This is about 2/3 of what's coming. Yes, it includes roughly 2 guitars and circa. 40 mugs. Yes, it's going all in one car. Yes, it will be fun. I still need to tidy my room, and clear out all my mess. But it's weird thinking I have seen people for the last time in a while. I have led worship for the last time at GCC, after 2 years. Had my last proper cell night. I have 3 sleeps left in my own bed for about 10 weeks. THAT's upsetting. Blah blah blah. Enough of that. It's been good times, but I'm sure there will be plenty more to come. Although it'll be hard to top this moment...
Apparently, that wasn't meant to be in there. According to Sharon, & the rest of cell... I will choose to believe them. Regardless, Jonny (http://www.photoblog.com/jonny365) got a picture of it. Brilliant.
In all seriousness, I think as much as I'll miss this place and this house and people from Sixth Form and such, I will miss my extended church family the most. Getting prayed for on Sunday morning brought home that these guys are awesome - Jon, Tim, Alf, Alan, Alex, Chris H, Paul, Becky, Jan, my parents, Tom, Barry, Joey, Ben, Elizabeth, La & Dan, Jessica, Titch, etc, etc - it reminded me of that bit in Hebrews 12 about persevering "since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses". It put faces, and a weird mix of encouragement and challenge. A spurring on, a "come on!", and all the usual sporting metaphors.
On a smilar note, I am making my way through John Stott's "The Cross of Christ" at the moment. I'm going very slowly, which is odd for me. Books I love, I will race through and finish, usually in one sitting (I do this for sacred, profane, ancient, modern: Mark Driscoll's "Vintage Jesus"; Camus' "L'Etranger"; "Cur Deus Homo"; Plato's "Symposium", to give examples, all were done and dusted in 48 hours each). Stott takes his time. He doesn't feel the need to be soundbitey; he doesn't wax elegently for no reason, or waffle on. Rather, he makes his points systematically, precisely, referencing those from Augustine & Paul to H L A Hart & Rawls, illustrating succinctly and simply the awesomeness of the cross.
I have spent a week on the chapter of God's wrath. I've just reread it and reread it. It gives me strange comfort. C J Mahaney gave a sermon on it at Downs in the 80s (not that I was alive, but thankfully, bloggers were around to hear it and post it on! Now where were they circa 0-33 a.d??), and the more I read comes back to this point that it's easy to flinch from and forget. We like our God as loving to those He loves, and angry against those who abandon Him - we see His wrath against the latter category as His justice, but in reality, we need to be reminded that we are all in that place. God is the God of kittens and flowers, this is true. But we have violently, actively and evilly rebelled against the King. We are by all rights objects of and subject to His wrath, the wrath that killed Uzzah, the wrath that toasted Ananias and Zafira, that drowned a world of sin, that sent a chosen people into exile. We do not deserve this love, that drove to the self-substitution of God, that led to His wrath being poured out against His own Son. And it is in the context of the mental wrath of God that this is revealled most. Don't give me shallow pictures of God being lovely. God is wrath, and it is good!
(I did a Google Image Search for "wrath", and all I could find was some weird manga and some ironic kittens, so I searched for Uzzah instead. As a related note, this is what would've happened to me if I ever went above a top E when leading worship. It is indeed an "irreverent act").
Anyway, my room needs finishing...
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