It’s a jolly Holi Day!

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The Hindu festival of Holi (in Sanskrit: होली ) is currently being celebrated. This festival is known for its vibrant colours; and indeed it is also called the ‘festival of colours’ or the ‘festival of love’. The festival celebrates the end of winter and the start of spring and represents the triumph of good over evil. On this day hindus focus on the day as a time to have fun, celebrate, play, laugh, forget the wrongs of the past, forgive and repair broken relationships. It is also a time for people to give thanks for a good harvest.

The festival lasts for two days, starting on Sunday 12th March this year, and ending on Monday 13th of March.

After all of the fun flinging coloured powder and water at each other, people clean themselves up in the evening and go visit friends and family.

In reading up about Holi and its traditions and the stories associated with it, I couldn’t but help think of the scripture in Ecclesiastes 3, which states that “He [God] has also set eternity in the human heart“. When I look at other faiths from around the globe, and even some films that are being madetoday, I am aware of echoes and hints of the gospel that are being displayed. Hints and touches that show that God’s great story of redemption and love through His Son Jesus is in some way resonating in every human heart, even if they do not fully know or understand it.

Jesus is the one who overcame evil with good on the cross. Jesus is the one who saves us from the fires of judgement. It is through Jesus that we are forgiven and by His presence and power in our lives that we are able to forgive others. Jesus repaired the broken relationship that mankind had with God. And Jesus is God’s love in action. God’s love revealed.

In his book “The lion, witch and the wardrobe“, C.S. Lewis writes “Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.” In this allegory, Aslan represents Jesus; and Jesus takes away the death of winter to replace it with the celebration of new life, the celebration of spring.

As regards the festival of colour; what is more colourful than a rainbow?

In the story of Noah we have God promising to not flood the earth again, and for the rainbow to be the sign of God’s faithfulness to us. Also in the book of Revelation, when John sees the throne in heaven he describes the following “And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.” – Revelation 4:3. Jesus, the King of kings is encircled by a rainbow as He sits triumphant on His throne.

In fact, for us as Christians, the great celebration that we are looking forward to is when Christ returns, triumphant and takes us to be with Him. It is at this great harvest at the end of the age where we will be singing our praise and thanks to God for redeeming and delivering us. It will be a time where the past is forgotten. Indeed God Himself will wipe away every tear. It will be a time full of colour, love, forgiveness, restoration. All other celebrations, such as a wedding celebration, are but shadows of what is to come.

So on this day when many people around the world are celebrating Holi; let us celebrate our great Saviour, Redeemer, Lover, Forgiver, Friend and King – Jesus!

It’s all about Him and it will always be about Him!

Be blessed!

 

Safety First!

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This coming Monday 20th of March at Llandudno Youth for Christ we will be holding our next Monthly Meet. This is a great free training night for youth workers, church leaders and parents. We cover a wide variety of youth work related topics, such as the recent session we covered with Andy Hughes (Director of Urban Saints Wales) about how to connect young people with the church.

This was a great evening, with lots of thought provoking discussion and great resourcing for all that attended.

These are great evenings for all that come to them.

Not only do you get great training for free, but we also provide hot tea, herbal tea, coffee & hot chocolate; plus a plethora of snacks, fruit & biscuits. There is also free parking at the event’s venue: Ty Llywelyn Community Centre in Llandudno.

It is well worth coming along to these events, especially this months.

This month we will be holding our annual ‘Safeguarding & Child Protection Made Simple‘ training evening. The event will start at 7pm and be finished by 9pm. It is definitely something you should think about coming to if you work with young people in a youth club, church etc.

It is important to be kept up to date with safeguarding, especially as those who work with young people.

We know how importantly Jesus regarding looking after, honouring and keeping young people safe. “At that time the followers came to Jesus. They said, “Who is the greatest in the holy nation of heaven?” Jesus took a little child and put him among them. He said,“For sure, I tell you, unless you have a change of heart and become like a little child, you will not get into the holy nation of heaven. Whoever is without pride as this little child is the greatest in the holy nation of heaven. Whoever receives a little child because of Me receives Me. But whoever is the reason for one of these little children who believe in Me to fall into sin, it would be better for him to have a large rock put around his neck and to be thrown into the sea….Be sure you do not hate one of these little children. I tell you, they have angels who are always looking into the face of My Father in heaven.” – Matthew 18:1-10

So let us get trained up and resourced to look after and protect the young people we are working with and helping to grow in their faith. Come along to our next Monthly Meet on Monday 20th of March at 7pm; Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, Ffordd Yr Orsedd, Llandudno, LL30 1LA.

We hope to see you there!

Walrus cruise anyone?

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Hi all, just a quick post about a great opportunity coming up this Easter holidays.

The Walrus Cruise; a Christian voluntary organisation which provides sailing holidays for boys and girls from the ages of 13 to 18; is having their Easter Cruise this year between the 8th and 15th of April, and they still have spaces available for this great adventure holiday opportunity.

The Walrus Cruise started in 1924 and today operates on the inland waterways of the Norfolk Broads and the coastal waters of the Western Isles of Scotland. It’s aim is help young people explore, grow and develop in their Christian faith.

The first official cruise took place when Joe & Bill Church took five teenage boys on a single yacht, way back in 1924. At the time that the first cruise took place, each of the local boatmen who earned a living on the water used to wear a distinctive drooping moustache that made him look a bit like a bull walrus., this inspired the name for the cruise.

Despite many changes to the types of yachts used over the years and the technological improvements that have been made to the yachts; the cruises still provide a challenging environment where each person can have great fun and, at the same time, learn more about themselves and their faith.

Many of Jesus’ first disciples were young men and teenagers who worked on the Sea of Galilee and were aware of the rigours and challenges of working on the water. One of them even walked on the water with Jesus.

I love it how God can speak to us so well through the world around us, and personally, having grown up on the island of Anglesey, I have a strong affinity for the water, and love sailing, so I can understand how this adventure holiday can really be a life-changing experience for those that decide to step aboard a Walrus Cruise.

If you want to have an adventure this Easter, deepen your faith, and learn great skills that will be with you for the rest of your life, then why not consider checking out the Walrus Cruise.

 

 

God is…faithful

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After our half-term break at Llandudno Youth for Christ, we are rearing to get back into all of our various events. On Thursday 2nd of March, one day after we celebrated St David’s Day, we will be holding our first Reverb Youth Space after school drop-in at 4pm. Then this coming Sunday night at 6pm we will be holding our Sunday evening Bible study; ‘Redefine‘ where we will be getting back into our ‘God is..‘ series.

This coming Sunday’s topic is one that we have all been looking forward to doing. ‘God is a promise keeping God‘.

We will be looking at how God is faithful and keeps His promises.

We will be looking at covenant, and specifically the new covenant that Jesus made for us. “While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying,“Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” – Matthew 26:26-28

Jesus is God’s faithfulness revealed in all its fullness. God promised to deliver and save His people so many times in the past; and in Jesus we have our great deliverance revealed and fulfilled.

God has truly saved and delivered His people in and through Jesus.

As this great song by the worship group ‘Housefires‘ sings, all of God’s promises are ‘Yes and Amen‘. Yes and Amen in Jesus and in Him alone.

As we continue to work with young people in this area, sharing God’s love and faithfulness. Sharing the good news of Jesus, please continue to support us in prayer, with your time and with finances. Please pray that this coming Sunday the young people will really grasp the truth that God is faithful. God is trustworthy. In a world of shifting sands and shaking institutions, shaking ground. a world of turbulence and uncertainty, may they know the One who is the only solid rock. The only firm and steady ground. Jesus.

Be blessed!

 

 

 

16% and counting!

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Yay! A massive thank you to everyone who has sponsored our centre director Tim Gough thus far on his journey to doing an insanely high bungee jump to raise funds for the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ!

We have raised as of 12pm on Monday 27th of February a total of £824.40!!!!! Wow!

That is all on the short space of 3 weeks since Tim set-up our give.net webpage that people can make donations for the jump to.

3 weeks along and we already have reached 16% of our target amount!

Give yourselves a well earned pat on the back.

Thank you!

We have 5 months to go before Tim launches himself into the air, connected by a bungee cord to a platform. He will travel 400ft in just over 5 seconds and reach the staggering speed of 90 miles per hour!

Yes, on Friday 28th of July Tim will be taking the plunge!

So we have 150 days left to raise the remaining 84%….

Let’s get our friends and family involved in supporting this crazy, but worthwhile fundraising endeavour!

Interestingly when I was researching a little bit about the number 16, it turns out that in the ‘Periodic Table’ in group 16 are the ‘Chalcogen’ group of elements, also known as the ‘Oxygen family‘. In this group are polonium, tellurium, selenium, sulfur & oxygen. As we all know, Oxygen is essential for life, with human tissue containing 16% oxygen.

This amazing fundraising is an important part of the work we do at LLYFC, and just as we are grateful everyday for God’s gift of oxygen in our lungs, we are grateful to all of our amazing supporters who uphold us in prayer, with their time and with much needed finance; such as the £824.40 raised thus far for Tim’s Big Jump!

Small beginnings are not to be despised; and we will be in awe of what God does through Tim’s act of daring. Indeed, let’s aim high and believe God for an abundant above and beyond result to this sponsorship event!

“After that, the Word of God came to me: “Zerubbabel started rebuilding this Temple and he will complete it. That will be your confirmation that God-of-the-Angel-Armies sent me to you. Does anyone dare despise this day of small beginnings? They’ll change their tune when they see Zerubbabel setting the last stone in place!” – Zechariah 4:8-10

“ I pray that you will know the love of Christ. His love goes beyond anything we can understand. I pray that you will be filled with God Himself. God is able to do much more than we ask or think through His power working in us. May we see His shining-greatness in the church. May all people in all time honour Christ Jesus. Let it be so.” – Ephesians 3:19-21

Be blessed!

“There’s a wind a blowin’…”

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As Storm Doris hits the UK with it’s full force of gales and lashing rain; I couldn’t but think of the line from the David Ruis worship song ‘Sweet Wind‘ – “There’s a wind a blowin’…” Though the wind from Storm Doris is not as pleasant as the ‘sweet wind’ of God’s presence that David Ruis describes; I think the Psalmist in Psalm 29 accurately describes the power and majesty of our God; a power that immeasurably dwarfs the gusts and blows of the storm we are currently going through.

Indeed, when feeling buffeted and blown about by life’s troubles and turmoils, there is no safer haven than in the arms of the One at whose voice, the very wind and sea is stilled. It is safe with ‘Jesus, lover of my soul‘ that we can feel secure, knowing that He is stronger than the wind and the rain of life’s circumstances that can beat against our souls.

Thinking about this reminds me of another song that God used to help me through a difficult period of my life; Third Day’s ‘When the rain comes.‘ God spoke to me so clearly by saying that He would be with me every step of the way.

It is so great that because of Jesus, we now can come to God whenever and wherever with whatever is on our hearts.  The way is now open, it is a new and living way, through Jesus. God is with us now, and prayer (talking to God) is such an awesome privilege.

Especially when going through life’s storms.

We are not alone.

He is with us in the storm.

This coming Sunday 26th February we will be having our monthly prayer meeting at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, Ffordd Yr Orsedd, Llandudno, LL30 1LA; 7-8pm.

We hope you can come and join us to pray for the work that God is doing in the lives of young people in North Wales.

Let’s not be discouraged by life’s storms, but let us meet together and talk with the great storm stiller, Jesus.

Be blessed!

 

What a ‘Tee-Riffic’ idea!

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No, I assure you, I have not mis-spelled the word ‘terrific‘. It is just one of my infamous ‘puns’. I’m linking the title of this post to the fact that here at Llandudno Youth for Christ, we have just launched a truly ‘Tee-Riffic‘ idea. We now have a great resource for people to be able to buy T-Shirts with thought provoking messages on them, or with the logos for some of the events we run, such as ‘Redefine‘ our Sunday evening Bible Study, and ‘Reverb‘ our Thursday evening after-school drop-in. You can check it out here.

Each T-Shirt is sourced from fairtrade factories and made lovingly by hand with only organic materials.

When you buy a T-Shirt, you will be helping to support the work that we do at Llandudno Youth for Christ, and also, when you wear the T-Shirt you will be a living walking billboard, letting people know about what we do too.

Like the Apostle Paul says when defending his ministry to the critics, the people who have benefitted from the work he did are the best credentials he has for what God has been doing through his life’s work: “Neither do we need letters of endorsement, either to you or from you. You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it—not with ink, but with God’s living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives—and we publish it.” – 2 Corinthians 3:1-3.

We hope you like this ‘Tee-Riffic‘ idea, and that you will support it by purchasing a T-Shirt and wearing it, or maybe get one as a gift for a friend.

Another ‘Tee-Riffic‘ idea that our centre director Tim Gough has had is to do a sponsored bungee jump from the highest bungee jumping off point in the UK – and he doesn’t like heights or flying!!! You can sponsor this ‘Tee-Riffic‘ act of bravery here.

Finally, we have another ‘Tee-Riffic‘ resource for raising funds for the work we do at LLYFC. It is our Reverb Saturday Cafe @ St John’s Methodist Church on Mostyn Street in Llandudno. This is a great way for us to raise both funds and awareness of the work we do. It is also a great place for people in our community to meet up over a nice slice of yummy cake and a hot cup of tea or coffee. It is a really popular venue for people to meet up at. However, due to its popularity, we are needing some more volunteers to help us out with this.  So if you want to do something ‘Tee-Riffic‘ this year, perhaps you would consider joining the Reverb Saturday Cafe Team.

We think that would be a truly ‘Tee-Riffic‘ thing to do.

“If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favour: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.” – Philippians 2:1-4

Be Blessed!

“What is love?”

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I’m sure some people after reading the title of this blog post are singing out loud or at least in their heads the tune of the 1993 song ‘What is love?’ by Haddaway. But it is not the song that prompted this blog post, rather, it is because last night at ‘Redefine‘, our Sunday evening young person’s Bible study, we held a joint meeting with pupils of St David’s College in one of their halls.

The topic of the night, given that this Tuesday is Valentine’s day: February 14th, was ‘What is love?’

With so many songs written about love, like the Haddaway one, it must be something important to us, to humanity; but what is it? Why do we spend so much time, money and effort on this thing called love?

Our centre director Tim Gough gave a great short talk about what love is from a Christian perspective, after giving the young people time to discuss amongst themselves what they thought love was.

Some of the answers were, love for animals, love for food, love for family; but we still had no clarity on what love is.

So, we turned to the Bible, specifically John 3:16. Tim spoke of how God is the creator and originator of love. If we want to know what love is, and what it is all about, then we need to go to its inventor, its creator to find out what it really is.

As 1 John 4:8 says, ‘God is love‘. So everything that love truly is, God is; and “This is how God showed his love to us: He sent his one and only Son into the world so that we could have life through him. This is what real love is: It is not our love for God; it is God’s love for us. He sent his Son to die in our place to take away our sins.” – 1 John 4:9-10.

So this Valentine’s day with all of its roses, fluffy hearts and trinkets, remember what love truly is. God sending His only Son Jesus to die in our place on a cross. Let us say a big thank you to Him for His great love for us. If you want a love song for Valentine’s day; check out Matt Redman’s ‘This is how we know.” There is also an explanation of the background to the song here.

We hope you have a great Valentine’s day; and even if you do not receive a single card through the mail; don’t forget that the Creator of the Universe loves you.

Be Blessed!

Tim’s Big Jump (Update!)

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400FT, 90MPH, 5SECONDS

Those are figures that our centre director at Llandudno Youth for Christ has given for his upcoming charity bungee jump.

Tim will be jumping 400ft towards the ground, travelling at 90mph and it will take just over 5 seconds for him to do this!

Insane?!

No, just passionate about what we are doing here at Llandudno Youth for Christ to see young lives impacted and changed by the good news of Jesus.

Like the amazing men and women mentioned in the book of Hebrews; Tim is fiercely believes in the God He serves, and wants to see more and more people come into relationship with Him. He is taking a massive step of faith with this. Check out the video on our sponsorship page: http://www.llandudnoyfc.com/timsbigjump/ and if you too, like Tim want to see many more young people’s lives changed forever with God’s love, then please donate and support Tim’s Big Jump.

Take a leap of faith today!

Angels Unawares!?

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Back in July of 2016; we posted the following blog post: http://www.llandudnoyfc.com/2016/07/20/angels-needed-for-heavens-kitchen-reverb-stjohns-cafe/ to advertise our need for more volunteers at the Reverb @ St John’s Saturday Cafe that we run at St John’s Methodist Church on Mostyn Street in Llandudno.

The response was great and we had new volunteers join this team of fun loving people who really enjoy serving their community with great food & drink.

Once again we find ourselves in need of some more volunteers for this great venture that not only brings joy to so many people, but also provides much needed financial funds for the work that Llandudno Youth for Christ does in reaching into the community and the schools in our area with the good news; seeing lives impacted and changed for the better.

I chose the title ‘Angel unawares’ from the scripture in the book of Hebrews “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” – Hebrews 13:2 (KJV). This is due to its encouragement for us to be hospitable to others; as the Apostle Peter says; “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.” – 1 Peter 4:9 (NIV).

Hospitality and being hospitable to others is a great way to demonstrate God’s love to those around us; “Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him;
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light will break out like the dawn, and your recovery will speedily spring forth;
and your righteousness will go before you; the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.” – Isaiah 58:6-8.

At the Reverb @ St John’s Cafe we create a safe place for people to meet; to chat, to relax, to unwind and to be served with grace and love.

We would love it, if you feel that you can step into the gap and be a much needed and highly valued member of the Saturday Cafe team, if you would drop us a line and let us know.

Come aboard and let’s serve our community through the Cafe; and who knows, you might even serve ‘angels unawares‘.

Be blessed!