Florida revival

I first heard about this from my 'crush', Steve. He's just sent me a text today saying 16 people so far have been raised from the dead, the latest being a black girl whose family put a voodoo curse on her. She was killed by a demonic spirit and was dead for about 45 minutes. People were praying for her, and then she says she saw a bright light appear and she came back to life!

A little background,
There is a mighty move of God's Spirit at Fresh Fire Ministries Church in Lakeland, Florida that's been going on for a few weeks. People from all over the world are travelling there in DROVES to get healed or to have a fresh touch of God (I NEED THAT!!) A couple of our senior pastors have gone out there this week, hoping to get an impartation to bring back to St B's. Last Sunday, during the service, they played a YouTube clip from Florida which fit in very nicely with the sermon on the 'Fullness of God'. John (the preacher) challenged us afterwards saying "Have we seen the fullness of God here yet?"

We then just all started crying out to God for "More!!"
What I loved about it was that it wasn't gimmicky. There was no band to play music to stir up our emotions. John asked that those who had a need should raise their hands, and those nearby prayed for them. I felt really convicted about my sins (especially selfishness) and then felt an urgent prompting to get away. Now every Sunday, on my way home from church, I drive past my nephews' house and never stop. I've always justified this by saying that I'm not good with kids and feel awkward around them. That day I noticed that the light was on in his mom's car, so I had an excuse to knock on the door to tell her to switch if off in case battery went flat. This was followed by 15 glorious minutes of visiting with them. My nephew was excited and showed me his new 'Gormiti' card collection, and when I was leaving gave me a big hug. We've made a date for today and as soon as I've posted this, I'm off to see him.
It is a minor thing for most people I know, but for me it's been a real struggle to be in a relationship with my relatives. I feel like I do not connect with them...that they don't really like me. I need to get over this whole 'I don't like children' thing. Indirectly, I am beginnng to feel the effects of the Florida revival.

Why should the devil have all the good tunes?

This is one of my favourite quotes by Martin Luther, the German monk, theologian and church reformer whose ideas inspired the Protestant Reformation. He said this in defence of his practice and encouragement of contrafacta – the German Protestant Reformation practice of setting sacred texts to the tunes of secular songs.

I remember what first drew me to Christianity was the music. Unlike the hymns I’d grown up listening to, the songs and choruses sung by the Pentecostals were fresh, lively, upbeat and relevant. I now recognise that God’s Spirit was speaking and drawing me to a place where I would finally meet with Jesus in a way that changed my life forever.

As a new Christian, I was told that secular entertainment including music was bad as it did not glorify God, and that I should only listen to ‘Christian’ music. At the time there was this Christian documentary going around called ‘Hells Bells’ whose basic premise was - all rock music is satanic and anti Christian. So in obedience I destroyed my secular music collection and resolved to only listen to music by Christian artists. This made for very slim pickings and for some reason Christian CD’s are very expensive. Gospel and contemporary Christian music (which is really soft rock) seemed to be the only available music for Christians...
I’ve stopped pretending to like it.

I like dance music and I like clubbing- the atmosphere, strobe lighting, the wild abandon and energy with which people dance and easy camaraderie between fellow clubbers. I have been known to dance non-stop in a club the whole night!


Surely I should be dancing like this in church, with all my might before the Lord, just like David did that time when he brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:14).

There’s a deep house music tune by Dennis Ferrer that I love called “Church Lady” which has a wicked chorus “Glory, Halleluiah, let them show you the way.” I’m the one in the middle of the dance floor waving my hands and shouting out the choruslike a crazy woman.
There is a darker side to clubbing- drugs, alcohol abuse, sometimes violence, lust, predators etc, but wouldn’t it be great if we could reclaim this area for God and use it to worship Him in a style of music, that some of us can fully engage in, without compromising?


I discovered yesterday that there were others in my church who felt the same way.

Katie invited me to be one of the organisers for Digital Cathedral - an event to be held in October where we will worship God using creative arts technology associated with dance music and club culture. We had our first planning yesterday. As we went around the group introducing ourselves and highlighting our particular skills, I was overcome with feelings of inadequacy. Not sure why Katie asked me to be a part of this. Herself and Bridget have lovely singing voices, and can write lyrics. Julie is the administrator, Nigel and James the DJ’s. As I listened to everyone, my heart started racing and I racked my brains to figure out what skills I could bring to the table. When it was my turn I came up with “… bundles of enthusiasm?’
Hopefully, I will have a more substantial contribution by the time we have our first real workshop. In the meantime I will be involved in research for different venues, listening to God for direction. Prayer points - a free club venue, creative ideas, keep focus on God,

Rome and my Italian Regazzo (young man)

Rome trip was actually quite good! Don't know why I was stressing out about it. The organiser did a brilliant job - finding a suitable apartment in the city centre and hiring taxis to collect and drop us off at the airport.
I've visited Rome a couple of times before, so sightseeing was not high on my list of priorities. The aim was to practice my Italian, and sample the club scene. Unfortunately, my travelling companions had a taste for the expensive restaurants and bars. They also did not drink wine, preferring cocktails- which kind of scuppered my plans of splitting the cost of a wine bottle. (the cheaper option)

About the Regazzo...He approached us while we were queueing outside Anima club, which is off the Piazza Novona. Despite the fact that it was full he managed to get us in. The music was good, so I started dancing with Chris (who isn't a very good dancer). When the rest of the group joined us on the floor my Ragazzo made his move... in a clever way. Once he'd established that Chris was not my boyfriend, he pulled out some salsa moves which ended in a tight embrace. We stayed that way and slowdanced, talking for the rest of the evening. As we were almost the same height, we leant in close to hear each other over the loud pumping music... He is 30, a media studies graduate, and moonlights as a busker (plays guitar) on weekends at the Spanish Steps. He's studied jazz dancing and sometimes works as a martial arts instructor. (read... nice body) His chat up lines however left a lot to be desired

"I love the smell of your skin"!!!

Not the first time I've heard this from an Italian. Either I have a really nice body odour, or they actually think this is a romantic line!!! He explained that in Italy it means he loves me (most likely lust ) and tried several times to kiss me. However, my lips were firmly out of range - and he got the cheek!! What I liked about him though is that he was confident, sociable and afterwards earned brownie points by making it his responsibility to get us back to our apartment safely. Sooo macho - I liked that. We exchanged numbers.

The next evening we went to Caruso club in Travestere for the Cuban Salsa evening. He showed up with a bevy of friends - one for each of my travelling companions, including a couple of Russian girls he had met that day at the Steps "I bring them for your friend, Chris" Awww!

I thought to myself, for just one evening let me pretend that he is my boyfriend. Of course I know he was only after sex - I may be a virgin, but I'm not naive -but it felt really nice to have some male attention, be treated like a woman and not 'one of the guys' for a change. He suggested going up to the terrace for 'fresh air', where we proceeded to snog for what seemed like ages! The 'sex' question came up, and I was like "No"

"Why you say, "No!" so quickly. Don't you like me?"

"You're a nice guy, but that is just not going to happen. Just because I kiss you doesn't mean I am going to sleep with you"

Afterwards he told one of my friends that I was bit difficult. Must have come as a shock to him because black girls in Italy have a reputation for being 'easy'.The weird thing is... I didn't enjoy the snogging and felt like a spectator- going through the motions but completely not turned on! Was a bit worried that I might be frigid or something but I've thought it over since and reached this conclusion: For once my body and my head are in total agreement. If I am to have sex, it will only be within the context of a meaningful relationship - which to me is nothing short of marriage. I must admit that my virginity acts as a control. It is a rare and precious thing in this modern age, and I want to give it as a gift to the man who marries me - not just casually throw it away on someone I met randomly in a night club.

I wonder whether there is a virgin out there for me?? sigh

I stood him up the next day - because I knew that he would continue in the same vein. I was also regretting my actions the previous evening. I remembered rather belatedly that this wasn't exactly Christ-like behaviour - nice Christian girls don't go 'scoring' in bars.

However, it is an ego boost when someone finds you desirable, but I don't think I'll let it go that far again. Well I don't know... the attention was quite flattering!

Off to Rome!!!

I’m off to Rome tomorrow! Really excited!

And then not so much…

I am going as part of a group of 7 people whom I met through the London Black Professionals Meet up

My friend’s brother Chris is coming along too. I was appalled when he told me that he had last been on holiday 17 years ago!!!

I guess I’m a bit apprehensive because when you go on holiday in a group, living in close proximity, (and with other women???) you learn things about each other that you wouldn’t normally at the usual monthly meetings.

These girls are my ‘mission field’ (such a cliché… I know) and my desire is for them to see Christ in me…make Christianity attractive to them, to introduce them to Jesus and see them saved!
But what if I achieve the opposite effect? What if I come off all ‘square’ and boring or even worse… the dark side of my personality comes out and I am bitchy and ‘un-Christ like’? What if I conform… to the point that they do not see anything different about me, or about Chris (who is also born again?)

I haven’t prepared for this, as in, prayer and fasting! Not sure whether it is about me? After all, I’m not the one who does the ‘saving’. It is the Holy Spirit who draws people to Himself!
If I can play even a small part in this, that would be an awesome privilege.

I just pray that God will be glorified