...with thanksgiving

Those who know me, know how much I appreciate the teaching of Paul in Philippians. he says, 'Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.' (Ch 4:5-7). Tomorrow morning we head to Heathrow for our flight to New York, and then onward to the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) base on Long Island.

We have a pretty full agenda, with our first day there starting at 6.30 a.m. ! We will be working in Harlem and Brooklyn, staffing feeding stations for homeless, helping with childrens clubs, and supporting the local work at Smithtown. PK recently described an aspect of their work as 'sowing seeds of kindness' - I like that.

Anyhow, back to that verse in Philippans. We've been doing a lot of team preparation, praying and learning together, and getting motivated to be good news to our hosts and to one-another. But it's true to say that we're also a little bit anxious, and Pauls antidote to anxiety seems to be Thanksgiving and Prayer. So we give thanks for, generous gifts of money, car boot sales, quizzes, cakes, and facepainting. You know the list goes on. we also give thanks for the unity that this project has built in the church - everyone's commenting on this. And I want to show a special appreciation for those members of the youth group who are staying back home, and who non-the-less have supported the event with great enthusiasm... and a super special well done to Taylah and Kaycey who have been stars!

So, much thanksgiving and we'll keep you updated with our prayer requests from day to day. But for now, pray for safety and ease of travelling, for good relations among us, and for a knowledge of God in all that we do. And... please sign up to this blog, send us some news, requests, encouragements etc. that will be great! And check out the photo slides (top right), we'll add to them regularly.

Be Blessed, and see you in a couple of Sundays!