Traffic lights
Are you a green light or a red light person? Come on - it's a straight forward question!! What I'm saying is, are you the sort of person who prays about something and then waits for God to give you the green light before you do anything, or do you pray and then get on with it, knowing that God will give you the red light and stop you in your tracks if it's not what He wants? The option of waiting until God says 'Go' is probably the easier of the two options. The other option is more risky. But I think God wants us to take risks for Him. If we sincerely seek His will, He'll stop us if we're going down the wrong path. We just need to be open to Him doing that. But if His Church was full of people who just got on with doing His will - the stuff He's put on our hearts, the stuff it says in the Bible etc etc - then the Church could be on fire!! I'm certainly guilty of putting things off and waiting until God 'shows me what to do'. But sometimes it's obvious. God wants us to love people and bring about justice and be servanthearted etc etc. We don't need a green light - we've got one already. So, if you're weighing up whether something's right or not and you really want God to be in it, then pray it through and do it. He'll stop it if it's not right and if you're open to it being stopped. In the mean time, just keep going.

The hidden...tiger?

The whole point of an optical illusion is that things aren't obvious straight away. You have to look hard before you see what it is that's really there. But it is there. Sometimes we have to do the same with God. He's there alright, but sometimes we have to look for Him. Take a look at the picture here. OK, there's clearly a tiger there. But can you find the hidden tiger? Again, like when we look for God, we can sometimes look in the wrong places because it's where we think He is. There's a lot of stuff grabbing our attention (in life and in the picture) and it makes it hard to see what we should be looking at. But it's there. We just need to look. God says that if we seek Him, we'll find Him. If we look long enough at the picture, we'll find the hidden tiger. But sometimes we need other people to help us see it. Click on the picture to see the answer but not before you've had a good look. Oh yeah, the other thing is that once you know where it is, you won't be able to look at the picture again without seeing it. Again, once we find God, we'll see Him at work in everything. It's great.

 

Get your watering can out
The grass is always greener on the other side apparently. This well known statement (and relatively well known song) is clearly a little ironic – if that’s the right choice of word! We often think that something is better elsewhere, and so we go after that – only to find that it’s not so great after all and that the grass now seems greener where we’ve just come from rather than where we are now. This can be true in our careers, relationships and also with God. Sometimes, the world and all it has to offer looks good, feels good and tastes good. I have heard many stories of Christians who have turned their back on God to follow the desires that will satisfy them in the here and now. I wonder how long it is before they start to feel unsatisfied and realise that what they had in Christ was much ‘greener’? Some relationships break down as a result of affairs – one partner thinking that the grass is again greener somewhere else. Maybe it seems that way for a while afterwards, but often, people will realise that it was pretty green where they were after all. You may be able to go back, but you've hurt a lot of people on the way. I heard someone say once that ‘The grass is always greener where you water it the most’. Brilliant and so true. The places of our lives that seem past their best and make us look at pastures elsewhere can often be put right by a little bit of TLC. Not always, and sometimes it’s right to move on. But instead of running away, maybe we should water our side of the fence a bit more and see what happens first.

A year of Hope
I guess every New Year brings hope to people – hope that things will get better or hope that things will continue to stay good. Without hope, we’re lost. We may as well give up. We have to hope.

2008 brings in an initiative called Hope08 and encourages churches to look at their own communities and identify the areas they’re not engaging with. From there, it’s really about going in to the hearts of our community - the areas that we’ve neglected for whatever reason - getting our hands dirty and serving. It's taking the message of Jesus out in word and deed. In the words of Mike Pilavachi, it’s the Great Commission in action.

But what do we as churches and as individuals have to offer? Surely there's a reason why we haven't engaged with certain parts of our community? I was struck when I read UCB’s ‘Word for today’ this morning. It was talking about when Jesus attended the wedding in Cana and turned the water in to wine. When Jesus told the servants to fill the stone jars with water (John 2: 1-11), He was in essence saying 'Give me what you've got and I'll give you back what you need!' Does He not say the same to us? This is a great starting point as we look to bring hope to our local communities - simply giving Jesus what we've got and letting Him do the miracle with us. My hope is that as - Christians individually and corporately - we will offer ourselves to God and that we will see hope turn in to reality and truth in 2008.

Give a little this Christmas
Give a little this Christmas - not just extra or bigger presents, but a little bit more grace and favour. Christmas is well reported as being a time when families fall out and argue. My guess is that it's usually over something reasonably trivial. My 3 year old daughter has a real competitive edge to her. She loves winning and hates losing (or coming second!!). This morning, she referred to Pass the parcel as a competition rather than a game! Quite funny, but at the same time, a little sad!! For us grown ups though, I think we just need to keep an eye on the little things this Christmas. They're the things that turn in to big things - or at least trigger them off. If we're playing a game, for instance, and we're quite competitive, maybe we just need to look at our attitude towards the game and what's more important - winning or having a fun time with the people we love. We have the amazing ability to make situations good or bad. It's a huge responsibility but this Christmas I'm going to keep one eye on myself and try and make a positive difference to those around me rather than be the one who causes people to have a bad Christmas. Merry Christmas.

If something's worth doing, it's worth doing.....
.....badly!!! This was what a lady said to me the other week. She said she'd been listening to a vicar speaking about the well known phrase 'If something's worth doing, it's worth doing well' and she went up to him afterwards and corrected him saying that actually, if something was worth doing, it was worth doing - even if it didn't go so well. On first hearing this, I thought she was wrong. But on reflection, I think I agree with her. Yes, of course we need to do our best, but surely if something is worth doing and we do it with the right attitude, then we've done what we can and it was worth it. This obviously isn't always true - we can sometimes do more harm than good by doing things badly, but the point is that we shouldn't not do things just because we think we're not going to be able to do it well. God uses all sorts of people in all sorts of ways. Just look at the 12 guys that Jesus chose to be His disciples. Great guys but you or I would probably have had a slightly more rigorous interview process in place to stop these sorts of guys getting through. But look what they did. Some of it was good, some of it wasn't so great, but the church is alive and kicking today because of them. If something's worth doing, do it!! God can use it.

Sign in. (Hooray - I think)!
Well, I've been back on screens now for about 5 days, and I have to say that life was much easier without them!!! Work seemed very hard over the last month or so and there were so many times I wished I could use the computer - it would have made life so much easier. But now I'm back on, my biggest problems over the last few days have been caused by computers. It has slowed me down and made me function even worse. Anyway, I need to go and catch up on all my work now. Hopefully things will improve and I won't end up doing a permanent screen fast!!!

Log off
As from the end of this week, I won't be looking at any computer or TV screens for a month. I spend a lot of time on my computer - some of it is necessary, and some of it isn't. It means that I'll have to plan ahead a month and get everything off my computer that I need in order to continue to do my job. And why am I doing this? Simply to refocus. I did the same thing last year and found that I had a lot more time on my hands for reading and studying. It was a very useful time. I think it's important to recognise the things that stop us from slowing down and taking time out for God. Some things are just a general hindrance and get in the way of our day-to-day walk with God. I'm hoping that the month ahead will be a time when I spend more time with Him. I'm also hoping to break the habit of going on the computer at every opportunity and doing more productive things instead. That could be spiritually productive or just plain productive!! I think it's really important that we examine ourselves regularly and see what the things are that stop us from growing, what things get in the way of God using us the way He wants to and what things stop us from just having Him as our focus and worshipping Him. If you're reading this, you could pray for me that it will be a fruitful month - and foundational too. Then it might be good to sit and have a time of self examination yourself.

See to it now
Our shower had been working fine until the beginning of the summer. Then, suddenly, it seemed that if we had it on the middle of the 3 settings on the dial (warm) and then the lowest number on that setting, it was scorching hot. However, if we moved it down to the coolest setting on the dial and had it on the highest number, it was freezing cold. We kind of put up with it and moaned about it each time we got out of the shower, until the other day when I turned it on and water started gushing out of the shower unit and all over everywhere. As it turns out, the problem had been that there was scale in the shower head which was clogging it up and causing the water to be either hot or cold without any other control over the temperature. Then, finally, the blockage got too much for the shower and a valve inside the unit blew which caused all this water to gush everywhere. Now then, without trying to get an analogy out of every event that happens in life, it did make me think how similar that can be in life. Stuff sometimes comes in to our lives which clogs us up and, eventually, can stop us from functioning properly. If we don't deal with it - well, it's going to get pretty messy in the end. Oh yeah, the other thing is that had we got it sorted early on, it probably wouldn't have taken very long or cost very much. But now, it will take a while to get the parts and probably cost a fair bit. Gutter. But again, if we don't get things sorted in our lives early on and keep putting them off, it's going to be much more difficult to fix and the 'cost' will be a lot higher.

Procrastination
Some years ago, I thought I'd have a stab at playing the guitar. One of the young people in my youth group tried to teach me but I didn't really get on very well with it. I decided it wasn't for me and vowed not to pick up a guitar again. However, earlier in the year, I thought that maybe I would like to have another go and, rather than someone teach me, I'd teach myself and then I could go at my own pace. So, at the beginning of the summer holidays, I borrowed someone's guitar. I didn't pick it up over the summer because I was 'too busy'. After the summer, I didn't pick it up because I didn't have a book to help me learn. When I finally got a book, I didn't pick it up because I didn't have a plectrum. Also, I don't want to be doing it at night because it might wake my children, and I'm far too busy in the day to pick it up. It's now coming towards the end of September - 3 months after taking collection of the guitar - and it still sits in its case at the foot of my bed. It's part of the furniture now!!! I have to give it back at some stage. I need to either stop putting off learning or just give it back! Watch this space - I'll let you know what happens!! But we really have no excuse if we're not prepared to put the effort in. That's a general rule for life I guess.

Sink or swim
I shared with Rendezvous last night a situation that I find quite embarrassing. I can't swim. I have been for lessons on several occasions in my adult life and have always been able to get to a certain point - but then no further. I don't really know why I can't swim. If a ship weighing thousands of tons can float, then surely I at a mere 11 stone should be able to!! But the thing is, I get stuck somehow. I don't know what it is, but I always get to this point and then can't go any further. On reflection, I feel that's how it is with our walk with God sometimes. We want to move on and be 'better' but for some reason we get stuck and can't seem to get past a certain stage. We see other people splashing around and seem to be doing OK. Some are really loving it. 'So why not me?' we can often think. Well, I think a lot of it is about attitude. What's stopping me getting past the point I can't get past? Fear probably. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to die!!! There are lifeguards and swimming instructors at the pool. So what am I fearful of? Is it fear of swallowing a mouthful of water and having that burpy, sicky thing going on? I don't know what's holding me back. I perhaps need to identify my fear and then endeavor to work through it. There will probably be other brick walls in my way after that too, but I'll take one at a time. The same goes for all of us in our walk with God. What's holding us back? What are we afraid of. Maybe it's time to start being honest with ourselves and God and set some goals. I'm sure God wants us to venture in to some deeper waters and start relying on Him a bit more. He won't let us sink. It might not be easy at times and we may even feel sick!! But He won't let us sink. And who knows, we might even come out the other side a swimmer! (Or something).

Responsibility, repentance & forgiveness
I went to bed last night feeling very sad. I had watched the News at 10 and seen Rhys Jones' Dad carrying his son's coffin. It made me think about the investment that had gone in to that child's life from his parents and the dreams and plans they had for him. The care over the years - changing his nappies, feeding him, nursing him when he was ill, teaching him was all taken away from them in an instant. The dreams they had of him were shattered by one act of mindless and selfish violence. They will never see him smile or hear him laugh again. Whoever killed Rhys obviously didn't think all this stuff through before pulling the trigger. They just did it. Maybe it was for 'fun'. Maybe it was an accident. But they were carrying a gun in the first place and they pulled the trigger. My prayer is that the person who did it will feel truly sorry - sorry enough to hold his hands up and say 'I did it. I'm sorry' and then face the consequences of his actions. I don't know if Rhys' parents will ever be able to forgive them for what they did, but I'm sure it would be a lot easier if they were truly sorry. We know that Jesus wants to forgive us for the wrong things we've done, but we need to acknowledge the things we've done wrong, take responsibility for them and be truly sorry. But we do need to take responsibility for our actions. Everything we do has consequences. Sometimes they're good, sometimes they're bad. But we need to take responsibility and if we do think things through a little more - what effect is what I'm about to do going to have - then maybe our actions will change.

Words from the Almighty
This summer started off very frustratingly for me. I was asking God for some stuff in my life which I was pretty sure was good stuff - stuff He'd like me to have. I was asking for things like more patience and that I would be more loving and more kind. What I found happening was that I was actually becoming less patient and less loving and less kind. What was going on? Why would God do this? Then, although not having seen the film, I came a cross a quote from the film 'Evan Almighty'. It was God saying to Evan 'Let me ask you something. If someone prays for patience, you think God gives them patience or does He give them the opportunity to be patient? If he prayed for courage, does God give him courage or does He give him opportunities to be courageous? If someone prayed for the family to be closer, do you think God zaps them with warm fuzzy feelings or does He give them opportunities to love each other?'. It made me realise that what God had been doing was giving me opportunities to be patient, loving and kind but I was reacting in the wrong way. I distinctly remember asking for patience and that day on a short drive home getting stuck behind tractors, caravans and generally slow drivers. Road rage kicked in. Not proper road rage but I was yelling at people in my head to get out of my way and looking for opportunities to overtake. I was presented with plenty of opportunities to be patient, but was actually being very impatient. It's a choice. An attitude. I guess we can sometimes think of such prayers as being answered in the same way that we build characters up in computer games. We're allocated so many points and we can buy things to make them better and stronger. In the games it's strength, power speed etc. For me it was patience, love and kindness. It would be a lot easier to 'buy' these things and put them on, but the reality is that we have to work at them and use the opportunities that God gives us.

A new thing!!
Well, the youthodyssey website has a new look to it and this blog is one of the new features to it. When I was thinking about what I could write in my first blog entry, the whole newness thing seemed a good place to start. A few weeks ago, I spoke at an event that I was involved with helping set up in Kettering. I was talking about 'growth'. Although I'm not a keen gardener (not by any stretch of the imagination!) I did use a couple of gardening type analogies. The youth worker there did a response where he asked the young people to go away for 10 minutes and think about their own gardens and think about one thing in particular and what God might be saying to them through it. It was amazing. There were so many little testimonies. But for me personally, I thought about our fence. Our old one was covered in ivy and had been pulled down pretty much by it. It was a bit of a wreck. We had a new one put in and it was solid. The panels were straight and there were no holes and - very importantly - it was very secure in that the posts that were holding the fence up were cemented in to the ground. I felt like that was me in a funny kinda way. My life
used to be very messy and - well, a bit of a wreck really. But the Bible tells us that when we become Christians, we are new creations (2 Corinthians 5:17). That's what I am. A new creation. But what was even more interesting was that I had started to paint the fence but hadn't actually finished it. It was a work in progress. Again, like me!! Like all of us. A new creation, yes, but not the finished article. I am a work in progress!!