Letter Writing

Hey guys hope you are all well. I am doing pretty good myself but have recently got a bee in my bonnet about the work I do and the Church I am a part of. This has led me to begin writing a mammoth letter which I will be sending to the leaders of my Church both nationally and internationally. Unfortunately this probably means that the time I would use to write on this I am likely to use in working on this letter. I may post the letter on here once I am done but I am not sure. So if I don't post for a little while don't worry I have not disappeared again I am just working on something else. Hope to be back on here soon, until then guys.

If it wasn't for those darn pesky Christians

I need to blow off some steam about something that happened at work tonight. I work as a support worker with people who are homeless, rootless or at risk of becoming so. This entails working with addicts, alcoholics, people with mental health issues and those working the streets. It is an absolute passion of mine to help these people and although I have not been employed to do this for long I know what does and does not work with this client group.

So tonight while working on our soup run four people in bright fluorescent jackets rocked up to my soup run asking who we are and what we do. It turned out that these people were from a local church who had recently begun doing outreach for the homeless on a Wednesday night offering hot drinks to the homeless and street beggars. This in itself is not a bad thing, anything that helps people in these situations can only be a good thing my issue lies in the fact that these guys are the new kids on the block rocking up to an established service attempting to poach service users is not in the best interest of said service users. My biggest bug bear is that they were actively attempting to coax my clients to their service, but they are not offering them anything past a hot drink and maybe a listening ear. Normally this is not a bad thing, the charity I work for believes strongly in service user led relationships and building relationships with service users by giving them time and not pushing an agenda. However when this takes a service user out of a situation where they are accessing a support service where they receive support that is available every day of the week and try to supplant this with just a one night a week service which only provides a hot drink this is doing harm.

What I see happening is a Church who have had the right idea but they have not followed it through properly. They have not looked at service provision already provided and looked to fill a need that exists, they have just simply had an idea and gone and done it. This for me is a massive waste of volunteer time, resources and funding that could have been utilised to do much more good in a different way. If they had looked at service provision they would have seen the nights when there is no provision and been able to set up a useful service. As it is they are providing nothing new and potentially causing harm to people who could be receiving practical help and assistance.

This is not the first time I have seen this happen, a Church sets up a scheme or program to help "the needy" but quickly burns out because they are replicating services and not providing anything of use. Like I said I have no objection to what these people are doing, helping these guys is fantastic, however by not researching the situation they are not helping they are potentially causing harm which is in no ones best interest.

One thing that I found didn't sit well with me was the need of these four to talk about God constantly. Ok, you are from a Church we get that, you want to help those who have a need, we get that too but why are you trying to convert people before you help them? Why are you presenting yourself with the unwritten proviso that by being Christian you are going to receive more help? It shouldn't be about trying to convert these people, we shouldn't be telling them that we will help them but fist we will pray about it. In time it may be that these people want to know about God, want to know why we do what we do, but it should never be something we require them to do. Help should never be provided on a basis of conversion, help should be freely given. We should be acting in a Christlike way, we should be helping these people but to do so on a basis of them listening to us sermonising is in my eyes wrong. Preach by your actions by all means, but to force your religion on someone when they don't want it is not going to win any souls.

For me the most telling part of the night was a quote from one service user who said to the Church group;

"This guy is my support worker, he looks out for me and has my back and for that I have his back. When I need help he is always there, he knows me and my situation and knows how to help. He's not just about a cup of coffee he is there when I'm rattling for drink and drugs and never judges me. I don't come here for the coffee or soup, I come here because I know he will be here and I know I can come tell him my problems and tomorrow morning he will be there to help sort them out. And any way I have enough problems as it is without you guys giving me more"

I know some people out there will disagree with me, but I am a Christian, I have a calling and a passion to help the homeless and the social outcasts, yes I want to win souls for Christ, yes I would love them to attend a Church but I am never going to force my religion on someone as recourse for providing help and I don't believe anyone else should either. If Churches are to do this sort of work they need to think about who it is they are really helping, are they doing this to ease their conscience or are they trying to help those who need it.  If they are really there to help those who need it are they really providing the right kind of help or could the money be better used by professionals out there day after day providing the help these people need and really making a difference.

25 years and counting

So today is my birthday, not normally something I celebrate much or really bother with but I think adding an extra year on is a good time to take stock and look back on the last year. So here is a quick summary.

Work:
In this area of my life I have been quite successful, just less than a year ago I made the transition into working in social care from my previous life as a scientist. This went very well and the training post I was in taught me a lot in a short space of time. I met some fantastic people who began to equip me with the skills I need to follow my calling. Then in March I moved jobs and cities to begin working with a small charity that helps street addicts and street homeless which is something I feel very strongly about. In the 5 months I have been there I have grown in knowledge and understanding of the sector and also gained many skills that will be invaluable to me in the future.

Home:
This time last year I was living at home for the first time in 6 years and it was not ideal. However it did put me close to my family and allow me to spend time with them, especially my Godson. But with the new job came a move to a new city and while for a short time my housing situation was not good, i.e. technically homeless, I am now living with one of my best friends in a lovely apartment and beginning to9 settle in quite nicely.

Church:
Now this area of my life has been quite rocky. I made a commitment to God and my Church over a year ago but due to various reasons this has still to progress further than just talking about it. Because I moved cities and have had to move Churches the process of me applying to become a minister has taken about 20 steps back. However as of this week I am now officially a member of my new congregation and looking forward to things moving forward again. I miss the Church I grew up in but feel that moving to a new city and a new Church with everything tht is going on will in the long run be the best for my spiritual growth.

Spiritual life:
Now probably the most important aspect of my life. Sadly I have not taken care of this aspect of my life quite as well as I have of the others. With everything that has gone on of late setting aside time to be with God has not been easy and at times I am sad to admit not been a priority. This has had an adverse affect on some areas of my life and I have really struggled at times. There have been some dark days which would have been so much brighter if I had not been neglecting my spiritual life. I am now making an effort to change this, I have seen it as a problem and have begun to make it more of a priority.

Blog:
As many of you are likely to know I took quite a long unplanned hiatus in blogging. I did the thing I hate other people doing and just disappeared from the blogosphere with no warning. There are reasons for this, mostly to do with the stresses of moving city and starting a new job but with some extra unneeded stresses from people who were supposed to be there to help me. I am now back on track even if I am not posting with the same regularity and quantity of the past. I am still trying to work out what I want this to be going forward but after my break I have rediscovered my passion for sharing whatever is on my mind with you guys, hope someone is finding it interesting in some way.

So that is a rough summary of most of my life in the last year, there have been a few other things going on but that about covers most of it. I am now off to enjoy my birthday by relaxing and taking it easy, after 25 years of trying I might finally get the quiet and relaxing birthday I have always desired.

Church Billboards

I went to one of my work colleges house warming party tonight and on the car journey home I saw a really good Church Billboard.

Jesus is the bread of life

Uses self-raising power

When I saw this it took a few seconds for it to sink in, a few seconds to realise the full meaning of this phrase. We see the analogy of the bread of life used time and time again, it was refreshing to see this clever play on words to make you think about it a little bit more.

For the rest of the journey the phrase ran round in my head and I thought about how true it is. As with baking bread if we want to make our lives with God the right way, if we are to follow the recipe we need to use some kind of raising agent, and the only raising agent for true everlasting life is Jesus. 

Jesus can make our lives grow and expand and become so much more than they could be with out him much in the same way that bread dough rises with the addition of yeast. The power of the risen Saviour can do amazing things, bring about wondrous changes when applied to your life. 

What is your life like?

Is it a spiritual flat bread or do you have the rising power of Christ in your life?

Walking the line

I work with street people, people with no homes, no link to society and no faith in their fellow man. These people often have no one and have been treat so badly in the past and often the present that they can not see it ever changing in the future. My role is to build relationships with these people and help them integrate in their own time and in their own unique way not by telling them how to fix their lives but walking alongside them helping to take the load when it becomes too much for them.

One phrase we have at work is that our best work is done when we are not only on the line, but sometimes when our toes are just over the line. For me this is an amazing way to work, helping people rebuild their lives themselves, giving them the option to fail and still provide the support and friendship, becoming more than just another worker pushing another agenda.

Since beginning this job 6 months ago I have come to realise that this way of working is also the way I act as a Christian. A way that I feel may not win more souls than other methods, but has a better chance of truly saving people heart mind and soul. This is because in my interactions with people I am not preaching sermons to them or trying to force people to live as I do. I am giving people the option to make their own decisions and never leaving because they act contrary to my beliefs. But day by day in every interaction I am showing them who I am, and through me I hope they see my Lord and Saviour, I hope they feel his love flowing from me. In seeing me and feeling the love Jesus has for them it leads me to a place where I have their trust and confidence where they know who I am and what I am where they know I will not judge them or condemn them. In this safe relationship they can then ask the questions burning in their hearts and minds and because they respect and trust me as I have respected and trusted them my words can carry more weight than a street preacher or another form of outreach. I see this way of working as very similar to that of our Lord and Saviour, getting out there and on to the same level as the people who need Him more than anything else. Not presenting myself as anything special, not acting as if I am better than them, but being willing to serve them and work for their benefit. 

John 15:19
If you find the godless world is hating you, remember it got its start hating me. If you lived on the world's terms, the world would love you as one of its own. But since I picked you to live on God's terms and no longer on the world's terms, the world is going to hate you.

We need to be in the world, how else could we complete the great commission that Jesus gave us? Yet we can not be of the world because to be so would mean that we had not accepted the Fathers love and have been saved. I think though that the "best" work done by missionaries, ministers and believers through the many centuries has been done when men and women of faith have been right on the line between being in the world and of the world. It is a hard place to be a Christian, it is open and exposed to the enemy and you are open to attack. Yet if our faith is strong and we can walk the line with Jesus at our side then we can do amazing work in this dark world. If more people were willing to leave their comfort zones, to put their faith into action I feel that we would see a true revival in our time, a revival that I hear many people calling for but see few taking action towards.

A while ago I posted about loving the unlovable and with this post I want to make that point again, we as followers of Christ should be getting out there and showing Christ's love in the many dark corners out there. We need to look hard at the example that Jesus left us and think about how we are acting as His disciples on earth now. Jesus preached to those who came to listen to Him, to those who wanted to know, but he also went out there and spent time with those who didn't on a level they could relate to, helping them without asking for anything in return knowing that in their own time they would seek him out. Love the unlovable, look for the lost, but don't force your expectations or desires onto them. Show these people the love of Christ, show them that Jesus is the one who will never give up on them through your actions. When their hearts are ready they will seek him out, it may not be the fastest road to conversion but a personal relationship with God will help these people more than any amount of sermons, study or preaching ever could.

New glasses

Today I returned to the opticians to pick up my new glasses. At first when I put them on things seemed a little strange, having spent nearly two years without wearing glasses properly I now had two pairs. I put a pair on to walk back to my can and decided to keep them on during the drive home in an attempt to become used to wearing them again.

I was amazed at the difference the glasses made to my vision, especially since people in the opticians kept telling me that they are a low prescription. Everything came back into focus perfectly and things that I did not realise had been blurry were sharpened. To put it simply with the new glasses have made a real difference and I can now see so much better than before.

The parallels between my new glasses and my Bible may not at first be clear to everyone but bear with me on it. When I first returned to the Church and really became a Christian I soon learned that I needed to spend a lot of time reading my Bible. For me this had the same effect in my spiritual life as my glasses have had with my sight. As I learned what it really was to be a true follower of Christ, as I learned what it was that God required of me I began to see much clearer the issues and problems in my life and where I needed Christ to come in and work His miracles.

As time has gone on I have seen amazing and fantastic changes in my life and each time I have taken the steps God has wanted me to He has blessed me in ways I couldn't imagine. In walking the path God has set me I have and continue to see aspects of my life that do not look good when viewed through the spiritual eyes God gives us. However I have also seen ways to fix these by using His help and have learned that the best way to become a better Christian is to ask God to help. I know that we will all always need God's help as we will never be perfect, but it is nice to look back with the same spiritual eyes that find the faults and see all the great progress that has been made.

In other new guys, today I was told that I had an interview for the job I would desperately love to do. It is an opportunity that has everything that I would love to have, the type of work I want to do and in the city I want to live in with the added bonus of being surrounded by all my friends. If I could ask you all to pray that the interview next Tuesday goes well and that I may hopefully get this job. Thanking you for all your prayers so far and in advance for all those prayers I know you will continue to say.

Letters

2 Corinthians 3:4-6

     We couldn't be more sure of ourselves in this-that you, written by Christ himself for God, are our letter of recommendation. We wouldn't think of writing this kind of letter about ourselves. Only God can write such a letter. His letter authorizes us to help carry out this new plan of action. The plan wasn't written out with ink on paper, with pages and pages of legal footnotes, killing your spirit. It's written with Spirit on spirit, his life on our lives!

I got a letter this morning, it is not something that happens much any more. Almost everything people send me comes electronically so when the postman drops something through the door with my name on it it is a little bit of a surprise. The letter that came was not really anything too important and but there is still that moment of excitement that accompanies the arrival of a letter.

Letters are something that are common in the New Testament, letters were one of the few ways of communicating long distances back then. If you were wanting to send a message or let people know something without personally going yourself then you sent a letter.

In this passage Paul is talking about the letters of recommendation that travelling preachers and evangelists would carry so that people would know who they were and with who's authority they preached with.

But Paul says in this passage that true Christians do not need letters of recommendation as it should be evident if we have been sent by God as He will write it on our hearts and people will know because the Spirit will be working through us. The letter that God writes on us, if His life is on our life then we need no physical ink and paper letter as His power will be evident through our actions.

I would like to think that God can be seen in the actions I perform and in the work that I do, that I have God's words written on my soul by the Spirit. I would hope that I can show God in all of the things that I do and that I can bring in some small way a ray of His light in to corners that may be dim and dark. 

A prayer request

This post is going to be quite a short one. Today I sent off an application for an almost perfect job. It would give me the experience that I want, working with the types of people I want and is in the city I want to live in so I would be surrounded by all my friends.

Today I sent off for an application form and sat down at work and completed it and sent it straight off. My manager at work was very supportive with his comments about any references I may need for it and that although he would be sad to see me go he would be happy that I am moving on to better things. This job application has given me a boost that I have not had in quite some time. I was beginning to feel that things were beginning to stall and that I was going to struggle to find a job to tide me over until I go off and do what I intend to do.

I know I have not even been offered an interview as yet and I know that the chances of me getting the job are possibly small. But I have all of the required qualifications and have experience in the field of work that it is and it sounds like an almost perfect opportunity. I guess the real point of this post is to ask if you guys could pray for this job application for me, it would mean so much for me if I got this job and would afford me so many opportunities and the chance to live near my friends again. So if you could all pray for me I would be so thankful.

Do you love your brother?

1 John 4:20-21

     If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both.

This is a concept that I will willingly admit to struggling with, there are certain people who at times cause me to come very close to breaking this commandment. I would not say that I go so far as hating anyone but at times certain people in certain situations have caused me to think some distinctly unchristlike thoughts.

I know that in being a Christian we should aim to be Christlike, to act as He acted and to love as He loved and I know this includes loving the unlovable. I know that this is axiomatic but it is something that we should not just brush over, something we should explore and consider carefully. I know that loving the unlovable is a paradox but through Him all things impossible become possible. If we have accepted God and the Spirit has come on us and dwells within us then these things that are humanly impossible become possible.

I was asked a little while ago by my minister about my feelings regarding my ex, what feelings remained, did I hate her or was there a part of me that still loved her. The answer I gave surprised me more than I think it surprised her. The reason being the one person in the world who has done more to hurt me than anyone else, the one person who in the eyes of the world I would have a justified cause to hate I don't. No matter how I think about it, no matter how much the memories hurt I can not bring myself to hate the person I once loved so much. I would also say that there is likely to always be a part of me that remembers and longs for the good times between us, she will always be a part of my heart even if it is a very small part.

On the flip side of this there is a particular client I have cause to deal with at work who would certainly be the cause of many a tarnished halo. He is a particularly difficult person to work with, he is one of those people who goes out of his way to provoke a response from people, someone so in need of attention he will do anything to get it even if it is negative attention. He works out exactly which buttons to press and works out which subjects are most likely to get a rise out of each individual. All of the staff at work to our shame have at times avoided this person and passed him off to a colleague and is the subject of much venting in the staff rooms. I felt particularly shamed the other day when one of my colleagues passed comment that as I intend to give my life to full time ministry and this person was getting to me it was particularly bad. Now all of my colleagues and most of the residents I work with know I am a Christian and most also know I intend to give my life to God's work and I felt I had let God down by my actions in this subject.

How can I someone who is a practising Christian and who is determined to do everything I need to to grown in the faith, someone who has grown to the point of being able to forgive the one person in the world who truly hurt me not feel the fraternal love towards this one person. I know that we are not Christ and that we will never be close to being Him, but we have to try. I know that I should be asking the Lord for help in this matter and hopefully God can use me as the person who can make a difference in this person's life. I pray that God will grant me the patience and the grace to work with this resident and that He will keep my feathers unruffled. If I am to boast that "I love God" then I must also be able to boast "I love all my brothers" too, I know this won't happen over night and will be something I am likely to need to work on for my whole life, but I do love God and so through Him I must learn to love my brother too.

The fruits of the spirit - II

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.

This mornings post was on the fruits of the Spirit, since then I have had some time to think about these fruits and what they mean. It has almost become a topic that has become an obsession with the song that has been in my head through to God giving me direction to write this second post today. It has been one of those days where God has decided to be unsubtle, there have been many and frequent signs of fruit today and many situations where the fruits have been needed but also been shown through others. This has come in the form of the six crates of bananas and 12 cases of cherries at work meaning everyone I have seen at work has been carrying fruit, to the man at the museum today showing patience and kindness towards the residents I took along for a day out.

I am not sure where I read it, but recently I read a blog post about the fruits. In this post the writer talked about how people who have the Spirit within them will naturally begin to produce and display fruits. When I read this and while writing my two posts on the fruit of the Spirit I have gone through the list and thought about which of the fruits I posses.

The first one on the list is one that I struggle with at the moment, I know that there are people that I do love, I love all my family and friends, I love my Godson more than anyone or any thing. But there are things I struggle with in love, I struggle with romantic love since my last big relationship and I still struggle to have love for all fellow man at times. However I am getting better at this and since I took on my job with the homeless I have found that I am finding myself with more understanding for my fellow man.

Joy is something that I have never struggled with, even in my darkest days and toughest times I have never struggled with being joyful. I have always been able to see the good in my life and enjoy my life.

Peace and patience for me come as a pair. In my family I am often the one who needs patience and by having it manage to keep the peace. Patience is something that I have developed in my life and I know that when very stressed it sometimes goes out the window but it is something I have developed over the years. Keeping the peace is also something I have had to work on in both my family and work life and something I have found is an ability that is growing in time.

Another pair for me is kindness and goodness. Being kind and good is something that all Christians really should be, it is something the world expects us to be. Being kind and good is something that everyone who has heard of Him knows Christ was. I have tried always to be kind and good but have at times struggled to be at all times. There are situations in life that have and do drive me mad and cause me to be anything but good and kind, but again I do try.

Faithfulness is something I definitely do not struggle with, I believe myself to be a very faithful person who is willing to do anything I can for the people I love. With the exception of the time I ran away from God and the Church I can not think of a single time when I could have been classed as unfaithful.

Gentleness is another trait that I feel that I do posses. I love animals and have had many many pets in my life, many of which were small animals and require very gentle handling. Also I do have a very gentle side to my personality, however it is often hidden from general view and people often do not see it until I allow them to become quite close. So I guess this is a trait I have but need to so some real work on.

The last trait in the list is self control. Now until a year ago I would say that I really struggled with this last trait. I have in the past had many problems with doing things on impulse and an inability to say no to things that I really want, and at times just things that it was possible to have. This has led to many negative impacts on my life, however since I became a Christian, since I truly became a Christian this is something I have found easier to keep on top of, I guess in a simple way, I have developed self-control.

Without trying to sound big headed I feel that I certainly display at least some of the fruits of the Spirit. I feel that it is something that as I am growing in the faith the fruits that I am displaying are also growing, which for me is a fantastic sign that I am truly growing in the spirit. I think it is a good thing that we all sit down and consider how we are doing in the faith, if we are growing fruits for the Lord. I would encourage you all to look at the list and consider are you growing fruits, if not, is there something you can do, if you are can you possibly grow more?

Eye test

Today I went for an eye test. Its been a long time since I was last at the optician and I knew I was going to need new glasses and was not looking forward to the expense this was going to cause me.

Now before I went I had planned to write a post based on eyes and seeing and how we often stumble around blind. But then after my eye test I got talking with the optician who was a lovely young lady from Glasgow. During the conversation we got on to talking about what it was that I do for a living and she was very interested in both my job and my motivation for doing it. This conversation was one of those fantastic opportunities to profess my faith and talk about the work I do.

It has frequently amazed me recently how many people there are out there who when I talk with them and begin to talk about my work and faith they become very interested and supportive of it. This is a much different experience to when in the past I was deeply involved with the science community. When I was studying and working in Physics I often came across hostility towards my faith and the basis of these beliefs.

Back then I used to put this down to the fact that in general scientists are anti religion and anti Christianity. However the more experiences I have talking about my faith recently I am beginning to change my mind about this theory. The reason for this I believe is that in the past I had a very shallow faith that was based on not much at all. This is probably why I found it so easy to shrug off when it didn't suit me. Whereas now my faith is based on a real relationship with God and from that comes a real passion to talk about it and a desire to do His work.

When people see that you are not only professing a faith but also acting on it too then it places you in a whole different position. If you are talking about a subject hypocritically, all talk and no walk, then they are not going to take you seriously. I know that there is much that I still need to learn, there is far I need to walk as with any other Christian, but I am buoyed by the positive experiences I have had and continue to have. I am also pleased that these opportunities to profess my faith are available and that I am becoming much more confident in professing it too.

Smashing stereotypes

Yesterday afternoon I had one of the best times I have had yet in the short time I have been working at my current job. I was recently asked if I would be willing to present a short meeting to the older ladies of my Church in their weekly home league meeting and if I would talk about working with the homeless. Now I am aware that I have only worked with the homeless for a short period of time and my knowledge and experience is slightly lacking, however I had a great idea and accepted.

So yesterday afternoon I went along to the meeting and gave them a meeting unlike anything they are used to or were expecting. It took a little arranging with my managers and colleagues but I managed to arrange to take some of the residents of the homeless shelter I work in along to the meeting with me and allowed them to speak of their experiences and thoughts on homelessness and living in a homeless shelter.

The meeting was more of a question and answer session which seemed to work quite well and seeing the reactions of the audience to some of the replies and stories was interesting. At the beginning of the meeting the audience were expecting what most people without experience with the homeless would assume. These guys must be homeless for a reason, they are possibly lazy or a victim of their own devices, uneducated and uncivilized. However after a short amount of time listening to the stories and history of the residents you could see the audience beginning to realise that these are normal everyday people you could easily pass in the street. They began to realise that for a few situations and circumstances being slightly different these guys could be living a "normal" life and it could be us in their position.

I know that since I first began working with the homeless I have had many up and down times, I have had great days where it seems you could possibly fix all the problems and then others where it seems there is no way to make any progress. In these experiences I have learned to value these people and the skills they can bring, I have learned that there can indeed be many diamonds in the rough. I am not saying that there are not problems, that there are not people not wanting of help or not extremely difficult to help. But I have come to realise that acceptance of who these people are, of the way they are is the beginning. I have realised that in seeing the good in each of them you can begin to bring it out and how them a life very different to what they currently live.

We are all victims of stereotyping and we are all guilty of propagating stereotypes through both the way we act and how we think of others. Sometimes we need to sit and think, or listen to the world around us and realise that behind every stereotype is a person, behind every mask is a soul in hiding.

Jesus was always smashing through stereotypes with both His actions and the interactions He had with others. He was not one to ignore someone because they had been painted in a certain light by society, He was not one to judge someone for a situation or circumstance they were currently in. Instead He look inside to the good each of them had inside and found a way to let it out. This is something I have learned in association with the homeless and need to apply in all walks of my life, as Christians it is something we should all be doing with everyone we meet.

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.

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.

Sharing faith

How are you at sharing your faith? Do you find it easy or hard? In the past I really struggled to share my faith with people. I became so good at hiding it that even I lost sight of it and eventually I lost it all together. However since finding it again I have begun to be a lot more open about it. I think there are two reasons for this, the first is that I am now sure in my faith, I know what I believe and I know it to be true. The second reason is that because I have spent time learning about my faith I am confident in it, if anyone challenges me I know I can respond with an intelligent and constructive answer.

Sharing faith is an amazing thing, not only do you give someone the opportunity to come to know God but you experience such a buzz from doing it. In sharing your faith you are giving a gift that can not be measured, sometimes it costs you very little and other times it can cost you a huge amount. But neither cost should put you off from professing and sharing faith in our saviour Jesus Christ.

Today I was presented with a fantastic opportunity to share my faith with an individual who is usually very challenging and often tries to wind people up. However today he approached me and confronted me about my plans for the future, my calling and why I believe it to be true. Unusually for this individual he sat and listened to everything I had to say, and the few questions he had were inquiring and constructive to progressing the conversation in a positive direction.

These days I really enjoy talking about my faith and exploring truths with fellow believers and having constructive conversations and friendly debates with doubters, unbelievers and those of other faiths. I know that in the past I have avoided these conversations and shirked my responsibility as a Christian. I know that in the past I turned my back on the Saviour who died for me. From these past and present experiences I would encourage anyone who has a faith in God to go out and tell the world. Do it in a way that suits the person and the situation, or better yet allow them to come to you after they have seen you living your Christian life. God can work with even the smallest seeds that we sow out there in the world, and the benefits and blessings you will receive will be huge.

Back to work blues

I know that I have essentially just had two weeks holiday and that in the present climate I should be happy to have a job and be earning money. But this morning I just can not motivate myself to get up and go to work. My bed feels too comfortable and warm, outside is too cold and dreary and today is my longest and most unsociable shift of the week.

I know that once I get to work I will enjoy it and that I will have a laugh with my colleges and the residents who I have not seen for a number of days. I also know that after having some time off I will have the interesting task of meeting and working with the new residents who have moved in while I have been off, which is always interesting. But like I say, this morning I am comfortable in my bed and have no drive to get up and go to work.

The truth is that we all have days like this, where we have no motivation and no drive, we feel lazy and only want to think of ourselves. But it is at these times we need to remember what it is we are living for, what it is we are working for. When you go to work yes you are working for your boos and to earn money, but you are also out there in the world working for God.

Colossians 3:23-24
    Work from the heart for your real Master, for God, confident that you'll get paid in full when you come into your inheritance. Keep in mind always that the ultimate Master you're serving is Christ.

In everything we do we need to remember that God is our true master and that everything we do should be done through and for Him. In going to work we are going out into the world on to the front line, we are going into the places where God wants us to take His word. By our actions and behaviour our colleges and clients should see that we are different.

Keeping in mind that we are ultimately serving Christ should be a powerful motivator, it should bring us strength and hope when we struggle or find work difficult. It should also remind you that when you lose your motivation and drive that if you pray you will be helped. Not only that but that through the Holy Spirit, God can be there working through you if only you allow Him in.

Who are you working for right now? Are you living your Christian life out at work? I know these two questions are challenging for me and are something I need to work on setting right, but putting God at the centre of my life requires me to put Him at the centre of everything.

Advent Challenge Day 22

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

completed tasks via the Advent Challenge tab.

When the task to help someone came up I was unsure as how to go about completing this task, so I decided just to wait until the opportunity arose. I trusted that God would give me an opportunity to complete the task in a way that I wouldn't be able to do myself.

Turns out my Dad needed some help with something he had planned for work. As it is coming up to Christmas he is having a small party in his office this lunch time and he needs food cooked for them to eat at the party. Since I love cooking and am told I am quite good at it my Dad asked me if I would mind cooking some things along with my Mum for the party.

And so I managed to turn out a few dishes before I had to go to work. My Dad requested that I make wings and glazed sausages to go with the savoury dishes my Mum was making and some sweet lemon tarts for a tasty desert.

This is not the way I thought I would be completing the task when it was selected but since I had no idea what I would be doing I guess it is not a bad thing. It also helps with the slightly strained relationship with my Dad at the moment, hopefully repeated acts like this will lead to him being more accepting towards the plans for the future, but we will see.

I am now drawing close to the end of this series of challenges with only 3 days to go and then it is Christmas. These next 3 days are going to be very busy and fitting these last tasks in is going to become increasingly difficult, but after getting this far into it I will endeavour to complete all of them satisfactorily. But to find out you will have to check back each day until the end of the tasks. In addition to this I am going to make the first mention of a new much shorter series of tasks I have been challenged to do over the holiday period. I will go in to much more detail in another post nearer the time but basically between the 26th and the 31st all my posts will be single words. You have my friend Caron to thank for this, please check out her blog its really quite interesting. I am not quite sure how this will work or how I will complete this but it may be interesting to check out and see ow it does work out.

But anyway back to the task in hand, the next task in the Advent Challenge will be task number 24. Pray for what you are thankful for this Christmas. Check back for tomorrows post to see how this challenge goes, until then, Merry Christmas.

Advent Challenge Day 20

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

completed tasks via the Advent Challenge tab.

Support a Christmas appeal. There is one appeal that I support every year without fail, The Salvation Army Christmas Appeal.As someone who was raised in The Salvation Army it is something that I have always felt strongly about, and even when I was not a part of the Church I still actively supported the Christmas Appeal.

Both through personal donations and playing with the band every winter I do my part in supporting the local Salvation Army in raising money towards the charity work this organisation does. I always fills me with a sense of pride and privilege when ever I see people collecting for the same appeal or when I see the TV ad campaigns.

Also with working in the area where this sort of fund raising goes I have come to a much greater appreciation of what these efforts are for, who is helped by this money and the reactions that it creates. Seeing first hand the sorts of changes it can make has given me an even greater appreciation of what these efforts actually mean in real terms.

I know some people may call cheat on this task as they may claim it is something I would have done and supported anyway with or without the task. However to complete this task was somewhat of a challenge for me. Being slightly incapacitated this week with an agonising neck and shoulder injury causing me to take the week off work sick to complete this task caused me a fair bit of suffering. Standing playing carols in the freezing weather with snow on the ground with constant pain from my shoulder was not easy, and I could have easily skipped it or gone home early. But I did not, and I played with good cheer for the two hours we were out, after all some things are just worth the effort.

The task which is next in the Advent challenge is task number 10. Pray for those who find Christmas difficult. Check back tomorrow to see how this task goes, until then, Merry Christmas.

Advent Challenge Day 9

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

completed tasks via the Advent Challenge tab.

Yesterday I had to watch a Christmas film for the task, and the film I chose to watch was Elf. For those who have not seen this film It is a comedy about a human baby who stows away in Santa's sack and is raised by elves in the North Pole. When Buddy grows up and discovers he is a human he sets off on a quest to New York to meet his real dad.

This film is very funny and the reason I chose to watch it is that I had never seen the film in full. I had once watched part of it on a lunch break a few years ago but had never seen the beginning or the end. I had no other reasoning to watch it and struggled to think on how I could link it to the Advent Challenge except for the fact it was a secular Christmas film.

However near the end of the film Santa's sleigh crashes in New York and Buddy has to fix the engine that makes the sleigh fly in the absence of belief. As Buddy is trying to fix the engine his younger brother Michael tries to bolster belief in Santa by reading out the nice list and what people want for Christmas on the news. When this does not raise enough belief the girl Buddy has fallen for, Jovie (a Gimbles elf) begins to sing as she remembers Buddy saying "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is to sing out loud for all to hear". When they do this and everyone near Central Park and others around New York begin singing there is enough belief and therefore power for the sleigh to fly and Santa to complete his work for the night.

Now this idea at the end of belief was something that I thought would link in very well with what I wanted to say about Christmas today. There are many people out there who celebrate Christmas but who do not believe in Jesus or God. They love the celebrations, the excuses to go out and part, the huge commercialism of the season and most of all people love Christmas gifts. But a lot of people do not celebrate the little child who was born over two thousand years ago who was foretold in the Old Testament, heralded by angles, worshipped by shepherds and wise men and who eventually grew up and gave His life so that we all might have eternal life.

There is a sound bite that has been used in Christian circles for a number of years that says, "Jesus is the reason for the season". It is a short phrase that reminds us why we even have Christmas. Sure there are other cultures and religions that celebrate a festival at mid-winter but who cares, that has no bearing on the Christmas season, it would be just as important at any other time of year. We need to remind people about Jesus and why His birth is the amazing thing that it is. Because of that I have decided that the task for today should be task number 6. Tells someone about the true meaning of Christmas. I think that it is a quite natural follow on from this task given what I feel I gained from completing the watch a Christmas film task. Check back tomorrow to see how I do in telling someone about the true meaning of Christmas. Untill then guys, have a great day, and Merry Christmas.