Genius...

This is genius - not sure if this is on telly outside Scotland...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZT1cwBGJNE

Merry Christmas!

Scottish Relays 2006-07

Well, am feeling very Christmassy now - its getting closer!

Wanted to start by saying how wonderful it was to spend last weekend with both John and Rich, two good friends who I don't see nearly enough - hadn't seen John since May and yet it was so good to just be able to pick up where we left off. Much love.

I am now on holiday but this first term of Relay finished with a great couple of team days which made me feel all warm and Christmassy.

We started out on Monday at my house for a Relay day which I led - those days are a good opportunity to share with each other what we've been learning, been challenged on, are struggling with, are excited about and pray for one another. We were also able to take some time to do a questionnaire on our Spiritual gifts together (one that Kay has been using with me over past few weeks - has been so helpful in identifying my strengths and in so doing, my weaknesses), and work out some of the ways that we can use these as we proceed with Relay. We also had time to go for a walk in the winter sun, to exchange Secret Santa presents (1001 uses for vinegar), eat a lot of food and to play the After8 game! We also spent quite a bit of time rewriting our entry for Relay2 karaoke!

Then on the Tuesday we had a whole Scotland team day - much fun being had by all. We did our bible study in morning (Karen powering through with her lack of voice) on 1Thes 3 and it was brilliant. What a chapter of encouragement - we discussed that 'encouragemnet' and 'challenge' are two of our most overused words but if they can't go to explaining something of what I took from that session then I'm at a loss for words!

The rest of the day consisted of a variety of creative reviews of the term by each member of the team including Arlington in reindeer antlers, Cully in full kilt and jacket outfit telling us about clouds, a live-link to Dan in trans-Atlantic airplane and even Stanton rapping. Absolutely hilarious. We also had a triumph of a complete Christmas dinner cooked ably and in a completely stress-free manner by Kay 'Nigella' Cathcart. A great day.

So, all that remains is to wish you all a wonderful Christmas time.

Have a wee look at this, it makes me laugh a lot: www.thecompassgroup.biz/merrychristmas.swf

Merry Christmas to one and all!

'...Born that man no more may die

Born to raise the sons of earth

Born to give them second birth

Hark! The herald angels sing

"Glory to the newborn King!"'

Taller than I thought!

Guess what? I have always thought I was 5ft10 and a half but we measured ourselves after dinner and apparently I'm 5ft11 and a quarter! How exciting!

Christmas is just around the corner...!

I'm finally beginning to get excited about Christmas! Today I managed to finish doing my Christmas shopping - always find that bit fairly stressful but because I was working on such a budget I had to be organised and very much only get the vitals!

Anyway... there are so many things about Christmas that I find just hilarious. Don't you reckon its funny how we all must spend thousands on Christmas cards every year and just sign it and send one to everyone we've met ever in our lives. My friend was saying yesterday that she thinks that is a Christmas tradition that will not carry on through our generation, and I think she is right - is that because we are more lazy, not good with communication or will Christmas maybe become a bit more simple? One of my favourite things about this time of year though is the Christmas letter - they are so funny. Why is it that we write them in 3rd person, as if there is some invisible, imagined narrator commenting on all the holidays, birthdays, graduations, illnesses, weddings and babies we've had in the year. I love it.

I also love Christmas lights and particularly those houses you can see from space with the amount of luminous paraphernalia - or 'house bling' if you will. Apparently this makes me a 'house bling spotter'!

I think this house in Liverpool has the right idea...
It won an award last year for its bling!

Not so sure about the one on the left though. Do you think you'd ever be able to sleep? And imagine how much electricity you must use up.

I don't know about you but I think we'll be sticking to a plain old tree this year. Last year Inga found a verse to defend her argument that Christmas trees are Biblical: check out Isaiah 14:8. Maybe a bit tenuous but they certainly do brighten up the living room on these dark December nights!

QM (violent) Christmas Party!

I'm sorry it's been a while since I updated you but I'm afraid it has taken me this long to come to terms with the traumatic happenings of last week...

I turned up at QM as usual for our last In@theDeepend session, followed by what I thought would be a lovely Christmassy gathering of the whole CU - a final chance to see each other before exams! However, I'm afraid what followed was far from the polite, quiet gathering I had invisaged.

What ensued was an aggressive session of competitive games involving people as newspaper Christmas trees, humiliating carols in pass the parcel and an awful lot of violence, which - I happily inform you - resulted in a glorious win for the monkeys/horses!!

It also involved a revealing insight into the character of my super-competitive Staffworker. I've just about nursed my wounds now but my pride, after the claims of corruption on my part, will take a bit longer to heal. See the evidence for yourself on the right...


We all made up in the end though and posed for a lovely photo at the end. Aren't they a lovely bunch - a good representation from the boys at QM ay?

Biblical Evangelism Conference

Last night I just got back from UCCF's Biblical Evangelism Conference away down in Herefordshire. Before you go you have to prepare an evangelistic talk on a given passage, ready to share it with your group. The passage I was given was John 20:24-31, about doubting Thomas. So we trundled down in the car (7 hour epic journey both ways) and arrived at the lovely farm with some mixed feeling of fear, excitement and distinct tiredness!

Over the weekend we received some teaching and training from the front in a big group and then had the opportunity to break into small workshop groups and it was in these that did our talks and received advice and criticism. I was in a group with all those who are signed up for doing Homestart, the year overseas next year. It really was a great opportunity to not only look at God's word together but to properly analyse the ways we should be using and teaching it.

It is so tempting to see a passage and then look for the ways that we can teach the Gospel through it. Although there is nothing wrong with this we do need to make sure and have the trust in God to let His Word speak for itself, to stay faithful to what it says in the text.

So, where I finished my talk with a choice to the listeners of whether to believe or not, it would have been much more close to the text and indeed provocative for the audience to simply say that Jesus asks us to believe in Him and we have enough evidence to do so.

I learned a lot of practical skills over the weekend. It was also great to see some of the old Relay faces and to spend some time getting to know new people, students and staff. I particularly appreciated the time talking with the Welshie Relays in our room - to be encouraged and challenged with where they are at.

And you'll be glad to know we survived the journey back amid monsoon rain and wind and we even saw Jenny Powell of Wheel of Fortune fame at a Service Station somewhere on the M6!