SPRING HARVEST 2010

Spring Harvest is an annual Christian Conference that takes place at two Butlins Holiday camps over the Easter period each year.
I think my first visit was when it was held on the chilly North Wales coast in the 1980s when I was a student and I have been more times than I can count over the years, as a young married before children, and then with our children at various stages of thier development, both physically and spiritually.
There have been memorable moments for me; being prayed for to receieve the Holy Spirit in a new way by Christine Noble, repsonding to a message from Tony Campolo in 1989, which led to us moving to a new church plant in south london, where we were living and in recent years seeing how our children have also repsonded to what thye have experienced there.
So that brings me to Spring Harvest Minehad week 2 2010. We were there this year with a group of over 70 from our church (Redhill Baptist.)This must be the largest contingent we have ever had and one of the blessings was just having time with people, over coffee, between seminars, watching the football competitions (which both juniors and senior teams were runners up in!), and late night gatherings in chalets for drinks and more chat.
The SH format hasn't changed much over the years, a morning Bible reading by a well known speaker (this year Jeff Lucas both entertained and provoked us), a choice of main seminar options dependant on your learning style. These explored the main theme of 'Different Eyes' looking at ethics and how we repsond to the challenges presented in the world we now live in. I chose to go to the 'Pragmatists' option presented by brother and sister team Russell Rook and Lyndall Bywater. Lyndall has been blind since birth and gave refreshing insights that she has gained through her life.

During the afternoons there were optional seminars, a range of leisure and sporting activities , time to browse the exhibition and book store and time just to be with family and friends. We had a lovely afternoon walk on the edge of Exmoor, behind Dunster castle and this year were blessed by the warmest sping weather I can remember.

In the evenings there was a nightly worship celebration meeting in the 'Big Top', and a number of alternative celebrations as well. Big top worship was led wonderfully by Vicky Beeching this year, and we loved learning some of her new songs. The talks, by a range of different speakers were again challenging, none more so that that by Malcolm Duncan, challenging us to stand up and fight for the things God has put on our hearts.

After hours there were a range of interviews, concerts, drama and dance productions to choose from and a highlight for me was the interview with Jackie Pullinger who has worked with drug addicts in Hong Kong for 44 years. She seemed quite uncomfortable in a western affluent setting and challenged us to see that getting alongside the poor and needy and broken of the world was what God wanted of all of us.

So was SH 2010 different from previous years? I believe it was; as a family we have had a recent challenging time and God seemed to provide this place and space for us at just the right time, as a church it was great to have so many of us there and feel that we can make a difference in our community, and as an individual, God met me in a new way, moved me on, helped me let go of some things which had been tying me down and has given me some new challenges for the future.

Thank you to the spring harvest team for all they put on and for God who used it to His glory.

Street Pastors

I confess I haven't kept up with this blogging thing after starting at the end of last year! But have been prompted to do so by seeing some other dormant bloggers springing into action, and also today, I just felt the urge to write about one of the passions in my life.
Street Pastors is a growing movement across the UK, and now also in the Carribean, whereby volunteers form local churches go out into their local communities on Friday and Saturday nights to 'listen, care and help'. The premise is not directly evangelistic, but ineveitably people ask why we do what we do, and the conversations turn to the fact that our lives are motivated by the love that Jesus gives us for His world and His people. We started Redhill Street Pastors in Sept 2009, and each team goes out on a Friday night once a month, from 10pm-4am. With new volunteers coming on board, we hope to cover three Saturday nights a month by early summer as well.One of the strengths is that we come from so many local churches, Anglicans, Catholics, Methodists, Salvation Army, Baptists, New Frontiers, Strict Baptists,Pioneer and we have this one thing in common that we want to make a difference to our local community.
So just a few impressions of the first few months of going out. The overwhelming thing is that we are so well received by the local community; people are amazed we do what we do voluntarily for no money! They are so keen to talk and there is a sense that in our society the opportunities just to talk and listen are getting fewer and farther between. We have begun to build up relationships with some of the staff on the doors of the pubs and club, the taxi marshall, the security guards in McDonalds and also some of the 'regulars' out 'enjoying' themselves on a friday night.
The uniform is a great way of opening up conversations of what we are about and why we are here, and we are able to talk to people that in the cold light of day we probably would not connect with at all. And as we connect , and as people open up their lives, there is a clear sense of people needing purpose and direction, and trying to find it in the wrong places.
Finally, Redhill is a fairly quiet place and we don't have any of the real challenges that our inner cities face, but it is evident that alcohol misuse is a big problem even in a small suburban town. More of that another time!
It has been such a privilege to be involved in our local street pastors scheme and I am looking forward to many more late nights yet on our streets!

HOPES FOR 2010

Its the end of the first week of 2010 and after last week's reflections on last year, I want to look ahead for this one.

There is one thought that keeps coming to me and that is, that above anything else, I want to live totally in the present moment and live it as Jesus wants me to. I recognise I have a tendency to either look back, to good times past, or forwards, to things eagerly anticipated and the present moment passes without me really living it to the full. I want to inhabit 'now', and be all that I can be, even in the everyday mundane routines of work and family life. Life is not about pleasure seeking, or even seeking 'spiritual highs', its about needing and finding God in every moment of every day and aiming to be His presence to the world I'm in. I can't do this in my strength and so as this year begins I ask Him to help me make this a reality.

Two quotes I have recently come across have re-inforced this to me; one (courtesy of a friend's Facebook wall) says 'While you are dreaming of the future or regretting the past, the present, which is all you have, slips from you and is gone' and the other (courtesy of my 2010 diary!) says 'Today should be our most wonderful day'.

There are other hopes for the year; my son will leave school and has gap year and university plans, we are returning to Cape Town in july / august with another team and are excited about the developing partnerships and friendships there, I am hoping to see growth in our own local church and especially see people from many countries of the world united in fellowship and service, and finally to see our Street Pastors project begin to make an impact into our community.

But much of the year will, despite all these hopeful highlights, be spent working (thankfully in a job I do enjoy and believe helps others), and engaging in ordinary things with family and friends, and at all times I want to be aware of God's presence and living 'life in all its fulness' whatever I'm doing. and constantly being drawn closer to him.

Reflections on 2009

It's New Year's Eve 2009, and before celebrating with friends and family tonight, I want to just reflect on what has been for me an incredible year.
The main thing for me has been rediscovering my focus, passion and love for the Lord Jesus, and having dreams once again for the future. At the end of 2008, we were just booking tickets for a small team from our church to go to Cape Town in July 2009, to work in a school for excluded children on the Cape Flats and to share in the life of Cape Town Christian Fellowship, a church reaching out into that community. I had no idea how much my life would be changed. Whilst we were there, we were welcomed so much into a wonderful caring community of God's people , we recognised again the need to rely on God totally and completely as we were out of our comfort zones, and we were blown away by seeing the power of God in transforming lives of people previously lost to things such as drug addiction and gangs. We felt we received far more than we ever gave, and yet were so encouraged by the feedback from those we met who seemed to feel we had something to offer. We became aware of the enormous privileges we have and came away just wanting to share whatever we could.
Since then, relationships have developed, we have begun a partnership between our church and CTCF, we have received visitors from Cape Town, and are expecting more in 2010. We have bought a house there, and are planning further visits next year. I have fallen in love with this wonderful community, and through some of them have rediscovered my love for the Lord.

There have been some other highlights of this year: my son Tom baptised, and go on a mission trip to Argentina in the summer, joining Street Pastors, seeing our church grow and flourish in our newly refurbished building, seeing a gradual change in the international make-up of our congregation with the blessings and challenges that that brings.

My next blog will be about my hopes and expectations for 2010, but for now I want to just give thanks to my Father, my Saviour for all His faithfulness, for not giving up on me through years of mediocre Christian living, for helping me rediscover dreams and visions and for giving me amazing new opportunities to serve Him.
And thanks to all my new friends in Cape Town, there are too many to mention, but you know who you are, for your encouragements, inspiration, love and partnership. Looking forward to so much more in the future.

SNOW!

There must be many stories of how the snow has affected us in the UK this past week. At the w/e it seemed a real blessing; clear blue skies, beautiful views , fresh air and time to enjoy the wonders of God's creation. By Monday, much of those sentiments had changed. After a 4 hour journey home , resulting in abandoning the car on the road (or rather skating rink) and having to walk to the police station where I was needed to do an urgent assessment, finally getting home 5 1/2 hours after starting out, I was frazzled, tired and wishing it all to go away.
On thinking about it a bit more, it has struck me that sometimes God uses these things to teach us that we can't be in control of things. I am the sort of person who likes to plan my life out, know exactly what I'm doing when, and doesn't like my routines upset. Snow certainly upsets routines and changes plans and maybe God is saying to me that He wants to be in control and my plans need to be subject to His.
So whatever else this winter brings in terms of weather, I want to thank God for the variety of His creation, for the fact that He is always in control and that I can truly trust Him.

My First Blog

Welcome to my first ever blog post! I never imagined I would be writing such a thing. I considered my life to be fairly ordinary with nothing much going on that anyone would want to read about.
But this year, life has changed a bit. I have met some amazing people who have inspired and challenged me. I have rediscovered passion in some of the things I do, taken up some new challenges and most of all found out that Jesus makes my life less ordinary. I have known Him for years, but it took my visit to Cape Town this year for me to realise more of what a difference He can make.
So I plan to blog about some of the ordinary experiences of my everyday life and how they can become transformed by His presence in what I do.
Apologies to my family and friends who think I'm crazy; and particular thanks to my special friends at Impact Direct for encouraging me to do this, and believing in me, that I might have something worth saying. I love reading your blogs, am continually inspired and amazed by your stories and hope maybe you will find some things worth reading in mine.God Bless you all.
Special thanks to Craig for helping me get started!