Come meet a man

Helen pointed out yesterday that major life events, like people getting married, getting a new job or being ill pull us up short and make us think about our own situation. They make us consider our own families, careers and health. Or the lack of them.



It's good to take some time to think, just occasionally, about where we are, where we want to be, and how we might get there.

I find my life still finds it's shape in the academic year: Michaelmas, Lent and Summer. My moods and my attitude to life are also very much influenced by the seasons.



I love all of the seasons in England. And I'm even growing to like the rain.

No, really.

Even though I'm working now, I try and take some time out each 'term' to think about how life is going. I've found it's quite easy for life to go on day to day, without much thought. Which is a shame, because if I only get one crack at being God's child on earth, I had better not squander it.



That's why I and around 50 other adults choose to spend a week of our holiday each year leading a group of 300 young people to think about what God has to say to us through the Bible, and particularly through his son, Jesus. There are so many ways we can serve the Lord, and this is one I have felt led to help with.

Contagious had it's 10th birthday this year, and we celebrated it by announcing that we had effectively run out of room for new people. Next year, there will be a Contagious West in Culford as usual, but a new Contagious East also, in Cardiff. And Contagious nano for 11-13's will begin at Culford too. It's all change. It's all exciting. And just a little bit scary.



To really appreciate what it is that makes following Jesus so worth it, you have to consider what life without him looks like. Contagious this year was titled 'Life without God'. Which is an odd name for a Bible centered youth conference if ever I heard one.

Having spent a full week immersed in what life without God really consists of, I felt very moved. It hurts to think about what people we know, and especially those we love, are choosing to follow instead of Jesus. It is a desperately sad situation, and moved me to tears on more than one occasion. It hurts when you tell others of God's great gift, and they are, at best, dis-interested.

It really hurts.



People say, keep trusting God. And they're right, I must keep trusting my loving Heavenly Father. But even if we trust God with a situation, such as some one being unwell, that doesn't always make the situation less painful. They are still ill, they are still refusing the gift of life. It's okay for you to hurt in that situation. We just have to make sure that the feelings of sadness don't smother what we know of God through Jesus Christ: that He is loving, that He is in control, and that He is powerful. God is bigger than the situations of myself and those I know. His will is best.



Life is a maze, and God is stood above it: He can see the whole layout, the whole picture. And I can't. I am too small. And that's okay. The best part is, I can go to Him and say, 'Daddy, this hurts, this breaks my heart.' He understands. It hurts Him too. The idea that people's relationship with Him was severed hurt so much, he gave His only son so that we could know him. How much more it must hurt Him that they still choose to turn away. How much more it makes me grateful that He chose me to be His child, even though I have no redeeming feature about me. What a joy. I'm so looking forward to meeting my Father in Glory. I have so much to thank Him for, so much to admire in Him. I have am amazing Heavenly Father.



This summer I have come away with a greater longing to meet Him, to know Him, a greater desire to share Him with others. Jesus longs for me tell people about how he gave his life for them, and how they can a have a new life through him, and a new and very real relationship with his Father. Who do I know who desperately needs the hope Jesus offers, the liberation, the freedom that comes from knowing our Creator loves us unconditionally? I know I do.

Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ ?

Crumby flat, great views

Beautiful sunset from the bathroom window this evening. Crumby flat, fantastic views:


Today:

9 hours of work

2 coffees, one with Janin

1 meet up arranged with friends

1 load of laundry (uniform - No purple blotches on my clothes, unlike when I used the colour-catcher sheet-the irony is not lost me)

1 pile of quilt squares - 103 in total now (32 to go)



A decision to paint the hallway and the banisters next weekend - hold me to this one; I really must get on and do it!

Pancake day

Well, sought of. I learnt to make crepes today at the restaurant. And mocha's. The crepes are probably my best achievement, along with mastering the milk frother, in a large part due to the fact I was on a quieter counter.

Aside from that I had cut out a large number of squares. I find the cutting out part of sewing quite dull, and although using a rotary cutter technically makes things quicker, it will be a while before I'm accurate when I use it. I seem to spend a long of time trimming and re-trimming my squares. I have yet to make a star or heart template that I'm happy with, but I'll keep trying. Sorry about the fluorescent colours, the lighting in my room doesn't make for great evening photo's.

Day off

I had today off as I was stupid enough to eat something with dairy in it at the weekend, all because I was too embarrassed to tell someone I couldn't eat butter. Silly pride.

I didn't have the sick line number for work so I had to go in and say I was too ill to be there, which was a little odd. I think I might be fighting off a cold as well.

My manager was very lovely and said to see how I felt tomorrow and give her a ring. I think I'll still be feeling rough, but I should be able to function. I feel bad taking time off when I've only worked there for a week.



So I came home, slept from 11,00 til 2.45pm and then had a sandwich, drank some sanpellegrino lemonade and then cut out quilt pieces till this evening. I caught out on bogs I hadn't for while, and I'm now thinking about bed. Already? It's not even ten, but I figure if I'm tired, God has programmed my body to tell me to sleep.

Maybe tomorrow I'll manage to post something interesting like Ellen's post today.

Creative Quilting

I got up at a reasonable time this morning, showered, skipped breakfast and picked up the bags of stuff for the charity shop. I headed out the door at about 9.20 and headed for the train station via the Cancer Research shop, flashed my young persons' card, bought a return to Hampton court station and went and sat on the platform for 20 minutes.

Creative quilting is nestled in the high street of West Mosley, just over the bridge from Hampton Court Palace. I only found out where it was via it's website but I must of walked past it a few times before.


Visiting this shop as someone who sews is like being a child is sweeter shop. The range of colours, buttons, ribbons, threads, tools and other oddments is enchanting.






I really enjoy visiting, but I don't go often because I always end up spending too much money! Now I have a sewing machine, I can finally attempt something I have always wanted to try: making a quilt for my bed. I spent two hours browsing and selecting co-ordinating fabric with the help of a lovely lady who seemed to have all the time in the world for me. She also helped me choose a rotary cutter, ruler and cutting board. These are pretty much essential - it's really hard to cut perfect pieces with scissors, goodness knows I've tried. Here's my haul:



I've never really used ready made patterns for anything I've sewn so I figured, why start now? Here's the pattern I came up with in the shop. I flicked through a number of books in the store to get composition and colour ideas, including two particulary beautiful books, 'Prairie Children and Their Quilts' by Kathleen Tracy, and 'The world as it should' by Anni Downs.



Before I can start any sewing I will need to cut out, starch and iron all my pieces. No sewing for a while then!!

Where are Stoppit and Tidyup when you need them?

I have today and tomorrow off, and days off mid-week always freak me out slightly. I inevitably stay in bed too late and then get up with a head ache. The head ache is nearly gone, probably aided by eating lunch and drinking some water.

My room has been in a dire state for sometime, so today was the day. I have put away 8 weeks (yep, 8) of clean laundry, sorted some stuff to go to the charity shop and thought about what my next sewing project would be. I would like to make some cushion covers for my friend and also a skirt for autumn. Because I have worn GAP clothes for so long, I really value being able to choose what I wear now. The clothes you wear must always be in season, which has meant recently buying new GAP clothing every four weeks! Some of there stuff is nice but it's quite samey and I'm rather bored of it.

Yesterday Janin convinced me to buy a new cardi from Cath Kidston that I had liked and was now in sale. I'm really pleased with it.






I also have my new sewing machine which I am VERY excited about. I have hand sewn for almost fifteen years, but before now lots of projects were out of the question because they would either take too long, or wouldn't be strongly enough sewn to last.



So far I have made new headscarf, and a pillow case to try it out.





I usually only use a running stitch or on rare occassions, blanket stitch, so I'm rather bowled over by the number of different stitches it does.



Sorry about the photo quality, it's really grey and miserable today, so trying to take photos on a phone was a bit of a nightmare!

If 'Cleanliness' is next to 'Godliness', you obviously don't know your ABC......

Some of us in our house struggle with keeping it clean. Some more than others.



Living in my current house is still much better than when I shared as a student; the Korean lads are pretty clean and tidy. I shall try and get a photo of the post-it above the hob: "Please keep clean, I'm begging you!!!" This is from one of the boys, not me. I guess it's one way of employing new vocabulary.

The general rule is that you clean up after yourself as soon as possible. I do my washing up, and occasionally other peoples. It's a great way to bless my brothers and sisters in Christ. But I'm not very organised, so there are days when I rush doing it before work so it isn't in the way all day, and so run out of time to eat brekka. Not so good.