First Week- Change and Challenge

Hello!

So it's begun. After a summer what could be said to have been occasionally stressful and anxious, Essential is finally here! It wasn't exactly the easiest time leaving the people I love but in faith believing, I am here. The Essential Year is a year where I will be working in a corps, getting involved with the programme and (God Willing) make a positive impact in the community. My Placement is up north, around 300 miles away from my home, in Eston Corps near Middlesbrough.

If you are reading this you've come across my blog, Thankyou! Here you can read all the happenings, all the challenges and hopefully just get an insight into what God is doing in my life. So please read on and hopefully you'll get something out of my blog...

We began the week on monday, meeting at the very scenic location of Gilwell Park in Essex. Although it wasn't, at first, the nicest thing to have this enormous change happen in my life, that place has now become in my memories a very special and hallowed place. Other than the activities and all the fun we had there, there were moments when I could really feel the presence of God. To recall a few, we went and settled down on top of a hill. This hill was overlooking the whole of North London and we were challenged to look over the city and think about the task that is ahead of us. Then all of a sudden, this awesome sense of God telling "James! you have work to do!" I looked over that hill and I knew that there were people who need Christ and why shouldn't it be me who brings them closer to an understanding of the Love Jesus has for them.

So after Gilwell we travelled to our placements to meet the people and the Corps and get a little taster for what is in store for us. On our first day, it rained.... and I would of loved to have said it rained 'Showers of Blessings' but instead of it was more like a Monsoon of anything but blessings. But as the Corps Officers, Captains Gary and Lorraine Chaundy, took us around the area, again I felt this urgency to 'get stuck in' and do some proper work and really bring the knowledge of God into areas where it would seem almost "Godless". Sunday we went to worship at Eston Corps and Captain Lorraine led our worship and focused on 'buying into the mission' and getting behind what God is doing in the community. The meeting, although different to what I'm used to, was fun and it definitely gave me a new experience of what worship can be. But overall, the welcome was excellent, the people were so down to earth and myself and my housemate are very blessed and thankful that God has placed us there. 

I don't really like sharing my personal devotions but I don't mind sharing this one with you, but actually my thoughts could not be diverted from these deprived areas. My devotions focussed on The Gospel and we all have heard or said "We need to preach the Gospel" or "show people the Gospel" and in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 it begins to tell us what the Gospel is. That night I also heard a sermon that reaffirmed my feelings that the Gospel is simply Jesus and it is "by the Gospel you (we) are saved" (Verse 2). I need to bring Jesus into this community, I need to take the Gospel of Christ and really make a difference in Eston. For it is Jesus and only Jesus that can change the lives of people and although they may not know it they need him, I need him, we all need him! 

Well now I am writing this in the William Booth Training College, I'm here for a week to do some training that is pretty essential (ha! See what I did there?) and I know God is going to be in the teaching. I'm pretty excited to learn more about theology and mission but I'm actually enjoying this experience. I'm not enjoying not being with the people I love but I think that is part of the whole journey, I need to be challenged and my comfort zones rocked but God can only use this to change and help me grow to be more like Christ.

So that's the first week, please keep an eye out for more blogs and hopefully over the next couple of weeks I may do some video blogs (I hear they are called vlogs?). Please feel free to comment and to leave any sort of prayer requests as I ask that you will pray for me, my essential and Alove colleagues, my loved ones and especially for the work of the Salvation Army in Eston and throughout the United Kingdom territory.

Follow me on twitter- @peggo36

God Bless.