ha ha ha…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7547769.stm

those of you who know me and my church mates will probably appreciate this, just because of the name of the guy who did it! lol!

climbing, camping and crashing

well the past few days have been rather fun/interesting, not quite sure which term would describe it best! i received a text on Monday asking if i wanted to climb Slemish the following day. Of course being the manly man that i am i said yes, then was told everyone was camping after it in a field, which made me want to go more! so on Tuesday evening we heading towards Slemish Mountain. It still escapes me why Slemish is called a mountain, cause let’s face it, it’s a glorified hill! anyway we picked a miserable day to climb it, it was cold, wet, muddy, you know exactly what you expect from the NI summer! as we climbed we ascended into the wonderful cloud at the top! even though you couldn’t see anything at all it was satisfying to get there, and good fun coming down to! i must say though, i did NOT fall coming down, which i’m rather happy about, as most others did! Anyway, we came down and went to the Simpson field and set up tents, got the bonfire going, roasted marshmallow and bonbons, then dipped them in melted chocolate! SO good! decided to have a wee sing song in the big tent so i whipped out the guitar and started strumming a few wee songs. Was a really good night, made me really appreciate the friends i have up here, and made me realise how much i’m going to miss them when i move at the beginning of September! So then this morning we just sorta hung out and did very little to be honest! then i realised what time it was and had to leave as i had to tidy the house and then drive to Belfast and collect my parents who were coming home from holidays. Unfortunately on the way home i was driving along my road when this van with a trailer came flying along the road at a ridiculous speed, and for those of you who don’t know my road its very narrow, and didn’t pull over any, so i had to move right over to avoid hitting him, and in the process smashed my wing mirror off a bin! so that meant that someone else had to go get my parents from Belfast, but its alright, going to get it fixed tomorrow!

even though that happened i can’t stop thinking about next week, and about what this next year will hold. Next Thursday, 14th, i get my A-level results, and to be honest i am bricking it! i’ve been going over in my head if i want to do my first choice (maths) or my second choice (physics). They are both similar but i cant decide what i want to do! that’s if i get the grades though! if i dont get the grades i’ve a few ideas what i might do for a year, but i wont go into them now! i know that what ever happens this incoming year, whether its to do with uni or moving house/church etc, it’s all in God’s hands, and whatever happens is part of His plan for me…

summer so far…

well it had been over a month since my last post, and the reason for this is pretty much ’cause I’ve been busy most of the summer so far. So i am going to do a very quick recap of what I’ve been up to.

The summer started officially for me on the 18th June when my a-levels finished, and basically until beginning of July i was working and trying to get some money. The on 5th July i headed off to do Christian Youth In Action (CYIA). Basically CYIA is part of the youth work in CEF. This was the first time that it happened in the Mid-Antrim area. There were about 25 of us and we stayed together in 2nd Broughshane church for a week. On the Sunday we were split into our teams of 4 and went out into the estates where we were working and gave out invitations to our 5 day clubs. Basically the point of the week was for each team to go into different estates around the mid-antrim area and have 3 5 day clubs each day. So the team i was in was based in Randalstown. Our first 5 day club was a complete failure, we had no kids at it, which was kind of depressing, but we tried to stay positive for the others. Our second 5 day club was all of the teams favourite. We had about 10-12 each day roughly, and spiritually they knew nothing. All the kids were either foreign or catholic so it was brilliant to be able to tell them about God. On the Thursday during this club however all of us were on breaking point. The kids were just really disruptive, wouldn’t listen, and it was just so depressing. One kid in particular, Fat John (as he called himself), was awful. Before this day he was generally good but on the thursday he was just awful. So that night we were really down-hearted and did the only thing we knew would help, we prayed. Sometimes we sort of doubt God and aren’t totally reliable on Him, but the next day Gos just showed us that we need to fully relay on Him. The whole club was calm, they listened so well, and “Fat” John was so well behaved, he listened, he even held my notes for the story as the wind started to blow them away. I believe God was really working in that estate, and i just pray that He will continue to work in those kids lives. Finally our third 5 day club of the week was really good also. Pretty much all the kids were church or sunday school kids so they knew all the answers and were enthusiastic about the quiz and memory verse etc. It was still brilliant though to be able to reach these kids and teach them about God.

For the following few weeks i just worked for a bit. From the 19th to the 25th July was CEF Mid-Antrim Juniors Camp. Unfortunately this year i was not a leader at it as i needed to work to get some money. Even more unfortunately, the week of that camp i only got hours for one day which was annoying. On the tuesday of that camp i went up to visit them, and to be honest on the way home i was quite sad as being at the camp and chatting to some of the kids that i knew from the previous year made me really miss Jnr camp and wish i was there.

On the following Friday night (25th July) 21 camp leaders, including myself, went to see Batman: The Dark Knight. OH MY GOODNESS! I was slightly skeptical about how good ie would be and how well Heath Ledger would portray the Joker. But i was completely blown away by it. Ledger did what i thought was a brilliant job, as well as Bale, Oldman, everyone really.

Then on 26th July CEF Mid-Antrim Inters camp started. I was a leader at this one, and it was incredible. We were staying in Ballycastle High School, from the Saturday (26th) to the following Friday (1st). The teaching this year was from the book of Romans and was done by a good friend of mine, Chris McCune. Some people think that at camp the teaching is just for the campers, but I know personally that i got a lot out of what Chirs said, and i know that a lot of other leaders did as well. The one part that really spoke to me was on the thursday morning when Chris was speaking on Romans 12v1-2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God— this is your spiritual act of worship.
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is— his good, pleasing and perfect will.     Romans 12 v 1-2

This just really challenged me ’cause over the last 6 months or so these two verses have come up so many times. To be honest i wasn’t really doing what these verses were telling me to. But i knew i had to. So basically since i have been trying to live for God, not be part of this world. These verses came at the perfect time, cause i had been thinking bout things like this and were wondering and different aspects of stuff, and this just totally answered prayer for what i had been looking for. God was working that week, 9 kids became Christians that week. God is AWESOME!

Then last night (sunday) i was out at Green Pastures. I’ve wanted to go since it opened just to see what it was like. I must say that the worship was amazing, the singing was incredible, you could really feel the Spirit of God in that place. It was a special guest speaker that night so i don’t know what the speaking is usually like, but one thing that the guy who was speaking said stuck in my mind. He said this following week live for God. In your work, at home, out with your friends, LIVE FOR GOD!

We need to live for God everyday, I need to live for God everyday. We need to change the world…

…change the world for God

CEF Mid-Antrim Inters Camp Leaders

quite a while

well it has been a rather long time since i updated this so i thought now that my summer has officially begun i should update it. Since my last post i have done 9 a-level exams which ended on the 18th of july. I am very happy they are over and im not going to worry about them until i get the results in august lol! I have also continued watching Battlestar Galactica, currently im about half way through season 3, and its awesome! 

One of the best things that has happened me in the past few weeks is that im currently typing this entry on my 18th birthday present which arrived today, a lovely new MacBook as seen below!

So i am very happy about getting it as i’ve been waiting a while for it! currently trying to get it all set up and going well! 

Can’t wait for this summer to get going, was out last night with some mates for a few drinks and stuff, was good fun, have a feeling that this summer is going to be good! I shall keep you up to date on it all!

Goodbythe for now!

b.s.g

well taking the advice of a few good friends of mine i have decided to start watching the tv series Battlestar Galactica. I was told specifically not to start at series 1 episode 1 as it wouldn’t make much sense, so following their advice i started by watching the 3 hour long mini-series which is basically a prequel to the actually tv show, and i must say i ‘fracking’ love it! its completely sucked me in and it so well made.

 

i feel like a complete geek for admitting that i like it but I’m not ashamed, it’s really good! at least it means that i have something to watch while i should be revising! only have to watch 59 episodes and i will be up to date with American tv and with my friends. i highly suggest if you like sci-fi you should watch this show, its brilliant. but as i was told to do watch the mini-series first, it makes everything a lot clearer and you can understand it a lot easier

mindless ramblings

that pretty sums up the point of this blog. As my A-levels start this week i need something to distract me from the horror that is revision, Last Wednesday, 7th May, marked our last day as a full time student of Ballymena Academy. 7 years were spent at that school and its come to a finish. Keeping in tradition with the school we headed down to White Rocks and we couldn’t have gotten a better day for it! Scorching heat, a lot of sun burnt people! after that our wee group headed round to the West Strand for a BBQ and just to chill out before heading back to the apartment we were staying in. Then the following day just dandered around Portrush savouring the time we had together left. In some ways I’m sad to see it go in the sense that i won’t get to hang out with my mates the same way again and see them everyday, but overall i feel that imquite happy to have left as it means that i shall be moving onto bigger and better things. But with that in mind the summer is going to be AWESOME. Quite a number of house parties have been rumoured, got few camps and heading of to Nice with the lads, shall be some craic. As for the rest of the time? Either working to get money or just chilling with the mates, can’t wait!