:: laughing : dreaming : watching : waiting ::

…and speaking of songs, i’d love for you guys to check out mel wiggins. i mean as in check out her blog link to the right and her songs from there, rather than literally checking her out as her husband dave may have me killed.

anyway, i worked with mel a bit last year, and after a few weeks of her remaining tight lipped on the subject, discovered that she is a really gifted singer/songwriter. i love her songs and would love to see her ministry expand. she blogged recently about a songwriting competition in which she has reached the final 15. read her post on it called “Slice the Pie” and find out how you can vote for her. she comes with my recommendation!

there’s something i love about people from different backgrounds, places, jobs, classes, sexes and ethnicities, coming together and uniting their voices in song. there are few places where this is more obvious than football matches. i love it!

on saturday, i sat in a crowd of almost 40,000 people where i knew only 1 other person in the whole place. and yet, within minutes i was joining my voices with theirs in song. there felt like was a common bond. got chatting to the bloke beside me as well like we’d known each other for years as we freely shared our thoughts and opinions.

there have also been times in my life when i’ve experienced this in a church building. agreeing with each other about the things were singing. joining through our common bonds. these are special times and have formed a huge foundational part of my relationship with God.

i’ve even had the privilege of standing at the front of these times and choosing what songs to sing. some call that role a ‘worship leader’, though i prefer the term ‘lead worshipper’. you may call that pedantic but there’s a subtle difference…

anyway, due to this role, sometimes people have asked me ‘why do we sing in church?’ occassionally i’ve been tempted to answer with really spiritual sounding answers about God meeting us in the midst of it. but the reality is that God wants to meet us in every moment, so why do we sing?

well recently i’ve been reminded of how the songs we sing help us to connect to special moments in our lives. like…

The Potter’s Hand – the night i became a Christian
Summer of 69 – teenage years and school friendships
Everything by Lifehouse – the desire to give more of my life over to my Creator
Away in a Manger – HEALY!

i think capturing moments like this are really important for our lives. and it’s something we must do within the church. whether we like or not, as Christians, we are part of a singing faith. one that has used songs throughout the generations to mark and capture significant parts of history. and this is a tradition we must continue as part of the worldwide, multi-generational Church of Jesus Christ. and that’s why i’ll keep dedicating time to being part of this…

sarah produced for me her best Christmas present to date. she shot up even more in my estimations on Christmas Eve 2007 when she told me that she’d bought us tickets for a spurs match in london. epic.

thankfully i didn’t need to wait too long for the match and we flew out yesterday morning. it was such a good day and it was great to share it with sarah. i know girls don’t typically do football, and i suppose she’s not the hugest fan either in the world, but i appreciate her sacrifices, even agreeing to watch the re-run on match of the day later!!

in fact the whole day was great…

an early breakfast in wetherspoons, walking round the stadium, buying sarah a spurs shirt, a dodgy and greasy lunch in the hotspur cafe (!), the match itself, all the random photographs, sarah getting near enough stripped searched at random by the anti-terrorism branch, the result, all the walking, the meat platter i had for dinner, the random questions game, the nice relaxing late night dessert, match of the day, sleep.

times like that are special memories………..oh, did i say that spurs won?!

the match got me thinking about community singing. will blog about that next i think. and maybe throw some photos of the day up too if your not too bored with it already!!

was going to write some stuff today and then came across these words and thought they summed me up better than i could put into words. i guess it could have been me writing this rather than Paul… 

 

“So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

 

And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.

 

I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.”

 

Romans 7 

i’ve had a thought rattling about in my head for ages about living in community with each other as believers. not just meeting up for 1 hour or 1 evening a week but sharing your life with a few folks in a community of believers all based in 1 localised place.

maybe its that as i’ve moved out of home this year i’ve got just a tiny glimpse of natural community. and i think i like it.

sharing life together in each other’s homes. reaching out to those around us together. food together. praying together. laughing together. helping one another together.

it’s been cool doing some of this with the guys in my house. and some of the other folks next door and on our street too. i feel i’ve been sharpened by those around me in the last few months. i’ve also discovered a bit more about myself in the process.

but someone told me this week that the earliest apostles model of sharing their lives and possessions together didn’t work – that’s why it wasn’t continued by the disciples who came next. he also said it was idealistic. but i wasn’t so sure. is it cos were so individualistic in our society? or maybe too selfish? or consumed with comfort?

i donno…but there’s definitely parts of community life that i’m attracted to. i’m inspired by a couple of my friends’ recent decision to take the step of moving into one of the most underprivileged estate in his town. they’ve both been trying to reach out into this area for a while now, but what better way to influence others than to live with them. beside them. across the street from them. in community with them.

infiltrating in order to influence. bringing the presence of Jesus there by being a presence there. and there are others around me are thinking similar thoughts for similar areas.

obviously, as with everything, dangers would exist here of becoming too comfortable or inward looking as a community and failing to meet or even notice the needs of those around you on the fringes of your community or local area. but maybe one day questions will change from “so what church do you go to?” to something like ”where are your community of believers based?”

mere wonderings…

had the privilege of leading worship yesterday at a Day of Prayer for Ireland in the Christian Renewal Centre in Rostrevor. i just felt humbled to be a part of such an intimate gathering of people so genuine and passionate about seeing God transform our land. such a beautiful  setting and drive down to it as well which i enjoyed on my own. check out their website at http://www.crc-rostrevor.org/

i’m back to work tomorrow which i’m really looking forward to. it’s been such a good break over these past 2 weeks and i feel really recharged and refreshed ready to launch into the busy and exciting term ahead of me. however, i will miss playing chess and football manager which has filled a bit of my time over the Christmas period!!

it’s been all over the news this week that things in Kenya have taken a turn for the worse. disputed elections. almost a million refugees. violence causing the loss of hundreds of lives. churches being attacked and burned. it sounds awful…

so imagine my shock when i woke up this morning with a text message from Kenya sitting in my inbox.

over the past few years, i’ve had the privilege to be involved in a couple of CD projects. the aim was to capture some live worship music, fairly raw and real, and give it out as a free gift to people in every place we led worship, and also as we played some music on the streets from time to time. incredibly, these have gone far and wide with loadsa stories of how God has used our simple efforts.

and so a couple of years after recording one particular album, i receive a text message from a bloke in Kenya telling me that our CD had reached him and was encouraging him so much at the moment.

for me, it was an incredible reminder that God is at work in every single country in the world. and He is wanting to bless and uplift His people in all corners of our globe. and also that He doesn’t abandon the hopeless and helpless situations, instead He is right there in the midst of it doing His thing.

perhaps, like me, it’s also a reminder for you to pray for this desperate situation. and to stand in the gap for our brothers and sisters over in Kenya…

following on from my wee sis’s post, thought i’d give this a go…

highs (in no particular order)

:: great holidays with those closest…london, wimbledon, dublin

:: special nights leading worship with some of my favourite musicians in the world…letterkenny, antrim, spark thanksgiving service, enniskillen leisure centre, new vision

:: bryan adams in concert

:: banterous football trips to munich, glasgow and stockholm…all amazing matches

:: my return to the tennis court in recent months

:: getting the opportunity to speak to scores of young people in many different settings…youth club camp in july, countless schools, mannafest, my church

:: david healy and some magical windsor nights

:: Spark 07 – the week itself but also the journey towards it. much of it seemed like a distant dream becoming reality

:: special times with family and memorable meals with sarah

:: watching “Once” – my movie of the year and all God reminded me through it

:: being reminded of some timeless truths and stories as i read parts of the Bible…Jesus’ interactions with the outcast, the support and community of Moses, Joshua and Aaron, the reflection of God’s grace to me as Jesus deals with the adulterer, the humility of John the Baptist…

:: constant lads banter in the house

:: getting to journey with some amazing people who have the fingerprints of God all over their lives. learning. sharing. laughing.

lows

:: the reality of death

:: my frustrations at my many limitations and failures

:: times where i’ve felt little energy or enthusiasm

:: criticism

:: watching those i love go through the mill. mistreated, abused, worn out and frustrated

:: northern ireland throwing away the qualification dream

:: the heartbreak of church disagreements disrupting a corporate witness

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19

bring it on…!