CEx...wow!

Amazing, amazing times in HumSS 125 tonight as the RUCU Christianity Explored course kicked off. I was thinking before that i'd probably never been this prepared for this sort of thing before, certainly in terms of experience, but i knew that if i didn't give it all up to God, and trust His sovereinty completly, it would all go wrong. We catered for between 12-15, me in my horrible, cynical unbelief never ever believing we'd get so many...
About 20 guests turned up...which may not sound like many from a field of around 13000, but wow! It was so exciting! Every time i left the room to get more food, or more plates i came back and there were more people arriving. Me and Nicola had to run to the Union shop to get more cutlery ( we still didn't have enough, about half of us had to eat with knives) and i called Annie who was there...and from the sound in the background it was clear there were loads of people there...then i got the FEAR! I was scared. But it was great, God took away all our self assurance, all our feelings of control and complacency over the evening and made it so we had to rely on Him. Cool stuff huh? So we had the group bible study, which was Mark 2:1-12 (Ceryn, thank you SO MUCH for helping out, you're a hero) and there were some good questions, like 'was the paralytic more of a sinner?, and some very random ones for example 'are there tigers in heaven? (why is it always guys that ask these questions!?) but it was good, and the people in our group were receptive and interested. Then Rico Tice on the DVD, and then a chat about that...and then no one really wante to leave. I am so encouraged. We have a God that answers prayers in such a serious manner, such a powerful God. Praise Him that we know Him and are known by Him, we're so blessed to be believers, and its so easy to lose sight of that. I've been praying that big numbers (and i mean big!) would come to Him during events week...after tonight, i really believe it, Praise the Lord.
Then back to the Chappy to wash up, where Bridge Cell are still in the quiet room, praying and studying together, it was great to chach up with them, and just be with them for a bit as we washed up, I was so encouraged. It was great, even though washing up took nearly an hour!
And so here we are. I am blown away, encouraged and so so thankful to God for all He's doing at the moment in these guys lives. Please please pray for them, for Emma, Fran, Sian, Ruth, James, Pierre, Jools, Izzy, Jo, Kim, and goodness me, the other ten whose names i can't remember. Coming week one is hard enough, sticking with it will be even harder, the enemies going to be trying every trick in the book to reel then back in. Lets wear out our knee pads for these guys, and for the glory of the Lord...What an awesome God we have! Praise Him!