A Warm House

Not just a warm house, but a warm garden on Friday evening which helped make for a fab time at the BBQ. Thanks to lovely neighbours for lending us their super-duper gas BBQ. Great to see lots of friends, both old and new.

I'm afraid that there isn't much else to write about at the moment, tho' I want to keep blogging fairly often so that I can keep track of what's happening as much as anything else.

I've met some really good people this week, including the director and some of the staff at the local YMCA. A really good crew, I'm looking forward to getting to know some of them better, especially as one of them has promised to show me the best chippie in Hanley on Thursday.

Preached today at a Sunday service at St Mark's for the first time. Seemed to go down OK (on the sermon blog if you fancy a read). Weirdly for me, for the first time ever for me audibility appears to have been a bit of an issue. Maybe need to so a bit of work on the old voice projection.

Enough stream of conciousness I think, time for tea.

The first week

So we've all been here all week now. It's still a bit unreal as the kids are out of school so finding a "normal" rhythm of life is still a way off I think. Liz and the kids have been out and about, finding the library and museum. Tabitha and Nathaniel both got books out, and Tabitha got a book with a cardboard model of a castle to build from the museum. Photos to follow, if it ever gets finished :-)

I've been getting more stuck into parish life. I have now worn my new frocks. Photos to be avoided. I've also helped lead a funeral which wasn't as traumatic as I thought it might be. Also been buzzing around meeting and chatting with people who've lived and worked in the communities around here for a while. There are some real opportunities and challenges and I've just been getting more excited about what God's got for us here.

Looking forward to our house warming next week. The neighbours are going to bring their big gas bbq round and we're going to have a blast.

Rollercoasters

We got back last night from New Wine, Newark. It was a bit of a roller coaster ride, but with more ups than downs. Highs included seeing many people healed, having the privilege of preaching to some of the kids workers and praying with them, seeing God working in their lives.

We spent the mornings in sessions led by a team from the Message Trust. These guys have moved onto some of the toughest estates in Manchester and are living there, living out Jesus teaching, and are seeing lives changed and people come to faith. Their example is inspirational. We were especially moved by the songs that they have written that provide a way to worship and to cry out for God to come and do more, to change more lives, to break through.

Liz's health was a bit iffy through the week, which is tough when there is so much healing going on around. Even this, though, was a source of encouragement. Through the week we kept on praying and the symptoms would subside and she would be able to carry on. On the last evening, one of the New Wine leadership team prayed for her. Although there was no physical healing, Liz had a sense of God saying that she has not been abandoned or forgotten. God is with her, strengthening her as we explore what the next stage of our ministry in Stoke is going to look like.

It was fab to meet up with, and spend time with so many friends from St John's and other places. We have a hope and expectation that next year we will have new friends in Stoke that we will have a similarly great time with.