Florence

I know that I haven't blogged in ages. The summer was a bit of a weird one for me and I felt a bit all over the place. 

But recently I've been doing a few things that have brought me lots of life. The main one being going to see Florence and the Machine with my friend Luffy at Allypally!

If you have never heard of Florence and the Machine (shame on you) I am almost convinced you will have heard some of her music. She is a bit like marmite, people either love her or hate her. I am definitely in the love category. 

Today I am going to give you my top #3 of her songs for you to enjoy. 

At number #3 is probably the most famous of her songs 

 

You Got The Love

Number #2 for me is

Spectrum

Number #1 my absolute fave at the moment is....

Make up your mind

Now all of these are subject to change and I think there is one from each of her 3 albums there - basically I cannot commend her highly enough to you. Seeing her live was incredible!! Florence has this insane energy, she was on stage for 2 hours leaping across the stage and singing her heart out. 

People might say that spending money on tickets to see people perform or play sport is a waste - but I think experiences like this make us enjoy life more. It was a quality night with a great friend. 

Lewisham.

This last week has been difficult to say the least. 

Life as a youth worker in London is a colourful mixture of joyful break-throughs and devastating set backs. 

In the last week in Lewisham alone I've had interactions with the Police, weapons found in the possession of young people I work with, a boy I work with got stabbed on the way to school (not fatal thankfully) and there was another stabbing in the middle of the day today.

It is so rubbish.

The last few years I have been incredibly blessed with limited violence in the borough. Violent acts have mainly happened with adults rather than young people. Now there seems to be a shift. It's not just in Lewisham either. There have been a number of violent incidents across London with stabbings in Islington and Greenwich in the last couple of weeks too. 

It feels like attack. 

I don't know how else to describe it. I can't understand the reasoning behind such senseless acts. It feels like there is another power at work. I'm not someone who normally jumps to over-spiritualise situations; however, at the moment I feel like there is a greater force at work than just people making stupid decisions.

Maybe that sounds weird. Maybe I'm wrong. 

But I would really encourage anyone who prays to pray for peace in this city. To pray for young people to not get caught up in retaliation. 

At the moment it's all I think will help.