Sleeping Monkey

Sleeping Monkey Presents...

Fusion

Was a really really good weekend. I have no idea where to start!!

Well we got to sleep on Saturday morning at 3. I was sleeping on this HUUUUUUUUUUUUGE blow up bed, it was practically a bunk bed the size of it. It was really comfortable though! Adam and Adam were in Dan’s room along with him and his brother, and Clare Ruth was on a sofa. Clare Ruth and I were up at half 7, as Dan told us, but the guys in Dan’s room wouldn’t wake up, so we ended up being late for the Saturday morning stuff! We arrived just as Frog Orr-Ewing (strange name!!!) was starting his talk (Learning to Accept), so we didn’t miss that at least! After that talk, we had a coffee break and then another talk by Gabriel Smy called Learning to Explore/See, and then lunch time. We had packed lunches (rolls and crisps etc) that Dan’s mum had kindly made for us.

After lunch we had 3 seminar sessions, and we had to pick between 5 seminars each session. I went to a seminar on “Everyday lifestyle” by Susie Gallagher, all about ethical living, etc. After that we went to talk about “Understanding Islam” by Frog, but during that I didn’t really listen, for some reason I felt like writing this:

I don’t understand how people can live in a world full of such amazing beauty and believe that it all came to be by chance. I only have to step outside and look at the sky, tress, nature, and think how incredible it is that God thought of and created it. Especially the stars – on a clear night, I love being outside where I can look up at the pitch black sky and see it pierced with small pin pricks of light millions of miles away. The stars and the moon in the night sky is one of the most beautiful sights, yet for many people it means nothing more than the product of chance, when in fact it is much more than that – it is a personal creation by God, by His own hand – He made every single one with love and care, and He knows every single one by name. And I find that amazing, incredible, and it makes me feel very small and insignificant in such a huge and wonderful world.
One of my favourite hobbies is photography. I don’t claim to know what I’m doing and I certainly don’t claim to be any good, but I know that what I want to do is capture snapshots of God’s creation, moments that are there one minute and gone the enxt. Photographs can save these moments more vividly than a memory can.
Many people don’t see much of the beautiful world – those who live in large cities, in countries in war – but who knows, maybe someone will see a photograph of God’s creation one day, and maybe it will change their lives.

I don’t know why I wrote that, I just felt like it!!

The evening session was the best talk by far. Roger Forster was a really good speaker, talking about “Learning to Fly”, and it was really interesting. There was some good worship afterwards as well. But by far the best worship was Friday evening, it was a really awesome time of worship, just brilliant.

We got back to Dan’s at some point that night but I don’t think we went to bed at about 1. Clare Ruth and I woke up at half 7 the next morning (as we had been told to by Dan) but the guys didn’t wake up til 9, and the sessions started at 9!! So by the time got there the morning session “Learning to Pray” was already over! But the main morning one, the one with the normal church congregation there, was at half 10, and was “Learning to Play”, but unfortunately I was asleep throughout the whole sermon – really shouldn’t have been lying on the floor with a cushion under my head!

After that we went to Toni and Chris’s house, was good to finally put a face to the blog! Then we went down to Dan’s church for their service (16:00, weird time for a service!) and it was good to meet some of Dan’s friends… like Livi? Did I spell or even get that right?! After that we rushed to Dan’s, gathered our stuff, and rushed to the train station, and here I am now.

All around the room at King’s Centre there were the words of Isaiah 40 in huge letters around the wall, and I now have the last verse on my wall as a big frieze (or however you spell it): They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.