another year older . . .

Well. Today is my birthday and I'm 24!
Thats really sad, Im getting OLD!!!
But the thing is, I dont feel any older than when I left school at 16 (is that weird?!).
Anyhoo... got some NFL:MADDEN 2005 to play.
GO PATS!

Oh yeah, sometimes God SHOUTS and sometimes He whispers. Both are just as important.

Thats all I need!

Just a quick post (cuz Im late for work!). Th e other day Matt was round my house and asked . . .

"Have you got e-bay set as your homepage?"

. . . this was said in jest. However, I think it would be a mistake to do this as i would be travelling in the wrong direction in the journey to kicking my habbit.

I gotsta tell ya my throat hurts and (you guessed it!) we got another russia practice tonight... But its the LAST one!!!

Laters

(thats "laters" in webdings)

Blessed are the lifters

(weight, not shop)

Anyhoo, I was at the gym this morning at 8:30 (yes Matt, theres two on a sunday!) and I realised that when someone is lifting a heavy weight, someone else usually 'spots' them. This involves standing by the lifter and making sure they are o.k with the weight and helping if the need arises.

This is kinda similar to the way 'older' christians should keep a watchful eye on the younger ones (giving them enough space to feel independant but being close enough to lend a helping hand if needed)

Plus, for the record . . .

"My name is Stephen and I'm addicted to E-Bay"

(Its supposed to help to admit it!)

Where da bloggerz at?!

Sorry for the lack of bloggings! My computer decided to die on me. Had to run a recovery on it. Summet up with the magic crystals inside (?)

Thanks to Jon, I been watchin UFC (ultimate fighting chmpionship), and I know Im a good little christian boy but there's something cool about two guys bashing the crap out of each other!

Ive spent a lot of my prayer time remembering my friends at church (yes. you guys!). The way Paul relentlessly remembered Timothy in prayer is exactly what we should be doing.

Sure pray for the prodicals. But dont forget the guys that are here week in week out.

SUPERBOWL

If you had'nt guessed it already, the New England Patriots won the superbowl on sunday night. I used to follow the NFL quite a lot when I was about 15. My mom likes it so I started watching it too (my mom liked the bears and I liked the 49rs) . Recentley I have been watching it again (especially sen as though the lead up to the superbowl has been on ITV2). After seeing a few games i got back into the rules and instantley took a liking to the patriots (so I bought a coat!). Anyhoo, my main point is in most NFL teams you have a star player(s), but in the New England team no-one really shines above the others.
They are all pretty average if you look at their stats alone. But when they all work together it just seems to click into place.

This reminds me of how the christian church should run. In the scripture it says that the church is like a body, everyone thing depending on everything else. Everyone has their role (no matter how seemingly insignificant). Everyone is just as important as the next guy (or gal).

We should not look at our weaknesses (individually), but look to our strength (as a group).

The Church or the Kingdom ?

"The church gets into trouble whenever it thinks it is in the church business rather than the kingdom business. In the church business people are concerned with church activities, religious behaviour and spiritual things. In the kingdom business, people are concerned with kingdom activities, all human behaviour and everything which God has made, visible and invisible. Church people think how to get people into the church, kingdom people think about how to get the church into the world. Church people worry that the world might change the church, kingdom people work to see the church change the world."

(Howard Snyder - Liberating the church)

The main thing we need to learn is that the church is not here for me. It has a greater job - it is here for the release of the kingdom.

Our obsession with whether we like the music, the colour they paint the walls, the preaching style, the type of tea bags we use fade into irrelevance.

The church is not here to serve me.

I am here to serve God.

My Glorious

"God is bigger than the air I breathe,

the world will see

That God will save the day,

and the world will say,

My Glorious,

My Glorious."

I was listening to Delirious this morning while I was getting ready for work. This song came on (a live version) and it totally rocked! I dont know if any of you guys have heard it, but its way cool.

It put me in the right frame of mind for the rest of the day. I think I'm gonna listen to it tomorrow morning too!

In my bible study the last couple of days I have been looking at the relationship between Barnabas and Saul (Paul), well . . . the decline of their relationship. The fall out and eventual split of these two guys was a trival matter of who they should have as an apprentice. Although this turn of events looked to be a bad thing, God (yet again!) had His hand on the situation and their split resulted in double the receivers of the Good News.

So, I guess that the lesson to be learned from this is . . . Just because something seems to be going wrong in our eyes, doesnt necessarily mean that its going wrong in God's plan.

Laters

From Russia with love

Hey guys and dolls,
Things are really starting to fall into place for russia.
Here are a few things I was worried about . . .
* Leaving J behind (it now looks like she will be doing youth work at spring harvest!)
* No passport (I couldnt find my it, but now it is hidden no more!)
* Having the right gear for the gigs (my guitar sounded horrid through the PA, but Ive got new strings and am using the 4x12 cab!)
* Whether we were gonna have enough time to practice (But the firsts practice saw us with a deffinite 3or4 songs)
* Having shane at the practices (But he was alright, it helped us to have someone there to here what it sounded like as a whole)

Anyhoo, I just thought I should share how the Lord has been answering my prayers and worries.

How not to pray

For about a month now I have been reading a book called 'How not to pray' by Jeff Lucas (the guy is FUNNY!)And it has had loads of crazy scenes in it and told me various things about prayer that I would not have considered otherwise. However it has not helped me to pray better, I still forest gump my way through prayer-out-loud. Then this morning I opened one of J's books to a page on prayer and began to read. I couldnt believe it! It answered all my previous questions on prayer. . . .

"How can I pray? My thaughts wander and I have no discipline. How can I get off the ground?. . . .

You're not alone in your desire. 'Teach us to pray', said Christ's diciples. No mature Christian that I have ever met has left the learners' lane when it comes to prayer. But lets not stay defeated on the ground, dolefully signalling for the ambulance. Just begin.

Get into the habbit - as you wake up - of greeting the glorious trinity! Another day of adventure on planet Earth - with the Lord Jesus Christ!

Anyhoo, I gotta go and finish reading this chapter on prayer and then race on need for speed underground 2 !!!

Jealous ?

Today in my bible study I have hit upon the topic of jealousy, in this case its to do with saul (cuz thats who I'm studying at the moment). I like the story of Saul/Paul, a real nasty peice of work that comes good (it would make a good novel or film adaptation). Anyhoo, the story goes . . . after His encounter with the Big guy, Saul goes and works and learns with this guy named Barnabas (no not Barabas!) and goes from country to country evangelising the good news. After a while it becomes apparent that Saul has quite a talent for preaching to the non-Jews. Where once it was . . ."Look, there goes Barnabas and Saul", now it was like . . ."Look, there goes SAUL and barnabas". Any lesser man would have cracked. I mean Barny took this hobo under his wing and looked after him and taght him, when others around were still like..."look thats Saul, the big crazy christian-hater who stoned stephen!" But Barnabas took it in his sride and enjoyed the success that Paul was now having.
Todays Challenge . . . There are loads of other stories of jealousy in the bible, see if you can think of any. (the guys in the pod will have one straight away!)
laters

Christian ROCK !

I dont know if any of you have noticed, but the class of christian music recentley has been very high. When I were a nipper the most alternative you could get was PETRA (if you havent heard them then check them out, if you have then you will know exactly what i mean!). Some of the bands that I am enjoying at the moment are . . . delirious, jars of clay, dc talk, toby mac, the supertones, the insyderz, lifehouse, switchfoot, five iron frenzy and relient k.
I borrowed the relient k album off Rod (of Rod in the Pod, no less!) and its REALLY good. The heavy side of the album has got elements of very good secular bands, like . . . NOFX, the ataris, blink 182, the get up kids and jimmy eat world (check out these bands if you dont know of them already) and the quieter, more chilled side to the album is kinda like keane and ben folds five.
One of the songs has a really cool lyric . . .

" When it all seems too much to bear.

The end will justify the pain it took to get us there."

WHAAT?!!!

Oh no! Today strikes fear into everyones hearts. Today is back to work day. I woke to Janines alarm at 6;30!!! I had forgotten there was two of them in a day! So now Im sat here watching batman (cartoon) on tv and eating toast. I just put the dogs out and its still dark and I can see the moon! (I think someone has played a trick on me and its actually only 2 in the morning!).

Electric Boogaloo

Yesterday I watched the DVD that Matt got me for christmas, ist the sequel to "Breakin" (some would say cult classic, others would say extremley cheesy 80's film about kids that just love to dance!).
I have yet to see the original, however "Breakin 2-electric boogaloo" is fantastic. It not only contains every possible combination of day-glow clothing, it also stars ICE T !!!
Anyone one who hasnt seen it I would urge to steal a copy from HMV (or borrow mine).
Anyhoo, I am currently reading 'How not to pray - Jeff Lucas',
He is a very funny and clever man. The chapter I'm on at the moment is talking about how we always seem to picture God up in heaven (which is a LONG way away from where we are!)...but this idealogy is all wrong. Pushing God into a heaven that is a million light years away from here is kinda taking away from the fact that you can just be sat in your bedroom at home and have the creator of everything right beside you.
I am so glad my God is not Dead or you can only talk to Him in a temple or only facing a certain direction or only one a certain day or only when your shoes are off (you get the idea)

Bored of the rings? . . .No way!

Whassup?!
Today me and Janine are having a lord of the rings marathon day (a bit like the illustious 'Pokethon' day, but without those darn adorable poket monsters!)anyhoo, we are watching all three movies, and not only that but we are watching the extended versions (4 dics no less!).
After starting to watch the first movie I realised how many biblical references and similarities there are. (eg. orcs were once elves = satan and his minions were once angels)
To get you lazy bums to do something I am now officially setting a challenge... see how many biblical references and similarities you can find within the world of middle earth.
laters

Harvester Hands

When I first came across this phrase I imediately thought of Matt's dad. He has a fool-proof method of maximising your salad from the salad cart at the Harvester.
However, in this particular instance it was to do with the calling of the disciples in the book of Matthew. Jesus told the disciples that they must have "Harvester Hands" in order to collect the lost souls for Him. He also told them that if they wanted to be filled with the spirit they must first empty themselves of themselves (does that meke sense?!). This linked nicely onto what Andy Downton said on Sunday and then he went on to sing a song (I think its called Father) and one of the lines in the courus is. . .

"First I must be emptied to be filled"

Ties together quite nicely, dont you think?

Peace

Brand New

First off, I just wanna say "has anyone heard the new JayZ/Linkin Park song?". It kicks ass! I really like both these artists and combining the 2 is wicked cool!
JayZ's black album is one of my favourites this year, and Linkin Park's meteora aint too bad either.
Anyhoo, I liked this song so much that I worked out the Linkin park song that it is sampled from (numb), it works really good as an acoustic song....speaking of songs, heres my latest one

I'm tethered to this body

I wanna soar through skies

like in the song..."why live two lives?"

I wanna be with you

spend my whole life through

I wanna feel Brand New

When I feel you moving

When I know you're here

I lift my hands in praise

And through the lightning flashes

And though the thunder warns

You calm those storms

The angels will be singing

When all the world will see

You died for me

What does anyone think?

Me, Matt and Andy have been working on arrangements and stuff, sounds pretty cool.

Hit me back

Peace

Blessed are the empty
I was reading my bible this morning (at 7:15,before gym and morning meeting!!!-how holy am I?!) and I was reading about the life and ministry of Jesus. I think it was in Matthew,anyhoo, it said something along the lines of "when you is feeling down, drained and empty you should rejoce, because the less of you there is, the more space there is for God to fill".
I never thought of it like that before. Just thought I'd share it with you guys.
Laters

Locusts and Honey
This morning, in my bible, I was reading about the start of the adult life of Jesus and his first meeting with the locally well-known prophet and his cousin, John the Baptist (the most suitable modern-day visual example is Matt).
Anyhoo, before I started reading, I prayed that God would help me to understand what it is that He wants me to do to progress. After starting to read I instantly thought 'WOW.. God wants me to get baptised!!!'. However, after further reading this passage I soon realised that this was not the case.

"Bro0od of snakes! What do you think you are doing slithering down here to the river? Do you think a little water on your snakeskins is going to make any difference? It is your life that must change, not your skin!" Matthew 3.15

The first part of the verse is aimed at the Pharisees and Sadducees, who had come to be babtised because it was seen as the popular thing to do.
I now know that baptism is in the future for me, but not yet. First I have a lot of "soul cleaning" to do before i am ready.

Sorry this post was so heavy going but I just thought I would share my experiences with a few close and personal friends (however many millions of people have access to t'internet!)

Peace

A series of unfortunate events ...

Whaddup Homees?
So... This is the new blog site for my ramblings (cuz my old site "dhali-llama" is no more. RIP)... anyhoo, its gonna take me a little while to get it designed how I want it and funny pictures and stuff. Hopefully I will get my links sorted out and then my WEB SITE !!! Someone leave a comment please, so at least I know thats working!
Laters