Greenbelt

This bank holiday weekend saw us pile into the car with tents cooking utensils and everything but the kitchen sink ( we used a plastic bowl instead!)to head off to Cheltenham for the Greenbelt Christian arts and music festival.

We first headed off to my uncle's house in Gloucester to catch up with our Catchpole side of the family and chill out a bit before the camping fun began,.
It was a nightmare journey ...as any involving the M25 seems to be these days but was great to spend time with the family. Daniel and my cousin George aged 9 got on like a house on fire and it was so nice to see them playing so well together.

But Friday morning came soon enough and it was time to head down to Cheltenham and begin the queue and hunt for a good tent pitch.
As a family we love Greenbelt but the camp set up is always a little stressful; making sure we have enough space, have put the tents up safely and are close enough to all the amenities .
But things went really smoothly and after a little wait and queue we managed to be up and running just after lunch time.

Greenbelt for me is an awesome experience, a chance to chill out with family, to catch up with friends, to explore new musicians, to enjoy faithful acts such as Martyn Joseph and Simon Mayo that never fail to satisfy. But it's also a chance to be together with thousands of other people exploring and expressing their faith.
This year we had the privilege of going to some sessions exploring Pioneers and getting the chance to meet other like minded people going through the same sort of struggles and joys, the stresses and the delights that we are. It was a chance to network and be in a place where we felt people really understood us.

Greenbelt is also fantastic for families and Daniel absolutely thrived there, He loved watching, listening, making and doing. He slept better than he ever has done and ate brilliantly..he clearly is made for living outside!

This year there were many highlights, I loved as already said Martyn Joseph and the Rising, Simon Mayo talking about his new book Itch Rocks,Duke Special, Lemar, The Temperance Movement, I loved being able to sit and listen to Steve Chalke who was awesome, animated and really moving talking about community engagement...everything he said felt like it struck our heart strings for the work we feel called to do, I loved sitting in the Kitchen at CMS and re connecting with old dear friends . I loved being in the childrens play area and meeting people we haven't seen for years and years and I loved being with our family.

Greenbelt is an experience and I loved every moment if it !!

FRIENDS

This morning I had the real pleasure of meeting up with a friend from my youth. Naomi has seen me through good times and bad, through the teenage anxt and the excitement of uni days, through getting married and learning how to be a real grown up!

Of course like with a lot of things life takes a turn and suddenly  2 years have past by since we have seen each other until today!

It was so nice to be able to meet up and catch up on news..more importantly Naomi's imminent baby due in November..I am so excited for her and Brian :)

Today has gotten me thinking ...throughout the whole of my life I have had to move from hither to tither and obviously friends have been and gone. Today it is much easier to stay in touch thanks to social media and mobile phone connections but nothing beats being able to come face to face with an old friend have a hug and a good chat.

To all those friends who have been a massive part of my life and I don't get to see so much...I do still think of you and miss seeing you, but hope and pray life is everything that you dreamed it to be.
For those new friends I have acquired along the way..thanks for being there and I really appreciate you being there for us!

Friends are vital so I hope that you appreciate your friends each day and take time to let them know how much they mean to you!

Can't wait to meet Naomi's little bundle of joy :)

Car boot

Today saw the return of the car boot to Wainscott and my chance to be there for the whole morning (6-12.30!) As usual sleep was pretty non existent last night wondering if I would wake up in time, neighbours house alarms going off and waking Daniel and general unrest. However at the carboot I felt pretty awake and raring to go.

Today seemed a little quieter than usual, the eager beavers were there even before we got out of the car asking what we were selling but we only really had 2 conversations before 7am and it was probably more like 8ish until more people came to chat.

There were as always a few highlights today, one was a man living in Upnor a fellow Christian who had read my article in the Peninsula Times and so had come along to explore what we do and also to encourage us in our ministry which was really lovely.
We also experienced interesting conversations with those of other faiths mainly Hindu's and a Muslim man and were asked to pray for several people who had been diagnosed with cancer.

However noticeably today we did have some synics and a heck of a lot of people wanting PALM readings and feeling a bit dismayed to discover they were PSalm readings instead. It made me realise just how many people are desperately searching and longing to know what the future holds for them. People feel the need to know what is a round the corner.

During the quiet times we explored what other experiences, interactive things we could provide for people to explore spirituality...so watch this space the next 4 weeks will be a time to experiment and see what else works.