Connected May 2011
The Youth Mailing for Blackburn Diocese
’Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out’ Psalm 55:22
This term is always a hard one in the life of those at school or college or university particularly because it’s exam season. Having said that, every term now seems to be exam season but this term more than any other feels more stressful. I think that this is partly due, as well as the exam stress, to the thought that this is the end of something. It might just be the end of one school year to the next but for many it is the end of your time in one particular place and you will be thinking about what comes next. In times like this, it can be helpful to look at the Psalms and be inspired by those people of God who faced enormous trials and hardships and yet still could praise Him. The conclusion to the Psalm quoted above is ‘But as for me, I trust in you’ - a determination that whatever life throws at us, and whatever else other people are doing, we will still trust in God. Recently, we ran the Confirmation Camp for young people at Hothersall Lodge and one of the activities I was conned into doing was climbing an enormous tree (probably the biggest in the world) and sliding off a tiny ledge attached to a thin rope. It is at times like this that I offer desperate prayers of trust and hope that I will once again feel the ground beneath my feet. That feeling of fear of being at the end of a ledge, not really being sure that the rope is strong enough to hold you is a feeling that some of you might have at this time. I hope that during this term, you will take time out from revision and thinking about the future and turn to God’s word and be fed by Him through it. I also hope that the activities and events that we have planned that are highlighted in this mailing will offer the opportunity for you to have some fun, meet up with other Christians and ultimately lead you to experience and worship God.
Craig
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