Three things we cannot get back...

A word, once it has be said
An opportunity, once it has been missed
Time, once it has pasted

Don't miss out. Take today in your hands and go for it. Live for Him today, Him who lived to die for you... He loves you...

(the top part was not from my thinking... i wish i could say it was, but it was from a powerpoint pressentation a friend sent to me and it got me thinking... i hope it does you too)

Take care
Alex

Check it out...

You have to check this site out:

http://spokemantour.com/default.asp?id=10

If you want to find out why this site, before you go to this site... check this out:

http://egyptianmonson.blogspot.com/

Oh boy what a day!!

Oh boy what a day... Oh boy what a week...
I have been sat at my computer for a very long time entering data, moving data checking that the data i have is correct, gathering it into one spreadsheet... and then yesterday i tried to put it into alphabetical order. However, what i didn't realise was that when i hit the alphabetical ordering button, certain bits of info that were in groups, but did not have the group name in the same row went to the bottom while the group column was ordered alphabetically... OH BOY...
thankfully i was able to recover my mistake, a mistake that would have taken me another day to fix... (the undo button didn't do the trick however, i tried that and then got really scared about the consequences)... but yeah i managed, with some calming helping from the person i was working with, get it back in the right order...
however, today we were going to send out emails to people, and there was so much trouble with the internet and the phone lines... then there was a problem with the size of what we were going to send...
i thought good i get to play some football tonight, hopefully i will be able to enjoy it... but no... i think i played the most rubbish game i had played in a very very long time... everything i did was wrong...
OH BOY WHAT A DAY...
...
Alex

His Timing... can it be beaten?? NO...

No, it can't. Its carzy... He is never late, and always on time... even when you don't know He is coming to visit you in some way... He is still on time...

I may have told some of you, but then again i may not have...

During a sunday evening event a few weeks ago now, this girl came up to me and said that they felt she had something to share with me. She said that she felt God was saying that He wanted me to know that anywhere i go i will be a blessing.
This took me by suprise, but also as a really nice encouragement.

About a week or two later, we were at church and we were praying out a family. For some reason and i can't place my finger exactly on it, but i was feeling really frustrated and annoyed. I think that it might be because as we were praying-out the family i just felt really lonely, or at least that is the closest feeling that i can relate the feeling i had too.

After the service the same girl came up to me and said that since the evening event she had been praying for me and that today as we were all praying she felt God saying that He wanted me to know that i was a blessing and that He loved me. She also had Ps 23 for me.

Wow... at first i didn't want to put this up because i felt like i was relying too much on my blog, and also now i am not putting up so that you know i am a blessing wherever i go or that God loves me... NO.
Through this example from my life i just wanted to encourage you in that God is there with us all the time. He knows what we need and He gives us what we need, at the exact time that we need it. He loves each and everyone of you... and i, i am lookig forward to seeing you all at some point soon...

Take care
Alex

Who are you?... No, i mean the real you... do you know?

Youth work...

What an incredible way to live... To live to affect the lives of youth. Personally i think its great, but then after this year i would wouldn't i...
On tuesday we had a day event with the local kids. Four of them turned up, which in some cases i think a small group if better... and in this case it was better. I think that it was easier for us to connect and for them to have our attention all the time. We took them to the beach to play volleyball have a bbq and then do some climbing and absailing...
It was great... the smallest guy managed to complete the hard climb that we had set up... i think that he was really pleased with himself, and we, well we were ecstatic about it.

Apart from tuesday, i help in the setting up of a youth group in a place called Camarthern every friday. Since i have been here i have helped out in numerous camps and youth events, and most of it i have enjoyed... there have been the times where i think, oh dear here we go again. However, last friday, when i was feeling like that, i prayed for energy and enthusiasm, and well by the end of it, the person that i help set up the youth group had noticed that i was getting more stuck in that week and asked why... so i told him, 'I Prayed'... there is some more proof to you that prayer works...

This weekend we have another youth event, well a camp, please pray that our leader will be able to come on saturday morning, so that i can go with him... the thing is, because we are setting up the youth group on friday nights, we can't go to the camp out that night... and then on saturday the camp is on the beach... but i need a way to get there and our leader is the only straight forward way... so please pray that he has the car...
Thanks
Alex

This year..

I commented about something today about my gap year, and a friend said to me, it seems as though you haven't really enjoyed this year really...

I would like to say sorry if that is what i have been putting across through my blog... I have enjoyed this year... sure it has been a bit frustrating and not all easy, but i wouldn't change it... I think that in every situation there is something that we can learn... unfortunately sometimes we need to go through the lesson several times before we actually understand it...

But yeah, thank you so much for your prayers.
I have enjoyed this year and i hope that the rest of it will be a great experience as well... Please forgive me if i sometimes over exagerate (without realising sometimes... obviously some exageration can be used to the benefit of telling a story... but i hope that i haven't exagerated anything to make you think that i have not enjoyed this year...)

Ta
Alex

Aim or drift? Or is it Aim to drift?

What do you do? Do you drift through life and take things as they come? Or do you aim for something and take things as they come?

What's the difference?
In so many movies one of the ideas that they insert into our lives during that 2 hr slot that they have us held there, is that 'By Aiming for something, we can be disappointed when it fails'

But i want to stand against this thought pattern and say, hold your horses, if you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time... Now i didn't come up with this, i wish i had, but i didn't. The person who did is someone i respect a lot.

Why aim at something when you can be disappointed? You are right, you can be disappointed, but at the end of time, when you are standing infront of the KING or Kings and the LORD of Lords and He says to you, i gave you talents, what did you do with them... then what will you say? oh sorry i thought that i wold be disappointed to i stuffed them under my chair and sat on them till now so that i wouldn't be disappointed... ... ... ... ...oh boy...

Stand and Aim. As i have started off by talking about movies, or at least what some say let me end with what one movie says... 'Why do we fall Bruce? To learn to pick ourselves up."
You will be disappointed, it is no secret... but through the disappointment/struggle, you will learn, you will grow... and through that, well there we go...
Alex

Brasilian

There is a Brasilian team here at the moment learning english, although they all speak it really well. There is two guys here who i get along with well and they love football, obviously. They got invited to go and play with the men of a church and they invited me as well. It was just what i needed. It was so cool. Actually they had the heat up (inddors) so high that it was worse when i was sitting down than when i was running around, or maybe i just didn't notice it as much...

But it is so good to have some single guys here now. The majority of the people here are females, which is fine, but i have found it a bit frustrating, to just not have another guy here really. Someone that i get on with really well. And God provided two, two Brasilians. Amazing really.
At one point it was getting to me quiet a bit. I would ask my friends if they wanted to hang out and go grab a drink in the evening and they would agree, which was great. But the one thing i didn't really think about until one of the guys that i live with, pointed it out, was that all my friends were female. I invited him out, and he asked who was going, so i rattled off a few names and realised that they were all females, and he just started to laugh and said, 'Alex, how do you do it? Every time, just females. How do you do it?' That really frustrated me and so i didn't organise anything really, after that. I thought that he had a point and so i just kinda gave up... unfortunately Erika and I were talking about a week ago and realised that since the time i refused to organise anything social, we hadn't really hung out properly...
But now God has brought two Brasilian guys, who are single and enjoy my company and i theres.... it is a little more even now...

Alex

Winging it...

That's how it feels a lot of the time, that i am just Winging It here. I feel as though i don't really have a qualfication that will allow me to do specific work here, and so i am really looking forward to going to Uni and gaining knowledge in coaching and general sports info...

However, God is good always and in the past three days we have had a great opportunity to travel down to two youth groups, this is the Youth Team. We were invited to do promotions. They both went really well and i really, really enjoyed them. The second one we did was more of a get-to-know-you-before-the-main-event in a couple of weeks. I think that the kids really warmed up to us. They have seen us and know who we are and so when they come down to where we are and we ask them to climb a wall or get in a kayak, they can trust us a bit more. There was this one kid there who learns arabic every sautrday and has travelled to Egypt about three times for holiday purposes. His dad is Sudanese. Some of the youth helpers there didn't know that, but he came up to me and told me right after i had shared a little about my life and my time here this year.
I realy enjoyed be able to talk to the kids and tell them a bit about myself and what i have learnt about prayer.

Praise the Lord guys, He is so good. Every week i travel for about an hour or so with my team leader who is such a source of knowledge, that i can just ask him anything, and he will have a good thought about it, and will be able to explain it, and just talk about it with me. Thank you God for his experiences... It is sooo cool, and refreshing, just to have someone to ask things to, someone who is here and i can hold a face to face conversation with. Thank you Father...

Alex

Taking hold of the power given...

Today at church someone had a picture of ravenous wolves, with extra large teeth (out of proportion). They were in a pack, but then this person was walking up to them calmly, and although they didn't want to (the wolves) the parted. Not only did they part, but they bowed before this person, all the while they were growling and nashing their teeth. This person who was walking through, the lady said, that they were just pure holiness.
She then went to give an explanation which i can't recall, but the reason i am writing this is because this picture spoke to me in a different way to what she explained. I had been praying, during church just before, that God would give me the courage to take hold of the power that He has given us through the Spirit.

John 14:11-13:
11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.

And well, i saw the wolves as demons trying to hold us back, or hold me back from taking hold of that power. And the person walking, i was thinking that is someone who has taken hold of the power, and what great things he can do in the power given to all those who believe in Him.
There is still but hope for me, to take hold of this power...
Alex

For all the CARTOON lovers out there

Mike Wazowski


Alien from Space Jam


Could be one of them...

I don't know what my passion is... i was just interested to see if others knew what their passion is... thanks

As this academic year is coming to an end i have felt that i should be praying that i finish strong. That i get everything that God wants me to get out of this year. I don't want to leave until i have it all.

I want to Finish Strong...

Alex

What is your passion?

France…

To put it simply, it was an amazing trip. However, it would have been even better if there had been more males. Out of the twelve that went to France, there was only two males and one of them (not being me) was married…
Anyway, the fact that I was the only single guy there did not make it an amazing trip…
Lille was an absolutely beautiful city. I thought that it was amazing as soon as I laid eyes on it.
However, what really made this trip a really great time, was the fact that I was out of my normal surroundings and therefore subconsciously, I think, was in a way more open to God’s peace and word. Some of my thoughts were put into place. Words were put to my thoughts in a way that I couldn’t have done. Certain things that need to be thought about a bit more, and other things that just need to be put down for the time being…

...

Please pray for me, i find it hard to know how to act around some people. please pray that God will help me and give me the wisdom on how to be a witness for Him and not screw it up every five seconds. To think about Him more than just in the mornings and maybe sometimes in the evenings. But to be totally devoted to serving Him, who died for ME and loves ME with this unconditional love that we as a human race will never be able to understand while on earth, as we are too simple.
How increadible. I am too simple to understand the person/thing/GOD that loves me the most. i mean what a thought...

But yeah please pray for me because i am very capable of screwing things up big time, esp friendships

Thank you for your prayers...
Take care
Alex

Old love...

Sup...
today i was talking, well more like listening, to this couple who will have been married for 60 years on thrusday. one of my room mates asked them, 'so how do you get 60 years of marriage?'
The man answered 'four words two at the beginning and then two for the rest of the time; 'i will' and 'yes dear''
What an answer... they both then went on to say there has to be loyalty and trust, and also humour. that is what they said in about 1 minute, and then they left, but i mean there is a lot more to keep it going, but that is what they said and i know that, that was jsut scratchin the surface...

Someone, and they know who they are, always used to say that they loved to see old people in love. I would always think, never out loud, that it was just not too attractive to me. But today after spending a bit of time with this couple, i can see the beauty in old love. There was something special about them, they still had the spark between them. It is something that i think you cannot, or at least i cannot put it into words. There are only a few things in this world that you cannot put into words. This is one of them, the love, the connection, the something between two people who are truelly in love, and i don't mean lovy dovy stuff, but the really stuff.
God is another thing you cannot put into words. We are celebrating his resurrection today. But think about it for a moment, whose resurrection and why did He have to be resurrected. it was for YOU.
Take care
Alex

Its been a while...

It has hasn't it? The reason is not because i don't like you, and so i don't want to tell you what has been happening, but because, well i have been so busy that i had not see my computer for about a week. Now that is saying a lot. We had a camp here of about 48 people for a week. The camp was amazing. The theme was Peter Pan, don't ask why, that would be just silly (i don't really know myself, all i know is that it was and therefore i went along with it).
I was in charge of a specific group for the week, my group was the Lost Boys, and form the name you can see in which position we came in, yeah joint last with the crocodiles. Half way through the week the leaders that had come with the group decided to join the two groups and called us the Lost Crocs. The other two teams weren't too impressed, The indians came first with the Pirates close behind.
It was a race for the week. they had to save the four lost boys that had been captured by Hook and taken to his secret hide out. But first they had to get the fairy dust from down a cave, to stop Hook from getting it and then flying. They also had to get directions for different places by completing tasks such as climbing, jumping into a pool (walking the plank wit condifence) and then walking all over an area of Wales called the Gower. it was great fun, and extremely tiring. the second to last day we walked pretty much all night and so for the next two days i was going on 8 hrs of sleep. but it was worth it.

Now that it has finished, i am getting ready to go to France for three days to gain some Pastoral Training. This is something i see vital for helping Christians grow in their faith, not only when they take gap years but throughout their life, now it may have a different name such as small group, or mentor and it may also look a lot different. However it is the essence which is the same. It is the initial consern for a fellow Christian and wanting to see them grow. i know that i got a far share during my time in Egypt, esp from a guy who first came as a youth interen and then, well saw jsut how bad in shape i was and then came back to put my in line... no just kidding, but he did come back and was the assosciate youth pastor.
Please pray for the trip to France and that i get a lot out of it and can then use what i learn in the future...
Take care
Alex

We Sprang forward...

Well for those of you who didn't know or woke up late today, the clocks went forward...
therefore i went to bed at about one last night... Today was sunday. I didn;t really want to go to church last night or this morning really... For the last few weeks i have not been enjoying the worship... it has made me feel uncomfortable and just not really enjoying the services, and so i was thinking, oh look, it is one in the morning i need to wake up at nine, which means 8hrs of sleep, and then church which i wont really enjoy, why, why go?
But i went, and well guess what, i enjoyed it. The service was absolutely amazing. It was all about Grace. Not the girl... if you know anyone called grace (i know two), but the thing that Paul talks about... Grace is never mentioned in the gospels, not once, and yet it is the way Jesus lived.
He was full of it, everything that He did, was graceful... as in full of grace. The worship was also just really good. It was not making me feel uncomfortable, but helping me to actually worship... funny that huh... :) No really it was really good. We even watched a video clip, and i thought it was going to be something like watching another worship service (which it has been before) but it wasn't, and well it was all about Grace, and i really enjoyed it. Everything about todays service was good. This morning my prayer was to just have a hunger for God... I think that we can live in a lukewarm situation for too long and just pass on through life. I think that this gap year is allowing me to see that when i get too comfortable it is time to pray for Hunger... It works. I have prayed that prayer before, and whatever i have written about prayer before hand and whatever went through my head about prayer, was due to me praying about being hungry for more. God answers prayers. When you stop and think about it, it is crazy, but He does, and it is awesome...

I just wanted to share with you all that i was thinking about today. I wnet to church and i couldn't stop smiling, i couldn't figure out why, and then i realised, it was a God-thing, nothing more, just a really big, cool, amazing, awesome, incredible God-thing. I hope that you experience a God-thing too, no, actually i hope you realise when its a God-thing

Take care
Alex

Climbing nd more climbing... i love it

Well here are some more pictures. This time they are of my last climbing adventure. I am really pleased with the amount of progress that i have had in the past few weeks with climbing. I can remember the first time that i lead a route. After it i was so pleased and siked, and now when i lead the same level of route as my first one, i don't get the same rush, but find it simple... in a way, and so i a looking to climb more challenging walls... it is a lot of fun, if you have never done it, you need to find someone who can take you... it is great, esp if it is not a competition, or there isn't any pressure on you, but you can jsut go with some friends and have a good time...





I tried to book my training for a climbing award, and i was looking on the events calender to find some room. I found a gap in our schedule and checked with the others if they were able to do it then, which they all could. So i called the place to try and book it and they told me why i had found that gap on the calender... it was Easter weekend... thanks for telling me guys... :)
Oh well i am still looking...

Take care
Alex