Step Back

The YC on Friday night was quiet, it has given me a chance to look at some things which concern me about handing things over to others, which is good, I can address them now, rather than them coming up as an issue when I am not there. It is a luxury to be able to stand back and look at something properly, often with any thing we are doing, you are in the maelstrom and are not able to see too clearly very simple and obvious things, it is only when you stand back that you can recognise and highlight needs, or errors, or positives.

I notice in myself quite often, I speak so much, and I know something that bothers me, is speaking to someone, who listens without making comments, when actually, they are probably beiong very wise and I am showing my insecurity, by needing their affirmation, I need to step out more, shut up and listen, observe and then act, if necessary.

I had a great youth team meeting on Saturday, more idea of where we are going, which is good, I also was out street pastoring on Saturday night, which was a good laugh, a good team and quite a quiet night, even though it was really busy ( I am told it is freshers week) Just about everyone was really well behaved, although there was one young lady who tried a new drug cocktail for the first time and ended up in hospital, it really is russian roulette and the rest of her mates will be back doing the same thing next weekend, they told me, fun, eh.

Things are good, busy week ahead, might be moving, still need car, keep praying.

The Youth Cafe

The new season of Youth Cafe starts tonight, we would appreciate prayer.

I suppose the biggest difference for me this year, will be me taking more of a backseat, passing on a baton and letting the older youth be the ones who run it. It is not my youth cafe, it also needs a youthful direction and this is one of these things where I am using my time more wisely.

I will still be helping sometimes, be on the end of the phone on the other times and organise rotas and prayer, I think it is time to step back, let others take the lead and use my drive and passion to start something new. I am sure the YC is going to grow and continue to be something special, it will be nice for me to have more Friday nights free, which I will probably try to make available for Street Pastors or just have as free time.

Anyway, it all begins again tonight, woohoo.

FOOD

The new idea to start midweek is to start having meals with the youth and their friends. Very simple, many other places already do it, not exactly visionary, but I am quite excited about it.

It is the simplist of things, cooking simple pot meals one evening a week with the young people from our church, with their friends, with those we come into contact with on the weekends through the YC, and those we come into contact with through other things we do with sport and school and just eating with them. Get to know people, get to know what is going on in peoples lives, be family.

It is something that is dying out with many families, sharing and eating together, it is something we try hard as a family to do, we don't always do it, but we try. As a church family, we want to be there and share and be an ear, be interested and make an effort and maybe, without judging, be a family in a place where family is not always evident or able.

Jesus ate with people a lot, it was important to Him, it should be important to me.

Clever With Time

I am going to have to be more and more careful with my time, there are new things I want to start and things I want to be more involved in, I am now a father of 4 and I want to be there and give my children and wife the time the deserve.

I have bought a diary, I am now for the first time, one of those blokes who walks around with a diary in my hands, making notes and saying things like ' I can't do then, it will have to be..' and ' I'll see if I can fit you in'. I have not actually said either of these things yet, but I may have to.

It is good to be busy and I will not be complaining about it, it is also good to rest, I am not going to complain about that either, it is important to have balance and be clever with my time.

I will be starting the Youth Cafe up again on Friday, although I will be taking a back seat more and more and it will begin to be run by the older youth, I am only attending 5 times before Christmas, I will be on the end of the phone on the other occasions. I want to spend some time getting a new widweek project up and running, I will explain more on another occasion. Because of this I will be stepping back from Sunday evening stuff, so Tanya and I have a definite night for ourselves.

Tanya and I really want to start pushing for street pastors in Diss, this is already starting to show some encouraging signs.
Something else that takes up time, yet something I am very pleased about, are more oppurtunities to speak, there are also some learning oppurtunities and some community work to be getting on with.

I really want to enjoy being busy, to do so, I need to be more organised and put the right things first. Time will tell.

Back Again

I am back, broadband sorted, thanks to the lovely people at BT, I got a nice package, which is cheaper than virgins and I get BT vision, which I have to be careful does not become my new idol, TV on demand is wonderful and addictive. I also get ESPN, which means that on Saturday I was able to watch Liverpool beating West Ham.

As mentioned in my last post, I am now a father of 4, although we have changed the spelling of her name, it is now Vitoria Arianna. She is great, healthy and the best sleeper yet, Tanya is doing good, we are both tired and trying to be aware we are both tired, which is hard, I was a bit of an angry man a couple of weeks a go, I am getting over myself.

The other kids are doing good, although Morgan has had a rough start at school, things are starting to settle down, with his inclusion in the rugby team and some other activities helping. He did have a great and busy summer, which I was really thankful to God for, he needed it, he now has to stay focused. Mason is doing good, in a new football team, mentioned in the newspaper last week, so we are very proud. We are trying to deal with some issues with our boys at the moment, which is challenging, just trying to get them to think more and to be more positive in everything. Turaya is great, enjoying playschool, although the first week of our new arrival, she was very emotional, now she is back enjoying herself.

We should be moving soon and there are lots of things to start, as always, especially if you work with youth, September is busy and the time to start new things, I will share more another time.

We are still without a car, although we have the use of one most of the time, I do have a concern that one family is helping all the time, and we do need something more permanent and bigger, we will keep praying.

I do feel on the brink of once more breaking through, of taking another step up. After being pruned back for so long, I feel shoots starting to grow.