Hope you had a wonderful Christmas 2013!
This years Christmas card was (perhaps predictably) of the Lake District again. In the absence of any cold weather down south it was certainly the only place Andrea and I visited in the latter part of the year, that we saw any snow! Even then the snow was only above 850 meters most of the time we were there – which did however make for an ‘interesting’ ascent of Sca Fell.
Wishing you a very happy 2014.
After another year at 24-7 Prayer, I’m looking back with thankfulness at where I’ve seen God on the move. And at the start of the New Year as I look forward, there are many exciting opportunities and questions ahead as I try to work out what He has in store for both myself and the 24-7 Prayer movement.
If you’d like to catch up on my thoughts, you can get hold of my latest supporter newsletter here.
And if you would like to be added to my supporter list so that you can get these hot off the press in future, just drop me a line via my contact form here.
Happy New Year!
Pete
Happy Christmas!
This year marks the last in a season of four panoramic landscapes for my hand made cards. The scene this time around is the view from the hotel Andrea and I stayed in during December, while we were up in the Lake District. Skiddaw and Blencathra were both looking spectacular with their new snow blankets.
Hoping you have a great Christmas, and a very happy new year.
To support myself in this little charity worker lark I’m involved in, I
set aside a day (in hours, at least) to work on websites for small to
mid-sized businesses, under the company name ‘Ashtonstables’.
I finally manged to set aside some time to work on my own website over
the last couple of weeks. I’d had an idea floating around my brain for
some time, to base the site around a laid paper background. I wanted
to reflect the fact that I deliver high quality websites, using a
graphical metaphor to enhance the website text. The starting point of
the paper lead to some photography of a very nice ink pen my father
gave me, and some menu headings written with the same pen. Hopefully
the result conveys what I was trying to acheive!
You can see the new website here – and of course please do get in touch if you need any work doing.
So, the Christmas list is out there, and pretty much top of the list is Ridley Scott’s ‘Final Cut’ of my all time favourite film, Blade Runner.
What’s more, this review sounds pretty good too. I can’t wait!
I’ve been looking forward to this month for quite some time.
On a Sunday evening at the start of the month, Iron and Wine played here in Reading. I couldn’t resist popping along, and although they’re not one of my favourites, the chance of watching a good band in my home town was too much to resist. Reading used to have a good live music venue, but it closed a couple of years ago, and good gigs have been hard to come by ever since. Iron and Wine didn’t disappoint either, which was a good job because I was fit to drop!
Last night was an even brighter highlight due to the arrival of The Arcade Fire at Alexandra Palace. They were awesome! The set list was fantastic, ranging from their earlier tracks right up to recent compositions, and the free-ranging version of Power Out had me and Andy Freeman jumping around all over the place. Awesome. The evening had a more colourful end than either of us would have wished with some rather intriguing Londoners on a bus, but I’ll spare you the gory details 😉
And the month of gigs is not yet finished! Interpol are also playing at Ali Pali on the last Friday of the month. I’m feeling spoiled with aural delight…
As I sat in the grounds of Reading Abbey for my usual Friday prayer time this morning, I read the following:
“Help me know that the secret of contentment lies in organising the self in the direction of simplicity.
Unless you have another task for me, keep me vigilant in prayer.”
How I long for more of this in my life!
Wow, we’ve had a fairly intense few days! Everyone has that look of someone deprived of sleep and light for too long, so this afternoon we’ve changed the programme to enable everyone to chill out for a while, before coming back to end the first of the two gatherings on a high!
To those of you who have been praying for our time here, I just want to say THANK YOU. Over the last 36 hours we’ve had two of the best presentations I’ve ever seen. Jonah Bailey did a fantastic job presenting the results of the structure teams’ deliberations on how to run 24-7 over the next few years, and Andy Freeman presented a ‘top draw’ talk on the Boiler Rooms section of the movement. We’ve really been blessed by a great sense of unity and positivism about the year ahead, even though some of the points presented are quite contentious.
We’re not quite there yet, but we’re getting there. Check back soon!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!