I went to the morning service at my church, as is my habit when I can make it. I really like one of the guys who leads the service, he's an older man with a smile that makes others smile and a spirit which you can see shine God's light from a mile away. I always love it when he's leading as you feel at peace as soon as he steps onto the stage. This morning however things didn't go as planned. The first song was missing the first and second verses which made it really hard to sing, so the guy had to read them out instead. The second song was filled with badly timed changes on the power points. The chorus flashed on in the middle of a verse and the verse was on halfway through the chorus. Then the third song was missing all the words to the song , so no one could sing that one either. The fourth song was plagued with the main singers chiming in at the wrong times, or with the wrong verses.
Before the last song I was sitting in my seat and I felt this overwhelming desire to sing this song, which has the chorus - "I choose to be holy, set apart for you Lord..." I was praying for it and day dreaming about how I wasn’t holy and that I would really like that song to be played to remind me that being holy is a choice as much as it is a gift. God loves to bless, and he did today as the all too familiar tune began playing and I found myself standing up and singing the exact song I had been praying for! I was overwhelmed with feelings of gratitude for my God; when all of a sudden the song ends after the first chorus. I stood there after everyone else had sat down and I thought... Thanks God, today you taught me that it doesn’t take music to worship you. Being holy is not about singing cool songs, but about listening to you and doing what you ask me to do. Funny how it's through trials that we draw closer to God. I just hope the rest of the congregation saw the morning as a trial to be overcome and not just an irritating problem which was an excuse, not have to worship God. It would be easier if He could just gift us with the knowledge, but then where would the fun be in that?
I had a drama day yesterday. I started at about 8:30am and I got stuck into the physical theatre performance for Black Stump. It was great to get back into acting and such a relief to know that I can still direct and plot movements (I’m not going to say choreograph cos I'm not a dancer). Before yesterday, I wasn't too excited about the idea of performing at Black Stump, but now that I'm actually up and doing it, I feel really excited! I love physical theatre; it's so different from your classical acting styles. In the afternoon to evening I taught back to back classes on clowning at my church. We worked on finding the clown within, which involved a lot of mirrors and pulling of faces. How fun is being a clown!? I love being crazy and stupid and the best part is, it's for God.
I thought I might rebel last night and stay up as late as I want because I didn't have to work till Thursday afternoon. I used to do it all the time at uni, but these days work has made it so that I've become an old grandpa who goes to bed at 9:30. I had forgotten how quiet and peaceful the world is at night. It feels like you're the only one awake and that the world has been stilled just for you. You breathe in the tranquility of the night and fill your lungs with God's peace. I went to bed in the best mood, tired because I'm not used to seeing the AM part of the clock when I fall asleep, but blissfully at peace. It was early the next morning that I got a call to tell me that I had to come into work and do an emergency shift. Do Christians believe in Yin and Yang? Or is God just having a good old chuckle to himself? I like to think it's the latter rather than the former... Thanks God, I get it, you're a funny man!
It's strange when you come home from Neverland. You start work, buy your groceries and feed the cat, but something is different. You're not quite sure what, but the things you once did, don't feel normal anymore; the routine is the same, it's just that you're not. Somehow the world of the future looks more solid than the world of the past; like an opposite memory, a full-colour prophesy of what is to come. And now I step back into what has already been and realise that I have changed, I'm not the same anymore. It's not quite depressing or bleak, as there was joy before Neverland. It's more like some surreal movie that you've seen a hundred times, but it still finds ways of making you think.
That was my attempt at playing the misunderstood artist caught in a post-modern world which doesn't understand. It's also oddly enough kind of how I feel right now... whatever that may be.
Today is a funny, abstract day.
Well I'm back from Sydney! I think I'm really gonna like living there later this year. I should talk about how I think Sydney has great opportunities to train in drama and that I feel that the universities have a lot of potential for a guy like me. But I'd rather talk about all the fun, crazy, interesting and friendly people I met whilst I adventured around. How good is St Stevens? I've never been to a church where people actually come up to you before a service and ask about who you are and what you're doing there. I know that many of the people had a reason to chat, but quite a few who didn't know who I was in relation to Helen, came up and greeted me with a friendly handshake and a warm welcome. I don't think I've ever been introduced to so many people in such a short space of time before. It was especially fun to meet many of the people who blog, some of whom I had never seen face to face and only read their entries. I'd like to thank David for the gift of Chai tea on Sunday night. How did he know that I like Chai that much? Must have been a God thing I reckon. Thanks also to Tom for showing me around and eating YoGo with me; I've developed a healthy respect for that tasty little number. I also had the best and craziest birthday ever in my entire life, I feel so blessed! I can't wait to move down and begin my new journey. Thanks everyone for being so nice!
Thanks Helen!!!
I'm going to Sydney tomorrow! I'm off on another fun adventure to the land of arched bridges and funny shaped buildings where people sing opera. What crazy adventures await me in this strange and exotic land? Tune in next week for the next exciting episode of... "Jon in Sydney". (This blog is classified G. Jon recommends viewing by immature readers; it may contain tea party scenes, drug avoidance and clothed nudity.)
I feel like I’m riding in some wacky emotional rollercoaster. I'm really tall so I don't fit into rollercoasters, my knees are usually stuck under the bum of the person in front of me. So I guess if I'm using a rollercoaster as an emotional analogy, I'd have to say I don't fit into it either.
I feel really blessed that I have such supportive people in my life that can take my mind off the discomfort and focus more on just enjoying the ride.
I love it when you’re counting downs the days to something and it turns out you've miscalculated and there are quite a lot less then you previously thought. It feels like God just pressed the fast forward button to the "TV screen of life" and suddenly the add breaks over and the cool movie is about to begin.
I've been ringing schools all day today to tell them about an Arts program that I'm running. I got to the point where I had a really good spiel which I used for every school which made me feel like I was selling used cars or that I was some telly-marketing guy, who wants to know if you think you needs a new (enter crappy item here). It seemed to work due to what I think is a conditioned human response, where if someone is monologuing to you on the phone, humans can't help but listen and say 'yes' in an encouraging way. So the spiel is all going well until the person on the other end interrupts me with some question which isn't in my monologue and suddenly my lovely performance degenerates into lots of umms and ahhs as I try to improvise on the spot. Instead of being a great Shakespearian actor and taking it all in my stride, I ended up looking more like a preschool kid who'd been busted eating clag glue. I used to think I was good at impro; now I think maybe I need to start practicing again. What's the old saying? Dancers' train and actors' drink coffee? Hmm... I think I need a coffee.
I bought new shoes and I found out that they come in pairs which are a shame. There’s no spare one like when you buy a coat and it has an extra button. You'd think they might add one just in case you lose one. I think that not having an extra shoe in the box is really what's wrong with society. I mean if you look at how tense everybody is over the terrorism going on all over the globe, you would think that the government would try to alleviate some of the stresses in people’s lives. Why not start by giving people an extra shoe? Perhaps I'm being too greedy by asking for another shoe, but I pay taxes don't I? Surely the least they could do is accommodate for my silly whims. I guess I'm asking too much, after all which shoe would you put in, a left or a right?
I like being busy... most of the time. It seems like I haven't stopped for the last few days, work keep springing new clients on me at the last minute and I keep saying yes. There was some joy that came out of it though, I got a new client yesterday who is 11 years old. All I have to do with him is take him to the movies and play computer games with him. How fun is that?
Can't wait till I'm down in Sydney for my birthday in nine days time. I'm counting down the days, which is probably a bad thing as time seems to slow when you're counting it. Maybe I should try not play the waiting game... aww I can't do it! Nine days to go till I can see Helen again!