Essential Day 1

Essential has started! Woo! And so here's my post at the end of day 1 of this week (well ok, so as I'm finishing this off to post it's actually nearer the end of day 2 - looks like I'm going to be a day behind all week!). As this week is kinda different from any other I think my blog entries might take more of a journal-type approach than usual. I reckon I'll aim to record the main goings on of each day.

This morning started with an 8am prayer meeting (not a time at which I usually go anywhere for anything to be honest, so it came as rather a shock!). It was really encouraging to start the day in this way, however. Then after I'd had a lecture and a seminar there was a lunchbar entitled "Is it a case of God vs science?", featuring free food and a talk on the aforementioned topic. The talk was given by Roger Carswell, who's to be the main speaker this week. Whilst he's not a scientist himself, I thought he exhibited a fairly curious and scientific nature. He sought to explain how he felt the Bible and science weren't incompatible. For example, one of his key points was that there are many things that science can't explain. He also spoke about how science is made up of theories some of which are more definite than others. A key point that resonated with me was about how we often accept what the media tells us or what our friends tell us as fact, rather than going back to the original source. Clearly this could bias someone's view of the God v Science argument if people don't go back to the original source of the Bible, as I feel they often don't. It was really awesome to see a couple of friends come along to this and to be able to discuss things with them.

The main meetings this year are being held in Rootes Restaurant. The set-up wasn't great today as there were some dividers that are part of the furniture in Rootes Restaurant which were blocking the views of some people including mine. Despite these obstructions though it was a thought-provoking event and it was good to see the place fairly packed, including lots of non-Christians. Before the talk on "Do Warwick students need God?" there was a sequence of video interviews asking people that very question. The answers there went from one extreme to another and some were rather apathetic about it (as I'd expect I suppose). The talk was once more poignant and the evening was linked together well with a relevant drama sketch and a testimony from a Chinese student called Dustin.

Globe Cafe, which caters in particular for international students, had a French theme. So we had French food, as well as a quiz and some French music. The evening concluded with a talk about "How can I please God?"

After that I went to the 24/7 prayer room for a bit. We're trying to make sure that someone is praying for Essential every hour of the week (from 10pm on Saturday gone til 10pm next Saturday). By the time I got home in the early hours of the morning I was well and truly ready for some sleep, especially as there wasn't much time until the 8am prayer meeting.