Fleetwood Mac.

Well. I can't say that I didn't enjoy it because I did. If nothing else it was great for comedy value. I could have just watched Mick Fleetwood pulling funny faces all night while playing the drums, that was entertainment enough!

The sound was awful! I don't know what was going on with the sound crew, maybe they were all wacked out on something because it sounded like you were listening to an old Mac record played through a tin speaker. When you had both Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham singing and some guitar it was really just noise. The high end frequencies were very likely ripping everyone's ear drums up, it was shocking! Considering the band and the venue, I really expected a better sound.

Still, it was a laugh watching Lindsey playing 5 minute guitar solos, smacking his guitar (he even let the crowd have a bash) and throwing 2/3 guitars on the floor. Mick Fleetwood did a very looooong drum solo too, he even had electronic drums in his waistcoat......g-reeeat! "Come-on baby!!", "Are ya with me?!" etc..

At the end Stevie thanked everyone for coming by saying 'Thank you for making tonight so special, you could have gone anywhere tonight but you came here to see us'. My ears wondered why I'd spent over £30 to degrade my hearing...and the lights!! Good grief! We were neally blinded a number times..it was just one huge all out assault on your senses.

Saying all that, it was amusing and once you got used to the crap sound, some of the songs were great. Micks face was very entertaining.

Not sure I'd ever go again. I'll leave you with Mick Fleetwood's closing comments..

"We just want to leave two things with you tonight, first of all - Take care of yourself, that's the first thing, and secondly, in a crazy world such as this - take care of each other. Goodnight and Godbless'

Niiiiiiiiice.

Happy Thanksgiving if you're American. If you're not then why not spend today giving thanks to God for all you have, I'm sure we never do enough of that!

German Christmas Market in Birmingham























So, the German market was cool. I ate a honey crepe, we drank some hot mulled wine (which was mingin at first, but it got better), Nat ate a German burger, potatoes and a gurkin! Though they called it a cucumber, poor misguided folks. Still, I like Germans, Germans are cool! German hair is great! and it was all very christmasy type thing.

We're going to see Fleetwood Mac tonight. The thing is, I've never really listened to any Fleetwood Mac. So you could question why I'm going. However, maybe seeing Fleetwood Mac live is the best way to get clued up on a band...heh? It will be a groovy evening anyway.....groovy I tell you! I'll just buy a T-Shirt on the way in and pretend I know all about F.M and mouth along to all the songs...yeah, that's it. Bring it on Mick Fleetwood!! They are a drum and bass band arn't they?

I need to not keep looking at the future all the time, I do it too much. I know you have to think about the future a little and plan stuff sometimes, but I think about it too much, especially when there's uncertanty and stuff. The thing is if you do that, then you don't enjoy NOW as much as you could, and I want to enjoy now. But all that stuff is easier said that done and sometimes it's just a little difficult for a while. If only life was a bed of roses!! Which always strikes me as a very odd metaphore...I mean, roses are fine and all, but what about the thorns and stuff? wouldn't they cut you and make you bleed? Doesn't the rose colour rub off on your new clothes and stain? Wouldn't a bed with some nice Marks and Spencers sheets be a lot more comfortable? What the hell?! What's wrong with the people that make this crap up?!?!

It's a funny old game......Le Cross. No?

Anyway, I have a VERY good life and have no right to complain about anything! Which doesn't seem to stop me at all... (ho ho)...Sorry God I'll try and be more thankful in future :)

Man, at least I found this website, which is either pretty funny, or scary, or both.....check it.

I need some sweeties. Leave a comment and tell me something amazing and/or exciting!!

I'm going through my Pink Floyd phase again. Every bloke should. It's not music for girls.........well, it's not. it's like Dire Straits or Genesis when they were really weird, Spinal Tap or any progressive rock...it's just not girl's tunes is it? heh?

Anywho..girls and boys alike may well like Daniel Beddingfield. So you should! We went to see him Friday night at the Acadamy in Birmingham and he was fantastic. Jesus was totally at the center of the whole gig, he was praying on stage and really open about why he was doing what he's doing, it was really cool. Nice one Dan.

Anyway, back to work, with some prog in my ear. Laters.

How weird.

Man, it seems like an eternity since I last blogged. Actually it seems like three days and that's because it is. No time dilation going on here my friends.

Using the word 'Man' before or after a sentence is very eighties, wouldn't you agree? I like the eighties, so that's alright with me.

Dave has a new look. I miss Dave. One time Dave and I spent a good 5/10 minutes in my room just whacking random objects off my desk. We found this to be hilarious. Another time, we were preparing a youth talk and I randomly came out with the immortal words 'Bring it on to the highest level' in a rather high pitched singing voice. We also found this to be very amusing. Another time Dave and I spent a good evening making up (though I'm not saying it's not real) the A S S M O N K E Y. We laughed so much we almost died. Sometimes people say that in a metaphorical sense just to emphasize how much they laughed. This was not the case that night, we actually almost died of laughter.

There were many more instances such as this and during the time Dave was dwelling in the promised land I made a very good friend. A friend for life, even if we don't see each other that often right now. Pray for Dave because He's doing what God wants him to, so it wont always be very easy.

In other news....

I have strong desires to build robots and program computers to be intelligent. (Like, I want to build my own terminator but rather than use it for bad bad things, I would use it for good deeds, like cutting old peoples grass and carrying out the trash. It would still look pretty hardcore though.)

Natalie and I are about to have such an amazing week. Friday is the Daniel Beddingfield concert, next Wednesday is Fleetwood Mac, then Thursday we're off to pamper ourselves, Friday we're going to London (Baby!) for three days to see the Lion King and shop and stuff. Coolio.

I eat so much chicken.

Natalie is now enjoying her new job, which is great! She's still sorting out stuff for next year, so pray about that if that's something you do. Thanks.

It's neally Christmas! You can buy me anything you like, or send cash. Thanks.

Ok, that'll do for now. Laters. Man.

My blogrolling links seem to have gone quite mad. That's just wonderful. Anyone else having problems with that?!

"LORD, YOU HAVE BEEN OUR HOME SINCE THE BEGINNING." PSALM 90:1

This was today's reading in Word for Today.

It's so true, our God is our home. I find that I forget this all the time especially when I'm focusing on other things. It's something that I can't afford to forget. I need to keep reminding myself that wherever I am, whatever I'm doing I can be in the presence of my Father, in His house, my home.

You know that feeling where you feel a bit out of place, ungrounded even insecure and you're desperately trying to find something to hold on to? We all need some security, some things in our lives that don't change, things that are strong, dependable, immovable, faithful and trustworthy. God is all these things.

You can always go home. You can go to a place where no matter what's going on in your life you can feel secure and safe and contented. If Jesus is your savior then you can be in that place constantly, it's actually part of your inheritance.

We miss out on so many of God's promises and blessings. We're too busy worrying, trying to hold onto everything, which is impossible anyway. Our Father has the whole world in His hands. More importantly, He has your world firmly in His grip. He's knows where everything is, He knows where you are and He has plans to bring you good, plans to bring you closer to Him.

I'm shouting this at myself because sometimes I think I must be profoundly deaf or something..

TRUST IN GOD, PUT YOUR FAITH AND FUTURE IN YOUR FATHERS HANDS. YOU ARE COMPLETELY SAFE IN HIM.

You set me apart
Gave me a new heart
Filled with compassion
To share Your great love

Show me Your ways
I want to know You
Guide me in truth
My hope is in You

That I may dwell in Your house forever
Lifting up Your name
Dwell in Your house forever more

I'll hold on to You,
My strength and my refuge.
Whom shall I fear?
I know You are near

All of my days
I live for You, Lord
Establish my path
There's one thing I ask
That I may dwell in Your house forever
Lifting up Your name
Dwell in Your house forever more

That I may dwell in Your house forever
Lifting up Your name
Dwell in Your house forever more

Holy Spirit, have Your way
Sweet anointing teach our hearts
Our lives, we pray

That I may dwell in Your house forever
Lifting up Your name
Dwell in Your house forever more

Artist: Australia Hillsongs Song Title: Dwell In Your House

Ok, I'm back to the old design again. Redesigning is always a tricky business, especially when I like my current design. I just want something different. I'll think of something.

Nando's was peri peri good! Mmmm...spicy chicken...

Natalie had a good day at her new job yesterday apart that she had to endure sitting next to a girl who had a foul mouth and was also incredibly rude. So today I'm praying that girl will be struck dumb. I'll let you know how that turns out.

It was so great when Monica and Chandler got together.

My head is experiencing a malfunction, I'll post later when it's been rebooted with coffee.

Tonight, me and my girl are going to go shopping at the Bullring. We will also eat, we may eat Nandos, that's chicken my friends...Damn good chicken, Peri peri good! We may also catch a movie.

Sounds pretty groovy to me.

Design change, not quite finished yet so excuse me if things are a little funky.

Now, go and spend a little time with Jesus.

test

I will seek your face
For you have rescued me
I will run to you
You are Jesus my King

This is my desire
To worship you
To magnify your name
In all the earth
This is my desire
To life you high
Jesus my king
Almighty one

I will bring my heart
Lay it out before you
Washed of sin and shame
Covered by your blood

This is my desire
To worship you
To magnify your name
In all the earth
This is my desire
To life you high
Jesus my king
Almighty one

When I look into your face
I see no blame or condemnation
I see love that took you to the cross
I see my savior and my king

This is my desire
To worship you
To magnify your name
In all the earth
This is my desire
To life you high
Jesus my king
Almighty one
copyright © James Timbrell 2003

Did I mention just how poor Matrix Revolutions is? I can hardly believe it...

Matrix Revolutions was a poor ending to an otherwise brilliant trilogy. Very disappointing. Maybe more about this later.

Still, Nat and I still had a fantastic time last night!! Thanks baby xxx We just have to remember to run from the wheat! Run! I tell you!!

My God is an amazing councilor, right now I believe He is showing me all kinds of things about myself and it's both an exciting and painful experience.

There are things happening in my life which seem very difficult for me to deal with at the moment. I don't know why they're so hard to deal with because potentially they are very exciting, even though scary, and I know that with God these situations offer extraordinary potential for my growth and will bring me closer to Him and those I love.

For example, Natalie has a desire to take 3/4 months out and live in America as an Au Pair next year. I've found this difficult to deal with as I obviously don't want to be without my girl for anywhere near that amount of time. However I know that if this is of God then He's going to use that time (and indeed the time leading up to her going away) to bring us both closer to Him and to grow us into the people that He wants us to be. He's going to strengthen our relationship with Him and with each other. I'm totally behind Nat if this is what she feels she wants to do, I'll miss her while she's away but I might just cope if she promises to bring me back some twinkies. :)

I think I got stressed out a while ago and that stress never really went away, it just sat there simmering, bubbling away and maybe even growing. I believe that God is working in my life to heal me of all this stuff and bring me to where I should be in Him. It's not a comfortable time. All this has made me question if I'm really doing the things in my life that God wants me to be doing. It's made me question if the things I'm doing are things that I actually have a passion for and are things that I'm really excited about.

I feel like God needs to give me a new vision and a fresh desire. I know that some of us sit there waiting for God to drop His plan for us in our laps, when really He wants us to just get involved in something and He'll use whatever we develop a passion for. Well I need to develop a passion, I need to get some fresh vision. I know that only God can plant these things in my life, but I have to give Him a hand by being open to what He has to show me.

Well that's as far as I've got. Today I feel pretty positive about everything which is a big improvement on the past couple of days. Jesus never promised an easy life. It isn't always about being happy, it's about getting to know Jesus and letting go of each part of your life and surrendering it to Him. I actually just struggled to write that sentence, which kind of proves my point. Still, I wrote it no?

I love my family, they are amazing! I couldn't have ever hoped for better parents and a cooler bro. My mother prayed with me this morning...i hope I never take that for granted. I love Natalie to bits!! and I thank God for bringing her into my life. God's working out a lot of stuff in us both and that's so cool! I love my friends (I have some amazing friends..THANKYOU!) and the Christian family God has placed me in, and I love Jesus. I want to love Him more.

So it's all a bit CRAZY at the moment, but God is working out His plans. You never stick so close to God as you do when He's hacking away at you :)

Ok, other bits of information:

Gordon, our fish, has gone to be with the fish lord in the pond in the sky. We celebrate his life. May he swim in peace. We still have a hamster to destroy.

Tonight, my baby and I, will be viewing Matrix Revolutions! Oh, just bring it on!!

I need a shave.

And....That's it! Thanks for reading my carefully spell checked inner dialogue.

I tired to change my blog design today, but what I came up with was more crap that what I have now. I changed it back quickly, I thought it was for the best.

And now I must go pee.

I'm sorry for not updating this thing much lately. I want to write inspiring stuff, and I'm sure I will, but right now I can't get my act together. If you have anything encouraging and inspiring to say that would be really cool! Just leave a comment or send me an email.

Later goobers.

I am also having issues. If you've sent me email and I haven't replied, resend with prayer.

My email is having issues. If you sent me email and I haven't replied, resend it to james@oakham.org.