I tend to go through phases of wanting to blog and not bothering at all. I am going to try and make it more of a regular thing this year, I promise. I am also planning on getting my own website/blog/portfolio which is exciting! And I will keep you updated about that!

So, what have I been up to and how has life been? (for those that care or can be bothered reading on, I salute you)

1. VisCom
I started university in September. I am studying ‘Design for Visual Communication’ at the University of Ulster’s Art Collage (VisCom for short). I was amazed that I got an offer but to be honest was scared of starting. I don’t have an art qualification to my name, so starting at an ART collage wasn’t an exciting thought. All my fears were stupid because it’s flippin awesome. I love my course. We have all finished the first semester and are about to start number two. I will try to upload some of my work as well as some work by people in my class.

2. CFC
Loving church! A lot has happened since the summer including Catalyst, Impact and Connect Life.

Catalyst is our new young adults program. It is aimed at 18-30s (ish). It is exactly what is needed in CFC. It’s been going really well and I am excited to be apart of what God is doing amongst the young adults of CFC.

I have been asked to be apart of a core team that are in-charge of organising the outreach within CFC. I love this. Outreaching into the community as a church is so important. It’s not about doing one event a year and making us feel good, it’s about consistency, saying to the community that we as a church want to help in anyway we can, Wether it’s praying for people, tidying someones house or giving a family food. We met as a team a few nights ago to talk about what we could do and we are very excited to see what God is going to do in our community!

Connect Life is a number of courses that we offer based around LIFE (Leadership, Innovation, Fellowship and Expansion). Great idea and a great way to equip, inspire and encourage the church. I love CFC.

3. Life
Life in general is going pretty well at the moment. Christmas was great getting to catch up and hang out with close friends that were home from university but it sucks now that they are pretty much away again. On a brighter note, I decided to treat myself to an iPhone, not that I could afford it but I felt I deserved one :P I have had a few clients come back for more work which is class and I have been asked to be a photographer at a friends wedding. So yea, life is pretty good at the moment.

Chat soon :)

Alan Wray wanted a mention. He wanted me to tell you how amazing and awesome he his… so here you go Alan… You’re just great!

I had the amazing opportunity to be apart of a great team that went to Thailand for two weeks on mission. Here, whilst working with youth and children, we had the privilege of leading the Thai people in worship. This was the most amazing thing. Seeing the Thai people singing, shouting, dancing and jumping with all they have. It was such an inspiration to see. After talking to friends who have been on teams to China, Thailand, Africa, etc. The people in these places always seem to worship like this. Arms high and hearts abandoned giving their whole heart to God.

This got me thinking… Why is it that in these places this is the norm? It’s natural to worship God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. But when you compare it to back home, in the West, worship in church often doesn’t look anything like this. When we come and gather as one to meet with God we often text while the band is playing, we talk to our friends who are sitting around us, we sit down or even arrive late because the music isn’t really ‘part of the service’. Don’t get me wrong I’m not shouting any anyone here or condemning people lol these are just my thoughts and what I’ve noticed.

Even though we have so much more than most of the people in the Eastern part of the world and we have so much more to praise God for, we often get distracted by being too blessed? By having too much? I feel that these people are able to freely give it all because they don’t get blinded by the same stuff that we do. We easily get caught up in a world of social networking, money, fashion, feeling good and eating well. When the reality of it is, none of these areas matter over in places with poverty. Getting from day to day is all that matters and loving God is a must in their lives, where as here it can appear as an optional extra. Because we have too much, we often set God aside and do our own thing but pick him up again when it suits us. Wether it’s alcohol, drugs, lust, stealing, etc we all keep going back to that one ‘luxury’ that makes us set God aside no matter how He has spoke to us or how He has revelled Himself to us. I have seen people experience the power of God and hear directly from Him and still choose to set Him aside. If we lived in poverty, would it be harder to walk into sin? I am trying to challenge myself on this issue. I am trying to think about my material goods. If I didn’t have my phone, my mac (Eeekkk), the internet and a car. Would I rely on God a lot more than I do now?

I suppose living the way they do can be deemed down to culture. It’s just the way they are. It’s what they do in that part of the world. Can this really be deemed down to culture? Singing and shouting at the tops of our voice to the one who saved us? Waving flags like never before to the Godhead? Jumping and dancing like no one is watching because you are sooo happy that Jesus died for you! Is this all part of Eastern culture? I have to admit, I thought it was until I saw it for myself. A genuine passion for Jesus. I came home to realise that all of these things are very much part of our culture as. Just not in a church setting. What do I mean by this? Take a football match for example, People waving flags, Shouting and singing to their favourite players at the tops of their voices. Take a concert, everyone jumping, dancing and singing because everyone else is and because you love the song. But when we take these acts of worship and ironically put them inside a church context. Why is it that we hold back? Why is it that we think twice about raising our hands? Why do care about how we look and sound?

I am very much speaking to myself on this as well. I am just finding it strange and frustrating at the moment. Would love to hear your thoughts…

Corey

I have been here since Thursday the 4th of August and it’s now Sunday the 14th. Where has time gone? It feels like yesterday when we were boarding the bus to Dublin. I feel that God is starting to give me a heart for the Thai people. It is awesome out here and I will be back at some point.

I am very inspired by the way the thai people worship. We have had the privilege of leading them on a few occasions and it is such an honour to stand there with a guitar around my neck. The just go for it. It’s the only way I can describe it. They go for it. Arms high and hearts abandoned, not giving and thought about what they look like or sound like. Inspired. For those that where at junior teens, a thai church service looks like the night of the recording in the barn. People just going for it because HE has saved them.

About to head for a saunter around Chaing Mai.
Catch y’all lovely people soon!

Corey