The Plot Thickens...

I've been meaning to blog about a very exciting development in my new life in Reading...



That's right - I've got an allotment! It's 125 square metres, and I'm very excited about it. But why on earth would I want an allotment?

Working for UCCF, I say "Live for Jesus, Speak for Jesus" a lot. (I think some of my students think there's some kind of prize or commission for saying it). But I don't just say it because it's my job. It's how I want to be living my life.

So in a roundabout way, that's why I decided to get an allotment...

The fact I even have it is a bit of a miracle in itself - there should have been an 18 month waiting list, but for various reasons I got one in just over 2! And the cost is ridiculous. The rent works out at about 20p per square metre per year. Quality.

But what does it have to do with living and speaking for Jesus? I'm hoping and praying the allotment will be a way for me to share my life with people. Hopefully I'll be able to rope Christians in to help me and share my life with them. But more importantly I want to be sharing my life with the other people who have allotments. Plus, I don't really know how to grow vegetables, so I'll need all the help from my neighbours I can get... And as I get to know my fellow allotment holders, I'm praying I'll have an opportunity to tell them about Jesus.

To be honest, there's not much to do for a while. The council are going to rotivate it (whatever that means), and then I'll need to keep the weeds off until I can plant things (although apparently I can plant Rhubarb in December. I'm planning to mainly grow potatoes this year, because apparently they're good for the soil. But after that, who knows. In the meantime, I was delighted to find there's a compost heap in my back yard. So I spent some time on Sunday afternoon filling it with leaves.

If praying is your thing, I'd appreciate your prayers for the allotment as I get stuck in, both with the gardening and with the people at Scours Lane.

The next job is applying for permission to build a shed...

Fresher Refresher

I had a great day in Guildford yesterday with CUs and UCCF from the South East. We were thinking about preparing for next term and planning for the year ahead. It was great to meet some of the students and other cool people I'll be working with next year. I went to a seminar by my friends Michael Ots about Freshers' week, which got me really excited. Freshers' week is such a brilliant opportunity to meet students and give them an opportunity to hear the gospel explained. And (I realised during the seminar), I can speak from personal experience - I became a Christian at the end of Freshers' week at the University of Bristol. And as Michael suggested lots of good things to do during freshers' week, I realised that the CU in Bristol did quite a few of them, and they were really important in me coming to faith.

I arrived at Bristol having been to a church when I was younger (my Grandma saw to that), and basically thinking I was a Christian, but I fully intended that it wouldn't make much difference at Uni. When I finally arrived, I found the whole experience pretty overwhelming. As I started meeting loads of people, a few of them stood out - the Christians who were living in Halls. They seemed interested in talking to me, not so they could categorise me, but because they wanted to get to know me. So when they invited me to things I said yes.

There were three really significant events that week. First was just a social meeting we had in Halls, where I started to meet Christians, and I started to see the differences between them and other people I'd met and, more importantly, between them and me. Their faith affected them in a way I hadn't really seen before - it made a difference to their lives.

Then I went to BBQ organised by the CU, opposite the Union. While I was sitting on the grass with my (free) burger, a guy came over to me and asked me to answer a questionnaire. I agreed, and the first question was, "do you believe you're going to heaven when you die?" I said, "I hope so." He said that if I was a Christian I should know I'd be going to heaven. To be honest, I was pretty angry, but what he said nagged me.

Then on the Friday night, I went to the first CU meeting of term. I remember it being huge, I remember the enthusiasm I saw (which freaked me out a little bit if I'm still being honest), and I remember some scary older students coming to talk to me, which was a bit of a shock. And I remember that the gospel, the awesome news about Jesus, was explained.

The questionnaire made me realise I wasn't a Christian. The other stuff made me realise that being a Christian is a lot more than I thought it was, and that I wanted to be one. So, on Saturday night I prayed, "OK, God. I realise I'm not a Christian, but I want to be one."

So now I'm massively excited that I'm going to be helping CUs, 7 years later, to do the same thing for the next lot of Freshers! The key thing I'll be telling them is: PREACH THE GOSPEL IN FRESHER'S WEEK!!! Or else.