Thankful

Firstly I do apologise for not doing a blog sooner! I said I would try and do these every fortnight but I havent found a right time to write until now!
This blog post is called thankful, because right now I feel that God is teaching me to be thankful for all that I have and as I reflect over the past few weeks there is a lot to be thankful for. So lets start from the top:

Thanks number one: Just after I finished the last blog post I went up to Carlisle for a training day called Tattie Pot. The worship leader called in sick that morning and Vic mentioned to the person running the day that I played guitar, so I got asked to play - I was extremely rusty and me and the singer didnt have a chance to practice. I was given a guitar, tuned it up, went through the chords and bang straight into the deep end. But you know what it didn't matter. I looked out and there were 40+ people just worshiping God in the most amazing way. I was thankful to God for the skills I had, the confidence to stand up there, the opportunity I was given, the day ahead but also all of these people who had come to worship God. Amazing.

Thanks number two: So I finish in Carlisle at 4PM, get dropped at the train station by Mark and Sarah (another thanks in there), jumped on a train and arrived back in Surrey around 9:30PM. Had an awesome catch up with my amazing parents (who I am thankful to for their love and support through everything I do) went to bed in my own bed before another stupidly busy day. I went back to St. Mary's Fetcham in the morning. I gave a brief presentation on my time up here and everyone was really interested to hear what I was up to. It was great to catch up with everyone. I was thankful for their support and encouragement and also interest. But the main part of this thanks is to Luke Epton. Man, it was awesome helping to baptise you. You are one of my inspirations to become a youth worker/minister watching you grow in your faith has been one of the best things. You are growing into an amazing guy! I am thankful to God for you, your faith and the honour of helping to baptise you! Also I would like to say a huge thanks to the rest of the confirmation group, who have also inspired me so much in my journey of faith. You guys all rock! It certainly was an awesome evening. I'm also thankful for the St. Mary's reunion we had with The Boughton's and Ellie Mackay having all gone off to different places!

Thanks number three: This one meant a lot to me ... Vic and I went to Millom school later that week to give some lessons on bereavement. A very difficult topic to discuss but one that does need to be chatted about nonetheless. Some kids were a bit shy to talk whereas others were happy to laugh the subject off. The thanks comes at the end of one of the lessons, we were packing up after another good lesson when the kids were leaving one of them left and said out of the blue, "oh by the way, cheers for coming in to speak to us". Wow! It shows that this guy was really appreciative of what we were doing there but also what we were trying to get across. I just thank God for him and his kindness and willingness to listen.

Thanks four: For the Big Questions group, this is a faith discussion group that we have been running at UVHS. Week on week this group has grown but last week was just amazing. We had a couple of non christians challenging us in our beliefs and it really meant that the discussion took off. Thank you God that these kids have come to Big Questions and also thanks that they are now exposed to us and our faith. The next one is tomorrow so pray for another great session.

Thanks five: For my good friends up here. There are so many amazing people up here who have let me into their lives. Particularly I would like to thank Vic and allowing me to work with her for the year in the amazing job she does. Secondly to Sue and Matt for their awesome banter in the office. To my good friends Arve, Jonathan, Barbara and Kristin here in the south of the diocese, for their friendship, banter and support. Mark for an amazing time catching up over the weekend. Carolyn and Kristian for the internship and the continued guidance and support and to anyone else up here who has taken the time out for me.

There are many other things to be thankful for but I think that will do for now. The next post will hopefully be a bit more factual. I think and pray for you all back home a lot do get in touch, I love hearing from you.

THANK YOU!

God bless,
Charlie