Brown Paper Packages

N.B. Not the ones tied up with string, just the ones addressed to me! :)

Its been a busy ten days, sorry I haven't blogged. It's been top of my To-Do-List all weekend, so I thought I should do it now, while I have the "time". This week has really been a turning point in my relationships and thoughts. I was thrown into the deep end more than once at Girls Brigade on Tuesday, and I quickly learnt that when people see you as the Youth Worker, you gotta be quick off the mark in terms of coming up with Games and Prayers! I've been given a few challenging tasks this week, like preparing a half hour session for BB on Friday about Sin - more about that later.

At Optimum Wednesday on Wednesday (clue is in the name) we had a fast and prayer session. It basically meant going without food from Tuesday evening till Wednesday evening. It was weird for me, I've often been without food for 24/36 hours and not even thought about it. But it seems so much harder when you are planning to go without food. It was good though. When we arrived, we spent about an hour in prayer thinking about what we wanted to achieve by the end of the day. Last week I was reading Ecclessiastes 4, and I was thinking about the image of Jesus on the cross. He was not crucified on His own, He had two people there with Him. Perhaps not the most useful of people, but still, two people, He was not alone!

Sometimes we seem to think that if God wants us to do something, we must do it alone - without help. But that is not the case! When God asked Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, He gave him his brother Aaron to help him to speak - when God tells us to do things, we don't have to do it on our own! Instead we should make use of the people God has put in our lives to give us encouragement and friendship! It's an encouraging thought, that we do not have to struggle alone when it is God's will for us to struggle, but instead gain love and comfort from friends who are dear to our heart. I spent the rest of the day I spent asking God to show me the people He has put into my life for me to help and to lead, and I got some interesting perspectives back. I also thanked God for the people He has put into my life that give me love and support, like the aboslute legends that sent me the parcel I received this morning, and the many friends who I have loved and shared my life with, and been loved and comforted in return. For me, that proves that God is awesome!

The second half of last week I spent trying to figure out the best times and settings for the youth club and youth alpha I'm supposed to be starting. It was quite a challenge for me, because at present I only have two free evenings, Thursday and Saturday, (Saturday being my day off) however, after talking to some of the kids, I realised that Saturday is probably going to be the best evening for the Social Group, which obviously, raises a problem - give up my weekend day off? I put the decision off for a few days, and on Sunday we had a church meeting. It was a positive meeting in which the church made a decision that is going to be risky. But nevertheless, they made it and I think it is a positive thing for the church and the wider community as well. I also saw the way the leaders dream, and I was encouraged by that! The church went on to talk about more proposals in regards to local buildings they'd like to do up and manage, including a cafe! (That made me chuckle) I went on to dream myself about the things I could do with the Youth Group and the things I wanted to launch my energy into.

Which led me to the decision to only have Saturday off every other week. I need to advance my start at putting God's will ahead of my own, and part of that is starting a Youth Club on a Saturday and a Youth Bible class on a Thursday. I talked to some of the youth about it, and they seemed really excited. Yesterday at Kids Klub I had a chat with some of the 11+ who were hanging around, and I began to feel like my honeymoon period is now officially over. They know me, they like me (I hope!) and they want me to start doing stuff. And so it begins!

"If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble."

Ecclesiastes 4:10 (NLT)