Why do I celebrate Christmas???

As the title suggests, I am questioning my motives for celebrating Christmas. Why in the world do I it?  What ARE my motives for it all?

When I was little it was all about the presents! I would imagine that for most children up to the age about 11 its the same. I don’t remember this, but every Christmas my Mumsie reminds me of one Christmas when I was about 6. I wanted a Buzz Lightyear action figure. I really, REALLY wanted it. When we got to that part of the morning where we, as a family, tore into the presents, I said “Where is my Buzz?” Apparently this happened. I have no proof because it wasn’t filmed and I don’t remember it. So when I was little, I wanted presents for Christmas.

When I got to about the age of 11 or 12, I realised how much I love seeing all my family at Christmas time. Apart from the people who live in America (and sometimes those who are visiting them), I see literally all of my family around Christmas and New Year and I LOVE it! I see them a few times through the year but seeing them all in the space of about 2 weeks makes me happy.

But this year a number of things have added up and I am beginning to rethink why I love Christmas so much. Firstly, having moved out and being responsible for buying and organising myself for Christmas means I have been getting caught up in the “OH MY GOODNESS I HAVEN’T GOTTEN MYSELF ORGANISED EARLY ENOUGH AND NOW I AM STRESSING!!!!” mentality. Secondly, working for a Church means that I have been getting caught up in the preparations for Christmas that goes on in advent. And finally, hearing everyone else going “I am not ready for Christmas. Things to buy, people to see, things to decorate, things to wrap…etc”. All these things have just got  me thinking.

What is the point of Christmas? I have been going to Church since I was 8 days old so I know that it’s all about the Birth of Jesus. But if that’s the case, why in the world is that not my focus? C.S. Lewis once said, “If God doesn’t exist then it doesn’t matter, but if He does then it is of the utmost importance.” The same could be said of Christmas. If Christmas is about the birth of Christ, then shouldn’t that actually be the focus?

It struck me in a prayer meeting this week that Christmas is like the conventional idea of the Birthday whereby you give gifts to the person whose birthday it is but turned on its head. You give gifts to everyone. But most people don’t give anything, not even a thought, to the person whose Birthday it is they are Celebrating. What is the point of Christmas with out Christ? You just end up with “mas” which, when searched for on google, comes up with Malaysian Airlines! I know that the Christmas festival was actually nicked from the pagans because so many of them were becoming Christians. So if you’re argument is that “Well it’s not really your festival anyway” then my response would be “Well if you aren’t a pagan either, then my point still stands.” I feel we are missing the point of Christmas.

This is a link to a song written and performed by Kutless called “This is Christmas” and I think it addresses this quite well! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20HoJZecNqM

Enjoy! And God bless you all this Christmas time!

The beginning of a new chapter!

Well here I am again, telling you about my life.

As you gathered from my previous post, I am starting in youth Ministry. Woop! I have now officially started! I moved into my digs on Saturday 17th of September and Sunday I went to two church services at two churches and a youth event in the evening in a shop in the village square. Hectic, huh? Well all of this week (which is the week beginning on the Monday after that Sunday) I am helping out with the local secondary school’s year 7 team-building days. I’ve done two days so far and I’m shattered! I have no idea what I will be like on Friday evening!

So I have started, but I will always remember what has led me to this point. Considering I will more than likely be telling you stuff about what I’m doing, I am going to give the story of the build up to this point so that you get the full picture.

This is a journey that started on April 4th 2010, the date of my Baptism. My baptism verse was Jeremiah 29:11 (this will become important later).  ”For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” For the four days after my baptism my church was running a kids holiday club with a superhero theme. I did get to dress up as a superhero, tights and all. It was during this week of hilarity, I started to feel quite passionate about spreading the love of Jesus to young people. It was a passion that had never really been there before. I had always thought that it was a really good thing to do, but I wanted to be a primary school teacher (Couldn’t tell you why). All of a sudden I had a burning desire to give as many young people as possible the opportunity to hear the gospel. I was jolly confused.

So about a week later I went to my youth pastor with my friend who had been feeling the same thing, and we asked him about it. He said that, almost without a doubt, we had been called into ministry. All of a sudden, Jeremiah 29:11 popped into my head. It was as if God was saying, “Oi you! I have plans for you. Go find them!” So I left it for a while. I didn’t tell my parents for AGES. I told my christian friends before I told my parents. Mostly because I wasn’t sure their reaction was going to be what I wanted, and I wasn’t wrong. “Ok, but we think you should go to uni first.” I knew that “we think”  meant “we expect”. I also knew that if I went to uni, I would lose my passion. So I kept thinking and praying about it.

It was later in the year when the next bit happened. Open Doors were doing a dramatic representation of some testimonies from people in Asia and my Grandparents came with some friends to see it. After the show (which was really good) they all came back to my parents house for tea and biccies. We casually discussing stuff and we managed to start talking about my call to youth Ministries. One of the friends of my Grapes, said “Have you ever heard of an organisation called SWYM?” To begin with I thought, “But I don’t want to do swimming!” but I said that I hadn’t heard of them so the explained to the me that SWYM stands for South West Youth Ministries and that the run courses to train people in youth ministry. I was immediately intrigued.  I looked them up the next day and that pretty much decided it. I wanted to work with youth and I wanted to be trained by SWYM.

Again, I left it about a week. I knew I wanted to do it, but I also knew that I guess I ought to discuss it with someone first. Then I discovered that there was an “I’m interested” form that I could fill in on their website. I was more than interested so I filled it in. The next day, while sat in a music practice room at school doing not a lot, I got a phone call from a guy called Paul Friend (who I later discovered is the director of SWYM) who asked me a whole bunch of questions about some of the stuff I’d put down in the form like my feeling of call and how I came to know about SWYM. I was absolutely decided now. SWYM was right. That’s where I was going.

So, typically, I left it a few weeks and kept looking at the courses they were offering and saying to myself, “I want to apply! But I really gotta discuss this with Mum and Dad…” Thankfully, by this point I had told them that I had filled in a form for SWYM and Paul had called me and was really enthusiastic about me joining. They were still dubious. Due to their dubious-ness, I was reluctant to bring it up, knowing that I was probably going to be told that I ought to go to uni first to get the experience and something to fall back on if I’m wrong (which I knew I wasn’t because God had been flicking me in the back of the head with Jeremiah 29:11 to the point that 2911 was the code to unlock my phone.). But one day, I was on the SWYM website and I thought to myself, “I’m going to have a look at their application form and see what kind of things I’m to have to fill in.” So I did, but to see more things, I had to fill stuff in. I did. It got to a point where they asked a question that required a lot of writing to answer and I couldn’t be bothered to fill it in so I gave up for the night.

About 2 days later I got an email from SWYM saying, “We’ve noticed that you’ve started to fill in an application form. Would you like to complete it for us?” My brain automatically went “Blaaaaaurgh! I didn’t even send it off! Oh well. I’ll finish it.” So I did. Sent it off and everything. And then I had that little niggle in the back of my brain that kept niggling until it started to nibble. I really, really, REALLY needed to tell Mum and Dad. It took me a few days to get the confidence but then it all finally came out. “I STARTED TO FILL IN AN APPLICATION FORM AND THEY EMAILED ME TO ASK ME TO FINISH IT SO I DID SO I’VE APPLIED AND SENT IT OFF AN APPLIED.” <wince> The response was not at all what I expected. “Okay. We’re still think you should go to uni first but maybe you can show us the courses and stuff online and we’ll think about it.” I was in a state that most scientists call “Shock.” They were completely averted to the idea of me going into ministry. Nor were they angry that I had applied without me asking first.

Having shown them the logistical things, they started to come around to the idea and within about a week I’d had a call asking me whether I’d like to come to a conference (which is a thing they do every 6 weeks or so where everyone meets up for lectures, worship and general togetherness). Being me, I said yes without a second thought, only to have to explain it to my parents, and then my school. The school let me have the necessary four days off and I went to the October conference and that settled it. On first night of being there we had a time of worship and ministry and someone came to me with a word from God. He said that God was telling him to tell me that SWYM was right for me and I was right for SWYM. I was somewhat overawed by it and didn’t really say much in response. Later that night I went up to my dorm to read my Bible. I know that people will say its a coincidence but as I opened my Bible, the first page that opened was in Jeremiah. I looked down the page and there it was. Jeremiah 29:11  “I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.” (Message) That was it. I’d decided. Well actually it had been decided for me. I was going to work with SWYM and I am going to bring the love of Jesus to young people.

All Change! Really?

I started thinking about this late at night (which seems to be where most of my decent thinking happens) and originally the subject was going to be how I’m moving out in a few days which is scary and there is going to be a lot of change from now on. And then I remembered something that a friend of mine had said earlier that day. “Everything changes, that is the only constant.” This got me thinking. What can we rely on if our only constant in this world is that everything changes?

One major change I am going to face in the very near future (as I mentioned earlier) is that I’m going to be moving out and starting a new chapter of my life story. I’m going to do a course in youth Ministry (which I think I mentioned in my previous post. I forget). This involves work. Actual work on paper (or a screen and then paper). If I remember what I was told, I get an assignment a month. Not only that but I will be working with 2-3 churches and their youth. I will also more than likely be working in the secondary school in the village I’ll be living in. Oh and I was told that the music co-ordinator is leaving to go into ministry as I start so I may well be getting stuck in to music. So I’ll be a very busy person. Which is a MASSIVE change from my current normality considering that I have never really done any of those things much before. Also, so far today I have been on Facebook, Skype and I have baked a cake and some flapjacks. Other than that, nothing. Not a busy day. So this new chapter of fun is going to be a change to get used to. Did I mention that I’m actually moving out to do this? Never done that before either.

Thinking about worldly change, the seasons in Britain are a little messed up. I remember when I was little that Summer was warm and dry, Autumn was colourful and cold and wet, Winter was very cold and very wet and Spring was cool and often wet and brightly coloured. But it seems that someone broke the season machine. Summer is warm, cold, wet and dry, Autumn is wet and brown, Winter is wet, really cold and a bit more wet and Spring is Warm. I got sunburnt in April this year! Early April at that! The current Summer makes camping a struggle. In 2009, we were in a tent in Wales and we got hit by the tail end of a Hurricane. Only a one pole actually broke though which was a relief having watched tents break and saved a number of people from breaking tents.

The school curriculum is always changing. Characters in TV series’ are leaving to join a musical and someone else comes to take their place. Clothing styles seem to change each week. You get the picture. Lots of things change. As a species, humans don’t always cope well with change. We like to feel like we’re in control. But we aren’t. So what do we hold onto? What is our constant that we can firmly put our foundations in?

Lets think back now to a story many of us were told at school as children. The story of the wise and foolish builders. The foolish guy builds his house on sand, thinking “It’ll be OK, its not as if there are going to be any storms or anything!” But he is wrong. It rains. A lot. Rivers burst their banks and simply wash his house off the sand. The wise guy thinks “I know that rock is a good thing to stick foundations in so I will put in the hard work of digging them so that if, by some twist of fate, there is a storm I won’t be washed away!” So he does. He digs some good foundations in some good, sturdy rock and when the storm comes, the rivers burst their banks and batter at his house, it stays put.

Those guys went through change. The weather changed. Dramatically. Sometimes in life, the weather can change. That can be moving house, moving school, moving job, losing a close friend or member of the family or an addition to the family. All of those things can make life harder and sometimes those things can seem like they are trying to wash us away. That story in the previous paragraph is from the Bible. Matthew 7:24-27 if you want to read it. If we base our lives on the Jesus we see in the Bible, the Jesus we can meet for ourselves, the Jesus who cares so much for us that He died and defeated death by back up again, the Jesus whose love is constant, then we won’t get washed away by a change in the weather.

Why I love Jesus

As it says in my About Me section, and as you probably guessed from my previous post, I am a Christian. Starting soon I am being trained in youth Ministry, so I get to tell young people about Jesus and why He is amazing.

Unfortunately, I was recently given a letter which challenged my faith to the point of telling me that I wasn’t yet saved. I was in a state that scientists call “Really Irritated”. So much so that  I have decided to tell the whole world why I love Jesus.

I’ll start from the beginning. (Logical, right?)

I was brought up in a Christian home by my parents who are both brilliantly amazing and I love them to bits. Church was never something I didn’t want to go to. The only reasons I didn’t go to church were being ill, being on holiday and there being no churches around or there being no-one to take me. And that only happened on the rarest of occasions. I started going to church when I was 8 days old. (I always wonder why I didn’t go on day two…) Of course I am aware that going to church doesn’t make a Christian, just like standing in a music shop (which I often do) doesn’t make you a guitar. (But it might make you want to play one.) It was when I was at a holiday club at my church run by a guy called Doug Horley (a.k.a Dougy Dug Dug) when I was about 8 or 9 that I realised that I needed Jesus to live in me and then I would be OK in the long run. So I prayed the prayer, saying sorry for the bad stuff I’d done, and asking Jesus to come into my life. I can tell you now that He has done.

By no means was that then end of my spiritual journey. It was only the beginning. Since then it has been a bumpy ride and I have fallen a number of times, but through it all, I am learning to trust Jesus in everything and to let the Holy Spirit work through me and things I do.

So why do I love Jesus? What has brought me to this place where I can put on the internet for everyone to see, that I love Jesus with everything I am? Because He HAS saved me and He loves me beyond reaches of my imagination. Even before the beginning of my existence, God (all three) loved me, so much so that He sent His one and only Son to die a horrendous death as a scapegoat for my wrongdoings and to give me a the best life possible. Not the easiest, but the fullest.

I have nearly died on three occasions. I nearly got hit by a bus, I fell down a cliff and I cycled into the back of a stationary car at 30mph. I escaped all of those, only getting a few bruises and scratches. In all of those cases, I was being a bit of a dense and I probably should have been hurt a lot more than I was. I broke no bones, never had stitches and never once have I been into hospital in anything but a good mood. I know many people would say I was just lucky, but three cases of luck seems to be pushing it, especially in the space of a year. I believe with all my heart that I was looked after by God, and that is a reason that I love Jesus.

Another reason is that He loved me when I didn’t love myself. I went through a period of self-hating for a few months due to relationship breakdown. I didn’t see any worth in myself and I couldn’t see any reason why anyone else would. Yet I was reminded time and time again that I am loved beyond bounds and slowly Jesus built me back up and helped me forgive myself as He has forgiven me. That is a reason I love Jesus

Yet another reason I love Jesus (and I’ll finish with this one, even though it is by no means the last reason) is that I’ve met Him. My last post is all about Soul Survivor and I’ve been there 3 times. 2008, 2010 and 2011. Each time and many other times in between, the Holy Spirit has met with me and encouraged me through other people, the Bible and directly through Himself. Late night prayer times have become 2 way conversations. Reading the Bible has been like reading a letter written just for me. In times of stress and worry I’ve been given a peace that surpasses all earthly peace. That is a reason why I love Jesus.

By no means is this a conclusive list as to why I love Jesus, but I hope this gives you a glimpse into it. Each day I find another reason to love Jesus. I’d write them down, but the book would never be finished and to anyone but me it would probably be the most dull book ever. I just hope this shows people that I love Jesus and why.

My first post!

Wow. This is it. I’m actually blogging. Cool!

If you want  to know about me then you can look at the page entitled “About me” because I actually spent some time writing that and I’d appreciate your effort. Plus I don’t want to have to write it all out again just because you are too lazy to click away from this page.

Anyway! On to writing something interesting and worth telling the world!

Not so long ago (Friday 18th) I got back from a wonderous thing called Soul Suvivor. For those who are unaware of what that is, its a Christian Festival held in Stafford for a week and then the Bath and West Showground for another two weeks. People turn up for 5 days at a time and hang out, go to cafés, seminars and live music venues and best of all, meet with Jesus!

I went for the final week (week C) which is the least busy of the Bath and West weeks only having 8500(ish) people. I went to week B last year and there were 12500(ish) people there! While I was there I wrote a diary of events for most days (the last few days were so crazy that I was too tired to bother when I got back to the tent) so I figured that some of the world might want to know about the amazing things that happen at Soul Survivor! (By the way, Days at Soul Suvivor are entitled “Dayo” due to a bizzare spelling mistake I made trying to write diary last year. That didn’t get past the first day.)

Soul Survivor Dayo 1

Arrived safe. Set up camp. That was stressful but joyously satisfying. I went wandering around the site with Danbee and Russ. Bought some food while I was at it. Chips and cheese. Woop. 

EVENING MEETING IN THE BIGTOP!!! Just amazing. Loud and passionate worship (I’ve missed passion). There isn’t much point trying to describe the rest of it. Not enough good words. 

Went to “Late Night Worship”  (exactly what it says on the tin. Worship from 10.30 to 11.30). AMAZING. Voice is a bit bust. Oops. 

Soul Survivor Dayo 2

I’m technically writing this first thing in the morning on Dayo 3 but i forgot yesterday. Was a bit of a nuts day!

Went to a 9.30am seminar. Was good. About heaven and hell. Still haven’t come to a personal conclusion about it all other than that God has His plans all sorted out and He will do the right thing because He is God.

Morning meeting was good. Mike (Pilavachi) was speaking on the story of Joseph. He said that we shouldn’t blame others, ourselves or God for our predicaments. Ministry time was for those who blamed themselves so much that they had given up on themselves.

Lunch was good. 

Didn’t do much in the afternoon but did buy yet another Bible. Oops. Maybe I’ll actually read this one. 

Evening meeting was AMAZING. Worship was amazing. Ministry came before the talk. Got some Spirit anointing. Apparently. Was a lot of tingling a shaking and feeling like stuff was trying to escape through my skin. It felt like my skin was too small. Weird. But amazing. 

Was so tired that I went to bed when we had finished having fresh donuts and went to sleep. 

Soul Survivor Dayo 3

Good sleep last night. Woke up refreshed and vaguely awake! =)

First seminar was good. About Elisha. Made notes. Was brill.

Morning meeting was astounding. Finally got a chance to reconcile with God over things I’ve done in the respect of relationships.

Soul Man was really good. More notes. Note to self: STAY IN THE TENT

Seminar with Crofty was really good. All about Holy Spirit  stuff. Very good. More of the staying in the tent.

Evening meet was Amazing. I prayed for a guy who must have been like…7 and that was nuts. Didn’t leave until the end when everyone stopped playing music and went away. 

Its now dayo 4. Thanks to Danbee I know that.

Late night worship was just amazing. No words can be said. Stayed till the end. Came back to camp late but God was so amazing that we did not want to leave. 

I need a wee. Goodnight diary.

Pictures

Last night at late worship I was given a picture.

Jesus was standing in the middle & there were people in a circle around Him. People from every race, skin colour, every language, every class, every category known to man. Each person was holding hands with another on each side and everyone was connected, but people weren’t just holding hands with people of their race or class, but everyone was mixed up like paint so that it looked like we were all the same. 

And we were praising God. 

It started as a few, but the amount of people grew until you could see no end of the people. 

And we were all praising God

Together.

That is just 3 days of Soul Survivor. I use the word “Amazing” a lot. I hope you understand quite how amazing it was. I would write more but it got SO amazing that I didn’t have time (I forgot) to write any more. But it was amazing. Promise.