Emergency Stops and Squirrel Drops (dead)

A hearty 'Good Day' to you, welcome to yet another wonderful post. I've entered week 10 of Eastbourne, so naturally this is the 7th weekly blog.

The pictures this week are very animal related. The first is the house-cat (Kodak) licking the ears of the house-dog (Sophie). This is a favourite past-time of these two and makes me laugh every time. The second is not so funny, but it is still a dead squirrel winking at you. I found it in a local park so whipped out my camera-phone. This is where I'm going to sound fairly geriatric; it's pretty awesome having a camera my phone! I know it's standard these days, but until recently I've been back to 1999 (where a camera on a phone was seen as witchcraft) with my Nokia 3310. As a photography enthusiast, I love having a handy little camera with me at all times, rather than lumping a big ol' DSLR around.

MY WEEK.
I'm struggling to remember all the things I've done in the past seven days. Every single day I've written a diary entry (a mini blog on paper for those under 15) at the end of each day. Somehow, I've managed to forget to do it. I haven't done it for 11 days and I don't think I have the memory or the time to catch up and now I'm wondering whether to start again, ignoring the last week and a half. Either way, without being able to look back on my diary, I'm struggling to remember all the things I've done in the past seven days. I have been on the trains five times to various places near and far this week. My last journey (back from Southampton yesterday) was an interesting one. I got on the train. Then a hundred or so German kids climbed aboard. They were the same German kids that were at the cinema a few weeks ago (Julie and Julia - 8/10 for the feel-good factor). As we approached Lewes one of the boys next to me (I was stood by the loos with my bike) pressed the big red button and the train came to a sudden halt. He looked like a good kid and went as red as the button he so annoyingly pressed. A rather irritated guard came and reset it and off we went. As we approached Eastbourne Station a toddler in his pushchair the other side of me was obviously intrigued by the button. He lunged for it, his mother screamed "NO, DON'T PUSH IT!!" Too late. Metres from the station we came to a halt agin.

Diocesan Synod Meeting. If you don't know what this is, it's like a PCC meeting x 100. If you don't know what a PCC meeting is, lucky you. So this Diocesan Synod Meeting is a gathering of several hundred vicars and bishops in Sussex. Incredibly dull. Let me just emphasise the 'incredibly'. So I was attending with one of the girls from the YES Scheme as we were going to chat about what it is that we're doing this year on the scheme. The talk went well, and we got some applause. I love the applause from these guys. Hundreds of vicars all seem to look the same (black suit, dog collar, brown hair, slight bald patch starting up and glasses) and they laugh like an army of vikings. It was a mighty HAR-HAR-HARRR! It was the only thing that brought me through that meeting.

I'm off to Youthwork: The Conference this weekend (which is conveniently in Eastbourne) to hear how to do the job properly. Should be good, I know a lot of people going, including some from Littlehampton (cheer if that's you!) Also coming up is the start of Thirst, the new afterschool club I've started. It's been advertised to over 1000 children, so we have no idea how many are going to turn up. Please be praying for that.

"Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon. Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you."

Phillipians 4: 2-9

I look forward to speaking to you again soon,
Mikey x