The Calm Before the Storm

Now to me, that looks like a penguin. No one else could see this.

Distribution letters galore!

Jonah and the Whale craft prototype for holiday club. Great fun!

Things get political in the carnivorous areas of Eastbourne!

"My dinner" I said to the checkout person. By her grunt, I assumed she was dead to the world. In reality, it's about two weeks worth of tuck for my youth.

I don't even know what to say to that.

May is looking to be a storm. Not a lovely American "It'll be a storm!", but a solid British "Sigh. It's going to be a storm." May will welcome in the likes of 9 assemblies, 19 talks, a BBC Radio interview, my photography exhibition, May Camp (and all her preparations), all my usual commitments and leaves me with 41 hours to finish the Holiday Club preparations. So it's looking to be a storm. It's going to be fun and hopefully fruitful, but also tiring and stressful. So a calm before the storm would be lovely. But I think it must have already been and gone unnoticed. Probably sometime in July 2009.

It has been a busy year, but it's been brilliant fun! The year seems to be building up to June. I've had loads to do all year, but not this much coming up. June sees the holiday club that I'm putting on with the help of some amazing people. By the end of the holiday club, I will have just over a month left only. This will give me a time to tie loose ends and get ready to pass on the torch to the next youth worker at St. Elisabeth's. How this person has come to take over is quite an amazing story of God's intervention, but that's a tale for them to tell. It's reassuring to know that there will be someone there when I've gone.

Impact, the youth group I run, has been building up in size, fellowship and discipleship since September. It's been fantastic to see this group turn from a group of individuals to a group of friends and have become stronger in faith. Since March however, we've started losing people for different reasons. It's a struggle, as discussions are limited and games are difficult. Hopefully it's just a bump on the road!

The holiday club will be called Seriously Awesome Animals and we will be looking at some amazing creatures and who made them. I've got 9 promotional assemblies this month, including 3 in a school that wouldn't usually.

I may not have a chance to blog until June, but we'll see how it goes.

Here's something I stumbled across yesterday that struck a chord with me, maybe it will to you to.

"God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

James 4:6

Have a think about it and see what it means to you. God can use the same sentence in many different ways for each person who's willing to accept it, because He's clever like that!

Please be praying (now might be a good time to start if you don't already!) for -

• Me. Pray that I keep my focus on God and that I don't become too stressed.
• The schools that are letting me talk to their children.
• The children and families.
• Those going to May Camp, that they will have a really blessed time that will change them.
• The youth group, which is fighting for survival at the moment.
• Those people reading my blog who are interested in this faith that they're reading about! Pray that they act on their interest!

Thank you!

Mikey.

The Original King

The photos have made a glorious and triumphant comeback! I still haven't put India ones up yet as I'm in the process of editing at the moment. It is a long and painful procedure that usually stops me going to bed until the early the following day. But tonight, not five minutes ago, disaster struck. I go to begin another night shift in my personal editing suite (my Mac in my room) and find that all of the images that I have already edited have gone back to their original form! I've put an example of what an original photo looks like, and what an edited photo looks like.

So, I guess the work's not up yet! But, in some weird yet wonderful way, I find it quite therapeutic. But not tonight. I'm too devastated. What a drama queen I am. Plus, I'm planning on watching the sunrise on Beachy Head in the morning. I find that the morning is usually the best time to watch the sunrise.

So the photos that have made it onto your screens, are as follows:

1. Fidget the cat with the glow-in-the-dark Mother Teresa I got Dad from India.
2. My stitches. It doesn't look it, but there are six of them! Arrr...
3. The original
4. The edited

Talking of Mother Teresa, I found this quaint little statue in a shop that my team and I christened the 'Mother Shop'. It boasted to having all things Teresa - from MT Bibles to MT camera rolls, from MT Rosary beads to MT cold drinks. In fact, I will show you a couple more photos from our favourite shop.

Quite incredible.

I think I'll move on from India and photos now. I've been back to reality for a week now, it could easily have been a month and I wouldn't have noticed. I've been keeping in touch with my team and we all miss each other, but apart from that it has been back to business as usual here in the Bourne. This time coming up to Easter (some may wish to call it Lent) has been very similar to the time coming up to Christmas (some may wish to call it Advent) in terms of work. It's a mix of being busy with some things, and twiddling my thumbs with other things. This week in particular, nearly all my clubs have come to a close for the Easter break. The schools have ended, so my usefulness there is pretty thin. Yet, I've had some extra things than I would usually have due to it being Easter-time and all. As an example, I'm showing the film Passion of the Christ tomorrow night (Good Friday) with a reflection and a time of prayer. So I've had to publicise and prepare the reflection. I doubt we will have many people, but I don't see that as a problem. If I end up on my own, so be it! But on Sunday, I get to have a week off and return to my motherland of Littlehampton!

As a Christian, Easter has always been more than just chocolate to me (though I did eat an Easter Egg that I had bought for someone else yesterday. I'm not saying whose.) But this year, I have felt sad at the punishment Jesus took for me for the first time ever. I haven't just felt sad, it's almost been grief. If you don't know Jesus, this will make no sense to you. And maybe you do know Jesus, but have never felt this way before then that is fine as well. I have loved Jesus and accepted him as my saviour for many years now, but for some reason I have never felt saddened by his sacrifice before. I'm hoping that come Easter Day, my sadness will be turned into joy! I haven't been a constant moper for the last few weeks, it's just when I read it in the Bible or spend some time just thinking about that amazing thing. Is it not just incredible that Jesus didn't just die. He died as a mission, a mission which he accepted for me and for you. But the thing that makes this death different to others is the grave.

You can go to Windsor Castle to see King Henry VIII's [big] grave.

You can go to Graceland to see the grave of Elvis Presley.

You can't go see the grave of Jesus, the original King. There were no bones to bury, no ashes to be scattered. Why? Because on the third day, Jesus was risen!

Happy Easter!

'When the army officer who was standing in front of the cross saw what happened when Jesus died, he said "This man really was the Son of God!"'

Matthew 27:54