Rediscovering the things you like is always a pleasant experience, which can be accompanied by a little dose of regret. The reason for this is that it reminds you of the time wasted on doing so many other useless things while you could have been having the time of your life and being built up at the same time. Nature is so taken for granted. Getting in touch with nature is the most fulfilling phenomenon for me, but believing that it is going nowhere and there's always plenty of time to do that so other time, I end up always putting things before it, losing a part of me...
In the past four years I have not really been camping anymore overnight, but I finally have found a bunch of fellas who are up for the adventure and don't mind waking up with the possibility of having an ant crawling up their nose...
So this in a sense is the second installment to the stag night's adventure. Churchwood is the perfect spot for campfire, for fun and for sleeping in the open, we decided to go back there and that's what we did last night! Just the three of us, me, Pat (my new housemate, who rocks!) and Jimbo (my bandmate, who rocks!). The flora of the forest had grown back and overgrown in some places, making it slightly more difficult to get through but in the end we were victorious. The only person who had anything really to complain about was Patrik, who had thought it a good idea to wear sandals in the wild; thorned bushes' arguments left nothing to say but "OUCH!" and "Aah, that's not cool!", as they tore across his feet's skin. Patrik kept his cool anyway, as a strong Fin who has been in the army does and after much hacking and slashing, we ceremonially shook the plants off our walking sticks and sat down to rest in the place we call our home.
Building the fire was a fairly easy task, thanks to the mysterious people who have not been seen having piled up fantastic wood ages ago, which was good to go right onto our fire and to the big-ass matches I have, so within minutes, we had a roaring bonfire with gigantic logs on it too!
The discoveries were mainly in the food and drinks we had and Prosciutto Maremmano is definitely better after a nice roasting on the end of a skewer. I also found out that Koskenkorva is better to be drunk by the swig rather than the way you'd drink Limoncello, one sip at a time.
It was a time of sharing and fun and interestingly poetic texting, we ate, drank (rather abundantly) and listened to chilled music by the fire, really being brothers, talking about our thoughts and fears, problems and joys. God blessed us immensely with the weather and with the time spent together.
This next day, the thoughts are many and the yawns are too (the sun woke us up at 4:30 in the morning), but these (the thoughts, not the yawns) will have to wait for another blog, because of the yawns being too many, but let me challenge you with a question:
what does the word Church mean to you?...
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Monday, July 11, 2005
Friday, July 08, 2005
Poverty... But not the real one
Different experience, new experience. I never expected it would be this way... Moving into a new life, completely different to the one lived in the past three years and the absolute opposite to what I had lived before!
Relative poverty is what we can call it. That's one of the phrases used in sociology and economics to discuss who is really poor and who is not. When you haven't got enough money to buy a new mobile phone every six months, buy CDs and DVDs every month, wear designer clothes and go partying every week, you are poor... Or are you? When one looks at the situation of poor people in the rest of the world, what we don't know, what we don't see, what we don't want to see, what we don't care about!... well, that's quite a different perception of life.
Right now, I don't know if I have enough to pay rent, I don't think I could make it to the end of the month by my own means, but you know what? I'm not living on my own means... Jehovah Jireh is the rock on which I stand, Yahweh Yeshouah is the hand that holds me firm. The Lord is my Provider and the Lord is my Saviour, He has shown it many times already in the past AND this week and the most amazing thing is the people that surround me and care for me...
I'll tell you what I've got. I've got a lovely home to go back to in the evening, I've got an amazing friend who lives with me and cares for me, I've had three meals a day every day this week (I think!), I've got the Church, which cares and supports me and I've got a purpose in life! Serving God by serving the Church and in it the Youth... Now that doesn't sound so poor to me! Even though I'm looking for a job (not much yet though, haven't had the time!), I have bill problems with the previous house in which I lived, my bike got a puncture as I was walking it to the office, all these things are meaningless compared with the amazing truth and hope I hold inside of me: Jesus Christ is my Saviour and He will not let me fall!
One week of this seems difficult, but the Lord brings stability and security. He himself will redeem His people. (Psalm 130:8)
I join in the psalmist in saying "Trust in the Lord", because if you can't trust in God, who can you trust in? And whilst other people you cannot trust, the Lord's promises are there and hold true. We hope in what we do not see, because what is not seen is eternal, while what we see is finite. A great example is seen in the writer of Hebrews who mentions the Fathers of Faith who held on to the promises of God in the Old Testament.
Life may seem bleak and hopeless if we are faithless, but when you know the Lord, everything makes sense. I was thinking the other day, "would it be better to have loads of money and no faith or no money at all but have faith?" For a moment I was tempted to choose the first one, even though I am not a very material guy (I hope) , but reasoning with the Holy Spirit, the answer could not be anything but faith, because once the money runs out, there is nothing left, however, faith does not run out if it is true, the faith in our Father, our King, the Lover of our Hearts; this faith makes us rejoice for He will never let us down and He always gives us what we need to get by, and even more.
Enough
Chris Tomlin
You are my supply, my breath of life
Still more awesome than I know
You are my reward, worth living for
Still more awesome than I know
And all of You is more than enough for
All of me for every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough
You're my sacrifice of greatest price
Still more awesome than I know
You're my coming King, you are everything
Still more awesome than I know
And all of You is more than enough for
All of me for every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough
More than all I want, more than all I need
You are more than enough for me
More than all I know, more than all I can see
You are more than enough for me
Relative poverty is what we can call it. That's one of the phrases used in sociology and economics to discuss who is really poor and who is not. When you haven't got enough money to buy a new mobile phone every six months, buy CDs and DVDs every month, wear designer clothes and go partying every week, you are poor... Or are you? When one looks at the situation of poor people in the rest of the world, what we don't know, what we don't see, what we don't want to see, what we don't care about!... well, that's quite a different perception of life.
Right now, I don't know if I have enough to pay rent, I don't think I could make it to the end of the month by my own means, but you know what? I'm not living on my own means... Jehovah Jireh is the rock on which I stand, Yahweh Yeshouah is the hand that holds me firm. The Lord is my Provider and the Lord is my Saviour, He has shown it many times already in the past AND this week and the most amazing thing is the people that surround me and care for me...
I'll tell you what I've got. I've got a lovely home to go back to in the evening, I've got an amazing friend who lives with me and cares for me, I've had three meals a day every day this week (I think!), I've got the Church, which cares and supports me and I've got a purpose in life! Serving God by serving the Church and in it the Youth... Now that doesn't sound so poor to me! Even though I'm looking for a job (not much yet though, haven't had the time!), I have bill problems with the previous house in which I lived, my bike got a puncture as I was walking it to the office, all these things are meaningless compared with the amazing truth and hope I hold inside of me: Jesus Christ is my Saviour and He will not let me fall!
One week of this seems difficult, but the Lord brings stability and security. He himself will redeem His people. (Psalm 130:8)
I join in the psalmist in saying "Trust in the Lord", because if you can't trust in God, who can you trust in? And whilst other people you cannot trust, the Lord's promises are there and hold true. We hope in what we do not see, because what is not seen is eternal, while what we see is finite. A great example is seen in the writer of Hebrews who mentions the Fathers of Faith who held on to the promises of God in the Old Testament.
Life may seem bleak and hopeless if we are faithless, but when you know the Lord, everything makes sense. I was thinking the other day, "would it be better to have loads of money and no faith or no money at all but have faith?" For a moment I was tempted to choose the first one, even though I am not a very material guy (I hope) , but reasoning with the Holy Spirit, the answer could not be anything but faith, because once the money runs out, there is nothing left, however, faith does not run out if it is true, the faith in our Father, our King, the Lover of our Hearts; this faith makes us rejoice for He will never let us down and He always gives us what we need to get by, and even more.
Enough
Chris Tomlin
You are my supply, my breath of life
Still more awesome than I know
You are my reward, worth living for
Still more awesome than I know
And all of You is more than enough for
All of me for every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough
You're my sacrifice of greatest price
Still more awesome than I know
You're my coming King, you are everything
Still more awesome than I know
And all of You is more than enough for
All of me for every thirst and every need
You satisfy me with Your love
And all I have in You is more than enough
More than all I want, more than all I need
You are more than enough for me
More than all I know, more than all I can see
You are more than enough for me
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