Don't Panic!

It's been a really hard week. I can't share details really, but all I will say is that I had to make a tough but necessary call the other day. It was pretty horrific.

It's been amazing for my character though. This week I have experienced the carnage of a very hurt, tragically broken world. It's a total mess. And it reminds me of the need for a broken, betrayed down and out saviour, who conquered death and all of his friends.

And yet this evening at around 5.30pm, as the sun was setting, as light bounced around, and dancing in step with the moon, the sun lit the view from my bedroom window with a spectacular, moody half light. The trees were at war with gravity as they clutched the sky, trying to drag the stars to earth. And the sky was fighting too, fighting the darkness, trying to stay alive. It could not. It was inevitable. But light will have its day at dawn.

Only the creator God could make such a beautiful world. And only such a God could redeem it. Can I wipe away all of the stains of human misery? Can I tell the sun to shine in the day or the moon to glow at night?

It is God who does such things. It is God who justifies. It is God who rescues. And his name is Jesus. Come Lord Jesus! Come Lord Jesus! Wipe away the tears from our faces, the tears of children and adults. The tears of those who long for the world to be transformed into the fullness of the kingdom you have promised through your Son. Come Lord Jesus!

blessings from the infidels

I'm getting tired of the sound of my busy typing fingers this week. From a once a month guy when it comes to blogs, I've sprayed colours into the blogosphere a lot this week. But there are reasons; the first thing to say is that my week has been particularly beautiful. This morning a received an amazing email from a friend.

He encouraged me to "keep praying". This was encouraging. He's not even a christian! And his email was warm, the funniest I think I have ever received. It exposed those lies people tell through their keyboards all the time... I genuinely laughed out loud. Probably woke the neighbours it was that funny.

My second encounter today was with Mormons in Ashton on my way to pick up some groceries. They were decent blokes. It's a shame they didn't follow Jesus as God. They would have made good Christians: very polite, reverent, honest, loving, friendly... norwegian. (honestly, one of them was!!!)

Not the wooden people you come to expect trying to sell you something, but people on a journey, who believed they'd found God, and wanted to tell the world about him. They even laughed when my phone went off, blaring the James Bond Title music in the Newspaper room at Ashton Public Library... if there's one place you don't want it to go off, then trust me, it's the newspaper room... the looks you'll get will tarnish one generations view of another forever!

Both of these instances were with people who don't know Jesus as God yet: "infidels" was the politically incorrect term that used to be used. I would not use such language: God loves each of these people with an unshakable passion.

We need that Palestinian refugee to teach us and to show us. I need his footsteps to follow more than ever.

'But the people grumbled and said "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner"'. Luke 19:7 NRSV

It makes me laugh with a beautiful and appreciative Joy! LOL!

love thy neighbour

We are no strangers to loss or theft. Three times in the past year and a bit, myself and my housemate Mark have been victims of theft. This time it was a securely locked up bike which was stolen from outside the eden office in Fitton Hill. As we opened the door at the end of youth club Mark, who had finished late at work, stepped outside to find his bike gone, the lock securely fastened around the bars of former police holding room for an office.

We both got home, I was dismayed, gutted for mark that life could be so cruel - to be a victim of crime again in such short space of time. He naturally felt persecuted - who wouldn't in his situation. Urban estates are fast moving places though.

Faith told me to leave the back gate open tonight, and not lock and bolt it as has become my custom, allowing a safe and anonymous back garden return. Common sense prevailed, but I still believed it would be returned overnight. We sent out a text with the description, and waited and watched a dodgy show on e4 about youtube clips! It's funny how you not only lose your appetite when bad things happen, but sometimes your taste as well.

At 10:10 this evening, our neighbour knocked on the door with a couple of his mates. And that wasn't all. Leaned against our garden wall was something that looked suspiciously familiar. "You've no idea what a mission we've been on to get that bike back", he told us, reliving the recovery story.

The words of Jesus ring in my ears: "love your neighbour as you love yourself" he teaches, after saying that the greatest commandment is to Love God. It's funny how sometimes the best person to teach you is not Jesus (don't burn me at the stake for that comment), but the lad who lives next door.

I have this immense sense of victory inside of me. Not my own, but one for the Kingdom of God.