Walking the walk, even if it is in the mud

Well I did intend to post before this but as usual life got in the way. Well I say life but what mean is I was busy at Leeds Festival.

For those who don't know I am a member of the Salvation Army and for the last two years we have run a ministry at a local music festival serving cheap alternatives to the wildly over priced food and providing for physical and spiritual welfare of the festival goers.

As I normally would attend the festival anyway this is a fantastic opportunity for me to be in my natural habitat yet still display to the world unashamedly that I am a Christian and that even though My Chemical Romance blew my mind serving Jesus will always come first for me. The chance to talk to other young people who normally would have nothing to do with Jesus, the Church or the Salvation Army is one that for me can not be missed. I also have to say hearing an appreciable fraction of Leeds Festival chanting about how amazing the Salvation Army is was a moment of pride I will never forget.

For me this is the sort of Christian behaviour we should always be aiming for, being in the world but not part of it. Showing the world we love them, yet also showing them how by being just a little different life can be so much better with Jesus. Walking the road that Jesus would want us to take, getting down and dirty with the unwashed (which with it being wet and muddy at Leeds Festival was oh so true this year). We may not have converted anyone at Leeds festival this year, but for us that was never the point, what we did do was sow thousands of seeds, plant tens of thousands of thoughts about why 65 people took on the challenge of taking care of 75,000 people living in a field for the weekend. Some of these seeds and thoughts will lead to people looking into the Salvation Army, finding out about the Church and Jesus for possibly the first time and maybe next year they will be ready for the conversation about how to have Jesus in their lives too.

Check out the coverage we got from the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-14631755

How deep the Father's love for us

How deep the Father's love for us,

How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I knoww that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Last night we sang this song at Church and the way it was used and the context of the meeting it was a really powerful moment. For me specifically the three verses highlighted have a particularly strong message. Within these three verses there are a couple of lines that speak to me in due to the life I used to have and the way I used to live. These lines are "Ashamed I hear my mocking voice, Call out among the scoffers" and "It was my sin that held Him there, Until it was accomplished".

However I know that I need not worry about my past life and sins because I know that Jesus has entered my life and is working on fixing the flaws from the inside. I know that I can see the changes myself and hope that the world can see that I am a changed man but also that they see that Christ is the cause of that change. Learning to rely on God's plan and power instead of the small intelligence and skills I have.

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Sing a Christian song in the shower

Well this task was a little bit of a weird one I thought. Not that I am against singing, or showers but I am not one who tends to couple the two activities. In addition to this as I am currently living home with my parents I tend to take advantage of the spa bath my parents have and go for that option rather than shower. But nevertheless I decided I would do the task all be it with some small differences, I would sing a Christian song but it would be in the bath instead of the shower.

The song I sang was one that I remember particularly well, mostly because it was the first Christian song I learned to play on my guitar. It is the song these are the days of Elijah, now I wouldn't say that his is my favourite song, not by a long way, but as it is the go to chord pattern I tend to strum out when I pick up a guitar and I had been practising before my bath it was already in my head. The lyrics are as follows;

These are the days of Elijah 

Declaring the Word of the Lord 

And these are the days of his servant, Moses 

Righteousness being restored 

And these are the days of great trial 

Of famine and darkness and sword 

So we are the voice in the desert crying 

Prepare ye the way of the Lord 

Behold he comes 

Riding on a cloud 

Shining like the sun 

At the trumpet's call 

Lift your voice 

It's the year of jubilee 

Out of Zion's hill salvation comes 

And these are the days of Ezekiel 

The dry bones becoming as flesh 

And these are the days of his servant, David 

Building the temple of praise 

And these are the days of the harvest 

The fields are all white in your world 

And we are the laborers that are in your vineyard 

Declaring the word of the Lord 

Behold he comes 

Riding on a cloud 

Shining like the sun 

At the trumpet's call 

Lift your voice 

It's the year of jubilee 

Out of Zion's hill salvation comes

Now I can certainly say that if anyone heard me singing that this week they would not have enjoyed it. I have spent the last couple of days fighting off a bad cold and I have a red raw throat and a terrible cough which has caused me to sound like my vocal chords have had serious abuse from a piece of sand paper. Nevertheless I actually had a lot of fun doing it, allowing myself to just go for it and enjoy the novelty of it.

So the task for the coming week was selected from the hat at random as usual and the task I will be completing this week is to write out my own mission statement. Check back next week to read it, until then have a great week and check back each day to read my thoughts and ramblings. 

Amazed by nature

My family think I am stupid at times, despite the qualifications and the higher level education they think some of the questions I ask are just plain daft. And I would be willing to admit that on the surface they appear to be, but on further though I think not. An example of one of these questions is;

"Why don't rivers run out of water?"

I know that in some places with little rain fall they do, but in the UK where I live we get a lot of rain and our rivers do not run dry, at least not often. The thing is when you think of the amount of water needed to fill the river, and then the speed the river flows at it is a phenomenal amount of water.

And it is not just questions like this, even things I understand and have quite a high level of knowledge on such as fluid dynamics AKA wind I am still amazed by. How can something as insubstantial as air, something invisible be the cause of so much destruction? How can it be so forceful and powerful? Like I say I understand the answers to this question but I am still constantly amazed and awed by nature.

There is a song that is sung by the choir at my Church and at the moment I can not remember enough about it to find the lyrics. The whole song in my memory and defiantly the lines I remember speak of God's awesomeness and the power of the nature He controls;

The mighty oceans thunder His awe inspiring name,

The breakers crash are roar with joy as they claim His victory,

I wish I knew more of the song to share with you, if anyone does know it let me know as I am sure there is a whole post in that song. 

The thing is that God is an awesome God, He is powerful and the things He does and the things He has made will always surpass our understanding, even if we think we know all we need about them. There are so many things in this world that we just take for granted, so many things that should blow our minds to the point where we would get almost nothing done. But we have made them into mundane things not to worry or think about in order that we do not get distracted. I think that at times we all need to take time out to go and be overwhelmed by God's awesomeness through nature and the universe. His whole creation is so fantastic that we can not dwell on it every day otherwise we would never be able to do His work. But from time to time go out and experience this wonderful world He has made for us and allow your mind to be awed by the beauty and scope of His work. 

The fruits of the spirit

Galatians 5:22-23
     But the fruit of the Spirit is 

                 love,

                 joy, 

                 peace, 

                 patience, 

                 kindness, 

                 goodness, 

                 faithfulness, 

                 gentleness 

                            and self-control. 

Against such things there is no law.

I have had a song running round my head for simply week, weeks and weeks and weeks. It has been bugging me so much for so long because I knew the tune and some of the words, but it has been that long since I sang them and I was that young at the time that I don't think I was singing the right words.

I finally bit the bullet the other day and decided to ask my friends who I thought may know the song and be able to tell me the words. After a few false starts of friends who knew the song but also could not remember the words one friend finally said they knew both the song and where to find the words. I was pleased to have found someone who could help me with this problem and would hopefully be able to give me the words. But she decided that she would make me suffer saying that as she had given me the first line I would be able to find it myself and learn something about the song.

Now this really annoyed me, I had spent ages searching for this song and I had known the firsat line all along. Did she not think I had searched and searched for this song, here was I so close to finally putting this annoying situation to bed and she wasn't going to help me. However before I complained I decided that I would indeed do one last search and see what came up. What I hadn't at first realised was that my friend had given me one valuable gem of information.

My friend had told me the name of the writers of the song, the infamous Salvation Army duo Gowans and Larson. With this small extra piece of information I was able to find the song and as my friend had obviously wanted me to do I had learned something about the song too. The song is from the musical Spirit which was written by Gowans and Larson and if you visit the link you can find out about the musical too.

Anyway the song goes as follows;

Now the fruit of the Spirit is patience,
And the fruit of the Spirit is peace,
The fruit of the Spirit is gentleness,
And joy that will never cease.
The gift of the Spirit is healing,
And hope for the darkest hour,
The gift of the Spirit is love,
yes, love and power, and power.

     From the musical Spirit (Gowans and Larson)

I intend to write more on the fruits of the spirit in the future, hopefully if I have the time to do the research and time to write it today it will follow this post.

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.

Are you washed?

Romans 3:23 (NIV)
     For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Ephesians 2:8 (NIV)
     For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God

I was having a hard job writing today, I could not think of anything to write and after the last two days at work I am drained and struggling for inspiration. So as I always do on the days when I have little or no inspiration, I went to the internet and ran a search. The search led me to the two verses above, at first I was going to just go with Romans 3:23 but as that verse alone seemed to be a little depressive I thought about looking for another and saw the verse just below was Ephesians 2:8.

I thought that this was a good pairing with the one verse telling us that we all are sinners and will never measure up to the glory of God. Then we have the second verse which tells us that through the grace of God and our faith in Him that God has given us the gift of being saved.

As someone who has spent his life growing up in and around the Church I know that we will never be anything but sinful. But I also know that this is not the problem that it first seems, I believe that through the saving grace of Christ we have all been washed clean of our sins. Through Jesus God has given us the greatest gift we could ever receive, eternal life with Him in Heaven. 

When I was thinking about what to write one thought I had and then discounted was about a song. But as I have been writing I have realised that it is relevant to what I have written and is something I should share with you guys. It is a song that I was introduced to by the young peoples band I have played in since I was 7 years old and continue to assist with now I am back living at home, they are still playing the same song 17 years on. The song is by Elisha A. Hoffman and is called are you washed;

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing pow’r?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you washed in the blood,
In the soul-cleansing blood of the Lamb?
Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Are you walking daily by the Savior’s side?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Do you rest each moment in the Crucified?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?

When the Bridegroom cometh will your robes be white?
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Will your soul be ready for the mansions bright,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb?

Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin,
And be washed in the blood of the Lamb;
There’s a fountain flowing for the soul unclean,
Oh, be washed in the blood of the Lamb!

Yes we will always be sinful and we will always continually to fall short of the glory of God but we have been given the gift from God of being washed by the blood of our Lord Jesus. 

Lean on me

Sometimes in our lives we all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there's always tomorrow

Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

Please swallow your pride
If I have things you need to borrow
For no one can fill those of your needs
That you don't let show

Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

If there is a load you have to bear
That you can't carry
I'm right up the road
I'll share your load
If you just call me

So just call on me brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you'd understand
We all need somebody to lean on

Lean on me when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
Till I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

Lean on me...

          (Bill Withers)

While out yesterday I heard this song playing and although I know this song well I decided to look up the lyrics and read through them. While I was doing this I also looked to find out what it was Bill Withers had to say about the song itself too. 

As far as I can gather the song has no Christian connotations or meanings and is simply a song about friendship. It is a song about friends being there for one another in times of need, it is about how friends provide comfort and support for each other in times of need. But when I got to the third verse I could not help but be struck by the wording;

If there is a load you have to bear
That you can't carry
I'm right up the road
I'll share your load
If you just call me

If there is a load you have to bear? Now where have I heard that before?

Psalm 55:22
     Pile your troubles on God's shoulders-
          he'll carry your load, he'll help you out.

I talked about how our relationship with God is that of a parent and young child yesterday, our relationship with Jesus is not the same as the one we have with God, it is different and has a different dynamic. With Jesus we have a friendship, a true selfless loving friendship;

John 15:15 (NIV)
     I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.

Jesus called us His friends, He had the power to come in and rule the world as His personal Kingdom, He had the power to take the world and do as He would with it. And He did, but not in the way that mankind would, He took the world and made us His friends, we who could and should have been His slaves, He made in to friends. 

This is an amazing thing, Jesus, the son of God, the King of Kings, Lord of all, the Word through which all that was made, was made, He wants to be our friend. I know I harped on about this the other day about mind blowing moments, but walking with Christ is full of mind blowing moments, and my mind is blown yet again by this thought. Just consider for a moment, God is our Father and Jesus is our Friend, if we recognise and accept this then we should realise that we truly are a blessed people and nothing, not even the enemy can stand in our way.

Lean on God when you're not strong,

Jesus will be your friend,

They will help you carry on,

For it wont be long,

Until you're gonna need

Jesus to lean on.

Jesus name above all names

Music is a very important part of my life, there are almost no aspects of my life which do not have some connection to music or where music does not eventually creep in. Be it my private time when I almost always have some music on in the background, driving to work, or cooking. Also I work with a number of fellow musicians and we inevitably end up spending a lot of time discussing music and instruments and I attend The Salvation Army, a Church which is closely associated to music. So pretty much my life has its own constant sound track.

Because music is so much a part of my life and because I have been exposed to a huge range of music from a very early age my tastes in music vary wildly. If you played a list of all my favourite songs on shuffle you could easily end up with a hardcore rock track followed by a worship song with a third track possibly being jazz or classical, there are also many other genres that end up being included in my favourites list.

But from time to time certain songs get stuck in my head, and normally they end up being ones either from Church or ones for which ever reason cause me to think about God or Jesus for whatever reason. There is one short chorus that quite often gets stuck in my head whenever I hear it. It is a simple beautiful melody and has fantastic words;

Jesus, name above all names,

Beautiful Saviour, glorious Lord,

Emanuel, God is with us,

Blessed redeemer, living Word.

                               (Naida Hearn)

I often wish that I was able to weave such beautiful lyrics out of the language we use daily, but God chose to give me other gifts. However I am glad that He has blessed some people with the ability to write such fantastic lyrics, the ability to take a though or a feeling and turn it in to a beautiful song with which to worship Him.

May the words of my mouth

While reading the other day I came across the words for Psalm 19 verse 14 and it reminded me of a paraphrase that I used to sing as a benediction at Church years ago. This benediction song is short and yet it says everything it needs to in a simple and beautiful way. There words are:

May the words of my mouth, 
And the meditations of my heart 
Be acceptable in your sight, 
O Lord my strength and my Redeemer 
     Amen.

I love these words and since being reminded of them don't seem to be able to shift them from my mind. I will be adding this short prayerful verse to my arsenal for those times when prayer comes with difficulty and I need help. This short prayer and ones like it, in my mind, are certainly what I would consider to be powerful weapons to have in our daily struggle against the enemy.Because when we are alone we are powerless, but through God we become powerful, through Him all things are possible, including victory.

Seek ye first

Matthew 6:33
          But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

When I was a child I used to sing a song based on this Bible verse. It was a very simple song which is almost exactly the Bible verse as it stands above.

Seek ye first the Kingdom of God,

And His righteousness,

And all these things will be added unto you,

Hallelu, Hallelujah. 

I love the old songs and choruses like this because they are so simple and say exactly what needs to be said. There is no pretension, nothing added and nothing taken away. In the modern era many of our songs and music has become very complicated and very sophisticated. There is nothing in essence wrong with that, worshipping God in any form is a great thing but it should not all be about the performance we give when singing.

There is a song that is sung in the Church I attend which talks about this very subject. It is something that many others before me have noticed and understood. There are many greater minds and more experienced Christians who have talked and preached on this subject. But it is something that we are guilty of time and time again, making worship more about ourselves than about God. Yes we should worship God with horns and trumpets, we should praise Him with drums and cymbals. But when it becomes more about the music than about God them we have an issue.

The song that we sing about this that I feel is a very well written song and a beautiful piece of music that does what it should. It makes you think about God and how you worship Him, it makes you think about how the music can become our focus. The words to the song are below, please read the lyrics and think about how they apply to worship in the modern era.

When the music fades 

All is stripped away 

And I simply come 

Longing just to bring 

Something that's of worth 

That will bless your heart 

I'll bring You more than a song 

For a song in itself 

Is not what You have required 

You search much deeper within 

Through the way things appear 

You're looking into my heart 

I'm coming back to the heart of worhip 

And it's all about You 

It's all about You, Jesus 

I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it 

When it's all about You 

It's all about You, Jesus 

King of endless worth 

No one could express 

How much you deserve 

Though I'm weak and poor 

All I have is yours 

Every single breath

I'll bring You more than a song 

For a song in itself 

Is not what You have required 

You search much deeper within 

Through the way things appear 

You're looking into my heart 

I'm coming back to the heart of worship 

And it's all about You 

It's all about You, Jesus 

I'm sorry, Lord, for the thing I've made it 

When it's all about You 

It's all about You, Jesus

                        (Matt Redman)

Bob Dylan

“Jesus tapped me on the shoulder and said, Bob, why are you resisting me? I said, I'm not resisting you! He said, You gonna follow me? I said, I've never thought about that before! He said, When you're not following me, you're resisting me.”

     (Bob Dylan)

When I was younger the Headmaster of my school was a huge Bob Dylan fan. I have sat through numerous assemblies and lessons which have been about this man and his music. It is strange how I came across this quote and therefore was inspired to write about it, I was having a movie quote based argument with a friend of mine and was trying to find a witty response and stumbled over this quote quite by accident.

This quote is so powerful because it highlights something that many people do not even think about. If you are not following Christ then you are resisting Him, if you are not for Him then you are against Him. I don't feel as though there is a lot I need to say on this subject as it is all there in the quote above. I think at times we can clutter things up with too many words when we can just leave a few concise sentences to do the job.

However I do want to leave you with some more words from Bob Dylan and the song Gotta Serve Somebody:

You may be an ambassador to England or France,
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You might be a rock 'n' roll addict prancing on the stage,
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage,
You may be a business man or some high degree thief,
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk,
You may be the head of some big TV network,
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame,
You may be living in another country under another name

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a construction worker working on a home,
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome,
You might own guns and you might even own tanks,
You might be somebody's landlord, you might even own banks

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride,
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side,
You may be workin' in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair,
You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk,
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk,
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread,
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may call me Terry, you may call me Timmy,
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy,
You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray,
You may call me anything but no matter what you say

You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody.
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

                                 (Bob Dylan)

If you want to hear this song please follow this link.

Potter's hand

Beautiful Lord, Wonderful Saviour
I know for sure, all of my days are held in your hands, crafted
into your perfect plan

You gently call me into your presence guiding me by Your Holy Spirit
Teach me dear Lord to live all of my life through Your eyes
I'm captured by Your holy calling
Set me apart, I know you're drawing me to yourself
Lead me Lord I pray

Take me, Mold me, use me, fill me
I give my life to the Potter's hand
Call me, guide me, lead me, walk beside me
I give my life to the Potter's hand

You gently call me into your presence guiding me by your Holy Spirit
Teach me dear Lord to live all of my life through your eyes
I'm captured by your Holy calling
set me apart, I know your drawing me to yourself
lead me Lord I pray

Take me, Mold me, use me, fill me
I give my life to the Potter's hand
Call me, guide me, lead me, walk beside me
I give my life to the Potter's hand
                             (Darlene Zschech)

I woke up this morning with this song running round and round my mind and have been singing it to myself all day. It has also been one of those songs that seems to keep popping up regularly time and time again. Every time I hear this song it affects me in a way that few songs ever have, it resonates deep within me and triggers a sensation that while not being unpleasant is slightly unsettling. 

I believe this is because this song is purely and simply about allowing God to take your life and do with it exactly as He pleases. It is about handing over complete control over to Him without holding anything back. Recently I have set into motion a process that will lead me to following what I believe is God's calling to me in my life and while I am very excited about it have been struggling to find support within my family. I know God is there leading and guiding me and even providing support for me when I need it, but it is still tough for me. The way God seems to talk to me is in small messages repeated regularly and consistently until I notice them and I believe this song to be one of those, a small message from God showing me I am on the right track and that He is there for me at all times an in all things. 

A new creation

2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)  

    Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

When I awoke this morning the Bible verse on my phone was the one above and as I was reading it a short song that we sing in my Church began to play in my head. It is a song that I have not sung in some time but one that actually has a strong meaning for me. This song is one that I can attest to, on ethat sums up my feelings about coming back to the Church better than I can myself.

I am a new creation
No more in condemnation
Here in the grace of God I stand
My heart is overflowing
My love just keeps on growing
Here in the grace of God I stand

And I will praise You Lord
Yes, I will praise You Lord
And I will sing of all that You have done

A joy that knows no limit
A lightness in my spirit
Here in the grace of God I stand

                  (Dave Bilbrough)

When we come to Christ and accept Him in to our lives. When we become part of Christ's Church we are cleaned of sin, washed of all the stains we carry and we become a new creation through Him. Any thing we were condemned from is stripped away and we are not made as new, but made wholly new by Him. As I am writing though another song from my childhood has been triggered and sums up the power of God in simple yet powerful words.

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing that He cannot do.
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing that He cannot do.

The mountains are His, the rivers are His, the stars are His handiwork, too.
My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing that He cannot do, for you!

Day off

I love having days off. I'm sure I am not the only one who does but I love the feeling when you wake up in the morning, realise its your day off and get to roll over again. I am so glad that I have the day off today because I really need it this week.

Today gives me a chance to recharge and relax but more importantly time to spend in prayer and really getting to grips with the Bible passages I have been looking at. With one thing and another my time seems to get eaten up in a normal day and it is nice to take this time just to stop and contemplate what is going on. The chance to think about things is invaluable right now as things are changing for me quite fast and if I don't take the time to think about them I run the risk of making decisions rashly and without praying about them.

I know I have not really said anything in this post except that I am going to have a slightly lazy day today. But sometimes it is necessary to just stop and take time with God. Sometimes we just need that time to bask in his healing presence.

I have been thinking about some words I used not long ago about taking time to relax amongst the business of life. I used it for another reason last time but it is just as valid now, it is William Dunkerley's Mid all the Traffic.

’Mid all the traffic of the ways,
Turmoils without, within,
Make in my heart a quiet place,
And come and dwell therein.

A little shrine of quietness,
All sacred to Thyself,
Where Thou shalt all my soul possess,
And I may find myself.

A little shelter from life’s stress,
Where I may lay me prone,
And bare my soul in loneliness,
And know as I am known.

A little place of mystic grace,
Of self and sin swept bare,
Where I may look upon Thy face,
And talk with Thee in prayer.
                    (William Dunkerley)

Lord, if your presence does not go with us

Lord, if Your presence does not go with us,
Please do not send us out from here.
How will anyone know we are Your people unless You go before us?
Lord, if Your favour does not rest on us,
We dare not move beyond this place.
How will anyone know we go in Your name unless Your blessing is over us?
     
     So we stand within Your presence,
     And humbly seek Your grace;
     Father almighty, Jehovah, Saviour,
     We long to meet you face to face.
     Let Your glory fall upon us,
     Convict, inspire, provide;
     Father almighty, Jehovah, Saviour,
     Your holy presence is our guide.


Lord, if Your presence does not stay with us,
Please do not send us out from here.
How will anyone hear of truth and goodness unless Your word speaks through us?
Lord, if Your presence is not love in us,
How can we minister Your grace?
How will anyone feel Your tender mercy unless Your heart is in us?


     Let Your glory fall upon me,
     Convict, inspire, provide;
     Father almighty, Jehovah, Saviour,

     Your holy presence is my guide

     Father almighty, Jehovah, Saviour,

     Your holy presence is my guide.

                                 (Yvonne Field)

This song is one that I have sung many many times both in a choir and as a congregation. The words are a powerful message that reminds us that we need to have God in our lives as we go out into this world we live in. If we do not take God with us in all things then how is it possible for people to know we are His? If we do not have God in all of our lives how can we bring Him to other people?

We need to ask the Lord daily to be in our lives, to give over to Him everything that we have and all that we are. When we do that His power will be present in us and work through us. We are not only doing this to go out and save a dying world and save suffering souls, but we are doing this for our own eternal life too. It is not that we need to earn our eternal life but it is not possible to be one of Gods children and not hurt for those who do not know Him. By being one of Gods children it should come naturally to want to spread this anazing gift to as many people as possible.

We have an amazing God, one who loves us for who we are, one who will never leave us and never let us down. Why would you want to keep this to yourself? We are all made by God and He wants to know us all, and He wants to know us now. There is no escaping God's love, no way to hide from it. But you do have to accept it into your life if you want it to begin to make a difference.

Mid all the traffic

’Mid all the traffic of the ways,
Turmoils without, within,
Make in my heart a quiet place,
And come and dwell therein.

A little shrine of quietness,
All sacred to Thyself,
Where Thou shalt all my soul possess,
And I may find myself.

A little shelter from life’s stress,
Where I may lay me prone,
And bare my soul in loneliness,
And know as I am known.

A little place of mystic grace,
Of self and sin swept bare,
Where I may look upon Thy face,
And talk with Thee in prayer.

           (William Dunkerley)

Ok, I had prepared another post for this morning but that has been moved back to this evening now. The reason is that this morning I have a horrible commute ahead of me. My mum woke me this morning with the happy news that the City centre where I work is closed down. I have no idea why and there is no information on the news except it is a major police incident. What makes matters worse is I checked out the traffic news to work out how long my commute will be and I found out that the motorway is also backed up, Joy!

So why this post? Well I was sat there feeling quite annoyed and getting myself quite wound up that my day was ruined before I began when I thought, stop and pray. I know I have issues that cause me to get wound up quite easily and that it is something I need to keep a handle on. But why should I be doing this on my own, ask God for some help.

And that is what I did, I spent a quick few minutes in quiet prayer with God and almost instantly felt calmer. In this time a tune I often play in the band I play with came to mind. The lyrics are above and they are quite moving. If you have or have had a rough journey today remember these lyrics and ask God to calm your soul too.

Moving forward

At least I'm moving forward.
At least I'm moving forward.
At least I'm moving forward.
At least I'm moving forward...

I stand before, a road that will lead,
Into the unknown. At least unknown to me.
I want to go, but I'm paralysed with fear.
Fear of a choise, where the outcome isn't clear.

Nooo, but still I gooo.

And I take, the first step of a million more.
And I'll make mistakes I've never made before.
But at least I'm moving forward, at least I'm moving forward.
At least I'm moving forward...

I wonder if, the journey will be,
Short as I hope, or much longer than it seems.
But either way, I've made up my mind.
I'm through feeling scared, I'm leaving that behind.

Sooo, Now it's time to gooo.

And I take, the first step of a million more.
And I'll make mistakes I've never made before.
But at least I'm moving forward, at least I'm moving forward.
At least I'm moving forward...

And in while I''l be singing,

Na, nana nana

And I take, the first step of a million more.
And I'll make mistakes I've never made before.
But at least I'm moving forward, at least I'm moving forward.
At least I'm moving forward, at least I'm moving forward.

And I take, the first step of a million more!
And I'll make mistakes I've never made before!
But at least I'm moving forward, at least I'm moving forward.
At least I'm moving forward, at least I'm moving forward!

Moving, forward.
Moving, forward.
Moving, forward.
Moving, forward...

Na, nana nana

          (Daniel Estrin, Chris Hesse and Douglas Robb)

Have you ever listened to a song so many times that you don't really listen to it anymore? I must have so many tracks that are like this, as someone who loves music as much as me and listens to it so much it becomes inevitable. I live my whole life to a soundtrack, I am never without musics in anything I do, it says something about me that the biggest problem I have this weekend is that the fuse on my car radio has blown and I currently have to drive in silence.

Anyway I was listening to my ipod in my car driving between work and this track came on and while sat at some traffic lights I actually listened to the lyrics of the song. I know the lyrics to almost every single one of the many thousands of tracks I have on my ipod and PC but while singing along I actually paid attention to what the lyrics actually said. I don't know if it is intentional on the part of the songwriters for it to be so easily applied to a Christian view but reading through these lyrics it could easily be about someone about to start a Christian journey.

For me this song pretty much sums up where i am in my life right now. About to step out onto a new path that will take me into the unknown, a path that I do not know how long I will travel on. And although I fear making the choice to walk this path because I do not know what it will hold for me. Although I am scared by God's help I am leaving all that behind me and at least I'm moving forward.

More from Gramma

Praise God for what He's done for me!

     Once was blind, but now I see;

     I on the brink of ruin fell;

     Glory to God, I'm out of hell!

For what the Lord has done for me,

I'll praise Him through eternity

I spurned His grace,  broke His laws,

     But Jesus undertook my cause;

     Bad as  was He cleansed me soul,

     Healed my disease and made me whole.

For what the Lord has done for me,

I'll praise Him through eternity

The Lord has pardoned all my sin,

     And now to praise Him I'll begin;

     I never praised the Lord before,

     But now 'll praise Him more and more

For what the Lord has done for me,

I'll praise Him through eternity.

                                                 (Anon.)

I was given some of my Gramma's old books today by my Mum and was looking through one in particular. There was a page marked in the book and so  decided to look at what it was. When  did my eyes fell straight to this song. Those who read my blog often will know that  believe God guides us in all things, and that there are no such things as coincidences.  believe that God is speaking to us always and it is only us who need to learn to listen in order to have a conversation with Him. Because of that  decided to share this song which  feel sums my life up quite well. I have no idea if it was this song that was marked or if even my Gramma marked the page as it appears to have belonged to my Great Grandmother from the inscription. But I do know that there was a reason for me to find this song today, now I just need to pray about it until God tells me what it is.

My musical life

Music is one of the most important things in my life. I almost live my life to a soundtrack, when I am alone I always have my music on be that through a sound system or via my ipod music is always there. If I cannot listen to music for any reason you can guarantee I have a song in my head, and if I am alone I may even sing to myself. When I am driving I always have some music playing and 9 times out of 10 I will be singing at the top of my voice enjoying myself hugely.

Recently the types of music I have been listening to in the car has changed. I have spent a huge amount of time driving recently and I find myself listening to the same recordings again and again. It is a CD my Mum bought a number of years ago and is of a Christian singing group from New Zealand. I have always loved this CD but have only recently managed to get a copy of it on my ipod. There are so many inspiring tracks on there that talk of everything from being thankful to God for His love to haunting melodies that speak of God's presence even in the rough times.

It is amazing the ways God can bless us, we can listen to the same music time and time again. Yet one day a track you have heard thousands of times can suddenly speak a clear message to you. While having a tough week at work there have been a couple of tracks which have lifted me as soon as I have heard the introduction notes. There are many things in this world that can get us down and cause us to feel terrible. But we have an amazing God and a huge amount to be thankful for. As i quoted last night;

Philippians 4:4 (KJV)
     Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.