Why, Lord? When, Lord?

As I write this, we are about to move home – not just move house, but leave the town (Harlow, Essex, where we have lived for 35 years) and move to the outskirts of a village just north of Norwich. As I reflect on the experience, it has caused me to ponder God’s timing. I believe I have learned some invaluable life lessons along the way.

Trying to move has basically taken us 2 years, starting with the time when we handed over leadership of the church congregation here in Harlow. We shifted to more of a consultative role, and as part of the arrangements for the handover it was agreed that I would continue to receive a part time income for a 2 year period, without there being any expectation of there being anything in particular I had to do to ‘earn’ that income.

We felt the time had come for us to start a new adventure and we had all sorts of hopes and dreams about our new base being somewhere we could offer retreats – a place for spiritual reflection and refreshing. Our sense was that this wasn’t just us fantasising, we felt that God was inspiring us.

When my wife Mary and I started on this journey of deciding that we wanted a change of location, Mary’s mum had recently died. My own aged parents were both poorly, living quite close to us. By that stage mum was in a care home, and dad was, we felt, still just about capable of living independently. I told myself – and my supportive siblings – that, even after my move, I would be able to make the journey back maybe once every couple of weeks to keep in contact with mum and dad.

I hit my lowest point during the first year of our adventure. By that stage we had already lost one house that we had set our hearts on, the problem being that we hadn’t quite managed to secure a definite buyer for our own house. Having started the hunt again, we found another house, in a different kind of setting, and it seemed perfect. We had done a deal, but within a short space of time the agent telephoned us, somewhat apologetically, to say that his client was ditching us in favour of a cash buyer.

I can remember telling God – and I really wasn’t joking – that I wasn’t going to talk to him anymore. I was, really, heartbroken. Without trying to go into all of the details, finding a buyer for our house who would stick with us had not proved to be an easy task and I felt this latest disappointment was just one too many.

In his mercy and love, I found that God did not give up on trying to talk to me. The first thing I felt him say was, that it was little bit harsh of me to put the blame directly onto God for all the odd things that human beings do to each other. This made me laugh – a little – and it also made sense to me. He went on to point out that, although he wasn’t criticising our choice of house, he had not actually singled out that house for us, nor had he promised us that it definitely was the house we would be buying. In my heart, I knew this was true. Finally, I sensed him reassuring me that the home we would eventually move to would be very good, and that everything would be OK.

How lovely and neat it would be if I could say that this was the turning point in our trials and that everything fell into place smoothly and quickly thereafter. It was certainly a turning point for me in that it settled something deep in my soul, however there were plenty of challenges still to come. There would be two further properties that we believed were the ‘one’ but we lost each of them. Overall, we paid for full structural surveys for three homes. We had challenges keeping a buyer for our house, partly because of financial crises in the nation, partly because of the funny ways of mortgage companies, and partly because our house, being a slightly older property, raised some structural questions in the eyes of some people.

All that said, as we approached Christmas 2021, it looked like we really were on the verge of moving. We had a super-keen and super-committed set of buyers and the people we were buying from were ready to sell as quickly as possible. There was talk of exchanging contracts just before the Christmas break, but in any event it looked like we would be moving very early in 2022. But early in January 2022 our buyers pulled out, and as a result we eventually also lost the house we were buying. We had a serious review of our situation with our estate agents, and we came up with a plan to address some building-related concerns that our buyers had raised, all of which involved us spending quite a lot of money, most notably on a brand new roof. Quite soon after that we did a deal with a new set of buyers, who seemed genuinely enthusiastic, and we found yet another house to perhaps begin to set our hearts on – house number five in the story.

The second year of our saga was in a sense straightforward. Our buyers stuck with us, and we stuck with them. Our sellers stuck with us, and we stuck with them. What was more troublesome was trying to assemble a complete chain. Our buyers, different generations of a family coming together, had two houses to sell, each to a first time buyer. We had less clarity about what needed to happen in the chain above us. It was difficult to get really excited about the new house, given that we had been disappointed before. Everything just seemed to be taking so long and it was almost unbelievable that we found ourselves approaching our second Christmas – Christmas 2022 – with no absolute certainty of a sale.

As I continue working on this blog, I am literally surrounded by boxes as our removal company prepares for our actual move tomorrow, 3 May 2023. Why has this whole process taken so long? Is it my fault that it took so long? What was God up to? Our questions that begin with a ‘why’ are very understandable and very human, but they are not necessarily questions that can lead to a sensible answer. At various times, christian friends of ours have talked about God’s perfect timing – and left me wondering what that is, exactly. Sometimes I have felt pressured by other people’s stories about how brilliantly and miraculously everything came together for them. I would ask myself sometimes, what, if anything, am I doing wrong?

I have focussed here on the agonies and the ups and (mostly) downs of the process of selling and buying houses. But other stuff was also going on in our lives. It made sense to Mary that it would be worthwhile for her to train in spiritual direction – not that she was necessarily determined to practise as a spiritual director as such, but given her desire to host retreats, it seemed clear that the skills the training offered would be useful. At around about halfway through her 2 year course, it dawned on me that actually I would also like to train – so I started, with a different training provider. I’m unsure why I didn’t see the light earlier. Perhaps part of what was happening to both of us was that we were shifting away from living as if all we were doing was waiting for the big thing to happen – while we were waiting, we came to realise that we needed to get on with actual living.

My mum, who I mentioned was already in a care home, deteriorated far more quickly than I imagined and she died in June 2021. My dad moved into that same care home later in 2021 and he died in March 2022. Apart from his challenges with dementia/Alzheimers, dad had been living with a cancer diagnosis for some time and he had made it clear, with total support from his GP, that he did not want any invasive treatment. But we had no idea how long he would live with that cancer, and it seemed perfectly possible that at some stage in the future the care home fees would eat up whatever inheritance my brother, sister and I would receive. In fact, his death came sooner that we thought and there was an inheritance to share between us, which I am sure mum and dad would have been glad to see.

We were not unaffected by the general financial uncertainty in the country in 2022 and, combined with the inheritance that did come my way, towards the end of 2022 and the start of 2023 we carried out a major review and overhaul of our personal finances. We have for many years had a relatively small and very low cost interest-only mortgage, and our plan had been to reduce the size of that mortgage even further but in effect keep something like it in place after our move – the cash cushion it would provide felt very reassuring. However, the low cost of our mortgage began to change quite alarmingly as interest rates rose and we resolved to organise things so that we could buy without a mortgage.

This financial re-engineering included taking a stern look at our income and expenditure – tricky when many things about our income position after our move are inherently difficult to predict – and a change in vehicles, activating pensions, and so on. One aspect of this was that Mary, who had been hanging on in a part-time job that would come to end when we moved, found a new job that seemed to have more fulfilment and purpose in it for her, coupled with the delightful surprise that she can, if she wants, carry on with that job even after our move.

I share all these details for a reason. I don’t claim to have total insight into God’s view of the situation, but I find it hard to see it as merely coincidental that, after all our struggles, the time when we actually move is just a matter of a few weeks after I finished being paid a consultancy income by our church family in Harlow. I have a very strong sense that some things needed to happen before we could move. My parents died, so I did not need to carry forward a tie to travelling back on a regular basis to try to support them. I have received an inheritance that is part of what is enabling us to move forward mortgage-free. My wife has found a new part-time job that she can carry with her for as long as she feels appropriate. We have both made significant steps in maturing as we have explored spiritual direction.

Thinking back to that low point I had, when I told God I wasn’t talking to him anymore, could it perhaps be true that, from God’s perspective, my parents needed to die, I needed to serve out my consultancy period based in Harlow rather than elsewhere, and we needed to go through the mill of a financial crisis? Genuinely, I think it was. If I’m correct, part of me is still left wondering – well, God, why didn’t you just tell me straight? Another ‘why’ question.

If God’s perfect timing for you means that you experience something that is easy and quick, then I am happy for you – truly, although part of me is probably also a little envious! That said, our experience teaches me that God’s perfect timing sometimes includes what looks like the opposite of easy and quick; and that the hurts and challenges of delay, opposition, challenge, and heartbreak are not necessarily self-inflicted.

Again on coincidences: as we move, the celebrations in Norfolk begin of Julian of Norwich, it being the 650th anniversary of her ‘shewings’ – the series of visions that dramatically altered her life. It feels fitting to close with these famous words of hers, that will appear on the screen that will shield King Charles III from public view as he is anointed this coming weekend – ‘All shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well’.

Per Ardua Ad Astra / Through Struggle To The Stars

This is the motto of the Royal Airforce, and some other Commonwealth air forces. I was reminded of it as I recently re-watched ‘Ad Astra’, the science fiction movie starring Brad Pitt in the role of astronaut Major Roy McBride.

Without wanting the spoil anyone’s enjoyment of ‘Ad Astra’ if you haven’t caught up with it yet, I think it’s fair to say that there are some issues between Roy and his very famous astronaut father – including, I would say, issues to do with feeling abandoned. Roy goes on not only a literal long journey, he also goes on an emotional/spiritual journey as he confronts these father-son issues.

I am writing this blog at a time when we seem to be opening a new chapter when it comes to adventures in space. Nasa’s Artemis project is about to launch – I hope, successfully – and begin what looks a new phase of meaningful exploration of the Moon. The James Webb telescope has begun to reveal amazing new images of distant parts of the universe. These two ventures embrace physical travel and also exploration beyond our current limits of such travel.

One of the things I take from ‘Ad Astra’ is that there are different types of journey, including as it were interior journeys where we explore what is going on inside ourselves, sometimes while we are taking a literal, physical, journey of some kind.

I very clearly remember, when I first watched ‘Ad Astra’ in a cinema, being struck by a statement Roy McBride – the Brad Pitt character – makes at the start of the movie, and how it compares to a statement he makes as the movie ends. I feel they tell us something important about the journey of discovery that we might take.

With my apologies for any errors in transcription, here is my attempt at quoting Roy McBride at the beginning, before he takes his journey:

“I’m calm, steady, slept well, no bad dreams. I am ready to go, ready to do my job to the best of my abilities. I am focussed only on the essential, to the exclusion of all else. I will make only pragmatic decisions, I will not allow myself to be distracted. I will not allow my mind to linger on that which is unimportant. I will not rely on anyone or anything. I will not be vulnerable to mistakes. I always wanted to become an astronaut – for the future of mankind an’all – at least, that’s what I always told myself. I see myself from the outside – smile, present a side – a performer, with my eye on the exit, always on the exit. Just don’t touch me.”

And then, after the completion of his journey, he says this:

“I am steady, calm. I slept well, no bad dreams. I am active and engaged. I am aware of my surroundings and those in my immediate sphere. I’m attentive. I am focussed on the essential to the exclusion of all else. I’m unsure of the future, but I’m not concerned. I will rely on those closest to me and I will share their burdens, as they share mine. I will live and love.”

Hanging By A Thread

I have very much enjoyed watching recently the BBC series ‘Freeze The Fear’. In that series, a group of celebrities when through a number of physical challenges, mostly to do with enduring the cold, under the guidance of Wim Hof, a Dutch extreme athlete who is also known as ‘The Iceman’.

A theme that ran through the series was the value of facing up to our fears and the climax was the challenge of a bungee jump from a very high road bridge somewhere high in the Italian mountains. Most of the celebrities chose to jump, and my sketch is an impression of how I remember them, swinging under the bridge, often screaming or shouting with delight – or maybe relief, or maybe a mixture of a number of intense emotion.

The phrase ‘hanging by a thread’ somehow comes to mind. This expression is typically understood to refer to being in a very dangerous situation or state, perhaps being close to death, or failure of some kind. But it struck me, as I watched these brave men and women dangling at the end of the bungee rope, that they were perhaps experiencing more than just relief that the rope had worked, and that they had survived.

I couldn’t help but think of a different sort of ‘rope’ that has been literally vital for each one of us – namely, the umbilical cord that connected us with that life support system otherwise known as a mother while we developed in the womb. Is it possible that, at a visceral or subconscious level, these celebrities were reconnecting with that past experience we all share – when for each us, in some sense, our whole lives were relying on that cord, hanging as it were by a thread?

Then there was another thought that struck me. Perhaps we spend so much time being wise and sensible, doing what we can to protect both ourselves and those we love against the potential dangers of hunger, sickness, and other dangers, that we end up telling up ourselves that we are safe and secure. When the reality maybe is that, no matter how careful we are, no matter how much insurance we have, we might never, ever, be that far away form the possibility of something going very badly wrong for us.

I don’t say this out of a desire to be gloomy for the sake of it, or to make anyone feel sad or worried for no good reason. As a Christian, I believe there is a paradox here. Life is wonderful, but it is also terribly fragile and temporary; it is as if our lives amount to almost nothing at all, and yet there is a God who loves us and who regards us as significant. For me this paradox is very well expressed in Psalm 103: As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field (verses 13-15, English Standard Version).

As I was watching my television, seeing those celebrities exult in having survived their jump, I found myself wondering, have they perhaps connected with an underlying reality about how all of life really is – that forever howling any of us has on this earth, the most fundamental joy and security can be found in knowing that there is a loving God who is holding the rope, in fact who is the rope itself? Some of them, before they launched themselves off the side of the bridge, clearly battled with the logic of doing the jump – why take the risk? But what if all of life is really about being prepared to take a risk, as opposed say to trying to protect ourselves against any possible danger. Maybe the biggest danger of all is to fail to live a full life because of a fear of what might go wrong. Maybe hanging by a thread isn’t so bad?

The Uploaded Life, Part 2: Three Steps To Heaven

It was some months ago that I wrote about ‘The Uploaded Life’, and I have, I am sorry to say, been very late in following up that post as I had promised.

2020 has, of course, been quite a year. For all of its trials and sadnesses, and even horrors, it has presented people like me with an opportunity to examine ourselves and perhaps discover, as believers in Jesus, how ‘uploaded’ my life really is.

Last time, I looked at what struck me as 3 fundamental truths on which an uploaded life could be based. These were that any such believer: is a new creation; has access now to Heaven; and is a citizen of Heaven.

I also mentioned 3 possible courses of action that I felt were appropriate responses on our part to these truths. Those responses were that we should: change the way we think; focus on things above; and start investing now in Heaven. Here, again, is a graphic that I used to illustrate this:

What I now want to mention briefly is what kind of specific action we can take that helps us to make these responses real in our lives. Forgive if this is too corny, or perhaps reveals too much about my great age, but I like to think of these specific steps as ‘Three Steps To Heaven’ – it’s the title of an old song.

The first of these Three Steps To Heaven is meant to help us change the way that we think. Reading, re-reading, and meditating on the words of the Bible is surely a great way to help us have our minds renewed. God’s word is powerful – if we let it, it can shift the way that we think. My suggested step here is, find your emergency verse. I mean by this the kind of verse that you know you can turn to in a moment of crisis, including a moment of fear or weakness.

Some time ago, when I was asking God to help me with what I felt were some addictive and melancholic tendencies within me, I sensed the Holy Spirit directing me to make an effort to be thankful, and this would be, for me at least, an effective antidote. I felt drawn to what 1 Thessalonians 5:18 has to say about always giving thanks. Whilst I cannot claim to have been anything like an exemplary student, I have made a serious effort to treat 1 Thessalonians 5:18 as my daily medicine – and I can honestly say that it has made a real difference in my life.

That particular verse might not work for you. However, I encourage you to find at least one emergency verse that works for you.

The second of the Three Steps To Heaven is meant to help us focus on things above. My suggested step here might be surprising because it doesn’t seem to have anyting to do with visualising God in His glorious throneroom, which is what you might a charismatic evangelical like me to mention.

No, for me, the starting point is rather different, and it is this: connect with nature. I am not trying to say that we should all become avid tree huggers and forest bathers – but if that works for you, I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. But again, contrary to what might be seen as typical for a charismatic evangelical, I see positive merit in getting out into the natural world, on a daily basis.

It’s probably easy to accept that contact with the natural world is good for the soul. But beyond that, I suggest this contact can actually help us learn and experience more about the way Heaven works, and what Heaven is like. This seems perfectly consistent with what the Bible tells us – for example, Psalm 19 tells us that the natural world declare God’s glory, proclaim the work of His hands, and reveal knowledge.

The third and final step addresses ways in which we can live in a way that is consistent with the reality of our new citizenship, and puts flesh on the bones, as it were, of the idea of investing in God’s Kingdom. My suggestion here is a terribly simple one – start doing something new and different with your money by supporting a Third World Kingdom-oriented project.

I am not for one moment advocating you diverting your usual financial support away from your local Church, or anything else you are already giving to. The reason why I mention a project in the Third World is that I am looking for something where the giving is pretty much guaranteed to be altruistic – where there is no earthly side benefit for you in giving whatever you are giving. I also suggest this giving should be more than a mere token amount – it should be giving at a level that is noticeable – if you like, giving an amount that hurts, at least a little.

And I say the project should be a ‘Kingdom’ project because I want it to help you connect with the fact of your Heavenly citizenship. I am not in any way criticising or denigrating giving to good causes generally. However, the discipline of finding something we can support that is related to the Kingdom we belong to, but from which we will receive no discernible benefit at all, is very significant.

Here is an image that summarises all this:

The Uploaded Life

Easter has passed, but I am reflecting on the message and meaning of Easter – bearing in mind the Covid-19 crisis and the pressure this places on us. I am aware of the pressure this can put on us – both for ourselves, for people we know and love and even for complete strangers whose needs are shouting at us through our televisions, our smartphones, our computers and our radios.

What I mean by ‘The Uploaded Life’ is a way of living that is consistent with what is true about what God the Father has done for us through God the Son.  If we can live The Uploaded Life, we will be well equipped to cope not just with this current crisis, but any crisis. Also, The Uploaded Life will be noticed by other people and will a fantastic witness to the reality that Jesus is our saviour, and The Uploaded Life is available to anyone and everyone who wants it.

For me, there’s a bit of a parallel with technology. It is not difficult or super expensive to back up our precious data. If we are backed up well, then the loss, theft, or failure of a laptop or other device doesn’t have to be much more than an inconvenience. But whether or not we back up is basically our decision, it is under our control.

So it is, I feel, with the Christian life. God has made it perfectly possible for us to live in an uploaded way, but this is not automatic – there is some work we have to do, some effort that we need to choose to make.

What struck me is that there are some basic truths from the Bible that need to be grasped.

The first is that, ‘You Are A New Creation’. I base this on what Jesus said to Nicodemus about the need to be born again, born from above, born of the Spirit in John 3:3. Also, in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul tells us that anyone who is ‘in Christ’ is a new creation.

The second is that, ‘You Have Access Now To Heaven’. I recall what Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:4-6 about us alrdeay having been raised with Christ and or being seated in heavenly realms with Him. This is not just a truth about our future, it is a truth about our present.

The third and final truth is, ‘You Are A Citizen Of God’s Kingdom’. I base this on Colossians 1:13, where we learn that God has rescued us from one kingdom – the kingdom of darkness – and we have been transferred to God’s kingdom.

Given that powerful truths such as these exist, what is the appropriate response to them? I suggest three responses to these three truths, so that alongside something that’s true, we have something to do. I link something from the Bible to these responses, merely as a suggestion – I am not trying to say there is anything definitive or exhaustive in what I offer next.

In light of the truth that ‘You Are A New Creation’, I was struck by Romans 12:2. I suggest that, since I am new, I have a responsibility for the way that I think.

Given that ‘You Have Access Now To Heaven’, I am reminded of Colossians 3:1&2. I feel a good response is that I should focus on things above.

For the truth, ‘You Are A Citizen Of God’s Kingdom, I was drawn to two sections within the Sermon on the Mount – Matthew 5:19-21 and 6:33. Jesus is telling us to tresaure Heaven. If Jesus wants me to place a value on Heaven, I sense my reponse should be start investing now into that place.

Here is a graphic where I try to summarise all this:

I will try, in a future post, to sketch out some practical ways we might be able to make progress in these kinds of responses.

 

 

Mankind On The Moon

Here is an excerpt from an article in today’s Daily Telegraph by Daniel Hawkins:

“On Christmas Eve 1968, a message was broadcast to the Earth from the orbit of the Moon: ‘And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. The words were spoken by Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders, as he and fellow crew members Jim Lovell and Frank Borman recited Genesis, chapter one, in a broadcast watched by one billion people.

“The moving footage reveals an often ignored fact of the success of the subsequent Apollo mission to the Moon, which celebrates its 50th anniversary today: that it was one compelled by faith as much as science.

“Many of the 12 men to walk on the Moon were Christian…Faith ran throughout the US space programme. John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, said on his return from a second voyage: ‘To look out at this kind of creation and not believe in God is to me impossible.’

“This is not surprising. The Apollo programme was so ambitious that it took men of faith even to entertain its possibility…

“The Apollo greats who walked on the Moon risked their lives to do what no living creature had done before. They did it through technological achievement, mathematics and complex algorithms. But the role of faith in sustaining their efforts cannot be overlooked.

“ ‘Science and technology got me there, but when I got there and looked back home at the Earth, science and technology could not explain what I was seeing nor what I was feeling,’ Eugene Cernan, the 11th man to walk on the Moon, said.

“ ‘When I looked back home there was too much purpose, too much logic. The Earth was just too beautiful to have happened by accident.’ “

I can remember as a 9 year old school boy being ushered into a hall to watch live coverage of the Moon landing on a tiny, grainy, black and white TV. I was fascinated by the Space Race for years after that, and truth be told I have followed the story of space exploration ever since.

Hawkins’ piece is mainly concerned with the people who walked on the Moon, who were all men, but let’s not forget the role played by many women in the story, this was brought home to me powerfully when I watched the movie ‘Hidden Figures’. That movie centres on the true story of 3 amazing women of colour who battled sexism and racism. The character played by Kevin Costner gives, for me, some compelling insights into leadership and vision – and possibly of the faith that Hawkins highlights. Battling with his frustration in the early  Sixties with falling behind the Russians in the Space Race and the huge challenge of trying to get men to the Moon, he says to one of these women that the trouble is, in his mind he is already there – on the Moon. He somehow had to motivate and organise a group of highly talented people so that what he could picture might become a reality. There are lessons here for us all.

Where’s Your Head At?

 

Recently at Gateway Freedom Church I spoke on “Where’s Your Head At?”. This was about the vital connection between what is going on in our hearts/minds and our ability to be successful, to be excellent people.

As I ponder encouraging words that have been given to Mary and me personally about our influence on others, and similar words that have been given to us on behalf of our Church family, I have been increasingly struck by the challenge for me as an individual to set an excellent example. Not that I am wanting to get into a mentality of striving to perform in order to earn approval from anyone else – including God – but rather, if we want to make the world around us a better place, our key resource is…ourselves.

If I am going to do well helping to lead a Church community to have a good impact on the world, then I do well at creating an environment where people are both challenged and equipped to pursue a way of excellence – for us to become more and more like our ‘personal best’, to borrow a phrase from a good book!

And in following this line of thought, I was struck by the words of Jesus in John 16:12 – “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now.” As a Christian, I believe there can be no better way of improving the quality of my life than by paying attention to what Jesus himself might have to say to me. What, then, might make his words to me – words that the Apostle Peter called words of eternal life – hard for me to bear?

I set out in my message 4 possible suggestions.

The first reason is that sometimes Jesus is correcting me, or contradicting me. It is hard for me to hear what Jesus is saying to me if I am fundamentally disagreeing with him. A possible remedy here is make sure I am living an accountable life, a life where some trusted friends can point out to me my blind spots.

The second reason is that sometimes Jesus is drawing my attention to an area on unhealed pain in my life. Not that Jesus is causing new pain, just drawing attention to pain that I am in some way trying to ignore. A possible remedy here is to be brave.

The third reason is that sometimes Jesus seems to be downloading too much stuff into my life. I might just feel overloaded, overwhelmed. A possible remedy here is to be consistent – to resolve to work at things in persistent, daily discipline of trying to tune into at least one little chunk of truth that Jesus might be trying to feed me with today. Daily bread, if you will.

The fourth and final reason might surprise you, because it seems simply to be good and how could it possibly ever be a hindrance? This that Jesus’ words might have too much destiny, too much weight, attached to them. Could such positive, significant things ever be true about someone like me? Maybe I misheard Jesus, or maybe he dialled the wrong number and thought he was speaking to someone else. Someone more worthy, more qualified, more whatever. Aside from getting our our own disbelief about ourselves, a possible remedy here is to be determined. Often it is not enough merely to hear something great that Jesus is saying to us. We need to make decisions, to take actions, to make it more possible for such words to come to pass.

You might notice I have done a little ‘ABCD’ thing here – Accountable, Brave, Consistent, Determined. That’s preachers for you.

As Bill & Ted might have said, be excellent!

 

Sri Lanka

I have recently returned from my first ever visit to Sri Lanka, in fact my furthest visit that far to the east of the UK ….so far!

This picture shows the students at the Harvest Fire School, hosted at Jaffna, where Dan Slade, Brent and BJ Bontrager and I were teaching. I had to leave around halfway through, and this picture is part of my saying a fond farewell to the students.

Jenny Sinnadurai and Karen Dey of the Paalam Project and New Living Ministries do amazing work in Sri Lanka and other parts of the world. It was such a privilege and pleasure to be able to help a group of their pastors and leaders, as well as some leaders from other Churches.

Sabbath

I suspect like many people, I feel busy. I spent many years having to work in an office for a set number of hours (and more!) and I certainly like the freedom I have now of not having to clock in and out. On the other hand, with the two hats I wear of being a Church pastor and a notary public, work seems very easily to fill as much time as I am prepared to allow. It’s no-one’s fault except my own, but recently I came to realise more clearly than ever that I am tired, and I hardly ever seem to have a day off.

Without wanting to be in any way legalistic about keeping the Sabbath, I do believe there is a value in building rest into the rhythms of life. But although I say I do believe in this, I find I am not actually doing it myself! Mary and I sat down recently and tried to find a way to make changes so that Sabbath could somehow squeeze its way into my crowded and possibly chaotic calendar. So, as an experiment, I am aiming to make Wednesdays my main rest day. Certainly, at least, a break from my work as a notary public. And we will aim to make as many Saturday’s as we can free from Church commitments so that we can enjoy Saturdays together.

I’m sure I have much more to learn in this area, but I have made a start…

Danny Dyer, You Are A Legend!

I was fascinated to watch Danny Dyer on the BBC’s ‘Who Do You Think You Are’. I love this fellow East End boy to bits anyway, but I couldn’t help being impressed at the way he handled revelations about both great hardship and poverty amongst some of his ancestors and then noble, indeed royal, connections to King Edward III. Comedy gold towards the end when he wondered out loud about wearing a ruff (Shakespearian style, I suppose) and telling the film crew to clear off his driveway as he dismissed these ‘paupers’ from his regal presence. Seriously, though, as he talked about the noble/royal revelations, it was clear this was changing  how he thought and felt about himself. He said this news would give him more confidence. The parallels for the Christian life are clear – what impact can it have for us when the penny finally drops that we are part of the greatest royal family ever?! Well done Danny and the BBC – http://bbc.in/2fMt4Zh bbb.co.uk ©2016 BBC.