read the transcript here]. It's the second time I've given a solo-talk in this context. It seemed to go ok - I used notes with the full script instead of just bullet points and I found that I was able to stick to a) my time limit and b) my subject more accurately, although my one struggle was giving plenty of eye contact and interaction. Any tips, leave a comment, or email me on jonathan[at] cardiffvineyard [dot] org.