Entering the New Frontier.....

Wow so I'm a blogger, always wondered what a blogger looked like, thought like and wrote like.

For me there's something incredibly challenging in writing about your thoughts and actions in a way which doesn't seem irrelevant, obnoxious or rude to the few who may or may not read these words. I was never big into the diary thing, writing down all my nuances and strange thoughts, and it was only after my gap year (I was 21 at the time) that the concept of self reflection came onto the radar. So the idea of reflecting in words in a public open way, in which people have the ability to comment on my less than eloquent thoughts, is frankly less appealing than eating the barbecued hot dog that fell on the ant ridden patio on Sunday afternoon (for the record I didn't eat it, nor did I quietly whistle and place the said hot dog back on the barbecue).

So why on earth do it?

Simple, to dialogue.

To share and receive the riches of my life in Christ with those I care about, friends, family and the whole church with it's many crazy ways. To show that the mundane driving, driving, driving and more driving is in fact an exciting, risk filled, missional focussed existence that on the surface seems pointless and monotonous but inside is profoundly challenging and enriching. I reject wholeheartedly this understanding that Christ is only present in the worship service whilst wearing sunday best or the mountain high, 'spiritually laid out on the floor', time. But know that he is present in the times of washing the dishes, driving for another hour and playing with my son Malachi. This is the heartbeat of Romans 12, not that every moment of our life needs to be spirtually intense but that the Spirit is present and enriching our seemingly fleeting and plodding along lives.

It is a joy to work for the church and build up the local expressions found in Anglia. The challenge is that this joy remains, that this fire does not dwindle into embers amongst the wind, downpours and times of solitude as a DYO. That is where the Spirit for the mundane, who points out the glorious riches of God to me whilst doing that same journey for the 20th time, has become so important to me. To show that the fruits of the spirit; love, joy and peace, are not destined only for the spirtual elite, who have their houses in order and have this constant never failing feeling that they have a higher purpose (as opposed to the 'what on earth is going on' feeling that is often evident in the Blair household). But these fruits; love joy and peace, are evident in those who cry out to Abba in the challenge that is life, seeking simply to dwell with Christ whenever they remember.

So here you will find whats going on in the life of this learner DYO and disciple, whether exciting or most likely not. Here you will find the ways Christ is living in the nappy changing, book reading, glee watching (yep gleek I am) life that is his, not mine. Here you will read about the journey, not were I'm going or have been, because the journey is the place of transformation. Here you will read about the entering of a new frontier with trepidation and unrivalled anticipation.... Post #1 completed, journey underway...