One Ends, Another Begins

I leave for home tomorrow.

Or I'll already be there. It really depends on when you are reading this.

It's been an awesome journey, there is no doubt about it. And I am really going to miss the UK. I have come to really love this place and all of the people that I have met here. God has taught me so much and has indeed put many things on my heart in regards for my next year of ministry. So I thought I might share some of those things with you all, and share some stories from my time over here in the United Kingdom. Also, I thought I would sprinkle in some pictures from the trip that I have yet to post.

Serving Others


This is nothing new really. It is something that I have been mulling over now for the past few months in my own quiet times with God. John chapter 15 was sort of the starting point for it all, and as I continue through 1 Peter, these thoughts continue to develop and to grow. God confirmed all of what I had been looking at, predominantly on how selfish thoughts and behavior have no room in our lives, when instead we are called to diminish and lift up the lives of others and glorify God and His kingdom.
¹²"This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

¹³Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends."

John 15:12,13

This is sort of the pair of verses that started it all, the ones that sent me on my journey in selflessly serving others. Acts of which I saw initially in Glasgow, and then later had my thought process confirmed at the Scottish Summer Conference in Arbroath by Hans Bayer, our guest speaker. Hans had been using the Gospel of Mark to illustrate the power of Christ in changing the hearts of men. As I have stated before, I have the notes from that conference on my computer and if you would like them, simply ask me and I can send them to you. But what I got from it was the Christ was working in our hearts to plant within it a seed that can bare fruit, to remove all to the wickedness that can come from the heart and get us to a place where we can forgive and love one another fully(Mark 8:34-37, Mark 11:22-24, Mark 11:22-24, Mark 11:25, Matthew 18:21-35).
It all worked into what I had been reading in 1 Peter so perfectly!

²²Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart,

²³for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.

1 Peter 1:22,23

The idea that if we can surrender everything to God and be left with fervent love for our brethren is what I got from those verses in Peter. That if we can allow God to change our hearts, He would leave us with the ability to love people in the same fashion that Christ loved them, to give up ourselves for them.

This is just a little bit of what I have been investigating so far, I have, since starting, found more verses to create a bible study that revolves around serving others, as well as coupled with a practical application.

Tea and Biscuits


Tea and biscuits, perhaps one of the most interesting displays of serving others and evangelism I had seen in some time. In Glasgow, it is called Stall, or a Cheesey. The Navigators students in partnership with students from the Christian Union, set up a stall outside of campus night clubs and serve free tea, coffee, cookies, cakes, and biscuits to any student who walks by them. Of course in this day and age, nothing is without a catch, or at least that seems to be the thoughts of the students being offered free food. But there is no catch. They simply get free drinks and cookies. They of course ask why the students are doing this, and the students then in turn get a chance to tell them. I found it to be an awesome way of getting students involved in serving their campus community as well as learning to share their testimony and faith. This is what I want to bring back to campus in the new school year. This is the practical application to a bible study on serving others that I want to utilize! It isn't about making sure that we fulfill our Christian Check List, it's about genuinely serving others, letting them know we love them, and that Jesus loves them to. That, to me, is very exciting! So if you pray for anything, pray that God sends myself and the person I am working with to get this set up the provisions we need, the food etc. as well as students who are ready and willing!

Story Time!


Of course what blog would be complete without some fun little stories to share.

I suppose this will be just a bunch of small snippets of fun times I had while I was in the UK, not so much stories, my apologies for the false advertising.

I got to swim in the North Sea. This was at the Scottish Summer Conference just after a game of footy on the beach. The North Sea retains its temperature for three months, and even still, its the NORTH sea. Needless to say, it had been raining a little, and a bunch of us figured if we were gonna be wet, we might as well go for it. So we did. Several of us ran and dove into those frigid waters. When it has been in the high 20's and low 30's the majority of ones trip, that sudden blast of cold can come as quite a shock. What I will never forget though is the look on Mark Stirling's face when I walked into the Conference Center soaking wet and covered in sand.



While I was in St. Andrews, I got to fulfill a boyhood dream and roam about the ruins of an old castle. This was made all the more awesome by the fact that this particular castle had a mineshaft underneath of it! I was six years old again on that day, playing underground and letting my imagination get ahead of me!


While in Glasgow, walking back to the flat I was staying at after church, my friend Roger and I ran into a woman from the east side of Glasgow (generally a poor area). She had been tossed into a rather filthy river and wasn't all that sure as to where she was. She had been looking for money, to make a phone call. I watched as Roger walked with her and talked with her, sincerity in his actions. He gave her the money for the phone call and went and got her a sandwich from Subway.


I got to go to the Old Trafford in Manchester, home to Manchester United. Not exactly the team I follow, but it has a player that I really like. Wayne Rooney, and despite a poor showing on the England team this year, he remains one of my footballers of choice. Guy has nowhere to go but up in his ever growing arsenal of skill and talent. During the tour we went into the locker room and I got a picture with his jersey. Some of you no doubt don't care, but football is one of the few sports I really enjoy.


At the English Summer Conference, there was a lot of football related stories. Most of it was just the guys watching the world cup matches on the smallest television in the world. Others were football mishaps in small pick up games. I was told by Bernard Dishman, heads up the Leicester Navigators, that I could get to the UK on my foot handling alone. Of course this is a stretch, but I was told that I was indeed a solid player! Again, most of you may not care, but I was nervous about heading to Football Nation and getting torn apart there, haha.

Well, that is about all I can say for now. Keep checking in as I will be posting more about the progress of the new year on campus! Thanks again for all of your prayers and support! Looking forward to seeing you all again when I get home! I want to send a huge thank you to everyone who looked after me while I was in the UK. I love you all so much, and I will miss you all dearly!

God Bless,

Josh

Tigers and Bulls

It's been a while since I last posted anything. I've been on a couple trips since the last entry, one was to Leicester, home of the Tigers, and the other was to Birmingham, home to the world.



Leicester
I went to Leicester right after the English Summer conference, and my time there was meant to be relaxing and rejuvenating. And rest assured, it was indeed both of those things. I stayed with some students in their house and was introduced to a wide variety of comedy, most prominently was The IT Crow, not Monty Python. I really enjoyed my stay in their home and they went above and beyond to make me feel welcome! I went and enjoyed a few nights out with the students, getting to learn more about them and their lives! One of the more notable things is that it seems almost all of them are getting married! My first day in Leicester was spent at a place called Alton Towers, a theme park about an hour or more outside of Leicester. One of the guys is getting married shortly, in August, and they decided to take him there as a party of his stag party. We rode roller coasters and all sorts of other rides. This would make it the third marriage celebration I have been a part of since I have been in the UK. I also toured around the city a little bit with a couple of students, Matt and Andy. We went to a small museum/ art gallery and to a small shop for some coffee. In all, my time there was very relaxing!



Birmingham



Birmingham was perhaps one of the more busy places in my trip, mostly because of what all was involved. A Navigator couple, Tom and Judi, took myself, and two Connect workers (Navigator Interns) from Leicester on a Cross Cultural Tour through Birmingham! What an incredible experience that was! We visited Mosques, Hindu Temples, and Sikh Gurudwara's.

Birmingham has one of the largest South Asian populations in the whole of the UK, and as such, has an incredibly diverse community. Tom and Judi brought us into their home and introduced us to their friends and took us on tours of the different places of worship. This experience was invaluable as I was able to learn a lot more about religions I knew very little about, and was able to remove a lot of my ignorance towards them. Tom might tell you that my favorite part would have appeared to be all the good food we got to eat...and he wouldn't be far from the truth, but I still stand that it wasn't the highlight, just a really great bonus. Sparkhill, the area we stayed in, is nicknamed the Baltis Triangle, known for it's Baltis restaurants and South Asian cuisine. All of the people we met during our time showed us great amounts of kindness and hospitality. Hospitality is something that is very important to the South Asian community, and if I am being honest, something that the Western community could pick up. The Sikh's believe in a form of selfless service called Sewa that puts the needs of others and their community at the forefront of their thoughts. Visiting their Gurudwara, as long as you come with your head covered and in respect, gets you unrivaled hospitality.



Sanctuary

Sanctuary is a church service put on by Tom, Judi, and a friend of theirs. It is a church where members of the South Asian community may go to learn about Jesus in a place that doesn't remove them from their culture. The service is focused around South Asian culture, in a way that helps them to better understand Christ in their cultural context. As such, the services are different than most, but I really enjoyed my time there. They offer up prayer to anyone who asks for it. The service is held in the cafe of a much larger church, though once set up is complete, you were never know the place was a cafe. The service I went to spoke on Psalm 23 and how Jesus is our shepherd, again helping people to understand Jesus as the Son of God and helping people to see God as our Heavenly Father. After the services are complete, there is a meal. This again flows through the South Asian love for hospitality and community, and is an important part of the Sanctuary church service.

Your Prayers

I just wanted to thank all of you who have been reading this and who have been praying for me. The last few weeks have been filled with God's glory and revelations for me, which in turn has involved some movement by the enemy. Your prayers have been greatly appreciated and have helped to keep my journey in the UK a safe and exciting one! I am currently in Edinburgh again, visiting with friends I made in Scotland, as well as a friend from back home (pictured bellow) while I ride out the rest of my trip here. I look forward to seeing all of you in just over a weeks time! Stay tuned though, this blog will not end with my trip! I hope to fill you all in with details on bible studies and student stories as well! Take care everyone and God bless you and keep you all!



Pictures of England

Pictures of Scotland