Murray, Whisky, and the Year Just Gone

It's a quarter to midnight on Monday 30 June.  I'm sitting in my lounge watching Andy Murray's incredible comeback against Gasquet, whisky in hand, Steve Carter playing Football manager on the other sofa, and I begin to contemplate the past year.

It took me a while to realise that the year at LST had ended.  It was a good few hours after I got home from Graduation that I realised that there are some people that I will not see again for a very, very long time.  The oddness has been extended in that I live with a number of graduates now.  They are looking for jobs - looking forward to marriage - looking for houses to rent or buy.  A number of things that seem a long way off for me as yet.  But a year is only 365 days, and then I will have graduated.

And I think it is this realisation that is the most shocking - I have to be thinking about my long term future soon... very soon.  My time at LST is nearly over.  

There have been some highlights this year:

• Freshers week
• 24/7 Prayer week
• Spending my Easter Vac in India
• Crazy juggling ball wars 
• Holidaying in Cornwall over New Year 
• Having a lounge
• Successfully passing exams and assignments
• Forming part of the new Student Committee
• Committee Coy Carp
• Committee Weekend Away
• Late night library sessions
• Early morning prayer sessions
• God's faithfulness.  Unfailing, unmoving faithfulness.

It's been a good year.  It's had challenges and hard times.  But the overwhelming impression that I and many others are left with is that it has been a year where God has proven his faithfulness again, and again, and again.

For that, we offer praise.

Goodbye Guys.

India Diaries Have Moved

I have moved my blogging about my trip to India to another location, in order to keep it together as a coherent whole.

India's Annex

Do have a read.  It will soon be completed, now that my term at London School of Theology has finished!

Flying Away

At this moment in time, I am eating jam on toast and drinking Lady Grey tea in an odd degree of calm... For in 40 minutes I will be leaving my Northwood home to commence my approx. 18 hour journey to Dehradun, India.  

I am staying with a family and doing some work with them, as well as just experiencing the country. Please pray, that I may not get ill, that I may know God's grace and peace.  

I will hopefully be putting up a record of my travels on this blog - so do keep checking!

See you all soon!

A Compendium of Thoughts

A numbers of thoughts have been thought in my mind of late... my intention here is to jot them down briefly, in order to return to them later - when I may more fully dwell on them so as to do justice to both your readership and the thoughts themselves.

Barak Obama has become increasingly interesting when it comes to his seemingly erratic policies and beliefs.

Much of the outworking of theology depends upon language.

There is never enough time to fully do all that we wish to do... and indeed, we must fit ourselves into God's time - not insist on time fitting our own, often misguided and messy, lives.

Our society is generally lazy. It is very interesting reading critiques of our culture.

Integrity and holiness are hugely important... like you wouldn't believe.

Don't Steal Music.

Check this article out...

The Pirate

Has piracy become an acceptable sin among Christians?  Poignant question from Justin Taylor.

Keep it in mind...

A quote found on my pastors blog, originally from John Piper's blog.

Something worth keeping at the fore for trainee theologians like myself.


“You can be so interested in great theological and intellectual and philosophical problems that you tend to forget that you are going to die.”

-Martin Lloyd-Jones, Preaching and Preachers, p. 193.

Brighton and Bombs.

So we leave Christmas alone for another 363 days (I was told this over text today...certainly not something I have worked out myself).

Today I was deep in thought as I wandered around Brighton city centre attempting the strictly female pass time, shopping. I say this as an indictment of men...we are awful at shopping. I guess there are those who enjoy busy streets, rude people, rushed sales assistants (the ones I encountered today were nice, helpful and slightly witty - I was taken aback), cold weather and general mania that surrounds January sale-time. But most of us cannot stand it. Women on the other hand, seem to thrive in these situations.

I'm exaggerating and stereotyping, I know.

I was struck by the foolishness of rushing around like bees buying things that we don't need and will likely replace within 6 months. I was glad of this thought, I saved me from spending on silly things.

I needed new shoes. You don't know how much joy it has given me writing that sentence in the tense that I did. Usually what happens when I shop for something I need is that I flitter away my money on things I don't need, then never end up "finding" or "buying" the one thing I really needed...the singular reason why I even went shopping in the first place. So I got some new shoes. If I have my way, I'm never going shoe shopping again.

I don't know how realistic this is.

So I was on the train towards Brighton. And there was a group of 16/17 year olds discussing things that 16/17 year olds talk about. It struck me that they thought that they were the first people to talk about such things (the topic of conversation was tatoos). Then it struck me that when I was that age, my group of friends thought we were the first people to be discovering these types of things.

Oh, the innocence and foolishness of youth.

The other thing that amused me whilst on the train was a man making awful jokes behind me. They went like this:

"People are dying to get into there." (As we pass a cementary).
(Shortly after), "I knew my girlfriend was a serial killer when she said she could murder a bowl of cornflakes."

They were met with slight sniggers by the lady next to him, who quickly changed the subject. I think if I didn't think it'd be rude, I'd have laughed heartily most of the way to Brighton.

In more serious news, Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated. BBC has coverage here. Pray for Pakistan, they need Jesus Christ.

The reports are that Islamic extremists are responsible for this suicide attack, which also killed 15 or so others. It is another reminder that evil still grips this world. But it will not prevail. And as Christians we have a battle to fight, but not with bombs and guns. I hope we remember that when the time comes. Let's stand on Christ, our solid rock in times of trouble.

Volf on giving.

"It will not help much if we simply remind ourselves: God gives to the ungrateful, and so should we. But it will help if we remember that it's God who gives when we give. For then we need to deflect graditude that comes to us anyway. We are not its proper addressees. God is. And if we are convinced that gratitude doesn't properly belong to us, then ingratitude doesn't touch us. We are not disrespected by ingratitude; our pride is not injured. The ingratitude of recipients wrongs not us but the gift-giving God - the God whose goodness 'gladly loses its good deed on the unthankful'(Luther). And so we continue to give, even to the ungrateful."

--From 'Free of Charge' by Miroslav Volf.

A lesson I'm learning. Profound.

Ten

I like lists...

I attempted to make a list of my favourite albums from this year. But I don't like most modern music, so I didn't actually have ten albums that were released this year. Instead, here is a list of my favouite ten albums that I have bought this year. They are in no order.

Tom McRae - Tom McRae
Mutemath - Mutemath
Iron & Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead
Mae - The Everglow
Hot Chip - The Warning
Radiohead - In Rainbows
Ryan Adams - Love Is Hell
The Reindeer Section - Son Of Evil Reindeer
Editors - An End Has A Start