I.Journey..."Kenya 2010"

Opportunities. Kenya. 2010. Love. Hope. Faith. Laughter. Sunset. Tears. Food, Good Food. Friendship. Family. Jesus. Serve. More Serving. Sunshine. Hugs. More Laughter. Love. Love. Love. Stories. Travel. Food, again. Sunrise. Joy. Heart. Jesus.

The above picture is what I would LOVE LOVE to be doing in Kenya. I might get the chance, I might not. Whatever happens, I'll write about everything as I journey Kenya. Keep me in your heart.

"After much hesitation, I have come to realise that serving others is what Life is truly about & my heart screams with JOY & Laughter & more LOVE" - Ruky @ i.Journey

I.Journey..."I wrote this for you"

Picture Caption -
"You are nobody's hero. And nobody needs you. Desperately."

(This image and words are directly from his blog @ www.iwrotethisforyou.me)

This is one of my best reads everyday (almost everyday). The words, the pictures, they capture emotions, unspoken words and all of that creative stuff. It feels like he sits there with my face/feelings/emotions in his hands and expresses them in pictures and in words that I am too afraid to.

I love this particular post for so many reasons.
One of them being the fact that I am constantly reminded by situations in life that I am just the "one in how-many-million-billion" in the world & that, my friends, is a daunting feeling *Sigh

But, if we flip the coin and see that there is just the one of you.

You are needed.
You are somebody's hero.
Desperately.

Happy Mother's day.

xx

I.Journey..."Color2010"

"Black and White is good but Life is so much better in COLOUR."

It's COLOUR 2010 ladies!

LONDON!!! Here's the Link Colour2010

If you would love to Volunteer for Colour 2010 in London, Click Here
Listen/Read/Watch Sydney Colour Here
Here's Colour Sisterhood

BE BEAUTIFUL Girls, Mums, Sisters, Wives, Daughters, G-Mamas, Aunties!.
Be who you are, BE BEAUTIFUL!

xoxo

I.Journey..."LFS Introducing"

Summer 2009.

I arrive Durban to find out I was sharing a room with the beautiful "Laura-Anne Mackay". After two weeks of early mornings, trying to hide under the covers and drown the noise of the hotel cleaning staff, enduring a terrible stiff neck, feelings of UPS & DOWNS, Laura and the minor accidents, falling in love with Durban, evening chats about our projects and Life in general, I laughed most of the time until I was inspired over and again.

I think Laura kept a log on Soul in the City Durban adventures Here.

So Here's introducing "LFS Introducing" (sounds funny). Laura's hope with this is that the stories inspire and help people but also in turn encourage and support the people who are sharing their stories"

So, you can support this project by
1) Subscribing to the blog - RSS feed or by email
2) Tell anyone who's interested
3) Follow on Twitter (if you have twitter) - @LFSIntro
4) If you would like to share something through a guest post, leave a comment on the site.

Click LFS Introducing
Get Job Laura! Inspired Again.

I.Journey..."Self Harm"

"'Hear Me' is an art exhibition by young people who self harm, first shown in Luton in 2006. The young people involved in the project developed the ideas for each piece out of their own experiences. The result is a powerful insight into why young people harm, their inner struggles about what they do, and their plea to be understood by their friends and family, and by all of us.

In March 2006, the exhibition opened with both local and national media attention. The honesty and power of the work moved the hundreds who came to see it. For many, it was the first time they had heard young people talking so openly about self harm. An audio track of the young people talking about their experiences added to the impact. We are making some of the material from 'Hear Me' available to download from this page. Income from sales will go towards further developing our work with young people who self harm."

Click here to read more on the "Hear Me" Exhibition

Brief Intro on LCET (Luton Churches Education Trust) - "LCET is determined to help young people achieve their potential. Our staff work across the secondary schools and colleges of Luton providing a huge range of therapeutic and chaplaincy services. But we're not content to stop there. We're constantly trying to find new and better ways to help young people 'switch the light on'. We believe every young person should have the opportunity to understand more of themselves and their place in our world."

All Information written is from the LCET website. For more on LCET, what they are about and how they can help, please visit www.lcet.org

"All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as He (God) was there for us - 2 Corinthians 1:3-4"

Great Job LCET!

Whatever challenges you might be going through, please remember that there are people out there who love you just because they love you.

I.Journey..."Spring"

After feeling like "Grey grey clouds" last night.

I read this "You will be like a well-watered garden, a bursting spring that never runs dry" Isaiah 58:11

& this morning I came across COLOURS courtesy of "colormekatie" (Thank you!)

I.Journey..."Soul Surfers"

Here's an interview crop from LFS introducing (the creative Laura-Anne Mackay) "Soul Surfers",

"Surfing is often described as being “spiritual” or having ”soul”. I’m trying to gather some like minded people who love the sea and the beach. I’m trying to encourage us to live our lives transparently in the beach communities we may be a part of and to invite others to join us. I’m hoping that people will see that larger than our love of the sea is our love for Jesus and God’s love for them."

Click
LFS introducing to get the full read on the interview (I'll have to do an interview with Laura soon).
Soul Surfers
& finally Christian Surfers

One day, I will learn how to surf.
I love the sea. I love to swim.
However, that day is not today.

On the other side, make yourself available and you'll be surprised that the things you consider the least will be used to change people or places.

Keep Surfing Boys (& Girls)!!!

I.Journey..."Global Poverty Prayer Week"

"Is this not the fast that I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the Hungry and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them and do not hide from those who need your help - Isa 58:6-7"

What God requires from us is so straight-forward.
Believe me, when you start asking "to see Justice flow like a mighty River", you are reaching out to the Fathers heart and I have experienced this and the truth is that His Heart moves for "Justice", "Righteousness" and "Freedom".

OK, Spend some time this week praying for "Injustice"/"Poverty" and the likes. Ask God to give you a heart for the things that cause his heart to beat and just see him move in you and through you to the people around you.

Log on to "The Voice"

I.Journey..."Lungisani Indlela" again :)

July 2009. Amaoti Primary School. KwaZulu-Natal Province. Durban.
I found skills that I did not realise I had e.g. "Learning to Paint without getting the paint in my hair (look at picture)".

Follow the link to read about these amazing people (Thanks Tich & the amazing community - LOVE always).

Lungisisa Indlela Village
Lungisani Indlela

If you are in Durban, Join LIV-VILLAGE at the Durban ICC on the 7th of April 2010 for a Banquet where they present the LIV plan and vision for widows and orphans in the local area. The Watoto Children's Choir from Uganda, Rory Dyer speaking on "The Father Heart of God", Tich Smith on "Watoto Villages in Uganda", Shaun Pollock - Former Protea Cricket Captain & John Smith - Captain Springbok Rugby team.

Website - www.liv-village.com
Email - thebanquet@lungisisa.org

Exciting. Churches. Business. Government

YEBO!!

I.Journey..."Creation Fest 2010"

Another SUMMER 2010 Festival. CREATION FEST 2010. Only 155 days from today to go until CF10!

Little Information off the website,
"Creation Fest is a FREE Christian Music Festival and Bible Week held at the Royal Cornwall Showground, Wadebridge, Cornwall, from the 7-13 August 2010.

The vision of the festival is to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ through contemporary Christian music. Creation Fest offers something for all the family with a full programme of music, Bible teaching, seminars, workshops, sports activities, films, 'Creation Kids' and family fun (programme). We also have a massive skate / BMX park with Pro skate demos throughout the festival (skate)."

So Click CREATION FEST 2010

Remember, Yellow Highlighter on that Year Planner, 7 - 13 August 2010

I.Journey..."Colour Blind"

"Where's your Red t-Shirt?" was a regular question I asked a friend and His reply "It is not Red, It is Orange". A simple answer of "In the Laundry Basket" or "I don't know" would have been just OK but I think he had enough of me constantly mixing up the Blues with the Greens and the obvious Orange with the Reds. Personally, I had enough explaining that I was obviously "Colour Blind".

A few years back, I can see myself swinging my feet while waiting impatiently for the hospital results of my tests, I clearly remember the Doctor saying "You failed your Colour test - you are Colour Blind". I sat there thinking "Who cares?".

It took me a while to accept that I was indeed Colour Blind and I seem to have inherited this from my Dad who is still unaware that the Blues are actually Greens and carries on winding up everyone who fails to understand what he actually wants - the Blues which do not exist or the Greens.

I'm Colour Blind to a lot of things.
I believe it is a state of mind in some ways.
I choose to see "Colours" how I want to see them and I can choose to see "people" or "situations" in the way that everyone else does or create my own "Colours" of who/what they really are on the inside.

I find life easier this way.

Sidetrack - Here's an article on the BBC on Passport Lottery

Why can't we go where we want when we want?

"In ancient Africa, I am reliably informed, tribes carried masks to identify themselves, or marked their faces in certain ways. But human beings being human beings, this obviously became a signal to identify friend or foe and much blood was spilt at the sight of a wrong looking face or mask" - BBC Africa

I.Journey..."Change"

If you look back on life, there are always moments that define change. I've had loads of mini-change-moments but only a few of the big ones that kind of mash everything you thought you knew and then you find yourself on a new path, one that you never dreamed you'll ever walk on, one that you never dreamed you had the "qualities" needed for the Job. In July 2009, I had one of those defining moments and everything changed (for the best).

Sitting at a Soul Survivor meeting
Getting on a Plane to Durban, South Africa
& Sitting on that bus, driving through plains of dry dry land, getting lost looking for hippopotamus (I always have to sing the HIP for the HIPPOPO song to get the correct spelling), covered from head to toe in brown dust with its taste in my mouth, I knew that a Change of Heart was taking place and a new path was stretching out infront of me.

Am I scared? You bet I am!
However, I am more than content & hopeful in the truth that "I AM NOT but I KNOW 'I AM'"

I.Journey..."Soul Survivor"

This year is running way too quickly again. SUMMER 2010 is round the corner and everyone is planning holidays, Weddings (yes, weddings), Conferences, Weekend Aways or whatever we want to call them.

So, if you love "tents", "BBQ-s" PLUS hanging out with all your friends and hanging out with God, then "Soul Survivor" or "Momentum" (depending on your age/who you're taking along) is always top of my list in England.

Log on to Soul Survivor to make a booking. If you don't want to make a booking, Log on and have a look, listen to some music or read the mag for a few jokes/to get you inspired.

Here are the dates:

Soul Survivor
week A: 30th july -3rd august
stafford showground

week B: 11th-15th august
bath & west showground

week: C:16th-20th august
bath & west showground

Momentum
21st-25th august
bath & west showground

Oh, Summer 2010 is going to be exciting.
I'll keep you updated with loads more events so you mark those dates off in yellow (as I like to do) on your Year Planner.

Awesome!

I.Journey..."Natural Disasters"

"If you follow the news, it may seem like our world is getting trashed. IT IS.

...But we pray that the greatest disaster would NOT be our lack of response to those in need.

We can travel to these places, we can be absorbed by the beauty and diversity of culture and then we can leave. It's easy to be distracted by the next big catastrophe that has seemed to have greeted us each morning. But for the people in the nations affected; the dead were their family, the destroyed were their homes and the changed was their future.

We don't want to be a hotspot of bad news - but rather, a community of awareness and then action. For the most of us, we aren't in these nations, but there is still something that we can ALL do to help.

Below you'll be able to LEARN about the nations that have been affected lately by disaster. You can join with us and PRAY for the people; the rescuers and restoration efforts. And you can GIVE - While the media may have rolled on, there are still many organizations remaining on the ground, helping people back to their feet."

By the I-HEART people.
I am constantly challenged to be His hands and Feet as I-Journey.

Click on the link below
Natural Disasters

I.Journey..."The Climb"

I was not thinking straight. I should have put the details up for this a lot earlier. The weekend was spent in Sheffield at the 'She is Fabulous 2010' Conference for Women.

BEAUTY STRENGTH BEAUTY

To keep up with details for next year -

SHE IS FABULOUS Feb 2011

www.hopecitychurch.tv
She is Fabulous

Remember,

God wants to equip us to be bold, strong and mighty. The whisper from Heaven is..."Teach them to be brave"

Finally,

He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind.

I.Journey..."Megaslumming - A Journey Through sub-Saharan Africa's Largest Shantytown - STWR - Share The World's Resources"

Megaslumming - A Journey Through sub-Saharan Africa's Largest Shantytown - STWR - Share The World's Resources

In the words of STWR

"The existing model of development is not working. Despite the escalating food, financial and climate crises, the G8 and other wealthy nations continue to prioritise economic growth and profit over securing basic human needs. Only a small minority benefit from a global economy based on self-interest and competition...Sharing is not an ‘ism’ or an ideology but a natural law of economy – a simple process that, when implemented globally, can ensure that basic human needs are universally secured"

www.stwr.org

Completely Blown away by this Public Debate/Conference on "Slums" or "Informal settlements" (apparently you have to be careful in the context you use the word "Slum"). Eye opening on Informal settlements in Sub Sarahan Africa - "Kenya's Kibera" was the focus point. As always, in the midst of such, amazing stories always turn up!!!

xxx