‘ What do you want?’ John 1:36

This is a question Jesus asks to 2 of John the Baptist’s followers. In the following verse their response is recorded. They don’t answer the question. Instead they ask Jesus another question. Why did they change the subject?

We all have our avoidance techniques.God gave us free will to change the subject. We all have the capacity to accept Him, and the capacity to reject Him. This does not change when we decide to follow Him. We still have free will in deciding how much of Him we want. We have the choice of how honest we are with Him. We can put God into a box that we can understand. A box that doesn't disrupt our lives or disturb our comfort.  If we want more of God it leads to a life with Father, Son and Holy Spirit on the most incredible adventure. I know I want more and I know many others who join me in this desire.     

But there is something I have to address. Our stuff. The emotional baggage that we carry. The disappointments from the past, the fears that overwhelm us, the lies that we believe about ourselves and lies we believe about what God thinks about us. Most of this stuff we carry and have carried for so long we don’t even know it’s there. It generally only shows itself when we’re under pressure. When life throws us one of the many curve balls from around a corner and knocks our  ‘stuff’ to the surface. It’s when we’re around someone that for an unknown reason you want to punch very hard in the face. An encounter with them annoys you so much you end up talking about it for the next 3 or 4 days with anyone who'll listen.

I have my stuff. But it's a lot less than I did 7 months ago. Isaiah 53:5 ‘...by his wounds we are healed.’ This is my testimony. I have been introduced to a model called More Light. 'Oh right! Another amazing miracle working model...' Now please pay attention to how you are reacting. Because you'll be reacting out of your pain,  past experiences, doubts, lies and the big one, fear. I know, because I've been there. More Light is not counselling. It is focused on exposing the lies we believe and hearing the truth from Jesus. It brings freedom, healing, it works and is quick. It is the only model where we 'test the spirit's and anything that has influence over us is revealed and we can send it away in the name of Jesus. As we seek more of God, His Spirit and presence we allow Him to reveal these lies. But it is our choice to do something about it or as John’s followers did, change the subject.

Some of you may know that I am adopted. It is normal for adopted people to carry specific stuff attached to this fact. Through 2 different dreams, (one involving my current rugby crush so that got my attention!) God highlighted fears of intimacy and fears abandonment that I carried. I made an appointment for More Light and sat with 2 people from Church who walked me through the process. One person facilitates and one person records what happens. You begin with your feelings. The emotions that we have are rooted in an incident from our past. So for this More Light session we asked the Holy Spirit to take me back to the beginning of my life. I had a picture of little baby Michelle in an incubator. I was battling against meningitis. During the session I repented from being angry at my mum, forgave her, and renounced feelings of shame,  anxiety and abandonment that came from my mum. There were other lies that were sent away, and the truth in the picture was I saw Jesus holding baby Michelle by the incubator.

I asked Jesus, ‘Do I need to feel abandoned? Jesus answered, ‘ No. I've always had you in my arms. In the future, you never need to feel abandoned, only if you choose to feel that way’.

Jesus said, ‘ I'll never let you go and your future is a beautiful City filled with love, joy and laughter.’  

Over many years I have struggled with fears in times of financial difficulty. Through this session I understood the underlying fear was rooted in the lie that God would abandon me in my times of need. 4 days after this session I had a bill come through. I am still not working and money is still tight. But I simply paid the bill. My emotions were at peace, not frozen by fear. I was at rest in the truth that Jesus had and will always have me in his arms. He will never abandon me. This is just part of one of many More Light sessions. God has used the pain and trauma of last May and my home to bring into the light, areas of pain I've been limping with for decades.It has been draining, but the healing that I've found is priceless. In fact, on the Sunday before the house explosion God gave me the word, 'Restore' and that is what I've been experiencing!

So I am sharing this as I don’t want you, my friends, to carry on limping. I want you to be healed, to be free from fears, lies and the past that holds you back in fulfilling the call Jesus has placed on your life. But I know not everyone who reads this will do something about it. That is not my responsibility and I won’t lose sleep over it. Not everyone follows Jesus, not everyone wants all of God, and not everyone wants to be healed. If you want information about More Light come back to me. My prayer is you'll be courageous, you won’t ignore what has been stirring in you as you've been reading this and get some freedom. But if you don't want to get healed that’s your choice, I'm healed enough to not let your decisions affect me.  I can only be responsible for me.

  

Did all Pharisees think the same about Jesus?

At Church on Friday while putting myself 'into' a Bible passage, this was my result. It's based on Matthew 22:15 - 22.

My name is Jacob and I'm a disciple of one of the Pharisees. I tend to report to Zachariah, he's not a bad man, he's just young, like me I guess. He's 30 and I'm 24.

Zachariah is getting stressed along with the other leaders by the teacher Jesus. Everyday they're stressing about the politics. The relationship between the Romans and us seems to be getting more delicate by the day. As a result Zachariah and the others are constantly thinking of ways to discredit Jesus. The people love him, and to be honest, I find his teachings easier to understand than my leaders here. But, you didn't hear that from me right?!

The Sadducees are also under threat, but they tend to deal with the higher ceremonial stuff. " Upper classes, up their own ar  ahem..." Zachariah says.

So after today's leaders meeting, I get "asked" to go to where Jesus is with a group of other disciples to confront Jesus in front of a big crowd. Zachariah thinks the plan will backfire, but HIS boss, Jehu, is dead set on it. Thinks it'll shut Jesus up for good. Me? I'm just following orders!

When we catch up with Jesus, we have to push our way through the crowd to get close enough to speak with him. I try and keep my head down. I don't really want to challenge Jesus. I know I'll end up looking like an idiot, and having fallen down the Temple steps on many occasions, I need no ones help to do something embarrassing. Thankfully Jedekiah, who is close to passing his exams to become a fully qualified Pharisee, and has an ego the size of Mount Sinai, nominates himself as spokesman.

"Teacher", he begins, and a few of my friends try unsuccessfully to hide their giggling and sarcastic faces " we know that you're an honourable man, and you follow God's law..." Someone leans over to me and whispers, "Nice bit of buttering up!" Jedekiah continues, "... and you're not persuaded easily by others. So we'd like to know your opinion on an issue that these people here have to contend with day-in day-out. Should we pay tax to Caesar?"

Everybody turned to look at Jesus, and waited for his response. Jesus replied, "Seriously?! Is this an attempt to set a trap?" I wasn't sure if Jesus was more amused by our question or our feeble attempt to get him in trouble. "Someone pass me a coin?" Jesus asked. Jedekiah came over to me and demand that I gave him a coin. I dutifully obeyed, thinking, 'I better get that coin back...it's my lunch money!'

Jesus held the coin between his right finger and thumb, lifted his hand in the air and in a loud voice asked, " Who's the person on this coin?" I love when Jesus does this, really involves and includes his listeners. Jedekiah replies smugly, " Caesar."

To which Jesus responds, " So give it back to him - it's clearly his. He's got his picture on it and everything!" Jesus rides the laugh. Great timing that man! As the laughter subsides, Jesus continues, "And give to God what is His." The last word he says while looking directly at me. I thought my heart was going to explode out of my chest. That would make for a nasty and messy experience.

As Jesus and his disciples walked off through the crowd, who were cheering loudly, our group all turned to look at Jedekiah. He had become quite pale. After what seemed like an age, he regained his composure and stormed off. We all duly followed, keeping our heads down as the crowd mocked us as we past.


As I returned to the Temple, thoughts flooded my mind.
Was ANYONE ever going to stop Jesus?
What was his intention, his plan?
Did he HAVE a plan?

The only thing I was sure of was; it wasn't the last time we'd seen or heard from Jesus. And any thoughts I had of me quite liking him, had to be kept to myself.

Thoughts for a Thursday. Greenbelt 2012

Over the last 10 years God has been stripping away areas of my identity.During my second year at Bible College I was told that I was adopted. I've struggled to settle into a role since finishing with Gloucester YFC and again find myself unemployed. Then experiencing a dramatic removal of practically all my belongings was the pinnacle of having my sense of self being stripped back to the core. It's easy to glibly say you're a child of God and that's where your identity comes from. But over the last couple of months it truly has been at the centre of walking through the pain. It has and continues to be raw but I know that deep in my soul and spirit God is stripping away all that will hold me back from His plans for my future. I was coming to terms with this and seeking the next step for the future, then last Thursday I received a message that my purse had been found on the landfill site where my belongings had ended up after the house demolition. To say that this put me in an emotional tailspin is an understatement. I went to bed that night unable to stop my thoughts whirling in my head. I had made peace with the loss I had experienced and felt like I'd accepted that I was never going to see most of what had made me me. So to hear that my purse was coming back to me was a huge shock. Questions arose, 'Why now?' 'Why this and not something more precious?' This led to more anger, pain and confusion. Not really how I'd envisaged my Greenbelt eve. After setting up camp on the Friday I picked up my purse. For some reason I expected it to look the same so I was shocked when I saw it. It looks like a house has fallen on it, because of course it had.

I'd like to share some of my Greenbelt highlights with you. Amidst the emotional whirlwind I did enjoy a number of activities. As result of little sleep and deep fried emotions I was unsure how I should spend my first evening at Greenbelt. I decided upon accompanying a friend to watch the film Blue Like Jazz. It's an adaptation of a novel by Donald Miller with the same title. I knew nothing about the narrative and found the film to be beautiful and enthralling. The journey of a young man disillusioned with his faith after discovering those closest to him have not lived out all they profess to believe. I won't write too much as I'd love you to discover it for yourselves as I did. Here's the trailer and I am eagerly waiting for the film to be released here:

 

I attended a number of worship spaces that were fairly diverse. These included sessions led by The Rend Collective Experiment and Andy Flannagan. These were exciting opportunities to engage with God, His heart and also to pour out a few more tears! On another occasion I found myself among families celebrating Mass to the tunes of Nursery Rhymes. There was a lightness and fun to the short service. My highlight was the little boy next to me asking his dad, 'Where's Jesus' tortoise?' In response to the phrase we had just sung, '...that Jesus taught us.' But it will not be a surprise to read I went to a Eucharist consisting of sung worship using the songs of U2! (Although one Coldplay track pushed its' way in...but as it was Paradise I let it go. It linked nicely with this years theme.) God has spoken to me often through the lyrics of U2 and this time was no exception. Especially during the track Walk On, http://www.elyrics.net/read/u/u2-lyrics/walk-on-lyrics.html   If you check the lyrics out I think you'll be able to guess my response!

There were a few musical highlights. Charlie Simpson's new material shows he's grown up, a new artist David C Clements provided heartfelt lyrics alongside beautiful acoustic melodies. I again enjoyed Luke Leighfield and I think I joined the majority of Greenbelt watching The Proclaimers! There were a number of other artists I'd planned to see but ended up taking some time to chat with friends over a pint in the Jesus Arms. 

I had planned a list of seminars to go to over the weekend but felt so drained I only managed a few. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Tom Wright and Robin Ince, but the highlight was Jonny Bakers talk entitled Another World Is Possible. It seemed to provide a map for my experience with key codes to the reading of my map. Unsurprisingly I had a good weep again through this, but am hugely thankful and will be downloading this to think through the points that struck home so clearly. 

Every evening finished with Last Orders. The evening has two hosts; Andy Walton and Abby Guinness, (surely there must be a joke/reference to the black stuff there...) and takes the format of a late night TV program with interviews and guest performers. It's a great opportunity to catch up on some good stuff you may have missed.

Of course the highlight of any Greenbelt is the lovable trio Folk On! (Your response...). I've been a passionate fan for many a year now. Of course I live quite close to their home of Little Dribblepatch so often understand their weather reports via twitter and facebook. If you have yet to experience the joy of their songs here's a little taster from this year that I recorded. Apologies for the wobble. I promise this was one of the few occasions where they were tears of laughter! Of course you have to have a crush on a band member or something would be wrong, right? And who can resist a man who can sing falsetto? Not me apparently...

The 'Men of Folk' have been very kind and generous to me during this roller coaster. Now if they can find me a nice folk singer of my very own, they'll be a shoe-in for the wedding reception! Rugby season starts on Saturday, so Mr S will be safe and I'll be in love with some rug-by play-ers!

Poems

Last night was my Church Christmas Party. I decided to read out 2 poems I wrote whilst at College. Each poem resulted from retreat days exploring different Bible passages. Last night friends at Church encouraged me to spend some more time writing more poetry. Bit weird really...never thought of myself as a poet! I guess this is the first step. The first one I'm not massively pleased with but was my first poem since school.Perhaps I'll spend a bit of time re-writing it. The second one I'm much happier with. So, here they are...

For this lifestyle you will need.

For this lifestyle you will need:

A new pair of running shoes, bouncy and strong,
A double-edged sword that's glistening and long,
A jacket that's padded to hinder a knife,
A gauntlet is needed to safeguard your life.
The Bridegroom's not here so it's time to fast
Keep your lamp filled with oil, to ensure that it lasts.

The oven is ready; you should be too,
To answer the knock of the Servant King Jew,
Be loving, compassionate, to the poor and the needy,
Give food to the hungry and not to the greedy!
Be prudent and foster the talents he's given.
Remember you're loved, accepted, forgiven.

The oven goes,'PING!', there's a knock at the door,
'It's the Master! He's back!' You're dumbstruck with awe.
The music is pumping, the party's begun
You've run well my friend, yes you have, you've won!
But wait, in the corner, who's that in the seat?
It's your Master, and he's waiting to wash clean your feet.
In confusion you ask, 'Why do this for me?'
He says, 'I'm completing the work begun on the tree.'


Position at Work

My new job description came through last year
Scanning it quickly produced trepidation and fear.
There was only one are it chose disclose
"Be a leader for others", was all that arose
From the paper I held in my quivering hand,
I had to sit quickly, I could no longer stand.

I read it again, this can't be right
perhaps this been some kind of...oversight!
I'm not like those leaders in Churches around.
I best just ignore it, stick my head in the ground!
"Don't ask me to do it, it's thorny like roses."
The reply simply said, "Stop being like Moses!"

My objection grew stronger, "I'm not a good speaker
Whatever I say sounds like the Muppet Beaker!"
"You're beautiful, unique, and have much work to do
You're promotion is simply because you are you!"
As these words echoed round my confused spinning head
I began to remember the words He's once said.

He'd told me to obey, and follow Him wherever.
Did He ever say it would be easy? - Hmmm, no! Never!
I had taken my previous job with too much self-reliance
I realised I must submit, and stop this God defiance.
Although I don't quite understand why He's chosen me.
I WILL trust Him, as He said, He was, He is, and always will be.

Guidance and Discernment.

So the end of July is looming on the horizon. For many people it brings the end of another academic year. Up and down the Country teachers breath a sigh of relief and look forward to a few weeks to rest, recover and recouperate before their attentions are turned back to school. For myself it provides an opportunity to take stock, and reflect over the last 12 months.

Like many people attest to, following Jesus is often unpredictable, it is never dull, and there are periods that are full of joy and those that are heavy with sorrow. I could go on but Qoheleth in Ecclesiastes puts it infinitely better...

My year has not turned out to be the year I hoped it might be, but am sure it has been all I needed it to be for the future. My time in Australia was an incredible experience, filled with awesome scenery, amusing and loving people who are now family, albeit far away, and the beginnings of the restoration of my heart.

It was a time and place where my hopes and expectations to see God work amongst young people began to return! Also a renewed sense of hope regarding my partnering with God. Unfortunately after praying to meet a Simon Baker look-a-like the nearest I got was this in the departure lounge in Melbourne Airport, it did make laugh loudly drawing many puzzled glances, but that's not unusual for me!

On my return from Australia,I was incredibly blessed to have the support and love of many friends, enduring patience during my time of confusion, frustration and uncertainty, together with financial provision, as I sought the path I should take. The Church I was in encouraged me to grow a faith to expect the God of miracles to be amongst His people, and to look for His Kingdom to break in its fullest sense.

The book by Mark Yaconelli 'Contemplative Youth Ministry' that I read while in Australia has continued to excite me. I hope that its ideas for developing a youth work around community and learning to listen together and to God, rather than presenting a consumer/entertainment model is one I'm eager to be involved with.

The journey of seeking out the next role has involved a lot of waiting, reading, waiting, praying, and a bit more waiting as currently I still have no job! I pursued a role that excited me, although, initially it wasn't a paid role, I felt I should explore it further. However, it has not developed as I hoped it would. Upon reflection, the process I went through to bring me here has taught me much about balancing the use of my common sense and wisdom, and learning to keep my emotions in check. Over arching the whole process is space to discern what God and the Holy Spirit might be saying. I know I tend to respond emotionally and have to work hard on thinking through problems. I suppose this response is exacerbated in times of uncertainty and vulnerability. Key lesson learnt, ask good questions, don't white wash 'alarm bells' just because you're talking with a Christian about a role with a Christian organisation.



So what now? Tomorrow I am meeting with a leader of an organisation about a job. I am cautious and am prepared with questions I want answered, my emotions are not running ahead of me and I hope I'm in a good place to sense what God is saying, whilst having my brain switched on. I do need to 'feel' a connection but not to the detriment of leaving the wisdom and insight God has given me in my bedside drawer. During the whole process, being reminded to spend time with God, with His Word, with His people that I know, that know me and know Our Father.

Self Leadership and plenty of time in which to do it...

If your diary is packed full, some might ask how you're managing to do everything but if your diary is pretty empty what DO you fill it with?
After returning home from Australia I had 2 weeks getting over jet lag, a brief time in Gloucester house bound due to the snow. Returning home for some interesting times with family over Christmas then on to helping someone settle in to their new home over new year.
The first week in January I attended the YFC Conference where I was able to connect with old and new friends and discuss some new roles coming up which are exciting opportunities.
I've had some encouraging words and pictures given confirming exactly what's going on and what's on my heart and in my mind.
So what now...I'm trying to use my time wisely, to do some reading and studying, exploring some interesting ideas. I spent a couple of days reading Live Like You Mean It by Eric Delve. I found this book encouraging and helpful to set a tone during this time. Each person has to take responsibility for how you use your day. I confess some days are better than others. But like the apostles had to wait for the Holy Spirit before Pentecost and beyond, God's people had to wait for the Messiah as we've been thinking about during advent we all go through times of waiting. When we count down to Christmas we know what date we're working towards...the Apostles didn't know when the Holy Spirit would come. I don't know when my next role will come but all I CAN do is to continue to look towards Jesus as the way, the light of the World. To seek his voice, to perceive his footsteps and to be learning all that he needs me to learn to be ready to go when he next says 'Come this way and follow me'. Just a quick additional statement, Jesus, please don't let it be too long!

Dream on dreamer...

One of the main areas in which God has been speaking to me is in having the faith to dream again. After quite a tough time where I felt God had given me dreams for the work in Gloucester, and to see little of those dreams come to reality it's an awesome work of God's restorative and healing love.

As I've been spending time in a number of areas I've been able to chat and share about vision, hopes and dreams they have for where they are, and the youth in their community. As a result I've found my thinking more about the dreams for the youth in the UK.

What would I like to see happen? I've always had a heart to see God have a massive impact on the youth of our nation. To see lives transformed, to have communities changed and to see the God's Kingdom breaking in. But mostly I want to see young people meet Jesus, to have their whole lives impacted.

I've been

Masks, wine and sunshine!

When I was arranging my flights from Melbourne to Perth if I'm honest my first thought was...which is the cheapest?! For my return flight after our mammoth trip around WA I was re-considering my strategy...as my alarm went off at 4:15am!

So as I arrived at the Australian Staff conference having had little sleep and having to adjust to another time shift, WA is currently 3 hours behind SA, I was looking for coffee to keep me going!

The Staff Conference is held in Daylesford about 2 hours from Melbourne.


Daylesford is a beautiful town and the retreat centre provided us with a beautiful and relaxing setting. Old friends re-connected, new friendships were made and we were blessed with some Bible teaching that challenged and encouraged us. The main theme was learning how to hear God speak to us. The teaching was encouraging as it is an area that God has been challenging me in. I'm still learning about how to give God space to speak and and hear what He's saying. For whatever God has for me in the future I know this will be key.


We made the most of the good weather and beautiful surroundings to have lunch by the lake.

There was no bar for us to empty at the retreat centre, but we did visit a local winery. Whilst there I played a hugely long game of snooker on a full size table.No, this was nothing to do with the wine, all down to a lack of skill... I had to explain the rules a few times, especially after foul shots. "What do you mean I don't get 2 shots?!" The wine was lovely and am inspired to do a search for possible breweries near British Staff conference.

As there is a smaller number of staff they are able to have a more intimate final meal together. I discovered that the theme was a mask ball. Thankfully I was provided with a mask, but did feel more like a burglar than an elegant lady.




I did find myself missing friends from YFC at home and British Conference and am looking forward to catching up with them and hearing what God has been doing at home, and to enjoying my usual tipple!

Hey! Let's do some driving!!

Sorry for not blogging for a while but here's the first entry to help you catch up!
After spending nearly 60 hours in a car over 11 days I don't think I'll ever complain about being on a long car journey again! Amy, one of our team has calculated we drove almost 7000 km, which equates to around 4350 miles. Having just written that I must have been mad to sign up for it...

I flew from Melbourne to Perth and was able to spen a few days there before our mammoth road trip.I loved Perth, some amazing views from Kings Park, beautiful flowers and some nutty tourists...must have been British!

I was working with the Western Australia Branch of YFC, yes Western Australia!So they cover a massive region!For the trip I was in a team with 2 staff from WA Mike and Alyssa, and Amy a staff member from the Hunter Region in NSW. Together with our car and tralier we set off for a very long drive! Our first stop was Newman. Unfortunately we took a slight detour and did some off road driving! The day should have involved about 10 hours of driving but actually ended up being nearly 15 hours. When we arrived at Newman for about 20 minutes I still felt like we were moving, very bizarre!
The second day we set off fairly early to drive up to Broome. At home we often say that it's humid and we need a good thunder storm to clear the air. The humidity in Broome was so high that rain was not helpful, it just increased the humidity! We spent the night, which was Saturday, in the manse for the Uniting Church in the 2 rooms with air con! The minister Darren was a wonderful man who was faithfully serving in a tough situation. In the remote communities people often spend a couple of years working in the mines and then move away having made a decent amount of money. I had no idea about the high turnover of people in these remote communities. Darren explained that many ministers often burned out after a short time. We helped to run the Sunday morning service and met a wonderful group of young people. I left praying that God would give strength and wisdom to the Christians we met.

We did have some time to enjoy the beauty of Cable Beech...sometimes it really is a tough life!

Our next stop was Kununarra, I was driving at this point and had to slow down to take in the amazing views around me. It was a real highlight to see the things I did. Then having arrived in Kununarra we split up and spent time with different hosts. Together with Alyssa I stayed with a couple called Tony and Diane for 2 nights. Both nights we were in bed at 9pm as our time travelling was taking its toll. During the day we were in the District High School having been invited in by the Chaplain Kim...no it's a guy! We ran something called Motivational Media. For more information check out there website: http://motivationalmedia.org.au
It's a good way to develop contact with new schools. We used the 2010 presentation True North. The following day we ran 3 short sessions on the subject of values. I know it was a blessing for Kim as Chaplain and it was a privilege to work in a small remote community with a mixture of students.

From there we travelled to Hall's Creek. It was another small community where we ran Motivational Media together with a small seminar. The highlight for us was meetin one of the Christian teachers, Casey. An amzing young lady who followed God's leading as a new teacher and chose to work in Hall's Creek. She has an amzing heart and passion for God to work in her community and it was a delight to spend time with her. We all left with our hearts full. What a privilege to meet those whom God places in tough situations who have a deep sense of God's call and to see their joy in follow Him! A different highlight was to spend a couple of hours relaxing watching The I.T. Crowd! I can't believe I'd only seen bits...must watch it when I get home! Sorry Al, you've been talking about it for ages, should have listened a bit more!

We then began our way back, via Broome, staying with Mike's sister, it was a great place to rest before heading off to connect with a Chaplain at Meekatharra. The WA Branch have run seminars in the past and I sense they hope to do so again. After a night relaxing we headed down to Mount Magnet to run our last Motivational Media Session You will see the 2 flags outside the school, the Australian Flag and the Aboriginal Flag. The school were contacted and informed that we would be passing their way and accepted the opportunity for us to come and run the program. At the last minute we had a change of venue. The staff said that they would quickly go and ask all the parents for permission to take their childern off site! Whether this happened...?!
During our trip all the technology worked perfectly, until Mt Magnet, we think we overloaded a cicuit. It wasn't a difficult problem to solve but we were so thankful for no technical issues in general.

Lasting memories from the trip:
Going to the toilet, flushing it and screaming loudly as 2 frogs appeared in the bowl...
Meeting some amazing Christians working in remote communities, being able to bless and encourage them
Seeing scenery and visiting places lots of Australians haven't seen



Drinking lots of Iced Coffee
Watching the I.T. Crowd
Making some new friends in Mike, Alyssa and Amy

Lastly, here's our car and tralier:



And because it was funny:

Perfect Stranger

I've been catching up on my Zane Lowe listening on the internet. He played a live session by Magnetic Man who won this year's Mercury Music Prize. One of the tracks they performed was "Perfect Stranger" I hadn't heard this track, as I listened I felt my heart warm and I had to stop and listen a couple of times.

Sorry I've tried to post a video...not happening so go to:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00bfz12

It's beautiful, and I felt described someone's spiritual journey. It reminded me of John the Baptist, the disciples in the boat after Jesus had calmed the storm. Mary Magdalene's relationship with Jesus, the woman at the well and Saul on the road to Damascus.
Here are the lyrics:

i didn't have to turn around
i could feel him in the back of my brain
when i step into the crowd
something told me that i'll meet you today

your energy when you touch me
lifted me off the ground
your words to me are like music

i don't know who you are
all i really know is theres something in your heart
that makes me feel its a new start
all i really know is theres something in your heart

are you from another world
i've never seen someone who looks like you
beautiful stranger how do you do
told me is there something i could do for you

your energy when you touch me
lifted me off the ground
your words to me are like music

i don't know who you are
all i really know is theres something in your heart
that makes me feel its a new start
all i really know is theres something in your heart

something (x9)
oh theres something theres something i can see there
something (x9)
oh theres something theres something i can see there
something (x3)

i don't know who you are
all i really know is theres something in your heart
that makes me feel its a new start
all i really know is theres something in your heart (x2)

something (x3)
oh theres something theres something i can see there
(x4)