Comedies (With Tragedies)

I saw a couple of films at the cinema last week - it's about time I got round to doing that again. and they were both great.

I took my niece on Wednesday to see How To Train Your Dragon 2:-

and I went with some friends on Saturday to watch Guardians Of The Galaxy:-

both of which I recommend - they're great. They have a lot in common too - they're very colourful and silly, with lots of explosions and lots of unusual creatures. I mean, let's face it, dragons are pretty rare.
But they have other things in common too; a more serious side. Which wasn't really something you'd expect from films like this. Not that that's a bad thing; it definitely made them better films, in my opinion. They both showed the importance of family, and that family isn't just who you're born to; they both deal with loss, and love, and loyalty; they both have taking responsibility as part of growing (up); and they both show how important (good) relationships are. And that they aren't based on similarity or appearance - or, at least, don't have to be...

Alpha Weekend And...

So, last weekend was the Alpha weekend away (if you don't know what that is, you can find out here), and I was helping on the catering team, as I had been during the course. Don't worry, I haven't been doing the cooking.

It all started on the Friday-I had the week off starting then, so I was going down early to help set up, and I had to catch a train. I caught one that left just after 1, and I should have got there just after 3-if everything had gone to plan. However, I had two changes on the route, and two of the trains were late, so I was almost an hour later than I had aimed for. Which at least meant I had plenty of time to read and pray during the journey. I am reading a book currently called 'The Circle Maker' by Mark Batterson and I felt God wanted me to write down and keep a record of the things I wanted to pray about and what the answers are. So I started that on the journey. The first thing I did was write general categories of what I wanted to pray for/about, and prayed a bit about that. And it was pretty much non-stop after that, or at least it seemed that way-when we had cleared away from one meal, it was basically time to get the next one ready. I did get a bit of a rest on the Saturday afternoon, when I should have been praying about some of the things I had been turning over on the train journey. Because I didn't do it then, I didn't get to go to the pub in the evening; God was very firm about that. I'm glad I did it, though, because as well as getting some much needed time, just me and God (that was about the only time that weekend I did), some interesting things came out of that. I'm still turning them over at the moment, so I won't write about them yet. And then, it was all over-quite abruptly, as I had to leave pretty much straight after lunch.
And got back home in plenty of time for the baptisms, so I just had to decide whether I was going to go. I don't think I did decide in the end, I just got there. And I'm so glad I did. The people's stories, as always, were amazing-and amazingly different. But it was what happened after that was truly brilliant. Two of the people getting baptised are in my cluster, and speaking to them afterwards, and hearing how it was for them was just incredible. Partly because it was more personal, and partly because I could actually see the difference in them. Wow. Just wow.

And then, the rest of this week has been a week off. Which was brilliant in itself, but also had some brilliant times in it. I spent the first couple of days resting, pretty much doing nothing, just because I could. I did mean to write a blog post about the weekend, but, as I didn't get it done by then, it's merged with the rest of the week. On Monday, I went to Costa and relaxed there; on Tuesday, I relaxed at home, and also prayed over and around the things I'd been writing in my notebook that I've been praying for and about. It was Alpha in the evening, which was fun, though I was still tired, strangely. Possibly because when you stop, you pretty much completely collapse-or at least, I do. People were talking about the baptisms; or at least one of them. On Wednesday, I went for a very long walk. I did have a destination in mind, but somehow, I got lost, and ended up somewhere I don't think I've been before. I did manage to get back, though, and got where I was intending to go, and learned a bit more about the local area in the meantime. Maybe. I'll see, if I manage not to get lost the next time I go that way. And, after that, it was cluster. I didn't know at the beginning of the week whether I was going to go, as there was a session at church on how to deal with violence, which as a member of street teams, I was invited to. Anyway, I got there-just across the road, pretty much-and had a good evening. Though for some reason, I felt a bit out of sorts all evening; and I found it difficult to concentrate. Looking back, it's difficult to remember much about the evening, which probably means that it was very important. The most important thing I can remember is that it was about not comparing yourself to others; not seeing your behind the scenes stuff in the same light as someone else's highlights-which is what you most notice. 

And then on Thursday, I went down to Faringdon to see a friend I hadn't seen properly for ages. She was at my church before she went home, and I've only seen her briefly since then. I figured since I had the week off, I should try to get down there. Thankfully, it's actually quite straightforward, so I sorted that out, and met up with her; which was brilliant. I miss having her around, cos she's one of the few people I can really relax with, as she seems to not mind my sense of humour. And it was really refreshing to spend the day with her. I mean, I was expecting it to be a good day, but right from the point we saw each other, it was good. It was essentially one very long, random, slightly silly conversation-apart from the serious bits. Which were still interspersed with random silliness. It was good to catch up, to get some sort of idea of what we had each been up to, and at the end of the day, we got to pray with each other. Just what was needed, I think. I look forward to doing it again at some point. Hopefully not too far away.

And Friday, I got to catch up with my mum, which was great. I saw my sis and niece last week, and my mum this week. We went to the art gallery, which reopened after a massive revamp, and I hadn't managed to get along there before. It was really good, apart from having to stand out in the cold for a while when the fire alarm went off. At least we assumed that was what happened, as no-one told us. We saw most of the exhibitions I think. There was a glass sculptor who had most of the space; his exhibition was huge. Some of the pieces were too. Anyway, we managed to spend over 3 hours there, and then we went and got something to eat. Which was nice. All in all, a very nice day, and it was good to see my mum again.

Saturday I kind of relaxed, and then a friend I hadn't seen for a while came round, which was great. We watched 'Pontypool', which is sort of a zombie film; and then, because he felt he needed to relax a bit, we watched 'Music and Lyrics' (my favourite film), because it's probably the lightest film I own. And it has a great 80s type music video. As well as Drew Barrymore. Sunday I was kind of hoping to go up and see a friend in Worcester area, but that didn't work out, so he came down to see me instead. It was great to catch up with him as well. I have to say that overall, it was a really good week off, and very relaxing-just what I needed, I think.

An Unexpected Birthday (And Another One)

And so I went back to work the day after coming back from New Wine, to have a surprise in the afternoon. My mum came into work with her brother, my uncle, who we hadn't seen for 15 years. And still I recognised him. To be fair, he hadn't changed all that much-he had no hair (well, a shaved head), and a white beard; but, other than that, he was pretty much the same as I remembered him.

So, we had a brief chat, and I discovered that it was his birthday a couple of days later; the day before my niece-which is why he'd come down for the week. Anyway, I had the next day off, as usual, so I worked out meeting up with them in Gloucester. I met them in a Costa, which was nice. Those are always nice places to be, and as well as that, I got some points added to my Costa card; which was also nice. We chatted about what they had got up to earlier-they went to the docks, and he went round one of the museums, as he's interested in military history. That was something new I learned. And then we went around town, to go shopping to buy Phoebe's birthday presents (I already had her card). I did try to get something for him as well, but that turned out to be impossible, as he pretty much has everything he wants-but I did get him a badge which proclaimed that it was his birthday. I didn't manage to find anything for her, even though I stayed in town for a while after they went home.

Next day, I was back at work; but, as I had been encouraged to use up my flexi time, I had no problem in getting the Thursday off as well. And so, I went to see my niece on her birthday. My mum had suggested getting clay, so I went to The Entertainer, and bought a bunch of various art things-and a couple of Little Miss books. I managed to get to where she was, somewhere I'd never been before. My sister had put together a 'treasure hunt' starting at her house, and going to another relative, who lived round the corner. I got there VERY late, officially the party had finished, but there were still quite a few people there. and still plenty of noise and chaos was made by the few partygoers who were still there. They even got together and put on a play that they came up with themselves. I'm really not sure what it was about, but it may have been something to do with Monster High. I think. We then went back to my sister's house, where the girls then watched the (a?) Monster High film. Which actually looked quite good. But I couldn't stay too long, as it takes ages to get home from there. But now I know I can get there easily enough, even if it does take so long.

Mothers, and Father

I have had a busy week in a way, this week. I've been working full time this week, as my manager is on holiday, and I've been too tired to really think about doing much outside of work. Which has meant that there hasn't really been anything to talk about on here. However, yesterday was Mothering Sunday (not Mother's Day), and was also the end of a conference at church.

Mothering Sunday is not Mother's Day (which apparently is in May)-the origin of it was to celebrate at your 'mother' church, to enable families to spend time together. Read about it here if you want to know more. But it's still a good excuse to spend time with my mum, which I did. I didn't go to her church, though, as I had to be at mine in the morning to sell tickets for a performance by Springs Dance Company called 'Bread of Life'. It's on Maundy Thursday (March 28th) if you're interested.
Anyway, as I had to be there at the end of the service, it only made sense to be there for the actual service. Where the speaker was one of speakers we'd had at the conference during the week. He started by getting people to pray for people who had problems with back pain, all of whom got better. One is a good friend of mine, and I spoke to her after the service, and I can say definitely that she frankly said the pain was gone. Which is cool. And a good way to start a talk. I can only really remember a few things about his talk; the main thing being a story about a guy in a gang who first came to his church because he wanted to shoot him. He didn't do anything, and left in a hurry at the end of the service. Shortly after that, he got arrested; and Robbie (Dawkins, the speaker) went to visit him in prison. He was aggressive at first, and was in his face, and demanded that Robbie tell him what he did to him. Robbie didn't know what he meant and said so; he told him that when he went to the church he found himself unable to move until the end, so he got out of there. Robbie told him that was God, and He wanted to give him the chance to have a different life. The guy refused at first, but on being told that most of the N.T. was written by a murderer decided he wanted to. Robbie prayed for him in the interview cell, and his face changed. He said that he had been carrying round rage, hate and shame all his life, and it had gone. I had tears in my eyes at that point, though that wasn't the end of the story. If you want to hear it all, you can listen here- the talk is 'The Presence in the Boat'.

So then, I went to see my mum. My sister wasn't there, possibly as her daughter had decided she was going to come home early from her dad's house as she "should be with you on Mother's Day", and she was going to make her lunch. I don't know how that went; originally she was going to do breakfast, which she was quite confident she knew how to do. And so I spent a nice few hours with my mum, talking about all sorts of things, but I remember Lent and church came up in the conversation a lot. Which was nice, but all good things must come to an end (and, thankfully, bad ones); and so, I went back home-or at least to the evening service.
Where the talk was on grace. I can remember him talking about waves and tides cleaning up beaches; about how after a holiday weekend, the beach is in a real state, but with time and tides, it gets restored. This may seem a small, simple thing, but it's far from that. To realise, to remember that whatever has happened God not only can but will restore is a vital truth to hang on to. It may be all you do have to hang on to sometimes, until He does it. If you need it, that talk is available too, on the same page.
And then, I had some good times with friends, some I've only started to get to know recently. And I spoke to Dan Browne, who tried to get me to go to the A.S.E.T. ball this coming week. When I said I couldn't afford it, he prayed for me to be given money. Just in general, not money to go. So it will be interesting to see what God does.

CHRISTMAS!

I had a Christmas celebration earlier this week. You may not have noticed, but it was CHRISTMAS DAY on Tuesday-it happens every year at about the same time.

I went to my mum's on Christmas Eve, and we both went over to my sister's on the day itself. She moved house a couple of months back, so she wanted to host it. Which was nice. I had plenty of time to get ready to get over to my mum's, but I still ended up not getting there until the evening (partly because I started writing the last post I put up). And then I started wrapping the presents. My mum was also wrapping presents as well, so I'm not the only one. I knew I would be able to do it in time, and I really needed an idea on how to wrap some of the more awkwardly shaped ones. As usual, my mum had an answer, and the answer was boxes. Which she had plenty of-or at least enough.
And then, all too soon, it was the day itself. I got up late, which will surprise no-one, so there wasn't really much time to do much before we went over there. I was supposed to help my sister move a couple of months ago, but due to circumstances the moving date got changed, and so this was the first time I'd seen her new place. Which was also nice. It was a very nice place (still is, in fact), and we had a very nice day. My niece tried to get me playing 'hangman' with her and show me her dolls from 'Monster High' at the same time. They include a vampire, a werewolf, a ghost, Frankie Stine and Abi Nominal (a yeti) among others. Not what I was expecting from her, I have to say. Christmas dinner came soon after, which was good, as I hadn't really had breakfast due to getting up late, and then the rest of the day was a mess of crackers and pud and present opening and playing with presents and 'Bop It'-pretty much all at the same time, it seemed. and it was, in general, a very nice day for all concerned. I went back to my mum's and read for a bit and then went to bed. I got up even later on Boxing Day, and didn't really do much all day. Which was nice. I got dropped off by my mum in the evening, as I had to work the next day. So that was my Christmas-which actually was a lot more enjoyable than I make it sound, honestly.

And this in turn, made me think of some things. This was a pretty normal Christmas for me, though usually with a bit more church involved somewhere, but now and again I kept seeing people for whom their experience was anything but 'normal. My flatmate, for instance, was home alone on Christmas Day-what was it like for him? Some chinese people I passed in the street-what was Christmas like for them? A Big Issue seller I spoke to, who lives in a tent-what was Christmas like for her? And the people in the takeaway I went earlier this evening or the Tesco just below me-what was it like for them? I don't know how to answer these questions, maybe I never will; but maybe I should. But at least, I should remember that the questions are there.

A Kind Of Busy Day Off

Last week ended up being pretty relaxing, all in all, what with not going out most evenings; and that was great. As I said, it wasn't exactly planned, and certainly didn't start off that way, cos I arranged to meet my mum on my day off. Which meant I had to leave the house earlier than I usually would. I didn't get up any earlier, but normally on a day off, I would get up later. And this time I didn't. But it was worth it.

Obviously, just the fact of spending the day with my mum was good in itself, as I don't get to see her that often-both of us managing to fill our time with all sorts of things. So she asked when my day off was, and we met up in town. On the way I managed to drop some books off at a charity shop-I've been meaning to do that for ages. Our first point of call was Costa in Waterstones, just so we could chat for a bit, catch up before deciding what to actually do. Which was nice. And amusing to see a pigeon come in and wander around because someone decided to stand in the doorway of the balcony are with the door open, chatting. Not so good. And I suppose health and safety people wouldn't have been too impressed by the presence of said pigeon. And then we wandered around Waterstones itself. Which I love doing, cos, you know, I love books. And reading them.

Next we went to the theatre to spend her theatre tokens she got given last year-good thing there's no expiry date. And she booked tickets for us to go to see 'The Woman in Black' in a couple of weeks time-a couple of weeks from then, anyway. Looking forward to that-I've heard only good things about that show. Headed up the High Street, stopping to chat to a friend briefly. Which was nice. And then we went into the arcade to wander around the shops. And found an art gallery. Called White Crescent Art. I didn't know that was there, but it's definitely worth a visit. Go have a look round. And then we went to a shop which was almost an art gallery, in that it sold lots of animal 'sculptures'. All sorts of animals, different sizes, different materials, from slightly bigger than life size insects to ones about as big as me. Those weren't insects, though. Also worth going to. And, you know, if you feel like it, maybe buying something as well. Just to remind yourself of the place. And in between the two was a stall selling 3D pictures of animals. Big cats, sharks, wolves. And meerkats. So, for art or animals, Regent Arcade is the place to go. And then it was time for lunch-somehow that had taken us about 3 hours. After discovering that Swedish cuisine is not really vegetarian friendly, we decided to go to M&S cafe. Which is always good. And after lunch, we did a bit more shopping. A lot more looking around, but only a bit of shopping. Which ended up with mum getting a new pair of glasses, and both of us having hot chocolate from Whittards. Banoffee flavour. And then somehow it was dark. Although it is winter, so it wasn't that late. But home we both went to rest and relax. Which I then carried on doing for the rest of the week. Apart from work, of course- I kind of had to go there.

So, there you go. A very busy day off. But worth it. And we still have 'The Woman in Black' to look forward to.