Cooke'd

Wow! We just had an incredible conference at Glasgow Elim. It was called Seasoned in the Prophetic and we had an amazing speaker by the name of Graham Cooke.

All through the conference I felt an excitement stirring within me. It's hard to pinpoint exactly but it was a very real, physical manifestation of the power of God on me, almost like something inside my chest would explode. It only seemed to diminish in intensity between sessions when I'd go out and get something to eat, talk to friends and that sort of thing. The whole time I was sitting in the conference God was just ON me. It was pretty intense. It didn't seem to be in response to what he was saying although there were key moments when it definitely got more intense as though God was underlining something that had just been said.

The conference was really about the character of God, though, and how we should respond to things that happen to us, what we should ask God. Rather than saying "Why is this happening to me?" we should be asking "What are you teaching me here?" and "What do you want me to do here?" We tend to respond wrongly by saying things like "I'm a Christian! Get me out of this!" when God's saying "You just don't get it, do you?"

Another really cool thing was about God seeing us present-future but we get caught up in our past and see ourselves past-present. We don't think we can do the things he's called us to because of our past whereas he sees us in the future and we're much better looking than we are now! If you have a prophetic word about your future and you don't see how it could happen, remember that God wants to change you into the person that can do these things. The time from prophecy received to prophecy fulfilled is a time of transformation when God changes our very personality!

Finally, I thought it was so cool that God wants to BE our strength in our areas of weakness. We somehow think we need to get rid of our weaknesses but in 2 Cor 12:10, Paul suggest otherwise. God actually wants to take over and make up for the lack in those moments when our weaknesses are challenged. We need to let him take over when we are in an area of weakness.

It's funny because when I heard Heidi Baker for the first time in 2002, I declared after that I'd been "Baked". Now after Graham Cooke, I've been "Cooke'd". It seems that God has a culinary theme regarding his dealings with me. It'll be interesting to see how he turn's the Todd Bentley conference I'm going to next month into a food theme!

Fun at Loch Lomond

Last night I had a very interesting camping experience with Alan and Collin Gibson. We set out to spend the night in a cave beside Loch Lomond but we left a bit late in the day which made things a bit more complicated. By the time we got to the nearest car park, it was 8 o'clock in the evening and completely dark. It was an overcast night as well so there was very little light. Only the two head-mounted torches that Alan and Collin had brought with them provided any illumination. I watched my step by following their lights along the path.

As time went past, we became a bit uncertain of the path and after a few scouting explorations here and there, we decided to sleep on the beach instead. Now, this posed a small problem as we didn't have any tents. Undaunted, however, Alan managed to create a shelter he called "a bendy" which consists of a small sapling bent over and tied to a secure spot on the ground (a convenient root that protruded above the surface) allowing us a framework to add other coverings to.

We made a fire and settled down for the night enjoying foods ranging from Scottish Cheddar to an obscure Russian beer from the Baltic somewhere. We were having a good laugh and enjoying the whole camping/bivvying experience and decided to turn in for the night just after midnight.

I started off just using my sleeping bag as a pillow because I felt fine in my clothes, not too cold at all. After nodding off for a while like this, I woke up feeling cold and decided to jump into the sleeping bag. No sooner had I done this than the heavens opened and it rained. It got heavier and it got lighter and that cycle pretty much kept repeating ALL NIGHT. Sadly the shelter we had constructed didn't really cover us overhead and, consequently we got seriously rained on. I remember a few distinct landmarks in the night's events:

* The "I'm getting rained on" phase
* The "Now my legs are wet" phase
* The "Oh, my socks are wet too, now" phase
* The "I can't stop shivering" phase
* The "Isn't it morning yet?" phase

Finally at around half past 6, Alan had had enough and we all packed up and left. It was still dark. I still saw no sign of daylight. It was only when we reached the car that it started getting light and the rain stopped too!

Since we were completely drookit, we decided to remove our trousers to minimise the soaking of the seats in the car. I was relieved to also discover that my phone had survived the night in my rucksack, under the in-built rain cover which I had deployed when packing everything up the night before.

As if this wasn't enough drama for one night, we discovered just after driving onto the road that the car had a flat tyre. "One for all and all for one," I said and in no time we had three drowned rats in the boxers changing the wheel of a car at 6:30 in the morning. We must have been a sight.

I finally made it home and put my stuff in the wash along with my week's laundry. I had a much needed shower and then discovered on taking my clothes out of the machine that I had left a Tracker bar (kind of granola cereal bar) in the pocket of my trousers. There were bits of peanut, toffee etc. stuck to ALL of the things that were in the washing machine.

Oh well, it seems I'm not quite as Wild at Heart as I thought I was because most of the night I was wishing it was all over. We did laugh about it, though, which is always good. You need to see the funny side of these adventures.

First Small Group Meeting

Today was a special day. I finally got over my fear and led a small group meeting. Simon (my pastor) had asked me to lead some guys in the church who were keen to get a guys' small group up and running. In the past I had always felt weary about the notion of becoming a cell leader in TACF. I don't know if it was the notion of coming up with a teaching or the fact that I was wiped from work that put me off. I just didn't feel like it.

This time it's different, though. When Simon was talking to me about it I started to feel genuine interest for the guys and a motivation to help them and pass on what I'd learned. This hasn't always been the case!

Tonight we met for the first time and I talked a bit about my experience at the School of Ministry and how walking in the light had dealt with some of my ungodly beliefs about myself. We had a soaking time as well. Levi (my lappy) was on hand to provide the soaking music. Having a laptop's so useful!

SoM Reunion

I went to the SoM Reunion in England this weekend which was really cool. I drove down with Alan Gibson in his car. We shared the driving and got there WAY too early. It started at 6:30pm but we were there at half one. Oh well, not to worry.

It was cool catching up with people I knew and meeting new people who had been to TACF. It's funny how you quickly connect with people through the common experience. Maybe the fact that we've all gone through a bit of inner healing probably helped, too. People were surprised that we drove from Scotland, though. I think in the UK we don't really expect to drive too much. Whether it's the price of petrol or just the fear of putting miles on the clock, there's something that's putting people off.

Anway, the reunion - we had a lot of worship and some social time as well. We prophecied over each other, prayed for healing, had a laugh. All the good stuff really. I don't know when the next one will be but I think I'll probably go again.

Levi

I'm excited to announce the safe arrival of LEVI! No, I haven't secretly been fathering children in my spare time, Levi is my wonderful new laptop computer system! He's weighing in at 2.38 kg he is a bit on the light side but he's perfectly healthy. He's a Samsung X20 HVM 740 or just an X20 for short. I've been busy running Windows Update and downloading all sorts of things to get him ready for work. I'm still waiting for the copy of Visual Studio that I bought from a guy in The States. I expect it to arrive this week.

I also bought a nice wee bag for Levi today so now I can take him with me. (which is really the idea with a laptop.)

The latest from an over-clocked brain

I noticed tonight when talking to a friend on the phone that my brain has been racing at a hundred miles an hour recently. It's a bit concerning. I mean, seriously, I've never done speed but if it does what the name implies, I think I've had a similar experience. I was confused about this because I've not been drinking any coffee lately. It then crossed my mind that tea actually has more caffiene than the former and I've certainly been drinking my fair share of that. Could it be that my lack of caffiene intake prior to returning home has resulted in my having a lower tolerance? I think it's probably what's going on.

Getting organised in Glasgow

Well, it's been a crazy few weeks but I think I'm finally making progress getting settled in Glasgow again. It was a bit of a strange adjustment to begin with. I had forgotten the PIN number for my debit card and the phone number for my mobile was one that I hadn't used in ages either. I was also staying with friends and I couldn't remember their address or post code so really, when all was said and done, I didn't know a great deal.

I've signed a lease and got the keys for my new flat in the south side of Glasgow. I'm quite excited about that. Now I can start updating my address information with everything to my new place. I'm trying to get power, phone, internet and furniture sorted out though. My new laptop should arrive tomorrow and my software will be here soon enough.

My new place is quite close to a park. I'm pretty excited about that. I've been meeting up with a few friends from church to go jogging once a week at the unlikely hour of 7am. Amazingly, I've been able to get there on time and actually do a reasonable work out. I think I'll aim to jog every day because working from home doesn't give you much reason to leave the house.

The weather's been pretty sunny but the last couple of days it's got cloudier and more like the Scotland that I remember.