Post-Camp blues :(

This weekend I attended my annual church youth camp.  I was despondent towards it at first, with the worry that I would not have many friends, but I suck it up.  As expected from the title of this post, this camp was truly amazing! Sixty-two people attended it, majority being high school scholars, and the weekend was filled with life, joy and excitement.  It brought back such beautiful memories of the many leadership and confirmation camps that I went to during high school, but many, or probably most of those camps that I went to, were in the hope that my crush was going too. Having grown up since then, and learning that no love received from any man is greater than the love received from God, I truly enjoyed this experience.  We grew closer more than ever, as a youth camp, regardless of age.
I have been experiencing many struggles with sin and hurt lately, and the title of this camp was Grace.  A lot of the messages had to do with facing the giants in our life and handing them over to God to take hold of them.  God shows me His grace daily, not by "letting me off" for my sin, but also for His dedication to me, even when He is far from my thoughts.
One of my favourite moments was letting go of lanterns like they do at the Thailand lantern festival.  Just letting go of those four lanterns, instead of the thousands let off at this festival, filled me with such a delight. This festival is something that I would absolutely love to see! I can't imagine anything being more beautiful...and it is such a pure and perfect image of what can happen in our lives if we hand our worries and giants over to our God.  It's like placing your problem in the lantern, filling it with hot air and letting it float up to the heavens where it will be taken care of :)

I am also truly amazed at how God can work in young lives.  I wish that I could have been the kind of believer that some of the older scholars are...some of them have just accepted that having God is the only way to live and their faith is unmovable.  I yearn for the kind of trust that some of them have...

1 Timothy 4:12
Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity

God is simply great and I want nothing more than to make Him proud. I can only hope that others can see the kind of life that He has to offer when we accept Him into our hearts.

 

Aaaand I'm back

It has been more than long enough since I have posted...the holiday clearly got to me, but this post is most definitely an appropriate one for a comeback :D

Desmond and the Tutus!!!!

Yes, this amazing South African band graced us with their presence in Grahamstown this past Friday when they performed in the union.  I have always been a fan of their music, but this was honestly one of the greatest nights that I have experienced in a tragically long time.  The lead singer, Shane, is just too odd to describe, yet I'll give it a go: he shakes his long, lush, brown hair as he sings, but not in that annoying heavy metal sort-of-way.  And calling him "alternative" is just too cliche' and he would probably be extremely insulted.  His voice is probably what makes him, it's thrilling and bouncy (the first word that came to my head).  One may think he actually cannot sing because of his odd vocal techniques, but do not be fooled, when he gets down to a good old "normal" song, his voice is melodious.

The entire night was just filled with fun! The mosh pit got a bit out of hand, but I was bruise-less when I arrived and departed from Union, so I don't really see the problem.  The crowd was crazy, but not in that I'm-so-drunk-I-don't-know-where-I-am-nor-even-care-who-this-band-is-but-I'll-dance-anyway vibe. EVERYONE knew the songs and were genuinely excited to see the actual musicians!  I bought myself their band t-shirt to add to my collection.  R180 is pretty steep, but I was convinced in buying one when the band members did a role-play in the middle of their set to advertise their merchandise.  It was just too sweet to resist.

If you do not know this magical band, start knowing them because they are just too awesomely different to not give a hoot.

Ellie Goulding must just come to South Africa already!!!

So I haven't posted in quite a long time, but while I was "studying" for english tonight I was listening to the new Ellie Goulding album on YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAg6tA4y-uA.  First off this album is awesome - give it a listen!! Secondly, I came across some acoustic versions of Ellie and my girl crush for this artist just increased dramatically.  I've always been quite a major fan, but when I watched these acoustic versions, primarily the ryan seacrest ones, that all changed.  The way that she sings and controls her voice is the perfect representation of why I have such a passion for singing and playing guitar.  I can just see it in her eyes that she is feeling what I feel when I sing one of my favourite songs.  More than that, she's just such an inspiration.  Her voice is so unique and her training is insane! So give them a listen and add Ellie to your top 5 at the very least :)

Some things about Ellie: She loves cheese, she's ambidextrous, she loves to run, she taught herself guitar at 14, she sang at the recent royal wedding, she loves to buy people books and alcohol for their birthdays and her favourite Christmas movie is The Snowman.  

Calling All Fleetwood Mac Fans :D

Fleetwood Mac is one of my favouriteeeeest bands!! So much so that I cannot wait to name my daughter Stevie...much to everyone's dismay...perhaps I'll name my son Nick too :P

My friend, Gaby, introduced this song to me today and I'm in love...I've been playing it on repeat.  It is a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams".
I'm sure most people know the band Bastille, but the female vocalist I do not recognise.  Her name is Gabrielle Aplin and her vocal range in this song is stunning oh my word!!!

This prompted me to research Gabrielle Aplin on Youtube and I came across her original song "Home". It is simply beautiful. Aaah I love her voice!! And she is our age, pretty cool :D

Take a look at Dreams and Home :)

Tuesday's Happy Song

ZEBRA AND GIRAFFE :D

One of my favourite South African bands of all time! I have been a devout fan since mid high school and their song "Fixation Girl" was what my iPod chose to play to me this morning to wake me up. I am very proud of my collection of fan photos with the band :)

Click to play "Fixation Girl" - Zebra and Giraffe

Pappa Samuel's second session of treatment

Tomorrow, my dad will be going for his second session of chemotherapy.  In all honesty it has been anything, but easy.  He is experiencing plenty of the side effects including depression, weight loss, extreme nausea and stomach pain.  I do believe that the only thing keeping him going is his faith, positivism and family/friend support, but there's not many things more horrible than seeing your dad in that kind of state.  My dad is an extreme optimist and he has made use of this trait to bring us up.  One of his favourite things to say to us when we are down or stressed is "take on day at a time and one step at a time". So besides its terrible cheesiness, I am dedicating "One step at a time" by Jordin Sparks to my dad's journey. I remember it being on the radio as we drove out of Grahamstown after dropping my older sister off for her first year of varsity.  My dad phoned her and placed the phone microphone next to the car radio speaker.  That's something I've always remembered, so perhaps that means it may have been good advice.

So, this is a dedication to my Pappa Samuel. Hopefully we can invest in a beanie...I'm not sure the turban-look works so well for him...

That's not Christian...

When I was in Grade 9, I decided to get confirmed at my local church, Nahoon Methodist Church. I'm one of those that was brought up in a Christian home and sort of wandered around aimlessly in this kind of lifestyle.  I decided to be confirmed, because  my sister had been, two years earlier and it simply seemed like the right thing to do.  I cannot say that confirmation was the sole breaking point for me when I realised that I was looking at Christianity as a religion and not as a relationship with God.  Because I have had many situations concerning suffering and pain that has showed me God's love.  However, confirmation was definitely a part of that and one of the greatest influences that guided me in my confirmation journey, was my youth leader.  He was such a typical teenager, even though he was ten years older than me.  He was the last of everyone that I expected to be a leader in the church, but it was because of his unconventionality that showed me how cool of a guy, God is.   Darrel, my youth leader, showed me that Christianity is not full of rules and demands and that expressing one's love for God through the act of worship can be done in any way that you like.  He showed my fellow confirmees and me that God likes it when we put ourselves into our worship and so, if you fall asleep while singing hymns where every secondeth wordeth endseth with the letters "eth" then God is all for you spicing it up a bit :)  I've continued to see God in a new light throughout my life.  Some odd things can happen when it comes to God: He can manifest gems or gold dust can start falling from the ceiling or appear on people as they are praying/worshiping.  A friend of mine asked the His People pastor why God causes these things to happen and the short answer is, cause He can.  My dad always tells me that God has a sense of humour and He likes to have fun with us too.  The pastor picked up a coin, pressed it against the wall and then prayed.  The coin stuck to the wall. When I saw this for myself, I was like "WHY?"  Sticking coins on to walls is not going to help anything...but the reality is you can never put God in a box and He doesn't want to box us either.  So, if we want to tell God that He is awesome by sticking a coin on to a wall or screaming out his name in our heavy metal band, then He thinks that is just awesome!

Below are some awesome songs that many would expect to be anything, but Christian.
If none are of your interest, at least listen to the Underoath one the whole way through :)

God manifests gold dust during worship.