by emma | Oct 13, 2006 | Uni
I need to do some work.
I feel quite bad as I’ve ended up having a pretty busy week (a lovely one at that) and have actually done no work whatsoever, besides turn up for lectures. And even that was hard a few mornings! 9am starts every single day.
Went to Barfly on Monday night. Flippin’ superb night! A few bands were playing as part of the Oxjam events. Much fun. My friends brother is in one of the bands that were playing, a ceilidh band. They were actually so much fun to watch and listen to. The rest of the bands were ok, but all pretty much sounded the same.
Fast forward to now. Friday afternoon. Tired. Needing to work. But being distracted by the computer/blog/photographs/music that is currently playing.
Must… focus… must… work…
by emma | Oct 11, 2006 | Books, Words
“I was with my friends at one of our favourite restaurants the other night. We had been there at least three hours when I noticed we were the last ones in the place. The employees were starting to stack chairs and vacuum the floors, and we were still talking. I was looking around the table at my wife, whom I just adore; our friend Shauna, who may be one of the best storytellers on the planet; Tom, whom I would take a bullet for; and Tom’s wife, Cecilia, who is one of the most loving, authentic people I have ever met. And I’m sitting in this restaurant looking around the table, soaking it in, totally overwhelmed with the holiness of it all. The sacred-ness of the moment… You know what I’m talking about. Ordinary moments in ordinary settings that all of a sudden become infused with something else. With meaning. Significance. Hope.”
I love this passage. It’s from Rob Bell’s book, Velvet Elvis (if you havent read it by now, go out and get it RIGHT NOW!) I have had so many moments sitting around a BBQ, or a pizza, or whatever else, when God has been so real to me it was like I could reach out and physically touch him. (Why do you think food is such an integral part of Alpha groups and Christianity Explored groups?)
I don’t do this enough. Creating opportunities for the everyday, ordinary moments to become holy. There is something so wonderful about sitting around a table with a group of your closest friends, eating, drinking, sharing, laughing…
It’s like Kyle Lake put it…
“Live. And Live Well.
BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now…
… At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven.
And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life.
Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift.“
by emma | Oct 10, 2006 | Everything Else
It’s funny how God works.
Take for example, my friend Jill. Went to see her at the weekend as you know. God connected us via a church with 20,000 members in a different continent.
Or my new friend Fiona. I met her at Jill’s church over the weekend. She’s in my Biblical Studies class and I never even knew it.
Or all my new friends I’m meeting here in Glasgow. Somehow find ways of being connected to most of them (nearly all the Northern Irish ones anyway) somehow.
Take Rachel. She was in Uganda in the summer with two of my friends.
Or Lucy. Who works on farms of people I know.
Or Anne. Who has been to camp with some of my closest friends from home.
Or David. Who lives about 4 mile from my home.
Or randomly bumping into a person from the church I grew up in, in a church here in Glasgow.
I like how God connects things! And I’m just one small person… does this happen to everyone?
by emma | Oct 6, 2006 | Everything Else
I’m off to Gourock tomorrow morning to stay with my friend Jill…
You may remember me mention Jill before, we meet while we were both in Chicago over the summer. She was there for the Willow Creek Leadership Summit, but had flown out a few days early, which is how we bumped into her… My Exodus team was visiting some of Willow’s ministries about a week before the Summit, and Jill was there too, so she joined us for the rest of the day… and we meet a few times during the Summit too.
She ministers in a church in Gourock, which is not too far from Glasgow, so I’m heading over tomorrow to catch up with her and have a wee break out of the city!
Jill has a lovely heart… she is so open, genuine, and loving… she makes you feel at ease very quickly! She is also pretty astute… she knows what it is you need, and she’ll try to give you it if she can (i.e. discernment).
I’m excited about catching up and meeting some of her young people from the church!
by emma | Oct 5, 2006 | Words
“The point is our joy. That is when God is most pleased.”
Velvet Elvis – Rob Bell
I love that!
“God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him.”
John Piper
I LOVE that!
How wonderful… our joy brings God glory… Loving it!
by emma | Oct 2, 2006 | Africa, Words
“Let no one be discouraged by the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world’s ills – against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence… Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation…
It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, these ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
[Robert Kennedy]
by emma | Oct 1, 2006 | Books
In a Pit With a Lion On a Snowy Day
How to Survive and Thrive When Opportunity Roars
In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day is inspired by one of the most obscure yet courageous acts recorded in Scripture.
Benaiah chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it. II Samuel 23:20-21
Your greatest regret at the end of your life will be the lions you didn’t chase. You will regret the risks not taken, the opportunities not seized, and the dreams not pursued. Stop running away from what scares you most and start chasing the God-ordained opportunities that cross your path.
Unleash the lion chaser within!
So Mark Batterson (check out my links) releases his book very soon, head on over to Amazon and pre-order your copy, won’t you?!
by emma | Sep 29, 2006 | Faith
“…so we seek God and find God and then live in a constant battle to keep God…”
My friend wrote those comments in the middle of a blog post about 8 months ago… I happened to come across the post again recently, and these words have been haunting me ever since!
I love the whole searching nature of my faith… yes, it makes it harder sometimes than just being able to easily accept anything I am told, but it also makes it more real and more personal (and means I think about things for myself so do not end up joining a cult or something!).
Several authors I respect talk of this questioning nature. Don Miller for one. How about the entire book ‘Searching For God Knows What’? Rob Bell… ‘Velvet Elvis’… Rob Brendle ‘In The Meantime’… to name a few.
Questioning leads to reinterpretation. It allows us to grapple and wrestle with our faith, to really understand things better. After all, Jacob ‘wrestled with a man’ and came away limping… I love the symbolism in that, that wrestling/talking/meeting with God (or an angel) leaves scars, leaves us marked for life. Picture this… Jacob meets some friends a few days after this encounter with “the man”, and he’s limping… and they’re all thinking, “what kind of trouble have you got yourself into now Jacob?” How would they respond when they find out, actually, I was wrestling with God??
What marks do I have from the times I’ve wrestled with God? Do I have enough? Do they show? Are they supposed to show? Are you supposed to know that I’ve been with “the man”?
Pondering…
by emma | Sep 27, 2006 | Faith
“This really is the day of God’s favour… It’s just that we never thought it would feel like this, did we?”
[Red Moon Rising]
You would think by now that I would have learnt to expect the unexpected with God, wouldn’t you? That when I’m finding it hard (or easy) I wouldn’t assume that somethings wrong, or that it should be easier (harder)… because God often does things the complete opposite of how I would like or expect it. God is constantly looking out for me, regardless of how I feel at any particular point in time. Glasgow is a funny place to be. It is wonderful in oh so many ways, and yet a part of me misses home. More so misses my close friends. Building deep friendships takes time. It can’t be fast-tracked. Here goes…
by emma | Sep 25, 2006 | Words
“If he followed me around throughout my day, every day of my life, would he feel cherished and adored, ennobled and respected by me as he watched me interact with other guys?”
If I’m not enough without it, will I be enough with it?
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