Jude Smith

Its begun then... Screaming out from the front of the "quality tabloids" this morning was a barrage of "they were asylum seekers, how ungrateful" about the second wave suicide bombers. Now lets just think shall we... what is there to be grateful about in being an asylum seeker.. So you leave a country that is treating you unjustly.. often a country created or propped up by colonialism or neo colonialism. you arrive in the UK and have to wait without being allowed to work, you are often shut away from society.. oh and you are pilloried by some newspapers that you read because you are trying to learn English. Your children are sent to schools where the discipline is not as strict as in your homeland and you despair to find them struggling to adapt. They are either bullied or they go for the lowest common denominator approach of fitting in. Eventually asylum is granted... you stay.. you hope for the best, but your children are told they don't fit, they lose th...

About twenty past one today I began to feel really quite sick. I was at the home of all peace (Turvey Abbey), praying with the interns I have been training all year. I kept going, just getting someone else to scribe.. then miraculuously my phone started buzzing. (Turvey is generally the land that Orange forgot, not today though). First an answerphone message then a text.. the text reads: more tubes evacuated & smoke coming from stations in London. And so began the afternoon. A few phonecalls to check everyone is safe and then start thinking about getting into London. All possible and fine (just walk through from Farringdon) till suddenly St Albans is shut. Aware that I need to get in so get in car, drive 15 miles to Stevenage (after having to talk to someone in Mum-stinking Bai, who clealry had no clue about whether I could use my season ticket on WAGN but cheerily told me I could get on the northern line... wrong because, a.. it starts twenty miles away and b.. some idiot ju...

Some ponderings from a few days ago. My thinking is changing. I used to think that the goal of discipleship was to become more like Jesus; a highly active process by which we stop doing things and start doing things that will eventually turn us into Jesus like people. I think where I’ve landed recently is that Jesus wants me to be more like me. The me that right in the heart of me he created, the me he knit together in my mother’s womb. And that rather than that being a striving its really more an unveiling. It’s a process by which God is allowed to remove some of the myriad layers of rubbish that have built up masking the real me. What he wants to do is reveal the beauty of the real me. The question is will I let him do it? Will I allow God to remove my many layers of hardness and mask.. and what does that look like? I guess the alarming thing is that it might look quite like what I have just rejected.. it might mean giving things up and talking others up. There are almost defini...

Two weeks in.. its quite hard this malarky I made week one OK, with £0.90 left over. This week's thirty quid went much quicker: £8 on a round of drinks, £5.30 on a meal, £4 on foody bits, £2.70 on a boots meal deal, £5 on a theatre ticket, £4.20 on lunch. Have about 80p left over. (thanks Linda for food left in BR!! life saver!) But then this week. £10 had to go on petrol, if I buy Harry Potter thats £7.50, spent £2 on lunch and £2 on coffee going out yesterday.. that leaves me about £9 for the rest of the week, and I need to buy things like tea. I think the Sainsburys rewards might have to come out this week. And then theres next week! I want to try and go to the Athletics on Friday (£15), and will need to buy stuff to take on this kids camp.. will I make it? The challenge will be about eating whats in!!! Or fasting lots! Anyway thats that bit of external processing done! The thing thats coming through is that I can do this for a month because of the flex I have in not b...

Think this photo has to be the image of last week...

Hello Just a quick one.. first a job seekers update: I've now spent, £13.40. We had a meal out ala pub as part of the boiler retreat, and I bought the Guardian yesterday. The weekend was pretty cheap- wedding= free food, free lunch of Sunday.. the rest ios finishing off whats in the fridge (bought a while ago using spare change). Am off to Edinburgh tomorrow so will see how that goes. Talking of which: I fly up tomorrow early, so have a whole day to try and get arrested.. though its a risk cos I want to be released as we've got tickets for the final Live8 gig. Am very excited to find Embrace on the bill! Also will be good to see Snow Patrol, and the amazing James Brown! Just got back from a wonderful two days with other Boiler room leaders from around the world. It was amazing!!! For a start it was at Turvey Abbey: one of my favourite places in the world. Was lovely to see Brs Tom, John and Herbert.. great to be at Compline. Will blog more about the profound reali...

What a day: lets face it Live8 was pretty spectacular! I caught bits in between a wedding and hanging out with friends (more on the wedding later). But one little snippet caught my ear during the day: it was Gordon Brown. I only caught a wee bit so could be a tad wrong but it seems to me that he was talking a LOT about trade justice. Now, yes, he was talking at a Christian Aid gathering but good on him for sticking his neck out. Do pray for him this week. He is going to be the most radical voice in the room at the G8. Pray that he gets a real voice. He may never make it to being prime minister. He may miss out on his big ambition, maybe what he perceives to be his destiny. Only the less mainstream books may remember his name in thirty years: but it is just possible that Gordon Brown could genuinely change history this week. He could be another Wilberforce. Incidentally to his main aim in life, he may just be used of God to be the bringer of Jubilee. Pray for him this week.

Did I ever blog about living off the equalivalent of job seekers allowance for a month? Well I am and it starts today! Jobseekers allowance for a single person is £55 (plus housing and CT benefit). With my bills taken out, at a guess of £20 a week, that leaves me, £35 a week for food, clothes and going out! I know some of you live on this anyway (and actually much less), and thats partly why I am doing it. My spending has gotten flabby and needs to stop! So today (despite being VERY tempted by a latte on the way in to work) I have spent 80p. I have probably also given myself slight food poisoning by eating some old samosas I found in the fridge. But if I have poisoned myself I will save money.. won't be able to eat for a couple of days! The dilemma will come over the weekend: have a wedding tomorrow, might want to do cinema at some point.. hmmm.. Will keep you posted.

Wow.. we caught a preview of this last night and oh my was it absorbing. It could well just be that I needed to be absorbed in something but this was a winner of every count.. I can't really analyse it too much.. all I can say is... fear count: for about 80 out of 117 minutes cry count: two laugh count: maybe half youthworker/ preacher good bits count: 4-5 go see again count: yes need i say more