I’m sitting on the bed in my new room (which I’m sharing with fellow staffer Adam Tjernagel (get your tongue around THAT name!)) and just thinking about being here and about the new phase that I’m moving into now. It’s odd, but I think it feels more real now I’m actually living here and not at home.
It’s funny moving up here. I think for a while before I came up, I was really looking forward to it, the idea of moving into the heart of where I feel God has called me is obviously something that’s pretty exciting, but, when I started up here on the Shankill and was driving around it, I began to think to myself… “Am I crazy?” Not only am I moving into one of the most notorious areas in the whole of Northern Ireland, but I’m moving into a house which is at the point where two conflicting communities meet! I’m not saying this so that you’ll all think “Look how brave Tom is!” because the truth is, bravery and courage is the furthest thing from my mind right now! But I’m just saying this to show that I’m here by the grace of God, I’ve followed Him here, and I’m going to have to trust that this is the best place for me.
I was thinking about this a few weeks ago, and I was reading Psalm 57 in the Bible. In it is says this:
“He sends from Heaven and saves me,
rebuking those who hotly pursue me;
God sends his love and his faithfulness.
I am in the midst of lions;
I lie among ravenous beasts-
men whose teeth are spears and arrows,
whose tongues are sharp swords.
Be exalted, O God above the heavens;
Let your glory be over all the earth.
They spread a net for my feet-
I was bowed down in distress.
They dug a pit in my path-
but they have fallen into it themselves.
My heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast.”
Psalm 57: 3-7
What encouraged me about this passage was the way that the Psalmist is talking about the difficulties he’s going through and enduring. That he is existing in a place of trial and somewhere that isn’t easy by any means. But the thing that struck me was that although he acknowledges these things that are difficult around him, his acknowledgement of the difficulties that surrounds him are separated by these words of praise, adoration and thanks to God for the strength to keep going.
This is what encourages, and also challenges me. For the next period of my life, I’m going to be living in a place that isn’t easy, a place that it’s likely it’s going to be challenging to live in. But what I want my time here to be characterised by is this trust in God, and the belief that I am here for a reason; that, as the Psalmist says, I can be assured of his love & faithfulness, and if I hold on to these things, will remain steadfast in my heart.
Following are some pictures of the house, so in case you ever come to visit, you have no excuses for driving past it! The two houses are on the Springfield Road in Belfast, and YWAM Belfast is renting them for the students and staff on the DTS. The one on the right of the picture is where I’m living (369) and where the guys on the DTS will be staying, while the one on the left (371) is for the girls.
This is the room I’m living in, and that bed is where I’m sitting right now…just to give you a visual!
This is the house from the front, my room is the one on the first floor (the big window). As you can see, the house is attached to the peace wall, which is an interesting living situation! The front door opens up onto the Springfield Road while the back door leads onto the Shankill.
And this is the house from the back.
I was sitting talking this afternoon to a guy who’s living here with us at the minute called Stephen (we quickly bonded over a mutual love of the TV show ‘24’…). He was saying that when he first moved into the house, his car had a brick put through the window, and was suggesting that maybe it wasn’t the best idea for me to have the car up here with me. I was worrying a bit about this (as you would…) and so I put the car into the driveway and went out into town. As I walked out the back gate, a man a few houses up was driving along and stopped to ask me if I knew whose car it was that had been parking outside the house over the last few days. I said it had been mine, and this man just suggested that it would be best for me to put the car in the driveway whenever possible because of the location of the house beside the peace wall. Apparently kids sometimes throw stones over the wall, so Stephen’s car wasn’t broken because of malice, but just because it was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
It was just a really nice time for me to see God’s hand at work as I moved in here. I was worrying about this whole thing and whether it really was good for me to have my car up here, and it was incredible to see God putting someone in my path just as I started to worry to calm me down and to show me that there wasn’t a need to worry, that I just have to be careful.
So, this brings the end to this pretty long entry… Congratulations if you got through the whole thing! Please pray for me, Adam & Stephen as we live here for the next while and indeed for all of those in YWAM Belfast who are living here on the Shankill & Falls. Pray for us as we try and live in these communities, that we would build good relationships with our neighbours and the people in the streets, and that we would be able to show them something of Jesus by the way we live and go about our everyday lives.
1 comment:
It is so exciting reading here about what you're doing and seeing pictures of where you're living. Never forget that even in the midst of struggles and fear, there is no shortage of people who are praying for you!
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