Inaugural Post

Hurrah. It's back. After a couple of years, it's finally that time to get all those thoughts into writing.
I'm putting it out there because I'm hopeful that someone will be able to sift through the rubbish and find some sort of encouragement or help, and to be able to do the same back.
Those familiar to the way I write will be aware that this isn't going to be a daily diary of every minutiae that goes on in my life, rather the bigger things going on in my head will hold the floor, and a bit of update will go on too.

It's difficult to do a first post after not blogging for so long, because there's a tendency to try and condense all of the past few years into one post.
That's not going to help anyone, and isn't the reason why I'm doing this.
I'm more interested in now.
So, where am I at?

A Christian figuring out what it means to be salt and light, loving neighbours as myself, and loving God with everything I am. By no means do I come close to managing this even half the time, but the grace is good and I'm learning, and have some top people around me that keep me grounded.

A first year student living in Birmingham studying Biochemistry.
It's hard, but I love it, and have some top people there too, and incidentally, contrary to popular assumption, it's served to bolster rather than sway my faith. But we'll get to that another time. Probably next post. We'll see.

Single.
I said that I wouldn't go into the past.
Where I'm at now is content with being able to throw myself into as many different things as possible, serving at church, being there properly for as many people that need me as possible, and attempting to nurture this drumming thing that has got hold of me. That means that single is good for me right now to be able to do all this stuff. (No scoffing, Russ)
I have no doubt that I'll reach the season where I focus on a romantic relationship for long term, but it's not now. And it's not time for her either, whoever she is.


Anyway. There are a few things going on in this all-too-active mind of mine, and it feels far more constructive to put them into words.
Constructive is a good place to start.
I'm at home in that horrible place of "This-is-technically-a-holiday-but-I-need-to-revise-or-I'll-fail-my-first-year".
I have a printer-box full of books and notes to revise from, and yet I can't get round to doing any. Every tiny thing is a distraction, and four days have gone with very little done in terms of work.
When I have got to something useful, ie reading the word, I've been reading around the back end of Ephesians because the armour stuff in Chap. 6 has never applied more, but before that I rather uncannily found this in Chap. 5 (from The Message):

"Don't waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness [..] So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! Don't live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what He wants."

I'm reminded of an old DcTalk track that said 'All the money in the world could never stop the hands of time, and a wasted day in your life is more than a crime'.

What I'm not getting at is that my uni work is useless, that's ridiculous, I'm talking more about the way I take life so much for granted that an entire day can go by without doing much at all that points to Him, or shows love or positivity to anyone, and time just disappears doing not much at all.


So right now, I'm figuring out that being studious and doing the necessary work is something that I can do to glorify Him, that's some good stuff, but to be doing constructive stuff in the spaces I'm not doing the work as well...building people up, telling them that they are important and loved, getting stuck into the word and prayer, making the most of every chance that I get. It's so cliche, but I know that's what 'He wants' as the verse says.
Just a case of figuring out what's the good, careful stuff is, and what's the bad, wasteful, unthinking stuff. I guess the bit from Phillipians about being able to glorify Him for actions is a good place to start....anyway it's clear that the heart of Christianity is not merely in the things people deem to be religious, but in the small things, the menial things, the everyday things, where we are most of the time...where is our heart at in them?
Lest I be guilty of a crime, or worse, as the song says.

Song.
Heh.
A nice way to segue into my next vein of thought.
Since the night that Tim and I played a song with Al at the acoustic night, my admiration for John Mayer has been growing.
We played 'Slow Dancing in a burning room' that night, and I got some of his stuff so that I could practice. My first impressions were that this guy could really make the guitar sing...reminiscent of a young Clapton or BB King...the sort of thing my Dad absolutely loves.
Since then he's really grown on me. His earlier acoustic-pop stuff is infectious, his latest album, Continuum, is a masterpiece, and 'Try!', his power blues rock live album even more so.
The audio for the live concert 'Where the light is' brings all three of these things together and lately I can't listen to much else (mostly Stevie Ray Vaughan, I'm loving the blues at the moment!).

Whilst listening, I was amazed at quite how good it is, but also was struck by something he said in it. In the breakdown during a cover of Hendrix's 'Bold as Love', I was interested by what he said.
He talks about how he's tried every approach to living....buying a bunch of stuff and thinking 'nah I don't like that'...shutting himself away to try become mad to make genius appear....pacing himself well, seeing a load of cool stuff at 30, making "a lot of stuff happen for myself" which he emphasizes to show he tried to synthesize love and soothing, which you can't do, and he arrives at the conclusion that the "one thing that I gotta check out, before checking out" is to "love- give and feel love for my living, not roman-candle, hot-pink Hollywood love, but 'I got your back' kinda love".
He makes the admission that it sounds corny, as I regularly do, but things in life that seem cliche are often the best lessons that we can learn, and their familiarity has bred a bit of contempt, methinks.
Anyhoo, I was struck by his admirable sentiment, and agree wholeheartedly, however....it's like he's got to this point of realising that real, gritty love is where it's at, but not really knowing why. I look at 'Something's Missing' and see him struggling with the same thing---so, so much in his life, but stuck as to what happens next. (friends check money check well slept check opposite sex check guitar check microphone check messages waiting for me when I come home.....but something's missing, and I don't know how to fix it)

Often people look at me blankly when I say that lyrics are probably my favourite part of a song. With Mr. Mayer, I can't say that wholeheartedly all the time because he's so freaking amazing on the guitar, but these lyrics highlight something very important- a case and point for my lyrics obsession.

It's very easy for me to say that materialism is a bad thing. I have my opinions, and I have quite a lot of 'stuff' that doesn't begin to satisfy, but this, from a very successful and talented chap in the world's eyes, carries more weight.
A lot of people have come to the conclusion that love is a good thing. Look at the hippies. Love and peace man.
But if it's merely being nice and 'getting the backs' of other people 'til death, and nothing thereafter, then it makes absolutely no odds how we live. This is taken to a logical, if extreme, end by The Joker in Batman, who sees the world, doesn't care, feels no love and creates chaos because he can.

I don't think everyone is in that place, I reckon most are closer and indeed yearning (more than they would dare to admit) for a bigger purpose... a reason and source for all this love that our philosophies end up at.

And before we get too near to preachiness, I'll end on that note.

In conclusion, John Mayer is a great musician with good things to say, and where I'm at is loving and having an awareness as to why.

Rad.

In next issue we may venture into Evolution and Creationism (one of my favourite things is to watch people when I'm talking about it....some scientists and some Christians seem baffled..) because that's a big but happy thing in my head right now.
So yeah, might get stuck into that.
And also more of this love-stuff....the way it actually looks beyond an overused phrase and mistletoe.

Peace out, my peoples- love you all. Really, I do.


p.s I'll try and post what I'm listening to in posts, but hardly need to this time.