Today we play Millwall at home; traditionally a fixture where emotions run high!
We desperately need to win toay to keep our hopes of continued Championship status.
I’m hoping for a 2-0 Gills victory!

Following on from yesterdays post, those of you who are Narnia lovers and a fan of CS Lewis will find Into the Wardrobe, Narnia Web and Welcome to Narnia great websites – was I the only person in the universe not to know that Walden Media and Disney are making Narnia films, the first to be released in December?

Today just simple things and I fear I am writing just for the sake of writing. I will have to stop next week, anyhow, as we will be on holiday with no internet access. I may well suffer separation syndrome from my laptop.

Today, I have not seen God in any special way – just in normal everyday naturey stuff. I particularly watched 2 magpies, which I often do. They were inseparable and were always in calling distance of each other, even if they could not see each other. Regularly they would get together before flying off again.

This kind of reminded me that God and I are inseparable. I may not see him or feel his presence, but he is there anyway.

I found this great quote from CS Lewis on Maggi’s blog today. I had not seen it before and it is a great quote:

Everyone has warned me not to tell you what I am going to tell you…They all say “the ordinary reader does not want Theology; give him plain practical religion.” I have rejected their advice. I do not think the ordinary reader is such a fool. Theology means “the science of God,” and I think any man who wants to think about God at all would like to have the clearest and most accurate ideas about Him which are available. You are not children: why should you be treated like children? Theology is practical. Everyone reads, everyone hears things discussed. Consequently, if you do not listen to Theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. It will mean that you have a lot of wrong ones—bad, muddled, out-of-date ideas. For a great many of the ideas about God which are trotted out as novelties today, are simply the ones which real Theologians tried centuries ago and rejected. To believe in the popular religion of modern England (or America) is retrogression—like believing the earth is flat.
C S Lewis, Mere Christianity, 135-136

One of the things that worries me about lots (not all!) of Christians today is the opinion that theology is boring, a waste of time and should be left to ‘theologians’ or vicars.

That worries me as it implies that people are gaining their knowledge of God ‘second hand’. They trust their church leader or their more mature Christian friends, neither being a bad thing I might add, to present them with the ‘correct’ image of God. I belive, though, that it is vital that we look and discover for ourselves. Just accepting what others say can lead us to believing all sorts of weird and wonderful things.

CS Lewis says if you do not listen to Theology, that will not mean that you have no ideas about God. If we do not personally have any ideas about God how do we make him known to our communities? If we don’t make him known, how will they hear …

As a youth worker I have had countless conversations with young people who have been confused and basically needed to adopt their faith and stop living off their parents relationship with God. In fact I had an email conversation with a friend in her 20’s only yesterday who is starting to think that maybe she has not developed her own faith yet and so is wondering what to do about it.

Lets get into theology – indulge in it over Lent – so that we can have the clearest and most accurate ideas about Him which are available.

I joined the Solent YFC crew for breakfast in Portsmouth this morning. I would like to be able to say I saw God in the early morning light as the world woke up around me, but sadly I will have to be honest and say I could not.

I think today I have experienced God in the new friendships I have with Martin, Carly and Ed. They are highly valued an their acceptance and trust of me as a friend is indicative of God’s nature, but despite that I think I have squeezed God out today.

I had four hours in the car and loads of opportunity to indulge in God’s presence. In all honesty, though, I did not feel up to it and listening to Moyles on the radio in the morning and Moorcheeba on CD in the afternoon – it just said a bit more about where I am at today.

When I got home I felt a little guilty about my lost opportunity. Four hours of conversation and life changing encounter with The Creator that I had just thrown out the window, flushed down the loo or dumped in the bin.

It’s then that it hit me! There I was again having a go at myself and beating myself again up when I do not need to.

The best thing I like about really good friends is the value and comfortableness of silence. You kind of know the quality of the relationship by the ability to just sit in quiet together, or watch a film, eat a meal … whatever … without the need to feel it necessary to say something or do something. In fact, thinking, I know quite few people I can do that with.

Today I met with God, he was laughing at Chris Moyles’ take on life at the same time as me and listening and we were loving the beauty of Moorcheeba tracks together. We indulged in the physical presence of each other without the need for formal interaction. I quite like that thought.

I asked the question again – where was God today?

In a very simple way, he was in the surprise of Sarah coming home from lunch. I can’t remember the last time that just Sarah and myself had lunch together, alone at home.

It was nice and it was a surprise to see her.

It was particularly great to see her in the middle of an admin day where things I don’t really enjoy doing needed to be done and got off of my task list(I must stop putting things off!) and when I was expecting to see no-one until 3.30/4.00.

We have a God of surprises!

Today Lent starts.

For the past couple of years I have enjoyed reading the Grace Lent Blog and will also be dipping into this Lent Blog this year.

Lent is a time to contemplate – but I have ben thinking more on this indulgence idea. It seems to make more sense to me.

WE make a big thing of Christmas, with partiesand fun leading up to marking the birth of Christ. When it comes to remembering the resurrection, the single most amazing event this universe has ever experienced – we stop eating chocolate for 40 days! I don’t wish to sound dis-respectful, but surely that makes little sense! Should we not be getting excited as we look forwward to the second coming of Jesus?

Last year we marked St Hereberts Day on March 20th. It was an excuse to get friends around for a meal. The Bishop of Carlisle in thirteen hundred and something granted 40 days of indulgence to those who marked this saints day. That seemed to be a good reason to mark the day to me.

A few years ago I remember when the Gills won the play off final at Wembley. A group of us were camping in Dorset and we drove to Wembley and back. I remember the frustration and constraint many of us felt on the journey home as we all really wanted to be partying down the pub. It seemed false.

I think I probably need to research the whole ‘thing’ of Lent more but this kind of feels the same to me. As I look to Easter, as I dwell on the character of Jesus, as I think what he has domne for me, as I consider how I can develop my relationship I want to indulge, not abstain! Have I got it so incredibly wrong?

The other day I was out of order.
I wrote about hurt and pain from a friendship and I caused more hurt and pain to people I care about.
That was not my intention.
I was out of order.
I have no excuse.

To those that it concerns: sorry.

It’s been another day to reflect and notice God.

He was there in the gentle wake up and ‘I love you’ from my youngest this morning as he got worried that if I did not get up soon that there would be no pancake left for me.

God was there is a long telephone conversation from someone that cared enough to ask and check how things are.

Over lunchtime I met with Jim, the curate at St Marks in Gillingham as we embark on the development and delivery of a 5 week ‘course’ based around contemporary film which will help new and fringe people in the church think through what they believe. I think God was there in the humour and the creativity that we surprised ourselves with.

In the world I see God today in the miracle of Ellen MacArthur, and even more so in the handshake between Mahmoud Abbas and Ariel Sharon.

God is working clearly and evidently on both a micro and a macro scale. We are entering a time of Lent. A time of ‘self denial’ which I have never really observed before. I think this Lent is probably not going to be any different this year in that respect.

I am going to observe Lent. My Lent is going to be a time of indulgence. A time of excitement as I look towards Easter and what that means to me. A time when I indulge in more of God, look for more of God, and aim to share more of God. Actually, that makes me laugh as I’m guessing to do those things will mean I will have to do less of things … so am I just in self denial about self denial?

before we see mad things like this happening in the UK?