A Week Of Youth, Comedy And Rock!

That was one of the busiest weeks of my life! Now I know for some of you high-flying non-stop people out there, you would probably have considered my week restful, but for me it was full-on!

Started last Friday morning heading off to Eastbourne for Youthwork the Conference. My first time to such an event and I surprised myself by really enjoying it. 

I don't really consider myself a 'youth worker', just an 'adult' that turns up on a Sunday evening; there were bona fide youth workers there, who really get into the thick of it and put their hearts and souls into what can seem like an endless task and refuse to give up on the kids or give in to the crap that is constantly thrown at them.  It was wonderful to hear genuine testimonies from two young adults who had been helped by such people when they were kids, who wouldn't give up on them.

There were plenty of varied seminars to chose from and on Saturday morning I went to the mentoring one. I'm not an allocated mentor to a child but it is something that interests me very much. I think there is an importance that cannot be underestimated in a child being able to have an open honest relationship with an adult, in which the child feels valued, unjudged and above all LISTENED to! That relationship isn't always naturally there with a parent, even in the most loving of families.

I wrote on my notepad during the seminar "I remember being sent to a head of year's office for being in trouble at school, I started to talk to her about things at home, I felt the responsibility and I just wanted to talk to her about everything but there was no time. I wanted to be listened to."

That memory for me came back as clear as day, and I realised it is something I have tried to achieve as an adult, to be someone who listens to my own children; but also I have impressed upon them, if they ever can't talk to me about something, they have my full support to open up to whoever it is they trust and feel comfortable with.

It was a full weekend! I'm not going to give a blow by blow account of it but I would recommend you looking up Pete James who led the worship in a most awesome way! I love live music but it was a new experience for me having been to loads of concerts, to be in a big worship 'concert', very different, I was conscious of the adoration going to Jesus, rather than the 'rock gods' on stage!

The other big highlight speaker who I would recommend a Google is Chris Durso, in fact, if you didn't make the weekend and you can download the two talks he did they were excellent, and really made an impact on me.  He's from Queen's New York but he came across so well to a British crowd!

The four hour journey to and from Eastbourne was done in our church minibus, which sounded like it had terrible indigestion the whole time, our drivers were excellent, but I feel they wouldn't have fared so well had I not been in the passenger seat right beside them, pointing out the braking lights on the cars in front and possible lane change of the lorries beside us, I am thoughtful when it comes to helping out drivers.

Then the rest of my week was filled with work, Bible studies and play. Note the lack of 'rest'! Something I am quite partial to!

I went on Wednesday to see Jeff Lucas and Adrian Plass, who I saw on their Seriously Funny tour last year it was a great night again, with lots of laughs, but also some quite moving interaction with the audience in the Q&A half. 

The funniest line of the night though, was in the car on the way home when our friend who had come with us said "I thought it was going to be a Bible study." Bless her! We had done a Jeff Lucas study in our home group (not studied Jeff, I mean a book/dvd he presents and you study the Bible following his provocations.) and she had thought it was going to be an extension of that.......not quite!

Also this week I went to see Europe (told you I'd been busy), not all of it - just the Swedish 80's hair band of 'final countdown' fame. Now if you come from my neck of the woods you will be familiar with terms such as 'gurt lush, mint, alright my lover' etc. Now imagine a Swedish front man telling the audience all the saying's he's learnt from playing gigs in Brizzle. Who taught him them? Has he been going up Bedminster on his lunch break, or stopping off in Primark to pick up a nice pair of leather trousers for tonight's gig?

So as you can imagine, after all those shenanigans it is 10.30am Saturday morning and I am still firmly in HQ, (bed) I have sent out the instructions to the masses (children) to put a uniform wash on and strip their beds (they are out of them) and I intend to have a thoroughly relaxed weekend!

God Bless you all!

Jeff Lucas And Adrian Plass Seriously Funny Tour

After the week I'd had, if these guys hadn't made me laugh there would have been trouble!  They did not disappoint.

Having read their Seriously Funny book I knew they were funny guys, but if I'm honest I wasn't expecting much, I mean, come on, Christian comedy?

Ever heard the phrase 'comedy timing'? Adrian Plass could give a master class in it, his delivery was so good he had you laughing in anticipation of what you knew was going to be a well worth waiting for punchline!

I did wonder if it would just be a 'live' re-telling of the stories in their book, but I only recalled about two, so there were lots of new laughs.

They cover many Christian related topics, such as speaking in tongues, where if you find yourself in a highly charismatic/pentecostal church and it is expected of you, but you don't have this gift, you can get away with it by reciting the 1990 Sri Lankan cricket team!

And about how to cope on meeting the 'perfect' all-round Christian family, whose children all play musical instruments, and they have 'family worship' together and they turn to you and ask how you organise your family-fellowship time!

They were able to find humour in topics as dark as death and depression, without being disrespectful or irreverent, and as with the book, they seamlessly weaved hysterical anecdotes with the message that Jesus is a good guy to get to know, without being at all 'preachy'.

Well recommended if you can get tickets for the last few dates, and you could easily take a non-Christian friend without cringing!

Seriously Funny Adrian Plass & Jeff Lucas

Written communications between two friends, who are sometimes funny, sometimes grumpy, sometimes controversial, but always endearing.  Adrian and Jeff are on a wavelength probably similar to a lot of us, but they have had the guts to put their opinions in print.

I am essentially a nosey person, so to have the opportunity to read someones 'private correspondence' really appealed to me! I also like the reality of the situations of which they write, their anecdotes of book signings and tour interpreters are hilarious!

Their faithful thread is not lost in the humour though, with their thoughts of Jesus' reaction and the way a Christian might be used by the Holy Spirit in mundane situations is both touching and thought provoking.

If you are offended by the humour or some of the language in this book, you may need to re-address your outlook on what it means to be a 'normal, run of the mill, fun-loving, Jesus-serving Christian'.

p.s. Seeing them on their 'Seriously Funny' tour next month, so will probably do a little post on that!