undescribable...

I have had an undescribable few weeks....high's and low's..laughter and crying...but through it all there is one thing that i still the same...i'll tell you about it....

I'm reading a book at the moment called 'The Shack' if you have never heard of it or read it then go out and get it and read it. This book is about one man's hurt and God who heal's through it all. Its a story about a man's journey of hurt and how that relates to God and God's Character through it all. I've learnt through this book so much about God and his image and the Characters of the God head...unbelievable.

There was numerous times where i was reading the book and tears were going down my cheeks as i read about this mans journey and what God was doing in it all.. such a blessing to me...

Ephesians 1:23 "Which is his body , the fullness of him who fills everything in every way."

I have just been sitting in the office and finished editing another episode of the fusion podcast and just wanted a few minutes of soul feeding before i moved on to the next task. So i sat down put my headphones in my laptop put some worship on and grabbed my bible and started reading Ephesians.

Well God caught my heart again with some dreams. The above verse in the title caught me and i got another picture of what church is...
I was sitting reading it and chewing it over in my mind and i started to remember stories from Fusion saturday nights of yp who are broken,hurt,struggling and feel that they can talk about it with the volunteers. what a privilege it is to serve God.

I started to think about the young girl of 14 who couldn't stop crying when she came in through the doors, when a leader asked her what was up she replied with a sobering answer. her voice with grief in the sound said "My Mum is in court on Monday on attempted murder charges"

or

a girl who after assaulting another girl on the dance floor when she seen the cops fainted and began to cry. When a leader sat beside her and began to talk to her and genuinely care about her and her answers she answered with "why do you care about me, im a nobody and ive just hit that girl, dont fuss over me im not worth it" our answer was, no matter how you see yourself we Love you and God loves you even more and thats why we care. That conversation revealed a girl who was torn between seperated parents who was being used as a ragdoll between the both of them to try get one up on eachother.

Such hurt,

such pain,

such lives,

such love,

such church.

Bill Hybels says "There is nothing in the world like the local church when the local church is working right". I think your right Bill.

God Bless,

Be Church

a new journey...

so as regards to the above question i dont think that all mad made problems can be solved by man...look at global warming...personally i dont think man will be able to stop it...

Ive been on a bit of a 24-7 journey the last while, looking into it and of corse praying about it...we in lisburn are thinking about opening a prayer room and we are haveing a few 24-7 prayer days so lookin forward to the journey god is bringing me on...im genuinly excited at the sense of adventure...

question....

question to think about....

i was watching a speech by one of the President Kennedy fellas and in it he said "all our problems are man made, so they can be fixed by man" True or False? Answers on a postcard please....

a fresh thought

so this has been stale....really.
I was up at a local event on wed night at a church in one of the local estates. im doing some filming for the church of ireland youth department and i went to this v to capture some footage. I was talking to the youth pastor anyway about how things were going in the youth ministry. Well he got really excited and it flowed over into his voice because he had got some funding to buy an advertising banner. This banner wasn't big but he got so excited...
I couldnt help but think to myself about my own church. We have just spent over 10 grand re decorating rooms in our halls and buying a lot of equipment like wide screen tv's, new pa equipment and i just realised...flip i never even thanked God for it. Am i really thankful? I should be.

What can we all be thankful for?

Here is another thought, if you get a chance check out Jill Boyd's blog. She has got a great post on John 3:!6 which got me really thinking again. This is a big mission, changing the world stuff...

God Help Us....

not a pressure thing.

my ten for the week, i guess i dont want it to become something regimental and i feel crap if i dont do it but i dont want it to become something i forget about wither, i want a happy medium if there is such a thing. So its now Thursday. How did i do:

1. Well i did achieve number 1.
2. i didn't get round hillsbrough park or to the gym so this transfers to next week.
3.I didnt think i spent 3 hours on my own private worship.
4.Again i dont think i spent 3 hours, at the moment 3 hours is a target.
5. I read a good chunk of my bible but would it of been 3 hours? i dunno, i wasnt counting.
6. I did spend some time laughing with friends, i caught up with some old friends which was so good this week. so good.
7. nah i didnt even think about a new bike.
8. I did serve God though my local chuch.
9.Ive actually picked up a new book which im gona start, so i dont mind cus i wanted to be reading something.
10. I can never escape from being Gods child.

SO. This week,
1. I want to walk round hillsbrough park.
2.I want to worship God on my own privately aiming for 3 hours.
3.I want to read my bible aiming for 3 hours.
4. I want to spend time in prayer aiming for 3 hours.
5. Start my new book called 'sanctuary'
6. Spend some time with friends.
7.Achieve something worthwhile and productive by just being a servant.
8. Thinking through some thought process's i need to do to get back to where God wants me to be.
9. Go to the Doctors for an M.O.T
10. Get good sleep and not to feel pressured or controlled by my Mobile phone but to switch it off for a significant part of each day.

Again i say these are goals that are not life threatening but something i think which is good for me. I aim to achoeve them in a week but i wont cry if it takes longer than a week.

Be Gods.

ten for the week...

I was surfing by my gd friend Pete Martins blog last nite and i noticed he started up a new section in his blog titled "10 for the weekend"....

This got me thinking a little as to where i am at in my life at the moment...im in a bit of disorder, life is a bit cluttered. So to try and get things re-organised i have decided to do a "ten for the week" section. Ten things i want to do or achieve this week, i may not be able to think of ten i may not achieve ten but if i achieve at least 1 then il be happy.

Daves Ten:

1. Clean the outside and inside of my car as its full of rubbish.
2. jog/walk around hillsbrough park or go to the gym for couple of hours
3. spend at least 3 hours worshipping
4. Spend at least 3 hours praying
5. Spend at least 3 hours in bible study
6. Spend some time having fun and just laughing together with my friends
7. do some research into buying a new bike
8. Serve God in some way
9. Get back to reading my book
10. Just be Gods child.

So thats my Ten....

a new day

a new day has dawned... ive stopped running away and have started to accept those things at which i must step up to. Il post about it at some point, still processing it through in my own head.

discontent and running

this is just a very quick update....

ive been rather discontent with my life as of recent....my job as for one....and i know why...

God is calling me into something big and i dont want to do it...but i know i should. so im trying to run away from it with not much success. Everywhere i turn God is telling me that i am being called.....i know i should be saying yes but i have fears....

Back to work

I went back to work yesterday. My back seems to be back to half strength but well enough that i can walk pretty normally and move about. It's good to be back because things seem like its normal. Ba just because it's work.

Went to church on sun mornig and from i walked in and the service started i felt God all around me. It was communion and when i was standing ready to recieve, i felt God say "I did this for you" that broke me and it was difficult for me to hold back the tears. God was doing something different in me.

The Message was about following Jesus, realising the ministry and doing it. Well that weekend there was a thought in my head going over and over. I had been asked to help out some serious time at another ministry. I was wondering about it and during the talk the speaker said "sometimes God brings ministry oppertunities your way and you just have to follow the ministry and do it because thats what God has brought to you, do it in faith" well if that wasnt a confirmation in my spirit i would of needed a big sign flashing pink neon lights at me.

Church was good and may God continue to work in peoples lives through it....

ordained....

Ive been using that word alot recently with some of my friends. It's not that im thinking about being ordained or anything like that. What i think is that there is things in our life that we should be involved in by volunteering or whatever that God has ordained us to do.

I think about it this way:

God has certain things ordained for me to do in youth work that i want to do because thats obedience to God.

There is certain things that i do that are not ordained by God and deep down i do believe that i shouldnt be doing them.

See i think we have this space in our life wher we can do things...weither that is volunteering or whatever. We can fill that up with lots of volunteering in the church. This happened to me and i had to ask myself:

Is this what God wants me to be doing?

Thats why i think i should only be doing the things that God has said yes to and the things that people ask if i can do or committ regular long term time week to week, i seriously consider it and ask God what he wants me to do. For me it has to be ordained...by God...

getting better...

I've felt alot better today. The pain has gone although that could be due to the pain killers are so strong that the hospital gave me. Im a bit tired of sitting and lying around mostly on my back, so ive organised to catch up with a friend and discuss a big project i might be involved in this summer so alhough i may not be 100% i need to get out and get some fresh air and some human interaction.

The meeting tomorrow, im a bit excited about. Im looking to get involved in some different ministries in Lisburn but sometimes my times are constrained on how much time i can commit. So thats something i am gona chat to him about. Exciting times.

I was siting in bed last night and i couldnt really sleep so at about 2am i searched franticly for my Bible because i had a desire to read it. I started to read one of my study books on the life of David and God spoke to my big style. Some of the things were all about:

1.Davids life before he was annointed, the fact that David was in the fields and while he was there he learnt about Intamacy with him and God.

2.He was annointed because God had chosen him for a specific purpose in his life. He was Gods man and no one else would fit the job. He was a chosen man for service.

3. David knew the truth, when he arrived before Goliath he knew the truth that he was in the army that belonged to God and they could not be defeated. He knew truth because he had spent time with truth, God.

4. David knew that defeating Goliath was someone he had to defeat because he knew that was something God had ordained for him to do. He did defeated Goliath for Gods glory and that was a high principle in his life, to bring God glory.

thankful yet in pain...

so whats happening at the moment, i am bed ridden. I have whiplash in my back due to a pillock in a van driving over a hump back bridge in the middle of the road so i swerved violently and did something to my back.
I was ok in that moment but when i arrived at my friends house i couldnt stand up straight or walk properly.
That was mon night, tue morning i was meant to be in work so went along then amd could hardly walk over the car park. Decided then to go to hospital and they just gave me pain killers.
So im off for the week taking pain killers trying to walk every day a bit more.

This week i am resting and sleeping as much as possible. Im reading a good bit and catching up on ole quiet times....

Working the muscles and working the brains....

me and a friend have recenty taking up the regular outings to going to the gym for 2 differnet reasons...
I go to the gym to try and lose weight and build muscles etc

He goes to build muscles because he doesnt need to lose weight...

So at the moment we go twice a week and have an accountable relationship going on when it comes to the faith and the journey etc.

So we were talking about Church today when we were in the gym and just what its like and how sometimes we can go and feel as if we havent actually met with God. I was thinking this over...

Is it my fault that i dont meet with God, yes it is more than likely because i have a soul and i want to see that my soul meets with the living God.
Is it the Churches fault...i think sometimes it can be. If Church is away over our heads or i dread to use these words but geared to other generations in the gatherings needs etc 'older people'

So we explored the issue quite alot and i said 9 times out of 10 its our responsibility if we meet with God or not. I said God is there no matter what, GOD IS STILL THERE!

When it comes to young people though i want to see them meet with God no matter what and i think some hymns not all of them and canticles etc just doesnt infuse them. Young people want to go to a Church where the people act as if they actually believe that God is alive! Their face, personality and falth all believe that God is alive and they show it.

So earlier this evening my mate text me witha vision of an event where people get the chance to meet with God no matter what age or anything they are. It sounded good. So we have committed to pray continually about it and give it up to God and if its in his will for it to happen then thats what the Lords will is but for me, it was great to just explore all the possibilities and let the creative juices flow and also to hear this young mans heart flow out in this vision. Awesome. A priviledge to hear. A Blessing to my heart.