Brownies!

I made some scrummy brownies last week and they came out amazingly well. They were triple choc brownies, with dark, milk and white chocolate. They tasted awesome!

Here's a picture. Think i'll be making them again.

I actually made them for a leaving meal that i did for Poppy Wiliams. It's really sad that Poppy has left. She hails from Ohio in the States but currently resides in Las Vegas (the other sin city). She was such an inspirational woman whilst she was here, and she has such a heart for God and for prayer too. You know when you learn loads from someone without them really teaching or saying much? She's that type of person - really open to God and humble too.

The exciting thing is that i have a feeling that she'll be back on these shores to work with 24-7 Ibiza again. I wonder if a generous portion of triple chocolate brownies might help her come back here quicker?

The Final Poster i need.

So i´ve been collecting the posters for the Space Opening and Closing parties that i´ve attended since living here and i miss only one. Yes, it´s very sad, but it just needs to be done. The one i am missing is the opening poster for 2008, and the line-up was immense. You can't quite see the line up in the poster above, but David Guetta, Fatboy Slim, Steve Lawler, Groove Armada....the DJs were great!

I wonder if i´ll get my hands on it?

Space Closing

Yes, i went to Space Closing.
Yes, it was immense.
Yes, i danced from 9pm till about 5am!
And...Yes, my back was wrecked!

Poppy, Neil and i had a right result as we got in for free, which i never thought would be possible at such an event. My friend James is the manager of both Josh Wink and Riva Star, and they were both playing that night, so we were on one of the DJ´s lists. My fav act of the night was M.A.N.D.Y, and they rocked the Terraza, playing lots of techy, deep house. I loved their set, and even better when i bumped into some worker friends of mine. It was great to catch the outside flight arena too, seeing Steve Lawler play to about 4000 people.

It was a great way to celebrate the awesome summer that we´ve had, and i loved finishing the summer on such a high.

Lifehouse 'Everything'

Lighthouse's 'Everything' is a such a powerful drama that i showed a couple of weeks ago when i preached. My talk was about how God has rescued us from darkness and brought us into the Kingdom of His son Jesus.

The drama (thanks Claire Ison for the inspiration) tells the story of Creation, when God made humankind and taught his creation to live right and dance in step with him. But it's not long before she is tempted and led astray, and walks away from God. She gets tangled up in image, starts to drink and soon gets into deep trouble, within which she cannot break free.

The whole time that she is seperated from her Father the Creator, he is watching, waiting and desperate for her to return to Him. But she is trapped, and unable to break loose. Suddenly, whilst on the edge of despair, she tries to break away but the bad stuff in her life but they take hold of her and keep her captive. After some time, God jumps in and fights on her behalf, over-powering the demons in her life. They fall away, and before you know it, she is free and safe and He dresses her in pure white.

It's such an amazing clip, and one which took my breathe away as i thought just what God has done for me. It made me cry to think that God fights for me and has done so much for me through Jesus dying on the cross for me. God has set us free in Jesus Christ.

Wow!!!

Dave the Rave

I went to a funeral yesterday to remember and celebrate a guy called Dave the Rave. I got to know him through the English speaking Church here in Ibiza. He had cancer for the last 2 years, and although he put up a strong fight against it, it eventually took him.

I hung out with him quite a bit over the winter, as he lived by himself for quite a few months and was a mad football fan. He had Sky Sports and it was always on when i popped round, and it helped that he was a HUGH Man Utd fan. I watched many a game with him in his house. He was such a gentle man, always smiling and always ready to crack a really bad joke.

He had a very colourful life, and once hearing a few stories of the things he used to do, right from a DJ on cruise ships to being a strip-o-gram, you can tell why he got his name 'Dave the Rave'.

The funeral was sad, but also full of laughs, and he would have wanted that. His coffin was drapped with a Man Utd flag, and Bob the Vicar included a few of his corney jokes, which he is famous for. It was sad, but also awesome in knowing that he is with God now, and well and safe. I'll always remember him.

Best Summer yet!

Yes, it's been forever since i last blogged. I have so many reasons for that, but now i have plenty of time to get back to doing some blogging and there is alot to catch up on.

We finished our last night out on the streets last Thursday night, which was sad. All of the main clubs have closed, with only Pacha open at the weekends, and many of the bars and clubs in San Antonio now shut for the winter. There are a few places still open, but the place is slowly becoming a bit of a ghost town. It's always odd seeing the West-end like this, as only one month ago it was still incredibly busy.

The Centre is still open, and i'm here now, and we've had one person in the whole time. Many of the workers have gone, but the few that still remain are going this week or they live here all year round.

We had our end of season meal at Villa Mercedes on Saturday. It was such a treat as we celebrated yet another amazing summer gone. The food was fab, and we had a few drinks too. That night we danced in Soul City - Yes! Soul City, as they had their closing party too. I still don't like the bumb and grind of R'n'B, but we gave it stacks for about an hour, with inspiration on how to do the grind all around us. Thankfully, we didn't copy any of them!

I promise i'll be on it with blogging, and continue to let you know what's going on.

Worship really begins when we leave our building!

My thinking about worship has been totally changed over the years thanks to the work of 24-7 Ibiza. Brian Heasley has taught many times that the work we do out on the streets isn't just to be a witness, but that it's our worship to God.

I know that a significant part of our worship (and one that we won't ever stop doing) is glorifying and honouring God by singing songs to him; each night before we begin our work we sing and glorify God and thank Him for who He is and what He's done. Yet worship is so much more than that – it has to be. It feels like our worship only truly begins when we leave our building.

The worship that takes place out on the streets of Ibiza late at night and in the early hours of the morning has got to be my favourite type of worship, and dare I say - the type I believe God is really after. It's the type of worship that is messy and dirty. Sometimes, this worship leaves you covered in someone's sick, sweat, even blood. Our worship goes even deeper when we include some of these things: we help the lost get home; we pick up people who are too drunk to walk; we listen to someone pour out their problems and concerns; we give groups of friends a free lift home when taxis won't take them, and the list could go on.

In summing up my thoughts, this is what took place a few Sundays ago. We had our usual meeting that takes place on Sunday nights in which we sung a few songs that honoured God and lifted up his name. As soon as we left the building, we found a guy who was drunk and a bit cut up and needed some help getting home, so we popped him into our van and drove him to his hotel and then Brian and myself helped him get to his hotel room. We said our goodbyes and thought how great is was that we got to help him in his time of need.

As we got back into the van and left to go home, what we did really began to sunk in: that was our spiritual act of worship right there - worship that our Father is after. It really felt that our 'service' really only began once we left the building.