Adventures in...Indecision

Shout out to fellow STARTer Jess who let me guest post for thistrainisboundforglory. A wonderful collection of posts chronicling 'Adventures in...' everything from health to hope, and indecision to Iraq. 

Adventures in...Indecision 

A wise man once wrote that an undecided mind is like a storm tossed sea – going one way and then the other, never settled. #James1v8

I’m always undecided about something – move here, move there, move back or stay where you are. Apply for this job, apply for that job or don’t change job at all. Go for a drink, have one more drink or diet coke please. Pizza or Pasta. Star Wars or Star Trek.  Beyonce or Bieber. Marmite or Nutella...

To read the rest of this post click here (even if you don't read my post you should check out the rest of the blog. You won't regret it).

Take Heart

How's your week been? 

Good? Bad? Ugly?

To be honest, this has been wearisome week.  

This has been a week in which it has been impossible to hide from the hurt around.

This has been a week where I was so tired I had to get the bus home from work because I didn't think I would make it if I walked (you might think this is a bit melodramatic but I never get the bus home. And it was only Tuesday). 

This has been a week where everything has just been Too Much. 

This has been a week where I have needed a constant reminder that God has overcome the evil of this world. 

This has been a week where I have played this song again, and again, and again, and again...

There is a light

It burns brighter than the sun

It steals the night

And casts no shadow

There is hope

Should oceans rise and mountains fall

It never fails

So take heart

Let His love lead us through the night

Hold on to hope

Take courage again

In death by love

The fallen world was overcome

He wears the scars of our freedom

In his name

All our fears are swept away

He never fails

So take heart

Let His love lead us through the night

Hold on to hope

Take courage again

All our troubles

And all our tears

God our hope

He has overcome

All our failure

And all our fear

God our love

He has overcome

All our heartache

And all our pain

God our healer

He has overcome

All our burdens 

And all our shame

God our freedom

He has overcome

All our troubles

And all our tears

God our hope

He has overcome

All our failures 

And all our fear

God our love

He has overcome

God our justice

God our grace

God our freedom

He has overcome

God our refuge

God our strength

God is with us

He has overcome

In this world you will have many troubles. But take heart for I have overcome the world. John 16:33


P.S. Next week is going to be much much better.

Before the Throne

Watch this:

For real. You will not regret it. Best 41 seconds of the day.*

Poor kid. You can see The Fear. You can see he most definitely regrets his actions. You can see he has an understanding of wrong and right. You can see that he's frantically searching for a way out, anything to help him escape punishment and "the cawps". And then he lands on the one thing he hopes will save him, "I'm your son! I'm your son!" He places his hope of salvation in his relationship with his mother, trusting that it will save him (can you see where I'm going with this yet?).

The fear of God.

Maybe if I understood the Awesome** majesty of God better I would be more like this kid when I consider my actions. Because I'm pretty certain that one day I will stand before God pleading, much like that child, "I'm your daughter. Jesus has saved me. Jesus has saved me." If I were of a more charismatic persuasion I would definitely be 'pleading the blood.' And quite rightly so.

Sometimes its easy to forget that God is Holy - is sacred, is pure, is perfect. Sometimes its easy to forget that a sacrifice was made so that we could freely approach God and ask for forgiveness. 

Maybe, if I had half as much fear as this kid I would examine my motives more often and think three hundred times before making a decision. 

Not that we should live bawling our eyes out everyday. But a healthy amount of trepidation wouldn't go amiss.

*Unless, like one of my flatmates, you just think its horrible that he's so scared. Maybe I just need a Sense of Humour Adjustment. 

** Please note the correct use of awesome. It's not a word to be bandied around for every situation like that Christmas present you keep re-gifting but seems to find its way back to you. 

Shout out to my brother who first notified me of this internet gold. Shout out to the mum who managed to drive and film this, and then uploaded it to the world wide web.

The Art of Sensible Living

Sensible people, I salute you (or something a little less...military. Rephrase: Sensible people, I raise a slice of cake to you) because it’s not always easy, being sensible. 

A lot of people would disagree, confusing the sensible with the safe, easy or boring option. But there is a big difference between safe, easy, boring and sensible:

Not jumping off a cliff if all your friends were doing the same, just like your mother questioned you about – safe.

Getting a takeaway instead of cooking actual food – easy/lazy.

Not skydiving from a plane into the ocean – boring to the max.

Choosing not to be one of those crazy people that runs 12 marathons in a day - sensible

You see, there's a difference. Make the wrong decision and you could end up being scraped off the side of a road three quarters of the way into your sixth marathon of the day (5 points for making it that far though).

I am sensible (most of the time - ignore anything my family might like to tell you)*. I can’t help it. It’s part of who I am. When it comes to those pivotal moments in life I seem to always take the sensible option, quite often without even realising it was one. 

But sometimes being sensible requires you to look at the choices at hand, weigh the possible consequences and then make a decision. 

Sometimes being sensible requires you to look temptation in the face and walk away. 

It's not always easy being sensible.  

And we are an unsatisfied people. Choosing to look at life through the rosy glasses of hindsight and sigh over 'If only I hadn't...' or 'What if I had...'

I think C.S.Lewis (what a ledge) got it spot on:

“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all...you find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness — they have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means — the only complete realist.”

On the days in which sensible prevails, I thank the God who makes us stronger than we think we are. 

On the days in which temptation wins, I am thankful for a God who understands temptation and accepts pleas for forgiveness.

*Sensible is right up there next to 'nice' in my list of least favourite character descriptions. nice is so bland - its like frozen yoghurt without the fun toppings or flavours. 

What a School Trip Taught me about The Lost Sheep

Today I gained a fresh understanding of the Parable of the Lost Sheep. Here’s the original as in Luke 15v1-7 (NLT):

Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such despicable people – even eating with them! So Jesus used this illustration:“If you had one hundred sheep, and one of them strayed away and was lost in the wilderness, wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine others to go and search for the lost one until you found it? And then you would joyfully carry it home on your shoulders. When you arrived, you would call together your friends and neighbours to rejoice with you because your lost sheep was found. In the same way, heaven will be happier over one lost sinner who returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!”

Here’s what I realised on my walk to school this morning whilst wondering how our class trip to the Science Museum via bus and tube would turn out:

Rioters, Michael Gove* and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Daily Mail readers and politicians complain that he was associating with such despicable people – even going to Nandos with them!** So Jesus used this illustration:“If you were taking thirty 7 year-olds across London on the tube, and one of them got lost in the crowd of impatient and inconsiderate commuters, wouldn’t you leave the other twenty-nine (with a responsible adult of course) to go search for the lost child until you found it? And then you would joyfully return to the rest of the group (after you’d both thrown up and cried with sheer relief). When you arrived home, you would invite your friends to the pub to rejoice with you because the lost child was found (and you got to keep your job). In the same way, heaven will be happier over one lost sinner who returns to God than over twenty-nine others who are righteous and haven't strayed away!"

Whenever I’ve read this before I failed to grasp the magnitude of what Jesus was saying – that heaven rejoices over the One who returns.

But today I realised that until the lost sheep was found the shepherd would have been frantic. Would I have been content to keep the other twenty-nine and abandon the lost one? If one of the kids had got lost the only thing that would have stopped me from a full-scale panic would have been the knowledge that:

A. It wouldn’t have been helpful to anyone (I am inherently sensible[usually] – panic is never a good option). 

B. We then would have had one lost child and 29 crying children.

If one of the kids had got lost I would have looked on every platform, behind every group of teenage Spanish language school students and under every bench until that child was found. I would have run up and down escalators searching for the lost child and calling their name until I could no longer speak. I would have done this not only because I want to keep my job, but also because I would hate for the lost child to be alone and scared. I would hate for them to not know where there were or who to ask for help. I would hate for them to never return home.

Would I have been rejoicing when the child was found? Fo' sure! Not only would I (hopefully) be able to keep my job but the lost child could return home! To a place where they are known and loved. To a place where their absence would always be felt had they not come back. I would have told all my friends about this potentially heart (and career) breaking event. I would I have summoned them to come and join me in celebrating. I would have tweeted about the return of the lost child, updated my facebook status and instagramed a picture of my celebratory drink.

In the same way, heaven will be happier over one lost sinner who returns to God than ninety-nine others who were righteous and never strayed.

Never doubt how important you are to God. 

*Can you tell I work in a school? But if Gove listened to the teaching of Jesus then our education reforms would be in a much better state #justsayin.

**Would Jesus have even eaten at Nandos though?

Actual Real People

You need to see this: Syrian Refugees’ Most Important Things- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21939840

You really need to see it. It’s just ten images of Syrian refugees with their most important thing.

For those of you who dismissed the link the first time here is it again: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21939840

It reminded me that behind the headlines of body counts and outside of the politics of interference from the west are Real People. 

Actual real people - mind, body and soul. 

Real people who have had their lives violently interrupted and ripped apart.

Real mothers and fathers who worry about the futures of their children.

Real school children whose education has been stopped.

Real business owners who have left behind their livelihoods.

Real children who fight and argue with their siblings.

Real people who get ill and tired and scared.

Real people who had roots in the family, friends, neighbours and community they love o so dearly but had to leave behind.

Real people with hopes for the future clouded by the worries of today.

Real people who hope that change is coming. 

Real people.

Not just ‘Syrians,’ a group of people ‘other’ than us. Real people.

Change a few circumstances and it could have been us, forced to leave behind everything we know for life in a refugee camp.

There are thousands of these real people. Thousands of men, women and children. Thousands of mothers, wives, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, cousins and daughters. Thousands of fathers, husbands, grandfathers, uncles, brothers, cousins and sons.

When confronted with something so big and with such a high human cost I often get overwhelmed by not knowing the best way to respond. I have learned to do two things: 

1. Pray. Even though it often doesn't seem like much prayer takes the problem to the throne of God - there is nothing more powerful.

2. Support the people paying the cost - usually through an organisation that know what they're doing.

3. If the global scale seems outta reach then find out if you can do something on a local scale.  

Reach out your hand. The least we can do is try and support these real people: /http://www.tearfund.org/en/news/press_releases/dec_launches_syria_crisis_appeal/

Pray. Petition. Seek Peace.

I Will Not Take My Love Away

This has been going round and round and round and round my head all day.

During breakfast, work, prayer meeting and everything in-between I could not escape it.

Maybe I still need to hear it.

Maybe you need to hear it.

Maybe we both need to understand it better.

I will not take my love away

When praises cease and seasons change

While the whole world turns the other way

I will not take my love away

I will not leave you all alone

When striving leads you far from home

And there's no yield for what you've sown

I will not leave you all alone

I will give you what you need

In plenty or in poverty

Forever, always, look to me

And I will give you what you need 

Rhythm