Half term

Wow. a good week overall.

Tues. night I went to housegroup and had a nice time. We had a "fun" night and did some karaoke...I did a splendid imitation of Vanilla Ice with Ice ice Baby. Made everyone laugh and I had a good time.

Wed. I went with a few others from church to a Discipleship course at a local college/ hotel here in Bognor. It was a good time all three days (Wed. thurs. Fri.). I was challenged with some new things as well as reminded of things I need to keep in mind when in leadership and teaching others as well as being taught myself....

Wed. night was FOAM. Jess was away so Kate was my help for the evening, and we both commented the next day how surprising it was that none of the students could really form their own words in response to the question "what does it mean to be a Christian?" I think that sheds some light on where to go in the future with them.

Thursday night was Troop, and that went really well. I wasn't feeling up for it (I had very little sleep the night before) and I wasn't sure if what I had prepared would fly. But after some prayer and focusing in on God, I shared what I had and the response was really good.

I opened the night by explaining that if their expectation of me is that I'm here with some great revelation from God and that I'm the one who's going to help them get their lives in order and speak direction into their lives then they're wrong. I explained that the only real amount of authority I have over them is how much they give me. I may hold the title of youth pastor, but when it comes down to it they have to make the choice to either take my suggestions to heart or go their own way. I can't make any of them do something if they don't want to do it. After that I shared about loving yourself and seeing yourself as God sees you. It was really good because I think in their lives they hear so much about love and all these great ideas surrounding that, but if a person can't love themself, how can they expect to receive love from others? or more importantly from God who created them?

Anyway, I thought it was good and one of the students even came and talked about it with me afterwards.

Friday was the Raise Ya Hands benefit concert that Sara and other students put on, and it was a really good night! Four of us opened the night with drum/ percussion solos, and Nick (a percussionist) and I were asked to close the night! It got the crowd going and a lot of good comments and overall I feel it was one of those nights that deepens friendships. All in all about 16 different acts performed, and as tired as the team seemed at the end of the night, I think it went off really well. Sara seemed relieved that it was over and done with.

Saturday was a low key day and now we head in to the half term break, so a lot of people are away this week on vacation or some other event to break away from the usual. Troop and FOAM are cancelled this week, so I may try to get out and see some sights. I'll post more when I can....miss you all!
Paul