Superheroes

One of the more unexpected things in my life over the past two years has been BANG, the 11-14's group at the Tab. Jack and I both signed up to help lead in early 2004, on a trial basis. Now it is just the two of us, and neither of us are quite sure how we got here. Having said that, it has been a blessing in many ways. It is such a joy to see young people really grappling with what it means to know God, and it's also been an opportunity to learn wonderful games such as 'Bog Roll Bowling', a late contender for the 2012 Olympics. However there are definitely times when I don't feel that I want to be a youth leader, and this morning was one such occasion. Then God stepped in and changed my perspective.

I don't know what you think about when you hear the name Moses, for me it's images of him leading the Israelites out of Egypt, pleading with God on their behalf, receiving the law, his face literally glowing from having been in the presence of God.

Today we were looking at God's call on the life of Moses, and it made for some interesting reading.
God: 'And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go, I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.'
It's a fairly hefty order that God has given Moses, to rescue his people from one of the most powerful nations in the world. And Moses' response:
'Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?'
Now that sounds fair enough, and it's often our response to the callings that we feel God placing on our lives. God's response is clear:
'I will be with you.'
This is where the problems start. This should be enough for Moses, and it should be enough for me, but so often it isn't. Moses gives 3 other excuses for not being able to do the task that God has set before him, which end up with the slightly feeble
'O Lord, please send someone else to do it.'
How many of us can honestly identify with that?

Ultimately Moses did follow God's calling, and we know what happened then. The encouragement that I took was this; that despite Moses' sense of unworthiness and unwillingness God used him to do incredible things.

This morning I needed to be reminded that the only qualification I need is to have God with me, and to be willing to go where he calls me. Graciously he did.

Come away with me for tales of adventure and crazy neighbours (part 2)

Ok, I'm sorry for the length of time it has taken me to write the second part of this story. It has been another interesting week, in which I have really seen God bless me in many ways, through friends and housemates, and with an amazing day in Chester. This is also a time of real testing so I would appreciate your prayers.

Thanks for all the comments and the suggestions, the squirrels are coming i promise, but here and now, this is part two of the story...

On that day most Americans were celebrating their independence from the British Empire. One person not celebrating was Crazy Anne. She was not generally in favour of celebrations, and she particularly hated fireworks, as they would terrify her cats. This was quite unfortunate because many of the local families would compete with one another to see who could put on the best firework shows. It was an intense competition, to the extent that some families would quite literally travel the length of the country to find the best fireworks.

And so, in memoriam of their war of independence, Americans seek to recreate that occasion with huge explosions. Obviously this is a somewhat dangerous occupation, and fireworks can and do go astray. The Clark family were no strangers to firework mishaps, the most interesting example of this being an occasion when a lit firework fell over pointing towards the house. The Clarks duly ran for cover, but Mr. Clark and one of their neighbours found themselves trying to get through the same door at the same time. Once they were well and truly wedged the fun really began, with the fireworks firing through their legs and into the house. Fortunately they both escaped unharmed, and undeterred by this experience they continued to celebrate Independence Day with fireworks.

On this day Crazy Anne’s fear of fireworks turned out to be quite justified. For just as she was completing a new figure of a man, made from a Cadbury wrapper discovered by chance in a local store, a firework flew through her window.


Four cats were killed instantly in the explosion, with another 12 suffering serious burns. A greater problem than the physical suffering though was the psychological damage done to all of the cats, and for years to follow they received treatment from a highly skilled pet psychologist at his home in Oregonia, pictured here.

And now I must run away, into the cold, dark night.... (more suggestions please!)

Come away with me for tales of adventure and crazy neighbours (part 1)

In a continued bid to avoid dealing with the real world, I'm now writing a story.

The inspiration came from an MSN conversation held on a cold night in early November. Two people, let us call them person A and person K, were musing on the merits of having crazy neighbours. Person A said "ok, but i love the idea of having a crazy neighbour." The reply "ok, then run with it" set off a terrifying chain of events. This is their story:

In the rolling hill country of Ohio there lived a woman, Crazy Anne was her name, and it was well deserved. Crazy Anne lived in a shack by the River Warnock, it was a place of great beauty where otters frolicked and assorted small mammals lived out lives of peace.

For as long as anyone could remember Crazy Anne had lived in that shack, with a huge collection of stray cats as her only company. Nobody knew how she came by these cats, living in the middle of nowhere as she did, nor did they know why she made figures of men from old Cadbury wrappers. These things simply added to her mystery, and the locals were afraid to ask her, for they feared what her answers might be. Rumour had it that in her youth she was a geek, a carnival performer whose show consisted of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken.

Crazy Anne would probably have lived out the rest of her days in that shack, but for a hugely improbable chain of events, one that would ultimately lead her out of Ohio and into a European adventure. This is an illustration of chaos theory, and it all began with a stray firework on the 4th July 2002...

Ok, that's all I've got so far, I need ideas, inspiration, adventures. That is actually one of the dictionary definitions of geek, words are wonderful things.

Confusion

I'm too confused to really post on the topic of confusion at the moment. It's pervading my life at every level. I like the word pervading, I want to use it more in conversation. As for confusion, watch this space!

So, for the rest of this post, I'll talk about the book I've been reading this evening, which is called Bridge-Building by Alister McGrath. It's good. Read it.

It's all about apologetics, explaining what apologetics are (which is a good start), and so far looking at their role in creating points of contact from the world to the gospel.
The opening page of chapter 1 says this:
'Effective Christian apologetics aims to locate the points at which there exists a seperation between the gospel and individuals and communities within the world, and to identify the best points at which to build bridges, in order that contact may be established. The nature and location of these gaps varies from one culture and one individual to another, as do the sites and types of the bridge which need to be built. And the Christian apologist will discover, with delight, that God has already laid the foundations for those bridges in the world and in the human heart; our responsibility is to build upon those foundations, and make the necessary connections.'

He has so far been explaining what this means, very helpfully. Again, buy it, read it.