Fresher Wind...

It's been five years since I first came to Canada. Did I say that already? This year was my third Freshwind, and by far the best yet. I think there were several things that contributed to this. Firstly, even though Delirious played, the guys from the church did most of the stuff. In previous years, there's been a bunch of different bands from outside of TACF, and most of the speakers have been from elsewhere too. This year, the Youth Network band played just as much as Delirious, and the only outside speaker was Cleetus Adrian (who was awesome, by the way). It was really refreshing to see it acknowledged that you don't need someone famous to come in order to see a move of the Holy Spirit.
I think another reason for the high quality of this year's conference was summed up perfectly by Jacob when he said that in previous years, he's been really excited for Freshwind to arrive, because he he loves big events. This year, he found that he was more excited for it to be over, because he feels that the big events are the regular, weekly cell meetings and Sunday evenings at Central. Even though I'm not usually around, and I don't have a constant experience of this, what he said really spoke to me because I feel in my heart that conferences should only be a bigger version of what we normally do. By this, I don't mean that we should feel the presence of God more, it's just that there are going to be more people there. Like Jacob, I'm more excited now because of Freshwind than I was for Freshwind.

At the end of the conference, Duncan asked his cell group up on stage. Then he invited me to go up there too, and told everyone that I would be joining them when I move over here in January. He had already suggested that this would be the case to me, but I guess there's no going back now. It was just another example of how everyone here is making me feel so at home.

This poses something of a problem, though. I don't want to go back. I know that I always want to stay, and that it's no surprise that I don't want to leave Bethany behind again, but this time is the strongest I've ever felt it. My heart is in this city, in more ways than one. I love the place. I know that I'm meant to be here, and it's so frustrating to remember that in a few short days I have to leave again, and that I won't be back for three months. I have family here now (well, nearly), friends, a GREAT church, my fiancee... I know that I have all these things back in the UK (except Bethany, of course), and I love everything about it, but something is making me want to be here even more. I guess I'm a bit like a kid that wants a new toy. The old ones I have are ok, but nothing will match up to the features of the new model.

So, as I prepare to leave, I think I'm looking for the way in which this visit will have impacted my life the most. I don't really want to leave, and I think that's because I know what lies ahead here for me. I'm starting to think of the next few months in England as a sort of Freshwind of my life. It's not going to be the big event, I know that, but it's setting me up for the big event that is to come. I'm going to feel a huge presence of the Holy Spirit, and I'm going to see God do some incredible things in my life, but it's really just preparing me for the awesome (and I use that word in it's correct context here) things that he'll do in my future. That's pretty exciting, actually...