Glory = Weighty

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to flesh out a little on this ace sermon I heard on Sunday. If you want to listen to it yourself you can right here (the sermon is called Weight of Glory by Andrew Wilson)


Now I liked it for 3 reasons (I could be doing a sermon myself here! Ha)
#1. It was looking at a part of the Bible I don't read hardly at all because it's really hard to understand. Revelation is the last book of the Bible and if you read it even as a Christian you can get a little confused/scared/totally bewildered. This talk was all about Revelation 4:1-11. He broke each verse down and explained actually what is going on, how much is symbolism, how much is cultural references etc. I like that because I could actually follow what is going on. He didn't assume that people already know loads because when it comes to this part of the Bible I know very very little.


#2. It made me re-assess my view of God. I think often I put God into this box of what he can and cannot do in my life and in the world. The guy speaking used this illustration of looking at how we often say that God created the world...then showed a picture of the earth. He then showed the earth in comparison the the other planets and showed how the earth is actually somewhere in the middle with regards to size. He then showed the earth in comparison to the sun (it's very small), he then showed the sun in comparison to other suns (by this point the earth cannot be seen at this scale), he then showed the sun compared to the biggest sun we know of (our sun was 1 pixel). And made the comment that we often think we are the centre of the universe....uh...clearly not. I far FAR too often forget that I serve a God who is in control of EVERYTHING. Like he holds the stars in place, knows when a single bird falls to the ground, sustains everything by his word...that is insane when you try to think about it. And verse 3 of that passage says he does that all from sitting on a throne - he isn't stressed out or rushing around. He is in complete control because he is bigger than I am and is not limited by the constraints of a human body/mentality that I am. It was good to be reminded of how much bigger he is.


#3. It was really challenging. You may have read in my last post about my excitement that the word "glory" literally translated means "weighty". So when we talking about God being glorious we are actually saying he is richer, fuller, deeper than we are - he displaces everything. The speaker used this illustration of having a washing up bowl of water and saying we were the water, he then put this piece of paper on top and it floated there. His point was that many of us love God and like him to be in our lives, love the fact that he loves us unconditionally and that he is always there for us, but we haven't grasped WHO God is - like his is magnificent! He then had a brick which he threw into this bowl and the water went EVERYWHERE. He was saying that when we really get who God is and how totally mind-blowingly-vast he is, our lives are completely displaced by the weight of his glory. We will act differently because we realise we have constant access to a God who is always capable, we will be secure in who we are because there is a God who created heavens and all of the worlds beautiful places who also took the time to knit us together inside our mums. 


Now for me it was a challenge because I think I have been in the place where my life has been impacted by who God is....but then I have gotten lazy or forgotten his amazing-ness. I want to live in that place of trusting in a God who controls everything from a seated, calm, loving position.

A busy yet relaxing weekend

So you may have noticed I have eased off the blog the last few days and that was because I was having too much fun being outside. I'll give you a little low-down...


FRIDAY:
Work as normal until 3 when I went to pick up my friend Rhiannon who I used to work with in Aberystwyth. She had come down for a visit mainly because I wanted her to play in the charity netball match we were having against Moonpig that afternoon. So yes XLP were playing Moonpig  in both a football and netball match. I was in charge of organising the netball team and to be honest it was a right faff. You would think it would be easy to get 10 people (not even just girls) who would want to play a game of netball on a  Friday afternoon....oh no...I had people dropping out left, right and centre. It was crazy - I know I am quite into sports, but I didn't realise how much other people hate them. 
Anyway so the game was fantastic (mainly because we won) but also because it re-kindled my love of netball. Oh my word I was loving it. I was probably getting a little too into it considering we were just playing them as a friendly. But yes the final score was 10-7. Straight after I was off to a project I run taking Rhi with me to see some of the work I do.
After this we decided to go for a victory drink and my friend Tom (Smith...you might remember him from previous blog posts) came and joined the two of us and two of my team mates. Totally chilled way to end the week.


SATURDAY:
Got up really leisurely. Rhi really really wanted to go to Chelsea to see if she could star spot any of the celebs from "Made in Chelsea"...I have to confess I haven't seen any of this show but she is convinced that they are all amazing. So we had a wander and I was totally enraptured by Chelsea market outside the Saatchi Gallery - if you are hungry DON'T GO THERE....so much beautiful looking food on sale. We spent the day seeing Buckingham Palace, sunbathing and getting free ice cream in Covent Garden :) win. Another winner of a day.


SUNDAY:
Church in the morning which was fantastically challenging. Really made me reassess how big God is and how his glory* is magnificent. I took some notes and may well blog in more depth about it later in the week. 
After Church I went straight to Tom's house because my friend Sarah (a.k.a Ralphy) had arrived and we were all getting ready to attend the BAFTAs. Yes that's right the British Academy Film and Television Awards...! Now the BAFTAs these days is actually split so the film BAFTAs happen in March at the Royal Opera House and the TV ones are in May at Royal Festival Hall so that's where we were going. It was a bit insane to be honest. I couldn't quite get my head around it...walking down the red carpet was just surreal. Everyone was looking at you clearly thinking "are they famous...?" I managed to make it down the carpet without tripping which had been my worry and then we were very briskly whisked off to a balcony before all the real celebrities arrived. 

Now I am not a massive TV fan, I don't own one, I rarely watch iplayer or equivalents and I don't really have time to watch anything religiously. However after attending this I did think I need to watch some more - honestly some of the programmes nominated for awards looked fantastic. I am a Sherlock fan and so was a little disappointed that Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) didn't win best leading actor, but his colleague Andrew Scott (Moriarty) won best supporting actor so that was ok. The whole thing was a little weird because all the plebs were up in the top circle miles away from all the celebrities. Sad times. I was looking forward to trying to blag that I had starred in something...no such luck. After the awards we went and got some dinner along South Bank...I don't really know how you beat that kind of a day.


All in all had a winner of a weekend. 


* Did you know that the original translation of glory means "weighty", so when we talk about God's glory we are talking about his "weightyness" and how his glory displaces other things.....more to come....

My best guy friend

Do you know who it is?


I promise this is not my boy friend...but every girl should definitely have a best guy friend.

Mine is.....

That's right....TOM SMITH


a.k.a: Smithy, Tommo, Smithers, Oh


There are many reasons why I love Smithy and I will list a few so you can understand why he is a quality guy.

• He is really good at laughing at himself (and me)
• He is incredibly generous
• He has been my "date" to a ridiculous amount of events over the last few years (see below)

• He is the world's most qualified usher
• He has a car
• He is a very good listener and advice giver
• I lived with him (and Tim and Lee) in my final year at uni and I still love him....that's got to say something!

• We got fake engaged and started a whirlwind reaction with this photo

• He's been there for significant events in my life

• He makes me laugh A LOT

• We have a really chilled out friendship where we can totally rip each other and it's ok...and we know FAR TOO MUCH about each other

• Lastly he's the only guy I know who would willingly brave Oxford Street in 29 degree heat with me to help me buy shoes.

So Tommo - this one's for you. Love* to the max. x

* NOTE: Very platonic, sisterly love...for all you matchmakers out there...

Bet you never knew...

I have realised that a number of people reading this blog might not know too much about me...


So here are some random facts to help you get who I am a bit more:

• I LOVE travelling - anywhere. I have a huge love of Africa though
• When I was 6 I won the Courtesy Cup which was a cup that one person won every term for being very polite  

• My favourite food is either Reece's Peanutbutter Cups or bacon
• I have been to the Caribbean (2007 on Cricket Tour)
• I am half American - my Dad is from Streator, Illinois
• I LOVE the sea! (as shown in this picture)

• I became a Christian when I was 11
• My first kiss was when I was 17 to someone I had known for 4 days
• I find it really hard to pay for things under £5 on card...it just doesn't seem right to me
• Every year I have a few days where I will sneeze HUNDREDS of times! But then I have a really long sleep and I'll be fine.

So that's 10 things about me....

give me 10 things I might not know about you!

Being blessed

Quick one today. But not a little topic... 


I have had a pretty tough couple of months but recently I have been struck by how much God has and is blessing me. 


E.g.

• I have a stable, fun, fulfilling job at a time when many people are without work
• I live in a place where I have access to everything I could need or want
• I have opportunities to develop my passions
• I have friends who I can laugh with
• My team love me enough to have bought me a hamster
• People are constantly encouraging me
• I have a Church which is a welcoming community to me
• I was given a bike on extended loan today!

God has provided for my every need. Sometimes I think it's easy to see what I don't have rather than what I do. I have a flipping good deal right now - I can't really complain at all!