Teams

Our third 2 week team departs today which is an indicator as to how quickly the summer is passing by. All our two week teams have been excellent this year, actually they are every year, this is down to a great application set up and also working with people you have relationship with.

How could I describe the summer so far?????

Prayers have been prayed, we have stood, knelt or just sat and prayed with many people on the streets, we have taken prayer requests, we have held hands in prayer, we have have prayed in the prayer room, we have walked the streets and prayed, we have gone to watchtowers and prayed, we have prayed all over the place....  it's really all been about the prayer, prayer and more prayer.

We have given away bibles, lots of bibles, we even had someone seek us out for a new bible because some one had stolen his!!! We like the fact that people want bibles so much they steal them.

The centre has been as busy as ever with over 150 people using it every week, one day last week we had over 24 people in at the same time. It's a hub, a third space.

We have walked countless people back to their hotels and helped many others home in our van, the health centre continue to phone us for help. Bar owners, security staff and workers also call us to help messed up people. The police occasionally watch over us whilst we do this. 

Our summer long team of 12 people is truly superb, we meet eat and pray together regularly, they are a joy to have here and fun to hang out with.

Our sunday gathering continues to attract a mixed bag of visitors, some weeks we have 40 people others weeks we have 20!! thats ok, we have workers, locals, team members and tourists all popping along.

This brief résumé of our work doesn't really do it justice, there is other stuff happening that I just can't blog about, but it's good.

Religion

And an old priest said, 'Speak to us of Religion.'

And he said:

Have I spoken this day of aught else?

Is not religion all deeds and all reflection,

And that which is neither deed nor reflection, but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul, even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?

Who can separate his faith from his actions, or his belief from his occupations?

Who can spread his hours before him, saying, 'This for God and this for myself; This for my soul, and this other for my body?'

All your hours are wings that beat through space from self to self.

He who wears his morality but as his best garment were better naked.

The wind and the sun will tear no holes in his skin.

And he who defines his conduct by ethics imprisons his song-bird in a cage.

The freest song comes not through bars and wires.

And he to whom worshipping is a window, to open but also to shut, has not yet visited the house of his soul whose windows are from dawn to dawn.

Your daily life is your temple and your religion.

Whenever you enter into it take with you your all.

Take the plough and the forge and the mallet and the lute,

The things you have fashioned in necessity or for delight.

For in revery you cannot rise above your achievements nor fall lower than your failures.

And take with you all men:

For in adoration you cannot fly higher than their hopes nor humble yourself lower than their despair.

And if you would know God be not therefore a solver of riddles.

Rather look about you and you shall see Him playing with your children.

And look into space; you shall see Him walking in the cloud, outstretching His arms in the lightning and descending in rain.

You shall see Him smiling in flowers, then rising and waving His hands in trees.



A sufi poem from a classical lebanese poet - khalil gibran

Encouragement

It's really lovely when you get some encouraging message back from people you have helped. We don't do it for the praise but it is encouraging and spurs you on to keep doing what you are doing:


These are messages from a few people we have helped this summer:


"We had a messy few weeks last year and one night my friend had a few too many and fell and smashed his head open. While I was calling the ambulence my bag was robbed and it was a horrible night!! You took care of my friend who fell and gave him water and bandages and brought him home safe, thank you so much you also gave him a 24-7 lighter which he treasured! I have seen you care for others throughout the duration of my stay too, wow you do an amazing job keep it up xxxx"

"Hello 24-7! I’d like to thank all at 24-7, particularly a group of individuals who helped me out on the west end .I was massivly intoxicated as it was my holiday i thought hey! lets go nuts, unfortunatly before I knew it i was on the ground bleeding heavily from the hand. Members from 247 literally picked me up, strapped me up and walked my back to my hotel – Dread to think where i would be without them as i lost my friends that night! You only really appreciate what these people do when you need them most! Keep it up. Thanks again! x"

"Hi 24-7 Ibiza.  On the 30 June 2011 I got far to carried away on my first night out in Ibiza and got to a stage of drunkenness I never been before and don’t fancy again. This is what I remember, I wandered out of a club and from my mates and then was lying in a street being sick and falling asleep then two amazing people came from nowhere and started helping me say there hear to help next thing I’m in a car then wake up on my bathroom floor. I then found a message from Gillian & Neil letting me no they helped me home. Thank you so so much for what you done that night hate to think what could of happend. I would love to no what I was like that night and how you found were I was staying as I didt have a clue at the time. Thank for all you done and keep up the good work:)"

These messages give us courage to keep going.

Overdramatic.com

Thank you for all your encouraging messages, I think I may have used the wrong title for my story yesterday. In all honesty the situation I wrote about is pretty typical, these kind of things happen to us every week or so.

I was mainly freaked out by the age of the girl but this was after the situation had ended.

Life is not tough here, it is challenging. We are faced with challenging situations but we are so blessed. We are blessed by friends who support us, bar workers who encourage us on a regular basis and a God who never leaves us.

We aren't immune to the things we face, I guess when God calls you somewhere he gives grace for you to live it.

We were reading Corinthians 4 yesterday the words of  Paul often help me gain perspective these guys had it tough, tougher than we can ever imagine yet they were able to say:

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.  We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body.  So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you."


Amen, Hallelujah and Glory be.

I can't do this anymore

Last night we were out on the streets, I was walking around with Gillian who is here for the whole summer. We were having a lovely chilled time, chatting with workers, looking for people to pray with it felt good.

We then received a phone call from a bar in the West end asking us to come and help a girl there who was in some trouble. When we arrived it became evident that she needed an ambulance, I don't want to speculate but it looked like she had taken more than alcohol! I stepped out of the melee to call the ambulance, whilst I did this, Gillian held the girl.

There were 4 other unconnected girls who were also being extremely helpful they had been consoling the drunken/drugged girls sister. All of a sudden the sister flipped out and started making semi aggressive moves toward Gillian who was helping her sister. I was on the phone to the ambulance. At this point Tim and Lauren who were also on our team walked by, Tim jumped in and took over from Gillian and Lauren started to help placate the freaked out and random sister. The timing was wonderful.

I had phoned an ambulance, the pub bouncer was helping out, and then came 6 police they just reassuringly watched whilst we waited for an ambulance. Other random holiday makers were taking photos of the drugged girl, this always disturbs me. Gillian and I stood back whilst Tim and Lauren looked after the girl, too many people can make the scene worse. Eventually I was able to show the ambulance crew to the girl. There was a big crowd by now, but the police got their truncheons out and it quickly dispersed. Gillian and I stood back and watched and quietly prayed.

Whilst the ambulance crew where dealing with the drunk first girl another girl got thrown out of a club she was in a mess and lying very close to the original victim, thankfully she had a more calm friend with her. This obviously confused the situation and made it all a little bit more manic, but Tim informed me afterwards that the whole time he felt "total peace". The ambulance crew can only take one at a time, they gave the new girl a once over and said, "we'll take the first girl can you take the second girl to her hotel"

All the time this was happening some of our guys where praying back in the prayer room, this is faith and action. Number one girl was put safely in the ambulance, her sister disappeared in the mayhem, Tim and Lauren then ran and got Gavin, who is on our team, and a wheel chair, whilst Gillian and I ran to get the Vomit Van. They got number two girl to a peaceful place where we could pick them up easily. We pulled up they got her in to the tranquil air conditioned van everything instantly became calm and we managed to get her safely to her hotel with her friend. All in all it was a job well done, everyone was safe!

Meanwhile (I hope this isn't to complicated) Jule's and Becky who are on our team bumped into the freaked out and random sister who was now with the 4 helpful girls looking for her sister. They walked her to the medical centre and thankfully her sister was there, sedated and in a bed.

It then transpired that they we staying in another town 20 miles away with their parents, the drunk/ drugged girl was only 16. Becky and Jules spoke to her parents who jumped in a taxi and came to get their daughters! It ended well.

However it disturbed me, set me on edge, worried me, my son will be 16 in November, she really was so young. On a weird level I just felt "I have had enough, I can't do this anymore" but something quickly happened in my disheartened spirit I got my head back in the game, God is our strength his spirit showed up and gave the push I needed. I was also reminded that there were 7 of us involved in this scene and what a great way to function together as community.

I'm not giving up.

Impromptu octopus

We had so much fun yesterday, went swimming with in the sea with Neil and my boys. We snorkelled out around some rocks just watching the fish, when we noticed an octopus.

We swam back to shore grabbed some bamboo that we found on the rocks and came back to hunt Octopus. Now this wasn't a very high tech operation and we felt we had little chance of success but we decided it was worth a try.

We eventually found an octopus, it all got a bit exciting as the 4 of us hunted this wild beast, there was a lot of ink flying about!!! Eventually after much splashing and chasing we caught it, it's very hard to stab an Octopus with bamboo so .

Due to the impromptu nature of our hunt we couldn't work out how to kill it, we found some nail scissors in the car and stabbed it through it's brain.

We took it home, as you can see from the photo above, boiled it then barbecued it and ate it, it was surprisingly good, very fresh. The only thing that worried me was we forgot to clean it before we boiled it, although we are all good this morning.

I don't have any pithy spiritual lesson from this story, only that it was fun.