I decided that because Rosie asked me, and I have left some things out of my other New Wine post, that I should do another one including the things I missed out.
Some of the best memories of New Wine:
One of them would have to be the constant attempts of climbing/jumping over the fence into the field. Many times we attempted it, and many times we failed, admittedly I was the worst. One time, I had a massive run up to the fence, ran up to it, raised my legs to jump over, but aimed a bit low and smashed through the fence! My first instinct as the coward I am was to run away. But then I relalised that I'm not the 'menace to society' type, and so I stayed to help fix it, fortunately we did, and no damage was done. Well, I say we, I just stood and watched everyone else.
Another memory would be my first shave. Rosie had become fed up with my 'moustache' which she escribed as looking like bumfluff. Because of this, I signed a contract agreeing to shave it off, as it happened, I didn't, Sof did. As he was sat there, attacking my manhood with a razor, I thought of the clever idea of shaving off his sideburns, as it happens, I didn't do this fully, Mike did. He was not best pleased.
Something that I doubt I'll forget, is the mighty tumbleweed. We decided that there were too many awkward silences that had gone un-tumbleweeded, and so we came up with the catchphrase 'release the tumbleweed!' However, this wasn't enough, we had to MAKE one. We grabbed a load of dried up grass and spent about half an hour neatly balling it together until we had the finished masterpiece. We now had a fully funtional tumbleweed ready to protect the world from awkward situations!
On the last night, we decided that it would be fun to all sleep outside in our sleeping bags. As it happened, it was! Although I did have my face abused with a sharpie marker to find out that I had a goatie, moustache, glasses, smiley face and Harry Potter scar drawn on. I looked like a walking doodle cliché
Tuesday 10 August 2010
Healing on the Streets
After an amazing week at New Wine I felt inspired to carry on some of the stuff that was happening into regular life. The base theme for the talks at Thirst (14-18s group) was 'Untoppable' and one of thr talks that really made me think was about not just being a 'comfortable Christian' and instead get out there and do something.
So me and a couple of friends decided to go into Oxford to offer prayer and healing. At first I was really nervous, but as we got to it, the nervousness turned into excitement, and I was really looking forward to it. However, when we got into Oxford with the chairs, Bible and banners, it was raining. We met this man who had set up a table with booklets and books on for people to take away, we spoke breifly and prayed for each other, the good thing is, it didn;t feel weird or out of place praying in the middle of Oxford. We decided to move on to different shops and cafés and pray there, and it still felt normal.
After about an hour and a half, it was still raining, and we decided to call it a day, as it was showing no signs of stopping. I will admit, I was disappointed, but it was good because I now know that I feel comfortable going into Oxford to do something like that, and it has strengthened my faith.
So me and a couple of friends decided to go into Oxford to offer prayer and healing. At first I was really nervous, but as we got to it, the nervousness turned into excitement, and I was really looking forward to it. However, when we got into Oxford with the chairs, Bible and banners, it was raining. We met this man who had set up a table with booklets and books on for people to take away, we spoke breifly and prayed for each other, the good thing is, it didn;t feel weird or out of place praying in the middle of Oxford. We decided to move on to different shops and cafés and pray there, and it still felt normal.
After about an hour and a half, it was still raining, and we decided to call it a day, as it was showing no signs of stopping. I will admit, I was disappointed, but it was good because I now know that I feel comfortable going into Oxford to do something like that, and it has strengthened my faith.
Monday 9 August 2010
New Wine
I have come back from what has been an amazing week at New Wine and I'm missing it incredibly. I've decided that I'll recall it in the form of a list of thing that I miss and don't miss about it.
Things that I won't miss about New Wine:
1. The Showers
I was pretty lucky in the sense that I never really encountered a queue for the showers, although once I did have to wait inside the toilet block for around 15 minutes which wasn't the most pleasant experience I've had. But once you've got over that and you get in, the first thing that you notice is the state of the shower, you have to stand on a damp, mouldy wooden crate, which is ok with shoes on, but once they're off... Once that's over with and you stand on the raised shower platform, you then notice how low down the door is, which sets off the paranoia. Once you actually turn the shower on, it comes out as a dribble similar to the amount of standing under the drain, and it takes a while to get the correct temperature, once you're done, you have to reach for your shoes so as to avoid having to stand on the mouldy crate, once all this is acomplished, you've changed and youre out of the shower, you just have to wait for tomorrow.
2. The Smell
I can't complain about this for most of New Wine, but you get some areas which smells like the middle of a cattle sewage system, it's especially bad when the smell comes around in the middle of your campsite.
3. Waking Up
Sleeping is surprisingly pleasant, I generally slept through the entire night and it was pretty comfortable for camping. But when it's 8 O'clock and you hear someone shouting "Hey! Who wants to wake up Logan with me?" You then want to rush out of bed feeling tired and grumpy
4. The Coach Journey Back
The coach journey back was alright in the sense that I was relaxing whilst listening to music, however, then you hear a noise so high it puts you off whatever you listen to. You look at the T.V to find out that someone had the clever idea of playing Alvin and the Chipmunks. I tried to ignore it and turned the music up louder. After a while, I noticed that it had finished, but my victory didn't last very long, as I noticed someone had the clever idea of bringing the second one.
But enough with the negative which in no way reflect the week, onto the things I will definitely miss about New Wine! :
1. The Presence of God
Now, of course God is always with us, he isn't just at New Wine. But what's so great about New Wine is you feel him so much more there. With morning and evening celebration consisting of a 2 hour long worship and talk each, it's hard not to notice him working. Then there is the community consisting of pretty much 100% Christian, if you see people praying in the street, you don't really give them a second thought or look. There is also the contant playing worship music in the background from the practising bands which completely adds to the atmosphere.
2. Friends
Second only to God, friends is a vital part of New Wine. I am certainly going to miss waking up and having breakfast with about 20 of my friends. And it is brilliant being able to just pop into town with friends pretty much any time you want. And the bonding is incredible, as you can imagine, spend a week with anyone and you get to know them pretty well, I got to know people that I'd only really heard of before.
3. The All Nighter
After our entire youth group hd run through New Wine in our boxers and we'd got back, I was completely awake and starting to get bored. So i decided to move into Mike and Simons tent, along with Sof. We then decided that we would stay up all night, as it turned out, this was a genius idea. We stayed up and talked for about 6 hours, which was a lot more fun than it might sound, and we all really bonded, which was great.
4. The Milkshakes
Every day, we would get a different chocolate-flavoured milkshake, they are absolutely delicious, and the best £3 that I'd spend each day.
There are many other things that I'll miss aswell, but I've already spent over half an hour on this!
Things that I won't miss about New Wine:
1. The Showers
I was pretty lucky in the sense that I never really encountered a queue for the showers, although once I did have to wait inside the toilet block for around 15 minutes which wasn't the most pleasant experience I've had. But once you've got over that and you get in, the first thing that you notice is the state of the shower, you have to stand on a damp, mouldy wooden crate, which is ok with shoes on, but once they're off... Once that's over with and you stand on the raised shower platform, you then notice how low down the door is, which sets off the paranoia. Once you actually turn the shower on, it comes out as a dribble similar to the amount of standing under the drain, and it takes a while to get the correct temperature, once you're done, you have to reach for your shoes so as to avoid having to stand on the mouldy crate, once all this is acomplished, you've changed and youre out of the shower, you just have to wait for tomorrow.
2. The Smell
I can't complain about this for most of New Wine, but you get some areas which smells like the middle of a cattle sewage system, it's especially bad when the smell comes around in the middle of your campsite.
3. Waking Up
Sleeping is surprisingly pleasant, I generally slept through the entire night and it was pretty comfortable for camping. But when it's 8 O'clock and you hear someone shouting "Hey! Who wants to wake up Logan with me?" You then want to rush out of bed feeling tired and grumpy
4. The Coach Journey Back
The coach journey back was alright in the sense that I was relaxing whilst listening to music, however, then you hear a noise so high it puts you off whatever you listen to. You look at the T.V to find out that someone had the clever idea of playing Alvin and the Chipmunks. I tried to ignore it and turned the music up louder. After a while, I noticed that it had finished, but my victory didn't last very long, as I noticed someone had the clever idea of bringing the second one.
But enough with the negative which in no way reflect the week, onto the things I will definitely miss about New Wine! :
1. The Presence of God
Now, of course God is always with us, he isn't just at New Wine. But what's so great about New Wine is you feel him so much more there. With morning and evening celebration consisting of a 2 hour long worship and talk each, it's hard not to notice him working. Then there is the community consisting of pretty much 100% Christian, if you see people praying in the street, you don't really give them a second thought or look. There is also the contant playing worship music in the background from the practising bands which completely adds to the atmosphere.
2. Friends
Second only to God, friends is a vital part of New Wine. I am certainly going to miss waking up and having breakfast with about 20 of my friends. And it is brilliant being able to just pop into town with friends pretty much any time you want. And the bonding is incredible, as you can imagine, spend a week with anyone and you get to know them pretty well, I got to know people that I'd only really heard of before.
3. The All Nighter
After our entire youth group hd run through New Wine in our boxers and we'd got back, I was completely awake and starting to get bored. So i decided to move into Mike and Simons tent, along with Sof. We then decided that we would stay up all night, as it turned out, this was a genius idea. We stayed up and talked for about 6 hours, which was a lot more fun than it might sound, and we all really bonded, which was great.
4. The Milkshakes
Every day, we would get a different chocolate-flavoured milkshake, they are absolutely delicious, and the best £3 that I'd spend each day.
There are many other things that I'll miss aswell, but I've already spent over half an hour on this!
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