Summer Camp and Wifi Monks!

It is under 2 weeks until Summer Camp and it still feels as if there is so much to do!

Not sure where to start? I start to make some lists and then I wander off on a tangent and end up doing something else (like writing a post on my blog!).

Last week in one hand was good, we went on team retreat and the other hand the news of the bomb attacks has really left a strange mood. The day before everyone was over joyed about getting the Olympics and then under 24 hours later everything changes. What is the world coming to?

Last week at Turvey (the Abbey we go to for team retreat) I found out the the monks have wifi internet! They are monks, they probably shouldn't have internet let alone wifi! I am half expecting to see Brother Tom pull up in a brand new Lotus next time I am there! Each time I meet them I gain more respect for them and I am also more amazed about the life of a wifi internet monk!

One strange thing on team retreat was planning dates for next year. If you do not already know I am off traveling in November so I will be leaving LCET! It felt strange and slightly sad only having to write down the dates for what is happening up to the end of October! I started to miss it all already, the Christmas dinner that the trustees put on for us, team retreats and even training days believe it or not! In 16 weeks I will be gone and Luton will be a brighter place for some - check out the post about the one who hates me!!

If you want to keep up with my travels check out my other Blog!

Hair today, bare tomorrow!

The waxing is now over!

I had a discussion with my friend who did the waxing and believe it
is probably more painful than child birth!

I am sure that my pain threshold must be high as I had to go through
3 sitting to remove the mamouth amount of hair from my chest.

I had it all finished on Saturday, but I am still feeling rather
tender, also my chest is covered in a rash! But have no fear soon I
will be a bronze adonis!

On reflection, I think that might be the last time I get waxed!

Mr Hoody Two Shoes

Just found this great article on the BBC news Website

Fair play to him! To often we tar everyone with the same brush. I recently had a discussion with a friend about race and racisim. He was saying that the problem is all the Asians move into the same area! I asked him "If you were thinking about moving what sort of area would he look for?" He answered by saying a white middle class area! We all want to be around people of similar cultures and backgrounds, so it is no suprise that peole of all different races and background tend to live in the same areas!

Generally all people think teenagers are trouble makers, especailly the ones with hoodies! I work with young people everyday and soem of them are the most wonderful people I have ever met, so caring and kind, just sometimes misunderstood!

I guess it is hard not to judge as we all do judge people as soon as you see someone you start to decide things about them, but we have to try and not let that cloud our thoughts! I was reading Matthew 9:1-13 in the message today and that made me think about how we treat people and how we judge them. What would people think about me if I started to spen my time with drug dealers and prostitues? Would my peers, church and work judge me?

I am not saying that I would not struggle to do this, but as a Christian have our/my views not become like those of the Pharisees?

Wax On Wax Off!

I think I could beat that Mr Meagi (if that is how you spell his name) up!

I went to have my chest waxed last night and it hurt like hell! I have recently become a warewolf and my mum and friends said I should get waxed. They probably just wanted me to go through pain. But I spoke to my friend who does it and she said no probs!

Went round last night nervous as hell, got started and boy did it hurt! It turns out my chest hair is to long and it also grows in different directions! So I had a patch removed and I am going back for the rest to be done tonight!

I will let you know how it goes!

Rules for Life

I was sent this by my sister-in-law and liked them. They are the
kind of thing you might expect to find in the book of Proverbs!

Enjoy

1 Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

2. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their
conversational skills will be as important as any other.

3. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

4. When you say, "I love you," mean it.

5. When you say, "I'm sorry," look the person in the eye.

6. Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

7. Believe in love at first sight.

8. Never laugh at anyone's dream. People who don't have dreams don't
have much.

9. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only
way
to live life completely.

10. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling.

11. Don't judge people by their relatives.

12. Talk slowly but think quickly.

13. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, smile
and ask, "Why do you want to know?"

14. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk

15. Say "bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.

16. When you lose, don't lose the lesson

17. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; and
responsibility for all your actions.

18. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

19. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to
correct it.

20. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your
voice.

21. Spend some time alone.

Is it just me?

My friend spoke to me yesterday and said that someone we both know
wants to meet with as they need to discuss with me the fact that they
HATE ME!

Hate me! I was a surprised by this, I know that she is easy to wind
up and she always bites at every little thing, but I never thought
that she would hate. Instantly I started to think of how I could
wind her up more but on contemplation I have decided not to.

She spoke to her home group about it and she said that she would try
and play me at my own game and try and wind me, thankfully someone
had the nouse to say that if this is what I am good at it will only
back fire on her! I feel that person saved her with that comment!

I will meet with her and apologise, no one wants someone to hate
them. The real funny thing is I actually like her, I think that she
is a real great person, but she completely misses my humor! Not to
worry.

I will let you know how it goes! Between me and you I think it all
stems from the fact that my team won Cranium when we played, but keep
that on the QT

Not so scared

A while ago I posted about being in charge of a huge part of summer
camp and how scared I was about this. Well I am pleased to say that
I am not feeling so scared now.

The planning group that I am part of are great, they have been real
stars. Paul asks more questions than Magnus Magnus, but he is great.

I felt last week that I was way behind but after the last 2 days I
feel nearly on top of things, which is cool. A few urgent jobs
tomorrow and I will feel great

It is good to be stretched, if we are not we become stagnant.

Also read Psalm 23 the other day that is always a great one to read.

Nothing Important

Just realised that I have not blogged for a while so I thought that i
would jot a small something down.

Tomorrow my sister gets married, slightly scary as she is younger
than me and within the next 24hrs she will be a wife. It does make
me think about how things would have been had i have gone through
with getting married, I guess we will never know.

Future is that strange thing that we wished we knew but are also glad
we do not, or at least I do.

I have been thinking a lot about future recently and I am looking
forward to the next 18 months as i have made a few decisions about
where I will be and what i will be doing, life long dreams soon t be
fulfilled!

Part of my plan is to find out what God wants me to do, where he
wants me to be, these questions I have no answer for right now but
hope to soon. I must keep praying about this!

Well that is my little rant over!

PS I have been quite surprised by how many people who have found
this, ooooh scary!

Memories forever

As we all get back to work after the long weekend I look back and
think what a weekend! This has been one of the best weekends I have
ever had.

It is going to be my birthday on Thursday, but I decided to celebrate
it this weekend as it was the Bank hols. Saturday me and my friends
went to St Albans. It was great, I had invited different pockets of
friends and we all went together, everyone spent the entire evening
together and had a great time! I had arranged for a minibus to take
us home and I was able to play tour guide! Bonus!

On Sunday we had a BBQ and many of the people who came out Saturday
and long with a few who did not came round and shared food and
fellowship! My best friends were there and we had so much fun and
laughter!

One of my greatest friends said to me as we stood and chatted on our
own, 'it is a real testament to you to have all these people here to
celebrate your birthday' He told me that a lot of his friends at work
think I am great and love it when I meet up with them, he then said
that he was proud to be my friend!

This just made my whole weekend/birthday/evening the lot! It just
touched me and made me think that God has blessed me with amazing
friends. I am grateful for all the memories that they have given me,
not just this weekend but throughout my life!

I am a person who loves to be around people, I enjoy talking to people
and finding out about them and what they have been up to and all that.
All weekend people have been around and it has been wonderful. Will
be it be the same next year? Who knows. Where will I be next year?
Again who knows.

Friends this is my prayer for you all.

Colossians 1:9-12

Verdana3333,3333,6666
9Be assured that from the first day we heard of
you, we haven't stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise
minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough
understanding of the ways in which God works. 10We pray that you'll
live well for the Master, making him proud of you as you work hard in
his orchard. As you learn more and more how God works, you will learn
how to do your work. 11We pray that you'll have the strength to stick
it out over the long haul--not the grim strength of gritting your
teeth but the glory-strength God gives. It is strength that endures
the unendurable and spills over into joy, 12thanking the Father who
makes us strong enough to take part in everything bright and beautiful
that he has for us.

Another Life

One website I really like is BBC in Pictures and i try to check it every day.

I saw this the other day and it really touched me. Sometimes I think that I have a hard life and that I have been delt a bad hand, but then I see this and think 'thank you God!' So often we complain about life and what is happening and we forget how good we have it! we end up praying God get me out of this, when we should pray Lord give me the strength to get through this. I think it is time to go back and read James.

I also watched the Make Poverty History adverts last night and this one really touched me, check it out. Off to Oxfam to get the band tonight.



Let's pray we can make history.

Now off to eat my fair trade snack bar, yum!

Addictive!

I feel that I have moved up the
ICT ladder by being able to add links


Sitting here feeling slightly smug. Hopefully my blog may now be some
what interesting. It is always nice to have pictures and other stuff to keep you
entertained!

The Link

After checking out hairs blog and thought that I would be posh and post some links.

See if this one works first!

Dream Car

Just trying to post pics! Let's hope this works.

Quote that fits best!

Just found this on my friends blog and thought I may as well have a as
I had a few free seconds!

src="http://images.quizilla.com/P/PainfulBliss/
1113237805_uote.kind1.JPG" border="0" alt="Kind person">
Your wise
quote is: "Be kind to unkind people,
they probably need it the most"
by
Ashleigh Brilliant.
You try to look beyond apperance, try to
give
people second chances and are probably very
kind.
Understanding is your biggest personality
trait, and thoose you can
see through should be
grateful. If they aren't already. You
detest
narrow minded people, because they can't see
what's really
there. Facades is not your thing
and you strive to always be who you
really are.


href="http://quizilla.com/users/PainfulBliss/quizzes/
What%20wise%20quote%20fits%20you%3F(pics)%20UPDATED/"> size="-1">What wise quote fits you?(pics) UPDATED
size="-3">brought to you by href="http://quizilla.com">Quizilla

Fame and Fortune on it's way!

I have become famous! Please form an orderly cue for photos and
autographs.

I have been mention on the world wide web thanks to Neil 'The Beard
less One' O'Hara! (thought I would repay the favour!)

Check it out
http://neilohara.blogspot.com/2005/04/hey-dell-boy-i-give-you-good-
prize.html

Woo Hoo!

Pleasant Surprise

Last Saturday it was one of my house mates, Tim's birthday (as it
happens it is the other ones, Gordon's birthday this Saturday, not sure
the bank can take this!), so all 3 of us and a few more friends all
went out for a few birthday drinks.

It was a really pleasant evening, we had had a good laugh and some
entertaining conversation, upon leaving the venue that we had been to
we haled down a taxi for 6 people. We got into the taxi and headed
back to Mansions. The driver was a young Asian man who I talked to the
whole way home about cars.

Once we got home I paid the driver and we all went in to play with
Tim's birthday present a giant pea shooter! After about 10 minutes
there was a knock at the door, I opened it and it was the taxi driver!
He asked if any of us had dropped a wallet in his cab? I looked at the
wallet and thought that it looked like Gordon's, I asked if I could
check for any confirmation that it was Gordon's, he said fine. I
opened it and it had a Gordon's cards and £40 cash! The driver just
said I saw it on the seat and so thought that it must be one of ours!
We gave him some money that he reluctantly accepted and then we went
back in.

We gave the wallet to Gordon and he had not even realised that it was
missing.

I was completely shocked by this as too often you hear stories of
people who have dropped stuff in taxis and never get it back, the
biggest shock of this is that we did not even know that it was missing!
I had a warm feeling come over me, a feeling that maybe there still
are decent people in our society. As a Christian sometimes I feel that
maybe I am a lone voice for honesty, I am happy to say that I am wrong!

Also I wrote a letter to the taxi company (Spearhead 01582 505050) to
tell them what had happened and how amazed I am and grateful!

Thank you Lord that there are still some decent living young people out
there!

Next Step

Been thinking about the next step! Where should I be, what should I be
doing? Those sort of questions. I feel slightly restless and would
like to experience something else, traveling has been something that I
have always wanted to do and it has been on my mind for quite a while
and I have started thinking about just going.

I once thought that I was risk averse rather than risk embracing but
someone I spoke to recently about this said that I am more risk
embracing by the sounds of things as I talk about going on my own soon.

Not to sure what to do, lots of questions to ask myself before I decide
what i will do. In lot's of ways it is the ideal time to go as i have
no commitments or things to hold me down.

Just praying lots about this.

untitled

What an amazing man! Pope John Paul II, even in his death he is
bringing people to God.

To be a Christian is to live like Jesus, but that is so much easier
said than done. I continually struggle like Paul did in Romans 8, I do
what I do not want to do and what I wan to do I do not do! How
frustrating!

As I reflect on life and the past year I see that no matter what God
has been with me, even on those days that I have felt so very far away
he has had me in his wings.

As I contemplate the year ahead my mind starts to wander, where will I
be?

There is being Stretched and then there is being snapped!

They say that we should always be looking to stretch ourselves, our
abilities, push ourselves to reach more, gain more, never staying still
as we may become stagnant.

Last night we had a camp planning meeting and we decided that we need
to break down into more specified planning groups. There were 3 groups
Performance, Celebrations and Camp. Lillie is heading up the
performance, Chris the celebrations and he has given me the task of
heading up the camp!

When I asked what that involved he told me if it is not performance or
celebration, then it is camp! How daunting!

I was freaked out for a bit but after speaking to a few trusted people
I began to realise that I must be the main communicator to all the
people working with me, this way everything will get done. My problem
is that I am not to good if people do not do it properly, I do not
suffer fools lightly!

Recently I meet with someone who said to me about where I plan to be or
head to in youth work? I said I am not to sure, I love working in
schools and spending time with young people and that is why I am a
youth worker.

They said had I ever thought about leadership? I said I struggle to
dress myself in the morning, not to sure I am the right person to lead
others. They were encouraging and said that I have leadership skills
and people follow me (was not sure that was a good thing!).

Well I now have the challenge of stretching myself more than I thought
I would in this space of time, naturally with things life leadership
and responsibility I tend to hang back as i do not like it in a way, I
much prefer helping so that I can spend more time with the young
people!

I will keep you update as to where I am!

Maybe a blessing in disguise!

How frustrating! My training was going so well then i had a slight
injury in my foot, got over that and now I have a pain in my calf every
time I run!

I was really getting into running again and I was feeling much fitter,
but now I am losing motivation and have had enough of the little
niggles.

But then again maybe it is a blessing in disguise, I put a lot into
training as I want to see the results, it means a lot to me. Being a
Christian also means a lot to me but I am not sure that I put as much
effort into that 'training' as I should and many days I am not sure I
see any results. I have tried to keep to a idea that I will not train
unless I have done something spiritual. As with a lot in my life it is
all good intentions. I do want to give more time to God, so maybe not
being able to train will force me to do that.

Let us hope so.