Beautiful Bristol...

I was delighted to wake up at 6.30 am this morning to go for a run and see that the sky was starting to lighten at such an early hour. Sadly it did not look quite as spectacular as the sunrise on your left does, but I was filled with great excitement at the prospect of light early mornings again. The birds were most definitely happy with the earlier mornings, with their merry singing this morning as Ros and I ran through the Downs and down to the Suspension Bridge.

It's also great to walk along outside with clear blue skies and the sun bright enough to make me sneeze. Love it.

Bowling last night was good fun. it's a jolly good thing I don't mind about losing though! I did manage to get 1 strike over the course of 2 games which I was quite proud of.

I found out something exciting today, which I am quite sure no-one else will see as exciting in the slightest, but I'll tell you anyway. My friend Hannah called me to say she had got the most amazing hand cream from her husband-to-be for Valentine's day, and she thought of me because it was made in Australia. When I was in Oz on my gap year, I found the most beautiful smelling handcream I have ever come across and was gutted when it ran out. In my sadness I e-mailed the people in the Dandenongs who make it and to my delight, found out that they were about to bring it out in England!! Anyway, it turns out that the handcream Hannah has is made by the Dandenong people and you can buy it from a shop that is 2 minutes from my house!!!!!!! How exciting!!!!!!!!!! I never thought when I bought 2 pots of this wonderful stuff with no labels and no name from a tiny shop in the mountains that one day I would be able to buy it from the end of my road in Bristol. Simply wonderous.

Yesterday I treated myself and bought a Hillsong album. It's an incredibly uplifting album, and I just thought I'd share the words from one of the songs which has particularly resonated with me. It's called From the inside out.

A thousand times I've failed, still your mercy remains.
And should I stumble again still I'm caught in your grace.
Everlasting, your light will shine when all else fades,
Neverending, your glory goes beyond all fame.
In my heart, in my soul, Lord I give you control.
Consume me from the inside out Lord,
Let justice and grace become my embrace,
To love you from the inside out.
Your will above all else,
My purpose remains, the art of losing myself in bringing you praise.

In fact, if you'd like to listen to it for free, go to...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN7b8BC65eg