2 weeks of failure

Ok so today is supposed to be the Soldiers Challenge post which I have failed on for the last two weeks. The last time I posted on the Soldiers Challenge I posted the minimum that I needed to and have not attempted anything yet. So this week I wan getting back on the wagon and starting on to tasks again, the task I have pulled out of the hat is to buy a Christian t-shirt this week. So check back next week and find out how it went and my thoughts on being back on the Challenge wagon again.

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. 

Read the Salvationist

This week the challenge in the Soldier's Challenge was a fairly easy one and one that is not particularly easy to write that much about. The task was to read The Salvation Army's weekly publication for members of the Church called the Salvationist.

Most of this weeks issue is taken up with bits and pieces about the High Council, the election of the next General of The Salvation Army. Most of this is probably not of much interest to anyone outside The Salvation Army, and to be honest I struggled to stay interested in some of the articles myself. I don't normally read the Salvationist, normally relying on my friends and family to let me know if there is an interesting article and finding most of the news about The Salvation Army on the grapevine at work (a Salvation Army Hostel) or at Church through the officers (the ministers).

Well that is pretty much all that I can say for this task. So the task which I am going to complete this week is to sing a Christian song in the shower. So that is all for now, hope you all have a God filled week and check back next week to find out how the task goes this week.

Donate your unused clothes to charity

This week in the Soldier's Challenge the task was to donate my unused clothes to charity. I have wanted to get rid of a lot of clothes that I have little or no use for any more for quite some time. With everything that has happened in the past I have moved a number of times and not been in the right frame of mind to sort through the boxed memories of the past. So to be honest this task has been needed for quite some time, and it has taken this push to get on and actually do it.

So at the beginning of the week I began sorting through the boxes and bags of clothes and everything else from when I first moved out on my own nearly 2 years ago. I decided that as I was sorting out the clothes I may as well sort through everything else and donate everything I no longer want or use. I managed to go through and sort out many boxes and bags and now have four large bags of clothes and 3 boxes of household things to be donated.

There is one small failure to this task however, although I have gone through and sorted out all the things I am going to donate I have yet to actually take the things to the charity shop. The main reason for this is that I have been away this week and have not had a chance to get to the shop since I have got back. I will be however going along this week as my spell of cleaning and sorting has encouraged my parents to do the same and I will be taking along a number of things that they will be sending along to the shop too. So although there is a small amount of failure, in this failure has come the benefit of the shop getting the things from my parents too.

So this week, as well as taking these bags and boxes to the charity shop I have another task to complete. The task this week is to read the Salvationist, the weekly publication produced by The Salvation Army for the members of its Church. This should be a nice easy one to do this week and as usual I will be letting you know how it goes next week so please check back then, until then, have a great God filled week.

Read the book of Mark

This week the Soldier's Challenge was to read the book of Mark. In reading this book I was struck by how much of the book I actually knew and how well I actually knew it. To be honest I should have begun reading it earlier in the week, but being a little lazy this week I left it until last night to read it and only finished it this morning.

While reading through it I came across a verse that I have liked for a long time, a verse that makes me feel thankful that we have a saviour like Jesus. A saviour who comes to help0 those who are not perfect, one who comes to heal us from our unhealthy ways.

Mark 2:17

     On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

This challenge was not hard, it took only time and a little effort to complete. It did however make me think about what I know and what I have still to learn. The fact is that I know a lot of the bible at face value, I know a lot of the stories in there. But actually learning the meaning behind these stories, parables and teachings that I have to work on. I know that this sort of knowledge does not come quickly or easily but from living daily in His presence always keeping your heart and mind open and willing.

The next challenge that has been selected to complete this week is to donate my unused clothes to charity. This task has come at the right time as I have just begun to sort through all my things in order to get rid of everything I no longer want or need. Check back next week to see how this challenge goes and who I donate the clothes too.

Pray when you hear a siren

As predicted I have heard a huge amount of sirens this week, from the 5 ambulances I have had to call myself for work to the countless many I have heard through each work day and on my commute to and from work. Until this week I knew that I heard a lot of sirens in a week but had not realised quite how many sirens I come across day to day.

However this challenge has gone very well I think, it has become so much a second nature to pray when I hear a siren that this morning at Church I found myself praying 5 times before I realised the siren I was hearing was from one of the children's toys.

Over the first day or two of the challenge I developed a quick one line prayer that I can easily fire off as soon as I hear a siren. This has enabled me to be able to pray for each individual siren even when a number of emergency vehicles fly past me at high speed.

The prayer that I have been using and with all likelihood will continue to use on hearing sirens in the future goes as follows;

     Lord, I pray for those who are at work in the services, and for those who are in need of their services,
                                                             Amen.


I have to say this has actually been one of the most enjoyable tasks so far and has been of real benefit to me and my faith. I also hope that through my prayers some people may have experienced some benefit from them.

So what task has come forth from that hat this week for me to do? The task selected is to read the book of Mark. This task will be one I can have a little fun with as I have just invested in an e-reader and so if I can find a download I will be able to carry the book with me and read it in my free time at work. But to find out how it goes and my thoughts on the book check back next week. Also feel free to check out the challenges already completed by visiting the Soldiers Challenge tab above.

Put a memory verse on your fridge

The challenge that I have been doing this week was to find a memory verse and to write it out and put it on my fridge in order that my family and I would see it everyday. As a family that is actively Christian there is no one in the house who would object to me doing this task, and in doing so I have the opportunity to select a verse that says something fitting to the situation I am in at the moment.

As I am still trying to get my dad to accept the plans that I believe are in store for me and so I decided to select a well known verse from Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
      For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

I have not had any comments so far on it, but I am sure everyone has had a chance to see it and hope that they will take the time to read it and consider its meaning and significance.

The challenge I am going to be attempting this week is to pray every time I hear a siren. As I work right in the centre of a busy city I know that I will hear a large number of sirens this week and so I will be praying often with this challenge. Check back next week to see how it goes but until then, have a great week and God bless.

Good morning 2011

Well, its a new year. I have to say that last year could have gone a little better and I am hoping for a much better one this year. Looking out over a fresh new year I have to say that this year does have the potential to be one of the best in my life. It is going to be very busy and it is going to be a lot of hard work but I am confident that the benefits will be huge.

So what does 2011 have in store for me? Well for one thing I plan to continue this blog and have some interesting plans for things to do, watch this space for what I hope to be some very interesting posts this year. I am also planning to start studying towards my first theological qualification this year and am hoping to be accepted on to a training scheme in Canada in September, again keep a look out and I will post updates. There is a new Bible study class in my Church I will be helping to run and the quest for a new job to start in March too. So far a busy year planned and hopefully it will be a lot of fun and a very exciting journey.

In addition to this I have my ongoing Soldier's Challenge, an upcoming Lent fast and likely a few more ideas like that to boot. I will also be embarking on my first structured personal Bible study and will likely be using thoughts and ideas from that on here from time to time. There are some ideas I left hanging last year that will be picked up and some interesting thoughts that I will be following too. There is all this and much more planned too.

So that leaves me with one final thing to talk about in this post, New Years Resolutions. I wonder how many people make these and actually stick to them for the whole year. Well last night, actually just a little before mid night I was reading a blog written by a blogger called Suz at Saved to Serve. It is worth checking this blog out, it is one of the many great blogs out there that I follow. In this post however she is challenging herself to stick to these resolutions of William Booth's this year instead of making up her own. I have been inspired by this post to forget my ideas for New Years resolutions and also attempt to stick to these 6 resolutions for an entire year;

I do promise - my God helping -

1. That I will rise every morning sufficiently early to wash, dress, and have a few minutes, not less than 5, in private prayer.

2. That I will, as much as possible, avoid all that babbling and idle talk in which I have lately so sinfully indulged.

3. That I will endeavor in my conduct and deportment before the world and my fellow servants especially to conduct myself as a humble, meek and zealous follower of Christ, and by serious conversation and warning endeavor to lead them to think of their immortal souls.

4. That I will read no less than four chapters in God’s Word every day.

5. That I will strive to live closer to God, and to seek after holiness of heart and leave providential events with God.

6. That I will read over this every day or at least twice a week.

“God help me, enable me to cultivate a spirit of self-denial and to yield myself a prisoner of love to the redeemer of the world.”
“I feel my own weakness, and without God’s help I shall not keep these resolutions. The Lord have mercy upon my guilty soul.”
                                        (William Booth at age 20)

These are 6 powerful and difficult resolutions to stick too and I will surely need Gods help to achieve them. But in attempting them, even if I fail, there is sure to be much progress made and a huge amount of benefit to be made from doing it. So I will try to keep you all up to date with my progress in this new challenge for this New Year.

So Happy New Year to all of my readers, I hope that you all had a great time last night whatever you chose to do, but most of all I wish you a God filled and God blessed New Year, may all His plans prosper in you this year.

Read a book from the Old Testament

This week has been a very busy week, with Christmas preparations, present buying, work and Church commitments I have not had a great deal of time. But nevertheless the challenge for this week had to be done, and so a small amount of time to read the book of Obadiah was found.

This book is officially the shortest book in the Bible, not a fact I knew when I began to read it. I knew it was one of the shorter ones but did not know it was the shortest. It is an interesting book as the prophesy in it is not for the Israelites, it is written for and given to those who lived in the land of Edom. If you know your Old Testament history you will know that Edom was the country that was born of Esau and as such were kin to the Israelites.

Obadiah warned the Edomites that God was displeased with them for not helping the Israelites when they needed it and as such were marked for destruction. They were warned that although they believed they lived in impenetrable fortresses they would not be safe from God's judgement. They should have helped and protected the people who were their family through God's bounty.

When I was reading this I thought about the Church. God's family through His son Jesus and of all the internal struggle and fractures in this family. There are many different branches of this family such as the Catholics, the Orthodox and the Protestants, and many denominations more. Yet how often do we all stand united, how often do we help each other when we are struggling or under threat. Have we stood back and been guilty of benefiting from the fall or failing of another Church when we could have helped them to survive. We often forget that other Churches are still part of God's family, they are still His children and our brothers and sisters through Christ. We are not in competition with each other, we should be allies against the forces of the enemy. The book of Obadiah may not be written to us, but we can learn from the lessons of the past and make sure we do not make the same mistake.

The next task which has been drawn from the hat is the task to write a memory verse on my fridge. This is a nice easy one to see me through the holiday period and the inevitable lull in activity after such a busy period. Check back next week to see which verse I choose and the reasons behind it. Until then, take care and God bless.

Write out your salvation testimony

Now as I said last week, to me the idea of a testimony is something that is fluid, organic and constantly changing as we journey and grow with God. Therefore although I have already written a number of blogs which could be classed as a testimony the one I am going to write here is something different. In addition to this the task is to write your salvation testimony, not just your testimony of life in faith. So first I just want to carify exactly what we mean by salvation;

sal·va·tion   [sal-vey-shuhn] – noun

1. The act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss,destruction, etc.

2. The state of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.

3. A source, cause, or means of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.

4. Theology . Deliverance from the power and penalty of sin; redemption.
(Source Dictionary.com)

So there we have 4 definitions of what salvation is, basically it is being saved, resuced, protected from harm, risk and destruction. All in all it is a pretty good word to sum up exactly what God has done for us through Jesus. So what about my salvation testimony?

Unlike some Christians I know or have heard speaking I can not place a date on when I was saved. For me there was no Damascus moment, no sudden conversion. For me I didn't wake up one morning and see the light. Being the stubborn block headed scientist I am it took a number of events, a lot of pushing and many helpful saints to get to the point where I was willing to accept God into my life.

I wouldn't say I ever disbelieved in God, I often denied Him or refused to acknowledge Him, but always in my life I have been looking for Him never quite knowing what it was I was looking for. When I first began going back to Church it was not for God or to be saved, but a selfish need to have some sort of support network around me in case things went wrong, again. But God can use even the smallest routes in to your heart, and placing myself in His home was only ever going to play out to His advantage.

Without going in to too much detail though there are a couple of points which for me were not so much conversion points, but moments at cross roads where God directed me onwards to a new and better path. And I just want to give a couple of brief outlines of these moments.

The first was while sitting in a youth gathering when the Minister challenged everyone there about their lives as Christians, bearing in mind at this point I did not consider myself a Christian. The challenge issued was that of "How is your prayer life? How is your Bible study". Now I know I have talked about this moment before but for me this was a huge revelation. It was not about going to Church and waiting to hear God talk, there was something I could do, I could talk to God and just maybe He would talk back to me.

As I continued attending Church and going about general life I slowly began to realise that the reason I had not been hearing God was that I was not listening, not that He was not talking to me. This second revelation totally changed my outlook on life and moved me on to the path I have been treading for a little while now. But with this realisation that God was talking to me, nay shouting at me, took me by a bit of surprise. It came at a time when I was least expecting it and when I began to listen to the advice and commands I could now hear my life began to turn around. In addition to this knowing what I was now listening to when I thought back through my life I could see moments when God had been talking and shouting at me in the past but that I had ignored and not paid attention to.

There are many other moments, points and people who have brought me to the point where I now know I have been saved by Jesus, I have been rescued from the dangers of destruction that I placed myself in to in the past. But to talk about them all would take too long and would likely not be all that interesting to people. I also know that most of the people who are instrumental in my journey getting to where it is will never read or hear this but I want to thank all of them, they truly are Godly people without who the Kingdom would be all the poorer for.

I know that this is not ended in a way that really bookends the story but I find that exceptionally hard to do as the story is far from complete. Everyday I grow and learn, continually I am journeying onwards and hopefully growing in faith and wisdom. My real testimony is this blog, my daily accounts and thoughts in faith while I am journeying onwards. This blog stands as the testimony to my growth in belief and faith, it hopefully shows an increase in understanding and love for God and Jesus.

So now onwards to the next task, the task which was draw from the hat this week is to read a book from the Old Testament. In a way I am glad it is a little bit of an easy task to complete this week as it is after all the run up to Christmas and there is much to be done. However as with every task it will be approached with a real determination for it to make a difference and mean something rather than it just be the reading of a story. Check back next week to find out which book I read and my thoughts on it. Please feel free to check out the previous weeks task on the Soldier's Challenge page and as always feel free to stay a while and read some of the other daily posts.

Read the doctrines

This week the challenge that I have been doing is to read the doctrines of The Salvation Army. This is quite an important one for me as I am currently following plans which will with God's blessings lead me into full time ministry with The Salvation Army. I am proud to be a member of The Salvation Army, actually I am writing this post sat in McDonald's wearing my uniform, and feel that each and every member should know what it is that we stand for and why we believe what we believe.

Salvation Army doctrines

We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God, and that they only constitute the Divine rule of Christian faith and practice.

We believe that there is only one God, who is infinitely perfect, the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of all things, and who is the only proper object of religious worship.

We believe that there are three persons in the Godhead-the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, undivided in essence and co-equal in power and glory.

We believe that in the person of Jesus Christ the Divine and human natures are united, so that He is truly and properly God and truly and properly man.

We believe that our first parents were created in a state of innocency, but by their disobedience they lost their purity and happiness, and that in consequence of their fall all men have become sinners, totally depraved, and as such are justly exposed to the wrath of God.

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has by His suffering and death made an atonement for the whole world so that whosoever will may be saved.

We believe that repentance towards God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and regeneration by the Holy Spirit, are necessary to salvation.

We believe that we are justified by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and that he that believeth hath the witness in himself.

We believe that continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.

We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe in the immortality of the soul; in the resurrection of the body; in the general judgment at the end of the world; in the eternal happiness of the righteous; and in the endless punishment of the wicked.

So there they are, the doctrines of The Salvation Army. These doctrines are the core of our faith as a Church and vital to our life as Christians practising our faith in this branch of the body of Christ. As a member of The Salvation Army I do believe these doctrines although I do not claim to always be 100% happy with what they mean. However when I have issue with them it is normally problems such as the fact that we believe in the endless punishment of the wicked. As someone who has a considerable number of friends who are scientists and part of what I call Dawkin's Disciples I sometimes worry that these people may fall into the category of wicked due to their active stance against God and Jesus.

There is not a lot I can really say about the doctrines without turning this post in to one of epic length. I think that after doing this challenge I have been inspired to do a series looking at the beliefs I have from the Church I belong to. So look out for that coming up, probably in the new year. However I have a little bit of a back log of things I want to write about stacking up and not much time in which to do the relevant research, but hopefully the holidays will provide me with time to catch up.

So reading the doctrines is done. Well not quite, there is a little more I want to do with them as I said but essentially the task as set out by the challenge is done. But I am intending to memorise these doctrines for myself as well as write on them for you guys to hopefully read in the future.

Now all that is left is for me to let you know what task has come out of the hat for me to complete this week. The task that I pulled out of the hat was to write out my salvation testimony. Now this is something that The Salvation Army seems to do a lot, from the very early days of William Booth testimonies have been integral to our fellowship. In my view a testimony is a very organic thing, it grows and evolves with you as you grow in your Christian faith, if it doesn't then maybe you should be a little worried. So This week I will write out my salvation testimony, which will be different to any I have written before and unlike any I am likely to write in the future but it will be an interesting snapshot into my Christian life as it stands right now. Please check back next week to read the post and testimony I produce and also I hope you will keep checking in the future for when I post further on the doctrines.

Pray for your government leaders each day this week

This week has been a somewhat quiet week for me, due to the weather I have only been to work one day this week and so have not really had much to do. Because of this I have had time to complete this weeks task in a much fuller way than I may have done had I been busy. The task that I completed this week was to pray for my government leaders every day this week.

So how did I do? Well surprisingly well, I actually remembered everyday to take some time out and pray for them, and in doing so spent time in prayer about other things too. Also having time on my hands I did not just pray directly for the leaders of the country or cabinet ministers. Each day I tried to pray for a different aspect of the government and different aspects of the work they have to do. I prayed for the leaders at both local and national level, everyone involved in running the country, the families of the politicians and much more about their lives. I prayed for policy decisions and for the politicians to be blessed with wisdom and clear thinking so as best to run the country for everyone who lives in it.

Now I can't tell you if it made a difference, I have no idea if David Cameron or any other politician felt the effects of my prayers or if it helped make anything better for anyone. But I have noticed that I have changed some of my personal ideas about the leaders of this country, I have actually thought about the difficulty of their job and not just criticised out of hand. I have thought about how the job they do affects everything in their lives right back to how they interact and get on with their own families. Maybe this task has not made a huge difference to the country or it leaders but it has had an effect on me and for that reason alone I am thoankful that I completed this task.

So what is next? what task is next on the agenda. Well the challenge that was pulled from the hat this morning was to read the doctrines. This is something I have been meaning to do in my personal time anyway and have just not found the time to do it yet. But not just to read them but to understand them and learn them. I feel it is important for me to know as much about the organisation that I am a part of as well as I can and this is a step I really need to take. Please check back next week to see how I do and feel free to follow the Advent Challenge read the previous tasks in the Soldier's Challenge and all the other posts through this week.

Google "William Booth"

So we are on to week 8 of the Soldiers Challenge and so far it is going really well. It has been something that I thought I would struggle with and something I would find very difficult to keep going. However that has not been the case, the tasks so far have not been to much of a challenge so far and the momentum is beginning to build so that when the more tasking challenges come round the impetus will be there to continue despite the difficulty.

So this weeks challenge was to google "William Booth", although this one is a fairly easy challenge to do it is a somewhat important challenge because William Booth is the founder of the organisation I am a part of. Knowing about the history of the organisation I am part of and knowing the principles that it is founded on is very important if I am wanting to go out in to the world and win souls for Jesus through this organisation. It has also fallen at an interesting point in my journey into learning about the Salvation Army because I have just finished reading a biography on William and Catherine Booth and the early Salvation Army and have just started reading the book Blood and Fire which is similar in scope to the book I have just finished but much grander in its execution.

So lets have some William Booth facts;

1. William Booth was born on the 10th April 1829 in Sneinton in Nottingham.
2. He was the only son of the 4 surviving children of Samuel and Mary Booth.
3. William was apprenticed at 13 to a pawnbrokers.
4. He married Catherine Mumford
5. William had 8 children
6. He died on the 20th August 1912 in London

These are facts that are easily found out about William Booth just by checking the internet on sites such as Wikipedia. However the most important fact is that William Booth was a God led minister who had a passion to save souls by any means necessary. Booth was determined to see people saved for God from the depths of sin and depravity. He saw the need of the poor and destitute in "Darkest England" and decided that something needed to be done.

It is not really possible to talk about the amazing work done by Booth that was carried on by The Salvation Army, the organisation be founded. But that is not what this post is about, this post is about encouraging myself and those who are reading it to go out there and discover the work of these Saints such as Booth and to think about how we can continue this work now and in the future. It may be that you are not a member of The Salvation Army and you are not hugely interested in it or its work, but my thought is that we should learn about whatever organisation or Church we are a part of. But also we should know what we can about other Christians and Christian organisations in the world and the work they are doing.

So next week we have a somewhat different task to do, a task that for me personally is going to be a little difficult to do. The challenge is to pray for your government leaders each day this week. There are two reasons that this will be difficult for me, the first is that although my prayer life is improving and growing day by day it is still something I have struggled to remember to do on a daily basis. The other reason is that I do not support or believe in the policies of the current government and find it difficult to support them when they seem to be so actively attacking everything I believe should be done to fix the problems we have. However this may be a good thing for me to do, to pray for the leaders to see sense over policy decisions and to try and prevent our society crumbling under our noses. Check back next week on the Soldiers Challenge tab and see how it goes and see what will be the task following that.

Attend a service of rememberance

This post is part of a two year challenge to do a different challenge each week for 2 years, so far we are on to week 7 and doing well. If you are interested in reading the past challenges please check this link for the Soldier's Challenge or check the same tab above.

So this week the challenge was selected by me again instead of choosing it from the hat, the reason for this was that last weekend was Armistice Day and the Church I attend was to be part of the Remembrance Parade. The brass band from my Church was to lead the parade down our town's main street and provide the music for the service while at the cenotaph in the town centre. This was the first time in over 6 years that I had been a part of this event due to my leaving the Church and not being home during November for many years.

This year was a pretty special year as it was one of the biggest parades that has ever set out from our Church and there was a sense of both excitement and a sombreness too. It sounds a strange combination but the event was a huge public event for our town such as has not happened for a large number of years. The excitement came from the many people and children taking part in the march for the first time eager to take part and do well. The sombreness obviously came from the sad nature of the event and the many people there and whol live in the town who are directly linked to the armed forces.

The service itself was a respectful and fitting tribute to servicemen past and present giving them the respect and thanks that they deserve. It was also a tribute to those cadets who were present for the service and commitment they may make in the future if and when they follow through in to the full armed forces.

As far as challenges go it was an easy one to do, but it was one I was glad to have. Because it was part of my challenge I made sure I paid my full attention the whole way through. Often when playing in these kind of events there is much that needs to be done such as finding music and other housekeeping tasks from being part of the band. However because of the help from my older brother with music and coordinating me successfully I was able to take part in the event and pay attention to everything that was going on. So for this I want to thank my brother, who fittingly has been the first person to help or assist me in one of my challenges, I have no doubt I will be helped and assisted in challenges in the future and I will acknowledge all of them as and when they help.

So this week I am back to pulling the next challenge out of my hat and so I am not in control of which task I get week to week. The challenge that has been pulled from the hat this week is Google "William Booth". Another easy one to do but rather than just googling Booth's name I will spend at least an hour this week researching Booth. Feel free to check back daily to read the regular posts and please visit next Sunday to see how I do and what the next task may be.

Attend a Divisional/Territorial Meeting or Congress

So last week I selected to complete the challenge of  Attend a Divisional/Territorial Meeting or Congress. The reason I selected this one and did not pull it from the hat as I have done is that these events do not happen regularly and this one was a big event. Regardless this is the task I had to do and so I best tell you guys all about it.

The task actually began the night before if I am honest with a conversation with my parents while we were cooking supper. The crux of the argument was from my Dad that I would not wear any clothes which had more than the normal number of holes in them. This for those that don't know me being a dig at my trademark torn jeans. These jeans of which there are many pairs are worn everywhere with the exception of work and general bumming round the house, they are very much a part of who I am. After giving a short but polite response that I would wear what I wanted as there is no dress code for meeting Jesus I retreated to my room. After a short conversation with a friend of mine it was decided that there was another way to express my individuality without upsetting my parents. There were a number of Biblical quotes thrown round to honour my parents and so it was settled that I would do nothing to begin the day on a bad note.

So on the morning of the Congress I surprised my parents by being dressed quite snappily and being quite bright and bouncy despite it being 6am, not a time I see very often. And so we headed off on the long drive to the congress in a minibus filled with members of my Church. This was a particularly boring section of the day which I chose to listen to my ipod and catch up on the news with a cup of tea. Probably not the best way to spend time preparing for such a big event but it at least put me in a very good mood, especially the tea.

Once we arrived I met up with some friends and left the people I had travelled with to spend time with my friend who has been invaluable to me in my spiritual growth. We found our seats and sat down and waited for the service to begin, happily enjoying the lolly pops I had pocketed before leaving the house. This service was possibly one of the biggest moments in my life so far, and definitely the biggest moment in my Christian life since becoming a Christian. It wasn't that this service was the best I have ever been to but it was the right moment for something big to change in my life.

During the service there was a period where the mercy seat at the front was opened up for those who wished to use it. Now the mercy seat is something I normally do not agree with, I feel it is often abused and used for the wrong reasons, that it is used by preachers and congregation alike as a symbol of public recognition of sins. But that is for another post. However on this morning I was sat there in my seat with my friend on their knees in private prayer knowing that I had to go to the front and talk with a particular minister. The minister in question is someone who I have talked and prayed with before about my past, present and future with God. The last time we had talked it was regarding my Dad and telling him about my future, and I knew that day was the day I must tell him. And so I went to the mercy seat to pray with said minister and asked for courage and strength to talk to my dad. The rest of that story can be found here.

Now the rest of the day was a great opportunity to meet up with old friends, catch up with people I had not seen in a while and generally enjoy the atmosphere of the congress. For the rest of the day I was a bit euphoric and nothing was able to dampen my spirits, not even running out of lollies before the evening service was about to begin. Although the evening service had a better preacher and was widely regarded as the best of the weekend I personally did not gain as much from it as I had the mornings session. However I did sit through the whole service feeling as high as I have for a long time.

The drive home was a little tense with my Dad sat next to me, but he did not want to talk about our earlier conversation and my Mum was more concerned about the outcome of Strictly Come Dancing. However although my Dad did not want to talk about our conversation he was strangely talkative for my Dad. I know that the news I gave him was quite a bit of a shock and that it will take him some time to get used to it, I can see that in time he will come round to the idea and support me.

So all in all I believe that it is another successful challenge completed. And so that leads me on to what my next challenge will be. As it is remembrance Sunday today I will be completing the challenge of Attend a service of remembrance for this weeks challenge. As usual you can catch up on all the previous weeks challenges and the challenges yet to come on the Soldier's Challenge tab or by following the link. Check back next week to read about this weeks challenge and see what is in store for me the week after when I will again be pulling out one of the remaining tasks from my hat. Hope you have a great week and feel free to visit any time to catch up on my daily posts through the week.

Read a book from the New Testament

Well when I first began this series of tasks I was worried that it was going to be very difficult to fit them into my life and that it would fizzle out due to lack of time. However so far every single task has worked in amazingly well. I am hoping this is a signal of some help from above in completing this challenge. However talking about it being easy so far, I do know I have 99 more weeks ahead of me.

But this week things fell into place very easily, the selection of this task matched up with the linked Bible post this month. This Bible study just happened to be on Jude, the whole of Jude. Thus the New Testament book I read was Jude. I could write about it here but if you follow the link you can find out my thoughts on this book there.

So for next weeks challenge, well this week I am not drawing it out of the hat. This weekend I am attending a Congress and so I am choosing to use that as my task this week. I did agonise about this about if I should leave it to God to determine when I complete each task. However I had made the decision when I first decided to do it to complete any specific tasks as and when they were possible and complete the rest as they were drawn out of the hat. I see no reason not to follow this original plan.

Next weeks challenge is - Attend a Divisional/Territorial Meeting or Congress.

If you are wanting to follow my progress from week to week check back every Sunday of click on the Soldier's Challenge tab. The link for every completed challenge is on there and the list of upcoming challenges is there also.

Read the Corps mission statement or newsletter

Ok on a normal week this would have been very easy. This week not so. The reason for this is that the mission statement is written just inside the front door at my corps and my Dad is the person who writes the newsletter, in a regular week anyway. But this week I have not been to my corps (I have been elsewhere) and my Dad is on holiday. Therefore this challenge has required a little more effort than it would have done any other week.

But just because this challenge required effort did not mean I wasn't prepared to do it, and to be honest it was the easiest challenge so far. All it required was a quick visit to my corps website to read both the mission statement and the current newsletter.

So here is the mission stament;

This Salvation Army corps is a part of the universal Christian Church.
Our Message is based on the Bible.
Our Motivation is the love of God, as revealed in Jesus Christ.
Our Mission is to proclaim His gospel to persuade people of all ages to become

his disciples, and to engage in a programme of practical concern for the need
of the community. 

Our Ministry is offered to all regardless of race, creed, colour or sex.

So there we go, another week of the Soldiers Challenge down, click on the link to view the othr tasks completed and the upcoming tasks.

This weeks task is to read a book from the New Testament, check back next Sunday to see how I do in this weeks challenge.

Wealth of wisdom

I was reading my daily bible verse as supplied by my phone today and decided to take a closer look. The verse today was;

Proverbs 20:9 (KJV)  

    Who can say, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin? 

Now it is not so much the verse that I want to talk about today, rather the whole book of Proverbs and the Bible. This book is such a fantastic collection of wisdom that has been  handed down to us, but how many of us are actually aware of much that is in there? It is one of those books that I know about, I know what it is, but in reality I know next to nothing about it. I know it is a collection of sayings from Old Testament times, I know that many are thought to be written by Solomon but my knowledge ends there. 

As those who have followed this blog for a while know I am reading my way through the Street Bible and have at times mentioned it in passing. Well Proverbs was one of those books that while reading through caught my attention. I have never really paid it much attention and have never really heard anyone talk about it much. And for me that covers some big sections of the Bible, I know a little about it but just surface facts. When reading the Street Bible I realised there was much in the Bible I needed to reread in its entirety. 

I have currently a significant collection of books that I am trying to read through and this has meant I have squeezed in extra reading time into my schedule to try and get through these books quicker. There is so much that I want to know, reading and learning it is becoming a mammoth task. Even so I am going to make myself a new commitment, I will read the whole Bible, cover to cover. I know that I will not be able to start this until at least next week due to my busy weekend but it is something I feel is essential. I know parts of the Bible very well and have studied sections in detail but I have never read it as I would any other book. In the past I have dipped in and out of the Bible but never just read it as I would any other book.

So from a simple daily verse I am committing myself to yet another project that will take up a considerable part of my life for some time to come. However as with my other commitments like this blog and the Soldiers Challenge there is so much I am learning and gaining from them that they have ceased to be a burden and are now thoroughly incorporated into my life. If this is what it takes to make me find space in my life to do regular and consistent Bible study then it can only be a good thing.

Pray for the nearest Salvation Army social program

So this week was an interesting challenge for me. Mostly because I work for the Salvation Army in the nearest social program. And so this week I felt incredibly close to the challenge set before me. In addition to this I decided that instead of just praying for the social program I would pray for it every day this week.

So I began the week praying that the situation at work would improve and that I would have a productive week. My colleagues are a great bunch of people and certain things at work have been bringing the feeling at work down and I really wanted to pray that this would change. In addition a couple of things at the end of last week went wrong causing problems to some of the clients I work with.

So knowing the problems of this social program well I prayed for it in general but also for some very specific things too. Initially though things did not get better, at the beginning of the week we had two really bad pieces of news which made the atmosphere darker and gloomier. Despite this I was determined to continue and had faith that things would eventually start to improve if I continued to pray.

As the week continued things did start to pick up and there were a couple of very good pieces of news that I was particularly happy about. Although the situations that worked out well did have their roots before I began this weeks challenge I have no doubt that the challenge has helped in a number of ways.

I wish I was able to say more about this challenge but due to the nature of my work I am unable to say too much about things that have happened. Rest assured however that this challenge has gone very well this week and again it has made me think about my life and the things I do every day. Like the prayer walk and the 3 hour prayer session I intend to try and work this challenge in to my daily life and continue it in some way.

The Challenge that I have pulled from the hat this week is to read the Corps mission statement or newsletter. Check back next week to see how well I do in this task.

Pray for three full hours

So week 2 of the challenge has come and gone. The task for this week was to Pray for three full hours. This task was always going to be a challenge this week due to the demands on my time and my difficulties with prayer. Although my prayer life is improving slowly to pray for 3 whole hours in one go was a mammoth effort.

So to tell you about the 3 hour prayer session. Well as I knew fitting it in was a real task and in the end it was late Saturday night by the time I managed to finally sit down and complete the task. Knowing that the end of the week was coming and that it failing in week 2 would be embarrassing I finally completed the task. In the end I had to stay up well beyond my usual bed time knowing that it would leave me very tired for Church this morning. When I sat down I decided that I would begin by reading a passage in the Bible that has spoken to me recently, the book of Jude. During this time of focus there were two verses that spoke to me;

Jude 1:1-2
    I, Jude, am a slave to Jesus Christ and brother to James, writing to those loved by God the Father, called and kept safe by Jesus Christ.

The reason that this verse speaks to me is two fold. On the one hand I know that God is calling me to work for Him and I am more than happy to offer my life to Him. The reason for this is the second part of the verse that speaks to me. I have been kept safe by Jesus Christ. In my life in all things I know Jesus has been watching over me and protecting me from evil. Now I have returned to the Church and have accepted Jesus and God into my life I know that there is nothing that can stop Good from loving and protecting me.

Jude 1:23
    Go after those who take the wrong way. Be tender with sinners, but not soft on sin. The sin itself stinks to high heaven.

This second verse is again linked to my past. I once took a wrong route and lived a life of sin, but there were people who lived this verse in my life. There were many people who were always there for me when I needed it, they were always kind to me and helped nurse my growing faith. Even though there was never a time when anyone let me have an easy time about my past. I was prevented from slipping back into my old ways by those around me who reminded me of not only the sinful nature but also of the pain I had experienced through living in that way.

After reading this passage in a number of different translations and reflecting on the message of the book I then moved on to a period of quite prayer. I spent a long time praying in a way that I have not ever done before, I prayed about the issues in my life that I have right now and asked for help but also the abilities to deal with them. In spending this long amount of time alone with God in a way I have never done before brought me in to a sense of God's presence that I don't think I have ever experienced.

After I had told God all of my worries and needs and finished asking for what I needed I spent the rest of the time listening. For me this was possibly the hardest period of the prayer session and to be honest don't think it was as valuable to me as the other two periods. It is certainly a part of my prayer life that I need to work on, but then as in life in general listening is sometimes a problem it is no surprise listening to God is also an issue. However I do feel that it is something that if I work on and continue to ask God's help over I will be able to develop this in to valuable time with my God.

So altogether I think that although this was a difficult task for me to do it was a very valuable exercise. Although I doubt I will be able to find such long periods of time regularly it has prompted me to try and find more time to spend in prayer. I want to commit to regular consistent prayer sessions because not only is it something I need to do, after this task it is something I want to do.

So what is the task for next week? Well the task that came out of the hat this morning is to pray for the nearest Salvation Army Social Program. Check in next Sunday to find out how I do.