Probably the strangest email I've gotten in recent weeks had this as the subject: "Britney Spears is following you on Twitter."  Apparently, I may have a celebrity stalker.

Confirmations with 3Rock

As you may be aware, I'm working with 3Rock youth this year, in their leadership program. Great time of learning, new experiences and opportunities to serve. I'm going to be writing a blog about my experiences on the 3Rock website. Here's a preview of one of the posts:

Recently, the final DVD of the Crucial series, Amplify was released. To coincide with this, we hosted three nights with clergy from around the dioceses to discuss how these DVDs can be used well in the classes that prepare young people for confirmation.

As a newbie to the Church of Ireland, I didn't know completely what to expect in these discussions . What I discovered was that to all the rectors involved,  their own confirmations were memorable and poignant experiences and they deeply felt the importance of communicating the faith well to the confirmees. We talked about the techniques that they'd been using and it was great to see how something that we had a part in putting together is being used in variety of helpful ways.

Also, recently, we've been sitting in the confirmation classes taught by Susie Keane in Greystones. So we've been able to see the confirmation classes in practice. I love seeing the kids gradually ask deeper questions and begin to grasp new but important concept and its always amazing to be a part of that.

Soon, theses kids will be undergoing their own confirmation and I pray and hope that just has it was to the rectors, it will be a experience that is an important step on a lifelong journey of faith

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.

23 Embarrassing Facts About Me

Good day to you.

As I write this on January 22, 2009, I've just turned 23. (YEAH, Halfway to 46!) So, my gift to all you perusers of my blog is  the following, 23 random embarassing facts about yours truly.

1. As I type this, I have a teddy bear in my room that's bigger then me. 
2. I check X-men fan sites almost every day.
3. In my school production of Grease, I sang Beauty School Dropout with my own troupe of dancers.
4. I joined a Christian dance group when I was younger, but was never good enough to go on stage.
5. One of my favourite movies is A Walk to Remember and I did cry during it.
6. I got one of my leaders at youth camp (Teenstreet) in trouble a few years ago, by making a balloon model of a sensitive piece of the male anatomy and leaving it on his bed.
7. I like X-Factor.
8. I've never had an "official" date.
9. I probably am addicted to coffee, never mind what I say.
10. I snore.
11. In a friend's film project, I play a insane stalker who murders my friend,  George, because he calls me a little boy. ( I play a good psycho.)
12. In my first year of bible college, I didn't finish any of my text books (except one).
13. I chickened out a public speaking contest and instantly regretted it once it started (but it was too late).
14. I have 5 binders of Star Wars trivia and a few of Star Trek trivia in my room.
15. I once got lost in the estate next to mine while chasing a ice cream van. ( I got two cones, one for my brother, but I had to eat it before it melted.)
16. I once accidentally snapped a gerbils neck.
17. I may have accidentally killed my family's favourite cat on Christmas day by feeding it leftover crab.
18. I always find it awkward to introduce myself  because I'm trying to decide whether to use Stan or Stephen ( I now introduce myself as Stephen and mention the nickname sometime later.)
19. I once accidentally wore a t-shirt about Jesus' death to Jewish/Christian reconcilliation meeting.
20. I can't cycle a bike.
21. I can't whistle.
22. I only learned to click my fingers in 4th year when I had to for the school musical.
23. I'm vain enough to have a blog.

There you have. You could use information in blackmail but I beat you to it and it's the web for all to see.

If you've got any other embarrassing moments you remember of me, any of your own, or just want to comment on one of mine, you know what to do.

New Year, Now What?

A belated Happy New Year to all who stop by.
Thanks for taking the time to read the insane rambling of a fool. I appreciate it.

Question: do you do make New Year's resolutions?

I don't really get why the beginning of the year is such a great time to start new habits. Perhaps, it's the appeal of having a clean slate: if it's a new year, then maybe we can forget about our failings of last year. For example, if I'm feeling like I should give up coffee [I'm not, just an example] because I feel guilty of its ill-effects on my health, then when 09 starts, I can take solace in the fact that I haven't had coffee this year... until I do.

The problem I think with New Year resolutions is that, we set ourselves up for a fall, simply because of the fact that we do usually fall. It's in our nature.

 If the New Year is our fresh beginning and we fail a few days or weeks in, then what? It seems that the clean slate is dirty and I guess we have to wait a year to get it again.
Cancel the gym membership, bring the ashtrays back out, get the triple expresso. Reinvention aborted.

What, however, if our clean slate isn't fixed on the calendar?
What if the clean slate isn't based on how we feel and our level of euthusiasm?
What if it's based on something beyond ourselves?

Let me tell you a story:

Like most guys (if not all), I struggle with a certain sin [scroll down to the bottom of the page to have spelled out for you]. A few years ago, my clean slate was a youth camp, Teenstreet. My thinking was that after the camp, everything would be different. Temptation would disappear and if not, I'd just hug Jesus, pull out a metaphorical sword and slay that demon in a glorious moment of triumph and fanfare [think the music from Chariots of Fire].

Well, it didn't go like that: I was weak and got my butt handed to me. I remember getting on my knees in anguish. Why, oh God, didn't I stand in the battle? Was I lying to myself about wanting to change? I begged God for answers for these questions and I begged for forgiveness.

He responded.

In that moment, I was given a epiphany. The clean slate that we pretend to have at the beginning of the New Year does actually exist but not in that way. It exists in a person of Jesus and in the event of the cross.

When Jesus died on the cross, he became the sinner that I am, he took on the sins that I commit and they died with him. The punishment and justice that I deserve was taken on him.

I'd always known these facts but usually, it made me sad and even more depressed. [ah, not only am I a screw-up but because of me, Jesus had to die] However, on this occasion, I realised that this sacrifice of Jesus was a act of love and just as He died, He rose again.

My failure in trying to change the way I live, helped me realise to a fuller degree the love of God and the hope he gives me.

The apostle Paul clearly understands what I'm talking about:

But he said to me,  "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

2 Corinthians 12:9

So, when I fail, I know that I can rise again and do better. As long as I'm on this planet in my sinful state, I'm going to mess up, but God knows that. He doesn't see a failure, though. He sees his son.

It's not the New Year that should give me the desire to live better and grow, it's the hope that I have in Christ that God is using even my failures to make me into the man He wants me to be.

Thank you, Papa, for your grace and patience with your child.