Friday, December 07, 2007

So Where Have I Been?

[Man it took the best part of two days to get round to finishing this post and eventually posting it with pictures and all. Heaven help me when I actually start writing for real.]

So where on earth have I been? One day posting enough posts in a month to keep everyone and my mother happy for a while, then last month other than a few entries that was about it from me.

Well November was a fascinating month. As part of the month I had the great pleasure of working with the man Andy Kind – one of the UK’s
top up and coming comedians and a quality guy to boot. He took a group of the YMCA guys to the Frog and Bucket in Manchester for an amateur comedy night – apparently the best in the city. There were some painfully awful moments in the night but the benefits far outweighed the pain as it gave the guys a chance for a night away from the hostel and enjoy themselves in a club atmosphere.

It also gave an opportunity for Andy to get further embedded in YMCA life which will be great in looking at our joint goal of bringing people closer to God. Then the brother also conducted a workshop that I witnessed and it was really amazing seeing some customers who are more used to hiding in their jackets coming out with some tremendous comments and some excellent contributions to the day. It was a privilege to be there for that session.

I also got myself involved in the
YMCA World Week of Prayer with a few local events at our crib including a prayer session that went fairly well in terms of addressing ourselves as children when it comes to God and needing the same things all the way throughout childhood – love expressed in guidance, provision, correction, etc. Had an interesting visit to Leicester YMCA seeing various sides of the regional YMCA work in action.

Engaged in some awesome prayer meetings over the month as well that had some huge benefits for me in regard to direction for various aspects of life – personal, vocational all aspiring to just be everything God would want me to be. Some positive things coming out of the
Facebook phase although I’d be interested to see if it persists into next year.

Then obviously came the highlight of the month for me … taking part in the REACH meeting of 23 November. It made me chuckle seeing different aspects of the social action group in dealing with the issues from the charismatic ‘The Lord Will Make A Way … supernaturally’ approach to the liberal ‘Sure He’ll Make A Way, But We Are The Way So We Need To Work With Authorities And Existing Agencies And Ensure Everything Is Done In Partnership’ approach.

Oh yeah I turned 30 during the month. I attended the
Mission Shaped Ministry training on the day and my dear friend and colleague Gordon Crowther, organiser of the training (pictured), shares the same birthday so he got the singing treatment. I thought I’d sneak out of it hoping no one would know it was my birthday only for good ol’ Graham Harrison to check his Facebook and be aware of it and so exposing the whole sham and getting the crew to repeat the song on my behalf.

There’s quite a bit to be said about reaching 30 and how it impacts me, but I’m hoping it comes out over the year in various blog entries and other outlets, but I am so grateful to God for giving me the grace to make it this far. I feel like I’ve done so much on one hand and yet on the other it feels like there is still so much to come for me.

So these are just a few of the things that have been going on in November and the activities are not slowing down as we head into December. It’s always been a funny time of year for me, but I’m looking forward to seeing how to make the most of the time.

I’m grateful that Deborah celebrates her third birthday this month so it gives me something to look forward to and it’s no surprise that hers is the last Dryden birthday of the calendar.

So much to say, so little time. Just continue to remember me in your prayers in terms of keeping focussed on what I’m meant to be doing and carrying it out with all my might.

For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
da man cd

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