We will run, and not grow weary, for our GOD will be our STRENGTH!

Just got back from a little dinner at the chaplaincy. It was great. Had a bit of wine, so it didn't break my alcohols on friday nights thing so far since i've arrived in Manchester.. Though the previous time I drank well... quite alot i must say. heh.

So. Its really marvellous to go to the chaplaincy each week, and meet more new friends, from all over the world. Today alone, I spoke to people from Nigeria, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Spain, France, Peru, New York, China, Japan, and Italy. Its amazing. Its just brilliantly amazing how universal and how beautiful our church is. Makes me wanna praise God!

Its like wherever I go in the world, I will have a family, not a blood family, but a family that God will give me. And its always beautiful.

So, we're starting the Bible sharing next week on Tuesday, The only choices I had were Tuesday or Wednesday because they're mid week, and people need a spiritual drink at mid-week usually. I don't know, but we'll try out Tuesdays first, just a very small informal group of about 5 to 6 people, and we'll see how it goes before we announce it to the population proper.

Pray for us!!!!!! I hope i can find someone to play chords on the piano!! Smelly!! Fly over!

Really excited about this Bible sharing thing!!!! Oohh! We're going to share on the following sunday's Gospel Reading.. cus well, like what a friend said, we can become more awares of what Christ is trying to tell us from the passage during mass! and maybe a sideline passage that could be related to it, maybe from the 2nd reading or somewhere else..

Really really exciting.

Will be going to trafford centre tml. A new shopping place in Manchester, whereverthatis. Oh well.. just tag along. heh.

Had a proper mini sharing session with a Singporean PhD student who is also Catholic.. first sharing i've had with anybody in Manchester, and i can feel that after so many years here, she still misses home. I do too. : (

When i was walking back to my hall, i had to be vigilant of course, and well, alert, just incase i get mugged or something. The streets here aren't that safe you know. And i was watching all the young people crowding in pubs, getting drunk, singing and shouting, behaving so racously, and breaking bottles and being a pure nuisance. I just felt so.. uuurghed. Like, why are they wasting their life like that!? I think that there are many people who need reaching out to, and need a good firm catholic support, and I hope that the sharing group can provide that avenue.

I decided not to be bored anymore.

I just read this. Watch the video.

Amid all the noises, all the wondering about who I am, where I am, what am I to do here, there is just one resounding voice that calls out from the darkness. Yet, it is so soft, that you and I sometimes cannot hear it.

All we have to do is to be still, for the Lord once said, "Be still, and know that I am there". Be quiet! Be alone. Be there, and His voice will be clearer and louder then ever.

"I have called you by your name, you belong to me"

He calls us, we are His. We belong to Him.

I really cannot put into words how I am feeling now. Each time I feel bored, lost, or dysfunctional, I somehow can't be still, I just can't. And when I manage that moments of real mental silence, I can hear Him calling, so distinctly, my Saviour, my Jesus, my Lord, my God. Its so amazing.

It is so amazing how He never gives up on us. Its just so so amazing on how much love He has for us.

All I want to do now, is to humble my whole self to His feet, and offer my hands to His services, in Praise of His glory.

So often, we dedicate ourselves to a cause, to God or to whomever. And so often we forget. Yet, this is a cause, and a direction that I have unwittingly found myself dedicating, and re-dedicating myself to, espeically when changes arise, and when I feel lost.

I looked at my left hand, and I see the ring that i put on. The ring of rosary. This was to be my dedication to the Rosary, that through the Rosary, I get to experience who Jesus was, and through it, understand the pains that He had to go through to die for our sin. It was not an outward representation of things, but it was for me a due reminder, that I am a child of God, that He had died for my sins.

How amazing is that. How very bloody amazing is that.

All i want to say now is, Jesus, I trust in You!

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And He will raise you up on eagle's wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of His Hand.

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Because I feel so damn reminiscent about everything.

Each time I walk back to hall with my on of my discussion group mates.. He inevitably sings "Home, home home" repeatedly. Can't blame him. He's really going home.. where mum and dad is. And i'm just going back to my ruddy little shanty town hall to cook myself some grub.

We just had a field trip yesterday and it was pretty much great. Though most of the time, we were staring into our handglasses at bits and pieces of rock, or gigantic rocks, wondering what the hell are we supposed to look at. Heh. though seeing for the first time, a Tor, a Landshlip, a limestone cave, fossils in a limstone rock, and severe strata and other very exciting geological stuff made me pretty happy. And the view was really fantastic too!

After reading the blogs and websites of Leaven of God and Youth Vineyard, I can't help but feel horribly homesick. I miss my own room, my mum, her cooking, my community, my friends, everything. I miss being there. It all became a question of what if? Life isn't about questioning, its about doing. And yet, i still miss home so bloody much. Oh gosh. You really can't imagine the feeling unless you've been through it.

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The tagboard is back, and here to stay.

Oh Lets go back to the start..

First lecture today, on earth materials. My mouth couldn't drop lower. There were chemical equations and strange alphabets that were never before seen in my life. THere were words I couldn't pronounce, numbers that were strange, and formulas that were out of this world. Its like, why the hell would Chlorine give Sodium a bloody electron or something like that.. were they friends!?

I couldn't understand why Chlorine was so chummy with Sodium.. i mean.. Sodium isn't really hot or anything right?

Anyway.. the point is.. it was disgusting..

We went for more science shit.. and broke up into the ditty groups we were going to be in for the next 2 sems.. and it was lovely.. The first time i had an intelligent conversation with Brits, discussing catchement areas and mineral seams. Wonderful. I like my group very much.

And i like my tutorial group too.. Just that my tutors abit of a stiffy.. bleargh

When i was looking at all the bloody chem shit.. I was thinking to myself. How the hell am I going to manage all these shitty equations, do my laundry, and cook for myself at the same time. WTH matey!?

And so the story goes.. None of us in our discussion group for science had any idea what the hell was going on during earth materials. Thank god for that!

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Just to quote my coursemate James Tennant.. "well.. think of the ferrari we'll be driving!"

Thats a good motivation to do well.. : D

"We will run but not be weary, for our God will be our strength, and we will fly like an eagle, and we will rise again."

No.. he didn't say that.. but i do suppose, i could put into practice what my 2.5 years in the army taught me, that grit and mettle brings you through every and any situation. I still royally screwed about chemistry in geology, but i guess i know that if i put in the grit and mettle and really sit down and do it, then maybe, maybe He'll let me succeed.

I saw the equestrian police today. So cool, policemen trotting around the city centre on horses, wanted to take pictures, but hell, my hands were full of groceries.


See.. my timetable. very empty hor. but hell. got to self study until i die.