by emma | Feb 4, 2007 | Everything Else
Sorry for the lack of postage recently, finding wi-fi has been nigh impossible! Had a great few days back in Ireland – saw the most beautiful sunset from the plane on the flight on Wednesday evening. Great fun meeting some bloggers and other new friends, good conversations too.
Spent Friday in Portstewart, my favourite place on earth, just chilling out. Took some pictures on my new camera, drank some coffee in a great coffee shop, read a book, watched the ocean for ages. Pictures will be up on my Flickr soon.
by emma | Jan 31, 2007 | Everything Else
These last few days feel like they have been a bit eclectic, heres a run-down:
Catch up with some friends on Monday;
Housegroup on Tuesday evening;
Trying to finish off some work now before catching my flight back to Ireland;
Pick up my new camera tonight (!!!!);
Soliton Belfast Sessions tomorrow;
Rest day in Portstewart (my favourite place on the planet) on Friday (thats the plan!);
Soliton North Coast Sessions Fri – Sun.
How’s that for excitement! Of course, been fitting uni and some work in around that!
by emma | Jan 30, 2007 | Africa, Everything Else
On Friday past I saw The Last King of Scotland at the cinema. An incredibly hard film to watch!
“Garrigan’s seduced, as are we, initially, by Amin’s charisma and charm, and only gradually does he become skeptical and eventually horrified as he realizes he’s the intimate of a ferocious dictator who, estimates say, killed off 300,000 of his citizens…”
[IMDB]
The thing I really liked about the film is that it doesn’t resolve. Amin is portrayed not simply as a crazed dictator, but as a human… a very brave and difficult thing to do. We like things to resolve, but the truth is, so often issues just aren’t so black and white… we can’t resolve them.
If you haven’t seen it, I’d recommend it. It is an incredibly well-made film, and it is interesting to watch the progression of Uganda from chanting supporters to horrified victims of a dictator.
Idi Amin: A man who shows fear… he is weak, and he is a slave.
Nicholas Garrigan: If you’re afraid of death… it just shows you have a life worth keeping.
Watch the trailer here.
by emma | Jan 29, 2007 | Everything Else, Travel
What a weekend!
I had a blast hanging out with some friends in Newcastle and Durham over the weekend. Got to spend time with one I know a bit, get to know someone I’ve only met a few times a bit more, and meet a new friend I’ve heard lots about, but never met. Much fun! We just dandered around Newcastle on Saturday afternoon, pretty place.
[Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art]
[A random statue in Newcastle… there was a lot of stuff like this, appears to be a rather artsy place!]
I stayed in Durham on Saturday evening with the girl I’d just met that day. Durham really reminded me of Edinburgh to be honest! Lots of little winding streets and old architecture. We spent some time in prayer that night, which was intense, but can’t be shared here! If you really want to know, drop me an email and maybe I’ll share some more.
Sunday morning we went to my friends church in Newcastle, City Church. I really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it… it has a really nice family feel to it, a range of age groups. After having some lunch and coffee, we got the train back up to Glasgow. Journey takes about 2 and a half hours. From Central station we headed straight out to a church on the southside of Glasgow to chat with their youth pastor.
[We ended up in Starbucks for coffee, despite my not liking it… This sign amused me… “To protect the quality of our coffee, we ask you not to smoke.”]
When I finally made it back into my flat and dumped my stuff (rucksack, sleeping bag et al), I realised just how shattered I was!
by emma | Jan 25, 2007 | Travel
I’m getting to travel loads at the minute… loving it.
This weekend I’m off to Newcastle to visit some friends, just a wee two day trip but will be nice to see somewhere new and hang out with friends.
Next week I’m heading back to Ireland for the Celtic Soliton Sessions, taking place in Belfast and Portrush. Excited about spending some time on the North Coast again (Portstewart is a place of great significance for me) and meeting some new friends while engaging in meaningful conversations!
After that I’ve got a few weeks in Glasgow, before I can think of somewhere else to go see… Aberdeen is next on the list I think, visit a friend and take some pictures…
by emma | Jan 23, 2007 | Faith
I keep coming back to this phrase these days… misfits.
In so many ways God keeps leading me back to it. Through conversations with friends, via blog posts, and so on. During Scott’s and Dan’s recent trip to Thailand, they visited NewSong Bangkok. Scott writes:
I came to find out that their main focus is in connecting with what they refer to as “misfits” – or the “third culture” – which, according to their website, “describes a person who can move in and out of different cultures, and build relationships with people who are different from them.”
I love this description. I really believe God has given me some form of gifting in terms of relationships and networking. Right now I’m not sure how to use that, but I love NewSongs description of the misfits… I want to be that kind of person.
On NewSongs website they describe their dream of “creating community for misfits“…
Our dream is to create sanctuaries for people who feel marginalized, left out, beaten down, and voiceless to find real relationships.
This resonates with me so much right now. Maybe it will become my dream.
by emma | Jan 22, 2007 | Everything Else, Photography
Thought I would share a few snapshots from the last few days…
Jenni had a few of us over for some tea and Scrabble playing on Wed past, had a blast hanging out and having a laugh together. I had this cup… amused me to no end! “I know I’m not perfect, but I’m so close it scares me.”
I passed this church out walking recently, and loved how the sun was glinting off it. The image doesn’t show it very well as it’s off my camera phone, but I’m gonna head back down past it with my proper camera some day soon and take some pictures.
On Saturday we had dinner together as a flat, as one of our flatmates was leaving. We cooked a proper roast dinner, it was immense! Loved it. Thought you’d like to see some pics!
How was your week?
by emma | Jan 21, 2007 | Faith
Daley wrote a great, heartfelt post here. People like this, that are going hard after Jesus, these people inspire me and challenge me. May there be many more of you… and my thanks to you all who already play these roles in my life, even (and maybe more so) if you don’t realise you do.
“Kids my age keep complaining…they keep nit picking.
I want to wake up.
I want to feel my heart beating.
I want to lose myself for others.”
by emma | Jan 20, 2007 | Everything Else
“Hi. My name’s Emma, and I’m a techno-addict.”
I want one of these so much! I finally got to watch the Macworld Keynote last night… with a little help from my friends! I had tried downloading it a few times at my flat in halls, but the network either blocked it or timed out about 30mins in, so frustrating. Then my lovely friends from housegroup offered to download it for me at their flat, and I picked it up yesterday. Huge thanks guys!
Oh my. How amazing is this phone?! Even if you ignore the fact that I’m an Apple fan and a techno-geek, on a purely technological level this phone is stunning. It’s made so many breakthroughs.
I really want one when it’s released here, but I can’t afford one.
Someday…
ORIGINAL:
Introducing: Apple iPhone
by emma | Jan 19, 2007 | Books, Faith
I recently read the first chapter of Rob Bell’s forthcoming book Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections Between Sexuality and Spirituality. If you’ve been around here long enough you’ll know I have a lot of respect for the guy, and that I got to meet him back in November.
Here’s a brief quote I liked…
“Moments when all of the ways that we divide ourselves and rank each other and convince ourselves of how different, better, and unalike we are disappear, and we are faced with the fact that first and foremost, we are humans. In this together. And not that much different from each other.
Jew. Gentile.
Marine. Iraqi.
Orphan. Family.
Pastor. Prostitute.
We could be them.“
We could be them. I’m stuck by how easy it is to lose sight of people’s humanity, their dignity. I walk down the street here and every day I pass numerous Big Issue sellers… I don’t do enough to help these guys and it’s so hard to find a balance of knowing how to help. I’m increasingly coming to the conclusion that the tension is so important. It’s not insignificant, but rather the tension is a vehicle for God to continually be prompting me to keep my heart soft, to remember that I could be them. There are no hard and fast rules that I can follow… “Give this amount…” etc. It is subjective, changing, and progressive… there are no rules… I could be them.
Get the first chapter of Sex God here.
SYNOPSIS:
God and sex go together. You can’t separate the two, says Rob Bell, because this physical world is intimately linked to deeper spiritual realities. And so, in order to make sense of sexuality, at some point you have to talk about God. With beauty and unusual insight, Sex God explores this connection.
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