Notes From Liverpool

It's 2 weeks to exams, and all of us are finally buckling our seatbelts as we enter into working mode.. However I just spent the afternoon and most of last night looking for acoomodation on scotland.. A ton of paeds to read thru, plus the ever present ssm project hovering in the background..

Recently was challenged in the area(among others) of living victoriously. Every week when we meet up to encourage each other, ( for those of us that do come..) the prevailing theme seems to be everyone's tired out, everyone's stressed, everyone's finding it hard to keep everything together and serve God at the same time. Usually ends with Julia sharing lots and the rest of us listening. Its as if theres a loop that we are running. Plenty of times we think we break through, but next week at the meeting finds us about the same again. Didn't I go thru this back in IMU as well?

"For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but the spirit of Sonship" "...and I will be with you always, to the very end of the age." "But you will be filled with power when the Holy Spirit comes on you..." "Do not be afraid because you are young, but be an example to others.." "Be still and know that I am God."

Thoughts like these really show me that there is only one way to go; fully depending on God to provide the strength and the grace to press on. No matter how heavy project work gets, or how people around us respond to our best efforts, the old MYF theme still holds true "Christ Above All". As I write this, I find that one of my reasons for this post is accountability. At least you guys reading this know what to keep me in prayer for now, instead of just being busy:-)


Things I have done over the last few weeks:
- Play frisbee on Saturdays, thereby finding out my stamina level has decreased to that of a couch potato which has been parboiled and steamed after!
- Watched a musical in the Empire Theatre, thereby being wowed by the coordination of the music, singing and dancing. It was 'My Fair Lady' and it was worth the watch.
- Finally finished my longlasting CTM project after another visit to the dear old library. Better not speak too soon..
- Disney revival where I downloaded(hmm) 60+ disney songs and listned to them over and over again. Some of them I didn't even know were disney songs! Benny, if you're reading this: I can challenge you already!
- Star Wars revival(gosh i sound deprived) where I downloaded the original trilogy and the return of the sith plus the cartoon series of The Clone Wars which I seriously think was well drawn and advanced the storyline well.
- Forgot to pay my uni fees, thus resulting in a painful loss of 38 pds, thereby showing I have a long way to go in terms of being financially indpendent and responsible.
- Made my own personal snowman, a lifetime dream only made possible by a freak snowfall, the last big one, which occurred a month b4 summer! Also a snowball fight, in which i nearly lost my spectacles.
- Carlsberg chicken anyone?

And to finish, random quotes while cooking in church to raise funds for a camp last weekend..

"Everyone says its better to be Mary than Martha*, but without Martha, everyone would have just gone hungry"

"When we are too busy to pray, we are too busy."

"Some people pray only when they're in trouble. Maybe that's why they're in trouble."

"Heart of Worship( the song) being based on Amos 5"

"What do you get when you cross maize with porridge?"
"Corny 'chouk'(porridge in chinese) as in corny joke" (not by me...a law student no less!)


*Mary and Martha were 2 women in the bible. Mary took time to listen to Jesus, and Martha made herself busy preparing food etc and didn't take time to be with Jesus when he came to visit them.

On A Happier Note

And for those from a warmer climate, look what we woke up to today! Being the normal grumpy self after sleep, I didn't notice till hsupheen squealed.

agnes jones in the snow.

Though 2 months late in coming, snow is always welcome...Didn't have time for a fight or a snowman though, as we were rushing for a session with out gp tutor.

From the other side

It feels weird to be writing this, particularly as I have been on the other side of the fence before. Having been in a leadership position before and now being a member of the CU in the UK, I am able to see things from 'down below' so to speak.

Things like coming for meetings and events, praying for ppl and activities, the whole idea of vision and purpose seems somehow less urgent and far away. The idea that CU is a united body of Christ doesn't seem to make sense when I go and find it so hard to talk to ppl, having to initiate conversations that are really inane sometimes. Doesn't make it easier that most of the people seem to know each other, leaving me most of the time standing around wondering whom to talk to next...mayb someone who doesn't look like they're having fun talking to others, and can be bothered to talk to That Asian Guy(well don't look at me that way, it feels that way sometimes).

Granted, I do have a few ppl that I know(after half a year, i'd better have!) and that i generally run to after CU meetings to talk to, but I wonder, is it really this hard for a newcomer to feel loved and accepted?

I guess I really came to realise this after not attending a meeting which turned out to be the AGM and getting an email from the president to the effect that the AGM turned out unofficial cos less than half the members turned up. It ended with a call to consider our membership if we were among the absentees and to genuinely think about whether we were really committed to being members of CU. On my part, I can't say I really blame him, understanding his concern and his desire to see a united CU. However, another part of me wonders why I found it so easy not to go for the meeting that nite, and why I don't share(well apparently rite, since I didn't go) his passion and vision.

Bottom line: a decision I will have to make and stand by, cos if everything comes down to emotions, then our God-given brains are for nothing.

Decision then: I chose to go to CU even when I committed to LCGC early on because I believed this: that the gospel is for everyone, not only for the chinese in liverpool, and that I would like to be part of God's work amongst and for the locals as well. Guess this is the price I need to pay for it then.

Gosh, and I'm not even being persecuted yet...so much for standing up under pressure.