An Update from Bradford: The writing and the youth

Christian's can often feel burned out, it's happened to me before, it actually feels as if it is happening now. My usual reaction is to take a break from God, but this evening I tried something different, I pressed in, I read, I worshiped and to be honest I am feeling better for it. I love my life, I would not trade it for a multimillionaire's. It is uniquely designed by God, for me. Things though are moving at a mile a minute, especially with the website flying, we are getting a deluge of submissions for the magazine from writers eager to get their voice heard. I thought it could happen, but I could never have predicted it would be this fast. It has only been a month, the website is booming, constantly generating new traffic and new hits. It is exciting to be at the beginning of something that has so much promise and potential with Brandon at my side. I would like to thank Jan for inspiring me to take the bull by the horns with her entrepreneurial spirit.

The youth work too is starting to blossom into something special, stories of how God has been using me to reveal information I could not have known previously,  and how he is physically healing others have been inspiring young people to think  twice about the existence of God. Testimonies of how God is healed young people at Newday (A youth conference that runs annually) are inspiring my youth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF5wyeoOWlA, there is not much more I could ask for than that. I spent this evening praying for them, and praying for another church I have been doing some youth work with in Saltaire. Prophetic dreams suggest that our youth work is going to grow dramatically over the next few years (both me and the other youth worker for our church have had dreams in which young people are literally queuing up outside the door). I feel like the giant snow ball has finally been pushed down the hill, nothing to do, but pray, wait and keep reading submissions for the magazine. Someone came up to me today in church and said, "I sense God is going to use you for something only you can do." My first thought was maybe he wants me to destroy the one ring at Mount Doom..... However, that seems unlikely so once again I am going to have to wait and see. I thought back in that moment to a few months ago when I was volunteering, and how God laughed as I moaned at the crap I was going through, and his response was "You have no idea, the good things I have planned for you, just around the corner." Well he wasn't lying, was he? The jobs, the magazine, the youth, it is as if everything all at once has clicked into place. For those that are still struggling, my advice is hold fast, the delay in God giving you what you want is definitely for your own good. You are a pawn on a chess board and he is player, trust him and he will make best use of you when the time is right.

I leave you with the verse I kept getting last year, every time I opened my bible it seemed to fall on this page...

I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you, plans to give you a hope and a future.  

No matter how good life gets I am not fulfilled

My life has come on massively over the past several months, I went from a part time job to a full time job. I am pretty sure, I am not as happy as I was before. I also started the magazine, which I am reasonably happy with so far. Yet, I am sure the best days were the ones I left behind. The days when I spent hours on the computer, played tennis into the afternoon and spent a lot of time with God. There is no denying it, I miss it. Squeezing God into that little space between work and bed is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I do have one tip though,in terms of squeezing God in, some people read their bible on the train, I choose to walk, which actually is quite a nice thing to do in the mornings. It allows time to pray and worship and fills you with a sense of peace before the day starts. Also it saves the rail fare, so win-win. I spend my life around people and for me to spend that much time with others, I need to have something give away. So when I get home from work, I always have a nap. The nap will usually last between 15 minutes and one hour, at first it seems like a terrible idea, when you wake up you are quite tired, it interrupts your day, bla bla bla, but actually give it two hours and you are fully awake, and full of beans again. I have found I am more effective at my job and generally happier for doing it. I wish I had more to give but that is all I've got at the moment. As I walked to work I pondered all that I have been given, that I am a lucky man, and if you are reading this you are lucky too, because you have internet access and can read. You need to appreciate what you've been given, and be grateful for it. We are very lucky to live in the developed world, and whilst we are struggling under a mountain of debt, we go to the hospital if we are sick, we turn a tap on and get water we are truly blessed; Like it or not. So perhaps we don't need more stuff, maybe we just need to be more thankful.