Amazed & Confused

Charlotte's Leaving Lunch

 

Today was bittersweet.  My beautiful best friend Charlotte is embarking on a new adventure in her life as she ends her six years working within 24-7 Prayer.  Many of the friends she's worked alongside made their way to London today to celebrate all she's brought to our community.

Charlotte is unique. All who have met her will agree that God went to town when making this vivacious, compassionate, creative force of nature.  Technically she's been looking after the resources and merchandise of 24-7 Prayer but what she's brought to the community is so much more.  She may be best known for her impacting fashion, fiery personality and passion, but she will be most missed for the hundreds of unseen conversations Charlotte has with anyone who looked like they needed someone to lean on, for her (seemingly) endless energy when all around are flagging and her willingness to go more than the extra mile to help.  I am so proud of her but feel quite torn.  On the one hand I know that what she's moving into will be fantastic for her but on the other hand Lottie and I have been partners in crime for so long it feels a little lonely to be a part of 24-7 Prayer without her.  It's silly because I more than anyone else will see her all the time and we will walk through life together whether we work in the same place or not, but this is truly the end of an era.  I will greatly miss her and only as she leaving do I realise the extent to which I have leaned on her in the last few years.  xc

Art or Prayer? Who knows?

 

Today (with more than a little help from some friends) I'm towing a bright red caravan into a local Secondary School playground.  Why?  Well we've been invited by the school's Religious Education department to take part in their annual arts festival.  The caravan and part of the playground surrounding it will host creative prayer stations that invite students to use pens, paint, paper, fabric, installations, film, sound and thought to express themselves to God.  I have no idea how many of the students who wander through would call themselves Christians but I've found prayer to be an amazing way for people to explore faith in Jesus in a non-threatening way.  I'll be taking lots of photos of how the space develops as each year group interacts with it and will endeavour to write a few posts here to let you know how it's going.  If this whole thing sounds like a very bizarre thing to be doing with my week then why not check out this video about the 24-7 Prayer movement that has inspired this week's playground experiment. xc

Picnicking in Priory Park

Forget football, the joy bringing experience of today for me was undoubtably the picnic I shared with many friends (and many babies!) in Priory Park.  In anticipation of this week's prayer zone at Bishop Luffa school I broke out my Olympus SLR to give it a trial run.   Check out my facebook profile if you'd like to see the album in full but the cliff notes would summarise it as sunshine, laughter, foxy ladies and lots of babies.  Ooo, that's hard to say ten times fast, "foxy ladies, lots of babies", "foxy ladies, lots of babies", "foxy ladies, lots of babies"... I am very blessed to have such lovely friends and live in a very beautiful country... even if we can't seem to play football as well as we theoretically should do. xc 

Home to see Dad

 

This morning I woke up in the house I spent most of the 90s in.  My parents home in Grendon, Northamptonshire is one of the most restful places on planet earth for me.  I sleep fantastically every time  I visit (there's probably something subconscious about being home, safe and sound, coupled with black out blinds in bedrooms and the reality that their sleepy little village offers little in the way of noise pollution).  It's a wonderful blessing when you're crashing after a rather long and hot day of driving the M25 and playing at a wedding with The DeLoreans.  However it wasn't the peace and quiet or even the shorter journey to my parents place than to Chi that brought us to Grendon last night... as I woke up this morning I wasn't just grateful for rest but for my Dad...

Today is my father's 57th Birthday and all of his children made it home with presents in hand to sample the masterpiece that is Mum's fry up and to celebrate.  Lisa, Adam and I are very blessed to have parents who love each other and love us deeply.  I know I owe them a great deal.  My Dad is an inspiration to me.  In the years to come I hope I can be half the parent to my children that he has been to us.  I have never doubted his love, I am often in awe of the strength of his conviction and integrity, and I am very proud of him.  As we talked and laughed and ate around the dining table this brunch-time I wished I could have stayed much, much longer.  (No-one told me that age and responsibility brings busyness.)  I need to get better at making time when there's no occasion or agenda to go and hang out.  There's little better than a bear hug from Dad or a good natter with Mum over a cup of tea.  As Dad enters his 58th year I shall have to make an effort... xc

Schools, Slavery and the G8 Summit

Each week someone from 24-7 Prayer puts together a little video summary of the latest news and testimonies from the movement.  This week it's me.  Since I started contributing to this little YouTube project I've been kind of fascinated/disconcerted by how much my face moves when I talk. This week I think I'm getting stiller... this is progress... it's off putting when you're nostrils are talking as much as your mouth.  If you're of the Jesus persuasion check out today's 24-7 Rewind video for news on prayer spaces in UK schools, praying for the abolition of slavery in this decade, praying for justice at the G8 summit and Magnify: 24-7 Prayer's International celebration this September in Edinburgh, Scotland.

I'm in

  

I’m very blessed to do something I love so much… Sometimes I take it for granted; surely everyone earns their living doing the thing they’d do for free if they ever won the lottery? Yesterday as I sat in a lovely café in Guildford talking about the Balkans, Scotland, Magnify: the 24-7 Prayer International Gathering this September and how we keep hold of the vision and invest in leadership within the movement, I was struck again at how blessed I was to be there. How did a dance student from a tiny town on the south coast of England get to learn so much from totally amazing people all round the world? Well the answer to that is obviously that God thought I’d be better at this than at being a secondary school maths and dance teacher (the career I was toying with the idea of before two hours in a prayer room changed the course of my life). I am grateful. There’s a 24-7 film, you can watch it here, about what 24-7 Prayer is (a surprisingly difficult question to answer!) and my favourite part is where everyone talks about how much God has messed up their life plan through it. As I sat talking, praying and laughing with good friends yesterday I had a moment between God and myself where I said… “For as long as you want me here I’m in. I can’t believe you let me do this… but count me in.” It’s been ten years of 24-7 prayer, mission, justice and community and I hope there are ten more. I am very grateful today… despite my to-do list… xc

The magic of words...

I've notice a direct correlation between the amount I read and the rising desire to write.  Could my resurgence in blogging passion correspond with five fabulous books I've read recently?  Scrap that... make it six.  It's a rare and precious thing the well written word.  A good book is so much more than a collection of words; with the first crack of the spine and the subtle smell of papery promise there's a world as lucid in my mind as the one that waits for me to close the book... Hmmm I've definitely caught the bug.  From Holden Caufield's disillusioned musings to Big Jim Rennie's nefarious ambition  I've been gripped by characters, places and ideas.  From the life and uncompromising mission of Hudson Taylor to the roller coaster of the apostles as the first expressions of the Christian community sprang up around Jerusalem.  As one series after another that I do enjoy has come to a conclusion on my telly rather than wondering what will take it's place I'm gleefully (and yes that is a reference) turning it off to curl up with my latest adventure.  If only I had more time... xc

Foxy Four Eyes

 

I can't quite remember how old I was when I was given my first pair of spectacles. I know I was young, maybe five... (she who must be obeyed is welcome to wade in with the answer in the comments).  I've never minded glasses though I did experience some rather unfortunate fashion faux pas during the 90s; it was a merciless decade to be a teenager and Timmy Mallet has a lot to answer for.  As an adult I tend to forget I'm wearing them and despite the usual set backs (mostly involving fogging lenses as I move from cold to hot or open an oven) I'm content as I am. Contacts freak me out, I can't touch eye balls, and laser surgery kind of terrifies me; is it true you can smell your eye cooking? So other than the long and pain staking process of choosing a new pair every few years I'm quite content with my assisted view of the world...

For Steve however it's a whole new adventure.

Yes my lovely husband has become slightly long sighted and for the first time in his life needs to some assistance to focus at a distance.  After a lot of trying on, exclaiming at the expense and judging what does and doesn't work with strong eyebrows, we hit upon the specs in the above photo.  I have to say I love them.  Rather handsome I think.  Steve is still adjusting to them and was heard exclaiming as he stumbled slightly that he was going to be as clumsy as me for a while. Cheeky.  Maybe he'll have a little more sympathy for the spatially challenged after the unique experience of adjusting to new lenses... xc

Starting/Re-starting...

 

I miss writing.  Over the last year the time and creative energy I used to funnel into this place I call my online home was sapped, squeezed, redirected... I miss you blog.  I'm sorry I have abandoned you. 

I thought seriously recently about shutting it down.  I'm a changeable person and frequently move from one thing to the next when something loses it's sparkle... it's allure... but I can't bring myself to do it.  A recent commenter found an old post about an Imogen Heap gig Steve and I took in a few years ago.  As I scanned back through what I had written I realised that I've lost something I want to retrieve.  I used to look at the world through a different lens.  It wasn't a wiser or necessarily more creative perspective... but it was more reflective and in the reflection more appreciative.  I liked that.

So... I'm making a start.  I'm clearing my blog debt (yes it would be amazing to talk about my incredible time in South Africa but you can read about it here), I'm wiping the slate clean, starting/re-starting from today.  No more crippling mental pressure to cover all the potential topics I've breezed passed in the last few months.  A new day, a new assault on my keyboard, a new journey of the mind... xc