Donald Thomas Blog

After-thought on Mis-Match #1

2011-04-09T21:17:00.005+01:00

Following on from Mis-Match #1: 'we fear death, not God', here is a wonderful quote a friend of mine sent me a while ago.

“how strange this fear of death is! we are never frightened at a sunset. / you can only come to the morning through the shadows"

Mis-Match #1: 'We fear death, not God'

2011-04-07T16:08:00.003+01:00

Sometimes as Christians we will do anything to avoid suffering, pain and death in this world. There's insurance, health policies, medication and door locks; all of which in themselves are not bad things at all.

But what is our heart's position in all this? In our lives do we end up fearing illness, suffering and death more than the God who thought up, and brought up, this whole universe into being?

Once saved by Christ we are brought from death to life (Colossians 1:13). This doesn't mean that we won't get ill or suffer or die, but that death can never ultimately define our direction as those who have been saved, because Christ does. So there really is no need to fear death: with Christ we can wholeheartedly say "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"- 1 Corinthians 15:55. This assurance can never come about through anything other than a saving relationship with Jesus!

When we are told that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Psalm 9:10), it essentially tells us that when we begin to see God for who He is, we'll actually be able to see everything else for what it is.

This fear isn't an unhealthy anxiety filled knowledge of God- but rather an acknowledgment of who He is in ALL his glory, grace and power.

Right, this is all quite rushed, and my laptop battery is about to die (the irony)! So to sumerise: death doesn't deserve our fear, but God does!

Christian Mis-Matches

2011-04-01T17:39:00.006+01:00

Hey all.

So after a short break from blogging I thought i'd start up again with a series on 'Christian Mis-Matches'.

Our world-view (how we interpret life and the world around us) can often be warped and rooted in things other than the Grace and Truth of the gospel. In light of this, as those who have entered into a relationship with Christ, we will look at six biblical truths which might challenge how we look at things.

We'll be kicking off this series with 'Fear God, not death'.

Cross and throne

2011-01-24T22:24:00.004Z

A.W Tozer once wrote this...

"In every Christian's heart there is a cross and a throne, and the Christian is on the throne untill he puts himself on the cross; if he refuses the cross he remains on the throne"

Get off the throne!

I'm a bit silly/God is rich in mercy.

2010-12-29T10:42:00.010Z

I'm a bit silly you see. In my wallet I have a small business card with a few words on it. It's been in there for years, and to be honest i can't even remember where I got it from. For Christmas one of my sisters got me an excellent 'flying Scotsman' leather wallet (it's a beauty!) and as I transferred all the contents of my old wallet to it I realised that I had no clue what was written on this card. Which was:

I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing, put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you or laid aside for you;
let me be full, let me be empty.
let me have all things, let me have nothing;
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your
pleasure and disposal

I couldn't believe it. I had opened up my wallet and seen its worn corners regularly but never got around to actually reading it. Literally years it had been there. Known about but un-read. Silly Billy! ;-)

Maybe our faith can sometimes be like the card in my wallet which I knew was there but never explored it further.

Have a look at Ephesian 2: 4-5...

"But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved"

Amazing!!!

Instead of living as Spiritual orphans (who claim to live in God's household and supposedly know Him as Father but actually live homeless on the street), we can now enter His house and be welcomed in the fullness of His grace through Christ :-)

Mindblowing.

Work the land

2010-08-29T22:29:00.012+01:00

"He who works his land will have abundant food, but he who chases fantasies lacks judgement"
Proverbs 12:11

In this proverb there are two men.

One man who acknowledges what is in front of him, and works away at it.
One man who doesn't know what is in front of him, and chases fantasies.

We are told that the first man has abundant food. And that the second man lacks judgement.

This is a very simple proverb but I think it has a lot to it.

Here are some thoughts...

1. Stop seeking others 'fields' and comparing yours to theirs.
2. But be diligent and work with what God has placed in front of you right now.
3. You probably won't be in this place forever so work with it for God's Glory while you can.
4. Trust that God is Good and Gracious and that there will be abundant 'food'.

As Christians we are working together as a community for God's Glory, and God calls us all differently but by no means is this an individual tihng. It's all for the same purpose right?

"If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen."
1 Peter 4:11

Discipleship

2010-08-18T17:06:00.002+01:00

"Since our Master Himself found it essential to rise early in the morning to pray, and jealously to guard time for quiet meditation, we may safely say that it is impossible for His followers to manage the difficult business of living without taking time, jealously guarded, to look up into the face of God, to offer our lives afresh to Him, to seek guidance for the day before us, to listen to His voice and to lift up our hearts in petition and intercession"

Quoted from the book 'Discipleship' by Leslie D. Weatherhead

Church. Mission. Gospel Intentionality.

2010-07-16T21:55:00.000+01:00

Church is not an event. It’s a Community.

Mission is not an event. It’s a Lifestyle.

We are called to live ordinary life with Gospel Intentionality.

(Tim Chester)

Passion and Discipline

2010-07-15T18:41:00.015+01:00

Recently I've been thinking about the relationship between passion and discipline:

Think of an old, skilled pianist playing in concert and the wonderful sounds that are made.

Or a married couple who once forgot their love for each other but now have a healthy and loving marriage.

Or a young Christian who still goes through many struggles but over years has gone from finding the bible boring to now dwelling richly in it each day.

What about our passion (or enjoyment) and discipline in following Christ? What about those days when we feel up for giving Christ our everything, and then those days when we just plain don't?

I guess at different times in our lives there will be a crazy amount of interplay between passion/enjoyment and discipline, and being realistic there's no way we will constantly feel passionate about following Christ and also have the discipline to get on with it. With this in mind I was thinking about the dangers of relying on either discipline or passion.

1. Relying on discipline

When there's that thing we seriously don't want to do (but need to do), going through the discipline of getting on with it can often turn out for the best as you get stuff done. However if we focus too much on our discipline a danger is that we might encourage a 'you need to work harder' mentality which could sideline grace and rest, where if something goes wrong we get down and if something goes well we get proud.

2. Relying on passion

A genuine passion for something can provide a great drive, which can then lead to great results. However a problem here is that when there is no passion you will never put in the time or effort. You can become fickle and constantly change your plans depending on your emotions, which can lead to a 'I will only do what I feel like doing' mentality.

So what's the alternative?

Rely on Christ.

To throw ourselves upon He who gave Himself for us and admit that we will not always feel fired up for Him, and we will not always have the discipline to be obedient to Him, but in all things we will choose to rely on Christ and his love for us.

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us"
Romans 8:35-37.

Know it. Apply it. Speak it.

2010-06-23T12:01:00.004+01:00

I was just reading some stuff by Jeff Vanderstelt, a leader of Soma Communites (http://www.somacommunities.org/some-of-our-team/).

He regularly speaks of 'gospel fluency' and he suggests three ways in going about this.

Firstly he says we need to know the Gospel: not just the gospels but the good news of Jesus Christ as a whole, which saturates all of scripture.

Secondly he says that we need to apply the gospel: that just knowing the gospel isn't enough because for true transformation to take place it needs to be applied to our lives and those around us.

Thirdly he says we need to speak the gospel into each others lives regularly and naturally in a whole manner of different situations.

Here's what he says on a recent blog post...

"Shaping a Gospel Fluent Culture starts with you being regularly shaped by the truth of the Gospel. This means you have to KNOW it and APPLY it to everyday stuff, while asking others to SPEAK it into your life"

(http://soma-missionalmusings.blogspot.com/2010/03/training-on-gospel-fluency.html)

Let's put this into practice!

Awaken us...

2010-05-17T06:27:00.003+01:00

Our culture is just so good at making us asleep to God! Big questions of life are quickly put back to sleep with the response "how can you honestly expect to find an answer to that? Life has no meaning! And even if there was i'd much rather live my own way"

In our hearts and minds that nagging question of "maybe there is more to life than this?" can quickly be silenced and replaced with an iphone or some other material-god which we will so obviously die without (I actually quite like iphones so don't take that too seriously!)

The wonderful thing about life with Jesus as Lord is that our hearts are awakened to new life.

Jesus initially awakens us from death when he saves us, but as Christians we can tend to fall back into a semi-dead mode; we've been saved by what Jesus did on the cross but we're now kind of asleep to what he wants to do in our lvies today.

If you don't yet know Christ you are alive but really you are dead! Jesus wants to awaken you!
If you know Christ yet don't seek after him you are alive but as good as dead! Jesus wants to re-awaken you!

I guess it's a continual thing as well. I find that I need to be re-awakened, re-focussed and reminded each day of God's love, grace and mercy in my life.

Song of Songs 5:2 says that "I slept but my heart was awake". I love this because it tells us that when we're in a relationship with Christ, even when we feel tired, exhausted or struggling, our hearts can still be awake and responsive to what God is doing.

In Ephesians 1:7 we read of God's amazing grace. How awesome is it that God awakens us as a loving Father!

"Like the rising sun that shines
Out from the darkness comes a light
I hear Your voice and this is my
Awakening"

Awaken us Lord!

Engaging the Silence

2010-05-04T14:54:00.007+01:00

This is taken from p.32 of 'God on Mute' by Pete Greig.

Engaging the Silence

first
there is
prayer
and where ther is prayer
there may be
miracles
but where miracles may not be
there are
questions
and where there are questions
there may be
silence
but silence may be
more than
absence
silence may be presence
muted
silence may not be nothing but
something
to explore
defy accuse
engage
and
this is
prayer
and where there is prayer
there may yet be
miracles

Isaiah 26:8

2010-04-20T17:45:00.002+01:00

"Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws we wait for you: your name and renown are the desires of our hearts"

Everything

2010-04-14T10:16:00.013+01:00

I was at my sister's church in Leeds on Sunday (http://www.mosaic-church.org.uk/) which is a fantastic vibrant and growing church. They have what looks like a great conference coming up called 'Everything' and here's a description of it...

'The Earth is the Lord’s and everything in it' - Psalm 24:1
"The gist of the conference is that Everything - not just the ‘sacred’ elements of culture, but everything - belongs to God. And as His people, we are called to get involved and have a positive influence on society."

I think that the prayer 'Your Kingdom come, your will be done' demands our whole lives; that we will seek God in all things-our work, our sleep, our play, our social, our pain, our suffering, our joy, essentially just where ever we are, whatever's happening, whatever we're doing.

"Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain"-1 Corinthians 15:58b

The Hound of Heaven.

2010-04-02T15:49:00.004+01:00

(Talking about the poem 'Hound of Heaven' by Francis Thompson)

'The name is strange. It startles one at first. It is so bold, so new, so fearless. It does not attract, rather the reverse. But when one reads the poem this strangeness disappears. The meaning is understood. As the hound follows the hare, never ceasing in its running, ever drawing nearer in the chase, with unhurrying and imperturbed pace, so does God follow the fleeing soul by His Divine grace. And though in sin or in human love, away from God it seeks to hide itself, Divine grace follows after, unwearyingly follows ever after, till the soul feels its pressure forcing it to turn to Him alone in that never ending pursuit.'
—The Neumann Press Book of Verse, 1988

Jesus. The Hound of Heaven.

1 Corinthians

2010-03-27T10:55:00.048Z

It has been a long time since I last blogged! So as I sit on the train back to London from Aberdeen I thought it would be good to get a few thoughts down on 'paper'.

Over the past week i've been going through First Corinthians using the ESV study bible (very good resource!).

Here are just a few things i've learnt:

1. Unity

Paul seemed to plead for the church at Corinth to stay unified and humble through a love for Chirst and each other. In Chapter 1 verse 15 Paul asks the question "Is Christ divided?" and so requests his followers not to be.

In chapter 3 we find that there are problems with certain people saying that they followed Apollos, and others saying they followed Paul. In response to this Paul says "what after all is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe - as the LORD has assigned each to his task".

To me this speaks of unity in diversity: that we're not all called to do the same thing, clearly Paul and Apollos had different tasks (see 3:6-9), but instead we are called to be unified above all in giving Christ glory.

2. To some The Cross is foolishness

In chapter 1:18 Paul says that "the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God"

I was reminded of that this week after bumping into a friend who has no religious background at all. He came to a free lunch and talk that our University's Christian Union was hosting last week, and straight away he brought up the lunch and told me that all us Christians are mental with all this Jesus stuff! But amazingly he said it was great and wants to find out more.

3. Love. Judgement. Mercy

Love is everywhere in 1 Corinthians. Whether Paul is talking about worship in the church, food laws, marriage, Spiritual gifts, unity, idols; it all leads back to the question 'does this show our love for Christ and for others?'

Love. Love. Love.

But where does God's judgement come into love? Often I find it difficult to see how discipline or judgement can go hand in hand with love and mercy. In chapter 11 I think we find a verse that can really help us in our understanding of this:

11:32: "But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world"

WOW! For me this is huge a verse! Right here loud and clear we find that the reason why, as Christians, we are disciplined by the Lord is because of his great love for us so that we will not be condemned! We receive judegment but it is in essence a great sign of mercy.

The ESV study bible's footnote to this verse says that "When suffering alerts a Christian to the presence of sin and leads to repentance, it functions as an act of both disciplinary judgment and mercy".

To me this drastically changes a lot, for if I realise that everything that God does is out of love then it demands a trusting of him in all things.

So those are just a few messy thoughts, which are definitely not 100% water tight...please weigh all this up for yourself!

And now I get to enjoy three weeks off uni for easter! :-D

The purpose of the Lord will stand!

2010-01-23T11:09:00.006Z

So it's my 20th birthday today!!! Yes! I'm no longer a teenager and have entered the 20s-30s age bracket! Haha what a joke!

As I look ahead I am incredibly excited as to what God will be doing as we faithfully seek him.

I am reminded of Proverbs 19:21
"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand"

I wholeheartedly believe that his Kingdom is being extended in wonderful ways and will continue to do so in ways which will blow our minds! But I don't want to forget that we can make all the plans we like, however unless they are made in Christ and for Christ they are completely worthless.

But isn't this that idiot?!

2010-01-04T12:00:00.021Z

In Luke 4 we find that Jesus is back in Nazareth, where he had grown up, but now teaching and receiving praise from people (v.15). One Sabbath he was in the synagogue and he read publicly from Isaiah then boldly stated "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing" (v.21)

This passage from Isaiah that Jesus read out is ACTUALLY AMAZING! It speaks of great hope with freedom for prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind and the oppressed being released! Wow! And Jesus is central to this because it is fulfilled in him!!!

The people of Nazareth knew Jesus' seemingly insignificant background and they compared those memories they had to what he was doing now...and they were confused. Luke 4:22-"..."isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked". I think it can be a great comfort to us. Because the same thing can happen to us.

As we go about living Christ-centred lives people may start saying things like "wait a minute, isn't this that guy who used to be so selfish?", "isn't this that girl who went off the rails?", "isn't that the guy who was depressed?", "isn't this the woman who neglected her family?"...because they now see something new.

I guess the main difference behind Luke 4:22 and people asking that question about us is that our past is full of sin, but Jesus' wasn't, so we can't claim any glory for ourselves as we're "saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone" (Martin Luther)

As we are transformed more into the likeness of Christ we may find that people start saying "isn't this 'x' who... but now he/she is..." but with joy we can respond "yes, that's what happens in the Kingdom of God!"

Faith, Love and Christ

2009-12-08T20:15:00.007Z

So I was reading Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians about a month ago and have found that a couple of verses have really stuck with me...

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3-"We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labour prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ"

I took three things from this that the Thessalonians were doing well:

They were

1. Working by faith
2. Labouring in love
3. Enduring because of Christ

What a great way to live!

Aberdeen

2009-10-24T18:45:00.009+01:00

Hi all!

I'm now living and studying in Scotland doing a Bachelor of Divinity (theology) at Aberdeen university.

The course itself has been amazing so far. I have 12 hours of lectures and 2 hours of tutorials each week so it's quite a lot of work! Here's a breakdown of what i'll be studying up till Christmas:

1. Level One New Testament Greek- This has been great, quite a steep learning curve though!
2. Introducing the Hebrew Bible- This is basically an introduction to the Old Testament. Very eye opening!
3. Jesus of Nazareth Life, Teaching, context- Some good critical scholarly study on Jesus and writings about him.
4. Basics of World Religions- I'm really enjoying this module as it's blowing away some previous assumptions i've had.
5. The Rise of Christianity- We're looking at the first 4 centuries of Christianity and it's impact. Again, really interesting stuff!

And uni life in general is a lot of fun.

AND IT REALLY IS MASSIVELY WET UP HERE!

The Good Shepherd

2009-09-17T12:14:00.026+01:00

Last night I was reading John 10:14 and was encouraged by its incredibly deep message.

V.14- "I and the good Shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me"

I see Jesus making three statements here.

(1) "I am the good shepherd"- Jesus shepherds us. And he is good! Shepherds will protect, look after and guide their sheep and I love how Jesus uses a term here which everyone in his day would have understood.

(2) "...I know my sheep"- A shepherd would spend so much time around his sheep that he'd know each one well. Jesus is saying that we're his sheep and he knows us completely! And I don't think this is a passive knowing. What I mean is that because Jesus knows us, we each have a unique relationship with him and not a one-size-fits-all relationship. If Jesus shepherds us as a whole body (the church) and individually as well it means that he calls us knowing what we can and can't handle. 1 Corinthians 10:13 "And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear".

(3) "...and my sheep know me"- When we say "I know Jesus" it doesn't mean "I know everything there is to know about Jesus", but instead it means that we're on a journey with Jesus. That means there's no room for religious arrogance! Earlier on Jesus says "But they (my sheep) will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger's voice" (verse 5). To know Jesus is to know his voice. I think this is done through the Holy Spirit by reading the bible, praying and being part of the body of Christ doing life together.

So those are just a few thoughts on John 14. I moved to Aberdeen in Scotland this week for university so now I'm off to find a church I can start going to!

Strength in weakness

2009-09-07T12:43:00.003+01:00

Just a few minutes ago I saw a friend of mine's status on facebook...

"I thank God for my lack of perfection, room for improvement = increase in humility"

Recently I've been struggling with the knowledge that I have so far to go in my life. There's always more of the bible to read, let alone other books! More to pray about. More sermons to listen to. More love to give. And I get so much wrong. It's really easy to beat myself up about it all!

I need to breath in and think about what my friend put so well, "room for improvement = increase in humility"

It's interesting how the devil distorts that and changes it from a positive thing to a negative and destructive thing..."room for improvement = you're a failure, a screw up, and you'll never get anything right"

Maybe I need to stop beating myself up about my failures and instead remember what God said to Paul, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness'.

Anyone else need a bit of that?!

Feltham Young Offender Institute...

2009-08-29T12:12:00.003+01:00

On Thursday and Friday this week I had the pleasure of working at Feltham YOI reffing at two football tournaments. It's the first time that they've had 60 offenders on their field at the same time playing in a 5-a-side football tournament. It went really well with only one incident on Friday after the matches had finished, which is really amazing considering some of these guys are in different gangs on the outside.

It impacted me a lot just to go into the prison and see the huge effort, through fences, barbed wire, guards and locked doors, to keep these young men from getting out. Feltham has got a bad press, and I understand why, but there is still a lot of good stuff going on there. Some of the guys in there are very dangerous but imagine if there was complete revial in the prison of people turning to Christ! It would be amazing. Imagine if the hours spent in cells were used for reading the bible, praying and worshiping God?! I think there is huge potential there. But it did feel dark in there knowing what some of the guys had done.

As a thank you for us coming in (there was three of us from Kick London reffing) we've been invited back to watch 'Ian Wright's Football Behind Bars' being filmed at Feltham in September. They even said they'll get all the Ex-England players involved to sign a top for us! :-D

Approaching Jesus

2009-08-20T11:30:00.087+01:00

Bartimaues was a blind man who came to Jesus for healing. He'd probably been blind for many years and may have received a lot of abuse from the community because of his condition. When he approached Jesus, Jesus asked him "What do you want me to do for you?" (Mark 10:51). Bartimaues said "I want to see!". And in response to this Jesus healed him.

Bartimaues knew what he wanted Jesus to do for him.

Romans 8:26 is a great passage to help us in our prayer struggles

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."

This verse is talking about those deep cries out to God through the Spirit when there is so much going on, that we just don't know where to start in our prayers. But I think there's a difference between that crying out to God, and general non-specific prayers out of laziness. It's not for anyone else to judge where you're at in your prayer life; only God knows where your heart stands.

I was fascinated by the passage of Bartimaues because I wondered how often i'd have an answer for Jesus if he asked me that same question! Do we really know what we want Jesus to do for us?

I don't think it's a bad thing to have general prayers, because at times there is an overwhelming amount to pray for and it's hard to know who or what to start with. It's probably even good to have times of general crying out to God.

But if our prayers are continually general because of laziness (not pain) I think it could come across to God like this: Imagine going round to a friend's house who you don't really want to see, but haven't spoeken to in a long time. You knock on the door and they answer seeming very pleased to see you. They next invite you in but you say you'd rather stay in the doorway. Then he or she asks if you came over to talk about anything in particular to which you reply "errrr i'm not sure to be honest. But do you mind if I just hang around here for a minute? Then I'll leave if that's okay".

That seems really strange to me but sometimes I think that my relationship with God and prayers are like that.

So i'm convinced that Jesus wants us to be specific with our prayers for both ourselves and others. Time and time again in the Gospels we read of people who approach Jesus knowing they need him to heal something specific. Or where people bring others to Christ knowing that they need him in some way. And the Holy Spirit will guide us.

The bible is clear in showing that there's no one way to approach Jesus. So for me, at the moment, the challenge is this.

If Jesus sat down next to me, told me to be quiet and looked me in the eyes right now and asked, "Don, what do you want me to do for you?"...would I be able to respond?

And it's only by the Cross of Christ that we are able to even think about a relationship with our heavenly Father.

Moldova- a lesson in humility and grace

2009-08-04T14:35:00.013+01:00

I recently got back from an amazing 12 day mission trip in Moldova, Eastern Europe. It was so fantastic to be there serving alongside the Moldovans in their work. Whilst out there I learnt so much about grace and humility- how much I appreciated others showing me grace, and also how much grace I needed to show others. Especially when everyone is tired and stressed!

Most nights I found myself reading Philippians 2:1-11 which talks about Jesus' humility in being fully human and fully God yet not using this to push others down.

V.3 was a big challenge to me "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves". This really helped me to keep things in perspective during the trip. It's a great verse to have in the back of your mind when you know you should go and do something but really don't want to!

I never blog about my struggles

2009-07-15T17:53:00.015+01:00

Why I don't like blogging: because my blogs aren't a journey of my life but a place to bust out some information.

But I want to give a small glimpse of where i'm at in my brokenness.

Recent struggle: Realising how much I am a slave to what others think of me.

Why it's a struggle: Because this sin spreads to all areas of my life. It's ironic and frustrating to realise that I now find myself deep in what I try to turn against.

I know that I can't work my way out of this. And I know i need to rely on God. But it's hard to get out of the mind-set that if I read my bible lots and learn lots i'll get sorted.

Music makes the people come together

2009-07-14T16:38:00.029+01:00

Reading 'The Guardian' [first time in ages-thanks to Clare for keeping me humble!] at work today I came across a great story of restoration. For 40 years there have been restrictions which basically stop Cuba having any involvement with the United States. But both Britain's Royal Ballet and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra have been invited by Cuba to play two concerts over four days in the glorious Cuba itself! And team Obama has agreed to a special exemption from this 40-year nonsense!

According to 'The Guardian'...

"The visits will be among the most high-profile cultural exchanges with the West since...Fidel Castro seized power in 1959"

They've done this with the New York Philharmonic before in other places...http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/arts/music/10phil.html.

God is always restoring and transforming. Maybe this landmark event will lead to a time of further restoration between Cubans and Americans? As Madonna would say...Music makes the people come together!

Left in the boat

2009-06-25T22:13:00.004+01:00

In Matthew 14: 22-36 we read about Jesus (and Peter) walking on the water.

The thing I noticed most reading it this time was that there were 11 other disciples left in the boat when Peter decided to step out and meet Jesus.

12 disciples. Eleven left in the boat. One out with Jesus.

Who wants to be one of those left in the boat?

Turning on my community

2009-06-17T19:27:00.033+01:00

So I haven't blogged about what's been going on since I've got back from Canada so I thought I'd do a bit of a double post; a quick update then move onto some other stuff.

Very soon after I got back from Canada I started working for 'Youth For Christ' with a project called 'Kick London'. 'Kick London' is looking to transform the lives of young people through sports. My role is to support the coaches with the sessions they run and also support them through prayer, bible studies and devotional times. The work is challenging but great.

********************************

Now onto what I really wanted to blog about!

I was reading Daniel and was struck by his prayer in chapter 9.

" I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed: "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with all who love him and obey his commands, we have sinned and done wrong..."

This man has given up the royal food, been used by God to interpret others dreams, been willing to break the law by praying to God, and then got thrown into a lions den for refusing to bow down to anyone but God, yet he says "we have sinned and done wrong".

Daniel just isn't willing to turn his back on his community.

I am so quick to separate myself by saying to God "they have sinned, forgive them" rather than "we have sinned, forgive us".

I can learn a lot from Daniel!

Back in the homeland!

2009-04-28T14:28:00.002+01:00

I'm back home in the UK! No more Canada, i'm afraid, but it's great to be back to the homeland. It looks like a fun summer ahead with job hunting, holidays, music and catching up with friends!

Last day at work!

2009-04-16T19:59:00.013+01:00

I can't believe it's my last day as intern at Grindstone church! It's crazy how quickly this day has come around. It's been an intense time here, yet September 6th (when I arrived in Toronto) somehow feels like yesterday. What an amazing experience it's been! And I'm so grateful for getting the chance to come all the way out here to Canada to be part of this church. Thanks to Mark Bonam for sorting it all out for me! As the 'worship arts' intern i'm amazed at how much they integrated me into the team; they kept me so involved even though i'm young and not trained! Working so much with Eli, the worship pastor, has been awesome. I've learnt so much and feel this year has led me to a great place in my journey as a disciple of Christ.

What is blocking the release of your Spirit from flowing?

2009-04-02T21:25:00.056+01:00

Yesterday in the 24-7 prayer room at Freedom House in Brantford, I read this on one of the prayer walls...

"What is blocking the release of Your Spirit from flowing in this city?"

To me this is a massive question because it can be asked on SO many levels.

"What is hindering You, Holy Spirit, from working fully in my life?"
in my/the Church?(local/global)
in this place?
in this nation?

On a personal level God is working in amazing ways but there are still things I do that may hinder God from moving more powerfully in my life. Just writing that seems crazy...can our stubbornness really stop God Almighty moving?! Surely God can just do what he wants?

The story of the Israelites, led by Moses and Aaron, in the desert comes to mind. If they were obedient would they have been in the desert for so long? Did God stop working? Or did it just take a bit longer?

I don't think we can STOP God in our stubbornness. However I think that sometimes God chooses not to work in ways he would have done if we were obedient. So when we're disobedient maybe God is still working and using us but it's a longer process.

Any thoughts on that? I'm still working through what I think about it all so i'd be interested to hear your thoughts. I think there can be spiritual opposition to what God wants to do as well but i'm not gonna write my thoughts on that now!

So to summerise this post here's a question I want to think about, 'What am I doing, or not doing, that is slowing down what God wants to do through me?'.

Daria (heads up 24-7 for Canada), Matt and I at Freedom House, Brantford.

24-7 prayer: Grindstone weekend of continuous prayer

2009-03-25T13:57:00.011Z

Last weekend we held a 24-7 prayer room at the church offices here at Grindstone church in Canada. It was an amazing weekend with many people finding out about the 24-7 prayer movement for the first time. The feedback has been phenomenal. On the first night someone wrote in the guestbook when leaving that they were now inspired to pray. After reading that both Matty and I, who set up the prayer room, agreed that if the room closed right then it would have been worth it. But God still continued to do amazing things!

Prayers for Grindstone, prayers for ourselves, prayers of thanksgiving, prayers for others, prayers for our neighbourhood and prayers for the world just covered everywhere.

(All credit for how the room looks goes to Karen Hayes for letting us borrow all her lights, paper, pens, art stuff, table cloths and much more!)

So I move back home to the UK in a month. Time is going fast. I'm so glad I was involved with this before I leave. Now I gotta stay focused and obedient to what I should be doing before I go home. My time here isn't done yet!

The Hammer...

2009-03-18T16:29:00.023Z

So last night I got back from an amazing five day mission trip in the Hammer (Hamilton!) which is where i'm living here in Canada. Yes you are reading that right, a 5 day mission trip in my 'back yard'.

When you're serving abroad you leave the place. When it's in your own city it's pretty intense as you carry on seeing the same places and the same people even after the mission trip has 'finished'.

I really did find that as we helped out at different shelters, soup kitchens and community centres we kept seeing the same people. It's quite odd walking down the street each day and seeing people that you gave food to, and who opened up to you, the night before but now finding that walking past them with brief eye contact is no longer enough.

Some people's honesty and lack of embarrassment/caring about what others thought of them was refreshing and a lesson to me. It makes me laugh but I'm starting to think that I know some of these people on the streets more than I know people I've had years of 'civilised' conversation with! This makes me think that to some extent politeness can actually stunt relationships.

So i'm back at work feeling kinda drained and challenged but finding it hard not to smile when I think of what God is doing here in the Hammer.
:-)

The beats have stopped

2009-03-06T23:38:00.013Z

So I'm home now and we're done for the day with all the drum parts finished. We won't be back working on the songs till Tuesday now as Monday is mine and Eli's day off.

I'm off skiing tomorrow. I'm excited as it'll be my first time. It's warm (+8 degrees) so it could be difficult conditions. Eeek!

I guess it sounds like I'm living the high life...here and there, yes I am. But please don't be fooled. I don't write posts about those boring days where I'm sitting around the office doing nothing for 8 hours. Or the doubting days when I wonder whether I have anyone who really knows or cares for me here in Canada. As you can see I tend to only write about the amazing things which are happening and only show the glamorous pictures. Don't get me wrong though. This year has been a massive blessing and i'm so thankful for that.

But maybe I should try and share when things aren't going so good. Hmmm.

E.P recording-Lay those beats down my friend!

2009-03-06T18:15:00.009Z

Ah guys! So far today has been amazing. Adrian, the session drummer I mentioned in the last post, is in recording drums for my 4 song E.P.

We've got through two songs so far and we're just taking lunch at the moment. After lunch we'll finish tracking the last two songs and should be out by 6 ready for dinner!

It's a lot of fun doing all this!

E.P on the way!

2009-03-04T16:19:00.018Z

So i've been spending some time writing new material for recording here in Canada. I'm a lucky man. By the time I leave i'll have a four song E.P fully recorded and produced.

Recently Eli has been picking up some new gear for the studio (Allan&Heath ZED 16, Avalon pre-amp, SSL Alpha channel strip pre-amp) which is all sounding great. We've recorded some scratch tracks (acoustic guitars and vocals) and either this Friday or next we'll be having Adrian, a session drummer Eli knows, in to record some drum parts. As Adrian's a friend of Eli he's doing it on the cheap for me. What a nice guy!

This year has really humbled me. With all the things going on there's no way I could have pulled this off by myself. It really is all down to our amazing God and the generosity of others.

The weekend that changed the world

2009-02-23T21:22:00.006Z

Well not quite the weekend that changed the world, but still...there was so much happening!

On Friday night and all day Saturday I was at the TrueCity annual conference here in Hamilton. TrueCity is a group of churches in Hamilton working together throughout the year to bless the city. This weekend there was worship, workshops, teaching and discussions. On the Saturday afternoon I went to an amazing discussion group about church planting. It was great to talk to people who had lots of years experience in mission and church planting work.

Saturday evening I went straight to a leaving party for the pastor of Grindstone and his family. He's moving on to another church after 8 years of amazing work at Grindstone.

On Sunday it was the usual church stuff in the morning, then in the evening it was SCRUM. This is a church meeting which happens a couple of times a year to discuss happenings in the church. It was pretty intense as there had been lots of changes here at Grindstone (which I may post about at some point). And I had the pleasure of leading a couple of songs at the beginning to calm down any congregants with hot heads coming into the meeting!

I admire pastor Dave and the elders. They were getting grilled by some people and yet still held it together to give solid, calm answers. It will be quite a few years till I could hold myself in a situation like that.

On a slightly different note. HOW GOOD IS THIS PICTURE!

Live music is so intense

2009-02-14T03:42:00.004Z

Live music is so intense.

I've just got back from the freeway cafe. Me and a friend went tonight to see what was going down. There was this one band playing called 'To Tell' who were great performers and musically very talented. They sounded very much like Ben Folds, so if that's your thing check out www.myspace.com/totell

They come from London as well! Well, London Ontario. Fail.

Let's talk strategy

2009-02-12T14:57:00.010Z

Well it's fantastic weather at the moment here in Hamilton, Canada. It's raining and about +5 degrees. It really does make me feel like i'm back at home in the UK! It's funny how poorly Canadians deal with rain...but maybe slightly better than how we deal with snow in the UK!

Last week here in Canada it was -25 degrees and blue skies. Beautiful weather but just a bit chilly! It's meant to stay warm for a while before getting colder again in the next couple of weeks.

I've been back at work for over a week now after my trip home to the UK. Having some time back at home allowed me to think about the things I should be doing in my final few months. I want to be more strategic and assertive with my time as if I'm not I'll easily fill my days with things which aren't worthwhile doing. There's still plenty of things to be doing here so i'm excited about this final leg of my Canadian journey.

I'll keep you updated.

(I took this picture last week. No jokes. It was that cold!)

Snow Flake 2009...

2009-02-09T21:10:00.007Z

What an awesome weekend. On Saturday I was down at Niagara falls for the second time. This time it was for a conference called 'Snow Flake' and not for the 'maid in the mist'! Snow Flake is an annual weekend youth retreat with teaching, worship and lots of other fun stuff. Several people from Grindstone were involved in planning and leading the weekend so it was great to head down for the day and see how it was all going.

The weekend was titled 'Snow Flake 2009-SHIFT' with the theme of the weekend being shifts and changes in life. Great idea for a theme, however, having a big red t-shirt with SHIFT on it can be easily mis-read! When I got offered one for free though I wasn't gonna turn it down!

The location was obviously amazing. From the conference centre you could see both Niagara falls and the Canadian falls. Everyone there took no notice, of course, as if it was the local corner shop or something like that. Oh Canadians!

(That's the Canadian falls in the background)

Fresh Expressions

2009-02-06T17:12:00.005Z

I've just been checking out a great website called Fresh Expressions. "Fresh Expressions is an initiative of the Church of England and the Methodist Church. It has been going since September 2004. It aims to help Christians of any denomination think about ways of starting and growing fresh expressions of church in their area."

Yes I did just copy and paste that from the website...well I'd just ramble trying to explain it.

It's really fantastic to see some of the stuff going on. I'd highly recommend you checking out the website (http://www.freshexpressions.org.uk/). You know what. Go to www.freshexpressions.org.uk/mixedeconomy RIGHT NOW and download their magazine (free of charge) and read about all the amazing things going down.

'Mission is finding out what God is doing and joining in'...oh yes.

Time to head back to Canada...

2009-02-02T18:44:00.002Z

Well it's been a great trip back home to the UK. I came back about a week ago and was meant to fly out today but we (me and a friend of mine from Canada) missed our flight because of the aweful weather conditions. Luckily we've been able to book a flight out for tomorrow night though.

We spent this past weekend at carotty and had a great time as you can see below..well I did anyway!

Hiking...

2009-01-17T17:11:00.004Z

Just looking through some of my pictures I found a couple from when me and my Dad went walking one 'summer' back in the UK. I love hiking! That's one thing I really miss about Britian. Don't get me wrong, there's places to go hiking in Canada but it's just not the same. Maybe it's because it's like -15 degrees outside at the moment (-20 with the wind chill)!

A picture of me standing on striding edge as the misdt comes over

Royal Botanical Gardens...

2009-01-05T21:26:00.007Z

I just got back from a visit to the Royal Botanical Gardens, a short bus journey from where i'm staying here in Canada.

I ended up going on a long walk through some woodland flood planes which are looked after by the RBG. It was a beautiful, crisp, sunny day as i'm sure you can see from the pictures!

It's only $8 for an adult to get into the RBG so it's very cheap! And it happens to be the biggest gardens in Canada so it's definitely worth a visit.

Little Bethel

2008-12-29T02:47:00.016Z

I was meant to be skiing today but there's been a sudden heat wave so it was cancelled. I was pretty disappointed but on second thoughts I'm glad it didnt' go ahead as i'd have missed something very special.

This morning I went to 'Little Bethel' church in Hamilton (the couple i'm staying with, Matt and Roz, go there). It's a small church with God's Spirit at work there in moving ways. During the sung worship people started dancing around the church. Bear in mind that this small community consists of doctors, drug addicts, poor single people, well off families, mentally disabled people, and even Clark and Dorothy Pinnock (Clark Pinnock is a world renown theologian) are members there. At that point it just hit home about what The Church should be like. At that moment the 'doctors' weren't judging the 'druggies'. And the 'poor' people weren't judging the 'well-off' families. Everyone was just bound together in worship. It almost seemed like those labels I just gave people no longer existed and we were all just Children of God.

It really was inspiring meeting Clark and his wife Dorothy after the service. They both are members of the congregation and are NOT paid by Little Bethel so they could easily leave to find a more glamorous church. But instead they choose to be part of this small, unpredictable, real, God-loving community. The image of Clark Pinnock taking a schizophrenic guy to get some coffee at the front of church during the message won't leave my mind for a long time. Where one man falls down, another helps him.

The service wasn't slick at all. They used acetate sheets for the lyrics. People clapped on the wrong beats. People sung out of tune. There were interuptions, questions and comments, in the service. There was even a break an hour into the service so people could grab a biscuit and a hot drink!

Despite all that the love there, for each other and for God, gave me a renewed hope for restoration here and now.

Christmas, a new house and an ATV!

2008-12-27T16:33:00.010Z

Wow. What a few days! I've had a really great Christmas over here. On Christmas eve I got picked up by a family I knew from back in England and I've been staying with them for the past couple of days. I was blown away on Christmas day as this family had bought me loads of presents! It was SO nice of them. That night we went over to the neighbours house to watch a movie and even they had got me presents! Everyone's generosity really did blow me away.

On boxing day we moved into this family's new house (which is massive!). Most of the stuff had already been moved so it just invovled moving a few things. Much of the day was spent playing Halo on their 60inch TV with surround sound! It was great! :-D

(apparently you can never get close enough to the screen!)

Their neighbours seem nice. They have an Italien couple on one side who let me and Rob (the son who's my age from the family I was staying with) take their ATV out. It was a lot of fun with ice everywhere!

I've definately missed being at home with family, especially when I spoke to them on Christmas day and heard all of my cousins and everyone in the background! But this family I stayed with are pretty much my family as well, so I had a great time and am really grateful for that.

New home

Difference between Canada and England(/UK). Part 2- The shops

2008-12-22T23:17:00.013Z

It's almost Christmas and as I've been shopping I thought I'd do my second post on differences between England (/UK) and Canada.

In the UK the price you see on the label of a product in a shop is generally the price you'll pay for the product. So you see a nice pair of trousers (pants) for £25, and you pay £25 at the till. Here, however, the price listed doesn't include tax. This means trousers (pants) costing $20 will end up being $23 or something. This can be a pain. Especially if you go to the till with a $20 note to pay for those trousers (pants) and find you don't have any more money on you!

Personally, I like seeing a price tag and paying what's on it.

Snow Day!

2008-12-19T18:32:00.006Z

So today is my first snow day in Canada! A snow day is when all schools are closed becasue of the weather and most people can't get to work either. (I'm off work today)

As I got up this morning Roz and Meaghan (two of the people i'm living with) asked me if I wanted to go with them to the park to take the dogs for a walk, of course I said yes and it was awesome! There's SO much snow! It was hard to see what was going on at times as there's a bit of a blizzard going on! We ran around, threw snowballs and I made my first snow angel since I've been here in Canada! There's about 10cm of snow on the ground at the moment and it's said to build up more throughout the day. It's hard to see outside because the wind is blowing snow everywhere! Can't wait to go skiiing!

Recording

2008-12-12T14:58:00.005Z

Yesterday I was in the studio recording a song that I wrote with a couple of guys from the band i'm in. It went really well and i'm pleased with how it's coming together. It's a steep learning curve as Eli's teaching me how to record and produce stuff but i'm enjoying it. I'll be back in there later on today to carry on with it.

Difference between Canada and UK. Part 1- The people

2008-12-10T01:56:00.010Z

I thought I'd start a series of thoughts on the differences I find between Canada and the UK so here's my first one.

I was in Hamilton last night waiting for a bus when two plain clothed police officers, as I found out a few minutes later, came up to me and asked me whether I was called Jon, and whether I had I.D. They said they were searching for an English guy and someone had heard my accent and reported me! They were so nice even though I had no I.D on me. People in Canada are (generally) much more friendly and willing to talk as I found that same night talking to a guy I met at the bus stop.

Another example from that same night was when I wasn't sure exactly what bus to catch so I asked a bus driver as he pulled into the stop. He said his shift was finishing and that if I get on the bus at the next stop he'd show me where to go. And on the buses here as you get on there's no glass or anything between you and the driver, just a seat where the bus driver sits. Not like in London where there's a big plastic and glass block between you and the driver.

People in London tend to keep themselves to themselves a lot more than here. It's nice to be out and about and just be able to talk to people as if you knew them already.

Song titles, music and mandolins!

2008-12-08T20:16:00.004Z

Song titles are rather irritating here in Canada. In Britain (quite arrogantly) we re-name most worship songs to be the first line of the song. So, for example, in Canada 'Over all the Earth' is called 'Reign in me' and 'Give thanks to the Lord' is called 'Forever'. So a few times i've said I don't know a certain song only to find out I do, but under a different name!

Anyway!

On Friday night I went to see Life in Sound (my friend's band who I saw on Thursday night as well) do an acoustic show. It sounded great but I forgot to bring my camera! Doh! Others took pictures though so i'll just grab some pictures off them from it.

I have another busy week leading into the weekend where me and some friends have a show at the Freeway cafe in Hamilton. We're still trying to think up a name for the band! I happen to be playing Mandolin on a couple of the songs so I have borrowed one off a friend. I absolutely love playing it! I may pick one up when I'm back in the UK after my time here!

I'm leading worship at the youth group, Elevate, tonight with a friend which'll be good and then it's back to work tomorrow.

Life in Sound

2008-12-05T22:17:00.006Z

So last night I was in Toronto seeing a friend's band play (check out www.myspace.com/lifeinsoundmusic) at the opera house. Six of us from Grindstone went and it was intense. I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures to put up but I'll make sure I bring it to their next gig!

In case anyone's interested the songs I did last Sunday at church were

Made to worship [Bb]
Unchanging [E]
Centre [E]
Enough [G]
O come all ye faithful [G]
Kingdom Come [G]

I asure you that my next blog will be a rant about song titles out here. All will be revealed.

Toronto, meetings and a Christmas party!

2008-11-29T17:06:00.009Z

I've had a great but tiring week. On tuesday night me and a couple of guys from the office went to Toronto to see N. T. Wright speak at St Paul's then back there the next moring seeing him speak again. He's a great speaker who really knows his stuff so was great to be there for it.

The rest of the week was pretty busy with staff meetings and preparation for Sunday (I'm leading worship).

Last night I was at the Grindstone Christmas party which was a lot of fun. Afterwards we went to Boston Pizza and then back to a friend's place. It ended up being a late one but what a great night!

As you can see from the picture below, we're having a bit of British weather at the moment!

Love wins

2008-11-24T21:00:00.007Z

So I'm currently living in Hamilton, a city in Ontario on the edge of lake Ontario, about 40 minutes drive from Toronto. It's a great city with lots going on but there's also lots of poverty. Almost 20% of Hamilton's population, or 95, 650 out of 504, 559 residents, live in households with incomes below the poverty line*. So that means that when i'm walking down the street going to buy some new clothes, music, or more food, 1 IN EVERY 5 people I walk past could be living in poverty. And these figures DON'T include poeple who are 'wealthy' but face the poverty of no friends, broken relationships, dying relatives, the list goes on.

There are so many people (some christian, some not), however, doing incredible work for the people of Hamilton. Just this Saturday as a church we went to help out at the Eva Rothwell (http://www.mohawkcollege.ca/external/robertland/about.html) which is a community centre doing fantastic stuff. Turns out the guy who runs the place, Don MacVicar, got awared Hamilton's citizen of the year.

So as I get involved in different projects during my time here I don't want to forget that things are being restored: beauty in the broken.

Let's face it. Love wins.

*These stats I found class you as in poverty if you earn less money than the Low-Income-Cutt-Off rate which is the average cost of BASIC necessities (food, clothing, housing) + 20%. A family of three, for example, their LICO is $26,396 = £14,161 for the year.

SNOW!

2008-11-19T22:54:00.003Z

Wow. I mean wow. Lunchtime today=no sign of snow. Leaving work today=snow. It's dark now so the picture I took didn't come out very well but you get the idea! This is only a few hours of, apparently, light snow.

Hamilton...

2008-11-17T17:26:00.012Z

So I needed to buy a couple of things this morning and since it's my day off I thought i'd have a wander around and get to know the place a bit as well. Whilst doing so I happened to stumble uppon what i'd say is the best shop in the world! It was a massive shop run by this one old guy and it had everything in! It was like a massive garage sale in a shop! It was like an old second hand style shop. The guy who runs it said that he has double the ammount of stuff there but has no where to put it! And my parents think we have a lot of stuff in our garage!

Outside the place I stumbled upon a beast of a machine which i'd love to get (see picture below!) which would help me get around easier! It's $450 though so not so sure!

Where i'm staying is really nice. I have the whole basement to myself with en-suit bathroom so there's plenty of space!

I think i'm gonna like living here Hamilton.

Last morning in waterdown!

2008-11-15T15:37:00.006Z

So it's my last morning in waterdown as i'm moving to Hamilton this afternoon. I packed up my stuff last night and i'll be going out for brekkie in a bit with some friends. Waterdown has been good to me but i'm looking forward to living in the city!

Hasta Luego amigos!

Last week in waterdown

2008-11-10T16:04:00.005Z

So it's Monday (my day-off) and i've had a great weekend. I really enjoyed leading worship on Sunday, I taught 'God of Justice' and it seemed to go down well.

For those interested I did:

Open the eyes of my heart [E]
Holy, Holy, Holy (Lift up his name) [E]
Faithful Forever [F]
Gof of Justice [F]
Be Thou my Vision [E]

With the service being straightforward musically it allowed me to focus in on God and not think about the band.

This is my last week in Waterdown before I move to Hamilton (15th Nov). It's been great here but i'm looking forward to moving into the city. I'll be able to see more live music and be more independant (there's no public transport in Waterdown so I have to get lifts everywhere!).

The weekend is here

2008-11-07T20:45:00.001Z

Well it's Friday afternoon and i'll be done at work in a bit. It's been a busy week with working on the Philosophy Of Ministry document (an extensive series of articles we're producing on baically everything about Grindstone), market research, songwriting and preparing for Sunday (I'm leading worship).

Once out of the office i'll be off to the gym as it's my last day of a free week's pass...i'll hopefully get it extended!

Tonight i'm off to a friend's party which'll be a laugh :-)

It looks to be a good weekend.

The Freeway

2008-11-03T21:13:00.002Z

I've just had a great weekend. Saturday night was the highlight. I went to see my good friends Joe and John Moran play at the freeway cafe in Hamilton (http://www.frwy.ca/) at a live music night. They sounded great and decided to call themselves 'Don from London'! Nice one guys ;-)

Afterwards I went for a jam with all the musicians long into the night/morning. There was voices, guitars, a bass guitar, a mandolin, violins, a djembe and various other percussive instruments! What a night!

Update

2008-11-01T18:18:00.000Z

Hey guys,

Most of my updates while i'm here in Canada have been through facebook...SOOO I thought i'd start up a blog so that those without facebook could keep an eye on what i'm up to :-)

To start with here's the guitar i'll be using on Sunday in band. It's a Gibson Les Paul Classic (which is pretty much same as the 'Standard' but with different pickups). It's rather nice.