Sunday, January 28, 2007

Salsa dancing and late nights

On friday night Abbie, Adam, James, Indya and myself went to our favorite spot, the Empire, and went Salsa dancing for the first time. The evening started out with a quick lesson (which I had to sit out because James wasn't quite ready to get on the dance floor without at least one drink in him). Then the floor was opened up to general dancing. It was so much fun. As you might expect there weren't enough guys to go around, but I did dance with both Adam and James (not to mention Abbie and INdya) which was great. But I have to say that my favorite partner of the night was a guy whoes name I never caught. Piret, a girl who comes to CFC who worked with me on Panto was there. She's a dance teacher and had a bunch of her dance teacher friends with her. I said hey, and we chatted a bit and I told her how much fun it was to watch her dance so well with her partner. That was all she had to hear and she went straight over to him and told him that I wanted a dance with him. He led me out onto the floor and I had the time of my life. Even though I had never done it before because he was such a good leader it seemed so effortless to actually dance well. We were spinning and moving all over the place. I was dissapointed when the song ended but I did grab him one more time right before we left. Any boys who are reading this take note: guys who can dance well and are strong leaders are very VERY sexy. And you have the pick of pretty much any girl in the room. Learn how to dance. You want to sweep a girl off her feet, I tell you that is a good way to do it. Now Piret is offering us interns free latin dance lessons. Our first one is on monday. I'm so stoked. I even bought a new jacket and skirt for the night, and if you'll refer to the pictures, yes those are heels I'm wearing. We didn't actually get any shots of us at the Empire, those are all of us at home afterwards. We stayed up until 4:30am that night eating and talking. It was so good.


Monday, January 22, 2007

You can run, you can hide, but you can't escape my love...

I know I've been remiss at updating this thing lately, and I extend my apologies to all my faithful readers. I could blame it on being busy but that would be a filthy lie. The real reason is that I've finally given in and have starting using myspace. Don't fear, I will still be updating old bloggy here, but the novelty of myspace (now that I've figured out how to use it) is still fresh and exciting.
If anyone is interested here is the address
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=109431421
And hey, if you have a myspace add me as a friend. So far I only have like 12 and they're all my friends here so it's a little pointless.

Okay, as for the happenings here over the past few weeks...
My camera has arrived. Woot Woot!!! It is so sexy. I'm still learning how to use it properly but the pictures it takes are absolutely amazing. Here are some pictures of Adam and I making some home-made sushi. (It's no 33b, but it was still pretty darn good.)




In church we've started a series on Nehemiah. We've gone through the first 3 chapters and looked at how God put a passion in his heart (to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem), then God impressed on him to take action, then how he actually had to step out and do the work. You know how in your life you hear a few sermons that will always stick with you? Well these are it for me. Ever since I've gotten here I've been challenged on what Christian’s role is in social action. Jesus talked a lot about the kingdom of God on earth, and for a very long time I thought that meant getting as many people as possible to say the sinners prayer and get 'saved', to see how many people you could sign up for the club. I've come to believe that he was talking about much more than that. I don't mean to downplay the importance of each individual making a personal commitment to Christ - that is the only path to salvation I believe, but I think the concept of the kingdom of heaven on earth has more to do with feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and standing up for the oppressed than I have realized in the past. As westerners even the least of us has been given so much, and I believe we will be held accountable to that. What will we do with the resources we have been given? What legacy we leave after we're gone? I've heard it said that the Clinton era of the US will be judged in history by what it did not do in Rwanda and what it did not do about the aids crisis in Africa. Do we as the body of Christ want to be judged by what we did not do in the time given to us? By what injustices we let stand? Or by how many people we let starve? I know we can't help everybody, but I believe that we all have the responsibility to do what we can to see God glorified in the earth.
These have been the thoughts that I've been wrestling with lately. Please post your comments and let me know what you think. And please pray for me that God would sort all these things out in my life and that I would be moved to action.

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

North Coast Retreat

Hi all,
I've just gotten back from our third retreat. We went up north to Whitpark Bay Youth hostel just up the road from Giants Causeway. It was a really good 2 days with just the Equip interns, then we moved on to Bushmills Youth Hostel to meet up with YWAM and Sword of the Spirit interns for the next few days. The retreat content itself was really good - I'll post more about that later. We ended up going to Giants Causeway twice in two days, and just in case you haven't had your fill of my Giants Causeway pictures yet, here are some more.
At one point Nathan, Peter, and James were standing at the end of the causeway and a huge wave came up over the edge and completely engulfed them. They all grabbed onto each other so none of them were ripped out to sea (thank goodness) but they were totally drenched.
It was a really good time.
Oh ya, interesting news, I bought a Canon Rebel XT DSLR camera. I'm so excited, but extra broke now. It's 8 mega pixels, comes with two lenses (including a wide angle and a macro), two tripods, and a bunch of other stuff. Ooh, the excitement. I wont get it for a few weeks still but when I do I am going to have so much fun!




Monday, January 01, 2007

Happy 2007

O' Lord the waves cry out your name
And the trees bow before you.
The animals sing your praise
And the flowers release your fragrance

O' God you are Lord of heaven and earth.
Your presence fills every inch of this land.
Like rain your presence seeps into the ground.

The stars speak of your holiness.
The clouds declare your gentle hand.
The storm rages with your jealousy,
And the lightening crashes with your power.

You are in all places.
You dwell among all nations.
None escape your gaze, and all are known to you.
If men fail to sing of your goodness and speak of your love,
The rest of creation would burst to try to describe your glory.

But never let it be that the privilege of men becomes the duty of rocks.
Let it never be that the painting can’t recognize the artist.
Let it never be that the bride turns her back on the groom.
God, stir in her heart and put a new song on her lips.
Renew her passion for him.
Let her reflect his light.

Lord you presence fills this land like water fills the sea.
Your breath blows through this place like the wind blows on the hilltop.
May your name be praise in every nation by every tongue.
O' God you are the Lord of heaven and earth.