Living Stones

My blog has moved!

2011-06-16T09:31:00.000+01:00

Dear readers,

Thank you so much for reading this blog and commenting and adding your ideas. I have really enjoyed writing on this blog and using blogger. However I feel its the right time to move and have a fresh start, so I will no longer be using this blog to write on but will be moving over to Wordpress. I hope that doesnt stop you from reading my blog and that you will be able to update your blogroll or rss to my new blog. :)

Why not grab a coffee and join me at my new blog where I will explain why I have moved!

Here is my new address: http://gospelsunshine.wordpress.com/

Thanks very much :)
Cat xxx

Returning to blogging

2011-06-08T13:20:00.000+01:00

Apologies for not blogging in ages - we have had no Internet and thus had to resort to pen and paper for communication. It was traumatic, we nearly sold our car to get a horse and cart!

Anyways, I thought I would do a quick update of the blog sphere and highlight some interesting posts I have come across! Enjoy:

Ellie has blogged on Heaven and Hell and the art work of John Martin -

Possibly because, like Martin, we’re a bit too good at painting vivid terrifying pictures of hell, and pretty rubbish at pointing them to Christ: God, stepped into history to bring them into a relationship.

Bish has blogged on taking off your shoes:

The Exodus story is a story I need to make sense of life. It's a story that tells me my god is one who will turn up, who will fight for me. And if he doesn't then I'm stuck between the enemy and the sea, between the wilderness and the promised land. Shoes off... like when Jesus washed his disciples feet?

Gareth blogs about watching TV for the Glory of God

And (as someone else said, but I can’t remember who) when Jesus comes back, no-one will wish they’d watched more TV. But is this the whole story? I love TV. I don’t just enjoy lounging in front of it and switching my brain off – I love it as an artform, as a medium for communication, and as a tool for education.

Ed blogs his thoughts on the Song of Songs

The Song is one of my favourite books of the Bible, and the more i think about it and read it, the more i am convinced it's primarily about Christ and His relationship with the church. Or maybe even better, the Son of David and his Ideal Bride. But it comes to the same thing. I also think we lose something of the depths of the Gospel if we fail to view this book in this way. Just like we'd lose some of the depths of the Gospel if we read Galatians as being primarily about eating bacon, or Exodus as being about extreme desert survival.

Emily blogs some lovely pictures of Sheringham

Spring Read

2011-05-27T11:35:00.001+01:00

I have just finished two brilliant books which I want to share with you, although I am behind the times so you have probably read them!

1. Birdsong

This book has been on my reading list for ages - probably because I thought it would be boring or just too much of a guys war book... but it is far from it! Its a wonderful story that is quite graphic in areas but it grips you and you cant put the book down. Set in world war I, we are taken through the horrific details of wartime trenches and the life of a soldier called Stephen. Its about finding and losing love. Its about idols and the heart wrenching truth of when they fail us. Its about the dangers of power and the lusts of youth. Its brilliant and worth a read...

2. Time Traveler's wife

If you have seen the film, well the book is better...and less confusing!! This is about a time traveller who juggles time travelling un-expectantly, a marriage and other events! This is such a clever story and all credit must go to the author. The film doesn't do it justice. This book is a mixture of romance and suspense. You will wonder how this will all work out till the very end... worth a read.

The cold dull heart

2011-05-25T11:34:00.000+01:00

Last night the Christian Union had a bring and share dinner overlooking the sea as the sun was setting. We enjoyed the food and fellowship and most of all we enjoyed the sunshine that was keeping us warm. But as the sun was setting, several of us were beginning to shiver due to the heat of the sun becoming less and less. We tried to wrap up warm, but it wasn't the same. As I got home, I reflected on this and realised it was an image of Christ and our hearts.

We often think that as long as I go to church and my outward appearance looks Christian, then I am safe and I don't need to worry about my heart. But the real truth is that our hearts need Christ. Christ is like the sun to us, beaming his rays of warmth onto our heart, melting them, warming them to the point where they are inflamed with love and joy for Him.

But what happens when the sun sets and Christ is no longer warmer our hearts?

I reflected on Romans 1 as I study this letter with a student. We notice that Gods judgement is not what we expected - we think he should be throwing down wrath on the wicked, but God does something that surprises us. He leaves us in our sin. - "And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done." (Romans 1v28)

This may not seem like a judgement at all and we may see it as a way to do what we want. But when you think about Christ being our warmth and our source of love and joy, we are reminded that this judgement is terrifying. Gods judgement is to allow us to go further into our sins and for our hearts to become cold and dull. To not have Christ shine his warming love into our hearts, is possibly the worst kind of judgement on this earth!

As I read through Exodus, I come across Pharaoh and I am told his heart become hard and God hardens his heart...we get so caught in "who hardens who", that we forget that this is Gods judgement on the wicked - Pharaohs heart is so bitter and hard and far from Christ that he cannot be warmed - his heart is cold and the outworking of that causing great distress.

This cannot just be a warning to non Christians - but surely to Christians that dress up in Christianity or those of us who have hard hearts? You must ask yourself if your heart is adoring Christ, if the rays of his warming love is set upon your heart? Is your heart melting and becoming soft? “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” (Hebrews 3v15)...

Without Christ, just as the sun goes down, we become cold and dull. Keep in the fire of Christs love.

Created for a wedding...

2011-05-19T15:12:00.000+01:00

Have you ever wondered why God created you? Why you are here on this earth? Edwards hits the nail on the head which may seem surprising...

"God created the world to provide a spouse and a kingdom for his son: and the setting up of the kingdom of Christ and the spiritual marriage of the spouse to Him, is what the whole creation labours and travails in pain to bring to pass"

The Sunshine of the Gospel

2011-05-07T16:36:00.000+01:00

It seems that Richard Sibbes has come back from the dead and he is living in the South West. And what a joy that is!

This is no ordinary book and you may think that it being self published means that the content is not as good. You couldn't be more wrong. This is a collection of Sibbes sermons which are made accessible for todays reader by Dave Bish and this is one book you wouldn't want to miss...!

Sibbes has a way of speaking to your heart because he is trying to draw you to Jesus and warm your heart. He is not ashamed to speak of the struggles of man and how hard hearted we can be and he is not ashamed to point us back to Jesus and invite us to sit by the fire of his love. He is also not ashamed to draw us to the picture of the bride and groom and he does this through the song of songs and its wonderful - when you read this you will see how much Christ loves the church, how much he is wooing his bride to himself. The pictures and the language are rich and I really believe they will give you a different outlook to how you see church and how you think Christ views you.

So if you are a Christian that feels like everyday is a struggle and your heart is cold or you have forgotten that Christ loves you so much and that you need reminding of how to fall in love with Jesus again - then you need to read this book....seriously. I actually think that even if you feel like your relationship is great, you should still read this book and allow your love for Christ to grow stronger. You can never have enough of Jesus.

Bish has done a good job here and I am not saying that because he is my friend and boss, but I am saying it because every time I read this book it made me look back at Christ and His word and Jesus made my heart softer and warmer each time. I so needed to read this and be reminded of Christs great love for me and for His bride.

So why not buy it here and see what I mean.

I would recommend that you take it in bit by bit, like fine wine or strong coffee - it allows you to enjoy it all the more!

The gaze of the groom

2011-05-03T11:14:00.000+01:00

I had such joy watching the Royal Wedding on TV - probably because two weeks before I was doing the same thing (obviously not at Westminster Abbey!), but I was walking down the aisle with a lovely white dress on, holding on to my dad with my four beautiful bridesmaids behind me and waiting for me was my groom.

People love weddings and they should. It should be a time of celebrating and rejoicing. Two people are coming together to be man and wife - one flesh and the apostle Paul says this is a mystery, a wonderful mystery that reflects Christ and the church and the beautiful love story that is told in the pages of the bible. A marriage points us to something greater and whether its a common wedding like mine or a royal wedding like Kates, it still points us to the greatest wedding of all - Christ and the Church.

Em Bish made a point of capturing the moment that Tim and I looked at each other for the first time as I walked down the aisle. The first time that the groom gazes at the face of the bride. Em reminded me that this is a glimpse of Christ gazing at His bride, the church, for the first time and what a splendour that will be! I know for me that when I first saw Tim, I nearly cried with joy. Imagine what joy the church will have when they meet Christ and see Him face to face. Imagine the awe and splendour and beauty. At that moment everything slips away, the past no longer matters, the worries fade away - you are caught in that glimpse and you will never want to turn your face away.

I loved my wedding day and I am enjoying the gift of marriage, but I am also looking forward to the great Royal wedding between Christ and the Church. But in the meantime let us continue to enjoy the reflection that marriage presents and the mystery behind it all.

Redeeming the social avatar

2011-04-06T17:56:00.000+01:00

A couple of days ago I spoke about repainting ourselves online and how we express ourselves differently. On the otherside of that, Emma Scrivener wrote a really great blog about social networking and how it can be used in a dishonest way.

One of the challenges that was raised in our discussion of social networking were the dangers and uses of social networking. There are many dangers of facebook and twitter and other such social networking sites. But that flags up a challenge for us as Christians. What I notice so often is that as Christians we like to say "no". That is one danger of social networking for us - we will brand it as "evil" and abstain from it and we will feel good about it, in fact we will feel holy.

Don't you feel righteous when you can say "no" to facebook? Where you can give it up for lent? We just get a real sense of holiness that we are not entrapped by this new fad. That is a huge danger and I think we need to steer away from that and actually turn this all around because the reality is that the world is using social media to connect with people and you may argue that this isn't right - but it is how people are creating communities and as Christians we can bury our heads in the sands of time or we can can actually use this social media for good.

So I ask this question - "How can we redeem social media for Christ?"

Social networking isn't a sin, but what I find is that I struggle with it because it highlights or projects sin more clearly onto its blue and white pages. But the problem isn't facebook - those sins are in my heart already. So maybe I need to think about how facebook can expose my sin and how am I going to deal with that sin in my heart? (i.e take it to Christ and repent). Here is a picture of Mark 7:14-23 - what defiles a person is what comes from the heart! So if I see myself putting up statuses that I know will feed my pride and give me attention - then social networking will project that, but the sin comes from my heart first...

So lets redeem this social avatar, let social networking be a platform of displaying Christ. Lets think about how we use social networking - for who's gain is it for? Mindless gossip? stalking? attention seeking? or opportunities to bridge gaps in communities, to share the Gospel, to say encouraging things, advertising gospel projects or events, connect with people and to open our lives to people on one level?

But also social networking has a big arrow to the desires of the world - to be wanted, to be loved and to be a part of a community. Social networking fulfills that on one level and on that level we can get opportunities to share Christ and redeem all our activities on social networking for Christ. But then there is another level - the offline level, where real community is at, where we eat together, share life together and have face to face conversations. The social networking world is thirsting for authentic relationships, so then as Christians we need to fully give that when we are offline - in our church, in our street, in our job and in our relationships. There is no point offering a community and a relationship only through social networking and then ignore those who are next door to us!

I guess my concern is that we so easily open up when we are in front of a screen, but will we open our doors to those in need? Will we share the Gospel with those next to us on the bus? Will we invite that lonely person round for dinner? Will we open and share our lives with those around us? Will we eat with them and invite our non Christians friends to be a part of a community that loves, enjoys and encourages one another? Will we be that community?

What a challenge. What are your thoughts?

Repainting my self portrait

2011-04-04T14:46:00.000+01:00

Where do I hang my self portrait? Where can the world admire or scorn it, comment on it and "like" it?

With each stroke of the brush and tap of the keys I upload my profile with quotes, captions and images. Here I am in written form - my self portrait on display. Social Networking is the gateway to all our own self portraits on display - its a gallery of creative musings, expressions and life. The question is whether its real or not?

At team days we had a discussion on social networking and the challenges and implications of using this type of media to connect with people. There were some debate on whether social networking allows us to hide behind the screen and re-invent ourselves online so that we could be whoever we wanted. And I could if I wanted to - I could pretend that I was an amazing tea-drinking musician that wears victorian floral dresses. The problem though is that my real friends would know that this isnt true and therefore would question me over this.

Perhaps we are all too suspicious? We think everyone is a fraud, trying to woo us to believing they are someone else, causing us to mistrust them and therefore we never enter into any deep relationships because we dont want to get hurt.

Lets turn this around.

Perhaps the portrait I project onto the social networking sight is the real me, perhaps its a space to invite others to see another side of me? Maybe social networking allows another way of being creative and connect with people which doesnt have to be disconnected with real life. What I say on here, is what I say in real life - let there not be a divide in "real life" and "social networking life". We need to be accountable in both and not separate them.

My self portrait is up on the canvas of social networking. I could repaint it, but people would know and challenge me. I could move to another country and repaint myself, pretend to like new hobbies and dress differently, but in reality my heart is still the same - I cannot run from that. My heart is still the same on a social networking sight and yeh for a while I could be someone else, but in the end I cant sustain that and why would I want to? And why do you expect everyone else to be an alias? Maybe we are all expressing ourselves in different ways that capture a particular instance of our identity that is projected onto our self portraits of facebook.

Not so different from self portraits of Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh and Andy Warhol...

All expressions of how they see themselves and none of them I would say are repainting themselves to be something they are not.

"My painting is a representation of life, my own life above all, which has been very difficult. So perhaps my painting is very violent, but this is natural to me." Francis Bacon Quote

Coffee on a Postcard

2011-04-03T16:00:00.000+01:00

UK Coffee Week is approaching (4th-10th April) and below are a collection of postcards of the London Coffee Festival, which I love! I wish I could be in London and see it and be a part of it. However I will drink more coffee instead. Perhaps those close to London will blog about it?

Walking around the art room

2011-03-31T13:00:00.000+01:00

One afternoon during team days, we had the opportunity to go to an Andy Warhol exhibition in Southampton. This was a fascinating trip, partly because I didn’t really understand the art nor would I want it hanging on my living room walls. But the best part for me was when one of our relay workers spent the time to explain what she looks for in art and what questions she asks herself about the art. To be honest, I was more fascinated with the process of how to understand the art in front of me rather then the two blocks of colours staring at me. But just because I didn’t find it pleasing to the eye, doesn’t mean that what it’s communicating is not relevant! I appreciate those that enjoy this type of art and I am willing to learn more about it, especially as it affects our culture and our ways of thinking. It’s too primitive for me to believe that I should only listen or look at what I like and ignore all the other voices.

Gareth Leaney blogs brilliantly about the exhibition here.

With Andy Warhol being such a weight in pop culture, identity and celebrity, means that the audience needs to sit up and listen. Especially the Christian - no more burying your head in the sands of Christian culture, but we need to open our eyes and ears to see and hear that the world is speaking and how they desire for something more.

But will we be a part of the conversation?

Do we have anything to say?

To hear what I need

2011-03-30T21:14:00.000+01:00

I don't know about you, but when I wake up in the morning I find that I want nothing to do with the Gospel or Jesus. In fact I prefer to wake up and think about the day ahead and all the things I want to do - my agenda, my life, my identity. As I awake I find my heart so hard and dull. I think that if I was to do everything I wanted then I would be satisfied.

What a lie.

The one thing I need to hear is the Gospel.
I need to hear it because I don't want to hear it.
I need to hear it because my heart needs to be melted
I need to hear it because it brings me life. Christ brings me life and has made me alive.

Team days were all about the Gospel and I didn't want to hear it but I needed to hear it and I am thankful that I did hear it. The Gospel makes fellowship sweet and food tasty and hearts melting... lets keep hearing it and keeping speaking it.

Monday morning is for...

2011-03-21T14:01:00.000Z

Study.
[and coffee].

Bible open. Notepad and pen to the ready. Articles to look at and coffee brewing.

My question that I am mulling over today is how I read the bible - how do I read scripture? More specifically how do I read the OT and the NT...

Some Monday morning questions to ponder over:

Do I believe that the NT interprets the OT?
Or
Do I think the OT interprets the NT?

Does the NT tell me that I need to re-read the OT in a different way and that Jesus re-interprets the OT for me...or does the OT interpret what Jesus and the apostles are saying and therefore the OT does not need interpreting from the NT?

Is the Trinity in the OT? ... Or does God just like talking to himself? ...

These are just questions floating around. Not really for anyone to answer, but feel free to comment!

Christ will not quench the smoking flax

2011-03-14T14:57:00.000Z

The second observation concerning the weak and small beginnings of grace is that Christ will not quench the smoking flax. This is so for two principal reasons.

First, because this spark is from heaven: it is his own, it is kindled by his own Spirit.

And secondly, it tends to the glory of his powerful grace in his children that he preserves light in the midst of darkness, a spark in the midst of the swelling waters of corruption.

THE LEAST SPARK OF GRACE IS PRECIOUS!

We have no need to feel discouraged. Think of these people in the bible:

"We see how our Saviour Christ bore with Thomas in his doubting (John 20:27), and with the two disciples that went to Emmaus, who wavered as to whether he came to redeem Israel or not (Luke 24:21). He quenched not that little light in Peter, which was smothered: Peter denied him, but he denied not Peter (Luke 22:61). `If thou wilt, thou canst,' said one poor man in the Gospel (Matt. 8:2). `If thou canst do anything,' said another (Mark 9:22).

Both were smoking flaxes. Neither of them was quenched. If Christ had stood upon his own greatness, he would have rejected him that came with his `if'."

How amazing is it that even when we doubt and stumble, Christ will never blot us out, he will never stomp on us. He kindles the flame or the small spark and never puts us out even though we mess up!!

May we shine brighter!

Sibbes shows us the true nature of Christ... how we are so different to him because we are in a culture where we crush the weak and hold up the strong. In our evolution mindset we must strive and conquer and leave those that are weak far behind...but Christ is so different...

"Man for a little smoke will quench the light. Christ, we see, ever cherishes even the least beginnings. How he bore with the many imperfections of his poor disciples! If he did sharply check them, it was in love, and that they might shine the brighter. Can we have a better pattern to follow than this from him by whom we hope to be saved?"

Christ cherishes the weak! He cherishes us as we are low and in darkness. This is good news to us - he makes us shine brighter - even if that comes at a sharpness it is always for our good. Is this not a patter for us to follow? Will we treasure the weak and vulnerable - holding them in our arms, giving them tender love and showing great mercy. Will we be a church that never leaves anyone behind?

Lastly a brilliant quote from Sibbes -

"Weak Christians are like glasses which are hurt with the least violent usage, but if gently handled will continue a long time. This honor of gentle use we are to give to the weaker vessels (1 Pet. 3:7), by which we shall both preserve them and likewise make them useful to the church and ourselves."

Flowers

2011-03-09T13:24:00.000Z

The beauty of reading

2011-03-03T16:22:00.000Z

Choosing a new book to read can be complex. The choice is endless as the stacks of written words are displayed before you, screaming at you, beckoning you to open their delightful pages and smell the aroma of the narrative. As you scan your eyes across titles and colours and images that capture your imagination, you are soon caught by a book. Why you choose it, you may never know. But how you begin to read it, is important.

As you open the front cover and allow the spine to make little crackles, you press your nose against the pages and breathe deeply in. You are perhaps in-hailing a master piece. You feel the pages beneath your fingertips and notice the rough indents. You turn to the first page with its beaming Chapter One while the carefully chosen words dance in front of you. Your mind begins to unravel a charming story that is aided by words that unfold characters and natures and worlds that you never knew before. Suddenly a whole new existence is created and you feel very much a part of it.

A book should never be unaccompanied. Its traveling friend is always a cup of coffee. So that just as you smell the fresh pages of a new book, you can almost imagine its like opening a bag of fresh filter coffee and having the luxury of absorbing the rich smell of coffee beans and allowing this aroma to dance and skip with your senses.

Soon you are in the middle of the book and the characters are no longer shadows. Your coffee is traveling beside you and you enjoy the rustic rich flavour. You find yourself talking and engaging with world views and apologetics. Your imagination is fueled by artistic sentences and sketches of the real world and there is no flashing lights or glaring screens, no loud music or noiseless chatter.

Its just you curled up with pages of imagination that tinkle and trickle into joyful worlds of art, literature and timeless history. And it can always be picked up again no sooner then when you have finished and placed it upon the table next to the empty cup of coffee.

You cant get any of this from facebook or blogs or TV. Its just not the same.

Consider ourselves as Christ does

2011-02-28T16:57:00.000Z

After a little break - the Bruised Reed blogging is back!

We have seen what it is to be bruised and how Christ is our greatest comfort. But Sibbes also talks about what it is to be a smoking flax. He describes the smoking flax as:

"In a smoking flax there is but a little light, and that weak, as being unable to flame, and that little mixed with smoke. The observations from this are that, in God's children, especially in their first conversion, there is but a little measure of grace, and that little mixed with much corruption, which, as smoke, is offensive; but that Christ will not quench this smoking flax."

I think what Sibbes is getting at, is the times of doubt and times when we feel discouraged at our growth as Christians and the frustrations of sin in our lives that blemish us. Which can bring us to being bruised as well, its like a circle of feeling bruised because we are a smoking flax and the other way around. I think this because he gives examples:

"Moses at the Red Sea, being in a great perplexity, and knowing not what to say, or which way to turn, groaned to God. No doubt this was a great conflict in him. In great distresses we know not what to pray, but the Spirit makes request with sighs that cannot be expressed (Rom. 8:26). Broken hearts can yield but broken prayers.

Help thou mine unbelief.' There is smoke (Mark 9:24).
Jonah cries, `I am cast out of thy sight.' There is smoke.
`Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.' There is light (Jon. 2:4)

`O wretched man that I am!', says Paul, with a sense of his corruption. Yet he breaks out into thanks to God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 7:24)."

But there is always great hope in times of doubt and our confrontation with sin. I think I find these times really hard because I see how unworthy I am and how much I need Christ and how much I am so far from living for Him in my heart. My heart is certainly corrupt!!

But again Sibbes encourages us to not look within ourselves nor dwell to much on our sin but to look to Christ, who values us so highly because of the work He does in us! -

"Let us not therefore be discouraged at the small beginnings of grace, but look on ourselves as elected to be `holy and without blame' (Eph. 1:4). Let us look on our imperfect beginning only to enforce further striving to perfection, and to keep us in a low opinion of ourselves. Otherwise, in case of discouragement, we must consider ourselves as Christ does, who looks on us as those he intends to fit for himself. Christ values us by what we shall be, and by what we are elected unto. We call a little plant a tree, because it is growing up to be so. `Who has despised the day of small things?' (Zech. 4:10). Christ would not have us despise little things. "

This is amazing, just digest this again....

"Otherwise, in case of discouragement, we must consider ourselves as Christ does, who looks on us as those he intends to fit for himself. Christ values us by what we shall be, and by what we are elected unto."

Sitting by the fire of Christs love

2011-02-25T13:00:00.000Z

Why do you evangelise?

Or perhaps a better question is:

Why don't you evangelise?

The more I think about this the more I have to look into my own heart and see how I respond to these questions. Most the time my answer would be:

Why do I evangelise?: Because I feel like I have to or church told me to or that's what Christians do, right?

Why don't I evangelise?: Because I feel like have to or I just dont feel like it.

I don't think I stand alone in this. That may sound odd. But I bet youth workers and pastors struggle with this too. Perhaps you sigh with relief when you hear my response?

I have been thinking about why this is and I have realised that when I am feeling most alive and on fire for God - in the sense that my affections for Christ are on fire is the time when I most want to tell people about Jesus. I want to tell people about Jesus when my heart is soft and melting with his love. Its when I am being reminded of the Gospel, when my heart is warmed to the truth of Christ, when someone sets Christ in front of me as the greatest joy in the world, where they bring about flames of adoration and worship to my soul because of the love of Christ.

I don't mean just knowledge of who Christ is nor "feeling" pleased with how I am doing as a Christian. Forget what I am doing and how my quiet times are going - they are not the object of my affections. I mean when we truly, deeply love Christ and are drawn to Him, seeing that he is lovely in the sense of all beauty, all perfection, all comfort, all satisfaction, all joy... if my heart can be kindled by the love of Christ which will then set my soul on fire for Him and to burn with deep love and adoration for Him alone - then there will be no escaping the desire to tell the world about the one whom I love.

So I ask:

Imagine if we heard sermons like that on Sunday?
Imagine if we fired up the Christian Union like that during the week?
Imagine if our 121s were like that?
Imagine if we as Christians were reminded of the Gospel daily, drawn to the love and depth of Christ so that our hearts are dripping with adoration for him...

Imagine how that would affect our lives. Our desires. Our evangelism. Our conversations. Our attitudes....

Lets have more of Christ. More affectionate, heart stirring, Gospel warming, sin cutting, soul healing, fire burning love for Christ in our conversations, sermons, seminars, 121s, outreach....

Are you sitting in the cold right now? You don't feel this love? Well why don't you sit by the fire of Christs love, remind yourself of the Gospel and His great love for you. Sit there until your heart has melted.

Richard Sibbes says:

" If God love us thus, what must we do? Meditate upon his love. Let our hearts be warmed with the consideration of it. Let us bring them to that fire of his love, and then they will be like hot wax within us"

Why do I evangelise?: Because the love of Christ burns in me and warms my heart so that I cannot help but share the Gospel

Why don't I evangelise?: Because my heart is hard and cold and needs to sit by the fire of Christs love until it melts

Petty, Trivial, Unworthy?

2011-02-18T13:24:00.000Z

I spent the morning listening to the Dawkins and Lennox debate on The God Delusion... right at the end it came down to one thing which Richard Dawkins says...

“It all quite really comes down to the resurrection of Jesus. It has a fundamental incompatibility [with] the sophisticated scientist,”
“It’s (resurrection of Christ argument) so petty, it’s so trivial, it’s so local, it’s so earth-bound, it’s so unworthy of the universe.” - Richard Dawkins in the debate

I found that very interesting...

For more information on the resurrection have a look here:

The Historicity of the Empty Tomb of Jesus

Contemporary scholarship and the resurrection of Jesus

Is there really solid evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

Enough mercy for today

2011-02-17T09:00:00.000Z

A really wonderful reminder of how God gives us Grace and Mercy that is enough for today and today only. Each new day he gives us exactly what we need:

The manna in the wilderness was given one day at a time. There was
no storing up. That is the way we must depend on God’s mercy.

You do not receive today the strength to bear tomorrow’s burdens. You are given mercies today for today’s troubles. Tomorrow the mercies will be new. “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9, RSV). “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will act!” (1 Thessalonians 5:24, author’s translation).(John Piper - A Godward Life)

Be-Engaging :: The Last Supper

2011-02-16T10:00:00.000Z

What if you were posed with a question and situation that could change the world? What if you invited someone round for dinner and found out that they had thoughts and ideas that were very wrong and evil? What if you could rid the world of one evil person in order to save hundreds... what if Hitler came to dinner at a time when he was a young man, many years before he did all those horrible things - what would you do knowing the truth of his actions many years later?

Big Questions.

This film, "The last supper" is about the problem of evil. Its also an exposure of justice and how we think of Evil.

The scene is around a dinner table where good food is served and good wine is poured. But there is a twist. The wine doesn't taste so good and the company doesn't seem so much fun anymore. A group of university graduates invite controversial people round for dinner, knowing that their ideas and thoughts are quite radical and perhaps very wrong. These students took the liberty to kill off these guests in order to save man kind.

But then it gets out of hand. Suddenly they were killing people that they simply disagreed with. The table turns - who is evil here? There conscience plays against them and they cant shake off the feeling that perhaps what they are doing is wrong...

This film is brilliant and one of my favorites because it has many twists and turns and delves into some extreme ideas. It gets you thinking about the big questions in life.

And the questions I would ask are:

1. Who is evil?

2. What is evil and where did it come from?

3. Do we, like the students, think that we should take justice in our own hands and kill off people we disagree with?

4. Is there any room for persuasion and conversation?

5. What does the Gospel say?

Well I want to tie in what the Gospel says about who is evil, because I think thats the most important question and Jesus answers it:

And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
(Mark 7:20-23 ESV)

This list from Jesus doesn't excuse anyone. Which means that the problem of evil is the human heart and everyone has a human heart like this and therefore we come to a conclusion that the answer to the question "Who is evil?" is me and you. Suddenly I sit at that table and I know I am not pure and cannot judge other people - for my heart is evil. And I think thats what these students suddenly come to realise in the film, they saw that they themselves have an evil heart with wrong thoughts - they were no better then those they were killing.

But there is hope and the Gospel offers hope. On the one hand Jesus says the problem is our hearts, but on the other hand he offers us a renewed heart and salvation.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. [Ezekiel 36:26]

How amazing is that?

For more resources on the problem of Evil, do look at the bethinking website.

This grace in which we stand

2011-02-13T15:39:00.000Z

Something really struck me the other day as I was walking home and thinking of how the day went. What struck me was the life of Jesus in the Gospels. I realised that Jesus understood something about his relationship with God more then I do. Of course Jesus knows and understands more then me in everything, but there is one thing that really caught my attention.

Have you ever noticed how Jesus went through so much hurt and rejection and yet never stumbled? He never doubted himself or his relationship with his Father. I know Jesus is God, but as I am thinking on a human level I was reminded how Jesus really did grasp and understand how his worth and identity was completely in the Father. He knew that no matter how much the world rejected him, his standing was still the same with the Father.

Imagine if we truly grasped that? If in our hearts we really did understand that our worth and identity was in Jesus and no matter how the world views us, whether they praise us or rejects us - it can never change our standing with God. Never.

Imagine if our hearts really treasured this truth the same way Jesus did?

Where we no longer strive for the praises of man or believe that I need to do things to earn the praise of God. But that I truly rest in what Christ has done for me on the cross. There I am secure in my relationship with God and can no longer worry about the praises of man or what people think of me.

Then Romans 5 does seem sweet indeed:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
(Romans 5:1-2 )

Be-Engaging :: Angel-A

2011-02-11T10:00:00.003Z

Set on the noir streets of Paris we are introduced to a self loathed small time criminal that can't pay his debts back. What does he need? A helping hand! So an Angel falls from the sky and helps him out. But there is a twist, this Angel and man called Andre fall in love and we are taken on an adventure of self discovery and the complex emotions of love.

The biggest theme I picked up on was that of Andre and his idea of love. Angela (the Angel) confronts him and places him in front of a mirror and tells Andre to say "I love you" to himself. The idea behind this is that he cannot love others unless he is first loved and she points the finger back to him and suggests that he needs to start loving himself before he can love others. This caught my attention and made me ask two questions:

1. How much truth is there behind the idea of self love and loving others?

2. What does the Gospel say to this?

Some of my thoughts about self love were a mixture of understanding where they were coming from and not being quite satisfied with that. But perhaps it is indeed true that if we hate ourselves and see ourselves completely unworthy of love, then loving others will perhaps prove difficult. It is also very true that we cannot love others unless we ourselves are loved. But I want to move the picture further on and say that self love will never satisfy nor complete us, that the story can never end at self love or we will swing between the emotional roller coaster of love and loathing ourselves, between pride and pity.

This idea of love must come under Gods love in order to be fully satisfying and complete. We are wonderfully told in scripture the truth that we can indeed love because we were first loved:

"We love because he first loved us. "
(1 John 4:19 ESV)

Here is where the pin drops. The true colours of love are displayed here with the richness of this verse. Yes we cannot love if we are not ourselves loved first. But for ourselves to be loved it cannot be about looking within ourselves and lavishing ourselves with our own love. No, it must come from outside ourselves - from the perfect creator that is Love, that lavishes his love on us that is pure and selfless, our God who enables us to love because he loved us first. This is what Andre needed to hear, he didn't need to shout at his reflection that he loves himself - in fact he loves himself too much. But he needed to hear that he is loved and its not from within but it is from our Heavenly Father.

Is this not a message we all need to hear? A message that students need to hear on university campus as they struggle with loneliness in their halls or trying to fit in on sports socials? Is this not a message for staff workers who may be struggling with approval, or stay at home mums who may feel disconnected with the world or the teenage girl who is struggling with image... there are many situations where we need to not look in the mirror and say "I love you", but where we need to hear our heavenly Father say "I loved you first"...

Be-Engaging

2011-02-10T09:00:00.001Z

As we walk with Paul through Athens in Acts 17, we see him observe idols. We see him contemplate and discuss and reason from looking at the culture around him. What a model of doing evangelism and apologetics!!

So after much thought I have decided to re-launch my Be-Engaging series where for the next couple of weeks I will be focusing on films and not just mainstream ones, but different ones and will be writing about the themes and ideas behind them and how they relate to the Gospel. This will hopefully get you thinking and challenge you and spur you on to watch these films and question the themes and ideas behind them. Do join me by walking through Athens and observing the idols and the culture and comment on the films I write about.

Mission Team on Campus

2011-02-06T19:47:00.000Z

February is mission week season for Christian Unions across the UK. Its an exciting time and also a challenging time. Who knows what God will do during that week, what seeds will be sown, what hearts will be changed. This week will be my 8th Mission week and so here are some of my thoughts/tips that will hopefully help you if you are student and about to have a mission week on campus...

1. Pray - pray for this week, pray for the weeks afterwards. Pray for your non christian friends and pray for yourself and energy and wisdom. Pray for the speaker and the CU guests, pray as a mission team...enjoy lifting up the week to our heavenly Father that hears our cries.

2. Sleep/Rest - Don't think you can function well without sleep. Get early nights and enjoy the sleep given to you. Find time to rest because you are not God and cannot do everything!

3. Eat well and together- Eat fruit and veg... don't live off popcorn and pot noodles... this is obvious, but eat well and invite your friends to dinner before an event so you can go to an event together... Share Jesus over a meal and enjoy eating well.

4. Invite by talking - Conversation is brilliant. So open your mouth and invite your friends to an event instead of shoving a flier in their face... talk and enjoy conversation. Chat about Jesus, hopes, dreams, desires and the Gospel...

5. Go to your lectures - Its tempting to skip lessons and go to everything that the CU is putting on. But that doesnt display a good witness to your friends. Go to your lectures and enjoy the truth that the CU event wont fall apart cos you are not there...

A good talk to listen to:
Why it's ok to stay in bed for the whole of mission week

To go boldly to the Throne

2011-02-02T09:00:00.004Z

We often find ourselves hiding from God when we feel bruised and rubbish. So far in this series we have seen that Christ is our comfort in our bruising, that our bruising brings about some good and that Christ is a good physician and calls us to Him. And so what shall we do at this point in time? Sibbs suggests 3 things:

1. Go boldly to the throne of God, do not hide but find comfort in Christ! - "What should we learn from this, but to `come boldly to the throne of grace' (Heb. 4:16) in all our grievances? Shall our sins discourage us, when he appears there only for sinners? "

Sibbs asks us - "Are you bruised? Be of good comfort, he calls you. Conceal not your wounds, open all before him and take not Satan's counsel. Go to Christ, although trembling, as the poor woman who said, `If I may but touch his garment' (Matt. 9:21). We shall be healed and have a gracious answer."

2. Stay in Christ and do not despair - "If Christ be so merciful as not to break me, I will not break myself by despair, nor yield myself over to the roaring lion, Satan, to break me in pieces."

3. Be conscious of your weakness so that it makes you run to Christ - "As a mother is tenderest to the most diseased and weakest child, so does Christ most mercifully incline to the weakest. Likewise he puts an instinct into the weakest things to rely upon something stronger than themselves for support. The vine stays itself upon the elm, and the weakest creatures often have the strongest shelters. The consciousness of the church's weakness makes her willing to lean on her beloved, and to hide herself under his wing"

All of these run on the same theme - run to Christ and do not listen to Satan. Even though we are weak, Christ has allowed us to come to the throne of His Father by His blood. Therefore do not hide in darkness, but cling to Christ and find comfort.

And therefore to conclude this section of the Bruised Reed with Sibbs encouraging us more:

"His tenderest care is over the weakest. The lambs he carries in his bosom (Isa. 40:11). He says to Peter, `Feed my lambs' (John 21:15). He was most familiar and open to troubled souls. How careful he was that Peter and the rest of the apostles should not be too much dejected after his resurrection! `Go your way, tell his disciples and Peter' (Mark 16:7). Christ knew that guilt of their unkindness in leaving of him had dejected their spirits. How gently did he endure the unbelief of Thomas and stooped so far unto his weakness, as to suffer him to thrust his hand into his side."

Let your reading be like good wine...

2011-01-30T09:00:00.003Z

Mike Reeves hits us again with the delight in reading theology and learning about theologians. This isn't a book that causes us to stand still but to "go back to the sources"! He takes us through Luther, Calvin, Owen, Edwards, Schleiermacher and Barth and spurs us on to read more about them and go to their works of theology and delve into the depths.

This is a book that starts to kindle our hearts and open our eyes to see that theology is far from boring and that modern day books of our time about christian living and Christ are perhaps not as satisfying as some of the works from past ages. Although don't be put off by what you may of heard in regards to some of these theologians, but I challenge you to read about them and for some of them - certainly Calvin, Luther and Edwards you cannot help but have your heart wooed to Christ. That's what you want in a book about theology and that's what they do...

I am tempted to make a bold statement and say to you to put down all those modern day authors - Driscoll, Piper, Chester and even Mike Reeves and pick up the works suggested by Reeves by Calvin, Luther, Edwards etc Pick them up and digest and read slowly and enjoy and relish the beauty of Christ and let your heart overflow with the joy of knowing Him more. Then once you do that, go on to others - Sibbs, Bunyan, Wesley etc

Also don't be put off by wrestling with what they are saying - they are not fast food theology, tweeting to your veins for quick snap information - no! its better and richer then that, in fact its like good wine or filter coffee, its to be smelt, swished, sipped and enjoyed. Let your reading be like good wine and good filter coffee. You will be surprised at what benefit it is to your soul and what relevance it is to your life now...
Don't stop at Reeves, go back to the sources!

Bish writes a review here.

No sulky faces please...

2011-01-29T13:02:00.000Z

"The theologian who has no joy in his work is not a theologian at all. Sulky faces, morose thoughts and boring ways of speaking are intolerable" - (In the book "On Giants Shoulders", quote from Karl Barth)

Do I have joy in my work? In theology?
Or is my Christian life one sulky face and is spoken in a dull manner?...

Christ is a physician good at all diseases

2011-01-26T10:00:00.003Z

What will Christ do to us Christians that feel bruised and broken? Will he cast us away? Will he tell us to get over ourselves? Will he judge us and call us pathetic? Thankfully not.

Sibbs goes on to show how Christ is full of mercy - "Physicians, though they put their patients to much pain, will not destroy nature, but raise it up by degrees. Surgeons will lance and cut, but not dismember. A mother who has a sick and self willed child will not therefore cast it away. And shall there be more mercy in the stream than in the spring? Shall we think there is more mercy in ourselves than in God, who plants the affection of mercy in us?"

This gives me most comfort of all, that Christ has much more mercy then I do, yet sometimes I think Christ will judge me more harshly. But when we think of Christ and the names he gives himself, we cannot escape how tender he is towards those that mourn and come to him with a humble heart.

Sibbs continues - "But for further declaration of Christ's mercy to all bruised reeds, consider the comfortable relationships he has taken upon himself of husband, shepherd and brother, which he will discharge to the utmost. Shall others by his grace fulfill what he calls them unto, and not he who, out of his love, has taken upon him these relationships, so thoroughly founded upon his Father's assignment, and his own voluntary undertaking?"

Christ is full of tender mercy. I think Sibbs wants to encourage us to come to Christ on our knees and find comfort in Him and not be afraid. This picture of Christ as a Shepard and husband is full of love and kindness and the scriptures continue to remind us of how Christ invites us to come to Him when we are in times of need -

" Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 ESV)

"He is a physician good at all diseases, especially at the binding up of a broken heart." - Page 9

Praying mirrors the Gospel (pt2)

2011-01-22T17:00:00.003Z

Yesterday we looked at the 6 am Christian and how our attitudes to prayer can be wrong... today we are going to look at how praying mirrors the Gospel. These are notes taken from a Team Day by Jim Walford.

If I was to ask you this question - "What is the best thing about being a Christian?" what would your answer be?

Perhaps it may be on the lines of eternal fire insurance - a one way ticket out of hell or even being a part of a community where you are accepted.
When I watch programmes on TV about what Christianity is, I am always swallowed up by the sheer amount of talk about how Christianity can improve your life or how its about following the 10 commandments.

But I think we sometimes miss the best thing ever about being a Christian which is having a relationship with God as Father. Furthermore within this relationship, like any relationship there is communication. This is prayer. We can pray to our Father who created the heavens and the earth.

During our Team Day with the South West, Jim Walford opened our eyes to the warmth of being able to communicate and enjoy our relationship with our Father in heaven. He took us back to the state of our being which is helplessness. We are helpless, proud beings that like to think we are in control but actually we are utterly dependant on our Father and like children we need to see that we are helpless and need to come to our Father for everything...

This is how praying mirrors the Gospel. Its the helpless dependence on our heavenly Father and we approach him by no achievement of our own but by His sons blood. But the point being is that the Father delights in us coming to Him as little children, depending on him, asking him for everything we need and enjoying a relationship with him. God looks at the humble and receives him -

"This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word" - Isaiah 66:2

Just three quick points as I know this has just been a summary of what we were taught:

1. Why pray? - Because we can cry "Abba Father" as sons of the Father
2. How? - Like a child, helpless and dependant on our father
3. What? - Pray everything, all worries, ideas, wants, needs... he is listening.

Praying is good, whatever time of day it is...

(I apologise that this came up on your RSS feed early - blogger went crazy and published this early!)

The 6 am Christian (Pt1)

2011-01-21T17:46:00.000Z

You know who I mean. That Christian that wakes at 5 am in order to pray at 6 am... you know this person because they tell you that they do this... and if you say you pray later then that - well your prayers are obviously not heard. There are some real bad attitudes with praying and we (I) can fall into two camps - Guilty Christian and Proud Christian. Both thinking waking up early to spend many hours in prayer or even bible meditation is more godly then praying at 10pm...

Night Owl - Guilty Christian?

This Christian is perhaps the night owl and prefers the midnight silence where the house is still and you open your bible and read "when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night;" (Psalm 63:6). In the darkness the light of the Lord seems brighter and you rejoice of the day that's been...

But then you read those biographies of George Muller and other great missionaries and theologians and they recall how they woke up so early and prayed for hours starting at 4 am.... eekkk... Guilt Guilt....

Or you meet a fellow Christian and they go on about how their 3 hour prayer was a blessing and they are so disciplined everyday cos they woke up so early...then they stare at you and the words spit out of their mouths "So what time do you get up?"....eeekkkk Guilt Guilt Guilt....What runs around your head? Well... this is what runs around my head...

I am a failure for not being spiritually disciplined as you...(Guilt!)

My prayers are obviously rubbish compared to your morning soaked prayers...(Pride!)

I should just be like you (strange pride and Guilt)

The Morning person - Proud Christian?

This Christian enjoys the sunrise and sings with the birds... they enjoy opening the bible as the suns beams ripple across passages such as "But I, O Lord, cry to you; in the morning my prayer comes before you." (Psalm 88:14) They rejoice that a new day is being unfolded....

But sometimes pride seeps in and your heart begins to shout "hey, I woke up early to pray..."... now everyone knows..eeekkk pride!. Its easy to think you are doing well when you get up at 6 am everyday to pray...but what if you miss it? eekkkk guilt..... oh no! Better set three alarms....

Or you easily get up and enjoy it and yet see any other Christian who might get up later but stay up later as less then you... evidently you are better... eeekk pride.

I think both attitudes are simply dangerous. This is not cultivating the right attitude to prayer. I am a night owl, my best times with praying to God and reading the bible is at night. Many people I know are morning people and enjoy prayer early in the morning. Both I think both are great...I am not sure it matters what time it is, the important thing is our hearts and talking with our loving Father through the Son...

When we start to feel guilty or proud we need to come back to the Gospel. We need to come back to the Cross. Who are we in Christ and does that change depending on the time of the day?...

Maybe we need to start encouraging each other to pray and to embrace diversity and character in prayer...

Inspired by this post: God is a morning person and satan is a night owl...

To be bruised and yearning

2011-01-18T15:21:00.000Z

Sibbs described being bruised as:

"The bruised reed is a man that for the most part is in some misery, as those were that came to Christ for help, and by misery he is brought to see sin as the cause of it...This is such an one as our Saviour Christ terms `poor in spirit' (Matt. 5:3), who sees his wants, and also sees himself indebted to divine justice." (page 3 and 4)

To be bruised is to be in some form of misery, seeing your sin and knowing that only Christ can quench any thirst. Sibbs goes on to say "He has no means of supply from himself or the creature, and thereupon mourns, and, upon some hope of mercy from the promise and examples of those that have obtained mercy, is stirred up to hunger and thirst after it."

To hunger and thirst for Christ is good because in the darkness and in misery, Christ is the only one you can cling to. There are indeed great hope when being and feeling like a bruised child of God. And do you not find that the Gospel can appear very soothing when we grasp it and remind ourselves of it in times of heartache?

So Sibbs then shows us how being bruised can bring about good effects such as these:

1. The Gospel becomes sweet to us! Sibbs says: "Again, this bruising makes us set a high price upon Christ. Then the gospel becomes the gospel indeed; then the fig leaves of morality will do us no good."

2. It makes us more thankful to God - "and, from thankfulness, more fruitful in our lives; for what makes many so cold and barren, but that bruising for sin never endeared God's grace to them?"

3. Aligns us with Gods ways - "Likewise this dealing of God establishes us the more in his ways, having had knocks and bruisings in our own ways."

4. To humble us - "After conversion we need bruising so that reeds may know themselves to be reeds, and not oaks. Even reeds need bruising, by reason of the remainder of pride in our nature, and to let us see that we live by mercy.

5. To encourage us - "Such bruising may help weaker Christians not to be too much discouraged, when they see stronger ones shaken and bruised."

How encouraging is that! God never wastes the season we are in, he enriches us and shapes us for our good! And so I want to end this post with one more encouraging thing Sibbs says when we encounter people that may judge us as we struggle like a bruised reed -

"Ungodly spirits, ignorant of God's ways in bringing his children to heaven, censure broken hearted Christians as miserable persons, whereas God is doing a gracious, good work with them. It is no easy matter to bring a man from nature to grace, and from grace to glory, so unyielding and intractable are our hearts."

Getting lost on a walk

2011-01-17T14:40:00.000Z

Went for a walk on Saturday and got very lost with Tim... but managed to take some pictures of lovely Devon...

Highlights of 2010

2011-01-15T11:00:00.000Z

Every year I look back and note down its highlights and things that have challenged me! And as I look back its been a bit of a rollercoaster! So here are 5 highlights (not in any order):

1. Living in Peru - a challenging, complex, emotional and fun rollercoaster that was jam packed full of experiences that have changed me. I saw Jesus very clearly during my time in Peru and realised how I much I needed Him.

2. New CU in Huaraz - There is indeed a new Christian Union in Huaraz and it was a pleasure to work alongside the students, encourage them and hopefully allowed them to carry on through the years as a CU.

3. Engaged - I got engaged in the summer to Tim and a new chapter in my life begins to unfold as I start to prepare to be a wife with my partner in crime, ready to take on the world with randomness, laughing and a deep love for Jesus! What a mission team! :)

4. New Job - I got a job and its one that God has put on my heart for a long time. Telling students about Jesus. Sharing the Gospel. Working with CU and hopefully encouraging students the way I was encouraged when I was a student by my staff worker and relay workers. Its good to be a part of this team in UCCF and share the vision.

5. New Church, New location - I have moved around a lot this year and finally God has placed my feet in Plymouth and here I will be until he tells us to move again. This leads on to a new church - Waterfront City Church which is a part of New Frontiers. Its so good to be a part of the family and to have a new mission field in Plymouth - this will be a great time of being out of my comfort zone! :)

Our comfort as Bruised Reeds

2011-01-12T10:00:00.000Z

In times of great emotional hurt, where we may feel like being engulfed in darkness or just feeling downcast and tired, we must as children of God remember the great truth of Christ.

I know that in times of tiredness and just allowing things to build up I do find myself forgetting who Jesus is and the promises that are in Him and the great comfort he gives us. Its interesting that when we continue to look at ourselves and our situations, we lose focus on the one whom has the greatest love and care for us.

Sibbs writes:

"And what comfort is this, that, seeing God's love rests on Christ, as well pleased with us, if we be in Christ" (pg 2)

And he goes on to say:

"Let us, therefore, embrace Christ, and in him Gods love, and build our faith safely on such a Saviour that is furnished with so high a commission" (pg2)

We can forget that the Father is well pleased of us. It is to easy and wrongly to think that the Father is some tyrant hiding behind gentle Jesus. Lets change the focus - the Father is well pleased with us because of Christ.

This really comforts me! The language is so rich here - "embrace Christ and in him Gods love". Embrace Christ fully and feel Gods love and know Gods love and know that he is pleased with us. This comfort should grip our hearts in times of self doubt, feeling low and comparing ourselves with others, because we can remind our hearts of the love of God towards us and our status in Him! Thats an amazing foundation to build upon.

Balm to my Soul

2011-01-11T10:00:00.001Z

Richard Sibbs once said to Thomas Goodwin - "Young man, if ever you would do good, you must preach the Gospel and the free grace of God in Christ Jesus". This is something I need to hear in my Christian walk, in my job as a Staff Worker and as a member of the local church and this is exactly what the "Bruised Reed" by Sibbs, did for me. It preached to me the Gospel and the free Grace of God. It reminded me of the beauty of Christ and the joy of knowing the Lord.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that this book was "balm to my soul" at a time in his life when he was tired and downhearted. When we face a psalm 42 season, its easy to look inwards and let sin and self pity spiral out of control. But when we look outwards and towards the glory of Jesus Christ then His words and Grace will certainly be a balm to our souls.

So, what I plan to do is to share with you once a week for the next few weeks or maybe months some snippets of the Bruised Reed so that they may be balm to your soul and encourage you as you walk with God and in times where you may find yourself in a season of heartache, discouragement, tiredness or darkness. May you know the joy that is in the saving Grace of God and the tenderness of our loving Father. I also encourage you to read this book, it will soothe you.

So lets begin on this journey with firstly looking at what it is to be bruised and then to what it means to be a smoking flax and how Christ uses both. Let us slowly contemplate and warm our hearts to Christ.

He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
        or make it heard in the street;
     a bruised reed he will not break,
        and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
        he will faithfully bring forth justice.
(Isaiah 42:2-3 ESV)

Staff Conference 2011

2011-01-09T13:00:00.000Z

You always know if you are at a Christian conference when its in the middle of nowhere, coffee on tap and full of diverse people that would probably never talk to each other if they were not Christian. It makes me chuckle. Of course thats not what its all about!

Last week was Staff Conference and it was refreshing and I really enjoyed it and was reminded how amazng Jesus is! Here are some of my thoughts from the week:

1. God is light. This is so important because life can seem very dark at times and we can hide in darkness. But God is light and guides us and surrounds us.

2. Evangelism isn't about throwing up the Gospel. Its about conversation, relationships and sometimes dropping a brick.

3. God asks 3 questions in Genesis 3 and they relevant now.

4. It is a blessing to have this time of fellowship and I enjoyed chatting and be encouraged by my colleagues.

5. Late night chats are the best, even if its at 1am.

6. Worldviews are powerful and just because we may not understand them doesn't mean we label them "stupid". We need time and patience to understand where people are coming from. Its all about art of conversation.

7. Am I using my degree? Am I reading books that engage my mind?

8. IFES Europe is in need of support and encouragement. We are blessed in the UK to have all this support - lets branch out.

9. When we get to the throne of God, will we say - "Gosh, I wished I invested more time in this"

10. I love my job. I love the students in Plymouth and I love working in the South West and I love the friends I have made on my team and those in other regions. I am looking forward to meeting up with you all again soon :)

Lights in the sky

2011-01-08T12:24:00.000Z

New Years after the bells toll 12... Lights were in the sky:

Back to childhood

2011-01-02T18:18:00.000Z

Think adventures. Think pirates. Swords. Sandwiches. Making dens in the woods. Battling the enemy, sailing around the world and all in time for dinner.

This Christmas I had the pleasure of seeing "Swallows and Amazons" the musical with the Caird family. I have never read the Arthur Ransome books, but just from watching this musical, I really love it! There was so much imagination, story, innocence and adventure with not an ipod or facebook in sight. There was realy enjoyment in watching this on stage and feeling like you were a part of the adventure!

If you want to go back to your childhood days of making dens in the woods and climbing trees then these stories will certainly cause you to travel back to those days. There is indeed an Arthur Ransome society which is worth checking out.

I do hope that if we have children, that we can divert them away from the glaring screen and into the garden or local woods so that the area can be turned into castles, hideouts and battlegrounds for amazing adventures.

A new start

2011-01-01T08:00:00.000Z

A new start. That is what new years are all about. Now I am not one for resolutions simply because I can never stick to them. Truth be told I think I am too lazy to stick to them, yet if I was to make a list I reckon these would be my top 5 resolutions:

1. Take up exercise - run every morning or take up some kind of exercise class! I use to do loads of exercise and it was good and I felt good! But the chances of this happening is quite slim. Unless I get the Wii fit and start running on the spot in my living room!

2. Join a book club - This may actually happen because I love books and chatting about books. But its always that stumbling block of having to meet new people and introduce yourself and then having to read the book. But there again it would be a great way of meeting people and I love reading.

3. Commit to a certain amount of Spanish practise a day. You see I speak Spanish in the loose sense of the terms, being in Peru for a year means you pick up a thing or two but then it disappears into vapor as soon as you realize that you can buy bread without stumbling out words that might be totally wrong....

4. Try something new each week - Like baking a new recipe. Going to a new coffee shop. Talking to someone new. That kind of thing!

5. Be more disciplined. Sure I know that Christianity is all about Grace. But there is a connection between being disciplined in prayer and bible meditation to someone who doesn't do it. I read great missionaries rising up 3 hours before the sun and devoting the day to God. Yet I can barely open my eyes during mid morning, let alone start talking to someone! But you never know what could happen!

Well... the likelihood of any of these happening is a possibility, yet probably not all of them and yes I am going in with a defeated attitude already so I am setting myself up for a fall, yet I know what I am like.

I think I just want to start the new year afresh considering there will be so many changes happening. Its time to create new friendships, soak in where I am living, enjoy the life I am given and not envy a different path or try to compete with everyone! Instead I am to love the man who will be my husband soon with deep passion, enjoy good food and company, love Church and devote this all to Jesus.

So some changes on my blog. A new colour. More about life stuff - making cards, recipes, devotions, photography, going for walks, movies, books, art, real stuff. Not that it wasn't real before, but perhaps this time it will be less showy, less competing with those theological blogs (which this blog never was, I just hoped it would be!). Hopefully this will be more me. Well, I can try can't I?

Wisely Gardens

2010-12-28T16:29:00.000Z

A beautiful day at Wisely Gardens with a good friend, coffee, walking and lots of talking!!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T23:41:00.002Z

Merry Christmas :)

Just some thoughts

2010-12-21T19:24:00.000Z

If anyone is interested, here are some random musings:

1. Why do the British only talk about the weather? Ok so it keeps changing, but even when we go abroad to more stable weather countries - we still talk about it. Is it perhaps because we don't like meaningful conversation?

2. Is Facebook actually a waste of time? Does it aid or hinder my use of time? Would there be a difference if I spent more time in my close community and in prayer with God instead of looking at photos on facebook?

3.I really love the fact that its snowing. It is really beautiful and white and makes me think how Jesus will wash us clean as white as snow...now thats bright!

4. Why do I always feel Christmas is an anti-climax? Its like a self-indulgent holidays where I am not celebrating Jesus but I am enjoying more the fact that I will be getting nice gifts and everything shouts at me from the TV that Santa is some kind of scary God with his naughty and nice list...?

5. I do wonder why Christian ministry always seems about "doing" and being worn out. What about passionate grace filled ministry, where there is permission to fail and to enjoy telling people about Jesus.

6. My mission field is a lot harder in Plymouth then Peru. Funny that.

7. Some friendships really change and fade away. Sometimes that is good and allows room for new friendships. But the ones that stay the same are really special and are truly solid friendships - the kind that will weep and laugh with you, make fun of you and chat for hours with you while rebuking you now and then. I love those friendships!

8. Romans 8 is wonderful.

9. God really does comfort us in our afflictions.

10. I sometimes wish that more excitement and interest would go into the actual marriage and in becoming a wife which is for a lifetime then the one day that I wear an expensive dress, have a big party and eat cake...I feel some things have more significance...

Snapshot of Christmas Team Days Pt 2

2010-12-19T10:00:00.000Z

Snapshot of Christmas Team Days

2010-12-18T14:02:00.000Z

Team days. South East and South West. Ephesians. Mulled Wine. Soup. UCCF. Praying. Walking. Eating. Sharing Life. Captured in pictures...

Enjoying the Trinity

2010-12-17T13:00:00.001Z

The great thing about being around so many great thinkers in my job is that I can pass on all the things that they do to encourage others. Mike Reeves is a brilliant speaker and makes theology easy to understand. So here are some resources...

You know how hard it can be to understand the Trinity? Its one of those subjects that we feel can be abstract and therefore never really plunge into. Yet imagine enjoying the Trinity? Can this be done? Well why not listen to Mike Reeves speak about the Trinity here:

1. Enjoying the Trinity: A delightfully Different God

2. Enjoying the Trinity: The spreading love

3. Enjoying the Trinity: This changes everything!

When you forget your first love...

2010-12-16T21:34:00.000Z

Some days are such a battle where you just compare yourself to everyone. You look across that room and its so easy to feel worthless, its so easy to be in a situation where you feel like you can't handle it and you wish you were like someone else.Its really easy to get lost in your own thoughts about how you should be, to get lost in your own self righteousness - in the sense that you feel that people ought to tell you "well done". You continue along that road waiting for someone to give you approval and you live for it. How it satisfies your heart for about two seconds as you hear your name in a sentence of approval. Your heart lives for it.

My heart lives for it. I live a life of wanting approval from everyone. Believe me I want to be the best staff worker not because of Jesus, but because people think I am. I want people to think I am creative,intelligent, an amazing evangelist, theologian and apologist oh and also sociable and the best friend they have ever had. I want their approval and I will strive to get it until I am exhausted and crying. Believe me this will only end in tears and a broken heart. It will end in a breaking point where I am so worried about what people think of me and if they think I am doing a good job, that I only fix my eyes on this and my insides begin to rot, my heart becomes hard and my first love is no longer Jesus but myself and approval. I will become a very sick person.

You know what needs to be done? I have discovered two things:

1. Repent - if this is you...repent and believe. I need to pour my heart out before God and say I'm sorry and ask him to soften that hard heart...

2. Remind yourself of the Gospel and your status- Oh we have a sweet sweet Gospel. And this is because of our sweet Jesus and how beautiful He is. Everything is about Him and we need to come back to our wonderful Jesus. Pray for our hearts to yearn for Him and love Him because He is worthy and He is love. And do you know what? Your status is in Christ and this is not trashing your character, but its bringing you into the best relationship you will ever have and you will be adopted as a son or daughter. God "lavishes" his Grace upon us (Ephesians 1:7-8). This isn't a sprinkle its a lavishing, its plentiful and its right there in your relationship with Christ. So come back to Him because He gives you a beautiful status that is never changing and your approval continues to be in Him and continues to be by Him. Come back to Christ as your first love and be reminded of the glorious riches of His Grace...this speaks straight to my heart, I need to come back to Christ and have Him as my first love.

How much better it is to truly know who you are in Christ and to love Him with your whole heart. No longer are you fighting for other people to tell you what you are worth, but Christ gives you your worth. Its wonderful to be a Christian, its wonderful to know Jesus and to be loved by Him and no longer needing approval from anyone.

Frosty Plymouth

2010-12-07T11:44:00.000Z

Here is my frosty Plymouth pictures from my garden. Check out some more of my pictures on flickr

A slipper in ice and Gospel fellowship

2010-12-06T15:33:00.000Z

This is why I love my job - I can go away for a weekend and get to know students, be encouraged by Gods word, see randomness happen around me and warm hearts to the Gospel and its a great joy to call that work!

The best prank over the weekend was the slipper frozen in ice... what a brilliant idea!
The whole weekend was an encouragement and Andy Croft really excited hearts about living for Jesus! Now today is a day off, so its about enjoying rest which means I get to read a novel, go for lunch with a friend, watch a film and make cards... good times.

Here is a view from the houseparty after morning prayer...

Telling the Christmas Story...

2010-12-02T16:42:00.000Z

We all love to hear stories. The drama, getting to know characters, becoming a part of the story and being plunged into the depths of different plots and seeing them come alive!

So over at Natwivity is a group of people telling the Christmas story this December...why not check it out?

Here is a snippet....

#Natwivity Darkness falls on Nazareth, Galilee. A breeze sweeps through the town, down streets, round alleyways, into Mary’s house

#Mary Has anyone ever seen an angel?! So bright, white light, kind of beautiful. He was just here. Right in front of me.

#Mary It’s like there’s this light and fire in my stomach. Life exploding inside me. "Nothing is impossible." That’s what the angel said.

How art can expose reality

2010-11-30T10:14:00.000Z

In this society I am presented with the idea of creating my own existence, answering the questions of "Who am I?", "Why am I here?", "What is my reality?". Here we can be faced with existentialism - the idea of self description, self meaning where we can create our own reality. An interesting concept and far from Christianity and yet so close to the mirror of our society now.

Then in steps Francis Bacon, a painter that is partly dressed in existentialism. We had an opportunity to discuss his works within a training week and we were faced with the horror of his paintings and raw depiction of life. He displays to us what is under the skin of creating our own meaning and how that leads to a loss of hope, a loss of soul and darkness.

Within this article, the writer gives us a deeper understanding of what Jean-Paul Sartre says about existentialism in his lecture L'Existentialisme est un humanisme -

A man gets up in the morning. He knows, without a second's moment of self-questioning, what he must do. He must take up the clothes that define his identity as a human being and put them on. He pulls on his black trousers, slaps the napkin across his forearm, adjusts the angle of his chin, and makes for the door. He is, in short, a waiter in a restaurant. That is his nature. That is his identity. That is his destiny.

Such a human being, Sartre points out, is guilty of mauvaise foi, or bad faith. That man is not a waiter at all, not fundamentally. He has chosen that identity for himself. V C The fact is that he is, at root, nothing. He lacks for an essence. He is only what he makes of himself. And, in fact, Sartre is telling us – and this is the baleful truth of the human condition – that there is nothing beyond what a man chooses to make of himself. There is no soul, and no god who looks out for that soul.

Just from looking at Bacon's painting you can see him touching on these things. We may indeed look at them and think they are far from the reality we live in, that they are showing a sign of madness. But truthfully I believe they are showing us the outcome of our thinking of "what a man chooses to make of himself".
Think of this... the world is your oyster and we prefer the grey suits and pay rises that help us create our own meaning.

Not long ago there was a debate in Mexico with Richard Dawkins and William Lane Craig discussing the purpose of the universe. The Dawkins side of the debate did not argue that there was no purpose as such, but rather we create our own reasons for existence and as long as we do good in this world then our reality has proved to be worth it. I guess that's the only possible outcome when you believe that we have no real basis for existence because we are born, live and die.

Yet I was reminded in this of how the Dawkins side of the debate reflects that of Bacon - a hopeless ideology, and perhaps a lonely life that is trying to grip and create some form of meaning within themselves - being whoever they want to be but ending up in the depths of meaninglessness. But of course I am not saying that Dawkins and Co are exactly like Bacon. But I wonder if what Bacon paints is just mirroring the truth and reality of the belief that Dawkins and Co has, but at a deeper and raw level. The difference being is that one wears suits and is portrayed as ideal in our society and the other is seen as an extreme, bleak and lonely artist. Yet I don't think they are worlds apart because they illustrate the stark reality of life without God and its scary.

Gracism, the Gracist way...

2010-11-24T10:00:00.002Z

Gracism. A book about inclusion of those that are on the boundaries, whether that's racially, culturally or those that are just different. This book provides a very interesting concept about including those that are in the minority to be a part of the fellowship or a part of our lives. This is certainly something we can learn from in our churches and also in our Christian Unions. I am doing a seminar on International Mission in a couple of weeks and a point I will be making is if we want to share the Gospel with the nations and international people within England, then we need to reach out our lives and friendship to those that are different to us.

The book provides many challenges for us. Anderson says in the book about the heart of a gracist is "The one who hears, sees and pays attention to those on the margins" This is a challenge in itself about whether we would willingly go out of our way to include those that look differently to us or are sitting alone and are perhaps socially awkward. There is a lot of talk about racial divide in the book and how as a "gracists" you need to intentionally look out for those that are different in any way. Although I agree with some of the ideas of intentionally looking out for those that are different and on the margins, I don't think however we need to use another label like "gracist". I just think we should be doing these things anyway because we are Christians, followers of Christ.

But not just because we are Christians but because we have a global Gospel. A Gospel that includes everyone to share in fellowship with Jesus. So to not do that and deny those that are different in hearing or sharing in the fellowship means you are going against the Gospel. The very heartbeat is that there is unity in Christ because there is unity in the trinity. I would of loved the book to continue on from stories of acts of inclusion to how this inclusion is demonstrated within the trinity and what the Gospel provides which then should warm our hearts to this global gospel and sharing it with all nations.

JPOD - Staff Worker version 2.0

2010-11-22T10:00:00.000Z

I am quite enjoying JPOD by Dougles Coupland, probably because I spent a year in IT support at University and can relate to the randomness of this book and at heart I am a geek! During the book there are pages full of random quotes and sentences that just add to the surreal life of Ethan and his JPOD companions. How far from reality is JPOD? Probably not that far off, although no one seems to sleep and they go on random trips to China (which hasn't happened to me yet). But perhaps in the fiction there is a base of reality that highlights the mundane and splashes it across absurdity. So it occurred to me that for fun I could write my own page of JPOD but relating to being a UCCF Staff Worker. And of course it is meant to be weird and not taken seriously.

STAFF WORKER version 2.0

TEAM LEADER upgrade.

Please press any key to continue..

FILTER COFFEE GOSPEL and £1 to buy Starbucks.

"Come and have Breakfast"

Fish and Chips after death.

Freedom. Gospel. Grace. Love.

~~Are you a miserable Christian?~~

I Blog. I Think. I Drink...

Mac books are in Heaven.

I wear Fat Face. I am not Face Face. Face Fat. Book

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Create. I Dream. I Believe.

That is a good question....................................................................?

We have ink on our faces.

TRINITY. LOVE THE CHURCH.

It is good to be a Christian.

CALVIN. JOY. PRAYER. LOVE

South West Team. Soup

Ruggle Juggle
Welcome to Exeter. Plymouth. Falmouth. Bristol. Bath

3:16.8:1.2:20.5:1. Genesis. ADAM. CHRIST. APPLE. CROSS. FREE

Snapshot of Cross Culture.

My morning drink is Exodus with a sprinkle of Romans.

Living for Jesus. Speaking for Jesus.

Houseparty. 3 Block. Seminar. Ear Plugs.

Diving into the Gospel. Team Days. CAKE!

Reforming the heart. EDWARDS. OWEN.

Jesus is beautiful.

Lets have beautiful feet.

Feet need to walk and share good news.

Good news needs to be in our hearts.

Our hearts need to know Christ.

CHRIST IS ALL.

/////////////????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????/////////////

Relationships. Tears. Goodbyes. New pages. Chapters unfold.

Be creative.

Don't wear socks and sandals.

Do Enjoy.

ALT, CTRL, DEL.

ESC.

STANDBY until HE Returns.

Hidden Art?

2010-11-20T15:00:00.001Z

Somewhere in the dark underground of New York City, a very strange art exhibition took place recently-one which didn’t invite any patrons, didn’t entertain collectors and which closed on the same day it launched. The Underbelly Project was the brainchild of two street artists-Workhorse and PAC, who conceptualized this art exhibition two years back and involved more than 100 other artists from around the world in their project. The exhibition was held illegally in an abandoned subway station, where artists showcased their talent on the walls of this dark and damp place, taking utmost care to escape the eyes of the outer world.
- Taken from this blog here.

Colossians - Freedom in the Gospel (pt4)

2010-11-19T20:26:00.000Z

There is always great joy and celebration when someone becomes a Christian. But after the first couple of months the joy seems to fade... ever wonder why that is?

Paul continues to remind the Colossians and us about what Christ has done. He remarks "in Him..." we have everything. In the Gospel we have freedom because Christ has done everything. We are no longer under the things in 2v16-23 like regulations of "do not taste or touch" etc

But yet we are wired to keep going back to rules and regulations or the law. We think it will keep us safe but in fact it makes us miserable Christians. So how refreshing it is to be reminded in these passages that Christ has done everything and we free in the Gospel.

This is what new and older Christians need to hear - the Gospel and what Jesus has done, to keep coming back to the joy that is in the Gospel and that we don't have to add anything on to the Gospel. Lets keep being "rooted and built up in Him"...

A view from a bus seat

2010-11-15T14:14:00.000Z

The outside world spinning in streams of green and grey
Stretching from left to right,
Beats of noise vibrating in ear holes
With strong smells of perfume
Curling its way up the aisle.
Hello mother with screaming child
Running endlessly through women with frowns
And big overcoats tucking in an identity.
Windows open. Windows close.
Hot air blown through the holes in shoes
That stand waiting for the stop.
Bells tinkle and large groups mingle
In and out of the stripy seats,
Covered in silhouettes of scarf’s and hats
Dreaming of summer beaches and boat houses.
Goodbye driver with fake smile;
How you must ponder as you spin the wheel,
Whether there is more to this stretch of road and life
Then grumpy abuses and baby prams?
How long before the clock ticks till your stop
And you can sit in the back seat, quite free
From red and green jams,
While sipping and slurping your steaming cup of tea.

By Catherine Hare.

Too dependant on our mobile phone?

2010-11-08T20:31:00.000Z

I really love receiving txts and phone calls. When my phone bleeps its a sign of someone wanting to speak to me. But I wonder whether we are too dependant on our phones and do they take the place of real community and real friendship?

Recently I read an interesting post about mobile phones at Challies Dot Com.

He wrote - "Do you see what the phone does? There’s a great irony buried within it. The cell phone, a device meant to enhance my communication with others, can increase my ability to communicate with those who are far from me, but this often comes at the cost of communication with my own wife and children—those closest to me."

And then

"The fact is, many of us buy phones in order to remain connected to the people we love. Do you remember the commercials that sold us on having unlimited calling to five friends or family members? This phone was going to let us be closer to those we want to be closest to. This is a noble thing. And yet in the end the phone demands our attention even (and perhaps especially) while we are near those people. While I sit beside my wife, my phone calls me to respond to an email from a client a thousand miles away. While I go for a walk with my son, the phone calls me to response to a text message from a friend across town."

Solution?

"The only solution I know of is to be very disciplined in our use of such technology, to be willing to carve times in which the phone is set aside so we can focus on what truly matters most. The phone isn’t going anywhere, and at least for now, it is not going to give up the ideologies that are buried deep within it."

A day at Seaton, Cornwall

2010-11-04T14:05:00.000Z

Tim and I went to Seaton on Saturday for a nice break. It was good to not have our phones work and just be by the sea! We took some pictures as well...

Colossians - Suffering to make Christ Known (Pt3)

2010-11-01T10:00:00.005Z

Our vision is so limited we can hardly imagine a love that does not show itself in protection from suffering.... The love of God did not protect His own Son.... He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. A lot of hammering and chiseling and purifying by fire will have to go into the process. – Elizabeth Elliot

It can seem too easy to think that our Christian lives were made for comfort. And perhaps we can sway to the other extreme and think that if we are suffering then it proves that we are ticking the right boxes. Yet Paul in Colossians 1:24 - 2:5 is quite clear that he is suffering not for the sake of suffering but to make Christ known. He is not living in comfortable christian bubbles nor suffering and grumbling about it. But he is making Christ known and is suffering because of it and through his suffering he is making Christ known.

1v24 "I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions" is a bit tricky and at first sight we think that Paul is saying that what Christ has done on the cross is not enough and he has to add to it. But we know from before that this is not the case!!
John Piper explains this well:

"What is lacking is that the infinite value of Christ's afflictions are not known in the world. They are still a mystery (hidden) to most peoples. And God's intention is that the mystery be revealed, extended to all the Gentiles. So the afflictions are lacking in the sense that they are not seen and known among the nations. They must be carried by ministers of the Word. And those ministers of the Word fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ by extending them to others."

So then what should we expect as Christians and how does that affect our sharing of the Gospel? I hope it gives us confidence. That for Jesus being honoured and shown to the nations is not just through amazing lunchbar talks, catchy sermons, loud worship times or fancy events. It will be when His church is humbled, mocked, beaten, dying to self and through that still loving each other and Jesus, clinging to Jesus and sharing his word no matter what.

A pinch of Italian cooking Two

2010-10-31T14:45:00.000Z

On Saturday, Tim and I cracked open the Jamie Oliver recipe book again and treated some of our friends to some Italian food. We cooked Spaghetti Tetrazzini (Chicken and Mushroom pasta bake). It was simple and yet tasty. The outcome looked like this:

Everyone seemed to enjoy this tasty meal! It went well with X factor. Why not give it a go? The recipe is here.

Transformission 2010 in Pictures

2010-10-26T10:28:00.000+01:00

On Saturday I went to Transformission - a South West event for students to have their hearts warmed with the Gospel. Mike Reeves spoke on the Love of God and it was brilliant. I was taking pictures that day and here are some I captured! Also check out the audios on Dave Bish's blog.

Looking into the sea...

2010-10-22T10:00:00.000+01:00

On Saturday a few of us went for a walk near the sea in Plymouth. The view was lovely!

Colossians - Jesus has done everything (pt2)

2010-10-20T10:00:00.000+01:00

Colossians 1:13-23 - an epic and most used passage about who Jesus is. But we can take it just as a nice list of things about Jesus, place them on our mental mantelpiece and then move on.
OR
We could start asking the question - Why has Paul written this here? I am learning to ask the best question ever - why?.

In the book (and its now a film) Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert expresses her view of what she means by God. -

“In the end, what I have come to believe about God
is simple. It’s like this – I used to have this really
great dog ... She was a mixture of about ten
different breeds, but seemed to have inherited the
finest features of them all. She was brown. When
people asked me, ‘What kind of dog is that?’ I would
always give the same answer: ‘She’s a brown dog.’
Similarly, when the question is raised, ‘What kind of
God do you believe in?’ my answer is easy: ‘I
believe in a magnificent God.’ (Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth

Gilbert p. 15)"

Yet this leaves me feeling slightly disappointed. Surely God is more then just "magnificent"? Its very impersonal and doesn't cover the scope of who God is. Of course He is magnificent. But Paul is saying He is more then that in Colossians... in fact the answer to the resounding "why", is that Paul is showing that Jesus has done everything, He has completed everything and without Him what hope could there be?

Why would you ever go after a different Gospel if everything has been completed in Christ?
Why would you add on to the Gospel if Jesus has done everything?

Therefore if we are to be confident in Christ, it should change the way we share Him with our friends.

I hope it means I am not ashamed of Him and can be bold in sharing Him and know fully in my heart that I don't have to add on my works to what Jesus has done! It is good news.

In the Garden Pt2

2010-10-18T13:00:00.000+01:00

More pictures from the Garden!

For this first picture I played around with the contrast, but I didnt realise there were so many colours behind the web!

In the Garden

2010-10-17T12:29:00.001+01:00

As I wander around my garden, I capture some interesting shots!

Life without God

2010-10-16T10:00:00.001+01:00

I found this on Justin Taylor's blog and thought it was really good and quite shocking in a way.

Fallen from Sascha Geddert on Vimeo.

On the vimeo website they say "A little meteor learns the biggest lesson of life on it's way down to earth." Which is basically that we are all going to die and we can't stop it, so we may as well enjoy life before we go to the abyss. But I guess this is what life looks like for those that don't know Jesus and the life He gives us. There is no hope in this.

A pinch of Italian cooking

2010-10-14T10:30:00.000+01:00

I really enjoy cooking. I think cooking can be very creative and refreshing as you place onto your saucepan canvas an array of delicacies that will soon boil, fry and roast into wonderful aromas and melting tastes! Yum.
Last week Tim and I tried a Jamie Oliver recipe called Spaghetti con gamberetti e rucola (spaghetti with prawns and rocket). I really like how the Italian words sound because they are so close to Spanish!

And it was a success. Lots of flavours - lemon, fishy, and zingy. This is what it looked like:

The picture doesn't do it justice. But the taste does. Why not try it yourself?

The recipe is here and its easy to make!

Edwards warns us to not flatter ourselves

2010-10-13T10:00:00.001+01:00

"Sinners in the hands of an Angry God" sounds like a sermon to avoid. But if I was to encourage you to read or listen to a sermon that will grip you, shock you, warm your heart and bring you to your knees, I would suggest reading this sermon. This is surely not for the faint hearted but if any Christian was to read this sermon by Jonathan Edwards and come away feeling anger towards Edwards and bitterness towards God then they come away not understanding the sermon at all. I really believe that this sermon was designed to arouse the heart to the acknowledgement that we have a very Holy God that is angry at sin and sinners and yet a very gracious God for not allowing us all to perish right at this very moment.

Edwards says -

"Almost every natural man that hears of hell, flatters himself that he shall escape it; he depends upon himself for his own security; he flatter himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do"

Edwards wasn't just preaching to the non Christian here, but also the Christian. Do we flatter ourselves in thinking that our works get us out of hell? That God owes us grace and freedom because of what we are doing right now? Edwards warns us against this and warns us to repent of this because - "God has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise to keep any natural man out of hell for one moment...till he believes in Christ."

It is only in Christ that we have any promise of eternal life with God. It can only rest in Christ and nothing more. If we think for one moment that its our doing and God owes us, we will be in for a shock. Read this amazing sermon and let your heart see how gracious God is over your life and repent and start relying on Christ for your salvation instead of who you are and what you are doing. Read it here.

Colossians - Having the right Gospel (Pt1)

2010-10-11T12:54:00.000+01:00

Within Small Groups at Plymouth we are going through Colossians, sinking our teeth into Gods word and warming our hearts with the Gospel. Its great fun and I am enjoying sharing ideas with the students and getting our hearts excited about telling our friends about Jesus.

But Colossians Chapter One poses an issue. Do we have the right Gospel? And does that make a difference?

So many lies dressed up in religion can sneak into church and CU. Whats worse is that they appeal to our hearts! They say to us that "there is a better way to live, forget just having Jesus when you can have so much more"

Paul is so clear to the Colossians on what it means to be an authentic Christian. And having the right message is vital. If we have the wrong message or if we start adding to the Gospel we end up far from Christ. You know if you have the right Gospel if you look like Paul describes in 1v9-12, "filled with knowledge of his will, understanding, walking in a manner worthy of the Lord, bearing fruit, strengthened with power, endurance, patience with joy and being qualified because of Jesus"

We saw that at the heart of this was to ask - who or what qualifies you to be a Christian? Certainly not yourself, nor your degree but the Father because of His son. We know we have the right Gospel if we are not resting in our works or our inner spirituality or adding on to what Jesus has done. Instead we rest in what Jesus has done and we are qualified because of Him and in Him.

How does that encourage us to tell our friends about Jesus?

If you have the right Gospel and you are an authentic Christian, then you can't hide that and you can be confident that the Gospel your telling your friends is the right one. If you find its not, then come back to the roots, come back to the cross and be transformed.

The heart of mission

2010-09-29T10:00:00.000+01:00

In Total Church, Tim Chester writes

"They [the words of Jesus in Matthews Gospel] make it clear that it is Jesus and his word that are the very heart of mission. He is the one to whom authority has been given; he is the one who commands his disciples to go; his name is among those into which people are baptised; it is his teaching that people are to obey; he is the one who will be with them as they go. At the heart of world mission is Jesus and the gospel word." [pg99]

At the heart of mission and world mission is Jesus and His word. You cannot separate them. You cant have the Gospel without Jesus and Jesus without His word.

This should help us to focus not on ourselves but to the heart of our evangelism - Jesus and the lost. And if at the heart is Jesus then it must be relational and therefore our evangelism is relational. Its about relationships. Its not about just quick fixes of the Gospel in forms of megaphones or free tea and coffee. Our evangelism and our mission has to be deeper then that or we are no better then the loveless adverts that pop up on our TV screens - offering paradise but not the warmth of a relationship or community, which we actually really need.

"Rethinking evangelism as relationships rather than events radically changes this. Evangelism is not an activity to be squeezed into our busy schedules" [Total Church, Tim Chester, pg 63]

Alpha Day in London

2010-09-27T17:57:00.000+01:00

On Thursday I went to London for an Alpha day on Friday. I thought I would capture the days in some pictures from the train up to the conference.

Being Gospel Centered

2010-09-21T13:11:00.000+01:00

Tim Chester writes in "Total Church" -

"Being gospel-centred actually involves two things. First, it means being word-centred because the gospel is a word - the gospel is news, a message. Second, it means being mission-centred because the gospel is a word to be proclaimed - the gospel is good news, a missionary message" (pg16)

He goes on to write how this impacts our everyday lives...

"The challenge for us is to make the gospel the center of our lives not just Sunday mornings, but on Monday mornings. This means ending distinctions between "full timers", "part timers" and people with secular employment...We need non full-time leaders who can model whole-life, gospel centred missional living. It means thinking our workplaces, homes and neighbourhoods as the location of mission. We need to plan and pray for gospel relationships. This means creating church cultures in which these are normal, celebrating day to day gospel living in the secular world and discussing how we can use our daily routine for the gospel" (pg36)

To render your heart

2010-09-15T10:00:00.000+01:00

To rend your heart is not a common word we use or a word that we perhaps know the full meaning of. In the book of Joel, chapter 2, the Lord says:

[12]“Yet even now,” declares the LORD,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
[13] and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
(Joel 2:12-13 ESV)

It would be too easy to see "rend your heart" as more of a "give your heart to the Lord". But when you look at the meaning of the word "rend", there is something quite shocking and striking about it.

To rend means to "tear (something) into pieces" or to "cause great emotional pain to" (Oxford Dictionary). To rend means more then I thought, which was to give everything to God. However it actually means to tear into pieces. And here God is saying that our hearts need to be torn into pieces instead of our garments. This makes sense if we know from other stories in the Old Testament where it was common to tear clothes and put on sackcloth as a sign of repentance. But the problem with this is that it can be counted as just another religious thing we do to justify ourselves with. But God wants more then just an outward sign of repentance - he wants our hearts to be torn, deeply repenting and feeling sorrow as a sign of turning back to God.

Isn't that astounding? God was calling Israel back to Him and be truly repentant, which can echo in our lives today. It is easy to go through religious emotion with our hearts never flinching. Yet within a relationship with Jesus, our hearts are warmed by the Gospel and they are called by the Gospel to be torn and broken in repentance because of how disgusting sin is and yet feel the soothing joy of the Gospel because of the reality of forgiveness on the Cross.

Appetite or Conviction?

2010-09-13T12:28:00.000+01:00

You know when something isn’t right. You can hear that voice inside you saying that this may not be a good idea. But you find your desires wanting what is in front of you – they scream at you to indulge yourself. Go on… what harm can it do? Just once? Did God actually say it was a sin…?

Lets role back to Genesis 3. The serpent isn’t stupid; in fact he is crafty and knows how to play the game of desire and he does this through advertising and appealing to mans appetite. He makes death look beautiful and disobedience sexy. He plays on the appetite of man and woman to serve themselves and break covenant with God. Through listening to their appetites instead of the conviction of Gods word, they found themselves naked and ashamed. Sin lies and reaps devastation.

But isn’t our appetite tasty? Don’t we love the pull of lust and the forbidden fruit? There is always that temptation to go for what will please our desires especially if they are screaming at us to give it a go.

Imagine if you had a choice between watching or ignoring a film which you know contains sex scenes that will cause you to stumble. The choice seems obvious. But your appetite for seeing it and your desires bring up excuses –

I will watch it in order to engage with themes and topics for Gospel outreach.
I will fast forward through the sex scenes
I will only watch it once and maybe in secret so no one knows.
Maybe it won’t affect me much…just this once.

But your convictions scream at you not to watch it. Not to gratify the desires of the flesh. To flee from temptation. Your conviction knows that this may lead you into sin and cause you to stumble and cause you heartache. The Holy Spirit is placing convictions on your heart. But who will you listen to? Yourself or God?

I was challenged about this at Staff Orientation and Forum and how important it is to never go with appetite but always go with conviction. This isn’t just related to movies with sex scenes, but also shopping, internet porn, gossip, books, what you do, late nights etc… and although I am convinced that you cannot do this alone, but only through the Holy Spirit – by walking in the Spirit as Paul describes in Galatians 5. However you do have a responsibility as to whether you will listen and act with the conviction presented to you or go with your appealing appetite. Which is better?

Forum!

2010-09-06T09:00:00.000+01:00

I am now off to Forum for a week! Please pray for sunshine....!!!

How to enjoy Relay Homestart...

2010-09-02T11:09:00.001+01:00

This time last year I was getting ready to go on my next adventure by doing Relay Homestart in Peru. I know all the feelings of being excited, nervous, unsure, insecure, scared, happy, sad to leave friends etc... with a million emotions all in one I knew I would be boarding that plane soon with no language skills and no real understanding of what it means to live in a different culture and really no idea of what I was really doing. So as I am guessing that some of you will be feeling these things at some point, I want to write a quick guide on how to enjoy and make the most of Relay Homestart - whether that's in Europe or China or South America...

Pray and continue praying - this may sound like a given. But we are sinful creatures that like to draw upon Gods help at the start and then when we get use to the culture and the language, suddenly God can be out the picture. Don't be complacent, continue praying and bring everything to God
Don't expect it to be like Relay - On Relay you had amazing support every week, you had theology to read, students to meet up with and conferences to build fellowship. But its all different on homestart, don't expect it to be like Relay at all - you may not get weekly support and it will take you a while before you can speak the language enough to be able to meet up with students one to one. This wont be like fitting on a glove. You are not the star relay worker in your university spouting Grace and Grudem. Your the foreigner that cant speak the language. But there are lots of advantages for it not being like Relay and you will find them out.
Jump into the culture - The Culture your going into is different and can seem scary and you may get culture shock. The only way I dealt with this is by not shutting myself away but being apart of the lives of others in the culture. I was living with a family and so I joined in on everything the family was doing - watching TV with them, going to church events, going shopping with them etc...although I couldn't speak Spanish, my actions and my time shared with them proved to be shouting louder then words. So join a youth group or prayer group, join in with a family, be with different people and don't just hang out with English speaking people. Also try and eat everything or at least a bite - it shows your willing to try things.
Don't live on Facebook - Its very tempting to hide yourself away on facebook everyday. My suggestion is to not touch facebook for the first month - your friends will understand. Its more important that you get to know people where you are living then keep updated on the facebook feed. Your relationships where you are will be better off.
Enjoy the Differences - everything will be different - smells, food, people, clothes... but don't be cynical - its easy to believe that the English culture is always right, but you will see that its not and there is so much to learn in the differences. At times it will be frustrating, but as much as you can enjoy the differences - don't complain about them to other people, but let your words be encouraging and pure.
Your Identity is in Jesus - This is a huge lesson I learned. It is very easy to place your worth and Identity in everything but Jesus. You will want to place it in your language skills or how many one to ones you have or what you are doing compared to everyone else. But quickly you will see that when you place your worth in those things you will fall apart because they will not stand up - your language will fail, you will find yourself at times doing nothing or not knowing what to do! But Jesus will always remain and if your identity is in Him you will not fall and he will never fail you. Ever.
Don't expect to stay in touch with everyone - Some people are good at keeping in touch, some are not. Some will be annoyed that you are not emailing them everyday. The truth is, is that you wont have time to be keeping in touch with everyone and that's a reality that you will have to not feel guilty about.
Read your bible - Keep yourself in the word even if you don't have a routine. You will find that church wont be a place where you can get either teaching you understand or teaching that's going to feed you. But the Word of God will feed you. Keep in his word, enjoy His word, Delight in his Word, Weep over His Word and Rejoice that you have the Word of God in your hands.
Be prepared for crazy emotions - At times you will find yourself so happy your skipping down the road and then the next moment you are crying. You will feel alone and then very loved. This is normal, so don't worry. But remember your emotions are not reliable - but God is. Your emotions go up and down but God stays the same. God is still God. That is a good truth to hold on to. Don't be subject to your emotions, but know that God uses you in your weakness and when you are alone, you are actually very close to Jesus.
Love - Love the people, love the fruit lady, love your team mates, love other missionaries, love the crazy drunk man on the street, love the unlovable, love Jesus and do everything in Love. And enjoy every moment.

A taste of Heaven

2010-08-29T19:20:00.000+01:00

I have just come back from New Staff Conference and feel refreshed and encouraged! Over the years while being involved in student work and missions, I have been to many Christian conferences and each time I always feel like I am getting a taste or glimpse of Heaven. I always feel that friendships are made quickly and deeply, the Gospel is warming our hearts and we share in fellowship over food and laughter. I feel like its a taste of heaven because I see a glimpse of deep, encouraging friendship centered around Christ. Its also an outflowing of Grace.

I am not only looking forward to developing the friendships made this week, but also seeing Christ in them. To see these people grow and love Jesus more everyday. This also makes me excited about being apart of the South West team and enjoying the delights of fellowship here. I can't really put across how much I am looking forward to being apart of this family and being gracious towards each other when we sin, showing the love of Christ by serving each other and reminding each other of the Gospel. And just feeling apart of a greater vision and the family I have been adopted into that has an amazing Father in heaven.

Living life too much online?

2010-08-20T11:00:00.001+01:00

A new feature has come to facebook - A "Check In" app. Which allows you to tell people exactly where you are and allows you to share your favorite places to your facebook world. The facebook blog tells all here. And CNN has written an article online about it here.

But does anyone get scared that we may be living our lives through a computer screen? We are in a social media craze and no one can doubt the benefits it has brought us. And we can argue that its a fantastic way to share the Gospel - you can send out a message of the Gospel into the cosmos through twitter, facebook, msn, skype or blogging. It saves talking face to face (although is that a good thing?) And I do love the fact that I can chat to people across the world, that I can instantly keep in touch with them and have live chats or instant messenger.

But I wonder whether we live our lives too much through these social networks. The first thing we do in the morning may be to check our emails or facebook page. We find out gossip through the main facebook feed... who is going out with who, what new pictures there are, who has done what etc... is there any privacy? But of course you dont have to post anything or even be on facebook.

And yet its addictive. Technology is addictive and social media scratches that itch we all have. It seems that we spend most our lives in front of a computer screen instead of in person. However you cant really visit the sick through a facebook "poke"...

My point is not to say that facebook is bad, because I enjoy using it. But I wonder as a Christian if I can use my time better and if there are other ways that are more effective and more heart warming when it comes to fellowship with people in the church or sharing the Gospel with people? I dont believe church can be done online. I think church is about tears, joy, sharing burdens and being in contact with people which is more then an email can do. Otherwise I think we just shut ourselves off to personal human communication and we relax into twittering our spouse when they are upset or facebooking someone who is lonely instead of getting up and speaking to them or making the effort to see them... Its very easy to hide behind a screen and perhaps we (including myself) are is too scared to actually open up to people beyond cyberspace.

What do you think?

Bethinking

2010-08-19T12:58:00.000+01:00

Far too easily pleased...

2010-08-15T11:36:00.000+01:00

C.S.Lewis says:

"We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink, sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us..."

John Piper says in Desiring God:

"The enemy of worship is not that our desire for pleasure is too strong, but too weak! We have settled for

a home

a family

a few friends

a job

a television

a microwave oven

an occasional night out

a yearly vacation

and perhaps a personal computer.

We have accustomed ourselves to such meager, short lived pleasures that our capacity for joy has shriveled. And so our worship has shriveled. Many can scarcely imagine what is meant by "a holiday at the sea" - worshiping the living God"

How true that is. How we think we will be happy and fulfilled with these things listed above. How sad it is that as Christians we believe we will be happier with those things. When actually its destroying our joy in Christ. How would we feel if we lost those things? Like life wasn't worth living?

How it would be differnet if our pleasure and joy was rooted in Jesus instead of things and status?

There is no glamor in mission, only Jesus.

2010-07-29T12:19:00.000+01:00

There is something about being in a different country that can make you seem like a real missionary. A christian taking the steps of faith from one culture to the unknown culture. Sacrifice is melted into the experience. People at home feel like their money is going to a real missionary and you email back stories and conversions and what God is doing and people praise you. Missionary work abroad can look glamorous but its not. People put you on a peddle stall when you would rather hide. Half the time you are wondering if you are making a difference - is Jesus really using me or is this a waste of time?

There are many times when you feel like you have lost faith or you feel numb and useless. A darkness wraps itself around you and blinds you into comparing yourself to every other missionary with thoughts of "Surely I should be converting the town... I should be doing this...or being like the other missionaries..."

This isn't just about being abroad or being a missionary but being a Christian wherever you are. Its about seeing your sin and for some reason when your placed in a situation that highlights your weaknesses and takes away your comforts, you then see your sin illuminating. There were many times I was on my knees struggling with the selfishness within me and asking God to make my ministry seem worthy to other people and that there would be spectacular results. But I realized that it wasn't about other people and it was in these hard times that Jesus showed me how faithful He is. Through those tears He was the one that held on to me and was faithful above all. He showed me that He worked in my weakness and that his Grace was sufficient.

There is no glamor in mission, only Jesus. And that's enough.You dont need glamour or praise or recognition. It doesnt matter how well you do or dont do or how many hours you work. Compared with eternity it doesnt matter. Above all, Jesus is who you need to sustain you through everything.
And although you can come away feeling broken and having a case of return culture shock, the truth still remains that the savior of the world is still enough for you in your small town in England. He is enough and He has to be enough or we will be lost and everything will be pointless. The love of God shines through those hard times and its the times when your most hurting that God is most showing you Jesus and how beautiful He is. We can feel like this wherever we are and that's the point - you don't have to go a thousand miles away to do great things for Jesus or be a missionary. Sometimes we go abroad because we want the status or glamor, but that will all be stripped away and you will be given just Jesus - which you will either resent or joyfully accept.

Highlights of last few weeks in Peru + Argentina

2010-07-27T14:39:00.000+01:00

What I will miss

2010-07-17T14:42:00.000+01:00

So the time for me to leave Peru after being here for nearly a year is fast approaching. It had been an amazing experience and at times very challenging. Once I am back in England I will take time to reflect on what God has taught me. But first I want to share the things I will miss about Peru, which are the things that I have enjoyed or have gotten use to!

- The laid back culture
- The beautiful mountains
- The different types of fruit
- The relationships made here with Peruvians and other nationalities.
- Speaking Spanish
- Everything is cheap
- The food: even rice and chicken!
- The Peruvian way of life
- Sunshine!!
- The randomness of how things are done and there is no use in getting uptight about it but you just need to go with the flow.
- A mission team
- The CU in Huaraz
- Being late and that being ok
- having 3 different climates in Peru
- Gods faithfulness in hard times

There are many things I will miss and yet there are many things I am looking forward to when I get home. God is good whereever you are.

Permission to fail - Bish

2010-06-19T17:41:00.000+01:00

While reading Bish's blog I came across his honest conclusion of failure. I hate to fail and beat myself up when I do. I want to be right and perfect and get frustrated when I am not. I hate it when people say things about me that are negative, even if they are true. But Im not perfect, I am a sinner and in a way I need to own up to this not just before God but before people and conclude that I am not perfect, I mess up and will do and say things wrong. But there is hope in the Gospel... read what Bish says:

"The gospel takes the pressure off, means I can admit I got things wrong, means I can grow and learn and do things differently. Sins instinct is to hide and be ashamed, the gospel means I can hold my hands up, show weakness and not be destroyed for it. It gives me the freedom to make a call, and then reflect afterwards that it might not have been the right call. It gives me the freedom to be.

The gospel stops me taking myself too seriously - I'm freed to take Jesus seriously and think less often about myself. I'm free to bear with other, to be kind to others. And the gospel helps others to bear with me, to spur me on. To be generous to me beyond reason. To pick me up when I drop the ball - to look me in the face and speak gospel truth to me in the moment of my humiliation. so I can carry on."

Peru through a lens Pt 3

2010-06-17T18:12:00.001+01:00

Peru through a lens Pt 2

2010-06-12T17:52:00.000+01:00

Peru through a lens

2010-06-08T23:31:00.000+01:00

Beautiful Feet

2010-05-24T16:43:00.000+01:00

How beautiful my feet are
When dancing through life
With each step a new birth
And breath of eternal life.
Etching its way through darkness
To give way to light.
How my feet walk through fire
Carrying the drops of hope
And a message of dripping joy.

Yet at times when they drag
Unexpectantly clinging to earths gold
Overflowing with gripping fear -
It is easy to see the lights grow dim
And the eyes that held hope begin to wither
Into a blaze of uncertainty.
Here my feet stand still, unmoving.
Shivering in self satisfaction.

Then a cry is heard:
Where has the beauty gone?
At what depths has it plundered
For the sake of fleeting pleasure?
O how fear and pride shackle beauty!
Until there is a changing wind
And whispers of forgiveness and blood shed
That sweeps away the crusty leaves
That were buried in this heart,
Letting rays of truth flood in;
Warming the feet until moving
Waking the veins until shouting.
Only to find that soon
The scent of good news
Is being carried again -
By beautiful feet.

By Catherine Hare

The high price of comfort

2010-05-06T17:12:00.000+01:00

What do you say to someone with depression or suffering poverty or just not satisfied in this world? Pray more? Read your bible more? Do more christian activities? Ignore those uncomfortable questions and pretend that everything is ok so that church looks good? Pray that God will restore their personal comforts of christian living? Larry Crabb writing in his book "Inside out" says:

"This kind of response turns church into a country club offering its benefits to those who are fortunate enough and well mannered enough to qualify for membership. We sit Sunday after Sunday enjoying fellowship of others who are comfortable and committed while the broken hearted and poor press their noses against the window, looking in at us with resentment, envy and despair...."

What did Jesus promise when He said that we are to come to him all who thirsty? And I think all of us are thirsty. But what did Jesus promise to give us when we come to Him? Crabb continues with questions:

"Did He promise to bring us comfort through enjoyable relationships, rewarding careers and pleasurable activities - providing of course that we honor some level of commitment to Him? Or is the abundant life of bubbling springs a very different matter? Is it possible to have absolutely no rich communication with your husband, yet still taste those cool waters? Can a parent whose young adult son is far from the Lord know something real about peace and rest?"

I think perhaps the point is what are we satisfied in? Is our christian life about obtaining a comfortable christian life where there is no sadness, no trials, no suffering, no yearning, no groaning pains for this world. But instead a static existance of pleasure overflowing with more striving for pleasure. Perhaps there is a high price that you have to pay, so that in the place of a rich relationship with God, we instead have a rich relationship with the next best thing, the next best job - the striving to be better. This will leave us empty and hollow.

Perhaps its better to be poor in material things and going through the hard trials of suffering allowing you to cling to Jesus and therefore have a rich, satsifying relationship with Him. Where everyday is about Him and everyday you walk with Him without the worry that modern life throws at you. I am not secure in my job or my mortgage...but in Jesus. I am satisfied in Him. He is my bubbling spring. Church is therefore about the broken and being honest about it. Its about uniting in Christ and thirsting for Him.

Beware the thief

2010-04-15T00:26:00.000+01:00

Our hearts are somewhat easily taken in by what people say and their attitudes. When you are with someone that continues to complain or find the negative side of everything, then in time a part of you starts to wither. Our hearts are sponges that absorb this atmosphere and these attitudes. I have noticed this from christians and in my own heart.
We need to be careful. We need to guard our hearts from this. But its hard when its a fellow brother or sister in Christ, because we get sucked into their feelings and attitudes. However we need to take care that our joy is not stolen from us or that we so easily allow our job to be taken. We need to come back to Christ and pour our heart out, be washed inside out and be rooted into the love of Christ, soaking our hearts and minds in His word and being reminded of His beauty and of His Grace.

Focus on Jesus and capture back that child like faith, the one that is totally in awe of the works of God, being able to encourage good. Having a love that is deep and sacrificing, and a boldness that will share Jesus with everyone because you are sharing the one thing that is most precious to you, thats the treasure of your heart.

Dont let the thief steal your joy.

Dont fall into the mindset that its ok to gossip or try to justify that you can pick holes in every event or situation or person.

Dont let the thief steal your joy.

Instead see other christians as God sees them - covered by the blood of the lamb, forgiven by the grace of God, loved through Christ.

Beware the thief and the heart that is ready to give away its joy in order to please others.

Student Work in Peru

2010-03-30T21:04:00.000+01:00

As I was sitting on the 8 hour bus to Huaraz, my destination was to be a beautiful mountain valley that I would be spending 4 months in. I had several thoughts - firstly the task ahead of me, which was to set up a Christian Union Group in the University in Huaraz, was like a shadow weighing upon me and I wondered how I was possibly going to do this with hardly any Spanish and shyness that creeped over me and covered me like a bubble. My second thought was simply... this is not going to work and no one else thinks this will happen.

How wrong was I?

Firstly my problem was that I was trusting in myself instead of God. The second was that I was finding my identity in my Spanish and my ability to do things...when it should of been in Jesus.

Student work is different here, there is a different framework however the same Gospel. The same God. All you need is some passionate students that have captured the vision, that love Jesus and want to share Him and you need prayer and a trust in Jesus. We need to be on our knees, lifting up this to Jesus and being thankful for the blessings an situations that come our way. Student work is different in Peru - but its the same Gospel.

So what do we have?

We now have a Christian Union in Huaraz - so far we have had 11 students and we now have a committee. Here it is, missionary work in action - Jesus does it, he opens hearts, provides ways of meeting people and uses us as we are weak and reminds us how we need to trust in Him and allow Him to use us in our weakness and humility. Its always about Him. This is the beauty of it - we are never here to present ourselves or our abilities, but we are here to present Christ, always.

So, there is now a CU group in Huaraz, Peru. Gracias a Dios :)

Basil not the Brush

2010-03-30T19:25:00.000+01:00

Basil the Great said:

'The bread which you keep, belongs to the hungry; the coat which you perserve in your wardrobe, to the shoeless; the gold which you have hidden in the ground, to the needy. Wherefore, as often as you were able to help others, and refused, so often did you do them wrong.'

Fascinate people to the Gospel

2010-03-22T16:58:00.000Z

There is something about Christians that should be different. We should stand out.

Shine.

Go against the crowed.

We have a message of hope, we carry an eternal promise of truth. We have Jesus.

Our lifestyles should reflect this truth. We should be courageous in Love, reaching to the dirty, the outcasts, the low in society, the unclean, the hopeless.

We shouldnt be concerned with social status or jobs, because we wear a different dress code. Our actions and words should scream a different story thats so radical from society:

that promotes Jesus over man,

that shares the good news,

that performs acts of extreme love and Joy and hope and not be tainted with worries of success and career and what people think.

We should fascinate the people to the Gospel, showing them Jesus, showing them how beautiful He is, showing the cross and carrying our cross.

We should fascinate the world by not being concerned of self image, or trying to buy the latest gadgets, or trying to be popular.

We should fascinate the world by forgiving when it hurts so much, to love when all there can be is loss, to give everything of our things, possesions and ourselves when the world is trying to claim the 'mine' label. Lets not hold on or strive for things of this world.

Lets fascinate the world to the Gospel, not to ourselves, but to Jesus.

May the world find itself in a moment of fascination over how we live our lives because we are not living for ourselves but for Jesus, because we would rather be amoung the lowly, the poor, the meek, the hurting, the lost then to be with the rich, powerful, proud. We would rather be without and full of Joy in Christ then have everything and still be unsatisfied.

Lets fascinate the world with Jesus.

Gifts

2010-03-10T15:30:00.000Z

Recently I have been thinking more about the gifts that God has been blessing me with while in Peru. Some things we take for granted, but when you dont have them you soon realise how much a blessing they are when you do have them...

My list of thank yous and gifts:

Friendship
Hot Water
A Team - A family
A bed and place to live
A phone to phone home with!
The bible
Knowing Jesus
Older, wiser people
Food
Being able to communicate.

To have my soul happy in the Lord

2010-02-14T10:00:00.000Z

A Brilliant quote:

“I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary
business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man may be nourished . . . I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it.” --George Mueller

So, for the next couple of weeks I am on conference with Latin Link and then I am moving again and wont be able to blog for a while. I hope to update the blog about the conference and my time in Huaraz in March... watch this space.

A Glance at Galatians Pt 9

2010-02-12T10:00:00.000Z

Pt 9 :: Church and fellowship.

This is my last post on Galatians and I just want to do a run through of what we have seen so far:

The Galatians and Christians today have one true Gospel, a Gospel that should be guarded and proclaimed. Paul has a testimony of not only his conversion but also the work of Christ in his life - he is committed to proclaiming Jesus Christ as savour and Lord - and so should we. Paul is not afraid to show discipline and wants the church to take responsibility in guiding, rebuking and loving the members of the church. The heart beat of Galatians pump out the truth of who we are in Christ and what are identity is - who are we living for? What justifies us - our works or what Jesus did on the cross? The law cannot save us. So what do we need to do? We need to walk in the Spirit and focus on Christ so that we see Him as better then anything else. But the story isnt over, we are not individuals but we are apart of a body - what does this look like?

Paul opens chapter 6 with talking about sin (v1). What happens when someone sins today in the church? Two things happen:

We are shocked to think someone could do that - we are like the world with a magazine layout of a scandal that has exposures of the true story revealed - "SHOCKER, A Christian Sins..." ( 3 page spread inside)
We elevate ourselves - "I would never do that"...

Think of times when you have heard about someone sinning, what do you think? If your anything like me your mind goes to - "Thats terrible, I would never do that". instantly we have elevated ourselves, believing we are better then they are. But the problem is, is that we sin. And the answer isnt to get proud and self-rightouse, the answer is to "restore him in a spirit of gentleness". This is the mark of the church.

It is good and right to be serious about sin and pointing out sin in our lives and others in order to be restored and to repent. The idea is not to crush the person but to restore. I have seen many christians, including myself be very zealous about these things but instead of restoring the person or having Grace in a situation they crush the person and in themselves they are proud and thankful that they are not like that sinner. There is a lack of Grace here and the Church should be the place where Grace is most exercised.

Look at some of the attributes of the Church that Paul describes:

Having a spirit of gentleness
Bear one anothers burdens
Not growing weary of doing good
Do good to everyone

Imagine if we live like this not just on a Sunday, but everyday. Aiming to have our words dripping with Grace and in order to restore our brothers and sisters. Its good and right to rebuke sin, but not if its out of our proud and self rightousness - if it is, we will only destroy the person we are talking to and our hearts will just be hard.

We are sowers and what we sow we will reap. Therefore we need to sow in the spirit, sow in serving and loving in order to reap those things and to build up the church. The church isnt about you or your wants, its not about being the best at music or teaching or not sinning. The church is about Christ and about the other people around you. In light of it all, Galatians is anchored in what Christ did for the church on the cross in order that we may be an example of showing Grace and love to the body of Christ.

Thank you for reading some of my thoughts on Galatians, I know that there is so much more in Galatians to dig into but I think that would require more then 9 posts! I would encourage you to read through Galatians and see how amazing Jesus is and how He is using the church to shine this truth.

You can read all of "A glance at Galatians" series below:

A Glance at Galatians:

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8

The hope in Lima

2010-02-10T11:00:00.000Z

The horns beep fiercely, the people bustle and hustle on the street, the smell of pork sizzles on the road side filling the air, the combi drivers shout at you to get on the bus that you don’t want to take and the sun tries but fails to pierce through the cracks in the clouds however the heat hangs heavy like being trapped in an oven. Welcome to Lima. The Capital of Peru. It has elements of home with its Starbucks, McDonalds and giant shopping malls but it also captures the essence of Peru with different types of people, music, clothes and traffic system.

On the one side of the city there are lush parks full of tall trees and beautiful flowers that tickle the air with their scent. You cant help but walk amoung this scenary and be tricked into thinking that you were not in a giant city. Yet when you skim the edges of the city you can see a different side of living in Peru. The slums grow upwards onto the mountains that surround Peru, they are rooted in hope of finding food and clean water as they display the contrast between the rich and the poor living only a few blocks apart. This is a mirror of the world, reflecting the reality of life. The reality of sin.

But there is so much hope. Jesus has so much to offer and its more then clean water, its more then a better house or good clothes or food everyday. Jesus offers living water, an eternal house, clothes of righteousness and He offers himself - the bread of Life. I want to share this hope with these people, I dont want them to trust in magical dolls or witches or praying for the dead. I want them to see Jesus and how amazing He is and trust in Him.

A Glance at Galatians Pt 8

2010-02-08T19:19:00.000Z

Pt 8 :: First Start Walking

They say that 30 min walking a day is a good amount of exercise you need to be healthy. In Chapter 5:16 Paul tells us to walk, but for more then 30 min a day. He wants us to continue walking and to walk by the spirit. We have seen from 5v1 that Christ has set us free and now we are free to walk and once we start walking we wont start gratifying the desires of the flesh. Most of the time we think that if I just stop doing this sin, if I can just have enough strength to not do this again then I will be accepted by God, then I will be able to walk in the Spirit.

But this is BACKWARDS... look at the text:

"But I say, walk by the spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh" - (5v16)

What does Paul tell the Galatians that they must do first? Is it to not gratify the desires of the flesh? Is it to stop sinning in your strength, is it to muster up some amazing power to be perfect? No... He says, "walk by the spirit"... you first walk by the spirit, you first fix your eyes on Jesus, you first walk in His strength and His power, you taste the glory of Jesus and you see Him as better then anything in this world AND THEN... once you know Him and your walking in His ways and you are savouring Him, then you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

WHY? Paul goes on to tell us in 5v17 that the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit. There is a war here, they are opposed to each other. So we need to fight it...

But first we need to see Jesus. Then, fixing our eyes on Him as we walk through the day we will no longer have our eyes on ourselves. We will stop looking inward to our desires and start living for Jesus everyday. Paul talks about this alot in his letters, he wants Christians to stop looking at themselves and start looking at Jesus and keep focused on Him and then they will be able to continue through sufferings and trials and they will look at the things that tempt them or at the things the world strives for (career, money, sex, success, drink, house, cars, good schooling etc) and see all of that as rubbish compared to Christ. But we cant compare it all to Christ if we are not focused on Him, if we are not walking in His ways...

So you need to start walking in the spirit first...fix your eyes and your hopes on Jesus and see how He is better then the temptations in front of you and see how he helps you when struggling against the desires of the flesh.