Imogen heap

"Here are electronically manipulated voals, airy keyboards and robotic beats synthesized and processed until every groove sounds manicured , yet the music is still warm and affecting."

Last night my cousin rich and I went to see Imogen Heap in concert. For free, oh yes. I got the tickets through the college radio station I do stuff for occasionally. It was amazing. Imogen Heap has this incredible style where her voice takes centre stage but all the other instruments she plays are just as incredible too. It's a real eclectic mix of styles and it's just absoutley amazing.We also had passes to the after show party 'VIP' stickers. woo. It was an open bar and there were lots of people there looking all important...I'd been given the tickest by a girl who works for heart media and asked if I want to be involved with the stuff they do. Kinda cool. but er, kinda random.

Anyway, Rich and I were just deciding to leave when Imogen Heap comes in and stands right next to us. She is SO tall. She was chatting to a couple and we were going to have barge, literally barge, past her to get out. And it would have been rude to not say something as we passed about the concert.

This is what came out of my mouth as I lightly touched her arm: "Well done, that was great, thank you." She kind of looked at me bewildered. I felt a little stupid. Basically what I'd said was a combination of what I say to someone who's led CU for the first time or doen a talk or something and what I say to a preacher at a church when it's been great. What does one say in a situation like that?

It was weird how what I would say in a Christian setting made me sound kinda arrogant, like I knew what I was talking about and had the right to tell her that it was great. Kinda patronising, but in churchey places its 'encouragemnt'.

Blah, anyway, it was great.

*warning* if easily offended look away now...

last year, as a CU committee planning mission week, we discussed our desire/repulsion of CU hoodies. In fact, everyone was so opposed to the idea that we came up with another one...CU pants. Not just any pants these were designed as a protest to be made at Forum last year. To say 'pants to CU hoodies'. That was the idea. It never quite happened, but our dislike of hoodies and desires for pants has been an ongoing joke and dream of one day taking over the Christian world...(er yeah, whatever) Until last week....

At CU I was presented with some 'thank you' presents for being president and yes, inside was these:In the 'pouch' bit is a life gospel, to ensure that our pants are evangelistic as many are in the habit of doing on their hoodies...And we even have our Goldsmiths colours stiched in ribbon. lovely.
briliant.

Turns out we're not the first to be so "clever", Anna Mackenzie (UCCF London vice-team leader) told me that when she was at Goldsmihs they had CU pants instead of hoodies...

Anybody wanna join a revolution?!

i love spring

spring in nottingham...
crazy peacock...

perseverance and the grace of God

On sunday, at Christchurch we celebrated the fact that Hugh and Helen (vicar and his wife) have been there for 20 years. In that time the churhc has grown massively, people have come to faith and have expereince God's love in practical and spiritual ways. Christchurch is a vibrant, famil community and it's all a testimony to God's grace.

It's also a testimony to the grace of God at work in Hugh and Helen's life. Hugh is Eaton educated and got his degree form Cambridge. He also has a theology something or other. His giftings, intelligence and Bible teaching abilities 'could have' got him a big vicary thing in a big big church. But God called him and helen to a small struggling church in the rough end of Peckham.

Hugh and Helen have perservered in one of the roughest parts of the country in a small church. And God has been gracious. He's kept them and blessed their ministry.

To me, this all speaks of the aweseomness of how God works and challenges me to really listen to God's call on my life and follow it no matter the cost. And keep on keeping on. It was a privelege to celebrate those 20 years on sunday.

yay for skype

I had a conversation with Elizabeth, my good canadian friend today, along with Pod joining in the chat. A three way conversation from London to Nottingham and all the way across the atlantic. And all for free. Skype rocks.

Pod and I are so obbsessed that instead of saying 'see you later' or 'ill call you later' we say 'skype you later.'

Pod and I love it so much we even have a little skype dance tune and use one of the dancing icons in the chat facility to illustrate. The skype dance and song come out when we're happy or being proud about something.

skype is COOL

lovin it

so the end of my photography project (a investigation into spatial construction and affects of identity, using the tube space as focus) is drawing to a close. One more week and all my prints will be made and my sketchbooks handed in. I'm going to miss using the studios and the darkrooms over the summer...

God is glorified in his people by the way we experience him. Indeed the devil thinks more true thoughts about God in one day than a saint does in a lifetime, and God is not honoured by it. The problem with the devil is not his theology, but his desires. Our chief end is to glorify God, the great Object. We do so most fully when we treasure him, desire him, delight in him so supremely that we let goods and kindred go and display his love to the poor and the lost.

John Piper. When I don't desire God

my 2am email

Hey Podbo...
...
I want to tell you my thoughts, like a journel, to tell you a story, my inner soul. What Ive been thinking about as I walked through the bitter chill of the 2 oclock air, with phat beats ringing through my ears and the familiar feeling of used muscles and a tired brain pulsating through my body....
....
Tonight, Lee, Johnny and I got Caribeean food after kickboxing and ate it listening to the gig night at the Union that Loz had arranged. The music was awesome and the company was a lot of fun. We laughed about kickboxing, we people watched and chatted about missionaries...
...
Tonight I felt ashamed. Lee's really perceptive and he was asking me a few things about my family in colombia and about where you and I met. He said: "Becci, I've noticed that when you talk about your Christianity you pause before you say anything. You hesitate. Like you're unsure or something."
Ouch. It's kind of because I want to express things in the right way, but I guess it looks like I'm a little ashamed. I'm really sorry for that. I have no reason to be. It's a powerful gospel and a good and gracious God I serve. Where is my confidence really?

Today has been an ego booster for me. With my photography tutor saying my photography was great, that I'd pulled off something really complicated really well, with Linda, my personal tutor writing such a shining reference and Lee, my kickboxing coach said tonight: 'Becci you really are a good kickboxer." I asked whether I would get the next belt up at grading after easter and he said "Oh easily, in fact you could get 2/3 above that (!!) He told me I could get black in 3 years (I was banking on 6!) So all in all, guess I feel pretty pleased with myself. I find that all quite hard becuase I never seem to sit right. Either my pride makes me feel good or it makes me feel utter crap. Either way I'm not shaped 100% by the gospel. That passag I read this morning about considering ourselves with sober judgement is poignant. Although at the same time I guess I can feel chuffed that my hard graft with photogrpahy and kickboxing is paying off. But all praise HAS to go to the one who made me with my creative giftings and ability to kick arse!! I can claim no good by myself, even my very breathe is possible only by the one who breathed life into me.

Love BBx

Er...

caption for this pic of kenny, anna and pod?

bleak

I can't make head or tail of a few things right now.

What do you do when you don't know what the truth about something is becuase you're so inside your own head that you can't work out if you're being rational or not or whether your heart is deceiving you?

What do you do when you just want everything to be ok and it just isn't?


on the up side had a great weekend in cornwall at Anna and Kenny's. Thanks guys!
(pics coming soon)

cornwall here we come!!

I'm going on a little adventure this weekend. I havent been on one for a while and I'm quite excited. Pod and I are packing our bags and heading down to cornwall until monday night to stay with kenny and anna robertson. Yay!

It's so nice to have a break just when your body and soul is protesting...so off we go. It's been a tough couple of months for both us with work stuff, change etc and I'm really looking forward to getting away from it all. Oh, and going surfing...YES!

i need to adore...

"As I studied Romans 9 day after day, I began to see a God so majestic and so free and so absolutely sovereign that my analysis merged into worship and the Lord said, in effect,

"I will not simply be analyzed, I will be adored. I will not simply be pondered, I will be proclaimed. My sovereignty is not simply to be scrutinized, it is to be heralded. It is not grist for the mill of controversy, it is gospel for sinners who know that their only hope is the sovereign triumph of God’s grace over their rebellious will."

(John Piper)
stolen from http://thebluefish.blogspot.com

random things time...

im going to apply for a job at london zoo to be 'an explainer' for the summer period. you get to chat to people 1:1 or groups, do tours, to talks, exhibitions etc about the animals and fun things in the zoo. i hope i get the job. i really like giraffes.

my consultant told me that all the problems with my stomach, all those trips to casualty are caused by inflammed cells in my stomach. There's a fine line between those and an ulcer apparently. so i have to avoid stress and moderate my diet. all that (a year and a half of investigations) to be told that. HAHAHA.

Last night i had a dream that my sociology tutor became a Christian. He told me that the reason he'd taken sarcastic jibes out of me for believing what i do was to help me think deeper and harder and deconstruct a bit more. we sang a worship song together and I woke up thinking how cool it was that a great sociologist was a Christian. Then I realised it wasn't true. But prayed it might be prophetic!

mr wu sucks eggs

Never ever trust Mr. Wu. He may offer you delightful things but don't be taken in...

Pod had a meeting yesterday in the House of Commons so afterwards we got to hang out. Unfortunately we're both mega broke...to the point that going out for dinner costing £10 was going to be too expensive...SO...

I planned a little excursion. I told Pod that we were having a candlelight dinner and had a table with a view all for around £5 each. Before I left, I packed a bottle of cheap wine, 2 cups, a daffodil, 2 candles and some matches. "This is gonna be great" I thought to myself. "He'll love me forever for this." The pland was to buy pizza at a place at trafalagar square then walk down The Mall to BUckingham Palace. Whip out the candles, the wine, the flower centre piece and have a candlelit dinner for two on a 'table' with a view. The rain had stopped when i left. "Hoorah!" I thought' "This is going to be great!"

Hahahahaha.

We whipped around the National Portrait Gallery (discovering that the photography exhib i wanted to see had ended) and when we stepped outside? RAIN. Big fat ugly drops of rain.

I looked at Pod and stuck out my lower lip and sulked as I explained my plan. "DO you still want to do it?" haha. er, no.

So we decided to find something cheap and cheerful where we could sit inside. Mr. Wu becomed to us invitingly. £4.95 for eat as much as you like chinese buffet...yum

The place looked okay, we got inside and ordered drinks. There was this pervading sense of heaviness throughout the place. Noone looked happy. Noone was talking.

We got up to start at the buffet. Cold chips. Yum. Sweet and sour stuff without the sauce on it properly so it looked, well i cant describe what it looks like with out the sauce. Yum. Spring rolls with er filling of....er, nothing?! yum.

IT WAS RANK. It makes me feel sick thinkng about it again. They had 'basic food hygiene' certificates on the wall. Reassuring? I got one of those when I was 15.

The couple next to us werent even looking at each other, let alone talking.
Mr. Wu, what a let down. We couldnt eat anything. Pod went to pay. £13. And then they wouldnt take cards. HE had to go out in the rain and find a cash machine. And then pay with cash for a meal that resembled a dog's dinner. No, wait, pig slop.

Bah.

£13.

We got on the tube and went back to mine

We were hungry and ordered indian take out. £12.

in total...
wine-£4
chinese - £13
Indian - £12
My travel card - £5
£34

could have got us a nice meal.

So not only was my making the VERY best of our bad financial situation a wash out, our making the best of the washout was a complete flop. And then scrapping the siutation back with an indian (which was great by the way!) all in all compltely nullified the whole point of the little plan in the first place.

Our first attempt at economy drive failed. Who to blame? Well, the rain...that's God but God does what's best so no finger pointing there.

Mr Wu, dear Mr. Wu, it's all your fault. You suck eggs. And so does your food. And so does your service,

today i have done something very very stupid.

Its essay writing time again and as usual im struggling. trying to be one step ahead of the game i got one of my course mates to send me a copy of the essay she wrote n this topic a few weeks ago.

And now, well I feel like i have the academic capabilities of a three year old. Seriously, I want to plagarise everything she's written. And english isnt even her first language. :(

honestly, that was a very stupid thing to do. :(

a big fish and a place called london

the signifcant thing about this weekend at new leaders was being there and not being a CU leader but having my sockks well and truly blessed off. I was there helping organise and lead the weekend which was such a priveldge and such a laugh. God knows what he's doing. Impeccable timing.

Mo McCraken spoke on Jonah. wow.

These are my lingering thoughts...

“And he said to them, ‘I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.’”(1:9)

Despite Jonah's correct theology he still failed to apply it to his life and ran away...Speak to your soul. That's what I went away wanting to have happen. The stuff I know as truth,to be real in my heart again.

What an example of God's grace Jonah's story is. He disobeys and yet when he cries out, God answers. That's the kind of God God is. Amazing grace. I never fail to love to be reminded of that.

Ninevah, a pagan evil nation were turned around my God's grace. A super revival in the most 'unlikely' place. But with God there's no such thing as unlikely. How much do I share away form chatting to certain people about Jesus, and give up praying for folk becuase i question inwardly whether they'll ever be saved. Be rebuked Becci Brown.

Jonah, what an arsy, reluctant evangelist. Just as God is pouring out his grace in Ninevah, Jonah sulks. What makes Jonah's heart skip a beat? What makes him rejoice? Thousands of people saved? Nope! God sends a plant to shade Jonah and he gets happy. Jonah's priorities were nowhere near God's priorities. Where are my priorities? Am i so buys complaining about the things i have/don't have/want etc that i am totally missing the priorities God has for this world and for my life?

little boys...

so talking on the phone tonight all pod could say when one conversation train ended was 'i want to play a game,' 'i want to play a game with you.' Like this endless idea he was thinking about throughout our entire conversation. I wait with bated breath to discover what game i get to play next time i see him. Board game or card game? Or maybe duplo would be better...

RRRAAAA...New Leaders Training this weekend. I like the way God works.

happiness is...

(nicked from http://postsecret.blogspot.com)

silver linings

Tim posted this in his blog...we were chatting on MSN about our thoughts and feelings on the day. Our lack of getting work done and our weariness. But our silver linings also. Which, for Tim was that God has reminded him He's in control...

'Sometimes the journey makes you weary
Feels like a long and winding road
Sometimes this life can lose it's meaning
But you might be surprised to find some hope

Maybe you're wondering where love is
You may feel it's far away from here
Maybe you're wondering where I am
You might be surprised to find I'm near

Chorus:
And when your life is tossed and turning
And your on the raging sea
I'll come and pull you from the water
Then you will know that you are free

So if you're stumbling through the valley
Or if you're tempted to give up the fight
Reach out your hand and I will lead you
I will be your strong arm in the night'

My silver linings right now are human things, circumstantial things to hold onto...but I know, above and beyong this are the golden linings of God's grace and his love. I only need reach out my hand...