One step beyond

Here is the answer you've all been waiting for. Once again I'm sat in Black Medicine as my dastardly flatmate has run off with his router, so my time is limited, but at least the coffee is good.

So last Friday, I made the decision to leave Agape in the summer and return to marine biology. This will most likely mean initially returning to Newcastle to do a masters in Tropical Coastal Management. Those who know me pretty well will know that this has not been undertaken lightly, and if there's one thing I've learned, don't give yourself 6 months to make a decision - it's far too long!

But I have prayed and thought about this long and hard and really believe that this is where God wants me for the moment. The pros and cons lists had many reasons for doing both, and in the end I had to go with the heart I believe God is giving me.

This doesn't mean that I will cease to be a missionary, by any means. My context has just changed. God, who I believe to be the one unchanging truth in this world, will continue to be the center of my life, and the reason for everything I enter into.

So there you have it. My life is about to change yet again. Sorry to keep you waiting this long. And sorry you've had to find out about this this way if you haven't seen me face to face. Thanks to all of you who have prayed for me and helped me through this process!

Once more into the breach, dear friends

Many of you have been asking me recently how my decision making is going regarding next year (for those of you who haven't, this is about whether I commit long-term to Agape, or return to marine biology). You'll be glad to know, I've reached a decision - not everyone will be happy, some will not be suprised. And I'll write more fully about it when I have more than 10 minutes battery left on my laptop and am not stuck using the internet in a cafe when I should be packing my bag to go home for Christmas...

I'm sure I have valuable things to say. I'm sure most the people who write blogs feel they have valuable things to say, but how many of us actually do, or at least how many of us actually manage to convey it in meaningful and instructive ways. With the regularity of my blogs falling to under a week, and the content of it sometimes actually resulting in a net loss of brain capacity once you've read it, my readership has gone down. Or at least no-one bothers commenting any more.

Isn't that what all bbudding writers want? Just on eperson to write a comment? To give them a shred of self worth? To make that 5 minutes, half an hour or whatever spent writing actually seem worth it?

My reasons for writing stuff here are pretty unclear. I originally started it as a way to keep people informed about what's going on with my ministry up here, but nobody ever really seemed to bother with that (although in case you're wondering, its very busy, I'm in the middle of sorting out trips to Lithuania, hosting people from Canada and orgnasising a couple fo film festivals along with all the usual stuff), so it became an outlet for random stuff.

Right now, I'm sat prone on the lovesac after wrecking my ankle (the other one this time) in a classic rendition of Sod's Law. So i've got nothing better to do than write drivel. Actually if you think about it, not one jot of what I've written so far has had any point to it.

But as usual I will insert the promise to write more regularly, and more relevantly. And who knows, maybe people will start reading more and giving me that little bit more sense of worht to the world.

As a reward for reading so much rubbish, follow this link for some YouTube fun