Returning to blogging

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

Coffee and Adventures

A bit of blog spotting here.

On Marcus Honeysetts blog, he notes how having adventures in our christian life is important. It is easy for us to get comfortable and miss out on what we could be doing. He says:

The worst thing is to settle for having no adventures in the Christian life. That is the definition of faithless spiritual mediocrity. Do we somehow think that travelling with God to see new vistas, new things he is doing, new fields to reach for Jesus won't be wonderful? If our watchwords are "caution", "safety", "risk-free", "comfort" we will have a really boring spiritual life. At the end of our lives the tragedy will be that we realise that there were escarpments to climb that we never climbed, rivers to ford that we never crossed, panoramas to marvel at that we never glimpsed, adventures with God that we politely declined.

I agree with Marcus here. How boring and sad it would be to not have any adventures in our Christian life, to not have joy in Christ and to not stretch out of our comfort zones. He goes on to say that we need people in our life that stretch us and push us into adventures with God. I know a few of these people in my life, where by just being around them I know that no moment with them is dull because of their excitement with Jesus. It is inspiring.

Marcus goes on to say in an earlier post about church and comfort zones:

How many churches are comfort zones for people, that justify and validate us not living as Jesus lived, rather than discomfort zones that challenge and equip us to live as Jesus lived?

Once again, really challenging! We so easily lie in our nests and get comfortable. The Christian life is not meant to be comfortable, it certainly shouldn't be in church.

On a different note - Over at the Bluefish. We have Dave taking us through what good coffee is. I like this. I am tempted to throw all instant coffee out - you can't beat filter coffee. Possibly my favourite line:

Kenco promise that they use the same coffee beans for their instant and ground coffee products. That may be true enough, but that's more of an insult to the name of coffee than an enhancement of their instant brand. Instant coffee is to ground coffee what a McDonalds burger is to a steak. It makes a lot of difference.

What worship has become

Michael Spenser, over at internetmonk has written a challenging post on what worship has become. A snapshot of this is below. Read fully here:

"Worship has now become a musical term. Praise and worship means music. Let’s worship means the band will play. We need to give more time to worship doesn’t mean silent prayer or public scripture reading or any kind of participatory liturgy. It means music.

We have a lot of happy people right now. They have no idea what Biblical worship is outside of the context of their favorite songs played by a kickin’ band. They have little idea of worship in vocation, in family, in ordinary work or in silence. They credit their favorite songs as major spiritual events."

To Tweet or Not to Tweet?

A fellow Relay Worker - Gethin Jones is blogging on whether Christians should Tweet or not. It is an interesting read and challenging too.

Have a read here.

2008 Review :: Top 5 blogs

I want to draw your attention to five blogs that I have enjoyed alot this year and have helped me, challenged me and have been edifying! These are in no particular order:

1. Bluefish
I really enjoy Dave Bish's blog. Not because he is my boss or friend, but because I enjoy what he writes, I find it challenging and engaging! Plus he is a coffee drinker through and through - Keep blogging!



2. Challis
Across the pond. Love the reviews and links!

3. Ed Goode
He was our Relay worker in Surrey many years ago. I love seeing what God is doing in his life and how he is enjoying Grace and Jesus everyday!

4. Girl talk
A wonderful edifying blog for women especially. It challenges my heart on how to be a Godly woman and to seek Christ in all things.

5. Adrian Warnock
Great reviews and interviews and engaging topics...plus he is on this side of the pond and writes good stuff!