2008- the year that was,,,,

It is hard to believe that 2009 is upon us already, and so it seemed worth spending some time to take a glance back at 2008, and some of the highlights from the past 12 months!

Israel/Palestine trip
In July Cat and I had the opportunity to go a trip to Israel/Palestine with Highway projects to spend 2 weeks working alongside the local church at a youth camp. It was just a brilliant experience, and a privilege to be able to serve the church in a new place for both of us.
We had 2 weeks of Bible teaching, crafts, games, and swimming in the beautiful surroundings of Nazareth. There were many highlights for us, but mostly it was just so great to see God working in the lives of the children and young people, and also in our own. It is amazing how He cares for us, how He provides for us and how He never, ever lets us down.
There were 8 of us working at St Margaret’s from the UK, and we all got on so well, brought different gifts, abilities and temperaments to the mix. It meant we had a huge amount of fun, as well as hopefully being a help to the guys running the camp. There isn’t space here to go into more details about some of the amazing Palestinian Christians we met, but they do amazing work, in very difficult circumstances and were an inspiration for all of us.
One final thing strikes me about the trip as I look back; once you cut through all the hype and religiosity, it was inspiring to go to visit the places Jesus lived and taught. It brings the Bible alive in a new way, to have visited Capernaum, stayed in Jericho, been on a boat in Lake Galilee, seen the old town of Bethlehem and walked through the Judean desert; literally to walk where He walked…

Foo Fighters at Wembley Stadium
My next highlight is something entirely different. On Friday 6th June Foo Fighters played their biggest ever gig at Wembley Stadium, and we were there! It was immense, superlatives just run out when I think about how to describe it. They played a great, crowd pleasing set, with all their best songs- Everlong and All My Life being my two favourite on the night. Dave Grohl is just an awesome front man, and the rest of the band are pretty good too! Taylor Hawkins’s extended drum solo during Stacked Actors was the best I’ve ever heard live, and might even give Grohl’s drumming skills a run for their money. They finished with an epic rendition of Best of You, and as the band left, fireworks exploded over Wembley which was a perfect end to the evening. One of the best gigs I have EVER been to!

Slum Survivor
On a cold, wet October weekend, Youth Cell spent a few days the way millions spend a lifetime, by building and living in their own slum outside church, eating rice and lentils and walking miles for our water. For me, it was a real challenge to be reminded in such a real way of God’s love for the poor, and our responsibility to act. The passage that really spoke to me over the weekend was from Amos It was also brilliant to see everyone youth cell rising to all the challenges placed before them, and raising around £500 for Soul Action in the process!


Additional 2008 list
Favourite Album: Viva la Vida- Coldplay
Favourite Song: Crawl- Kings of Leon
Favourite Film: The Dark Knight
Favourite Book: Sex.God by Rob Bell
Worst Film: Be Kind Re-wind
Most Annoying Song: Low- T-Pain and Flo.Rida