reminiscence & nostalgia- feasts

''They feast in the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.''
Psalm 36 v 8

as you can see, we had a rather large dinner last night. that's an understatement. we had a feast. us chinese people like to place food at the centre of everything. for example, other cultures like to dance, listen to music. nope, not us. we like to eat. good job chinese food is good stuff.

we gathered yesterday because lee, ann and elizabeth are leaving to live in london. after 4 years, they're going. it's sad, but thats just part of life. noone stays around forever. i just wish them all the best for everything. seems only yesterday that i had just met ann and lee. i remember going to their little flat in cottingham. i remember that ann cooked rabbit. i think thats one of the only times that i've ever eaten rabbit!

feasts are good fun. they bring people together. food makes people happy. wine makes people relaxed (we didnt have any last night), a good combination. we used to have more of these feasts, but people have gotten busier and it's hard to meet, so when we have these meets, it's pretty BIG. i remember back to the days of the church in Nottingham. once a month, we used to have pot luck- everyone used to just bring a dish and share it after the service. it was good.

we sang this song on sunday. it's taken me a while to find out what it's called, but it's a pretty good song. recently, i've liked to look more at the words. the lyrics are good.

I WILL SET MY FACE to seek the Lord,

I will set my face to seek the Lord,

Give my full attention to my God,

I will listen for His voice,

I will listen for His voice.

My Wonderful Counsellor,

My teacher, reminder,

Revealer, my healer,

My strengthener, repairer,

Refiner, my Jesus, my Saviour,

My wonderful God.

Forerunner and finisher,

My conqueror, deliverer,

Restorer, my hammer,

My fire, uniter,
Redeemer, my Jesus,

My wonderful God.

I will set my face to seek the Lord,

I will set my face to seek the Lord,

Give my full attention to my God,

I will listen for His voice,

I will listen for His voice.

Creator, defender,

My maker, instructor,

Commander, my warrior,

My shelter, my helper,

My leader, my Jesus, my Saviour,

My wonderful God.

My shepherd, my gatherer,

Refresher, rewarder,

Protector, inspirer,

Provider, my portion,

Forever, my Jesus, my Saviour,

My wonderful God.

last time i was with Salam. he told me to hold out my hand. he looked at it and pointed to the lines.. on one hand, it looks like 81 in arabic and the other hand 18. added together it makes 99; there are 99 names of allah. but i have a wonderful God, who has all the names under the universe. my favourite name is 'I am who I AM'. classic. i think that God has a sense of humour. he really does.