Thursday 26 July 2007

My Brain Hurts!

Not much today. Too tired. Overdid it yesterday.

Led Pendle Prayer Meeting at Shekinah in the morning. Worked through my holiday post in the afternoon. By 4.00 p.m. my brain was hurting and I couldn't concentrate.

After tea went and lay on the bed listening to Smooth Classics at Seven on Classic FM. Thank God for Classic FM say I.

Then got into bed at 9.00 p.m. Still very jaded this morning.

Tough life. But Father God will pull me through

Wednesday 25 July 2007

The Arbroath Tabernacle


This is the Arbroath Tabernacle. It caught my attention at CLAN Gathering straight away. It was completely different to the other stalls set up by ministries. This one had STYLE. I couldn't stay away from it. The presence of God drew me to it incessantly.
It was put together by a girl from Idaho who now lives in Arbroath. She told me that her art work is an expression of her worship to God. Well it certainly showed in this creation.
There was a girl who was sitting by it all the time.


This is her. Sorry I can't remember her name.

She told me once that people asked her if she was a fortune teller! What a sad reflection on Scottish spirituality.

The Tabernacle itself is a reflection of what God is doing across the nation.

They were asking for prayer and support for an outreach project in Arbroath. Do pray for the Blessing Outreach Project there.

Monday 23 July 2007

God owns all the doughnuts





These pictures show the highlight of my week at CLAN Gathering.


It wasn't getting my brain prayed for (although I did). It wasn't the teaching (although it was great). It wasn't even having prophetic words said over me and Audrey (although they were).


It was what J John the Evangelist said in his evening talk: "God owns all the doughnuts".


Let me explain:


Audrey and I now have a very small permanent income based on Audrey's 30 hours a week job at Settle Surgery. So when the Sunday morning meeting at CLAN Gathering was over I said to her: "Can we afford a cup of coffee?"

To cut a long story short: The people queued up in front of us at the cafe bought our coffee for us AND a doughnut. To cap this, Audrey said to me "How come your doughnut's twice the size of everybody else's?" I answered quick as a flash: "Because I'm getting a double blessing!"

When J John spoke a couple of days later and told us that God owns all the doughnuts, it made clear what I had been thinking - that God was showing me through that doughnut that not only could he provide a cup of coffee but a double doughnut as well! In other words, I must never say "Can we afford..?" to Audrey again, because we can.
Many thanks to Stewart and Liz Goudie who bought the doughnut for us on Sunday and were sitting next to us when J John uttered those unforgettable words. That's them at the top on the right.


Saturday 14 July 2007

My Brain Hurts!



If you're old enough to remember Monty Python and you watched it, you'll remember that catchphrase "My brain hurts!"





I remember before this journey began saying to Peter Capstick at Shekinah that part of my brain didn't work properly. He told God (and me) in his prayer that he didn't believe a word of it. Well I'm right.





The bit that doesn't work is called the prefrontal cortex. This is a picture of it (not mine I hasten to add). The little numbers were mapped out by a chap called Brodmann years ago.

Anyway, now I know what is wrong with my anatomy I have three choices:

  1. Ask the Lord to heal my prefrontal cortex
  2. Be diagnosed by a psychiatrist and get medicine (probably Ritalin)
  3. Learn to live with it as part of who I am, like I do with my short sight.

At the moment I am leaning towards the third option. But I am going to think about over the next ten days while I am on holiday with Audrey in Scotland.

We are going to an event called the CLAN gathering (New Wine Scotland). I won't be able to blog there so I'll let you know how we got on and what I have decided when I get back.

Please pray for us.

God bless you.










Thursday 12 July 2007

Writing in style

Hey, guess what? I've entered this blog in a competition for Christian blogs. It's in the Christian Newcomer category. I'm not a new Christian but I'm a fairly new blogger. And I love it.

Yesterday's highlight was getting some real help on my MA writing from Joanne at SLDC (Student Learning Development Centre) at the University. I had been writing in a Daily Mail style where I should have been aiming for the intellectual market. Silly me.

Basically: "The thinking's good but the style needs improvement." May God help me to write as well as I can in all genres and on all occasions - especially on this blog.

Wednesday 11 July 2007

Grannie returns


This is a picture of my mother-in-law, Audrey's Mum, Alice Brennand, known to the family as Grannie. She came back yesterday after a long, long absence. By that I mean that her original character returned.
Let me explain. For the last few years she has been suffering from hypothermia. She had a very low body temperature which affected how her brain worked. This affected her personality too. She became passive and docile and very dependent on her husband Tom. Before that she had been bossy, nosy and wanting to get things done.
Well, she came back yesterday. I went to sit with her while Dad went out for a bike ride. Although she can't see now, boy, did she try and sort me out.
"You need to get a job, Pete."
"You could do this..that..and the other."
I had to say to her very firmly: "I know you find this difficult to understand, but I cannot work when I'm like this."
How funny life is. I thought how great it was that her character had come back and how very annoying as well!

Tuesday 10 July 2007

Prayer AM & PM


We started the Half Hour Prayer Meeting (HPM) at IMC yesterday. I had been praying and working towards setting up this twice weekly prayer meeting from yesterday. I had been asking the Lord for at least two people to join with me. Those who came first were Joyce and Grace. Then a little later two more joined us - so I got a double blessing! These were Andrew and Lorraine Pye. They were a little hassled in getting there, and so had Grace been. I must pray about that.


We had a great time praying for just half an hour in the power of the Spirit. Our two main themes were the Church Elders and Hope 2008. It was a good start.


I then went and told Duncan Thornton what a good time we'd had, as it was his original idea. But it came from Grassington Methodist Minister Vivien Firth who told us about a prayer meeting they have every morning. I rang her to tell her about it this morning, and left a message with her husband.


The lady (Gill Strachan) who organised the Cell UK preaching conference which so influenced my preaching on Sunday sent me a lovely e-mail back saying how encouraged she was to read my message on a Monday morning. How nice.


But in between it all, laced like a black thread through a white cloth, I was in mental confusion and tiredness. A lot of the day was spent sleeping on the settee. The rest was spent confusing friends and family. What a strange life.


At night Joe and Ruth Hawkey came to give their second talk on Prayers for Healing. They prayed for my bad back. They said I should get more exercise. So many people have mentioned that fact, that it must be the Lord. I must listen and obey.


I should follow the example of Mark Lawson from IMC. He gave up singing in the Worship Group a while back, but was involved with the singing at the Driven service for men. So many people said that it was great to see and hear him at the front again that he has rejoined the Worship Group. Well done, him.

Monday 9 July 2007

Preaching to a Changing Culture

Yesterday I preached at IMC in a style which was directly related to what I had learned at a conference held by Cell UK called Preaching to a Changing Culture.

First, I made the congregation participants rather than observers by constantly engaged them in question and answer dialogue. Second, I used a PowerPoint presentation to look at images of Christ in various art forms.

Afterwards, I talked to two people who I particularly wanted to impact. They both found the style and art presentation helpful. This morning I wrote an e-mail to Cell UK thanking them for their input into my ministry.

On Saturday I abandoned the Ruskin Symposium for a H2H Follow-up day. This is short for Head to Heart. It is a deep ministry which has had great affect on our church. Most of us who went to the event were from IMC. plus Jean and Sheila from St. Mary's. So it was very much an Ingleton occasion. Interestingly, Head to Heart and Cell UK are very much linked.

The theme was Finding Your New Voice. It fitted in very well with what is going on in my life at present and was another step forward.

May God help me to put that into practice too.

Saturday 7 July 2007

Two steps forward, one step back

I think it's in Nigeria where custom dictates that when the Bride is entering the church for her wedding she makes slow progress to her Bridegroom because she and her father take two steps forward and one step back as they walk up the aisle.



On Thursday I took two steps forward in finding my way home, by being able to visualise my personality. Yesterday I took one step back. And it felt like a giant leap.



I was going to a symposium at the University, organised by the Ruskin Centre. It was called Disseminating Ruskin.



The first problem was that I couldn't remember where it was being held. I got to the University alright and went to the Porter's Lodge. But they didn't know. They suggested asking at the Ruskin Library. So I went and asked there. They didn't know. It was time to eat.



I went to find a cheap cup of coffee. First to Bowness College coffee shop. It was closed. To Furness. Nothing there. So I went to the Place and saw Professor Keith Handley so I asked him.



Then I read the obituary of George Melly. What an awful man. His influence on this country was ghastly.



To cut a long story short, I had found out that the event lasted a lot longer than I had thought and that I needed to text Audrey to tell her I'd be home later. No credit on my mobile. I tried ringing T-mobile and got so confused I had to ring off. So I went to the paper shop at Uni to buy credit there.

I was going to pay with a card but they only take cash. So off to the cash machine I went. Then back to the shop with the money and got the credit, plus a packet of Paracetamol for the headache that was coming on (!)



I felt rotten all day. I enjoyed the talks though and it was good to catch up with Pauline who is on the MA Course with me.



Once I got home I found the application for Incapacity Benefit waiting for me. As I read it through I was thinking Am I really unfit for work? I fell asleep at 9.45 p.m.



When I woke at 2.00 a.m. and lay pondering and praying about my condition for hours I decided that yes, I am not fit to work. The words used by my colleagues to describe my work: confused and chaotic come to mind.

God help me.

Thursday 5 July 2007

Who Am I?


I just wanted to show you this. It's been in my mind for a while but a lot of thinking, praying and meditating this morning has made it into a viable picture.
I have to live with this for the rest of my life. I have been living with it for at least five years, without knowing what it was. Now I do. That gives me a lot of realistic hope for the future.
Thanks be to God for revealing the Truth.

Wednesday 4 July 2007

ADD Organisation

The family laughs at me but it works.

Since I came to the conclusion that I have adult ADD I have been desperately trying to get organised.

I have written labels on tables, and put reminders in computers and my mobile phone. I write myself little notes and try not to trust to memory.

If I do trust to memory it fails me. Like last Wednesday when I promised Michelle I would get my son Nathan to a meeting for the young people at IMC that night. I didn't put it in my phone and woke up in the middle of the night remembering that I had forgotten. That, with the fact that I had lost stuff from the Ruskin MA Course, sent me into a tail spin.

From this I deduce that if I can overcome the ADD problems, a lot of the cause of the depression will be taken away. I pray so anyway.

I have found a website very helpful. http://www.addclasses.com/ Have a look yourself.

By the way, it's great to hear that Alan Johnston's been released!

Tuesday 3 July 2007

Goodbye to all that...


Yes, it's goodbye to all this.
This is a picture of the office at Central Methodist Church Burnley where I used to work on a Wednesday.
It shows Adrian Heys, Manager of the Basement Project in the background and Marjorie Coyles, Administrator of the Burnley Circuit in the foreground. I will miss them both.
Why do I put it in now, several weeks after I last worked there? Because this weekend I ceased to be paid by the Methodist Church.
I am now non-employed. I can't say "unemployed" because I don't consider myself fit for employment. That's why I applied yesterday for Incapacity Benefit. The form's in the post.
Strangely enough, although this sort of thing occurs quite a bit in my life, Sunday 1 July was exactly 25 years since Audrey and I moved to Ingleton from Epping. I was a minister down there for three years and came up North on 1 July 1982 to seek God's will in Ingleton.
One of the first things I did was to speak for Ingleton Methodist Church after an adult baptism service . The baptism itself was held at the Ingleton Swimming Pool and the aftermeeting was in the Sunday School Room. Looking back in my mind's eye, I estimate there might have been about 20 of us there at that meeting. I talked about "Fellowship". I remember that because I made a joke about fellowship not being a boat full of men.
What was actually happening in that meeting, although I did not realise it at the time, was that God was showing me my future for the next 25 years. Audrey and I became part of that fellowship the following Easter and have seen it grow to over a hundred meeting on a Sunday morning and lots of kids too.
On Friday I showed a group from Huntington Methodist Church in York around the new(ish) building. It was good to remind myself again of all that God has done in the last 25 years at Ingleton Methodist Church - IMC.
All praise be to Him.
But what does the next 25 years hold for me, Audrey and IMC?