My very own music story…

I don’t understand what all the fuss is about.

Should Simon Cowell have sent ‘Jedward’ home earlier?

Is Daniel or Joe the best singer in the competition?

Will the judges ever agree on a performance?

The big question is, who will win X Factor?

If you haven’t heard of it by now X Factor is the singing show sweeping the nation, with thousands of hopefuls all vying for a record deal and the opportunity to become a pop star.

Ok, I must admit I have been sucked in, and do enjoy voicing my comments on a performance, just like all the other judges do. My favourite acts are the ones who have more than, ‘just a voice.’ A bit of personality, good dancers or good at interacting with the crowd, something like that.

It was a cold September evening and my girlfriend and I had bumped into a few friends who where going to the same concert. We were going to the concert venue Spring and Airbrake to hear the band, Explosions in the Sky.

We waited in the cue, cold, a little nervous of what the show would be like. We managed to push ourselves in right to front with great seats to watch the show.

After a period of time, just trying to build some suspense, the band walked out onto the small, dimly lit, simple stage. The drummer picked up his drum sticks, the 3 guitarist picked up their different guitars, and what looked like the lead singer of the band spoke into the microphone to say,

“We are explosions in the sky”

“Thank you for lending us your ears and your heart”

These were the only words any member of the band said all night.

Explosions in the Sky are definitely not a band many people have heard of. They come from Texas, USA and are a completely instrumental band. No singing, no shouting, no performing to the crowd. Just playing some beautiful music to their adoring fans. Explosions in the Sky are quite an acquired taste of music but I can honestly say that it was one of the best concerts I have ever been to and would not hesitate to see them for a second time if the opportunity arose. They put so much energy and passion into every song and you could actually see the physical effort they were putting in to each song. They had the whole crowd hooked, without even saying a word.

Amazing.

Thinking back about the concert the line, “Thank you for lending us your ears and your heart” has definitely stuck with me. I often challenge and question myself wondering, when was the last time I leant my ears and heart to Jesus Christ?

Too often I find myself losing concentration in a sermon in church or reading my bible.

Too often I wonder, when was the last time I opened my heart up to Jesus. Really prayed to him about me. Really sang my heart out and focused on the words I was singing.

I have told you about me.

When was the last time you leant Jesus Christ your ears and your heart?

Proverbs 3:5-6 (The Message)

“Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.”

 

I have included a wee video I found on youtube of the concert that night. Hope you enjoy!

Sunday night story…

“This sunday night at pulse is CHURCH AND CHILL. be there just before 7pm to join with the rest of the church. Would be great to have a good crowd as some pulse members are taking part in the service.

Then the 2nd half of the night will be chilling out. some games, food and chat. should be really good.

DON’T MISS IT”

Hopefully the video below will encourage you to get along to church and pulse.

ps. too all the pulse members taking part you will be AWESOME!!!

Our story is full of excuses…

I walked into the classroom for my 3 o’clock tutorial on Friday afternoon, unprepared, unsure and pretty confused.I had not finished my homework and extra reading and was desperately racking my brain for the most suitable excuse.

I thought through all my excuses I had previously used:

“Sorry miss, my dog ate my homework.”

“Sorry sir I couldn’t do my homework, I had a mysterious third dose of the chicken pocks.”

“Sorry miss, a big pigeon flew out of the sky, grabbed my homework, and flew off with it.”

 

It was useless. No excuse could cover me this time. I had been too lazy and decided to watch the football instead of doing my homework and reading.

I then came back from class to find my dishes still sitting in the sink and some very unhappy housemates. I still hadn’t done my washing up. I racked my brain for a good excuse again and came up with,

“Sorry guys, I didn’t do the washing up because the bubbles irritate my hands.”

My housemates weren’t having any of it. Worst excuse, ever!

Life is full of excuses. Whether it’s not doing the washing up, doing other chores, or not doing your homework, I’m sure everyone in life has made an excuse sometime.

Unfortunately today, the idea of going to church is usually met with many excuses too. People would rather make a lame excuse like,

 

“No one my age goes, I won’t have any friends there.”

“I work all week, I deserve a rest on Sunday.”

 

The Bible is full of excuses too. In the Old Testament Moses had many different excuses for not participating in Gods plans for him.

Exodus 4:1,10-13

Moses objected, “They won’t trust me. They won’t listen to a word I say. They’re going to say, God? Appear to him? Hardly!’”

Moses raised another objection to God: “Master, please, I don’t talk well. I’ve never been good with words, neither before nor after you spoke to me. I stutter and stammer.”

God said, “And who do you think made the human mouth? And who makes some mute, some deaf, some sighted, some blind? Isn’t it I, God? So, get going. I’ll be right there with you—with your mouth! I’ll be right there to teach you what to say.”

He said, “Oh, Master, please! Send somebody else!”

Moses finally gave in and put his trust in God and went on to lead his people out of Egypt. (Watch the Prince of Egypt, Great film)

The big question is, do you have an excuse for not trusting in Jesus Christ.

1 John 2:28

And now, children, stay with Christ. Live deeply in Christ. Then we’ll be ready for him when he appears, ready to receive him with open arms, with no cause for red-faced guilt or lame excuses when he arrives.

 

 

 

 

Don’t get distracted from your story…

Trying to choose what mobile phone to buy is impossible!!!

There is just too much choice! There are phones with the Internet so I can check my facebook or the latest football scores, anytime, anywhere. Phones with the latest games such as car racing games, football, board games, card games and any other type game of you can think of. There are even phones which contain all your cherished photos and favourite songs, to listen to throughout the day.

For many of my friends and myself, all these great applications are very distracting. Playing a quick racing game on someone’s phone is definitely more appealing then listening in a boring lecture.

Today in life there are so many different distraction. TV, schoolwork, friends, music, sport, everybody has their own distractions. Even at this very moment while writing this blog, I am getting distracted watching my friend play the XBOX.

All these distraction distract us from what we really should be focusing on. Jesus Christ.

The Christian song ‘Heart of Worship’ says:

“I’m coming back to the heart of worship,

And it’s all about You,

It’s all about You, Jesus

I’m sorry, Lord, for the thing I’ve made it

When it’s all about You,

It’s all about You, Jesus”

This simple chorus shows us who our focus should be on.

Ok so I finally choose my mobile phone and with my special contract, I have loads of free minutes. I phone my brothers to ask them about the latest rugby news, phone my class mates to talk about homework, phone my girlfriend, phone my parents, just constant talking on the phone.

Made me think. Do I talk to God enough?

In church on Sunday the power of prayer was very evident. At the end of the service people came out of the congregation and just prayed with each other about, well, anything really. They just wanted to talk to God.

Prayer is our way to talk to God. We don’t need the latest mobile phone with fancy applications. We don’t have to be the best speaker, use the biggest words in our sentences, pray for hours on end.

Prayer should be honest and simple.

Just you and God.

These two Bible versus sum it all up better then I ever could.

Thessalonians 5:17 – Pray all the time.

Matthew 6:6 – (Jesus said,) “find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace.”

Ask yourself the question, do you get easily distracted in this world today?

Do these distractions blur your focus on God?

If so, talk to God about it.

Prayer.

Many pictures come together to make a Story…

On a Saturday morning my girlfriend and I where on Jonathan Ross’s chat show, had small talk with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, played rugby with Johnny Wilkinson, sang some karaoke with Michael Jackson and even discussed world politics with Nelson Mandela and Barrack Obama.

OK, OK I’ll be honest this didn’t really happen, but we did meet all these stars at the world famous waxworks, Madame Tussauds, London.

At The Madame Tussauds waxworks they take various moulds and sculpt life like waxwork characters of some of the most famous people in the world. These famous people include everyone I have already mentioned plus Tom Cruise, Will Smith, Beyonce, David Beckham and pretty much every others celebrity you can think of.

This famous tourist attraction attracts thousands of visitors who are all vying for the their photograph with their favourite celebrity. My girlfriend and I where two of these eager tourists. Hannah got her golden photo with her personal favourite, Mr Johnny Depp and I managed to get a great picture of me standing beside James Bond aka Daniel Craig. I must admit there was a keen likeness between James Bond and myself. Only joking only joking.

Overall it was a great day out with plenty of crack posing for all the photos with the celebrities but during the tour I couldn’t get a certain question out of my head.

If there was a statue of Jesus Christ at Madame Tussauds, what would it be like? Would he be included in the A-List celebrity cocktail party, or maybe the world leaders section?

Would he be wearing a stylish black suit, or the latest fashion the many pop stars where wearing?

The big question of all is, would you choose get your picture taken with him?

Lets think of some of his credentials to see, what is he famous for?

Well he is the son of the Creator of the World. Turned water into wine at a wedding party. Healed numerous people from countless medical conditions, most notably making the paralysed man walk and even raising Jairus’s daughter from the dead. He fed 5000 people with 5 loafs of bread and two fish. Walked on water. Calmed the storm.

The list goes on.

Most importantly he died for you and I so are sins could be forgiven.

Awesome CV.

OK. So you decide that you would get your photo taken with Jesus. But would he want a photograph with you?

If we look at our CV’s we have lied. Fought. Sinned continuously. Forgotten to pray to him in a while. Forgotten to read our bible as regularly as we could have. Maybe even denied our knowledge and faith in Jesus Christ in front of our peers.

Why would Jesus want his photo with us?

That’s the thing.

He does want his photo with you and I.

Romans 8: 35, 38-39- Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in scripture…nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable- absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us.

Taking a moment, just for your story…

Let me set the scene for you. It was the 25^th of October. An air of expectation and excitement dawned on Wembley Stadium, London. One of the world’s most famous stadia. One of the world’s biggest sporting events was upon us. The once a year American Football International Series was about to take place for its third year in a row and it would be contested between The New England Patriots and The Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And guess who was attending this match? Me.

The whole experience was just amazing. First travelling out to the stadium with thousands of die hard fans each sporting their favourite teams jerseys and all discussing the American Football season so far. Then reaching the stadium. It was so overwhelming the sheer size of the structure. After climbing far too many steps we finally reached our gate to the entrance of the stands. As I walked out and took in the atmosphere and my surroundings I was speechless. I was in such awe of what was before. A scene of colour all around the stadium with 85,000 people cheering and buzzing with excitement before kick off. As we sat down and waved our free flags about a bit, the entertainment would begin.

There where live music performances from Calvin Harris, national anthems sang by Katherine Jenkins and a firework display to cap it all off. Then the moment had arrived. It was time for the player’s arrival. The stars of the show. The music began, the crowd got louder and the announcer introduced the two sides.

If your not an American Football fan let me tell you what these guys were like. They where huge!!! Man Mountains. Biggest guys I had ever seen. They all ran out all pumped up ready for one of the biggest games of their lives.

Just before kick off, in the middle of all the euphoria, I noticed about half of all the players on the field (about 10-20 each side) kneeling down, and taking a moment to pray.

I can’t this out of my head.

These super athletes, all pumped up, huge stadium, electric atmosphere and one of the biggest matches of their lives just stopped. Took a second. And gave it all to the glory of God.

Sometimes we may believe we are living such hectic, busy lives that we don’t have time to pray to God. To tell him our thoughts, our fears our worries, our success.

But next time you think this, think of the example of the American Football players. These guys in the middle of the euphoria just took a minute to talk to God.

Love it.

Philippians 3:13-14, “By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward-to Jesus. I’m off and running and I’m not turning back.”

There is Always Hope in a Story…

One of the world’s most famous, contempory artists is called Banksy. Just Banksy. Nobody has ever seen this artist before, knows his real name or has even seen what he looks like. He is a very mysterious guy.

What we do know is that Banksy isn’t your ordinary artist. He doesn’t sell his own artwork. He doesn’t use sketchbooks or paper to draw on. His artwork isn’t hung up in some posh gallery where you walk around looking at it going ooooo or aaaaa!!! He doesn’t even use pencils, pens, charcoal, paint or any other artistic tools you can think of.

Like me your thinking, what actually does he do then? Well Banksy is a graffiti artist and his canvases are the streets you and I walk on. Banksy’s artwork pops up in unusual places like on the top of buildings, sides of bridges, in underground tunnels. Pretty much everywhere. His artwork is quite controversial playing on political and everyday occurrences but one thing his artwork always does is spark an opinion.

One of my favourite pieces by Banksy is called ‘Always Hope.’ This piece can be viewed on the South Bank in London. The piece shows a little girl losing her heart shaped red balloon. It is just so simple with such a powerful message. But that’s not the end to the piece. If you look closely along the wall in small writing it reads, “There is always hope.”

This simple sentence stood out to me immediately. First of all hope is such a strong word. It is defined as, ”to look forward with trust, confidence and expectation.” Then there is the word always’. Meaning, “for all time, forever.”

The words in this simple sentence are so powerful but the hidden nature of it makes it all the more special. Your eyes are immediately drawn to the amazing graffiti picture but you have to ‘read between the lines’ and dig that bit deeper to find the true meaning of the picture.

In some ways our faith in Jesus Christ can be like this. On the outside we may go to church every week, never fight with our brother or sister and always have impeccable manners. But like the Banksy piece where you have to read between the lines to find the hidden message this can be true to our faith. We must dig deeper to form a relationship with Jesus and really find out who he is and what he did for you and me. This takes a lot of faith. This can be done through reading the bible, praying to God and giving your undivided attention when you attend youth fellowship or church. Only through these simple things can we begin to see Jesus more clearly.

This bible verse sums it all up brilliantly.

1 Corinthians 13:12-13 (The Message)

We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

What ingredients would go into your story…

Have you ever tried to buy the ingredients for the perfect meal?  Ingredients that were just so good, when you put them together it would be a taste sensation. What ingredients would you buy?

My personal choice would be to make the ‘perfect’ pizza. The finest tomatoes from Italy to make the sauce, the softest dough from Italy for the base, the creamiest cheese from France for the toppings and the spiciest pepperoni from Italy to top it all off.  Sounds delicious if you ask me.

Ok Ok I know I won’t be able to make the ‘perfect’ pizza but all the ingredients are pretty straight forward, nothing fancy, no secret ingredients, just simple honest ingredients.

I once went on a school trip to the Coca Cola Factory, the biggest beverage company in the world. On my way around the factory they stopped to tell us the ingredients that go into making the world famous Coca Cola. I couldn’t believe my luck. I had hit the jack pot. They started telling us the ingredients then told us there was a secret ingredient called, “ingredient X.” The legend has it that only two people hold the magic formula or ingredient to what goes into a bottle of Coca Cola. They can’t travel together, they can’t work together, they can’t live near each other just in case something happened to both of them and the secret ingredients for Coca Cola were lost. They cannot share this information with anyone else. These two people are the only two people in the world who know all the ingredients that go into a bottle of Coca Cola.

So if you had to pick the ingredients that could go into your life what would they be? A pinch of kindness, a cup of loyalty a bowl of love? All sounds very nice, but is anyone really that perfect? There might be a teaspoon of jealously in there, maybe a sprinkle of anger maybe even a dash of hate. Unfortunately this is maybe the more realistic case for most people.

But as Christians we have our own secret ingredient in our lives. And you know what? Unlike the secret two people from Coca Cola, Christians can tell you. But not only you, we want to tell our friends, next door neighbours, classmates and EVERYBODY!

Are you ready for the secret ingredient in a Christians life?

It’s called Jesus Christ.

Having Jesus Christ in your life, helps to take away the teaspoon of jealously, the sprinkle of anger and the dash of hate. This can only be done by asking Jesus into your life and loving and trusting him.

Simple as that. No secret hidden ingredients. No complicated formulas or recipes to find Jesus Christ.

Just love and trust him.

Simple…

Matthew 22:37,” Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’”

Tim Hughes has a Story…

Hey guys just a wee taste of Tim Hughes, he is a very talented guy.

Enjoy.

Every Story needs a Setting…

The big sporting announcement of the year has been made; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will host the Olympic Games in 2016. When the decision was made the world famous Copacabana Beach in Rio, filled with thousands of people immediately erupted into a huge party such was the huge significance of the decision. This will be the first time the biggest sporting event in the world, The Olympic Games will be held in South America.

So maybe your thinking where is Brazil? I have never heard of it before? Well Brazil is the 5^th Biggest Country in the world, it has the tenth strongest economy in the world and it is also home to the biggest rainforest and one of the biggest rivers in the world, The Amazon Jungle and The Amazon River. Pretty amazing country!!!

Previous Olympic Games have been held in many major cities around the world, for example the Sydney Olympics in 2000 with its iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge, last years Olympics in Beijing had the famous ‘Birds nest’ Olympic stadium and even the first Olympics held in Athens, Greece had the famous landmark The Pantheon. All these major destination have one thing in common. An iconic landmark. Something that stands out from the crowd. Something so amazing that millions of people around the world will travel just to see it.

So again you may be thinking, does Brazil have an iconic landmark? The answer is yes. No it’s not the famous golden sand beach, The Copacabana, or it’s not the biggest rainforest in the world, The Amazon. The famous world landmark in Rio is called O Cristo Redentor, or in English, The Christ the Redeemer Statue. This statue is 130ft tall, weighs 635 tons and stands on the peak of the (2,300 ft) Corcovado mountain over looking the city of Rio. Pretty spectacular!!!

This statue, of Jesus Christ is going to be the centre point for the Brazil Olympics 2016. This statue will be the focal point of the Brazil 2016 story.

Are you willing to make Jesus Christ the centre point of your story?

Just like The Olympics taking place all over the world, Jesus love spreads from the top of the tallest mountain to the bottom of the ocean, to the ends of the earth. He is everything. Most importantly he died for you, for me, for everyone and even more amazing he wants to meet you. To be your friend, to be your fall guy. He wants a relationship with you.

Amazing.

You think the Olympic Games are special?

Try Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 13:14 “The amazing grace of the Master, Jesus Christ, the extravagant love of God, the intimate friendship of the Holy Spirit, be with all of you.”