Wendy's House

It's Christmas!!

2007-02-05T02:23:00.000-08:00

Do you remember that feeling when you were a kid, waiting for Christmas Day to arrive? Well, that's how I feel at the moment. On Thursday 8th February, Kevin and I will finally find out where our new appointment will be. After years of waiting to come to College and then two years of study here at William Booth College, the moment is about to arrive.

I don't know if anyone actually reads this blog, but if you do could I ask you to pray? Please pray for:

All the "Heralds Of The Good News" who will be receiving their first appointments on Thursday
All officers who will also be receiving new appointments
Our children who will be moving, yet again and having to make new friends and start new schools
The people and places we will be going to

I'm going to pray that, throughout our officership, I will always feel this sense of excitement and confidence in God about what He has planned for us.

Watch this space! I will let you know on Thursday ... we could be coming to a place near you!!

The big 4-0!

2007-01-28T12:50:00.000-08:00

Before I went to bed on New Year's Eve (or should that be New Year's Day?) I decided to make a list of things to do before I'm 40. I have just found my first grey hair, and realised that I've got 3 1/2 years left before I hit the dreaded big 4-0! The trouble is, I don't feel like I'm nearly 40 and there are lots of things that I always imagined I'd do, but never seem to get round to.

I want to write a book, learn to ice skate, go to Africa ... and then tonight I watched "Pay It Forward". Once I had stopped blubbing, I realised that there are so many other things I want to do to make a difference.

I was on a conference called "Church On The Edge" this weekend, and got really excited at the thought of Kev and I in our own community - wherever that might be - making a difference for God. Then, someone was overheard to say, "Do you buy into all this?"

Maybe I'm like Trevor in the film, and live in Utopia but surely if we believe in the teaching Of Jesus we can't do anything but "buy into" the idea of reaching into our communities and showing Jesus?

So my list of things to do before I'm 40 has just got longer. One of the things I've realised from the conference, and the film, and even the overheard comment is that I've just got to get on with what I believe God is leading me to do. There's no point wasting time, waiting for others to understand or approve. After all, I am nearly 40...

Swim The Channel!

2006-10-16T11:33:00.000-07:00

Three times a week, at 6.30 in the morning, Sally-Ann and I don our swimming costumes and head off to the pool. We are in the process of swimming the equivalent of the English Channel by December 3rd. This is a distance of 21 miles - over 1,000 lengths.

We are collecting sponsorship in aid of the Salvation Army's International Development Projects such as water aid, human trafficking.

Please let me know if you would be willing to sponsor us. You could sponsor us per mile or give us a total amount to complete the swim. We are currently 5.75 miles out at sea. I think we have passed the sewage outlet point! I will keep you posted as to our progress.

All donations gratefully received!

Eastenders

2006-09-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

It's 3.22 a.m in the early hours of Monday morning and I can't sleep! What makes someone sit at their computer, tapping away when they could be curled up in bed? the answer is Eastenders.

No! Not the Pat Butcher and Phil Mitchell variety, but the Poplar Salvation Army variety, and variety is the operative word.

You see, today Kevin and I lead our last Sunday at Poplar whilst on summer placement there and I just can't get the last twelve weeks out of my head. It's been an amazing summer, full of amazing people in a place where every day is different.

Highlights? The day at Clacton-on-Sea, listening to the stories of incredible lives at luncheon club, the banter at the cafe, experiencing nigerian hospitality, the children's holiday club, getting to know theParadise Zone gang, seeing new lives committed to God within the Salvation Army...

I'm looking forward to being back at College and will be quite glad if I never see the number 15 bus again, but I know that tomorrow, as I complete my final day on placement, I am going to feel quite empty.

So to all at Poplar, thank you for letting me be a part of your lives for these few weeks. We were thanked today for our ministry to you, but you taught us so much more. Thank you Christine, Bram, Laura, Gordon and Kate for your care and patience with us.

Poplar will always have a special place in our memories.

In His Hands

2006-09-17T14:48:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life htis you unexpectedly between the eyes and Wednesday evening was one of those occasions.

I received a telephone call to tell me that a friend had died suddenly. She was young, beautiful, intelligent but had a drink problem which cast a shadow over much of her life. We don't yet know all the circumstances surrounding her death, but all I could feel was a sense of sadness at the waste of such a lovely person. Her dependence on alcohol robbed her of everything and yet I know she loved God even though every day was a struggle for her.

At the same time, I received a message to tell me that another friend had died from cancer. This time it was a much older friend who, even in her painful last moments, knew that the time had come for her to meet Jesus in heaven. Her faith in life and death has taught me so much and I know that her funeral will be a celebration of a life lived for God.

So, two very sad deaths in very different circumstances. Its made me realise how important it is to make sure that every moment on earth counts for something. It's not for me to judge who goes to heaven and who doesn't but I like to think that they are both safe with Jesus now, that their physical and emotional suffering is now over.

Rest in peace.

All Good Things ...

2006-09-02T13:51:00.000-07:00

All good things must come to an end, and so I am back in London, holiday over! On the last day of my holiday, I sat on the beach in the beautiful sunshine andthe scene around me took my breath away. I think it was because I knew I was about to return home and I just wanted to capture my surroundings and keep them in my mind forever.

The photograph above is the scene I saw from my deckchair.

This evening I came across this Jewish prayer and it took me right back to that memory on the beach ...

If my lips could sing as many songs as there are
waves in the sea:
If my tongue could sing as many hymns as there are ocean billows:
If my mouth filled the whole firmament with praise:
If my face shone like the sun and moon together:
If my hands were to hover in the sky like powerful eagles and my feet ran across mountains as swiftly as the deer;
All that would not be enough to pay you fitting tribute, O Lord my God.

What Do You Think?

2006-08-29T10:28:00.000-07:00

I love reading people's blogs! Yes, I'm nosy but more than that, I love the fact that there are people out there who care passionately about the things I think are important. I spent most of my teenage years hearing the words, "You've got some funny ideas, my girl!" I didn't think they were "funny" at all, in fact I still don't. I just felt that issues about the environment, about stewardship of the world's resources, the futility of war and human rights issues were and still are crucial. In the words of Roz, I just want to make the world a better place!

At Poplar Salvation Army, we are going to be starting a discussion group where some of these issues can be explored more fully. As a Christian, I am keen to explore various Christian perspectives on these issues, including that of the Salvation Army and, more importantly, the Bible.

If you would like to be part of this discussion group either in person or via this blog, then please let me know the types of topics we could discuss. I am hoping the group can begin meeting during the first week of September. Between 5 and 6 p.m., either Monday, Tuesday or Thursday would be best for Laura and myself. So, Paradise Zoners, let me know when would be best for you.

If there are any books or articles you've read that you would like to bring and discuss, please do. I would say come armed with opinions, but I know that you lot will do that no problem!!

Look forward to seeing your comments.

To Be Great, Be Entire

2006-08-27T13:08:00.000-07:00

To be great, be entire: of what's yours nothing
Exaggerate or exclude.
Be whole in each thing. Put all that you are
Into the least that you do.
Like that on each place the whole moon
Shines, for she lives aloft.

Fernando Pessoa

Oh, I Do Love To Be Beside The Seaside!

2006-08-25T13:24:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are in sunny Paignton at the end of our first week on holiday. Sitting outside my beach hut, with a mug of tea and several layers of clothing to keep me warm, most of my time has been spent "people watching"!. Watching people out of their natural habitat is fascinating. For instance, if you're not a size 10 at home, then what makes you think those shorts will fit you on the beach? And why oh why do British holidaymakers build their own little fortress out of wind breaks and sun parasols, just in case someone along the two mile stretch of coastline decides to set foot in their two-metre-square empire?

I've loved watching my two children playing on the beach. With the sea, sand and rockpools (and the occasional trip to the ice cream kiosk) I've decided that children really don't care whether they're in Devon or the Costa del Sol. Apparently indifferent to the wind and rain, they've been quite happy investigating rockpools or capsizing their dinghy. Picnics on the beach have given a whole new meaning to the word "SANDwiches" but even crunchy ham sandwiches and slightly melted chocolate biscuits haven't spoilt the fun.

Maybe the next time we contemplate a getaway break in the sun, with its cost to our purse and the planet, we should stop and ask ourselves why. After this week's holiday I know what my children's answer would be.

"I Don't Do Church!"

2006-07-27T14:56:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe it, but Kev and I have been at Poplar on placement for nearly a month now. We've been made to feel so welcome, that it feels as if we've been there much longer. One of the things I've loved has been the variety each day. For someone like me who's a bit obsessive about plans and lists, I'm rapidly realising that it's almost impossible to plan my day too carefully because something is bound to change it!

I'm already beginning to collect together a bank of memories and experiences from this placement, but I think one of my favourite moments has to be the quote "I don't do Church" from one of the regulars in the cafe.

Each day, with his mug of tea and egg and bacon sandwich this person sits and discusses the rights and wrongs of the world with fellow tea drinkers. This all happens against the backdrop of children playing in the "Parents and Toddlers" group, bacon sandwiches being ordered by the volunteers in the Charity Shop and the sounds of Martha and Robert preparing the food for the luncheon club. Some of his fellow tea drinkers were on the Poplar Jolly to Clacton-on-Sea or part of the congregation in the previous Sunday's meeting. And in the middle of all this, there is my friend announcing that he doesn't do Church!

It's been a long time since I believed a Church was a merely a building - I thought I understood that a Church is made of people. What I am beginning to understand more fully is just how diverse these people might be, and the range of ways in which these people are brought together.

Thank goodness that "doing Church" is about community and that God wants us to be the people we were created to be within that community. The more I think about it, the more I want any Church I am part of to be a community where people feel they can belong as themselves, so that "doing" Church becomes "being" Church.

Musings Of A Thirty-Something

2006-07-15T15:20:00.000-07:00

I fell into the world of "blogs" after my first week at Poplar Salvation Army, and have found myself becoming addicted to this twilight zone.

I've kept a diary for years but never in a format that anyone else could read. This is a new venture for me. I'm still not convinced I've got anything to say that anyone else would find remotely interesting. So, I've decided that this will be a little bit of space, just for me. I'll think and muse, maybe rant a little and most certainly reflect. If anyone in cyberspace wants to share in this with me, well, that'll be a bonus!

So, here is my first posting. Thanks for the title, Gordon. Sadly, this title ages us. Only children of the 60's and 70's will remember the "Wendy House" before the non-gender specific, politically correct title of "Play House" came into use.

Perhaps the title for this blog should be "Wendy's House - the musings of a thirty-something"