New Country, New Home, New Layout.

Ok, so it's been a few months since I last posted and all the change I anticipated has happened. I'm now living and working in the US, serving a church much, much bigger than any I served in the UK. It has been a challenge adjusting to the new way of life and work etc, but so far, so good. Some things though, remain constant.

God is still God, and Lego is still a huge part of who I am! I had a lesson in trust moving over, it was the first time I ever allowed someone else to transport my collection en masse. Sure enough though, it all arrived and work has begun on the new layout. There have been a few minor changes since I first sketched the plans out, but that's life, that's Lego.

It's big, over 4.5 metres (15 feet in old money), and will certainly keep me busy over the next few months! I've also had time to build a purpose made table for it all, so no more juggling of space!

Since getting here I've had plenty of time to ponder and reflect, and am very grateful indeed for the support of friends and colleagues here as I've made the transition.

I spent a bit of time last night with my feet up after everyone had gone home from the house-warming and could only sit amazed at the journey God has brought me on these last few years. Yes, it has been rough, things have happened I would never have expected, but I am where I am, and God has regularly whispered "trust me" through it all. That has been easier to do at some times than at others, but I can only say I'm glad I found the faith to do that from somewhere. What's next, other than, build, build, build, I'm not sure, but after the last few years, I'm much more ready to trust the still small voice of calm saying, "trust me, I know what I'm doing".

I'm eternally grateful that He has opened doors and brought me to a place so different to where I was a few years ago, a place where in all sorts of senses, I live life in all it's fullness. Whatever may come, I trust you Lord.

Lost in Wonder?

I made a mistake. I packed this lot up too early, about 3 months too early it turns out.

Once I got back from the US and my interview for Williamsburg UMC there was a lot of uncertainty about when I'd be moving and when I'd be finishing in Toton. Add in the excitement of a new chapter ready to be read and I started taking the layout to bits as it's the easiest way to get it across the pond. The actual trains have been packed carefully in one piece but almost everything else is in bits to be rebuilt later this year in an extended layout, all in the boxes on the left.

I only realised the full impact of that decision tonight though when at a church meeting we were asked to identify three or four things that were really important to us. I listed, in no particular order, Lego, my Bible, photography and worship. (Don't panic family and friends, you are all still very important too!)

As I reflected on it, I realised how much I'd missed building and tinkering over the last few months and how I'd not been "lost" in the act of creating a new layout, model or whatever, and that alongside it the moment of being lost in wonder, lost in praise as this song puts it.

We can all identify occasions I'm sure as people of faith when we've been so absorbed in worship that we don't notice anything else around us, we're so overwhelmed by God's amazing grace and love that the world could stop turning and we wouldn't notice. I've had them at big worship events, in church, on a mountainside or beach, and also when totally immersed in either taking pictures or building Lego. Those two activities are personal acts of worship for me, activities that help me honour God with my spare time and creativity, and hopefully in different ways, share them with others.

And so, having packed it all up months ago, I've not been building, and with the weather as rough as it has been, not taking photos either, and so have slipped into laziness and wasteful use of my time, time that hasn't been honouring of God. Sometimes when I build, and it can be for 8 or 10 hours on a day off, I have music playing, sometimes I consciously leave the room silent apart from the plastic noise of the bricks. Either way, God speaks and refreshes and I experience the joy of creating something.

There is a wonder in building, of watching the image that's in my head grow and evolve as brick after brick is put in place. There is a wonder in people's face when they see a new layout for the first time. There is a wonder and a mystery about God that we sometimes try and restrict to our human understanding and so hold back from being lost in wonder and the state of not understanding. However you do it, let me encourage you to spend time being lost in wonder in the presence of our amazing God who took on human form and died to show us how much he loves us. I certainly intend to do more of it, though for a few months more I'll have to be patient and wait to get the bricks out again.

Laying Down and Picking Up

Just over a year ago life changed, dramatically. Over a few short months I realised my marriage had reached the point of collapse, and found myself moving from a 3-bed semi with a permanent Lego space to a cosy 2 bed apartment, living on my own and establishing a new living pattern, space and way of being. Emotionally, I was all over the place, and the last thing I wanted to do was tinker with Lego when all I could see was what I'd lost; space to build and be creative, a relationship that my life was built around, and the security I thought I had in those things.

Since then, I've seen myself being rebuilt. I'm a Christian, I've spent 20 years leading Christian youth groups and heard many, many stories of healing. Now I've lived, and am living, through that healing and restoring, they aren't just stories of healing, I have a different perspective. There's no "fairytale ending", the marriage relationship is over, but I am in a better place.

I've learned to appreciate the things we take for granted: I have a roof over my head, a job that pays the rent and puts food on the table and enables me to enjoy my hobbies. I've shifted my focus. Lego used to be a huge part of who I am (and still is), but I don't want it to be the be-all-and-end-all that at times it became. I spent a year without touching the little bricks with any interest. I did the soul searching. I laid it all out before God, warts and all, and let go of everything I held dear. I used to think I could take Jesus teaching on "give everything up and follow me" seriously, that if called to do it, I could, wherever that may lead. Now, having let go of Lego for a year, the itch is back and I'm scratching, but I am willing to let go of it again if that's what God calls me to do.

My attitude had changed. Friends children call me "Lego Andy", which is cute, and separates me from their Dad Andy, but I want to be known for more than that. I want to use my Lego to point towards God. He's re-built me, he's given me the ability to build and create, I want Him to take the glory. We sing "Jesus, be the centre", but how often do we let our interests/hobbies/habits get in the way? I know I have done.

I laid down the bricks for a year, willing to not take them up again if part of the future for me is in a place where it's not practical to have it all with me. I don't know, by the way, what that future holds or where it is, but while I can, I'm enjoying building, aware of the talent God has blessed me with.

I don't know what this layout will look like when it's "finished", I don't know what I'll be like in 2 years, 10 years, 20 years, or where I'll be living. But I do know that while I might still be known as Lego Andy, I also want to be known as someone who, among other things, builds Lego, builds the part of the Kingdom of God I'm living in and is willing to change as the vision evolves.

Destruction and Completion

 Well, the second section is finished, for the second time.... I tried to move it yesterday to site it beside the other section for a photo and it didn't like the angle it needed to be tipped at. Thankfully I have custom made boxes on the way which will help with that!

This is the first of two middle sections, and includes half the length of the platforms of the feature station that will be on the next section and half of the elevated track section on what will be the back of the layout when viewed.

All the wiring is contained within the unit, 12v fans will know that one of the joys of that now vintage system is that it can be all operated remotely, so the points and signals all have switches, which are built into the viaduct carrying the upper level of track. You can just see them sticking out on this view.

The platforms have two 12v signals that start/stop trains, again wired and operated from the control panel, and also include 4 light bricks that light up the lower platforms.

The vision for the layout is evolving, I have a picture in my head now of what the station will look like, but there are many steps to get there, and some need to be re-traced when disaster strikes. But Lego is Lego, designed to be re-built. Life chucks all sorts at us, we're not always strong enough to re-build ourselves but as a Christian I'm willing to let God play a part in that re-building.