I will wait for you

A friend of mine posted this on her blog the other day, and it resonated with me so much. If you had asked me ten years ago would I be married within the next ten years I would have answered yes. However here I am aged 23 (the age most christian girls are either married or almost married) and very much still single. This video helps me to remember that I am waiting for the man the God has prepared for me who's "wisdom will remind me of Solomons,your ability to lead will remind me of Moses, your faith will remind me of Abraham, your confidence in Gods Words will remind me of Daniel, your inspiration will remind me of Paul, your heart for God will remind me of David, your attention to detail will remind me of Noah, your integrity will remind me of Joseph, your ability to abandon your own will will remind me of the disciples, but your ability to love selflessly and unconditionally will remind me of Christ!" Yet if He has 'called me to a life of singleness my heart will be content with Him'

Home away from home

A couple of weeks ago now my mum and sister traveled across to see me for a few days before my sister flew back to Toronto. This was the first time either of them had been to the island and it was great to show them around so they could see where I live and work. We didn't do very much but went out for lunch each day, explored, went on walks and just spent time together. This will be the last time we will all be together before my sisters wedding next July. This meant that we spent a bit of time one afternoon looking at potential bridesmaid dresses in order for my sister to have some say in what I wear, the rest will have to be done using internet images or photos. It was great to have them here and it made it feel even more like this is where I am meant to be. It was a great few days and I was sad to see them go knowing it will be over a year till I see my sister again. I feel so grateful that we live in an age of skype, emails and facebook it makes keeping in contact with people so much easier than if we were in this situation even 10 years ago let alone 20 or more; its like having family with you even when they are not, like having home when you are away from home.

West Residential

One of the amazing things about the house that we live in is that we have many spare rooms which can house up to 30 guests. This means that we can have groups of young people to spend the weekend learning about God and just hanging out having fun. Last weekend we had 20 young people from the west of the Island staying with us for two nights. As we have been having so much great weather recently we had planned to be outside for most of the weekend, however two days before they all arrived we saw that the forecast was for solid rain all weekend. This meant some quick re-planning of activities and the cancellation of others but we were still happy with what we ending up doing. On the Saturday afternoon we embraced the rain setting up a slip-and-slide on the grass outside the house which was one of the highlights of the weekend. The forecast was proved wrong on the Sunday and the picnic went ahead as planned. Overall it was a great time as the young people got to know each other and God more. Over the next few weeks we have a few more residentials that are open to young people from all over the island, the house is never as alive as it is with 20 to 30 11-18's in it.

2nd May 2011

Today much of America rejoices, the worlds most wanted man is dead, the man who caused such hurt and pain is no more. When I first heard the news that osoma bin laden had been killed by an American operation my first instinct was relief. Relief that there is one less ‘bad’ person on this planet. But as the news reports continued I became greatful that I am English not American as I agree with many reporters that the taliban will retaliate, that its more about when and where than if and as America have taken full responsibility it would make sense for them to strike there.
However later in the day I read some of my friends comments on facebook and began to regret my own reaction to the days events. One commented that the scenes at ground zero where reminiscent of the scenes in the middle east on September 11th. One posted a story of a man whose father had been killed on 9/11 who said he only felt sadness at the announcement as his faith in God could not allow him to rejoice in any loss of life. Many others quoted Martin Luther King Jr saying simply ‘I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy’ this may not have been my first thought when I heard the news but it will be the one that stays with me.

29th April 2011

Today a country stopped to watch a man and a woman declare their love for each other, to promise to love each other for the rest of their lives and to face the world together. Not many couples get the attention that Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge got surrounding their wedding but it was a day that allowed the country to celebrate something good and true, and everyone loves and excuse for a party. The wedding itself was simply beautiful, and I use the word simple here as a major positive. Neither William or Kate appear to be people who like a lot of fuss but due to birth and love will have to face this their whole lives long. Both of their personalities seemed to come through the service and what happened during the rest of the day. The dress was very elegant, the trees inside the minster made it look like an outdoor wedding, having family take the main roles and young cousins and godchildren being bridesmaids and pageboys made it as normal as would be possible for this couple. We celebrated the wedding (even though the Queen is not the monarch of IOM nor will William ever be) by dressing up (well some of us did) and watching it on the TV, we decided this would be safer than watching it on the big screen incase the internet connection went down (very common occurrence in our house), ate scones and fairy cakes and just generally enjoyed having and extra day off.