Frosty Shall Not Be Knocked Down

The 3Rock crowd were up in Belfast a couple of weeks ago doing a tour of school with American speaker, Reggie Dabbs ... and it snowed!

Stevey B and myself, along with the Authentic Youth group worked together (as Authentic Rock) to create something of beauty and stature.

Meet our Frosty...



We gave him life...

and love.


Later, that evening, some dastardly foe decided it would be a lark to prematurely end our snow man and tried to knock him down.

Fortunately, due to his sheer awesomeness, the snow man remained standing, while the car was stuck forevermore...
until the snow melted.

"All the single Christians.."

Happy Valentines Day, all you singles.
Yes, I am only wishing a happy valentines to the singles because I have good reason to believe that the couples will take care of themselves. We, singles gotta look out for each other on this, the cuddliest of all days,

This Valentines Day, as I attended a speed dating night, I considered the topic for me, that of Christian dating. Or the lack thereof.

I throw myself under the bus as the worst example of what I think is a common conundrum for Christians everywhere. I'm single, reasonably mature at twenty-three, yet haven't had a date or girl friend. I think most people in position have, so everything I write here pretty much describes me, but I'm confident that it rings true with a large portion of the Christian community. It's my own thoughts and nothing authoriative. (That's the disclaimer out of the way.)


Us, single Christian are a peculiar bunch. Most of us want to date, want to search for the right girl/guy through trial and error but it just seems so much more complicated in Christian circles. We feel like we have to jump through certain hoops to be eligible and unsinful in dating.  However,  we don't really know what these hoops are or how we'd even begin to jump through them.

Luckily, I think I've managed to identify a few of these hoops - the beliefs we have about what a good Christian should do in courtship. (Courtship is much holier then dating, apparently.)

1. We should only date when it leads to marriage.
    Yes, I believe that if a relationship clearly isn't going to ever lead to a healthy marriage then its it not a healthy relationship but how many married couple who've dated since their school days started dating with marriage in mind.
2. I need to be ready spiritually for a relationship
    This is the belief that only perfect people are ready to date. If you have any major problems in your life, that between you and Jesus. Its not baggage that you should be bringing into a relationship. The problem here, is that we're always going to have baggage, always going to have faults. If we ever get to the stage of thinking we don't thats when we're in trouble. A good friend said to me, that it when we're aware of our own issues that we're most ready for a relationship.
3. God will bring me a woman (or man)
     This belief continues on as "so looking for one myself is acting out of faith". Although the phrase "God helps those who help themselves" isn't in the Bible, I believe the flipside is true: God doesn't help those who neglect themselves. If it was money you lack which of these is the better thing to do: to get a job and work or to pray that God will supply money but never seek to earn it. Our desires for love, intimacy and romance are given by God. Why is it quasi-spiritual to ignore them?

When it comes down to it, I think we're scared. We scared of the pain that dating can bring with it. We scared of stepping out into the unknown? I scared of the sear of rejection?

So, I along with my fellow single Christians simply sit and wait until.....


Lets change that.

Employment.... or the lack of it

I'd love to write a thoughtful and thought-provoking post right, but think it might be better just to give a quick update on how I'm doing and what I'm up to.

The big news is that I'm not unemployed. The smoothie bar, I was doing a few shifts in every week, has gone the way of far too many small shops and become a victim of the recession. So, I've been made redundant... not fired, mind you, but equally jobless.

I was already working on applications for youth work jobs, so now I'm on double CV duty. One for the long term career and vocation and one for the job that going to pay the bills until then. Ah, such is life.

I'm kinda excited to finish the job. The world feels a bit more open and full of possibility. Guess that shows how I felt about the job.

I've got faith that God has his hands on the goings on of my life, so I'm feeling good.