An Original Glyn-Joke.

Last week, at summer school, I was waking up one morning and was just in that place where you're half awake and half asleep when suddenly my brain thought of this brilliant joke. I've tried it out on a few people and received mixed reactions. Let me know what you think:

(By the way, you have to imagine that I'm saying it and that my delivery is hilarious)

The other day a man attacked me with an aromatic candle. I was absolutely incensed.

And Afterwards...

So Summer School 2006 has been and gone. Here are 10 of my highlights (in no particular order):

1) Drama. It's really easy at this point (when it's all done and dusted) to look at drama through rose tinted glasses. It went really well. The final showing on the Saturday was really well received and the guys who took part (about 32 in all - 10 more than we were expecting) said that they'd enjoyed the week. All in all, it was a resounding success. But the truth is, it was really hard work and proved to be quite emotionally draining. Kirsty and I spent most of the week on edge as we never knew how the next rehearsal was going to be received or how we were going to keep over 30 teenagers interested for a week. But we managed to pull it off and they all did really really well.

2) Watching the lecture room fall apart around us. It started out as quite a funny little moment when Liz Northwood and a group of teenage girls wound up sitting on the floor during the welcoming meeting due to half a row of chairs collapsing beneath them. But after a week of seeing chairs and desks and barriers falling to pieces every time a 12-year-old girl walked passed, we started to question the architectural integrity of the building. There were approximately 3 secure seats left for the final celebration on Saturday.

3) My Cell Group. Christina and I had an amazing cell this year and it was incredible hearing 14/15 year old teenagers being completely open about worship and listening to God. Really positive.

4) Hair Growth. I greatly enjoyed seeing how long I could get away with allowing my facial hair to grow and observing the developments that took place on my chin. For those of you who are wandering what it looked like, imagine a beard - nothing like that.

5) Prayers. I had the opportunity to lead the prayer session on the Thursday evening and after a long day of smelly nervous wind I got through it and seemed to get a positive response.

6) The Jack Plug. I think an ongoing highlight for me was watching the confused look on people's faces when Matt W showed them the big prop he'd made for the final celebration and asked them to guess what it was. This highlight was only beaten by the even more confused looks when he told them what it was and they still couldn't work it out. I'd show you a picture at this point but Blogger has decided once again to not let me. Just imagine a silver asparagus on a plinth and you're pretty close to Matt's jack plug.

7) Grippage. Another great year for Grippage. The sport that tests your body and your mind. Your strength and your agility. Your detemination and your table navigation. For those of you who don't know, Grippage involves making your way around a table without touching the ground. Only the strong of heart have achieved it.

8) Worship Support. Andy and V had a great team this year and it was awsome seeing all the work that had gone into the mulitmedia side of things. Some really funny films and one presentation in particular that was very powerful.

9) Mates. Really good staff team this year and it was a truly joyful experience to be able to have a laugh with some top-notch friends.

10) And Afterwards... At the final celebration, Matt stood up and spoke from Joel 2:28 which says:

And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophecy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.

Just something about the phrase "And afterward" caught my imagination. It's always bugged me that events like Summer School and Roots and Spring Harvest can so easily get left behind after we leave. People get caught up in the atmosphere and it's great but we don't get to take the lights or the band or the great speakers or the hordes of like-minded people home with us. So what are we left with?

I guess what I'm saying is, the success of an event such as Summer School shouldn't really be measured by what happened during but rather by what happens afterward. Are teenagers taking the message back to their Corps? Will this division have changed in the long run as a result of lessons learnt in the passed week? Will the Salvation Army have grown? Will the church? Are the youth in Essex now listening more attentively to God? These are questions we should be asking throughout the year till we get to the next Summer School.

So how was Summer School 2006? Ask me in 12 months.

Anday Night Reflection.

For those of you who were eagerly awaiting the weekly news on Andy last Sunday, I am sorry but, due to my being at Summer School, I was unable to get to a computer. The good news is I spent the week with Andy which means that there is plenty to tell. However, I think that for the benefit of this post I will need to turn away from the school as Andy's highlight of the week seems to have come from the one day he left the campus to be a part of his sister-in-law's wedding:

Now I could mention the fact that he lost his trousers so had to spend the day in his shirt, jacket, bow tie and blue jeans but I think I'm going to go straight for the When the Cleaner Saw Andy Naked story as it has more dramatic and narrative weight.

So, to cut a long story short, on the day of his sister-in-law's wedding, the cleaner saw Andy naked.

I would expand but unfortunately time has beaten me and I must go. I'm at another Summer school over the next two Sundays so I will be unable to put this story into context for a while but on the 3rd September, all will be revealed (it certainly was for the cleaner).

(Alternatively, you might find that Andy has commented his explanation below)

All My Best Work is the Result of Procrastination!

Summer school is just around the corner. I still have quite a bit of work to do in preparation and I only have two more days to do it in. So naturally I spent my time this evening wandering what I would look like if I were a centaur.

The answer? Like this: