I'm a Christian, But......

Before I start this post I want to put out this disclaimer. I do not claim now and have never claimed to be a shining light of Christian purity. I would willingly admit that I often get things wrong and that I have made many mistakes past, present and likely in the future too. I also know that I myself am far from sinless despite my best efforts to be what I should be as a Christian.

Ok now I have said that I feel an awful lot happier about the rant I am about to go on. The thing I want to talk about is Christians who push themselves into positions of influence and set themselves up as supposed good examples who knowingly live in unchristian ways.

I doubt it is only me who has trouble with people who seek out positions of influence and power in the Church for their own means and then go on to act in thoroughly unchristian ways. I can't help but think that a at least part of the problems we have in the Church are in some way connected to the bad examples of leaders who are not there for God. In this I mean the people who need to be in these positions of power and influence for their own gratification and own purposes. These people who then go on to continue to act in worldly ways with inappropriate behaviour, gossiping and spreading rumours. This poison then permeates its way through Churches, in fact The Church infecting people further setting poor examples to those young or weak in the faith who perhaps then see this as acceptable behaviour.

As I said in the disclaimer, I do not believe myself to be an example of what a Christian should be, far from it. To be honest I would be willing to admit I fall far short of where I should be as a Christian many times. But without then trying to make myself sound any better, I do not claim to be a perfect example, I do not pretend to be anything but a sinful man daily asking the Lord for forgiveness. I pray that Christians would see the sin in their own lives, the gossiping, rumour spreading and general sinful behaviour and acknowledge it. By acknowledging it they can not only confront it and attempt to drive it from their lives but also show others that while sin is not ok or acceptable it is going to happen. Show that by having a relationship with Jesus and asking for forgiveness we can grow as Christians and in faith.

These people know that what they are doing is wrong, unchristian and hurtful, they know they are causing pain to those they wrong and who they gossip about. Rumours based on idle speculation, conjuncture and wild fantasy that they spread cause a level of hurt that is known only to the individual and the Father. When friends turn on friends and say things that are hurtful or cause situations where the truth is either veiled or hidden purposely for their own gain. When friends manipulate circumstances to gain an advantage over friends all of these things are a source of the pain that Christ felt upon the cross.

Paul's letters to the early Church talk about situations we still see today, brothers and sisters in Christ are still acting in ways that are far from Christlike and in ways we have be warned and instructed not to act. We are all going to sin, we are all going to make mistakes but I can't help but think that these people are claiming to be followers of Christ but have not accepted the Spirit, have not accepted Christ's forgiveness and are not following the two greatest commandments.

Matthew 22:36-40
When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: "Teacher, which command in God's Law is the most important?"
Jesus said, "'Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.' This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' These two commands are pegs; everything in God's Law and the Prophets hangs from them."

Love the unlovable

1 Thessalonians 5:15 (NLT)

     See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people.

Matthew 5:38-39 (NLT)

     “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also.

Levictus 19:18 (NLT)
     “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

Mark 12:31 (NLT)
     The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’No other commandment is greater than these.

These four verses have been so close the the front of my mind today. I have said many times at work that I know that I should love the people I work with through my job, but if only they wouldn't make it so hard. Simply said I have had a tough day at work, it started with my being late and just went down hill from there.

I don't want to dwell on the facts of today and there isn't much I can say due to the nature of the work that I do but the thoughts it has raised in my mind I feel are worth talking about. It has come to my attention over the last two days that in the job I do, working with the homeless and addicts, I am often at a fair amount of personal risk. At any moment these people could fly off the handle and cause considerable harm to myself or my colleagues. Time and again I am let down by their actions and behaviour and will be many more times in the future. Yet day after day I go into work with the desire and enthusiasm to make a difference and to help. 

The thing that keeps me going, the reason I can go in day after day, especially after a couple of terrible days is that I know this is what God wants us all to do. He wants us to love the unloved, to help them and through showing them this love they will see that the Holy Spirit is in us and that God too loves them, and in a way much better than the way we love them.

But that is the problem, a lot of these people really are unlovable at times, they do and say things that cause you pain in one way or another and at times do everything they can to drive everyone away. Some people actually do not want to be loved, do not want help and certainly do not want to change, at least on the surface. Deep down I believe we all have a desire to find God and to be loved, it is something I believe is inbuilt into humans.

Even so, when Christ came to earth He loved without measure or boundaries, He helped indiscriminately and despite the fact He was let down in the most painful and terrible way He continued to love us all. I know that we are not Christ, that we will never be like Christ, but to try is surely pleasing in His eye. I pray daily for the strength to continue to work with these people who seem humanly unlovable, who try their best to push everyone away. 

As a friend reminded me the other day, not everyone who is unloved who is lost or in need of the Lord is homeless, I just have a passion for them as it is what God is calling me to do right now. But we are all surrounded by people who need us to bring the light of Jesus into their lives, there are people in all walks of life who need to see us living our Christian lives and have this light in their lives. The unloved and lost are all around us, they are crying out for something, they just don't see that it is Christ.

See that as a Christian you love your neighbour, that you try to do good to all who cross your path. We need to realise that revenge, even in out own minds is not acceptable behaviour. 

Love your neighbour.

Do good to each other.

Do not seek revenge.

Turn the other Cheek.

Follow the teachings from God and follow the examples of Christ, for these teachings and examples are perfection. If we do these things and pray for the strength to follow them daily them the life we are living will be good and pleasing to God. To live a life pleasing to God, what greater thing could you do?

You are blessed when...

It's that time again, the linked Bible study. This month Caron has decided that we should look the Beatitudes for inspiration and so this months linked post is on Matthew 5:1-12. In addition to this we have special guest blogger Tamzin joining in with the fun. Please check out the thoughts the other two have had as they are both very wise and knowledgeable. So without further ado here goes;

Just to let you guys know, this is the third post I have written on this passage. At first I thought that I may use the Monty Python blessed are the cheese makers scene but after getting about half way into it I decided that I did not like what I had written and so began again.This time I used a quote from one of my favourite writers, Terry Pratchett which was based on the line blessed are the meek, but again I decided I did not like the direction it was going in. So here goes my third and hopefully final attempt to write on the Beatitudes.

Matthew 5:1-12
     Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them.

He said:
     “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
     Blessed are those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
     Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.
     Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
     Blessed are the merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
     Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
     Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they will be called children of God.
     Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

     “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

This is a passage we have all read or heard taught before, it is one of the most well know of Bible passages so much that it has passed into popular culture in things like Monty Python's Life of Brian. But for me I find that the most important part of the passage is the last two verses. We all know about the actions we should do for Christ and the rewards and blessing we and people with these attributes receive. But we seem to forget the warning we receive about the bad things that are likely to happen to us as a result of following Christ.

In our modern world we have become comfortable and tolerant of people and their "lifestyle" choices. Because of this we tend to sit back and take a somewhat relaxed view on things that we don't want to rock the boat we don't want to be the group people dislike because of our actions.

But Christ tells us that every time we are insulted, discredited or hated for our lives in Christ then we are blessed.We should be happy and give cheer when these things happen to us, when the enemy is fighting back against us with all he has, at this point we have the hosts of angels cheering us on, the saints of the past praying for our success. We truly are in the best of company when we are under attack in this way, for the followers of God and Christ have never had it easy and have faced much adversity in the past. Blessed are those who follow Christ through adversity for they will know true happiness in Heaven.

A love like Jesus from Egyptian Christians

I have so far avoided talking about the problems in Egypt so far as I have not really had the time to fully understand what is going on. I have seen the pictures in the news and have seen some very disturbing images from various media channels. Possibly the worst I have personally seen is the video of a green van running down people in the street, I have provided a link to the video but would advise discretion as it is very disturbing. Each night while watching the news with my parents the stories from Egypt inevitably become a talking point with my parents talking about the time they spent there.

But the story I really want to talk about has its roots a little further back than the riots. During New Years Mass at a Coptic Church in Alexandria a suicide attack left 23 Coptic Christians dead and 97 others injured. The Coptic Church faces many threats from Islamist extremists and have faced adversity many times and while they are "free" to practice their religion in reality the legal system makes it as difficult as it can for Christians. In the aftermath of the attack subsequent attacks were suspected and it appeared as if the situation could easily escalate and more attacks on the Coptic community could follow.

Roll on to the recent riots from the Egyptian population in their attempts to force a regime change in their country and an amazing sight of Christian love from Egyptian Christians for their Muslim neighbours. Now don't get me wrong I have not made the mistake of labelling all Muslims as extremists and I am fully aware that Islam is a peaceful religion. But for me the image below shows Christians living out the very essence and teachings of Christ.

Egyptian Christians protecting their Muslim neighbours as they pray in Tahir Square.
Picture from The Islamist Workplace.

Luke 10:29-37 (NIV)

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

I don't think anyone could blame the Christians of Egypt if they decided to shy away and find somewhere safe for themselves. I think people could even understand the Christians of Egypt not wanting to risk their own lives for the sake of a religion and community that has in the past been openly hostile towards them and through legislation tries to make their lives as difficult as possible. I think It could also be understood that a community that has the extreme wings of the Islamists could have become an object of hate for them. But these Christians at considerable danger to themselves are living out the teachings of Christ, loving their neighbour, serving their neighbours loving those who have hated them for their love of Christ and with no real reward for themselves. To create a human shield to try and protect their Muslim neighbours takes real conviction and a love like that of Jesus.

Matthew 10:22 (NIV)
     All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

We have been told, taught and warned that because of our love for the Lord we will be the object of hate. But through the strength we are given through Christ we can stand firm and be safe in the knowledge that Christ sees our actions and will reward us for our faith. Those of us who can stand firm in the face of adversity and love our fellow man will be saved. The truth that we need to remember is that we can all stand firm if we rely on the power and strength of Christ instead of our own strength.

Philippians 4:13 (NIV)
     I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Egypt as they go through this troubled and violent time. My prayers are that this situation can be solved with the least amount of further bloodshed and violence. I also pray that whatever the outcome of the unrest in Egypt right now that the result will be a country that is free open and democratic, a country that is respectful of all people regardless of their religion. I also pray that we can all learn from the example set by these brave Christians as they live out their beliefs and the teachings of Christ that we too can do the same in whatever circumstance we find ourself in even if we have to place ourselves at risk to do so.

Joyful Joyful

This week I have had a great time practising. Despite having a rough time at work at times this week I have managed to find time almost everyday this week to play all of my instruments. The one I am enjoying most and making the most progress with at the moment is my new cornet. This week I have played some fantastic new pieces my two favourites have been the Hayden Trumpet Concerto which is a solo I am practising with my music teacher. The second of my favourites was one I played with the brass band at my Church called Joyful Joyful.

Joyful Joyful is a piece I have heard many times in the past and has been a favourite of mine for many years. It is a brass band arrangement of Ode to Joy, but it is a modern and slightly jazzed up arrangement. The reason why I enjoyed playing this piece is because it gives me the opportunity to shine as I have a solo section where the band is thinly scored and my part carries the band. I massively enjoyed playing it in the practice and look forward to getting to perform it to an audience next month.

All of this has had me thinking about the talents and gifts that God gives to each one of us and the parable of the talents. For many years when I was running away from God I also ignored and buried my talent for music. I played my guitar and was quite good at it, but I never played my cornet which is by far the instrument I have played best in the past. We are warned in this parable that if we don't use the talents God has given us we will lose them, we need to use them so that they and the good they can do will grow and increase.

I am blessed day by day, week by week as I am now playing my cornet again as my skill level is beginning to come back, that my talent which was so close to being lost is once again growing and is being used by God in my Church.

One thing that this parable misses out is that God is a forgiving God. If we come back to him and admit that we are wrong, that we have failed Him then He will reward us. If we have ignored our talents and we are on the verge of losing them by coming back to God and using them again we will be rewarded by God. Think of a fourth servant who began by burring his talents but then realised that He was wrong and then dug them up and invested them. This servant would have at first been chastised by the master for not making the most of his talents, but would at least be congratulated and rewarded for realising he was at fault and eventually using them.

Take up thy cross daily....

I love playing strategy games, especially Go and Chess. Both of these games are fairly simple to learn and play but require a huge amount of skill to play well which only comes from regular practice. Not only that but it requires a huge amount of thought and consideration when playing because just one wrong move can mean failure and defeat.

I have played both these games for a number of years and have got to the point where I am good, but to advance any further would require serious commitment and many many hours of game time and study. And that is just not practical or possible in my life, for ever I will have to content myself that this is possibly the best I will ever be at these games and that in all possibility I may get worse if I play less. But these are just two games, in all reality they do not mean much and are not that important in my life, they are something I enjoy doing when I have the time and opportunity to play.

However there are aspect of our life that like Chess and Go require us to put in effort, to spend many hours in "game time" practising and also study hard at. Some like Chess and Go are not that important and if there is no time for them they can happily be left by the wayside and possibly picked back up in the future. But there is one aspect of our life that we have chosen to engage in that also needs to be worked on daily and can not be left, not for one day, not even for one second.

Each and every day we all must strive and persevere to live a life that is Christlike, to live a life doing good and following His word;

Matthew16:24 (KJV)
     Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.


Luke 9:23 (NIV)
     Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.


Two of the Apostles tell us that in order to follow Christ we too must take up our cross and follow in the footsteps of Christ, of a God filled life and self sacrifice. We must take up the cross we have been assigned daily and follow Him. There are no days off, no times of rest, each and every day we must follow Him.

Matthew 16:25-26 (KJV)
     For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Luke 9:24-26 (NIV)

     For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

The Gospel writers were there, they heard it, they saw it lived out each day in front of them and they struggled. Jesus prayed to His Father to have the cup taken away, to give Him another way so that He need not take up the cross Himself. The weakness of Jesus is not one we should look at and say "well if Jesus struggled what hope do we have". Instead we should realise that as Jesus was wholly man as well as wholly God He showed us that though we are weak as humans we have it in us to be strong through the Father. We have seen that the Apostles struggled to always do what was right and good, yet they went out again and again doing the work they were sent to do. If they had not there is no way the Church would have become the size it has or have swept through the whole world. Yes there is much to do, yes we have been give a huge and difficult task, yes there will be no rest and we will likely be persecuted and laughed at in our quest. But read what Jesus said once more;

Matthew 16:25-26 (KJV)

     For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Luke 9:24-26 (NIV)

     For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.

Tell me the stories of Jesus

Ever since this morning when I wrote the post about blown minds (if you don't know what I mean check back to this mornings post here) I have had an old song I used to sing when I was a child running back and forward through my head. The song used to be a favourite of the children in my Church and we used to sing it beautifully, well at least we were told we did anyway. The son is one called tell me the stories of Jesus by William H. Parker and Frederick A. Challinor.

Tell me the stories of Jesus I love to hear; 

things I would ask him to tell me if he were here: 

scenes by the wayside, tales of the sea, 

stories of Jesus, tell them to me. 

First let me hear how the children stood round his knee, 

and I shall fancy his blessing resting on me; 

words full of kindness, deeds full of grace, 

all in the lovelight of Jesus' face. 

Into the city I'd follow the children's band, 

waving a branch of the palm tree high in my hand; 

one of his heralds, yes, I would sing 

loudest hosannas, "Jesus is King!"

I know I have said before and there is a good chance that I will say it many more times, I just love these simple songs for Children. The manage to encapsulate such power and wisdom into simple words so that even adults can understand it. I say even adults because when I was thinking about my post this morning I realised that the reason we fail to have our minds blown by these stories is that we have become jaded with our age, we have grown up and these "children's" stories become just that, we end up lumping them in the same group as the fairy stories we were told as children. They are wild and fantastical and as adults we know things like that don't happen. 

Jesus warned us against this sort of thinking and knew that it is only by approaching Him in the same wide eyed wonder as a child does will we be able to fathom at least a small part of what He did and what He represents.

Matthew 18:2-5

     He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

The amazing thing about children is that they are always learning, everything is new and they see the wonder in all things. They have no preconceived notions, they have no baggage which taints their world view and they have no fear of the unknown and the new. Unless we learn to accept Jesus in this fashion, unless we learn to be the children that we are in his eyes then we will never enter the kingdom of Heaven, don't believe me? re read the verses above. 

     “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 

We are and always will be like little children in His eyes, in so many ways except the ones we need to we act like little petulant children. We wine and complain, we ask for things that we don't need and often are bad for us, look to your relationship with God and I will be very surprised if it does not look like that of a parent and a young child. There is nothing wrong with this, this is the way it should be. But if we are trying to play a different role or trying to carve out a different relationship it wont work, it can't work. When you start to see your relationship with God as parent and young child then you begin to see that the ways in which we act, the things that we do all need to change to reflect the relationship. I know that I am as guilty as the next person of this and am only beginning to understand this fact myself. But I am hoping that in the future I am able to allow my mind to be blown my His awesomeness and that I remember that I am just a small child in His eyes, and His view is the only one that is important.

Called to tell the world

As Christians we believe that Jesus has called us to be His people, that He shone as a great light into the darkness of the world and has shown us the way. Jesus told us this;

John 14:6 (KJV)
     Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

But being a Christian is not just about following in the footsteps of Jesus in our conduct or actions. We must also follow in His footsteps in regards to telling the world about the Father. We must follow the instructions that Jesus gave us about spreading the word.

Matthew 28:16-20

     Meanwhile, the eleven disciples were on their way to Galilee, headed for the mountain Jesus had set for their reunion. The moment they saw him they worshipped him. Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.
     Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave his charge: "God authorized and commanded me to commission you: Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the threefold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."

Now we don't have to travel far to find those who we need to be spreading the word too. Jesus said far and near, He said train everyone. There is no one who we should not be trying to reach with the word of God, there is no one Jesus considers an undesirable. All people can be made whole through Jesus, all people are beautiful in His sight. This is something I have to be aware of day after day when working with those who have been cast out by society, each day I am reminded that these people are people, that they have hopes, dreams and desires. But most of all I am reminded that Jesus not only loves them and wants them to come back to His family, but that Jesus wants me to feel the same way too. It is not always easy to love the unlovable, but Jesus showed us it can be done, and with His help we can come to love them too, and through loving them we can help them to see the light which will show them the way. 

Love thy neighbour

A phrase I often use at work is "it would be easy to love thy neighbour if only they didn't make it so hard". This is usually in reference to one of the residents at work being a particular pain in the neck, being awkward or even violent. I find myself thinking, and unfortunately sometimes saying some unchristian things.

While it is understood among the staff that the things we sometimes say when pushed to extremes are only a way of blowing off steam. Even at the times when the things we say are funny and cause some good cheer amongst the staff is it right to say these things?

The simple answer is no.

Matthew 5:21-22
     "You're familiar with the command to the ancients, 'Do not murder.' I'm telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder.  Carelessly call a brother 'idiot!' and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell 'stupid!' at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.

No matter what the situation is, no matter how far we have been pushed or how bad the situation is we should always think about the example Jesus set for us. Even in the most extreme case, while being whipped and mocked by the Roman soldiers, Jesus never griped moaned or had a bad word to say about those tormenting Him. In fact the very opposite is true as we all know that Jesus asked God to forgive those who were crucifying Him.

So if we know who our neighbour is and we know how we should be treating them, if we know that we should not mouth off about people who are making life difficult for us we should try to put these things in to action. It's not going to be easy for us, but being a Christian isn't an easy thing to do. Each day is a new day and God is always going to be with us to help us, as long as we always keep trying. Because in wanting to be better and in attempting to be better we have already won half the battle.

Advent Challenge Day 19

This challenge is now complete, please feel free to browse all of the 

completed tasks via the Advent Challenge tab.

When I did the task picked yesterday I thought I knew exactly how it would go, I would thank God for all the blessings and gifts I have received and pray for those who would have little or nothing this year at Christmas. And to a certain extent that is how it went, at least to begin with.

After I had prayed and thanked God for everything He has blessed me with in my somewhat comfortable life and prayed for those who are not as fortunate as myself I began to pray for something I had not previously thought about. The scripture quote above from Matthew 10:19-20 is something I strongly believe in, the Holy Spirit can guide our words and provide us with the words we know we need to say but can not figure out ourselves. And so I believe that what happened next was a Spirit led prayer, which in itself I feel is a major break through in my personal growth.

The reason for this is that once I was praying I began to feel a need not to pray for those who wont be able to send gifts or feast in the way most people do at Christmas but to pray for those who do not have God in their lives. Surely this is a more pressing need in reality than the lack of material and worldly goods and possessions. There is a real need in the world for people who have nothing to be supported by those who can afford to give, but this is just as true if not more so for those who are poor in spirit.

This time of year is a great opportunity for us to tell people about our faith, it need not be in a forceful or direct way but it is a time for planting seeds. The seeds you sow this Christmas time may take many years to develop fruit, some may never develop at all but we should use every opportunity to grow God's kingdom when it comes our way. It may be that something as small as a kind act of helping a stranger in the snow, or singing a religious carol while going about your business gives you the chance to tell someone why Christmas is so important to you. As I said yesterday, be brave and courageous, be ready to act in faith when He calls. And remember that the Spirit of our Father will always supply the words that we need.

So the next task to complete is going to be task number 11. Support a Christmas appeal. Check back tomorrow to see what happens with this challenge, but until then, Merry Christmas.

Always feet first

Psalm 27:14 (NLT)
     Wait patiently for the Lord. 
     Be brave and courageous. 
     Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.

I am not one known for making plans, neither am I well known for thinking things through before I do them. Always in my life I jump in with both feet with little or no thought or planning. In the past I always relied on my ability to think around any problem or at least postpone the negative effects untill I could be bothered to deal with them or they became someone else's problem.

Recently though I have been making some big decisions about my life which some friends and family members have been questioning. Not that they doubt any of my plans, but that they know me as some one who is likely to do something very crazy at the least bit of notice.

The thing is thought that without knowing it I have actually been practicing this verse in my life to some degree. The two feet first approach is still there, when it is time then I jump with all I have, but I have been learning to wait for God's commands before I make that jump.

Learning to live in God's time and to Hi plans has been hard for someone who has always done things their own way in their own time. But as I learn to trust in God's plans more and more and trust Him to make things right when I follow them I have had so much fun. I wont say that life has been easy, but neither has it yet been that hard, but following God's plans has brought a joy to my life that I never knew before, a peace within that bubbles up from inside.

Waiting on the Lord is not easy, His time and plans do not always seem to be reasonable to us. But then that is why it takes bravery and courage to be a follower of the Lord. There will never be anything we can not do with Him at our sides but it does sometimes require a leap of faith, it requires us to be like Peter and take that chance with God.

Matthew 14:25-33
     At about four o'clock in the morning, Jesus came toward them walking on the water. They were scared out of their wits. "A ghost!" they said, crying out in terror. 
But Jesus was quick to comfort them. "Courage, it's me. Don't be afraid." 
Peter, suddenly bold, said, "Master, if it's really you, call me to come to you on the water." 
He said, "Come ahead."
Jumping out of the boat, Peter walked on the water to Jesus. But when he looked down at the waves churning beneath his feet, he lost his nerve and started to sink. He cried, "Master, save me!" 
Jesus didn't hesitate. He reached down and grabbed his hand. Then he said, "Faint-heart, what got into you?" 
The two of them climbed into the boat, and the wind died down. The disciples in the boat, having watched the whole thing, worshiped Jesus, saying, "This is it! You are God's Son for sure!" 

Like I said, it won't always be easy, and we are likely to fail if our faith falters. But we should know that no matter what, God is always there for us, He will always rescue us from the storms that life may throw our way if we but call on His name.

Be patient and wait,

Be brave and courageous,

But always be ready to act in faith when He calls.

All the best things in life require sacrifice

Being a Christian is hard. Very hard. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying to you. Jesus never said it would be easy for us, in fact there are many quotes where he tells us how hard it will be. And not just Jesus, many of His servants and martyrs throughout history have reminded and shown us just how much being a Christian can cost us. The book I am currently reading, Blood and Fire by Roy Hattersley, mentions a Bible verse that I have been trying to find for weeks. The verse is Matthew 5:10-12;


Matthew 5:10-12 (MsgB)  
    "You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom. 
    "Not only that-count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens-give a cheer, even!-for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble. 


Christians have always faced persecution, everywhere it goes, in all times. Be it ancient Rome or modern day China, Christians have never been completely without persecution in some form somewhere. There are places and times when Christianity has flourished and it has been easy to be a Christian with no worries of ever being persecuted.


William Booth, the founder of The Salvation Army, lived his life by the verses above. Whenever he came up against opposition or persecution, even out and out violent abuse he held firm to what he believed to be God's plan. To have the conviction to follow God's calling wherever it leads, whenever the call arrives is the way that we should be. To have the faith to step out of the boat when we know we have nothing but Jesus is what we should be aiming for. And it is not that we "just" have Jesus, He is more than enough, He is more than we need, more than we can handle. There is nothing that we can not do if we have Jesus on our side, there is nothing impossible with God.


If we have Jesus in our sights, if we are aiming to have eternal life though Him then we must be prepared to make the sacrifice required. If Jesus, our Lord, Saviour and King sacrificed His life for us then how can we complain when he asks us to sacrifice a portion of our wage or a period of our life? They say that everyone has a price at which they can be bought, is it the case that you have a price at which you are unwilling to pay for eternal live with Christ Jesus? 


The title of this post is "All the best things in life require sacrifice" and if it is not true for all things it is at least true for the best thing in life. For what is better than the prize of eternal life with the Father and the Son in Heaven? If you too believe that this is the best thing life has to offer then ask yourself, "Am I holding anything back from God?". This means everything from money and time right up to and including your entire life. Whatever God asks is fair, whatever God requires you to do is the right price. Not only that, but if you do follow God He will not only repay you with eternal life, but He will also help you bear the burden here on Earth. Yes being a Christian does require sacrifice, yes it is going to be very hard, but I believe it will all be worth it, do you?

Matthew stood up and followed him

Matthew 9:9
    Passing along, Jesus saw a man at his work collecting taxes. His name was Matthew. Jesus said, "Come along with me." Matthew stood up and followed him.

If Jesus told you to stop everything you were doing and follow Him would you? If Jesus was calling you to be something different than you ever dreamt of could you give up all you had? If Jesus asked that you change your life in almost every way how would you react?

The truth is Jesus is calling all of us, I have mentioned this before. He has a path and a plan marked out for all of us. But what happens if that plan is radically different to our own. Does that mean God wants you to turn your back on everything you have done so far?

This is a point I am "discussing" currently with various people. The fact that my life up to this point has been if anything heading away from God. That everything I have done in life in preparing for the future has been everything but what I believe God is calling me to go do.

Yet God wastes nothing, all the experiences and all I have learned will put me in good standing for the future. The "transferable skills" I have will be invaluable for the job I believe I am called to. God can use me as I am and use what I have to do His work. He knew before I was alive the things I would do, the path I would take, because He has plans for me to do. God's plan in my life did not include the hurt and heartache I have endured in the past, but it can utilise what I learned from it to do His work in the future.

We have to trust in God, we know he will always lead us to do what is good. That He will always be there helping us and protecting us.


Jeremiah 29:11-14
    I know what I'm doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for. 
   "When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I'll listen. 
   "When you come looking for me, you'll find me.
  "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed." 

Who do you say I am?

Matthew 16:15
    He pressed them, "And how about you? Who do you say I am?"

I recently discovered a new app on my phone and I was using it this morning before I wrote this. The app is DailyBible and it is a complete devotions application for my phone. On it I have everything from daily reading plans to the complete Bible. Over the last few days I have been reading the daily Bible verse on it before I start work as I am waiting to be let in and it has been a great way to start the day. Today when I am starting work late I have had some time and I was listening to the audio daily thought.

The daily though was presented by someone I have never heard of and to be honest was not the most inspiring thing I have ever heard. However the one verse above stuck in my mind and I began thinking about my post the other day. It is a vitally important question, who do we say Christ is?

It is not just a case of what we say to people either. On Sunday the service I attended the preacher said something quite significant. For most people the only Bible they will ever read is you. Now when you think about it this is true, and also very frightening. If we go out into the world and declare ourselves for Christ then people are going to be watching us. For most of them the only thing they may see of Christ will be us. They may know about Christianity and see it in the media. But it is possible you may be the only Christian someone sees in their daily lives. This places quite a burden on us. Are we everything we should be? Are we everything Christ wants us to be?

This is hard because we are all human, we all sin, we all fall short of our Saviour. But we are Christ's servants, His followers and we should be living according to His way. Take a look at your life, how do you live, how do you tell of Christ in your life. And in all your words and actions, who do you say Christ is?

Leagalism

Ok, I apologise in advance about this post as I am slightly wound up as I write it. I know my attitude right now is not what it should be as a Christian as I know that I am far from perfect myself. But I need to get this off my chest and hope that I can make a useful point at the same time.

So tomorrow I will not be going to my normal Church. The reason for this is that we have guest preachers at our Church tomorrow. Obviously this is not the reason for my non attendance, but who the guest speakers are is. These ministers have connections to both my Church and my family, specifically connected to a distant cousin of mine. This cousin of mine has recently had a baby and has expressed the desire to have him dedicated back to the Church. The visiting preachers are her paternal aunt and uncle and she had thought it may be nice for them to conduct this service of dedication. When they were asked if they would be able to do this they decided that due to the child being born out of wedlock they could not conduct the service due to the rules and regulations in our Church.

Now for me this seems wrong, surely this has nothing to do about the parents. Surely the child has done nothing wrong, why should he be prevented from being dedicated in to God's family.

Matthew 19:14
    But Jesus intervened: "Let the children alone, don't prevent them from coming to me. God's kingdom is made up of people like these."

Surely preventing a child from being accepted into a Church for any reason is wrong. How can any organisation claiming to be for Christ prevent a child from being brought back to Him. Fair enough the child was not born in to a marriage, but he was born to two Christians who due to circumstances have not be able to marry yet but who intend to do so when it is possible. This does not excuse them the fact that child was born out of wedlock, but how can it be right to prevent this innocent child from being dedicated to God.

The next part of the saga is one that upsets me most. Despite the fact that these ministers are the mothers aunt and uncle they did not refuse her directly. Instead they contacted her father, who then phoned her mother to ask her to inform her that they would not do the service. For me this says one thing and one thing only, they can not defend their decision. Surely if they knew the decision was the right one they would have been honest enough to refuse directly. This is a case where someone has followed a rule or regulation despite knowing it is wrong. How did we get to this point where as a Church we can do things we know to be wrong, that scripture tells us is wrong but carry on doing so because our rules say so. This mornings post by God's inspiration has already mentioned the rules Jesus told us to follow, the two He told us were the most important. I don't think this decision is in line with those rules Jesus commanded us to follow.

Further to this I attended a meeting by these ministers today, and bearing in mind the story so far I will tell you the core of the sermon preached.

Matthew 18:5
    What's more, when you receive the childlike on my account, it's the same as receiving me.

Now as I already said bearing in mind the story so far is this really a suitable verse to preach on. Have they read this verse themselves. Because surely if this is true then refusing a child is like refusing Christ, and these people are supposed to be ministers for Christ. Not only this but surely preaching on this verse is unnecessarily inflammatory. I don't know whether this is a series of bad judgement calls, lack of thought or if it has been done intentionally. But whatever it is I struggle to understand how this can happen in a Church, the supposed body of Christ.

So tomorrow I am choosing not to attend my usual Church. One of my friends did ask me would it not be better for me to go and confront them about this situation. In an idea world yes this would probably be the best course of action. I however have a notoriously bad temper at times, it is something I am aware of and working on. However knowing I am already angered by this situation I feel it is better for me to remove myself from it to prevent me saying or doing anything unchristian or to make it worse. So instead I will be going to visit my friend in a nearby city and attend Church with them. This will not only get me out of this situation but also allow me to enjoy Church tomorrow. In addition to this I always enjoy attending different Churches to see how other people worship.

Again I apologise for the tone and content of this blog especially if it has upset anyone, that was not the intention of this post. This post is mainly just a way for me to blow off some steam and express my feelings on this subject. However legalism in the Church is something I will hopefully be able to post on soon so watch this space. Check back tomorrow for the update on the Soldier's Challenge.

The Touch Of The Master's Hand

Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile.
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?
A dollar, a dollar, then, two! Only two?
Two dollars, and who'll make it three?
Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice;
Going for three . . ."
But no,
From the room, far back, a grey-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet
As a caroling angel sings.

The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low, said:
"What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?
"Two thousand! And who'll make it three?
"Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice;
And going and gone."said he.

The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand, what changed its worth?"
Swift came the reply:
"The Touch Of The Master's Hand."

And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.
A 'mess of potage,' a glass of wine;
A game - and he travels on.
He is 'going' once, and 'going' twice,
He's 'going' and almost 'gone'.
But the Master comes and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that's wrought
By the touch of the Master's Hand.

by Myra B. Welch (1877-1959)

My Gran read this poem at Church last night and I thought it was worth sharing. If I am completely honest I would have to say it is not particularly my style of poem. There are many others I think sound much better, such as Footprints I shared a little while back. However even though it is not one of my favourite poems I do think it has a message to share. I think that the point of the poem is a very important one that we should not forget. On our own we are worthless wrecks, there is nothing about us that gives us any worth. But when the master has access to us and is allowed to work in our lives then wondrous things can happen. I do think that this poem gets one thing wrong however, the change in value and fortunes God makes in our lives through the death of Jesus is not thousands of times bigger. The change in the worth of our lives is innumerable, unfathomable. When you allow God in to your life wondrous things will happen, it won't always be easy, many times you will want to turn back. Remember though that what God has to offer as a reward is yet to come and all the enemy has to offer will rot and fade away. 

Matthew 6:19-21

    "Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or-worse!-stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being. 

Lord of the Rings

Lord of the Rings in my opinion has to take the title of the best film adaptation of a book ever. With the exception of Tom Bombadil being left out there was almost nothing I was upset or disappointed by in this trilogy. There is some fantastic cinematography and images in these films, some absolutely breathtaking scenes.

One scene in particular has always jumped out at me. In fact it is not really the scene as it appears in the film, but a slight modification. This refers back to about 6 years ago before I "left" the Church and tried to make it on my own. While spending time at a Christian residential I experienced the closest thing to a vision I have ever had. One night while sat in a prayer meeting I saw as if I was part of it the scene from the beginning of The Fellowship of the Ring where the combined forces of Men and Elves are fighting Sauron's armies. It was at this point it changed from what is shown in the film. Instead of the great evil, dark form of Sauron entering the battle, I saw a figure standing gleaming white. The light coming from the white figure was so bright it was impossible to see the source other than it was human shaped. Yet even though the light was too bright to see what was at the centre it was not painful to look at. The white figure then proceeded to attack the evil enemy in huge numbers, each swing of his sword.

Now I am not one inclined to visions, and my scientific mind can provide lots of explanations for such occurrences. However the fact that this was during one of the hardest and darkest moments of my life I feel it was not a freak or chance occurrence.

Joel 2:28 and Acts 2:17
        "In the Last Days," God says,
        "I will pour out my Spirit
            on every kind of people:
        Your sons will prophesy,
            also your daughters;
        Your young men will see visions,
            your old men dream dreams.

I think on subjects like this we should be wary about visions and their meanings. God is not the only one who uses visions, God is not the only one who talks to us. We can be under attack from the enemy so easily, and he is a formidable force. The only way to fight back is using the help of God. However attacks form the enemy can be seen to be such, nothing from the enemy can lift you like help from God. The enemy does not have it in him to be good, kind or nice. We should remember that God is the greatest, He is the strongest, He was the first and will be the last.

Revelations 1:8 (KJV)
    I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

A vision as simple as showing the greatness of God, showing God fighting against the enemy is not likely to come from the enemy. He does not want us to think he can be defeated. He does not want us to realise that using God's power we can send him packing with his tail between his legs.

Matthew 8:28-29
    They landed in the country of the Gadarenes and were met by two madmen, victims of demons, coming out of the cemetery. The men had terrorized the region for so long that no one considered it safe to walk down that stretch of road anymore. Seeing Jesus, the madmen screamed out, "What business do you have giving us a hard time? You're the Son of God! You weren't supposed to show up here yet!"

Jesus had power and authority over any and all daemons. They knew who He was and they were afraid of His power, because of this they obeyed His commands. Jesus passed on this authority to His believers, He gave us the power over daemons when using His name.

Acts 16:18
    She did this for a number of days until Paul, finally fed up with her, turned and commanded the spirit that possessed her, "Out! In the name of Jesus Christ, get out of her!" And it was gone, just like that.

Mark 16:17 (KJV)

    And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

In my life I have not been blessed with many very close encounters with God. Yet the few I have been blessed enough to experience have been awe inspiring and powerful, at least to me. I may not be a person who sees visions and can hear the voice of God regularly. I struggle to see signs and directions from God most of the time. But even though this is the case I know God is there talking to me all the time, in all situations, in all things. What I need to do is learn to listen to him, I need to quieten my mind to the world in order to hear more clearly. I need to learn to see with eyes that are not clouded by the distractions of this world. I am not naive enough to think I can get to a point where all my conversations with God are as clear as talking to another person but it is a good target to aim for. If I actively work on my relationship with God, spend time alone with Him looking and listening then hopefully I can learn to better hear and see Him.

Christian friends

I have some amazing friends, I haven't always. Until I began attending my Church I had a lot of friends, but no one I could rely on. I thought I had good friends, but time and again I would be let down or left short on something. It has come as quite a shock to me that I have managed to acquire such good friends over such a short period of time. These friends have been there when I have needed them most, they have helped me get through some tough times. Even without knowing it they have done so much for me and asked for nothing in return. It has helped my spiritual growth so much to have Christian friends, it has made fixing my problems and issues much easier than if I had been doing it alone.

Jesus never intended us to be in this spiritual journey alone;

Matthew 18:20
    And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there."

Jesus could just have as easily said that "whenever anyone is worshipping my name or doing good in my name, I'll be there". But we are not supposed to be alone in this, we are supposed to be part of His Church, we are supposed to gather and work together.

Matthew 18:19
    When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action.

This does not mean that God will not answer our individual prayers, but it is a clear sign that both God and Jesus intended us to work together. As the Church we are the body of Christ, and we have all heard the story about how each part of the body must do their job and by working together as a whole the work gets done. Very often in Churches because they are made up of humans we have disagreements and arguments. This will always happen and does not make you a bad Christian. However the way we act in these situations does say a lot about our faith.

Matthew 5:9 (KJV)
    Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

From time to time there will be situations where we do not agree with the path our Church is taking, or someone's actions within out Church. Jesus is not saying we should just accept the situation and "lose". He is instructing us to do what is necessary to solve the problem but with as little friction as possible, leaving the best impression of being Christlike.

Regular gatherings are also an important part of Christian life. We should be meeting with other Christians often to pray, worship and eat.

Acts 2:42
    They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers.

By gathering together like this, as a family, we are strengthening the bonds within our fellowship. All three activities are most enjoyable and productive when done in a group. Jesus was not a hermit or a lone wandering preacher, He surrounded Himself with His disciples. He gave us a model for the Church by his dealings with the disciples. How to act, how to follow, how to learn and teach but also in how to gather. The early Church would gather in each others houses to pray worship and eat together, why should we be any different 2000 years on.

So far I have talked about gathering in groups and Jesus wanting us to be together. But there are times in life where we need to be alone or cannot be surrounded by our Church for whatever reason. We are provided for in these situations;

John 14:16 

    I will talk to the Father, and he'll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. 

The Holy Spirit was given to us so that we would never be alone, the Spirit is our constant companion as a Christian. God promised to always be there for us and to carry us when we can not bear the load. It is through the spirit that this promise is fulfilled. The spirit is a wonderful gift and ensures we are never left alone, however it can not be seen as a replacement for the Church, there should be no such thing as a lone Christian. There are however situations where Christ instructed us to be alone, to remove ourselves from the bustle of daily life;

Matthew 6:6

    "Here's what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. 

But this is not a commandment to become a hermit or lead a life of isolation. It is Jesus showing us that at times we require the stillness of being alone in order to fully immerse ourselves in the presence of God. After which we should return to our Church and our lives.

These are just my thoughts which have been triggered by conversations with friends recently. But I know from my experiences with Churches I have attended in the past that when only meeting on a Sunday or even less frequently, the health of a Church decline rapidly. We should not let divisions in our Churches become permanent, we should always be on the lookout for how to heal hurts and fix problems in a way that is best for everyone. A Church is a community which cannot exist in isolation, we must work together within our own Churches but also with The Church in general. This is not a new situation, in fact it has been with the Church from the beginning;

1 Corinthians 3:4-6

    When one of you says, "I'm on Paul's side," and another says, "I'm for Apollos," aren't you being totally infantile? 

    Who do you think Paul is, anyway? Or Apollos, for that matter? Servants, both of us-servants who waited on you as you gradually learned to entrust your lives to our mutual Master. We each carried out our servant assignment.  I planted the seed, Apollos watered the plants, but God made you grow.  

As I already said, disagreements and divisions are an inevitable outcome of having humans together. But at the end of the day we have to remember that we are not just humans, we are also Christians too and should act accordingly when our human nature causes problems.

Finally, Jesus left us with His promises and instructions, I would like to leave you with the one bellow as I feel it is a fitting end to what has become a slightly epic post. I apologise for the length but hope that you find it as helpful to read as I have in writing it.

Matthew 28:20

    Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I'll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age."

Lessons from Jez

A friend of mine recently posted a fantastic story on her blog. I would recommend that you read it here. This post shows though that Christians are in need. The world needs people who are loving, compassionate and willing to make a sacrifice in order to help. We need to go out in to the world and be courageous for Christ. It is not enough to sit in Church on a Sunday or which ever day of the week you attend and sit there feeling that you are doing what God wants. Yes God does want us to worship him, but that is just a small part of what He and Jesus command us to do. We are to go out into the world and show people the love of Christ, that he is there to love and save all people regardless of the past. We need to show people that there are no barriers to the love of Christ, that he loves us all and wants us all to love him. We can not go around saying Christ loves every one, except you, he hates you. This is not who our Lord and Saviour is. He came to Earth and died for all our sins, not all my sins or all your sins but all sins of all people. Be courageous, be loving, be Christlike. Go do what Jesus would do and serve the sick and those who need some love in their life. Because the love we have to offer which flows from Jesus is like no love they will have known, it is the best there is, the best there can be. Yes there is risk and danger in doing this but what about the risk of doing nothing, that has eternal consequences and is surely much worse. Jesus said;

Matthew 25:35-40 (Paraphrase)

        I was hungry and you fed me,

        I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,

        I was homeless and you gave me a room, 

        I was shivering and you gave me clothes,

        I was sick and you stopped to visit,

        I was in prison and you came to me.'

       'I'm telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me-you did it to me.' 

In addition to this there are the following verses;

Matthew 6:3

    When you help someone out, don't think about how it looks. 

John 3:17  

    God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. 

Hebrews 13:6

    we can boldly quote,

        God is there, ready to help;

        I'm fearless no matter what.

        Who or what can get to me?