Day 4: anyone got any wingmirrors for a ford transit?

I think I need to start this blog with the story of the tent. We arrived in Cloughjordan, Tipperary at around 11pm. We were exhausted, Ali had been driving for about 3 hours and we all just wanted to get to bed. We were kindly looked after and cared for by Shane and Christy Tucker (Church of Ireland Youth Department). They have a lovely home and great hearts for the Lord. We were really blessed by their hospitality. The girls got a room in the house and the three lads were camping in a tent in the garden. After lots of laughter and mistakes we eventually got our tent pitched around 1am. We were exhausted but praising God for safe travel, inspiring meetings and great fellowship.
We woke early this morning and after breakfast, some good time chatting with Shane, we packed up and headed for Galway via the Cliffs of Moher. The roads were awful and not really suitable for vans, not to mention the craziness of the local drivers. Within the space of a couple of hours we lost both wing mirrors. The final score was Ali 1 Steve 1. So if anyone has a contact who could help Youth for Christ get two new wing mirrors let me know.
The Cliffs of Moher were amazing. They were so stunning. If you have never been across to see this place it is definately worth it. We had a really cool time their and finished with a BBQ down at the shore.
We arrived in Galway tonight about 8pm and got our stuff into our room. I had wanted to meet with Naomi, a Youth for Christ worker here in the city, but God had also put Alice Dawson, a girl from the north studying down here on my heart. Amazingly I was able to reach her and she, along with Naomi were able to meet us and spend the night telling us about their lives and ministry here in Galway. Hopefully we were able to encourage them, but to be honest they encouraged us so much. God has created these guys with such tremendous capacity for the things of the Kingdom. They don't seem to lose heart, they have such deep passion for Jesus, despite being part of a Christian Union with only 15-20 people in a University of 16,000! They shared story after story of how God is working here and they taught us a lot about the context for missions here in the west. We are praising God for this meeting tonight, it was a divine appointment, in a pub of all places.
Another amazing day of journey, relationship and connection. Onward and upward...
Steve (Ali is too busy replying to all his emails, he has so many fans! Pete is currently writing the blog for Friday...he needs a couple of days notice!

Day 3- It actually is a long way to Tipperary!!

The wonders of modern technology! Ali is driving- Pete is leading worship on the ipod and I am blogging on my phone! It's my turn to write the daily update- so I am doing it as we make our way to County Tipperary. When we arrive at approx 11pm we have to pitch our tent in the dark! Living the dream!

Charles Fort, Kinsale

We have had a busy day today. This morning we met with Lawrence Graham. LG is a Methodist minister-who is doing some prayer room stuff in Cork & soon in Killarney. Lawrence also spent some time giving us some contextualizatlon for mission in Ireland- very informative.

We then travelled to kinsale. This beautiful little tourist village is buzzing and just crying out with evangelistic opportunity. Although we missed the Kinsale rugby 7's by a day we still got to enjoy some great atmosphere- oh and Ali & I got sunburnt!



We then met with John & Vanessa Purdy- an amazing couple loving & serving Jesus in Clonakilty. We spent a couple of hours listening learning and being inspired by these guys. I am sure at some point Ali will do an indepth report about all the prayer room stuff- all i will say for now is how a prayer room in Clonakilty brought catholics & protestants together to pray and allowed God to speak into the whole community: amazing.

Tonight we were back in Cork meeting a group of emerging prayer leaders at the Haven. We had an amazing time of prayer and fellowship with these guys- again it was so inspiring to meet people who have gone beyond talking and are going for it..
so we are now on the road after grabbing a subway. Next stop Tipperary.

Steve

Day 2

So we set of from Dublin this morning about 9am and headed south. First stop was at Dun Loaire where we met up with Claire and Jeremy. Both these guys have such wonderful hearts for Ireland and we could tell they were people who spend time on their knees in prayer. We were welcomed with a full breakfast in claire's home and was such a privilege to share life with these guys and pray together. Claire, who was president of Trinity CU last year, has a heart for her home area in county Loais and when she finishes her studies this year feels that God is calling her back home. it is her heart to see God move in this rural part of Ireland and spill over into the surrounding counties. As I listened to her I was struck by how easy it would have been for her to stay in Dublin where many of her friends are and where there is much more of a Christian resource. But she knows God is calling her back and slowly opening little doors for her. Please pray for her as she seeks to be obedient to God and follow His call. Jeremy is also finishing a theology degree at Trinity this year and attends a church in the quays area of the city. He is taking on a 'ministry in training' year next year with his church and has a heart to get some 24-7 prayer going on there. Pray for him also, he is a great guy.

Next stop was Bray, which was totally jam-packed today because of the bank holiday with visitors and holidayers. We met Suzie Evans there who is the director of YFC in the Republic. Again it was such a blessing to see someone just getting on with it and doing the stuff. When we met her she was in a boiler suit and covered in paint as she was helping renovating a warehouse they had acquired to use as a drop in centre. Again it was so evident that Suzie is a girl who prays and her passion for Jesus keeps her going. They are seeking to have a prayer room in this drop in centre which is in a great location where they are seeking to reach the local young people from an extremely deprived local estate. Pray for Suzie, compared to us, these guys have nothing of the resource or Christian support we have, yet they are believing God to show up as they continue to carrying out His plans.

Leaving Bray we travelled down to Wexford and met the girls (our church interns) who spent a great weekend at a church down there. It was such a beautiful drive on a real belter of a a day. There were parts of the drive that were simply stunning, breathtaking. We left there and drove about 3 hours until we reached Cork tonight around 8pm. We took a walk round the city, got ourselves a nutritious meal in McDonalds and then got ourselves a drink listening to some music. Cork is a lovely city and much bigger than i expected. it is steeped in history yet increasingly modern and has a real buzz about it.

We are staying in a hostel here which isn't great but doing the job. We have a full day tomorrow. Meeting two Methodist ministers who have both been exploring prayer rooms over the last year and two girls who are seeking to open a prayer room in the city centre!! Pray for us.

This trip is showing us that God has his people everywhere - Wonderful, kingdom minded, sacrifcial Jesus follwers and it a joy to share life with them...

The Tour Day 1: What a place to park!

Finding a parking space in Dublin was a nightmare. The Youth for Christ Van couldn't fit in any multi-storey car parks so we had to do a few laps to find some on street parking. When we finally got parked, imagine our surprise that our parking space was right outside a 'dirt shop.' This gave us a good laugh, and we got a few funny looks from some shoppers. What was more funny was the shop below, Christian Fortune Tellers!!

We have had a great first day. Pete, Ali and myself met with a twenty something emerging leader called Ferg Brown. We spent a couple of hours chatting over coffee, getting a glimpse into what God is doing here in Dublin. It was inspiring to catch this guys vision for community, mission and discipleship. What really impressed me about this guy is that he doesnt just talk about it, he is getting of his ass and bringing in God's Kingdom here. Ferg, his wife and their soon to be born little baby are moving into Temple Bar, to bring the presence of the Kingdom into this part of the world. He currently works about three jobs to support his vision and he is looking to get a property in temple bar to open a 3 story building with a 24/7 prayer room, a coffee shop and a discipleship training school. I was really challenged by one particular part of the conversation, when Ferg shared with us, about a conversation that he had with his elders, when he shared his heart to go and start new expressions of church but still be connected with the church, the result being that they have got behind him and have released him to go and do and be. Awesome guy with a big heart and the courage to go for it!

This evening we visited CORE Church. CORE has always been a leading charismatic anglican church here. I think we were expecting to go and be blown away by a huge fancy kinda churchy thing. We were in for a big shock. 39 people, in a very simple church building, two teenagers playing guitars, very average teaching and bread and wine. But as we reflected after, we all loved it. It was simple, raw, full of mistakes (broken guitar strings and 25mins late starting, because nobody came) but very authentic, touching and engaging.

After CORE, we met Alex and Keely Mosley, friends living for God, serving in Ballyfermot Community Church. Alex is an old friend from Bible College, Keely is a Children's Counsellor working at Oasis. They are good guys, with a lovely home...and who are letting us crash over.

Ali, Pete and myself will probably unpack tomorrow on the road, but personally I can say that God has already been challenging me. Tonight at CORE, the pastor Rob shared a word with me, during prayer ministry (yes, i went forward for prayer!!) something that God had already been pressing on my heart. Looking forward to Day 2!

Steve

Presence

We had a great night last week with brother Thierry. We felt incredibly privileged to have him come to speak with us and appreciated his humilty, honesty and openness of heart.

This month we are exploring the idea of practicing the presence of God. We learned that Brother Thierry and his brothers pray 6 times a day and have regular periods of silence as they seek to give themselves to God and abide in His presence. It was refreshing to hear from Brother Thierry how even he struggles from time to time to focus totally while praying but at the same time it was a challenge to us that times of drawing aside and centering ourselves on the love of Jesus would make us all people of Presence. As brother Thierry talked to us it was obvious from his words and spirit that his continual, conscious exposure and openness to the presence of God had changed and transformed his life beautifully.


I am gripped by this idea of the presence of God at the minute. I have been reading through Exodus and I have been inspired by the raw desire, desperation and drive within Moses for the presence of God. Moses had experienced the power and awesomeness of the Presence and he knew that without it he was wasting his time.....'if Your Presence does not go with us, we are not going anywhere.' I love this. I feel at this point in my life presently. I can't be bothered anymore with simply doing the Christian thing for the sake of it, or fulfilling the religious duties just to save face. I am more desperate than ever for the Presence, for that level of intimacy with God that touches our souls in the deepest place and transforms us. I am in childhood bewilderment once again at the fact that I, one made from the dust, have become the abiding place of God Almighty. That my body is the temple of God. That the Presence, which had the Israelites quaking in their boots and bowing in reverential awe and fear, is what I carry around within me every day. The missional life we believe should be one of Presence. As we engage with those we live and work with, I believe there should be something which marks us out as different. Maybe not different in the ways we have been brought up to believe to be but a simple grace, beauty and truth about our lives that leaves lasting imprints upon peoples' souls. Yeah we should seek to get people into church, but we must never forget that they should meet with Jesus when they meet with us, wherever that may be.

In striving to be these kind of people, we must find some space in our daily lives to centre ourselves before God. To become aware of His presence in our lives and to allow His love to flood and then overflow our souls. The disciplined place of prayer is not the end in itself, it is only the means. The end is 'righteousnes, joy and peace in the Holy Ghost;' it is a life of deep joy and liberty even in the face of great suffering; it is a life of knowing that we are loved deeply and unconditionally by our Maker. It is the Joy of the Lord. The word Presence in the Hebrew means literally before the face, and was usually prepositioned by the word for standing. Imagine the privilege of coming before Yahweh, the God of the Universe and His son Jesus, our beautiful Saviour - standing before the face of God.....suddenly praying 6 times a day does not sound difficult or boring!!

Father God,
Thank-you for Your awesome Presence which will never leave us. Help us to discipline ourselves in time spent with You, not to earn spiritual brownie points, but to come to a knowledge of the greatest truth of all...that You love us deeply. In doing so may we come to know the sheer delight that comes in knowing you and making You known.
In Jesus' name
Amen

Wednesday Night!

Brother Thierry from the Benedictine Monastery in Rostrevor will be coming to talk to us this Wednesday night (2nd April).

We will be looking at issues such as:
- Practicing the presence of God
- Being in touch with God all the time, not just in prayer meetings
- Silence
- Hearing God's voice

Come along with questions you would like to ask about discipline, recognising God's voice, Roman Catholic doctrines, or just about the life of a monk!

Money, Money, Money......

We were challenged last night by God's word (reinforced by Rob Bell and 'Daddy' Al) on our responsibility to steward our finances.

The main points were these:

So...

• Have fun with those £5 notes!

• Be generous with your own cash.

• And remember that it's better to give than to receive.

Love

Love

Love