Four a waste of time...

The disadvantage of telling my partner in West Midlands crime (ok, gospel student ministry), JB, that I was having a day off today having worked the weekend. He tagged me with a 4-meme.

Four jobs you've had in your life

1. UCCF Staff Worker
2. String quartet member (for functions, weddings, etc.)
3. Shop assistant at the best Christian bookshop in the world
4. IFES Team member in Belgium

Four jobs you wish you had would love to have if you weren't joyfully content with the job you have.

1. UCCF Staff Worker (did I say that I love my job?)
2. Commisioning editor for some great Christian publishing company or other
3. Manager of a Christian bookshop... in Belgium perhaps
4. Church worker (hm, unspecific or what...)

Four films you can watch over and over again

1. The Princess Bride
2. Au revoir les enfants
3. Shrek
4. La vita è bella

Four cities you have lived in

1. Belfast
2. Coventry
3. Nottingham
4. Brussels

Four TV programmes you love to watch

1. CSI
2. Have I got news for you
3. Er, I don't really watch TV
4. But I could name some books instead...?

Four places you've been on holiday/travelled to

1. Hungary
2. Italy
3. Island of Islay
4. France

Four websites you visit daily regularly

1. My email website
2. www.uccf.org.uk (for wonderful resources and... job admin)
3. www.etrangere.blogspot.com (to check others' blogs)
4. www.thebluefish.blogspot.com (Dave writes good stuff)

Four of your favourite foods

1. Roast lamb with real mint sauce
2. A sandwich spread with paté with green peppercorns, diced red pepper, sweetcorn & fried mushrooms. It's not for delicate eating, but is it good.
3. Liège waffle just heated up to be warm & sticky - with ice-cream on if it's summer & you're having it as a full meal :)
4. Wholemeal rolls with slices of Braeburn apple & mature cheddar cheese, grilled. Simple & delicious.

Four things you won't prefer not to eat

1. Prawns, shrimp & other such seafood
2. Barbecued octopus tentacles (once sent from Japan by a generous voyaging Uncle)
3. Sushi (I confess I'm a pleb - I don't get the attraction)
4. Violently artificially coloured things (make me feel ill thinking of them, never mind stop me sleeping after)

Four things you wish you could eat right now

Well if it were lunchtime, then...

1. Jacket potato with mature cheddar cheese and fried mushrooms
2. A few pieces of Galaxy chocolate
3. A braeburn apple
4. What is this? I'd be full after #1!

Four things in your bedroom

This is ridiculous.

1. My large IKEA Billy bookcase inc books and CDs
2. My violin, violin stand and music
3. Wardrobe
4. Bed (surprise!)

Four things you wish you had in your bedroom

1. Curtains which match the colour scheme (the material for this is currently sitting in aforementioned wardrobe waiting to be made up)
2. Why wish for more?

Four things I'm wearing right now

This really is getting daft: where did you get this meme from, Jon?

1. Navy jeans bought back in the day when Etam existed in the UK
2. My old navy Warwick Uni hoody: I'm on a day off!
3. A navy top
4. Navy socks

Four people you'd really love to have dinner with

Now that's a better question! Except that those who spring to mind are in 2 categories: those I'd love to have dinner with and with whom I do sometimes have dinner (family, friends), and those who are dead and I won't have dinner with until the marriage supper of the Lamb. So I'll go for the 2nd category... (oh, and Jesus is first... but I sort of do have dinner with him already and saying I'm looking forward to the marriage feast of the Lamb assumes that he'll be there as the supreme focus, fellowship and glory! He doesn't merely fit in a list of four.)

1. My grandfather on my Dad's side. He was converted through the witness of a Christian student friend and in a Nicholson mission meeting in 1922, became a foundation member of Queen's Uni Belfast Christian Union (then Bible Union), learnt the Hebrew alphabet on the boat to America and studied theology under Machen & Vos in Princeton '23-'25 (becoming life-long friends with fellow student John Murray in the process - hanging out with Murrary, Van Til, Stonehouse & E.J.Young!). Having learnt from Machen the fight for the Reformed faith in presbyterianism, he returned to a compulsary year at the Irish Presbyterian College in Belfast and found himself in the same fight for the gospel against rank heresy. Forced to withdraw, he became one of the founding ministers of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in Ireland, managed the Evangelical Bookshop, edited the church's magazine for 53 years, ministered the gospel faithfully in Belfast overseeing 2 churches, was one of the founding trustees of Banner of Truth Trust, with others set up the Leicester Ministers' Conference, wrote The Momentous Event, was a founding member of BEC (now Affinity), served on committees of the Evangelical Fellowship of Ireland and the Evangelical Library in Belfast. In his vision for world mission he arranged for members from the EPC to serve with Scottish Free Church missions in Peru, South Africa, India and Christian Witness to Israel. He went to glory a little over a month after my birth and I keep meeting people randomly all over the place who tell me how much they appreciated his ministry... So I look forward to catching up with him in the new heavens & new earth and praising our Saviour together.
2. Athanasius. I guess Piper's talk on him influenced me on that one.
3. The apostle John. And Timothy. And the writer to the Hebrews! And... ok I'll stop that.
4. John Owen.

Four things I'm thinking right now

1. I'm looking forward to heaven! What makes me want to have dinner with the above guys is that they all extol Christ, and faithfully lift him up so as to exhort others to extoll Christ, whom I love and look forward to seeing face to face!
2. I'm hungry.
3. It's lovely that I'll be going round to my pastor's family for dinner this evening before orchestra rehearsal.
4. I must practise the violin for orchestra rehearsal!

[Yes, I'm a linear thinker.]

Four of your favourite things

1. The Bible
2. My violin
3. Books. Good books. Well-written theology books, literature with enough thinking content... (C.S.Lewis narrowly missed my '4 people I want to have dinner with' list.) Just don't make me choose.
4. Walking at sunset / dusk in the country, preferably by the sea with waves slapping in against rugged coastline.

Four people I tag

I don't like tagging people. So this comes strictly as take it or leave it, as you like. In fact, pick which '4s' you want to answer...

1. Peter G
2. Dave
3. Anna (or maybe there was a reason why Jon didn't tag you - like that you hate memes, or that he wants the internetted computer)
4. Catherine (though I suspect that a) you're not reading this and b) you wouldn't want to waste your free time doing this when you could be climbing a mountain)