R & R

Well, I'm in sunny Ilfracombe (not really sunny though) and I've just come to the end of an exhausting Host Team. Its title was "Yerushalayim...the City of Peace" (not sure about my spelling there!). It was led by Adrian Snell and Rob Richards. Rob used to be the senior Chaplain of Lee Abbey and Adrian is an international singer-songwriter.

I worked with Adrian a little for one of our Easter Houseparties when I got to sing the part of Pilate in his musical "The Passion" (which was originally performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) earlier this year. Incidentally I'm adding lots of brackets as I can't assume that everyone is familiar enough with Lee Abbey to know what on earth I'm prattling on about.

Anyway, Adrian Snell is possibly one of the most gifted musicians I know. He has sacrificed many significant career opportunities in the secular world for the sake of following the path God has laid for him. He hasn't said this to me but I have spoken to a few people about it. I have a great deal of respect for this man and his music has both inspired and challenged me not only about music itself, but about the faith which it so eloquently portrays.

Rob is also gifted but in a completely different way. He's a wonderful scholar of original Hebrew and has shed new light on where Jews/Jerusalem actually fit in to the second coming. Fascinating since many misguided Christians fail to accept that they are still God's chosen people, arrogantly assuming that they themselves have superseded such a beautiful title. Yesterday morning was the final session and it was strange and scary that it was the same time the leader of Iran declared that "Israel must be wiped off the face of the planet". Good luck to him, Jerusalem has seen more conflict than any other city in its 3,000 year history and any and all world leaders who have tried to meddle with its affairs have fallen from power. Rob also pointed out that descriptions/prophecies in the Old Testament relating to the second coming bear striking similarities to that of death by chemical warfare. It was all rather scary. And then Adrian's music kicked in, so powerful, triumphant, reassuring, majestic and utterly immersed in the Holy Spirit. A strange calm, reassurance swept over my body and I realised that yes Jesus may well return before I die ... but what do I personally have to fear? I'm saved! This will be a joyful occasion!

So this in a nutshell was a very educational week for me albeit extremely stressful, busy and tiring. I wished I could have seen it from the guests' perspective without the pressure of making it all happen, though.

Kate Woolven (Host team leader this time round) was amazing! She's married to our Estate Manager and is also on the conference and pastoral teams. She's spent weeks in contact with Rob and Adrian trying to make their vision for the week into a reality. This included Lee Abbey's resident artist, Kate Gunstone, being commissioned to copy the Shema (the prayer that Jewish people wear on their forehead, on their wrist and sometimes by their doorframe). Also, Kate made a HUGE cross out of two vast pieces of brown paper and hung it down one of the large doorways of the Octagonal Lounge. Then she painted one of the vertical beams and one of the lateral beams (in other words, the bits that formed part of a door frame) with real lambs blood (applying it with Rosemary - the nearest we could get to hyssop). Whilst I'm sure it violated Health and Safety regs, it made quite a powerful statement - the Old Testament reference to the blood painted above the doors during The Passover, as well as the blood on the cross paid by Jesus, the ultimate Passover lamb. Added to all this, muslin was draped in four sections from the central chandelier to four of the outer pillars of the Octagonal Lounge to give the illusion of a Bedouin tent. Thus the preparations for a really atmospheric meeting place were complete. Indeed, on several evenings, the fire was lit, the lights dimmed, and a HUGE sunset projected onto one of the walls - we really DID feel like we were out in the wilderness!

Some of the services were the best I've ever seen at Lee Abbey - perhaps in my life - yet gluing it all together and finding/erecting these "prop", photocopying, serving drinks, giving notices, leading various things was also very stressful. So this really has been a two-pronged week. Informative and inspirational juxtaposed to utterly exhausting and draining. The spiritual opposition to this POWERFUL week was certainly potent, not to mention some of the worst gales/whether I've seen here.

Today I also had to go straight back to House Team (whereas normally folks would normally get the rest of the day off after waving goodbye to the guests) as we had a double Changeover at the main House and The Beacon, I had to be around to co-ordinate it and be an extra pair of hands! I've tried to put things on hold, prepare work and make any and all preparations necessary so that I can come away for this weekend and just CHILL before going back to LA on Sunday night.

I'm really REALLY looking forward to seeing my family in about two week’s time.

Sorry it's been a long one!

God Bless you all!

A Brief History of my life before L.A.

Well I guess at some point I should explain about Lee Abbey and what it is (For those that are interested, you can find out more at www.leeabbey.org.uk which is of course...our official website), but first I think I need to explain a little about my life before L.A.

I was bullied a heck of a lot at school regarding my sexual orientation (to the point of wanting to commit suicide), which in turn meant I did not want to be at school, much less revise for my GCSEs. Despite doing absolutely zero revision I still managed to get some Bs and Cs!!! I'd also been a pretty OKAY student (if one misses out MATHS urgh!!!) and in courses such as Tech Graphics, I always got A* in my coursework.

It's taken me many years to get over my "bitterness" about having my Academic future altered/changed or even taken away from me by mindless bullies, but it's clear that God had other plans for my life.

I left school and enrolled on a wretched "painting and decorating" course. The people I would be working with turned out to be SO racist, I feared what might happen to me if they found out about me. I quit after one day!

I somehow ended up enrolling for NVQ2 Hairdressing which to my amazement, I really enjoyed. I had two great years. The girls were awesome. It was like having a class full of sisters, mothers and best friends, all of whom looked after me.

After getting an AMAZING job (shortly before I was to complete my NVQ3) at Glitz Hair Design and spending 18 (or so) amazing months with great team there. it was becoming increasingly obvious that making people look amazing physically, was not what I was called to do. So I resigned - much to the sadness of virtually everyone in my life (but my sister-in-law Kathryn was very supportive throughout this decision).

I then took on a part-time job on a voluntary basis with Heartland Youth For Christ in Administration (not to mention becoming the charity's secretary). I had a great year with the Team and it was quite an exciting time - to witness this fledgling charity take shape. It was a necessary year of my life, albeit financially draining on my parents. God was beginning to work things out in me, and I was beginning to get more involved with True Freedom Trust (TfT) and other Christian events/charities.

It wasn't until I visited Martin Hallett (the Director of TfT) that the idea of working at "Lee Abbey" came to mind. I went to see Martin in February 2004 and as it turns out, he had just been guest speaker at Lee Abbey working alongside Elaine Storkey. It was certainly an unexpected suggestion from Martin, as up until that point, I had never even heard of the place. However I had (and still do have) a great deal of respect for him and so, with help of some close friends, paid a visit to the grounds of Lee Abbey before filling in my application form to become a summer worker. Little did I know that 16 months later, I'd still be here!

Hello all. With the help of my good friend Tim Wakeling (all rights reserved), I have established this "online space" which I hope to use to keep my friends and family in touch with my life.

I have found that after being here at Lee Abbey for 16 months, communication with outside world grows thin. It makes little sense to write and print 30+ newsletters (not to mention the cost of postage) when there is such a thing as the Internet.

I have succumbed therefore to the effect of this revolutionary technological era - yippee.

For those of you who have no idea why on earth this "blog" (short for "Web log" I'm reliably informed) is named "News From Nemesis", Nemesis is the name given to the Starship which features heavily in my novels.

I hope to keep you all updated as often as I can, but not so often that you hate me! :o)

With warmest Christian greetings at this rather chilly time of year.

Me