How To Fly The Nest

Image Source: Google

'T o   F l y   T h e   N e s t' - (Of a young bird) leave its nest on becoming able to fly. 1.1 informal (Of a young person) leave their parents' home to set up home elsewhere.

Having moved out almost a month ago, I've gained some fresh wisdom on leaving the nest. It's an adventurous task and one I chose to see as something really positive. I'm writing out some of my experiences in this post partly for your benefit but mostly for mine - so that I can look back and show my kids what I was up to! 
P a c k i n g: I began scribbling down a list of things I needed to pack just a few days before I left. Once I'd 'finished' the list I went to bed and woke up with 20,000 more items I'd forgotten to write down! It was a weird process deciding what I would need and realising how much stuff I use throughout the week. It was also the perfect opportunity to leave, at home, the stuff that I didn't use all that often, making my new room so much less crowded and easier to tidy! I packed my stuff into beautiful boxes which have become my storage in my new room. Eliminating the idea of 'living out of a suitcase' for a year!

T h e   M o v i n g   I n   D a y / W e e k: I met my host family on the Thursday, moved in on the Sunday, and started work on the Monday. I really had no time to panic, I had jumped in at the deep end and started to swim. All that was new was an adventure for me! Everything that got thrown at me that would usually make me panic, I chose to see as a new adventure: an opportunity to embrace something new. I chose to get excited and rejected worry; I was leaning fully on God.
This first week started very differently to my first week at my internship last year. This year I knew who I was and I went straight in as myself, not as shy as before because I know that God has chosen this place and season just for me. Last year I was constantly scared of not being 'liked' or 'accepted' that I cowered away so only a select few got to know me. I've learnt that that doesn't allow freedom to reign. So this year is a whole new ball game.
E n j o y i n g   T h e   R i d e: Two weeks were spent 'enjoying the ride': I made new friends, met loads of exciting and influential people, realised amazing connections, and embraced new activities. I tried a bit of an assembly ready for my first 'full assembly' in my third week. I got stuck in with after-school clubs and loved helping S in the office with the admin and organisation side of the charity. Totally content with the blissful journey I was on, I felt at 'home' already. 
(M e e t i n g)   K e y   P e o p l e:
You hear all of the time that a big life change shows you who your true friends are... But what if a big life change brings you key people? I'm still back in my 'hometown' every weekend seeing my good friends and making great memories. I have made use of the internet and kept in touch with so many friends. But I've also been blessed with some key people in my new town who are keeping me grounded. Big life changes don't eliminate friends, they add new ones!
A   S p a n n e r   I n   T h e   W o r k s:
Week three and four have thrown various things at me. My adrenaline levels have dropped causing the re-introduction of my high levels of fatigue and pain. I've visited the doctor about a problem that has progressed in my knee and been referred for an MRI. My amazing host family and I have come to the joint decision that it isn't right for me to stay here for now, so I will be moving out this weekend.

M o r e   A d v e n t u r e   A w a i t s:
Never a dull moment, I now have more adventures to get excited about!
* I'll be moving in with a colleague on Sunday night *
She is brilliant, has a lovely husband, a gorgeous dog, and a chilled out tortoise. I'll be staying there for a few weeks until somewhere more permanent is found for me.
* I'll be starting a course on youth mentoring *
* I'll be doing more assemblies with new people *
* We will start planning the Christmas Panto *
That's all for now!  A few ramblings about month number 1 in a new town,

Amy xo

What Do You Call An Alligator In A Vest?

An Investigator. Children were born to wonder, to discover, and to be passionate.

w o n d e r,   d i s c o v e r y   a n d   p a s s i o n. What are the children you are ministering to going to give their heart to? When they walk away, what do you want to be in them? When Jesus was asked: Of all the commandments, which is the greatest? He answered: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. He then added: Love your neighbour as yourself. Everything is pointing to loving God and loving others, and understanding enough to have a known identity in Christ. Lead with an end in mind. That children will... Have a relationship with God. Love others. Know their identity in Christ.  Wonder

Wonder aids faith in a God that can't be seen. A God who is bigger than anything we can face. He is uncontainable. Allow children to know how big He is and how much they can trust Him, without putting Him into an explainable box.

Wonder - Bethel Music Discovery

Treasure hunt. Children discovering who God is and how He is relevant to them and knowing who they are in Him. Investigating.

Good, Good Father - HouseFiresII Passion

Links with purpose. They know who they are, what they can do with God and now they want to find purpose in making a difference in the lives of others.

Going On A Journey - Vineyard Records There is some style of formula that goes with this. A different combination of wonder, discovery, and passion for each age group. Pre-schoolers: Wonder.  They need to know that God loves them and wants to be their friend. They need to know that they are significant and that God has a plan for them. Children's ministry: Turn up discovery and add a bit of passion.  Primary school aged children are discovering for the first time what it means to be a Christian through studying stories in the Bible. They are searching deeper for a relationship with God from the wonder they've had since they were small. They are exploring their identity, and we want that identity to be in Christ. Student ministry: Turn up the passion. Enabling students to discover their own gifts helps them to grasp their passion to serve and help others. Students won't feel significant unless they have something significant to do: becoming involved in the lives of others, not just knowing the Bible stories well. Everybody is going to give their hearts to something. If we don't establish giving their hearts to serving Jesus then they will give their hearts to something else. We can strive to encourage Jesus-centred worship.  Everyone is searching for a hero. Children and adults alike. That hero is Jesus, the creator. We long to know our creator and, as a human race, we find earthly heroes to step in. These earthly heroes don't even begin to satisfy our hunger for Jesus. Read more here. We're wired for adventure. It is up to us as leaders, to look to scripture and God's principles to help children discover their identity in Christ, instead of searching for it in other adventures. Lots of people believe:

But the bible says:

We long for romance.

The key to satisfying a longing for romance is a relationship with God. Once we have a relationship with God then we have the capacity to love others. Wonder, discovery, and passion. When we have these leading our children's ministry we impact the message and the way we teach. When we see children moving in the right direction, not using a bounded model but a centred model, we know we're on the right track. Pushing every child and teenager to a similar destination: insight wonder provoke discovery fuel passion God the Father | Wonder God the Spirit | Invading Hearts - Discover God the Son | Give His Life For All People - We Should Do The Same Challenge: How much wonder, discovery, and passion is in your heart as a leader? Do the children see you pursuing the truth? Do they see your passion? Do they see you serve out of duty or relationship with God? Your relationship with God is linked to how you connect with the children in their lives. What about having a vision for each children's ministry age group in a church? What would your vision statements be? - Helps all ministries to know how they are working together - w o n d e r,   d i s c o v e r y   a n d   p a s s i o n. Podcast Information: OrangeBlog - Orange Leaders - Wonder Discovery Passion Amy xo

Worship Mash Up

My next post was going to be a set list of worship songs that I felt led to writing down and referencing. I meditated in the presence of God and felt a wave of peace over me with songs playing in my heart. I went to find this list with my bible notes today and it's not to be seen. After further thought and silent prayer I feel I am not meant to share that with you, for now anyway. Instead I've got something a little more creative. I was scrolling through Facebook to find out what my friends had been up to and I stumbled across a mash up, from 'Us - The Duo', of 2014 hits. This got me wondering if there were any worship mash ups out there. To my surprise there are loads. I mean LOADS. The first one that I would like to share with you is a worship medley posted by Terry McCaskill. Himself, his brother and their niece  Worship Medley!

*I do not own any of the content I am sharing* The next one was a medley that I put together with three friends: Emma, Beth and Sarah. Emma and myself chose the songs and worked out an order for them to work acoustically. We ran out of time over our weekend away to record our own sound - maybe one day! So Beth, Sarah and myself mashed together Rend Collective's tracks and put some videos over the top - showing joy, joy and more joy. Rend Mash Up:

Video copyright - AW + Friends. Music copyright - relevant Rend associates. Have you ever tried to mash up two or more songs? How did it go?

A little Disney always helps...

Of course Disney isn't my number one priority in life but helping to encourage and empower people comes high on my list. What better way to do this than with God and Disney?! Power couple right there.  The Bible tells us to become like children (see Matthew 18:3) and one sure way of doing this is with a sprinkle of Disney. So in true child-heart fashion, here are a few quotes for you. Some are not entirely Disney, but most are.

"Life doesn't give us purpose. We give life purpose." - The Flash (DC Universe) What does God say to purpose in our lives? Proverbs 16:9 hits the nail on the head with the fact that 'the heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps'. The Lord gives a purpose to those steps. Recently, in a worship service, Steffany Gretzinger exclaimed "you are most yourself when you are wrapped up in your purpose and not your position". We cannot forget Jeremiah 29:11, one of my favourite verses, because God knows the plans He has for us 'plans to prosper and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'.

"I'm ready! I'm ready! I'm ready!" - Spongebob Squarepants. This can always be our cry in response to the next place in life that God is calling us to. We need to remember that these two words are spoken to us over 80 times in the Bible: FEAR NOT.

"Some people are worth melting for" - Olaf (Frozen). l.o.v.e. Love. To me, this is the most important thing about being a Christian. It was through love that we have received grace when Jesus died on the cross. He would certainly say you are worth melting for.

"The things that make me different are the things that make me" - Winnie the Pooh. You are unique, you are different. Through God you are not the same as anyone else, you are even different from the person you used to be before you knew God. That's a good thing. We were all made in God's image (Genesis 1:27) and we were all made to be different.

"I can't go back to yesterday - because I was a different person then" - Alice (Alice in Wonderland).

Like in the last quote, we are reminded that we are not the same as we used to be. Because of this we can be free. The lyrics that came to my head were ones that I heard at a Christian Youth Equipping Day in Watford not that long ago. "Oh no, nothing's gonna hold me back. No, nothing's gonna hold me back. No, nothing's gonna hold me back" - sung by Tom Smith. Some other encouraging lyrics that I'm reminded of are:

"I am chosen, I am free, I am living for eternity, free now forever. You washed me sin and shame away, the slate is clean, a brand new day, I'm yours now forever." - Tim Hughes (Holding Nothing Back), and "take the shackles off my feet so I can dance, I just wanna praise you, I just wanna praise you. You broke my chains" - Mary Mary (Shackles).

Alice felt lonely and isolated in an entirely new world which she wasn't used to and didn't fit into. The glorious truth of God's world is that everyone belongs there, no matter who they are today and who they were yesterday.

These are just a few of my interpretations. Below is the entire list of the 50 quotes which I found here.

Please comment or message me if you think you have any thoughts on these or others of the quotes!

I had a lot of fun writing this post for you all, I hope you enjoyed reading it.

I do not claim rights to any graphics or quotes.

These interpretations are just my opinion, I am open to other thoughts. 

God bless,