artisan deli and espresso bar

For what seems like several months working in the shop we have been looking accross the road debating what exciting new store is openning. Immeadiately googled their name when it was put up - finally leading to their BlogSpot - CheekyCento .

What you have to understand, the blog is written by a car, I of course will now have to keep my eyes peeled and see if I can get a picture of said CheekyCento.

Today the whitewash was being cleaned from the window, so I replied on Cheeky Cento's Blog saying I could see them cleaning the window - they immeadiatly wrote HELLO on a sheet of paper, quite a technical way of replying to BlogComments, and held it up for us to read from behind their counter.

Well, Andrea & Elaine, I wish you all the best with launching your artisan deli and espresso bar, I will be accross sometime next week to sample the culnary delights.

Neglecte & Deeds

I seem to have neglected this for some time, like so many things we start with enthusiasm - then they take a meandering walk to the back of our minds, and fall into some convenient hole.

Faith can be like that so often, unless we ask God to keep his Holy Spirit living in our hearts, keep feeding from the scriptures, worshipping and praying - even when we feel grumpy and off - our faith can slip down into a crevice hidden from sight.

At cluster tonight we were talking about christian deeds in our lives, and started to trot out the lists of stuff we can do. But unless the deed comes from our heart, and not the fact we discussed and decided it was good to do, we won't hit the mark with God.

Jeremiah & the Bullet Proof Vest...

This mornings Explore took me into the depths of Jeremiah.
1:5
Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you,
Before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah was an ordinary bloke, yet God knew him before he was concieved, and had set J apart for his ministry for God.
Likewise, God knew us way before our parents thunk us up.

And then, Jeremiah 1:17 - 19,
as they mentioned in the study notes - "God is better than a bullet proof vest."
"Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be teriffied by them, or I will terrify you before them....."
"They will fight against you, but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the Lord.

Recently I did a reading from Daniel Chapter 2. What struck me was Daniels spontanious praise when God revealed King Nebukahneza's dream.
Walking home from a meeting recently the lady I was with was struck by the sheer beauty of a Full Moon. Stopped in her tracks, spontaniously praising God.

I include myself saying we take our surroundings far too much for granted - forgetting to praise God for what he has done for us.

The Advent Brick Story

Advent is fast approaching,

a site I return to again and again to for inspiration is The Brick Testament.

Congratulations to The Rev. Brendan Powell Smith on this work. Click on the picture to see the full story.

Trees

The random twistings and turnings of branches particularly appeal to me.

This randomness has been around for so much longer than the order and straight lines man has created.

God has been around longer than the random trees too, infact he created them.