On the Road Again!

That's right - we're never satisfied...not even close...
In the words of D.B.Berg - "You've got to keep sacrificing, you've got to keep forsaking, you've got to keep fighting every day".

Our theatre team is back on the wheels this weekend, ready to take two days of performing at a christian venue by storm! Oh and did I mention that our repertoire has now been expanded to THREE PLAYS?

Yeah you read that right. The 'Who Pulls The Strings' play is just going to be undergoing some final tweaking and then it's ready to roll! There'll be pics and hopefully a clip coming next week so keep your head up for those, but until then, HERE'S SPOILERS FOR THE NEW SKIT:

Sam (Death) will ditch his scythe in favor of chains...

Heather (me, the blonde :P) is going to be a far cry from her role as distressed girl in the Everything skit as she will play a much darker part...

We'll see Josh (Jesus) performing a roundhouse kick among other stunts...

The new skit involves barcodes, chains, boxes, and beer bottles...

That's as much as you're getting out of me for now though, or the others will pummel me for being a snitch, lol. Stay tuned for those pics - Tuesday's the estimated day to be keeping your eyes open! Till then take care and God bless!

The Four Horsemen go Morris in Reading!

Back again with updates on the awesome weekend we had!

On Saturday, our theatre team went to Reading to perform the Four Horsemen and Everything plays on it's noble walking streets.

When we first got there, it seemed to be progressing like a normal day: we met and talked to some nice people and did the plays in-between.

(Talk about interactive fun!War (Dee Jay) captures a willing member of the audience!)

But after about 2 hours of being there, some Morris dancers came along and began performing near our spot. Well, we talked with them and decided on a kind of 'you go, we go thing', where they did a dance and then we did a play.

(The Four Horsemen performing for a captive audience... spot the dancers!)

The result of this mutually beneficial deal was...:) We got a HUGE crowd and we got to do both plays. Things were on a comfortable roll, when all of a sudden...(drum-roll)...

THE MORRIS DANCERS PULLED US IN! Lol, we did a dance with them even though we didn’t have a CLUE what was going on.

(War and Death getting in on the action!)

(Faye was literally swept off her feet!)

After our impromptu bout of dancing (during which we all got a turn), we continued on with our day. Reading is an awesome place: we got to meet some really nice people who saw the plays, and all in all, it turned out to be a really great Saturday!

WALES II

(The Four Horsemen in Cardiff Bay!)

Aaaannd....WE ARE BACK!
Two smashing days in Wales and we have lived to tell the tale! (No that wasn't meant to rhyme, but since it does...:D). Our team was downsized considerably this time due to mitigating circumstances (the main one being that our dearly beloved Sam wasn't able to come along). So we set out with only a van-full of 7 - that's right, just seven of us went...and only for two days!
They were an amazing two days, though! On Thursday evening, our team (Heather, Dee Jay, Josh, Simon, Mari, Tina and Sam's eleven year-old sister Amanda) arrived in Cardiff and were out the next day performing the Four Horsemen play downtown. And while we're on that note.... (drumroll)...

MARI HAS OFFICIALLY BECOME THE FIRST EVER FEMALE HORSEMAN!

That's right. Mari (who normally plays the Drunk in the Everything skit) took up Death's scythe for the two days we were in Wales. And she did wonderfully - with everything from the lines to the fight scene (although there were a few bashed knuckles and bruises, but hey, hazards of the job, right?).

Oh and who played the Drunk, you ask? NO-ONE! But Tina did win the audience's heart (and lots of applause) when she came staggering out as a peace-loving druggie with a splif!

(Yes, Tina was dressed like this the whole time...:D)

Saturday was Swansea day (woo hoo) and our black-and-white-painted team spent an awesome afternoon in the town center, where both the Four Horsemen and Everything skit made a comeback! Cate (who plays Vanity) wasn't able to come this time, so guess who took up the torch? Amanda! That's right, Amanda has officially become the youngest ever actor to perform in our street plays. And I'd just like to add that she did great - for those of you who've seen the Everything skit, you know Vanity is not the easiest role to play. But after only a couple of practice session, Amanda got up there and did the catwalk strut to perfection (complete with the pout, the sneer and the shoulder swivel lol).

So that's two records for us (First Female Horseman and Youngest Ever Actress). But the coolest part of the road trip was, of course, the awesome young people we got to meet! It was also great seeing a lot of you who we met last time in Swansea for a second time. You guys really made our day (BethAnn...I so did pronouce your name right this time around!) And also kudos to Bradley, Yoshi, Rorie and David (you guys are officially the first to have ever gotten down on your knees in the middle of the street to pray with me - I think I turned red and you guys got a great kick out of that one :P)

The only tragedy? WE DIDN'T BRING A CAMERA :((....sob sob. It was all a great big misunderstanding that resulted in our not being able to take anything but phone shots of all the amazing things that were packed into those two days. I'm working on getting those ones, but until I do, I'm afraid to say I don't have ANY pictures for you guys! But bear with me...

Until the next time... :D

The Second Coming ...

Good news all (well, we're excited anyway :P)! The Four Horsemen team will be returning to Wales for another round - woo hoo! We'll be arriving in Cardiff Thursday evening and will be staying until Saturday evening. SOO... if you met us during our last visit there (or you heard about us and want to)....

WE'LL BE IN WALES TONIGHT! COME AND SEE US!

Below is a number you can call to give us a buzz if you'd like to meet up with us during our stay in Wales! It would be awesome to see you!

Call Dee Jay on: 07939808420

Whispers of a September Play ....

Hey everyone!

I know there aren't much updates at the moment, but bear with us :D. We're working our creative muses on the development of a NEW and EXCITING PLAY! Things are on the roll now and we'll no doubt be flooding the blog with pics of the new play debuting in all our favorite spots so KEEP A LOOK OUT for the Four Horsemen in your area.

Here's a little teaser :P - the title of the new play is ... (drumroll) ... WHO PULLS THE STRINGS (coming soon to a walking street near you)

Other then that, school's back in as I'm sure most of you know, which means that our dear Sam (Death) is now buckling down to a new term. BUT NEVER FEAR! The Grey Horsemen is still riding with us at the weekend, braving the winds and rain (yeah London is a bummer for September weather)!

Not much else to report for now. Keep the faith!

-- Your Four Horsemen team

Why Suffering - Part 2!

I promised it, so without further ado - here it is!

WHY SUFFERING? - PART 2...

At that point she was called away to attend to a customer, so that was the end of our conversation. But I was thinking later about how much of the World's suffering is not even caused by the DEVIL, and certainly not because GOD wants to be mean to people, but rather through MAN'S OWN FOOLISHNESS. Man is his own worst enemy!

Look at the suffering that Man has caused himself by continually fighting terrible wars in which millions have been killed or injured! Martin Luther (a Christian reformer who went loggerheads against the church of his day over ideas like salvation by grace, not needing to pay a bunch of useless fees, and sex not being a sin) called war "the greatest scourge that can afflict humanity; it destroys religion, it destroys states and it destroys families. Any scourge is preferable to it!"

But is GOD to blame for Man's wars? The Bible says, "What causes wars and fightings among you? Don't they come from your OWN LUSTS that battle inside you?"--James 4:1. God isn’t to blame for the suffering caused by war, but rather Man's own selfishness, greed, pride and competitive spirit--the destruction of others for greed or selfish gain--THIS causes wars!

And War isn’t the only thing – there’s also car accidents, which are actually an even greater cause of deaths today then wars! Can you imagine that? More people die every year from the vehicles WE invented then the wars we fight!

Far too many of Man's inventions, such as weapons of war, too-rapid transportation, towering skyscrapers, pesticides, lethal chemicals, drugs etc., are death-dealing and destructive and cause all sorts of suffering.

Problems like these are caused by MAN'S own foolishness over a number of years, often centuries! -- Problems which have steadily grown over successive generations. Can we really blame GOD for all the crap in the world today?

If we were to try to cover ALL the causes of suffering in this World, it would probably take a book! But I hope I've at least given you SOME answers to one of the great eternal questions of this life: "Why does God allow suffering?"

Because WE'VE brought it on OURSELVES! Though we can understand MANY of the reasons through reading God's Word and through prayer, we probably won't know ALL the answers to that question until we get Up There, as there are some things we won't understand until we see things as God sees them.

A very fitting illustration of this is the story of Doctor Handley Moule, when he visited a coal mine immediately after a terrible underground explosion. At the pit's mouth was a large crowd, among whom were the relatives of the trapped and suffering miners.

"It’s very difficult," he said, "for us to understand why God should let such an awful tragedy happen. But I have at home an old bookmarker given me by my Mother. It’s woven in silk, and when I look at the wrong side of it, I see nothing but a tangled mass of threads. It looks like a big mistake! You’d think someone had made it who didn’t know what she was doing.

But when I turn it over and look at the right side, I see there, beautifully embroidered, the letters, 'GOD IS LOVE!'"

"We are looking at this today," he continued, "from the wrong side! Someday we’ll view it from another standpoint and we will understand."

God ALWAYS has a purpose and a plan in suffering, even though we can't always see it right away!

Sometimes, "His ways are past finding out" (Romans 11:33), and we just have to TRUST God, knowing that whatever He does, He does it in LOVE, and that if we don't understand NOW, we will LATER!

"Why Suffering?"

I came across this article the other day, written by an awesome guy named David Berg. It answered a major question I had and one I get asked like literally every time I talk with someone about Jesus. Just thought I'd post it up here for those of you who've always wondered...

WHY SUFFERING?

- By David Berg -

I was talking to a pretty young travel agent the other day, and during the course of our conversation we began to talk about God.

"Oh, I don't believe in God!" she said. "If there is a God, why is there so much suffering in the World today?

“Why do thousands die of starvation every day in Africa? What kind of God would allow a terrible disease like AIDS to run rampant? Why was my best friend just crippled in an automobile accident?"

"Well," I replied, "you can't blame GOD for all the suffering in the World! He's not some kind of monster that enjoys making people suffer. It's not GOD Who causes all these things.

“ A lot of it is the evil work of a powerful being called Satan, or the Devil, and being called Satan, or the Devil, and he just loves to hurt Man and see him suffer!-- In fact, that's one of his main tactics to try to turn Man away from God. He tries to give GOD the blame for his OWN dirty deeds!"

The young lady was quiet for a moment as she pondered this, and then she shot back with the atheists' trump card question which they always try to stump Christians with!

"Well then, if there is a God, and He's ALL-POWERFUL, why doesn't He STOP the Devil and not allow him to cause all this suffering? Why does He ALLOW evil in the World? For example, why didn't He stop Hitler?"

"Well, that's a very good question!" I answered. "But you see, if God had put a stop to Hitler, He also would have to put a stop to YOU!--Because YOU'RE a sinner too, aren't you?

"I'm sure you're not as bad as Hitler, but we've ALL been bad sometimes, haven't we? The Bible says, `ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God.'--Romans 3:23.

"So He would have had to stop everybody in the whole World from doing ANYthing bad! Right at the very beginning God would have had to step in and use FORCE to stop Adam and Eve from eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden.”

“He would have had to interfere with our FREE WILL and the majesty of PERSONAL CHOICE that He's given each of us to choose good or evil!"

"But wouldn't it have been BETTER if He had MADE us all to be good?" She challenged.

"If the Lord had wanted ROBOTS, yes He could have MADE everybody do good and love Him. But He made us with FREE choice and FREE will, so we could CHOOSE to love Him! You wouldn't enjoy YOUR children much if they were FORCED to love you, would you?” I questioned.

Puzzled, she replied, "Well no, but what does this have to do with suffering?"

I explained, "Because Man was put here to make a CHOICE between good and evil, between doing things GOD'S way or his OWN.”

Stay Tuned For More On 'Why'...

... Part 2 coming up ...

(PS: Okay so the pics were my idea - they're so cute though, aren't they? I couldn't resist, you guys!)