He is risen.

Death has been defeated. 

Today the world (or at least the best part of the western world) is celebrating Easter.


Earlier today I was sat in a pub at Spring Harvest, in the company of good people; (Sam Shaw, Suzie Bostock, Laura Piekos, ect) watching the football and drinking a pint, but what brought us here together was far more than fondness of a drink or football rivalry. We come together to follow, worship and live in the kingdom community.

Easter: "The most important and oldest festival of the Christian Church" What does it mean to you? is it merely a chocolate egg?  the end of lent where you thought, for traditions sake I'll give up chocolate or try and diet and then forget a couple of days later? Because for me, it is celebration of the greatest miracle to have ever happen to humanity. In fact, its the celebration of the greatest miracle to be happening to humanity.

The google definition of Easter (as shown above) says Easter is "celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ." 


C.S Lewis said "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important."  

(The end of Passover) Resurrection!
 ^1-2 Early in the morning on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was moved away from the entrance. She ran at once to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, breathlessly panting, "They took the Master from the tomb. We don't know where they've put him." ^3-10Peter and the other disciple left immediately for the tomb. They ran, neck and neck. The other disciple got to the tomb first, outrunning Peter. Stooping to look in, he saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in. Simon Peter arrived after him, entered the tomb, observed the linen cloths lying there, and the kerchief used to cover his head not lying with the linen cloths but separate, neatly folded by itself. Then the other disciple, the one who had gotten there first, went into the tomb, took one look at the evidence, and believed. No one yet knew from the Scripture that he had to rise from the dead. The disciples then went back home.
 ^11-13But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she knelt to look into the tomb and saw two angels sitting there, dressed in white, one at the head, the other at the foot of where Jesus' body had been laid. They said to her, "Woman, why do you weep?"
 ^13-14"They took my Master," she said, "and I don't know where they put him." After she said this, she turned away and saw Jesus standing there. But she didn't recognize him.
 ¹⁵Jesus spoke to her, "Woman, why do you weep? Who are you looking for?"
   She, thinking that he was the gardener, said, "Mister, if you took him, tell me where you put him so I can care for him."
 ¹⁶Jesus said, "Mary."
   Turning to face him, she said in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" meaning "Teacher!"
 ¹⁷Jesus said, "Don't cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, 'I ascend to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.'"
 ¹⁸Mary Magdalene went, telling the news to the disciples: "I saw the Master!" And she told them everything he said to her.

Imagine it; you're Peter. πέτρος. You decided to give up your life, your career, your entire future, you drop everything to follow a man claiming to be the Son of God, who, at the time was very convincing. You've given your life to him and then all of a sudden, he is killed, betrayed by a fellow follower, a close friend and as a result is put to death on a cross, hung on a tree. You watched your master suffer pain and humiliation like no other and even found yourself rejecting you're love for him, separating yourself from him out of selfishness and embarrassing, denying him. And now he's dead. What is there left? You gave up everything to follow this man, he was never supposed to die. At least, not before you. 

He is dead. You're whole life has been shattered. Will you go back to fishing? Even after everything you've seen?


You went with another follower "the one who he loved" to his tomb and find it empty. EMPTY. You only went to try and prove something to the other disciple and then you find this, this nothingness.


Like you hadn't already had reason to give up. Now his body's probably been stolen. Grim. Disheartened and hopeless you go home.


Mary, a woman that your old master was friends with. I repeat: a woman, that he was friends with, who he cleansed of demons, who was supposedly a prostitute runs into your home. Walks straight into the room you and your friends, your male friends will be sleeping that night and claims she saw him. That he was alive. That he is alive.That he came to her outside the tomb.


Really?


There wasn't anyone there except you and the one that he loved earlier. He certainly wasn't there. He is dead.


But.. still, you've seen him at work. You know, or, rather, you once knew what he was capable of. That he could heal the sick, turn water into wine, you even walked with him on the sea once. You'd seen him raise the dead, but could he raise himself? 


If anyone could...  


Call the disciples together. We NEED to talk this over.

(Later that day)
 ^19-20Later on that day, the disciples had gathered together, but, fearful of the Jews, had locked all the doors in the house. Jesus entered, stood among them, and said, "Peace to you." Then he showed them his hands and side. ^20-21The disciples, seeing the Master with their own eyes, were exuberant. Jesus repeated his greeting: "Peace to you. Just as the Father sent me, I send you."
 ^22-23Then he took a deep breath and breathed into them. "Receive the Holy Spirit," he said. "If you forgive someone's sins, they're gone for good. If you don't forgive sins, what are you going to do with them?"
 ^24-25But Thomas, sometimes called the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples told him, "We saw the Master."
   But he said, "Unless I see the nail holes in his hands, put my finger in the nail holes, and stick my hand in his side, I won't believe it."

He couldn't understand at first. I mean, you were skeptical too when Mary came to you, but this time it was basically everyone, all the guys, but he couldn't understand, Thomas that is.  You told him. YOU saw him. He didn't even open the door. He was just there. He spoke. He was the same, but different.

Despite the wounds in his hands and sides, despite the torture, the death! he was calm. You were calm too. You weren't even excited. You were just... Peaceful. What is this "holy spirit" that he spoke about? It rushed in like a wind and everyone, was peaceful. You felt guilt when he first appeared, remembering to the day of his trials, telling everyone you didn't even know him. I would have too. But when he spoke it was like he was speaking to you. Forgiveness. The Holy Spirit. 


Stupid Thomas. Stupid doubting Thomas. You never really doubted. Not like Tom. It's understandable though, he was in the same situation as you wasn't he? As all of the followers.


   

(Eight days later)  

 ²⁶Eight days later, his disciples were again in the room. This time Thomas was with them. Jesus came through the locked doors, stood among them, and said, "Peace to you."
 ²⁷Then he focused his attention on Thomas. "Take your finger and examine my hands. Take your hand and stick it in my side. Don't be unbelieving. Believe."
 ²⁸Thomas said, "My Master! My God!"
 ²⁹Jesus said, "So, you believe because you've seen with your own eyes. Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing."
 ^30-31Jesus provided far more God-revealing signs than are written down in this book. These are written down so you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and in the act of believing, have real and eternal life in the way he personally revealed it.

You started to doubt yourself during those days. Was it just hope? Wishful thinking? It felt like the more you tried to convince Thomas the stupider you sounded. He was dead. He came into a locked room. Breathed peace and then left. What? 


Part of you would have been happy if that was the end. You'd never been so excited. So satisfied to the highest point imaginable. This changed everything. He came back though. You knew he would. Thomas needed saving from disbelief.  He said something to Thomas, you thought it unusual, "Even better blessings are in store for those who believe without seeing" 


Did you need to see it? Do you need to see it? 


He beat death. He rose. He is risen.


This changes everything.

Plugging.

Today's post about 3 things you should do.

Firstly, The "Fair Twirl" Campaign which is a campaign set up by a couple of friends from my church (and some of their friends) in order, with the help of tearfund, to make the Cadbury's chocolate bar "Twirl" fairtrade.

It literally takes seconds to sign the online petition and like their facebook page and it's a really good start to getting the ball of fair trade moving again. 

Like their facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/fairtwirl

and sign the petition here:

http://www.tearfund.org/en/248153/fb/campaigns/emerginginfluencers/lukejohnson/

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Two bands to check out.

Firstly:

The Vows.

This is my friend Simon's band... listen to clockwork. 

And then:

Eden


This is my friend Ben's band, a couple of the guys go to my church. Check em.



Thanks and happy listening,

God Bless, L x

Cold night near speakers corner.

I'm sat on the same bench I did the summer of 2011 when I first found out I was moving to London. Right next to the Marble Arch looking at a plac on the building opposite for Oxford Street. If you asked me a year ago what I'd be doing this year, chances are I'd tell you I'm hoping to be in Manchester - half heartedly because I'd still be being bitter my gap year had fallen through.

I'm more than glad now.

I don't know what I'm really doing in London or why God put me here but I'm thankful.

Lame right?

Hell, I might only feel like this 50% of the time but it's glorious when I do.

I live right in the centre of one of the worlds most famous and wonderful cities. I have met some of the most incredible people from all over the world (and the UK) and I'm spiritually in a place of joy.

None of you needed to know this, but I want you to.

God Bless, L x

Lordy Lordy Lordy, it has been a while!

Usually this time of year would be the standard "so this is the new year, and I don't feel any different" post.
But not this time round.

If I look at my life a year ago, I was complaining about not being able to sit about doing nothing except for having a drink at 3 in the afternoon because of college. Now, I totally can do that, but just don't want to.. Hell.. I'm growing up.  Responsibility came disguised as freedom, not that I'm not greatful.

January has definitely been a good month though,  starting uni way earlier than everyone else was surrisingly nice, it was good to get back into the swing of life in London. 1082 Hudds Rd was more than a little claustrophobic by the ended December.

Yeah, so.. January.. Uni, The Joy Weekend and a short stay in Oldham.

I guess I don't have much to say about uni, it was a new years resolution to go to ALL my lectures. I do feel like I should have picked an easier one like, y'kno learning to roller skate like those guys in Hyde park that bring their own cones.. It was clear after my second day back when I was dragging myself out of bed that going to my entire 9 hours of lectures was a little unrealistic.. ha.

In other news: the Joy weekend; The Koinonia retreat in Buckden Tower. If you guys hadn't already read my tweets about this already.. THIS IS WHERE CATHERINE OF ARAGON WAS PLACED UNDER HOUSE ARREST AND ALSO HENRY VIII STAYED THERE. Which, as a huge med history fan is pretty much the best thing ever. The weekend was - to state the obvious - a weekend of and about Joy and I can't lie, I did come out with a fresh perspective. But that could be an entire blog post in itself. Either way, the weekend was awesome... Good to hang out with and meet amazing people and give the new year a real fresh start.

And then finally, a little trip back to Oldham town to have a tooth removed. I shan't go into detail.. it was just horrible. Like, proper rank. And now my wound is infected and BLURGH. On the other hand, it was nice going home just for the weekend. I'd only been back in London for like 2 weeks so it felt kinda pointless going out of my way to see people, but I'm glad that I bothered. Sometimes It's nice to be around people you don't have to try with because you know that they love you (or are at least pretty certain) despite the stupid things you say and do. Yes. Being back was mint and a weekend was the perfect amount of time.

AND we celebrated a late burns night, drunk lots of whiskey and played folk music till late. It was just wonderful.

So that's really about it for January, I don't have anything much to complain about and it feels awesome.

Blowing a £50 bar tab on Champagne. 

Top 10 songs of 2011?

A response to all of the "Top 10 songs of 2011" posts that are going on, some songs that I've grown to love the last 12 Months.

Delicate Steve - Butterfly




This song, like all songs by Delicate Steve is bloody brilliant. One of those walking to the bus stop "today is going to me an amazing day" songs. I first heard Delicate Steve in 2010 sometime and just didn't understand what was going on but put it on my phone anyway and it came on when I was walking home from the pub on night and I felt invincible. Listen to this, you won't regret it.

By Your Hand - Los Campesinos



When I first moved to London this was a song that reminded me of home. I'd not heard it before I moved but if you've known me for any length of time you'll probably know that a few years ago I practically worshiped Los Campesinos at one point, their songs were something I could dance to and still be all "yeah, so this unknown welsh band, you've probably never heard of them" way back in the days of school uniforms when I was cool and wanted all hipster and stuff, naturally, once I heard You! Me! Dancing! I kinda turned them down a bit. Maybe that makes me bias because it might not actually be one of the best songs of 2011, but it's a great taste of their new album and gets my feet tapping.

Beyonce - Countdown.




I tried at first to avoid butting beyonce in, part of me just wants to do a post of my favourite beyonce songs. I'm not sure if it's some kind of nostalgic link to sitting about with the girls from home listening to youtube beyonce playlists but this is - like so many of her songs - undeniably good. The song is just a mix of all things good about her. Definitely been a great and welcome addition to my iTunes top 25 played, I have some theory that it makes my cycle faster.

The Joy Formidable - Whirring




I think it was my old history teacher that told me about The Joy Formidable, a hope that they'd make it or something. This is actually a re-release so I'm a bit hesitant about putting it, its such a chilled song, the start reminds me so much of arcade fire, but like Of Montreal and Broken Social Scene all at the same time. A crush of all your favorite "indie" bands. You know those days when you're walking somewhere and its sunny outside, but it's still cold enough that you have to wear a coat.. autumn..  that's when you want this
 to come on. Kicking the leaves aside. It's mellow but its not depressing. Makes me want to dance. If you're not content with this, check out Wilco's Whole Love instead. That was my original choice but I changed it.. urgh...

Milo Greene - 1957



I read about this band on http://www.thegrapevinemusic.com late one night half by accident, half by doing that ever so hipster thing of thinking that you can find the next big thing. Part of me just thinks anything with a banjo or mandolin is cool and grabs my attention. I thought that this band had been kind of over looked but when I went to put the youtube link to this song I found people thanking NPR on the comments. I originally was going to put The Alabama Shakes in place here which I recently heard via P.M's post, but decided to avoid and pick these guys. Similar to The Civil Wars but a bit more plinky plonky if you're fans of them.

Azealia Banks - 212.



I hated this song the first time I heard it, the lyrics were crude the sound felt repetitive and I really didn't want to like a song just because Pitchfork told me too. I then found it again about a month later on pitchfork and listened to it again and thought it was the best thing in the world. It's probably the coolest thing I've heard this year and I can't really describe why.. (probably because of the reasons I didn't like it in the first place.) I spotted that this has been hitting the top of plenty of  music blogs 2011 posts and rightly so. It deserves a place. I had a choice between Niki Minaj's Super Bass - a song I do really love and this, there really was no competition.

The Weeknd - The Morning



I swear down this song was everywhere I went this year. Or at least I downloaded The Weeknd before I went to uni at some point and this song came on all the time on shuffle. I remember sitting at my brothers playing poker with his friends and this song came on and I was thinking "I love this song" then realised I didn't even know who it was. What a mistake. I've since listened back, I downloaded their 2 mixtapes for a reason and this is it - I haven't got the third in the trilogy yet but I have high hopes.

Metronomy - The Look.



I think this was my favorite summer album. Metronomy are effortlessly cool, this album makes that clear. I judged a lot of this off my phones top 25 most played and when I saw this a massive smile came accross my face. After the summer I kinda forgot about this album but the night before I came back to Manchester for Christmas my friend mentioned them and I swear this song helped me power through the 5 hour coach journey north. Makes me want to pick up my bass for the first time in forever.


The Milk Carton Kids - I still want a little more.



I probably could have picked anything of either of The Milk Carton Kid's albums this year. Tempted as I was to pick Charlie (which I've recently blogged about somewhere) that would simply be because I love my dad loads. Reluctant as I was to even put them in for some reason if I had to pick a most played album of 2011, the last 4 months alone plays would grant this the top spot. I picked this song because this is the song I put on when I walk to Tesco to get more milk and apple juice and it makes me feel on top of the world. I so wanted to be putting PJ Harvey here, and I feel kinda bad. But please if you haven't already, download The Milk Carton Kids albums from their website, its free so you basically have no excuse.

Bon Iver - Towers

<
I don't think I could really get away without putting Bon Iver up here. After an incredible second album the whole world is buzzing all over again for this guy. This song makes my heart beat faster. If you want a song to put on in the morning when you wake up, this is it. I probably don't have to write any more about this because anyone who knows or likes to think they know anything about music has this album. // Side-note, definately do check out the acoustic Beth/Rest on NPR. It's close to perfect.

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There are loads more that I wanted to put on. If I could have been bothered I'd have made a much longer one. You wouldn't believe how much time I spent trying to get it to not match up too much with the lists on NPR, Pitchfork and similar blogs.. but in the end I gave up. They're on the lists for a reason and I don't think I've been quite hipster enough this term. Hope you enjoy this post. I assure you, there is not a bad song on it.


Check Out:

http://pmasinpaulmichael.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/songs-of-2011/
http://lifeascamille.tumblr.com/post/14087219117/songs-of-2011-or-songs-i-listened-to-in-my-car-with

Also, the Sunday CD Project over at JulezTalks.Blogspot for some reviews on new and old albums.



God Bless, L x

Memories of a lost life: #1

Face Off.

I couldn't tell you the precise date, when I look back over what was "Year 11" at Blue Coat; which I guess was 08-09 it seems like I spent everyday, even the blustery wet winter outside the schools modern foreign language shed the "JT Block." The most I could tell you is that it was a dry sunny day, a rarity that year, but I know because we were all sitting on the grass.

Everyone's done it. It's almost a right of passage, something you learn about from a young age and never forget. You know the one, when you pick up a aerosol can and hold a flame just a small stretch away from the tip of the can and spray away creating your own quite dangerous but really freeking cool blow torch and generating a feeling of ultimate power for a few short seconds.

You'd have thought by the time we were 16 that we'd have grown out of this arsonistic phase of our lives, but amusingly (albeit a bit sad) we hadn't.

So yes. It was a dry day sat out on the grass outside the "JT block" with all the usual culprits (pictured at the bottom.) When I think back, I feel like it was that time of year when everyone got out their old gameboys and tried to re-complete the original pokemon games, this period usually lasts a week and no one ever compleates it fast enough. I however wasn't taking part in this. Me and a good friend, probably one of my best friends at the time were lying on the grass with a box of matches and a dwarf can of "Impulse body spray" - which I can only assume was mine from when I was like 11 and first started secondary school.  

The plan we had wasn't quite that of the flame thrower I described above, we were after all in the middle of our school grounds and although we could get away with a lot of stuff, flame throwing wasn't one. No, instead we filled the lid of the body spray with body spray, we probably sprayed it for about 15 second's or something like that and prepared ourselves a match to throw in. 

When I replay the scene, I'm not sure why we didn't move further away after we'd thrown the match in. I'm not sure why we thought - after it didn't blow up within the first couple of seconds - why it was safe to go back to it. But that's exactly what we did. Luckily for me I was hovering at the side of Sam whose face was directly over the top of this lid. 

We genuinely didn't expect it to blow up, after the delay it seemed illogical in the moment that it might still blow up. I remember this rush of heat pass over my face burning the tip of my nose, rolling to the side as fast as possible I wasn't really sure what had just happened. I turned back over to see Sam sat up holding his face in his hands.

 - It's ok, his face wasn't burned, no sever injury's obtained.

The hair on sam's chinny chin chin, his eyebrows, his stubbly upper lip and the baby hairs at the top of his head had gotten singed. patches of black frizzled hair were to be seen on his face in place of what was previously stubble and there air that surrounded us became polluted with the stench of burnt hair.

That was a funny day.

Good ol' days.

God Bless L x

Matthew 4:23

Hey, I did a post a while about my friend Christina getting healed, hear is how she put it on one of our St Mary's Students Facebook walls. Wanted to share this with you because she tells it way better than I do and it really is mint:

I know you guys have heard this a million times but this is for the ones who have not :) 

About six months ago, I got diagnosed with a heart condition that meant the valves in my heart were smaller than average and had trouble pumping blood constantly. Sometimes I would get what was called “episodes” were my heart would just give up and I would get a sharp pain from my heart followed by my left arm going dead and being unable to breathe etc. I was on medication to control these episodes but not for the condition itself. 

About two months ago I got told by the doctors that the valves were for some reason shrinking and I would need a heart transplant and they cannot fix my heart and was given up to a year to get one. A month later my condition was worsening so they priority listed me and told me I would have to get the heart transplant within 6 months or I would quite possibly die. The sad part being even if I did get a new heart my chances of living were for no more than another 10 years; being 20 that really sucked. 

I had such a strong support group of people from church and elsewhere who supported me and prayed for me and kept me strong through the whole thing, but it really did seem like the more we prayed about it all, the more ill I was getting; such to the point at I eventually kind of said fine God do whatever concentrated on other aspects of my faith. 

The life course weekend came around; Eastbourne was amazing; I felt like I had an amazing experience with God focusing on everything else except for my health. On our way back on the train I had another one of my episodes and freaked everyone out a little bit :) We came straight from the train station to church. At the end of the service John asked for someone to come up for prayer if they had a tingly sensation in their hand connected to a heart problem, and I conveniently ignored this request because I had been prayed for and not healed and I was too tired to deal with it at that point. 

After a little “persuasion” (did not demand I go to the front whatsoever) from Rach I was prayed for by a number of people including Rach and Jenny. I knew something happened I experienced the Holy Spirit like I had never before and by the end I was convinced I was healed. 

Next morning, I went for my check up as I do every Monday, and my doctor did an ECG said my readings were different from usual and did a sonogram for my heart called and Echo, and turned to me and said, I do not know how to tell u this but there is nothing wrong with your heart. 

There was no medical explanation to what happened, but nothing short of a new heart would make me better and now my heart is as good as new. It came at a perfect time, when I actually stopped slacking and started doing what God wanted in other aspects of my life. 

It has been just under a month now been for three checkups and they asked me to come every three months now because it is a waste of money to see a person who is healthy every week. I am of course off the transplant list. I am well and healthy. 

Sorry this was so long, but God did something truly amazing in my life, from being told I could only live another 10 years if I was really lucky (and knowing I would not be able to have what I have always wanted and dreamt of in life) to be given my whole life back is amazing. I feel loved. God is good he never fails; it is just up to us to be patient. 

Ah, so awesome.

God Bless,

L x